Son Times Winter 2024 by St. Andrew Lutheran Church

SON TIMES

Wonders of His Love

Do you have a sense of wonder about life and faith? Wonder can be described as a sense of reverence, awe, and curiosity. Dwelling in wonder requires openness, patience, and even vulnerability.

Modern life, in many ways, can diminish our sense of wonder. We often think in terms of the ordinary rather than the extraordinary. With instant access to technology, information, and AI, we rarely need to wonder about answers—they’re right at our fingertips. Full schedules and our drive for efficiency and productivity can lead us into routines prioritizing results over open-ended imagination, which may seem unproductive. Even our beloved Christmas season can lack wonder as we focus more on planning and doing than simply being. In our busyness, we may miss how God has something fresh to speak to us.

We also witness many places of discord and brokenness in our country and world. Using the themes of Advent, we might say there is darkness in our world. When will God show up to bring light and hope again?

Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas serves as a well-known analogy for the pace and priorities of the season, as seen in Whoville. The narrator reminds us: “Maybe Christmas, he thought, does not come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more.”

Join me in restoring a sense of wonder this Advent and Christmas. Isn’t it amazing that while God created the stars of heaven, God is mindful of all humanity (see Psalm 8)? Isn’t it remarkable that humble people like Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds were part of God’s greatest story, the birth of Jesus? Doesn’t 2,000 years of historical Christian faith give us pause at the Spirit’s enduring wisdom? Indeed, the works of God are wonderful and marvelous.

This newsletter and our ministry this season invite us to look around and rediscover God’s wonder and blessings. Wonder is present in children’s eyes during our new Candle Time and around the Christmas nativity scene in the Narthex. It’s found in our Advent Wednesday evening worship. God’s love unfolds in surprising ways worldwide through a member serving in Honduras and Church Anew’s emerging partnership with the Lutheran church in Alaska.

When it comes to God, there is always something new happening, emerging, and coming into the world. Let us see it anew this season, and may we be inspired.

See you in worship,

Peter Johnson Senior Pastor

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!”

A Little Peace on Earth

One aspect of the Christmas story that we can all relate to is the hustle and bustle of a crowded scene in Bethlehem! There’s no room in the inn for Mary and Joseph, who are weary from their travels. The month of December can be a time of weariness for many of us as well. Our schedules are packed with many activities—no room in the inn, metaphorically speaking! It’s all good stuff to be sure but we need a little peace on earth.

Earlier this Fall, we focused our collective attention on a beautiful prayer from Ephesians, where Paul encourages us believers to stay rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. As we carry this focus with us into Advent and Christmas, your pastors and I felt strongly that we wanted to add a worship component to our schedules for the season of Advent. In the same way that we gather on Wednesday evenings during Lent for worship, prayer, scripture, and song, we want to offer a similar midweek worship offering in Advent to keep us rooted and grounded in our faith as we prepare for Christ to be born anew in our hearts and our world at Christmas. We invite you to join us this year as we begin a new tradition of Advent worship on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM. Not only do we worship together, but we also gather for a meal and fellowship, adult education, programming for youth and families, choir rehearsals, etc. We aim to provide some “peace on earth” during a busy season, some “candle time” as we’re calling it. I’ve always loved the old saying, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” This midweek worship opportunity helps us do just that as we focus on faith enrichment during Advent.

The music of the Christmas season is rich with meaning and memories, and it is such a source of inspiration and comfort for us. With that in mind, we thought it would be a nice addition to the Wednesday schedule to offer an extended time of preservice music for each of these Wednesdays, from 6:15–6:30 PM when worship begins. We invite you to come early for dinner and fellowship so you can head into the sanctuary to enjoy some live seasonal musical offerings. Here’s the schedule for this music:

Wednesday, December 4

Wednesday, December 11

Tim Graf—piano music

Jodi Edstrom—flute music

Wednesday, December 18 .................... Barb Carroll—organ music

A wonderful atmosphere of fun and fellowship happens here on Wednesday evenings throughout the program year. If you haven’t been a part of it, consider yourself invited to join the festivities! There may have been no room at the inn for Mary and Joseph, but there’s a place for you here in this family that we call St. Andrew.

See you in church!

