You are invited to "A Taste of Ethiopia" on Sunday, November 12 from 4-6 p.m. held here at St Andrew UMC in the Intersection.  This dinner continues our support of Wanja Elementary School in Halaba, Ethiopia begun at this summer's Vacation Bible School.  Third-grader Simon Ailor and his family, with our support, are working toward a goal of $5,000 to help supply the school with science equipment, science education for the school's teachers, sports equipment, and desks for students. RSVPs for the dinner are required. Read more about Simon's story and Wanja School, and RSVP today.

It was great to gather at Harrison High School on October 15th for one service.  We were able to celebrate together how St Andrew has received the Grace Virus and has spread it well.  There is bright tomorrow for the 'good infection' we have been tasked with spreading. Here are some of the notes from that message:

"And now, what does it all matter? It matters more than anything else in the world. The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way round) each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in that dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made. Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection, if you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die? 

This space has its roots in the history of how this congregation came to be - a group of Jesus followers inviting others to come and see Christ and live faith out together.  Once a month, we will bring forth a devotional from years gone by.  Today we re-member (put together again in our minds) from twenty-eight years ago  in the Lenten Devotional of 1989 - March 19th to be precise.

Several years ago, my brother-in-law purchased a new car, a Buick Opel station wagon.  He took extraordinary care of the car, keeping it clean and immaculate.  He often remarked that rust was the big enemy of automotive value.

I enjoy comfort.  If the choice before me was to sit alone in a room on a board or in a La Z Boy to watch a movie, I would not see the point in offering the options.  I would be feet up, laid back before I ever saw the board (and with an obligatory bowl of popcorn to boot).  When possible I am sans tie and in shorts.  Sitting around the house I find myself laying on the floor or kicking my feet up no matter where I am 'just to get comfortable.' 

A couple of months ago, I was chatting with a dear friend and the conversation went something like this:

“How’s your father-in-law doing?” 

“Not too well, I’m afraid.”  My father-in-law had faced some chronic health conditions, including congestive heart failure, the last few years.  I brought my friend up-to-date with his most recent hospitalization and his subsequent discharge to a rehabilitation facility.  It was becoming harder and harder to remain hopeful about his long-term health and prognosis.