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Betty Peterson,Senior Warden
Ken Frye, Junior Warden

Editor, William G. Sayres
wsayres@maine.edu
94 Old Kents Hill Rd
Readfield, ME 04355

web site: http://mypeoplepc.com/members/rfo1som/standrews

Message from the Senior Warden

As your new Senior Warden, I was asked by Bill to write an article for the newsletter. Sitting here right after my first meeting as Senior Warden, my thoughts are WOW, what do I write about and what a job I've undertaken. So I decided to write about why I accepted this position. I have never really taken an active part in the church we attended before this. I was satisfied to just go to church on Sundays. Partly it was because our children were at home and active in different activities and with working, I just didn't find the time or need to become involved.

When Bob and I first started coming to St. Andrew's, I didn't know if I would like such a small church, but we did enjoy the services. Church has always been important to us and the more we came and met the congregation the more we felt at home here.

We saw some wonderful things happening at St. Andrew's and met so many wonderful and caring people. We started getting involved because St. Andrew's is a special place. When we first started coming to St. Andrew's, Fr. John Miller was the Priest in Charge and we enjoyed his leadership and sermons. When Fr. John retired as Priest in Charge, the congregation, which we were now a part of, needed to make decisions about our future. We became involved because we felt that it was so important to help and to keep the wonderful and caring spirit that we had come to love at St. Andrew's.

I still feel that way. We continue to have many decisions to make and a lot of work to do, and, as your Senior Warden, I will try, to the best of my ability, to help St. Andrew's and keep it as special as it is and always has been and will continue to be.

One thing I hope each of us will keep in mind is that we all have different opinions and feelings about issues and decisions that come up for consideration. We should all express our opinions and feelings, but also listen to and respect those of others. If and when a vote needs to be taken, let's support the decision of the majority and not hold grudges or ill-feelings towards others. The bottom line is we are all wonderful and caring people. That is what has attracted most of us to St. Andrew's and let's keep it that way.

Last but not least, please feel free to contact me with your concerns about St. Andrew's. I will help as best I can.

Bishop Knudsen to Visit

The Bishop will make her regular visit to meet with the Bishop's Committee at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, February 19. Further plans for her visit will be considered and an-nounced in the near future.

Annual Meeting January 16

Committee reports, names of new officers and Bishop's Committee members are posted on our web site (see address on letterhead) and on or near the bulletin boards in church.
A vote of appreciation was passed unanimously for the leadership of outgoing Senior Warden, Doug Thornsjo. The Altar Guild report also noted the imaginative arrangements of lovely altar flowers fur-nished by My Thien Thornsjo, and the many years of devoted service by honorary member, Gen Silz. The Facilities Committee report expressed appreciation for the weekly cleaning of the church by the Winnett-Vogel family, "a really great ministry within our church."

Please try to read and reflect on the thoughtful report by Deacon Barbara Miller, both on her roles in the church and her service to Hospice Volunteers of Kennebec County, of which she was recently elected a director. As Barbara becomes more involved with outreach such as hospice, other of her functions that we have taken for granted will have to be shared among us.

Lenten Study

Fr. Roger and Edna Smith will lead a series of discussions on Islam beginning Ash Wednesday, February 13. Roger and Edna have had a long personal ministry in Saudi Arabia, and their "hands on" experience makes their contri-bution to our understanding especially valuable.

Church Fair and Women's Guild

Mice and more mice, all dressed in beautiful outfits for all occasions, scampered out of the church on Saturday morning, December 1. Brisk sales of gift baskets, crafts, cheese, cards, baked goods and knit items continued well into the afternoon. A lunch of chowder or chili was served during noon time. Many thanks to all who worked to make this Christmas Fair a great success.

The next meeting of the Women's Guild will be January
29. We will have as our speaker Kate Farager from the Family Violence Project in Augusta. We will meet at the church at 5:30 PM with supper at 6:00 PM. We hope all women of St. Andrew's will come to hear Kate as she talks about this very serious problem and what we can do to help.
Ann Whatley

Good News for the Nursery

Belated but warm thanks to Bob and Moira Fuller f or donating a new children's table and several lovely books to the nursery. The Women's Guild has also provided funds for mobiles, plastic building blocks, and posters to encour-age the little ones to go up the stairs and enjoy the nursery.

A large floor pillow would be a cozy addition as well as any safe playthings anyone would like to donate. It doesn't have to be new, just clean and safe to play with.
Elaine Folsom

[Note: The generosity of the Fullers and the Women's Guild just missed being acknowledged in the November newsletter. Because of the passage of time, check with Elaine on current needs of the nursery if you wish to donate.)

A Priest in Charge?