Tim

Graf

Director of Worship & Music

Since 2010, Seeds of Support Missions has been creating spaces for St. Andrew members to experience the wonders of God’s love around the world, first in Haiti and now in Belize. Hundreds of people have experienced the beauty of God’s global community and have been empowered to live out their faith in new ways as a result.

St. Andrew member Morgan Zangs is a living testament to the power a short-term mission trip can have on a young person’s life. As a high school student, she and her mom, Jill, traveled to Haiti with Seeds of Support. The experience touched her deeply and led her to continue volunteering at church and in the community after the trip. Now a recent college graduate, Morgan is currently living in Honduras for 14 months volunteering at a children’s home. She points to her trip to Haiti as the initial seed for her desire to serve and give back and how it opened her eyes to the wonders of God’s world:

What are you doing in Honduras?

Morgan Zangs: I am volunteering at Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH), a children’s home where we work to provide at-risk children protection, education, and health. There are about 180 children who call NPH Honduras home, living here, attending school here… Some of the children without the help of NPH would be living in extreme poverty or homeless with their human rights violated. We are all a family taking care of one another. I help with social media platforms, write success stories, and inform people about the work we do. At night, I spend time with my Hogar (home) of 11 children ages 7-14. I help with dinner, homework (including English homework), and putting them to bed. My favorite part is reading them bedtime stories.

Why did you choose to volunteer abroad after finishing college?

MZ: While finishing college, I decided to spend a year giving back to those in need. My family has instilled a love of philanthropy in me since I was young. I grew up volunteering in the St. Andrew nursery, participating in the National Charity League, and many other organizations. Growing up as blessed as I was with a loving family and a place to call home, I was aware that others were not as fortunate as me.

What was a highlight for you on your mission trip to Haiti in high school?

MZ: During my mission trip, I was shocked to see how welcomed we were into their community. It was my first time visiting a third-world country, and my culture shock was unbelievable. The trip pushed me far beyond my bubble, and I truly saw how blessed I had been…I was also touched by the happiness of the children. Seeing the way these children grew up compared to my own life, it was amazing to see how much joy they had. Watching them play, sing, and dance just like I did when I was young. I believe that’s where my first draw to work with children came from because they never fail to be a light in your life.

How did your experiences in Haiti impact you in the longer term?

MZ: The Haiti mission trip opened my eyes to the experiences of other people. I witnessed hardships I did not know existed and was humbled by how blessed I am. Returning from that experience, I spent many years volunteering in high school and college however I could. This eventually led me to NPH Honduras. My trip to Haiti planted the seed. I saw what I could do with 10 days in Haiti and was empowered to make an impact over 14 months in Honduras. It is a fulfilling experience to see firsthand the impact you are making on someone’s life, and it is a gift I could never replace.

What are you hoping to get out of your year abroad? Where have you seen God at work so far in Honduras?

MZ: Through my time in Honduras, I am hoping to make an impact on the children’s lives. Whether that is helping them learn English or making sure they can feel my unconditional love. It is important that these children know I am here for them, and no matter what their past is, I will always be someone who loves them, and they can count on me. We are a loving home where we welcome everyone with open arms. When entering the home, you can feel the presence of faith surrounding you and the tranquility of God at work.

Linnae Stole

Youth Bells Director, Seeds of Support Board Member

And wonders, wonders of His love: Of Antifreeze and a Cup of Coffee

On November 18, 2024, at precisely 1:25 PM, the sun will set in Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska. It will rise again at 1:15 PM. January 23, 2025, and then for just 45 minutes. It is hard to imagine life in a world of darkness, isn’t it? Yet, just a few hundred miles south and a little west, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Nome, Alaska, provides a different kind of light to this wilderness outpost along the Bering Sea. It is a city that swells with gold prospectors in the summer, and cruise ship passengers disembark to capture some of its exotic history and present. In the winter, elite teams of dogs with their handlers cross the Iditarod finish line after trotting 1,000 miles over mountains and along frozen rivers, tundra, and oceans. Between this influx of visitors and tourists, it is home to a bustling city filled with schools and churches and healthcare facilities, banks and bars and grocery stores, a regional airport, young and old and in between, Inupiaq and non-Inupiaq alike. Choirs will sing and wonders, wonders of His love in 4-part harmony against the darkness of that arctic sky just as we will here on Christmas Eve. And the heavens will be ablaze with the wonder of this love, the birth of hope and grace alive in the voice of a baby.

