Sunday, October 16, 2016: The Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost
9:00am | Holy Eucharist 11:00am | Solemn Holy Eucharist 5:30pm | Still Point
Parish Mini Retreat and Chili Cook-off. Please join us on Saturday, October 22 for a parish mini-retreat and chili cook-off, from 10m to 2pm. This event family friendly event is open to kids and kids at heart. The morning will start off with a separate conversation and formation for adults, while our children enjoy some activities and re-connections of their own. We will then regroup to enjoy a variety of chili’s and accompanying side dishes as our parishioners compete to be the 2016 Champion. The afternoon will wrap up with games and fun for all. More to come on the formation classes, so mark your calendars. If you would like to attend and/or bring a chili or side dish, please contact Jonathan.culwell@gmail.com.
Spookghetti Dinner and Show The vestry is thrilled to host a Spookghetti dinner and show on Saturday, October 29th at 5:30pm in the undercroft. This is not only a fundraiser for our budget shortfall, but also a family-friendly, adult-friendly way to kick off Halloween weekend. Tickets are $10/individual or $20/family, but bring extra cash to bid on our variety show acts, to vote for costume prizes, and to participate in extra activities. Questions? Contact Matt Bentley.
Moveable Feasts Sign Ups. Sign-ups have begun for this year’s series of Moveable Feasts dinners and will continue through October 28th. All adults in the parish are invited to fill out a form and submit it to an usher, or directly to Debbie Courtney. Forms are available on the table at the back of the church or by emailing Debbie at dacinden@gmail.com. The way it works is this: Once all the sign-up forms have been collected, the entire list will be divided into groups for the first Moveable Feast dinner on Saturday, November 12th. Then, for the next dinner on January 21st, the groups will be reshuffled into new groups using a computer program to achieve a good random mix. (Shelley Brown is our Guru of Randomness). This process will be repeated for the March 18th and May 13th dinners. By changing groups each time, we will have an opportunity to get to know a large number of our parish family throughout the year.
On the sign-up form, you are asked to indicate in which of the 4 months you might be able to be a Host, and to report any of the 4 dinners for which you know you will be out of town. By the first of November, you will receive a print-out of the Hosts and Group assignments as well as contact information for everyone who signed up. Hosts will be responsible for contacting the people in their group a week or two before their dinner, deciding what entrée they will be serving and coordinating what side dishes their guests will be bringing. (Appetizers, salads, vegetables & starches, & desserts). You can be as casual or as formal as you want – the idea is to get to know everyone and enjoy yourself. So please sign up, everybody! See you at dinner!
Our Tiny House Discernment: Next Steps At a special meeting of the vestry on Monday, October 3, the leaders of St. Andrew’s engaged in a formal process of discernment centered on the possibility of a temporary tiny house village on a portion of our parking lot. With the guidance of a facilitator, we spent some time focusing on discernment as a spiritual practice and then entered into a time of intentional work. After two and a half hours of prayerful listening and sacred conversation, we discovered that we had reached consensus. The vestry believes the tiny house project is in alignment with our vision: to offer sanctuary in the city, to grow in God’s love, and to seek the renewal of the world. We are now ready to invite the parish into a similar process of discernment, to see if, as a church, a body with many different members, we feel called to pursue this project.
There have been many stages to our consideration of this possibility. In the spring, the vestry, after careful conversation, asked a small group to lead an exploration of the promise and challenge of a tiny house project. The next stage was our three parish informational meetings, followed by three community meetings with neighbors. The purpose of these meetings was to present the proposed plan, hear comments and concerns and generally gather feedback. We have learned a great deal over the last few months.
Once the community meetings were completed, the vestry believed it was time to consider whether, in light of what we had learned, we felt called to bring this project back to the parish – and we believe we are so called. The parish discernment process will begin as soon as we have gathered some essential information from the city. We’ll be in touch soon with an outline and a timeline. We ask you to continue to hold this possibility in your prayers.
