AUGUST 2019 NEXT SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS AUGUST 21ST I was a Christian music fa- natic in my early twenties. I worked at the Student Center at San Diego State and was actually able to book my favorite Christian band Gen- tle Faith once for the weekly Friday outdoor concert held there. The Christian rock that I liked back then had a Cali- fornia feel to it – similar har- monies to the Beach Boys and the Eagles. But then Christian rock went to Nash- ville, where it likely became more polished, but also more commercial. The Christian music industry boomed, but I moved on or should I say moved back to listening to the Beatles, CSNY and other bands of similar repertoire. Down the road, I started lis- tening to the band U2, and had my connection between rock and faith strangely re- newed. Yes, I loved the soul- ful voice of Bono and the simple, drum beat rhythms that provided a foundation for Bono’s unique melodies. But I also learned quickly, that this latest pop phenome- non had a mature faith in Christ artfully and playfully sewn into their oft-times mysterious lyrics. Many know about their band’s so- cial causes – African pov- erty, AIDS, peace for North- ern Ireland and the like. A fewer number of their fans realize that the cause for their social justice work comes from their desire to “do to the least of these” as we would do if the one in need were Jesus himself. Christian Scharen, a Luther- an pastor, who has also had teaching stints at Yale Divin- ity School and other seminar- ies, has written a book about U2 and their artistic presen- tation of the Gospel. It’s called One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God. In the book, Scharen lays out how the band’s mu- sic calls not just church peo- ple but unbelievers to grap- ple with the ambiguities of faith, hope and love. In other words, Scharen suggests that helpfully, U2 recognizes that none of these things is easy. Their songs ask us to look at the truth of how challenging faith, hope and love are, and yet why Jesus and the Gospel U2 Music Featured In August Rappin’ with the Rev by Pastor Dave Milam compel us to seek and em- body these things. Following up on a similar such compelling series on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, I’m excited to notice how another of Paul’s letters, Co- lossians, connects with some of the themes that the band U2 teases and puts in front of their delighted fans. For four weeks, starting on August 11, Anthony Semiao is teaming with me to help us to listen and learn from U2 and Colos- sians how our spiritual lives can be fostered through truth- ful challenge while gaining insight into how the current of such spiritual lives can run deep and be nurturing. The philosopher Paul Ricœur once wrote that as we mature we get past our childish naive- té about the Bible and the ba- sics of our Christian faith. Having done so, we run the danger of cynicism and des- pair. So, he suggests that we seek to gain a second naiveté that finds deepening spiritual resourcefulness that preserve and still flourish in the truthful worlds of suffering, doubt, disappointment and the like. Both Colossians and the music of U2 seem to have an eye towards helping us gain such a second naiveté. I invite you to join us on these upcoming Sundays both as we enjoy the wonderful music of U2 as we gain from theirs and the in- sights from Paul’s Letter to the Colossians – August 11, 18, 25 and September 1. Yours in Christ, Pastor David Milam A large group of patriotic St Andrew folks gathered together to watch Purcellville’s Inde- pendence Day Parade.
Transcript
AUGUST 2019 NEXT SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS AUGUST 21ST
I was a Christian music fa-natic in my early twenties. I worked at the Student Center at San Diego State and was actually able to book my favorite Christian band Gen-tle Faith once for the weekly Friday outdoor concert held there. The Christian rock that I liked back then had a Cali-fornia feel to it – similar har-monies to the Beach Boys and the Eagles. But then Christian rock went to Nash-ville, where it likely became more polished, but also more commercial. The Christian music industry boomed, but I moved on or should I say moved back to listening to the Beatles, CSNY and other bands of similar repertoire.
Down the road, I started lis-tening to the band U2, and had my connection between rock and faith strangely re-newed. Yes, I loved the soul-ful voice of Bono and the simple, drum beat rhythms that provided a foundation for Bono’s unique melodies. But I also learned quickly, that this latest pop phenome-non had a mature faith in Christ artfully and playfully sewn into their oft-times mysterious lyrics. Many know about their band’s so-cial causes – African pov-erty, AIDS, peace for North-ern Ireland and the like. A fewer number of their fans realize that the cause for their social justice work comes from their desire to “do to the least of these” as we would do if the one in need were Jesus himself.