Since the retirement of Fr. John Miller, St. Andrew's has been essentially a lay-led congregation, under the over-all guidance of our rector, the Bishop of Maine. This ar-rangement is made possible by the willing and active participation of all retired clergy, including Fr. Miller, among us. The following comments and request for feedback are submitted by Carl Smith, who has been asked by the Bishop's Committee to collect ideas from the congregation for consideration.

From Carl Smith:

Discussions about the future of St. Andrew's among Bishop's Committee members and other parishioners, including conversations with Bishop Chilton, usually come back to the question of what kind of leadership we need for the future.
One of the options for the future is to engage a part-time priest in charge. But a fundamental question is, what would we expect him/her to do? What would be the job description?
So this is a request for you to think what we need from
a priest in charge. Maybe you have long thought of something we should be doing but haven't because we didn't have the leadership. Or maybe you have been talking with other members of the congregation and you have said, "I wish we could.

In its discussions so far, the Bishop's Committee leans toward continuing the rotation system we now have and asking the priest in charge to celebrate and preach perhaps two Sundays a month. Do you think that is a good idea?
It goes without saying that we have other problems we must solve before we go out looking for a priest in charge. We have to be sure we have the money, for instance. But the first step is to see if we have a consensus for what we need in our future leadership. That's the point of this request.
If you have ideas that you would like to have consid-ered by the parish as we think about our leadership for the future, please pass them on to me. You can leave a note in my box at church, send me an email message at crsmith@aol.com, mail me at 6 Melville Street, Augusta 04330 or call me at 629-0299.
I should make a report to the Bishop's Committee Tuesday February 19, so please get your ideas to me as soon as possible, but no later than February 15.
Thanks for your help.
Carl Smith

Fr. Jim Gill Responds

Dear Carl:
My ideas for the position description reflect my hopes for what St. Andrew's will look like in the future. I hope that we are not working toward the model of a "normal" Episcopal parish, with $100+ budget, a full-time seminary trained priest and ownership and upkeep of church and parish hall buildings. While this model may continue to have effectiveness in larger cities, I'm not sure it is the template into which we must squeeze ourselves.
St. Andrew's has a lot of positives now, like enough money to spend 10% on our bud-get on outreach (not so easy when a lot of dollars are tied up in maintaining buildings.)
I hope that the position description will say that we are looking for a collabora-tive-style leadership in the clergy person; one who is open to the rotation of cele-brant/preachers we now have in our aging retired clergy stock. I like the variety of liturgical and preaching styles we now have. Also, I would want some one who is open to the possibility of a locally-ordained priest on the team. Also, I'd like a person who appreciates lay sermons to be scheduled on a regular basis.

Church Growth? Studies I have read say that laity are the prime movers in this, when they say to a friend or neighbor, "Come on to St. Andrew's. Exciting things are happening there!" I have some difficulty envisioning what the day-to-day activity of a priest (1/3 time) would look like. Visiting the active congrega-tion members. Visiting the sick and shut-in to augment, not supplant lay visitation of these folks?

Thanks for listening to my contributions of the moment.
Jim Gill

Antique Mall Opening

Donna Banker announces the opening January 23 of her business venture, YankeeWay antique mall and auction, at its new location, 1316 Rt. 202, on the Geene-Leeds town line.

The Stars and Stripes to Fly Among the precious free-doms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution is freedom of re-ligion, the right to worship God in the way that we feel best expresses our faith. To symbolize our exercise of that right and respect for its pro-tection, an American flag will be raised Sundays on the pole next to the church, as autho-rized by the Bishop's Committee and discussed at the annual meeting.

Editor's Comments

The financial reports compiled by our diligent and capable treasurer, Gail Doughty, reveal that St. Andrew's enjoys a sound financial position. Our stewardship enables us to fund substantial outlays for such purposes as clergy and other leadership, the music program, outreach, and the diocesan assessment (actually our second largest expenditure after clergy and leadership).

A comparison of actual results for the last two years, however, suggests some reason for concern. In particular, our combined pledge and plate income declined in 2001 by about $4,400 from the year 2,000, or about 14%. The portion of the decline from a drop in pledge income is attributable to the loss of a small number of pledging members, from moving or because their spiritual needs are being met elsewhere. When mem-bers leave us because of their own spiritual quests, we can only give them our blessing. But, for me, the departure of parishioners because of unhappiness or some other dissatisfaction is more serious than the loss of their financial contributions.

Many have noted that St. Andrew's is like a big family, and we all know that we can get bruised, often unfairly, in family encounters, even as we are strengthened and healed by the love that surrounds us. So what am I saying? Much the same thing, I think, that Betty Peterson expresses in her own words in the letter that opens this Newsletter. To share in the love around us at St. Andrew's, we may occasionally have to roll with the punches.
Bill Sayres