From the Treasurer: Financial Update. At the end of September, our income continued to lag significantly behind our budgeted expectations. Pledged income in September was $37,969.45, $6905.55 below budget. Plate income was $3356, $2894 below budget. We are $45,850.31 below our budgeted income for the year to date. If you are pledger, please examine your third quarter statement when it arrives to make sure you are current. Our budgeted expenses are based on expected revenue from pledges, plate, and a few other sources. Every year we try very hard to predict plate income, but this year we are $20,000 behind our expectations. The vestry is working to find ways to address the shortfall, particularly in plate income. If you have questions, please contact treasurer Bob Mosher or Mother Elizabeth. We are planning a “coffee hour with the treasurer” after each morning service on Sunday, Oct. 23. Please plan to join us to learn more about our situation.
Family Promise Our next Family Promise Rotation is Oct 23-30 at The First Unitarian Church. There are still some openings for dinner on Wed. Oct 25 and Thurs Oct 26 and for overnight on Thursday Oct. 26 from 8:30 PM to 7:00 AM. The sign up is on the Coffee Table in the Undercroft. Any questions: LynneValentine 303 955 6911 or email lkval@yahoo.com
Vestry Nominations
At our next annual meeting we will elect 3 new members to the vestry. The vestry nominating committee is accepting suggestions until November 6th. Nominees should be adult members of the parish who have been confirmed in the Episcopal Church, are actively involved in ministry, and are faithful stewards and contributors to St. Andrew’s. Those elected to the vestry will serve three-year terms. Please offer names of nominees in writing or via e-mail to one of the members of the committee listed below by November 6th. Include a brief explanation of why you consider the candidate to be qualified. And yes, if you feel called, you can submit your own name! If you have any questions about service on the vestry or the nominating process, please don’t hesitate to ask or email one of us. Thank you for your prayerful consideration.
Ben Cordova Al Grinestaff Cindy Henning Lisa Sisneros
3rd Annual St. Andrew’s Bake-Sale – November 20th
Mark your calendars for the always popular, St.Andrew’s Bake-Sale on Sunday, November 20th. This important fundraising event is perfectly timed, pre-holiday with a variety of sweet and savory goodies to eat now or freeze for later. Sales will take place on Sunday, November 19th (the week before Thanksgiving) between 8:30 and 1pm in the under croft. Bakers and Cooks, please reach out to Ally Dodge to let us know if you can provide items for the events. This year, we are not only including the popular cookies, cakes, pies, breads and candies, but also savory items like freezer meals and party appetizers. We are blessed with talented home-chefs and will be opening this fundraiser to the public! Please contact Ally with any questions or to sign-up.
Seeking Renewal of the World: From Compassion to Commitment During the next three weeks of our 10-week ELF series on seeking the renewal of the world, we will be exploring how various agencies are responding to the issues confronting the community around us. Each evening there will be two simultaneous presentations to choose from.
This week: (1) Jennifer Piper from the American Friends Service Committee will present on
“Viewing Immigration through a Faith Lens: the Reality and History of our laws, migration stories, and next steps. (2) Ryan Callenaugh from Metro Caring will present on issues of food justice and ending hunger at its root. Need childcare? Please contact Zoe Cole (zoe@standrewdenver.org) at least a week in advance of any ELF session you wish to attend, and she will make arrangements.
Wednesday Noonday Prayer: The Novena for Peace A novena is nine consecutive days of prayer, modeled on the nine days that the disciples of Jesus spent in the Upper Room between Ascension and Pentecost. The Novena for Peace is being prayed around the country will be a part of a special Noonday Prayer service offered each Wednesday at 12 noon by Brother James Hall at St. Andrew’s. Each week will focus on a different aspect of peace, justice, and racial reconciliation in the United States: for an End to the Injustice of Poverty; for an End to War and Terrorism; For an End to Violence Against the Vulnerable; for an End to the Violence of American Society.
Meals for Exploring Life and Faith Would you like to provide a meal for those who gather on Thursday evenings? For any questions, email her at bombergerb@comcast.net.