Christian Scharen, a Luther-an pastor, who has also had teaching stints at Yale Divin-ity School and other seminar-ies, has written a book about U2 and their artistic presen-tation of the Gospel. It’s called One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God. In the book, Scharen lays out how the band’s mu-sic calls not just church peo-ple but unbelievers to grap-ple with the ambiguities of faith, hope and love. In other words, Scharen suggests that helpfully, U2 recognizes that none of these things is easy. Their songs ask us to look at the truth of how challenging faith, hope and love are, and yet why Jesus and the Gospel
U2 Music Featured In August Rappin’ with the Rev by Pastor Dave Milam
compel us to seek and em-body these things.
Following up on a similar such compelling series on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, I’m excited to notice how another of Paul’s letters, Co-lossians, connects with some of the themes that the band U2 teases and puts in front of their delighted fans. For four weeks, starting on August 11, Anthony Semiao is teaming with me to help us to listen and learn from U2 and Colos-sians how our spiritual lives can be fostered through truth-ful challenge while gaining insight into how the current of such spiritual lives can run deep and be nurturing.
The philosopher Paul Ricœur once wrote that as we mature we get past our childish naive-té about the Bible and the ba-sics of our Christian faith. Having done so, we run the danger of cynicism and des-pair. So, he suggests that we
seek to gain a second naiveté that finds deepening spiritual resourcefulness that preserve and still flourish in the truthful worlds of suffering, doubt, disappointment and the like. Both Colossians and the music of U2 seem to have an eye towards helping us gain such a second naiveté. I invite you to join us on these upcoming Sundays both as we enjoy the wonderful music of U2 as we gain from theirs and the in-sights from Paul’s Letter to the Colossians – August 11, 18, 25 and September 1.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor David Milam
A large group of patriotic St Andrew folks gathered together to watch Purcellville’s Inde-
pendence Day Parade.
2 AUGUST 2019 LOAVES AND FISHES
ADULT MINISTRIES
Phoebe’s Sisters
If you are interested in joining this women’s group, which meets once a month, contact Suzanne Wade at [email protected].
The St. Andrew Book Club
This group meets monthly out-side the church. The next meet-ing is scheduled for 7:30 pm on August 24th at the home of Ann Schmidt. The book under discussion with be Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. Please contact Zoe Sowers at 540 338-0999 or [email protected] to join the dis-cussion.
Lovettsville Group
This group meets every other-Sunday evening for Bible study and welcomes others to join in. The meeting place rotates among the members of the group. The August meetings ar August 4th and 18th. Contact Debra Gutenson at 540 882-3205 or [email protected] for more information.
FP4H
First Place 4 Health, a faith-based weight loss program, meets every Monday evening at 7 pm. Contact Ally Fetch at 336 508-2610 or afetch @ gmail.com or Deborah Hill at 540 751-9818 or [email protected].
Men’s Group
This group meets the first Saturday of the month in the fellowship hall. Coffee starts at 7:30 am and breakfast/fellowship at 8:00 am. The next meeting is August 3rd. All men of the church are in-vited. To join, contact Chris Butkus if you are interested in joining ([email protected]).
Brunch Bunch
This group meets the second Monday of each month from 10:00 to 11:30 am in the church basement. The next meeting is August 12th and will continue to discuss les-sons from God’s Promise. For more information, contact Ann Paciulli at [email protected].
LOAVES AND FISHES AUGUST 2019 3
YOUTH AND CHILDREN MINISTRY
Pastor Dave baptized and welcomed the Marquardt twins, Ford and Barrett on July 7th. The
proud parents, Tyler and Kara, and big brother Roy joined them.
4 AUGUST 2019 LOAVES AND FISHES
To Mars and Beyond: a few pictures from Vacation Bible School held at St. An-
drew June 23rd through June 27th.