This year, St. Andrew, through Church Anew, under the theme Renewing Reformation, will have an impact and a “voice in the angelic choir” singing of the wonders of his love in Nome, Alaska. In a late-night Zoom meeting with the Church Council in Nome, Prs Matthew Fleming, Meta Herrick Carlson, and Susan Tjornehoj from Church Anew, at the encouragement of the Alaskan Bishop, invited their pastor and Council to participate in a pilot program. The evening was filled with a spice mix of

suspicion and skepticism and a little hope. Through the abundant generosity of a Lilly Endowment Grant, some imagination, a retreat in a “dome home” in the woods of Eden Prairie, lovely worship, a couple of bishops, a couple more pastors, Pr Amanda, who serves the Lutheran church in Nome, went home with God’s love made known through the promise of antifreeze and a fixed furnace. Mission and flourishing along the Bering Sea and the wonders of God’s love are all wrapped up in being warm and a furnace with antifreeze streaming through its veins. It is truly a matter of life and death. Isn’t it amazing what hope mixed with a little grant funding can do to bring Light to arctic darkness?

Years ago, we were standing with a leader of the Lutheran congregation in Wales, Alaska, the westernmost tip of the North American Continent. Ongtowasruk stood looking across the Bering Strait, where the hills of Siberia seemed close enough to touch, the wind howling, and said, “Look, you can see tomorrow from here.” And so we could, the date-line so random, yet true. Because of Church Anew and the vision of St. Andrew, the dreams of a new tomorrow and the wonders of God’s love will help shape a community gathering space inside Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. The pastor is clear, “We don’t have a coffee shop anywhere in Nome. We did, but with COVID, it didn’t survive.” Elders need a place to gather to feel safe; young people need a place to gather and feel safe that is welcoming and pretty, employs people, and extends the Light and Wonder of His Love. This Lutheran pastor from Nome left a wooded retreat in Eden Prairie with a plan, support, and encouragement. Because of St. Andrew’s

generous imagination and financial investment by Lilly Endowment and individual donors, a coffee shop launch is planned, just as those first dogs and their drivers cross the finish line in Nome around March 10. Maybe some of you would like to make a trip up north to Alaska to witness the sun’s return, some dogs trotting across the finish line, and be part of a group of Jesus’ followers who have a passion for welcome and hospitality and a cup of coffee. You will maybe even learn a few words of Inupiaq like kupiaq (coffee), alapah (cold) or quyanna (thank you, but with even more grace). This will jump-start the next pop-up when the passengers on the cruise ships, the gold prospectors, and summer tourists show up looking for a cup of coffee and a comfortable chair as slowly but surely, this sparkle of a sacred idea becomes part of the fabric of hope in Nome, Alaska—for those seeking sobriety and health and the wonders of God’s love.

Susan Tjornehoj Interim Transition Pastor

The Wonder of Children—What Is God Up To Here?

Storytelling and Prayer

Thomas was in first grade and came to worship in a suit and tie. It was his day to share one prayer petition with the congregation. He was ready for this moment but confessed to being a little nervous, so we took a few minutes to practice. When it was time, I gave him the signal, and he climbed onto the plastic stool so he could see over the altar—and so everyone could see him— and he prayed.

“Dear God, your creation is a mess. Please help everyone pick up a piece of litter on their way home today so we can start cleaning it up. Amen.”

Tayler was in 5th grade. She had taken the assisting minister training and was robed in an alb with a cincture. She led the confession, read the prayer of the day, served communion, and wrote and delivered the prayers of God’s people. Tayler began her prayers with these words;

“Dear God. Our world is a mess. Australia is on fire because of climate change. Animals are dying. Please keep the animals safe, and help us help them. Amen.”

Sam was 2 years old when he experienced the story of Noah’s ark through Godly Play. The storyteller used intentional movement, simple props, and carefully chosen words. After hearing and watching the story once, Sam picked up the props and told the story beautifully with his chubby little hands and arms using the movements and the props.

Love Your Neighbor

Norah was in third grade when her mom was in treatment for cancer, and because sometimes the medicine made her mom feel chilly, Norah wanted to provide a little cozy comfort for her and others receiving cancer treatment. So, at her 9th birthday party, she asked her friends to bring two pieces of blanketsized polar fleece instead of presents. The 9-year-olds made polar fleece tie blankets for cancer patients during her party. A few days later, Norah, her mom, and her brother drove to a cancer hospital and presented 15 patients with a blanket.