Choral Evensong Every Thursday Every Thursday at 5:45pm between September and May, sung praises are offered to God, and unusual saints from the daily lectionary cycle are commemorated. Choral Evensong is one of the great treasures of the Anglican tradition. The 30-40 minute service is a calming, contemplative way to begin your evening. Whether you stay for the ELF program that follows, or just come to Evensong, join the two dozen or so parishioners who
have already made this a weekly habit.
The Sunday Experience (TSE) – Youth 5th – 10th Grade Join us every other Sunday we meet in the Parish House Common Room as we “expand the wondering” and explore what difference faith makes in our everyday lives. All TSE Sunday dates are available on the parish web-site, on the calendar and the TSE page. For more information, please contact Minister for Children and Youth, L. Zoe Cole at zoe@standrewdenver.org.
The Altar Guild is seeking volunteers for small tasks (polishing, ironing, dusting, etc). One to two hours per month. Your time and talents are much appreciated. Please contact Liz Evans after church or call 970-379-2016 or email to mslizevans@aol.com. Thanks!
What about the Parish Retreat? Many of us enjoyed our first parish retreat last fall, and those who attended, and some who couldn’t be there, were hoping for another retreat this year. Though we reserved a weekend at Cathedral Ridge, it became clear this summer in conversations with last year’s organizers, and with staff, that we lacked the capacity to pull off a fun and meaningful event this year. Stay tuned, as we’ll hope for a retreat in 2017. And, as always, if you have questions or concerns, contact Mother Elizabeth.
The St. Francis Center has an URGENT need for soap, shampoo, and men’s underwear sizes 32-36.
The Parking Lot Prayer Group resumed meeting in October. We will meet on the second Wednesday of each month (November 9 and December 14) in the Delzell Room beginning at 830am. All are welcome. The format is Lectio Divina, and the intention is to hold the parking lot project in prayer.
TODAY: The 10th annual Walk for Sudan is Sunday, October 16, 2016 1:00-3:30 pm at Cherry Creek State Park/Reservoir. Registration is at Campus Middle School on the west side of the park. This is a great opportunity to raise funds for Project Education South Sudan while you are having a blast in Colorado’s fall with friends and family. Please invite everyone with whom you have ever had a fun experience. Daniel Gai was in Denver in August and September, and he spoke at St. Andrew’s hoping to share how vital it is to South Sudan that we help educate the youth. Participating in the Walk is the perfect way to help our endeavor! Cost is cheap $20/student $35/adult with lots of freebies coming back to you. (You can also go to the St. Frances Center Gala later in the day—NO conflict.) If you would like to register online before the event go to https://secure.qgiv.com/event/871515/ or at www.walkforsudan.org and you’ll find out more about the event as well. When you register, be sure to indicate that your money goes to Project Education South Sudan. Of course you can always call me with questions: Joyce Culwell 303-888-9408
TODAY: A Day in the Life of St. Francis Center: 33rd Anniversary Gala Sunday, October 16, 5:30pm at Wings Over the Rockies. Become more familiar with the operations of the Center while enjoying an elevated culinary experience provided by nine local chefs; all while raising critical funds for the Center.
TOMORROW: Flute Recital by CSO flutist to Benefit Ecuador Brooke Ferguson, principal flutist of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, will be playing a recital at St. Andrew’s on Monday evening, October 17, 7:30pm. The recital is to benefit a music festival for Ecuadorian youth. Brooke writes: “I attended this festival last year, and I was very touched by the work. The students in Ecuador have no money. Yet, the government supports two municipal orchestras in town and a music program for all school age students. Additionally, as the cultural center of Ecuador is in Loja, the National University sends their students to the school for this festival. There were 35 flutists who attended last year. The youngest one was seven and the oldest one was forty. It was incredible. My presence as a thirty-something woman was something that was very empowering for the female students. And we all worked tirelessly on improving the level of playing. The results were inspiring. It is a privilege as well as a responsibility to share my good fortune and education with others who never had the same opportunities. And I am incredibly grateful for your support and the support of St. Andrew’s.” Please come and support this exciting event – word is getting around that St. Andrew’s has not only a desirable acoustic, but is a place that supports worthy social causes. $20 donation requested at the door.