
Welcome
Welcome to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. My name is Scott Coulter, and it is my honor to serve our beloved community as the Minister to Children and Youth. Jesus once said that all those who wish to enter the Kingdom of Heaven must do so as little children. I have always felt that Jesus was pointing to something fundamental here, something our adult world can very often forget. And that is that children come into this world in the full embrace of God, with an innate connectedness to the Kingdom. Our job in youth ministry is not to give them “all the answers”, to make them believe the same way we do, or to make sure they memorize X number of scripture verses every Sunday. Our job is to honor the light of God already burning in each young person.
At St. Andrew’s, all of our work is predicated on the idea that our children and youth voices deserve to be honored. Their questions deserve to be honored. Their doubts deserve to be honored. We are here to give language to the innate spirituality of each young person that comes through our doors. We are here to help expand their relationship with God and help them give voice to that relationship.
Our children’s ministry (for those under 12) meets every Sunday at 9am, usually using the Godly Play curriculum. Our youth group for middle and high school students (which we call “The Sunday Experience”, or TSE for short) meets every Sunday from 10:30 to 11:15. And there are special events happening throughout the year. You can find out much more about all of this using the tabs at the top of this screen.
May the Lord bless and keep you. Amen.
Reflections
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The Gift of “Via Media”
“Via Media”, the middle way. It is a core part of our Episcopal heritage. At its most basic level, it simply means we kept a lot of Catholic ritual and liturgy while also embracing the Protestant Reformation and severing our allegiance to the Pope. But it also represents a mindset – one of “both/and” instead […]
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2/22/23 – The Beautiful Simplicity of Lent
I. love. Lent! I grew up essentially Buddhist, and spent a good deal of time in Zen Buddhist communities. And let me tell you, it can make Catholicism look like a non-stop Mardi Gras! Zen. is. serious. And as a natural contemplative, I loved it. I loved its strict observance of posture, its deep inward […]
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2/15/2023 – A Reckless Mercy
The Good Samaritan and the Sower – A Reckless Mercy Both of the Parables we’ll be exploring this week, the Good Samaritan (which we’ll hear about in Godly Play) and the Sower (which we’ll explore in TSE), reflect a reckless mercy. They are boundary-breaking. They are shocking. Or at least, they were to the original […]