Michael was in fifth grade and super excited after Sunday school on March 15, 2020, because he learned the following Sunday was Sandwich Day. Sandwich Day was an annual tradition when all the Sunday school kids aged 4-6th grade came together to make 1,500 sandwiches for people experiencing homelessness. However, when everything shut down on March 18 because of COVID-19 and sandwich making was canceled, Michael asked his mom if his family could still make sandwiches because people would still be homeless and hungry. So, with masks and gloves, a few loaves of bread, and some cheese, Michael and his family made 50 sandwiches.

Noah was in 7th grade when he volunteered to be a Sunday school leader. One of the first graders was hesitant

about Sunday school because he didn’t know anyone. Noah noticed him and started a conversation that made all the difference. The little boy felt welcome and told his mom all about Noah and how awesome he was.

I wonder what God is up to when young children write their prayers imploring God to help us take care of creation, tell Bible stories before they can talk, decide to make blankets for cancer patients, and organize sandwichmaking during a pandemic? I wonder what God is up to when middle school students show radical hospitality and welcome and high school students lead our congregation to love and care for our neighbors? What does this mean for us? What does this mean for grownups and church leaders?

Maybe God is speaking through our kids, and maybe our kids are leading us.

Arlene Flancher Children’s Minister

Worship and Art

The Creche

During the season of Advent sometime in early December, Tom Anderson comes to church to set up the creche in the Narthex. Tom and Lonnie Anderson donated it to St. Andrew many years ago and added pieces each year until it was complete. It includes gorgeous pieces from their travels all around the world. There are elephants, camels, houses, cows, horses, nativity figures, a stable, lanterns, a star, and all kinds of things that capture the wonder and imagination of Advent and the Christmas Season.

The best part about this creche? It is set up in the round and at a height perfect for small children. Kids love to walk around finding different treasures each week, pointing and talking excitedly with their parents and other adults. You will often find a child standing quietly and taking it all in. I wonder what God is up to through this lovely gift. I wonder what God is up to in the hearts and minds of kids as they explore it.

Wiggle & Worship

About ten years ago, Pastor Matthew and I met with a group of parents of young children, musicians, and a movement artist. Together, we wondered what a Christmas Eve worship service might look and feel like if we centered children and families with young children. I wonder what might happen if St. Andrew became a place where children could bring their whole selves to worship—wiggles, giggles, shouts, dancing, moving around, and all.

Arlene Flancher Children’s Minister

In the heart of summer, as laughter and camaraderie fill the air, the camp experience fosters personal growth and lifelong memories. In this interview, we delve into the transformative journeys of two camp leaders, Brian Evans and Blake Wragge, who reflect on their past experiences as campers and their growth into impactful roles at Spirit in the Pines. They share insights into the profound benefits of working at camp, not just for personal development but also for forging connections and preparing for future careers. Their stories highlight the unique, life-changing opportunities that await those who embrace the camp lifestyle.

How does your time at camp still impact your life today?

Brian Evans: There’s nothing in life that can prepare you for 12 back-to-back weeks of busloads of kids being dropped off at a lakeside camp in northern Minnesota with the expectations that we, the staff members of the Spirit in the Pines, have entire weeks’ worth of wholesome, reflective, and beyond fun programming in store. I think back to my interview

with Burke Hancer (my boss, mentor, and friend as Camp Minister of over 40 years—happy retirement, Burke!!) as he tried to describe what life would be like in Hackensack, MN. I am so glad he failed to do so. I think if he had been able to encapsulate how my life would have been so impacted, it would have scared me off.

I served as a member of the God Squad all four summers of my collegiate career. As each year, I attended Gustavus Adolphus College and had my world rocked by one existential milestone after another; I knew I had the calm of Spirit in the Pines to look forward to resettling myself and spending a summer with the most incredible humans who helped me through those pivotal life moments.

Now, when I say calm, I assume everyone is not picturing screaming kids telling me to go around the room because my elbow was on the table (it wasn’t, by the way). Still, they might imagine the ease I felt in life after my experience at camp, realizing it prepared me to feel like I could face anything. As I said earlier, nothing can prepare you for what life

may bring, but the opportunity to live in the fullness of myself can allow for a bit of practice to at least try to be.