LOAVES AND FISHES AUGUST 2019 5
Choir Rehearsals, Wednesdays at 7 pm Contact Zack Henderson, zackh900@gmailcom
New Song, Sunday mornings before the service Contact Laurie Barbagallo 540 454-8215 or
St. Andrew Bell Ringers, Thursdays at 7:15 pm Contact Zoe Sowers 540 338-0999, [email protected]
(Off for the summer)
Children’s Choir, For Kindergarten through 5th grade. Wednesdays at 6:15 pm in the Music Room. Contact Zack Henderson, zackh900@gmailcom
We lift up our concerns
Congregation
Grey Gondella. Lynn Krepich. Melissa Macdonald. Priscilla O’Donnell. Pamela Schmidt. Betty Willis. June and Tom Hutchison. Tom Bolduc. Betty McNair.
We continue to pray for
Friends and Family
Maureen Blake for friends: Connie Lake to heal and Susan Simon who is peacefully entering palliative care. Roger Hessenius mourns the loss of his cousin Miriam, who died of a heart attack. George Cassutto for the death of Arthur Lewis. Hailey Shields for her camp counselor to get rest. June Hutchison for her daughter, Kim Butler’s upcoming foot surgery. Kristen Westfall for Wanda, who has caner and an up-coming CT scan. Bonnie Milam for her mother Sally Johnson’s move into independent living. Chris Buttrick’s grandfather, Robert Hodge has died. Mary Barnes, for her sister Peggy, who fell and broke a vertebra. Caroline for her Span-ish teacher who died on July 3rd from open heart surgery. Kathi Hottinger’s father-in-law who has a severely pulled hamstring. For Kathi’s former co-worker, Casey Carr from Winchester who had surgery for ovarian cancer and has chemo to follow. Also, Youth Pas-tor from her former church, Lauren Noelle is on bed rest for preeclamp-sia. Zoe Sowers for granddaughter, Kaylee hiking the Pacific Coast
Trail. Caitlin Blake for boyfriend’s dad with torn elbow. Deb Hill for friend Debbie Hyatt, diagnosed with breast cancer. Suzanne Wade’s brother, Randy Smith diagnosed with colon cancer. The Diehl’s cousin, Pat Oest has breast cancer. Kate Rohrbaugh’s dad, Donald Goddard with Parkinson’s disease..
Community/World
For the Hill family in Purcellville, who have been displaced by fire, son and father are severely burned. George, the son, is due for more surgery..
AUGUST BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES
Happy Anniversary this month to: 6 Tyler and Kara Marquardt 12 Mat and Melanie Curtis Carson and JoAnna Rich 18 Zack and Emily Henderson 19 Chris and Robin Laybourne 30 Daniel and Amber Gillispie 31 Mark and Andie Broshkevitch Happy Birthday this month to: 1 AT Ntantang 4 Chris York 5 Annabelle Macdonald Dee Treptow 6 Colin Falter Jenna Henderson Carolyn Wagers Betty Willis 10 Sally Gehl
AUGUST MUSIC REHEARSALS
11 Tony Noerpel 12 Chris MacWhorter Brian Sullivan 13 Roger Hessenius Lynn Krepich 14 Clark Seipt 15 Kirsten Blake 16 Reagan Fike 18 Nancy Aiello 22 Rebecca Falter Zoe Sowers 23 Kent Carneal 27 Kim Peele 28 Abbie Brown Liam Mitchell Brad Morell Gunner Ronan Matt Wilburn 29 Chase York
LORD HEAR OUR PRAYERS
Flower Calendar
If you would like to provide flowers to decorate the
sanctuary, please sign up on the Flower Calendar in
the entryway. Purcellville Florist will deliver the
flowers to the church in time for the Sunday service
if you order from them. Of course, you are free to
The deadline for each issue of Loaves & Fishes is the 21st of each month. The next deadline is AUGUST 21st. Please send your submissions to Sally Brenton at [email protected]..
Experience the Holy Land
Israel/Palestine
Summer trip 2020
Pastor Dave invites you to join him on a trip to Israel/
Palestine next summer in July. The trip is open to all
church members, friends, and family. The cost is
$4,500.00, which includes airfare and all expenses in