Blake Wragge: Camp affects my life each and every day. First, I have developed my faith, and my relationship with God is on my mind daily. I try to live my life in honor of God and demonstrate his love and mercy in each action. I constantly try to show this love, grace, and mercy to my friends, family, co-workers, and students. Second, the skills I developed at camp help me every day at my job as a teacher. Keeping kids engaged and building meaningful relationships are essential to teaching. I learned these things at camp, as well as how to pivot and keep things going when things don’t work out. There isn’t a day that goes by that my experiences at camp don’t impact my daily life.

What’s your first memory of camp? BE: First official day on the job. 8th graders are coming. It’s a pirate theme. We, ambitious as always, had the idea of getting on the boat, having Burke bring the kids down to the shoreline, and we would boat up on them and deliver the news that we were taking over the camp and they best shape up of ship out. However, we were all so busy getting the camp ready for the first time campers would be at Spirit in the Pines that we panicked when the bus arrived early. We were not prepared. We didn’t have a skit, per se, as much as we had more or less a concept of a skit, and it was an unmitigated disaster. We were decked out in all this haphazard pirate gear we grabbed last minute, disheveled, and half-sick from circling in the lake; we all stumbled out of the boat and started yelling, in thick pirate accents, without any cohesive plan. After several minutes of this and a long, awkward pause, Burke sighed, shook his head at us, sighed “Okay,” and left us. Great start!

BW: My earliest camp memory is being divided into Olympic teams for 8th and 9th-grade week, and my friend Kevin “Buck Nasty” Greening and I created our camp cheer to Aye Bay Bay by Hurricane Chris. That and Steve Branham yelling “David Pagent” while life squad played basketball with the campers. I was late coming to camp, but I loved it immediately.

What inspired you to move into a camp leadership role after you finished being a camper?

BE: Fun fact—I was never a camper or a counselor at Spirit in the Pines. I essentially lucked out and became friends with Burke’s niece, Marie, during my first year of college. Not knowing what I might do over the summer, I met them for breakfast and, for the first time, beheld Burke’s infamous use of pepper on his eggs (I didn’t know a human could

ingest that much pepper in a meal). I was grateful to be offered the summer gig, and they kept me on for three years. BW: I wanted to work at camp because I had a life-changing experience with God during a mission trip. I tried to find a way to serve God and thank Him for all the wonderful things He had blessed me with. Camp was something that was suggested to me by Mel Williams. I had only been to camp four times, but after my last time as a counselor, I knew I wanted to return and make a positive impact like the others before me. Each day I worked at camp, I tried to be thankful to God for all He has done for me and viewed the job as “working for God,” which completely changed my life. When you envision working at camp as “working for God,” you are in constant service to others, and it is incredible what you can accomplish when serving others.

(Continued on pg.11)

Camp Registration 2025

The camp lottery opens 8:00 AM Saturday, December 7th. Visit the camp website to learn more information and register.

Camp Questions?

Sarah Blasing sblasing@standrewlu.org

It is hard for parents these days to see the benefit of being on camp staff; what perspective would you offer these parents of college students?

BE: As an Embodied Arts professor at Bates College, I can attest that nothing is more impactful in the learning process than doing while learning. If you want to learn how to build and repair cars, you have to build and repair ’em. If you’re going to learn a language, immerse yourself in a community that speaks the language. If you want to deepen your understanding of how folks from all walks of life can co-exist through cooperative, creative caretaking, be a camp staff member. In my experience of higher ed, schooling is becoming more and more geared toward what we might do for a career and further from helping us understand why we do what we do and who we might or should become along the way. Working and living at Spirit in the Pines made for a wholistically healthy foundation for me to reflect on my faith, integrate the knowledge I was gathering in college, encourage me to be creative in how I could and would show that to my community, and allow me the opportunity to teach and model what it might look like to be a positive role model for everyone who came up to our oasis in the woods! The lifestyle of camp staff members certainly isn’t for everyone, but if you are on the fence, I can say that my experience, no doubt, made me a better dad, spouse, artist, and human!

BW: I would tell parents that working at camp is a life-changing job that will benefit their college kids for a lifetime. They will learn skills that will transfer to any career, like working with others, self-sacrifice, hard work, plumbing, kitchen work, putting others before yourself, leadership, customer service, and the list goes on and on. I have worked with people at camp who have become teachers, lawyers, doctors, pastors, accountants, business managers, counselors, therapists, and much more. All the skills you learn and the character camp develops will benefit any college-aged student for a lifetime. On top of all that, they will build lifelong bonds and connect with a community of alumni who all share the same experience.

What are your hopes and dreams for spirit in the pines?

BE: Arts education, faith, and health communities are some of the last spaces that support the cultivation of the skills needed to move through this life with humble confidence and courageous vulnerability. It’s no great secret that engaging in some positive reflective and embodied process helps. I hope Spirit in the Pines continues to provide a space for folks to try and figure out this life stuff we are so fortunate to experience and to continue the teachings of gratitude and stewardship. To help everyone understand that by sitting in that beautiful lodge, where so many of us make up the histories and legacies, we are responsible for the best practices we choose to carry on and carry forward. I dream that we should all be so lucky to have a few days, a camp week, multiple summers, or a career pouring our energies into such a worthy endeavor—to provide the tools

and the teachings to make our lives and those around us and beyond just a little bit better and have a blast doing it! That was my reality for those four summers and every day since!

BW: I hope to send my kids and grandkids to camp and one day have some of my ashes spread at camp when I pass. I love camp, but I specifically love how God works up there. It allowed my brother and I to have the relationship we have now. I hope camp continues to embrace the wonderful traditions of the past while continuing to evolve (like it has done with the waterfront). I hope that decisions are made by people who love, care for, and understand camp. I believe it is the best ministry St. Andrew shares with the world, and I hope that focus stays at the forefront. I dream the camp will expand its land and have another camp move in across Pleasant Lake for an inter-camp rivalry like in the movie Heavyweights. I hope future staff focuses on serving others and that Spirit in the Pines lasts hundreds of years and generations come to enjoy it.

Caleb Wragge Spirit in the Pines Program Director

Meghan Kelley Spirit in the Pines Assistant Director

Sarah Blasing Spirit in the Pines Camp Director

Spirit in the Pines

Circuitous and Wonderful

In 1719, one of the great hymn writers of the English language, Isaac Watts, published an interpretation of Psalm 98 and Genesis 3. It calls for the entire creation to “shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,” and to “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.” More than a century later, on an entirely different continent, Lowell Mason (who founded much of early music education in the United States) set a new tune to the text. He attributed the tune to Handel, but no musicologists can find any tune in Handel’s many (many!) tunes that match. It’s possible that he was inspired by the choruses from “Messiah” that many of us listen to around the Christmas season. Still, Handel would likely be confused by this attribution from across the pond and several centuries later.

From Psalm 98, the journey weaves through a British writer, an American banker and music educator, and one of the favorite composers of the Baroque period, ultimately leading us back into our sanctuaries for Christmas celebrations. It’s a long and winding road, but it is filled with people listening for the voice of Jesus calling out to us from the pages of this ancient text.

Martin Luther frequently commented that the Scriptures are the cradle (or manger) that carry Christ. Indeed, we can sing a new song, or rather an old song set to an older hymn and sung anew in our sanctuary. This Christmas, as we sing with joy for the coming of Christ, perhaps we will be drawn into the great stories of our faith that follow circuitous and wonderful routes. We add our own voices to this grand chorus that stretches before our grandparents were born and will last beyond the time of our grandchildren.

Matthew Ian Fleming Pastor of Teaching Church Anew Director

St. Andrew by the Numbers Advent &

Christmas

150 poinsettia plants

12 volunteers needed to help place poinsettias in the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall

5 candles on the Advent Wreath

450 chairs set up in the Fellowship Hall for Wiggle & Worship

50 ushers needed for Christmas services

125 participants in the 2023 Children’s Christmas Program

8 Christmas worship services

600 children’s activity bags assembled for children attending Christmas worship

30 greeters needed for Christmas Services

Looking for Volunteers Christmas is just around the corner with lots of opportunities to volunteer! If you would like to help, visit our website or scan the code.

18 Christmas trees displayed throughout St. Andrew

94 battery candles for decorating the Altar, Narthex, and Fellowship Hall

More Christmas Red…

Order Christmas Poinsettias to decorate the sanctuary. Flowers are for sale now through December 10th. $20 per flower. Orders can be placed online or at the front desk. (Flowers can be taken home after the Christmas Day service and throughout the following week.)