Sep 20

St. Andrew's Shield

“...above all taking the Shield of Faith ...” Ephesians 6:16

Volume 51, Number 18 September 20, 2006

From the Parish Associate

Last week in my mail there was a flyer promoting a bible Seminar on the book of Revelation at which one would “learn about the United States in Bible prophecy.” Sound intriguing? Considering that these United States did not exist at the time Revelation was written, one wonders what might be learned.

This abuse of the book of Revelation might cause some to dismiss the book altogether, while others might become curious regarding the book. In fact, the history of this book is almost as interesting as the book is itself. John Calvin, the “father of Presbyterianism”, wrote twenty-six commentaries on the New Testament but he did not write a commentary on Revelation. Martin Luther denied its functional canonical status and even the late theologian Rudolph Bultmann saw very limited value of it. Our lectionary as well as the Roman Catholic lectionary has only minimal readings from this book, and the Greek Orthodox lectionary omits it altogether. Such is the varied history of this book. Yet it is part of our scripture and we can neither ignore it nor allow it to be used only by those who abuse it.

The Bible is concerned with the “mighty acts of God” in history. So our first task is to understand the historical situation in which John wrote as well as an understanding of the genre he employed to convey his message. By this approach we will come to understand that Revelation does not speak about our time but rather speaks to our time.

The ten week class (five this fall and five next spring) will not and can not exhaust the full meaning of the book but will give us the tools for a better understanding of its message to our age.

We have a good group already registered but we still have room for more. We begin next Sunday, October 1, at 4:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall.

Peace,

Rodgers

St. Andrew’s Serving Schedule
Greeters:
Sept 24	Dick Balser
Oct 1	Mari and Rob Turley
Acolyte:
Sept 24	Spencer Schnoor
Oct 1	Mickey Ross
Ushers:
Sept 24	Ray Tucker and Mike Bolick
Oct 1	Donna Lee and Betty Weigel
Refreshments:
Sept 24	Jan and Bob Talbott
Oct 1	Betty Harper and Betty Harris

Focus Team is off and . . . focusing!

Your Focus Team began its work together on September 10 by viewing another of Dewitt Jones’ excellent videos. This one was entitled, appropriately, “Focus Your Vision” and included the following key concepts:

	Keep your vision focused – when we focus our visions, we find their purpose
	Stop, look and listen – great visions don’t leap out to meet us, so we need to slow down and understand what’s happening
	Hold on to the best, let the rest fall away – intellect helps us find which parts of our visions are really important and which to get rid of
	Trust your intuition – if we learn to trust it, our intuition can reveal spectacular visions
	It’s not trespassing to go beyond your own boundaries – taking risks and expanding our horizons helps us turn visions into reality
	Make your vision big enough – the really big visions should never be focused too tightly
	Do you have “juice” in your camera? Juice is the passion, the energy needed to realize our visions

This Focus Team (Becky Balser, Kris Farnsworth, Gary Griffith, Joni Schnoor, Dan Sheehan, Emile Tucker, and Robin Williams) is so enthusiastic about their responsibility that they want to meet every couple of weeks to do their work – which doesn’t mean that they’ll be finished in record time, because this task is too important to rush through. They will focus on four areas:

	Focus on God – what does the Bible tell us to do?
	Focus on our members – what do they need to help them grow in faith?
	Focus on our community – what Good News do they need to hear, and how can we tell it to them?
	Focus on the building – what kind of space do we need to do what God is calling us to do?

As this is being written (Thursday, September 14), the Little Light House Board representative has not contacted us regarding their long-range plan, nor have they made us any offer on our property. So we still don’t know if they will be making an offer, and whether or not we would accept it. In the meantime, we wait and pray and do our own planning.

OCTOBER POTLUCK….

October Potluck to feature Partners in Education –

Waite Phillips Elementary School and Frog and Toad.

Mark your calendar for Wednesday, October 4, at 6:15 pm and plan on attending for food, fun, information and entertainment. As St. Andrew's again plans to sponsor a fun fall event for the students of Waite Phillips, we would like to invite everyone to be present to

1. EAT - bring a side dish or dessert to go with the chili we'll be serving

2 .ENJOY - music and stories from Frog and Toad

3. LEARN - about ways you can be involved with the event we will be hosting October 28.

Program Team and Music Ministry Issues a TREE PLEA!

We are seeking Christmas trees to use during the Advent Season at St. Andrew's. If you have an unused tree that would like to be part of our "celebration of trees" please contact Kathy Call.

W A R N I N G!

There is about to be a mass clean-out of storage areas housing items - furniture, machines, etc. - that are no longer usable or being used. If you know of anything that might be mistaken as belonging in one of these categories you are encouraged to move, label, or otherwise protect from this effort to reclaim our closets!

Sanctuary Choir Rehearsals are now including the special music that will be presented during the holidays. All interested in being part of the music ministry of St. Andrew's are invited to come Wednesdays at 7:00 pm and help us "make a joyful noise".

Dear St. Andrew’s,

The prayers, cards, and words of concern were a great source of comfort and support during the illness and death of our Mother, Grandma, and “Grandma Great”. We were blessed by her long life and peaceful delivery into God’s hands. Our thanks to all of our church family.

Sincerely, The Talbotts – Jan, Bob, Leslie, Lance and Nicky

Diana Henderson just returned from a weekend in Winfield, KS attending the 35th annual Walnut Valley Festival of acoustic music. The great music and meeting old friends made it worth enduring the hot windy Kansas weather.

ST. ANDREW’S

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN

Mark your calendars now for the Presbyterian Women meeting on October 5 at 12:00 noon. More details to follow in Church bulletin.

Lost:

If anyone finds a white DOVE shaped pin, please contact Donna Lee. Thank you.

If you have to miss worship on any given Sunday, you can find both the bulletin and the sermon on the web. Webmaster, Emerson Parker, adds them to our website each week, and adds The Shield on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. Our address is www.standrewstulsa.org.

St. Andrew’s Special Prayers and Concerns…

Please call the Church office if you know of someone who needs to be added to or removed from our Prayers and Concerns list.

Presbytery Prayer List

Please remember these friends in your daily and weekly prayers…

Sept 24 – Sept 30, 2006

The First Church in Caddo and the United Campus Ministries as well as the Presbytery of Mid-Kentucky, Mid-South, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi, North Alabama, and St. Andrew.

Oct 1 – Oct 7, 2006

The Bristow Church in Bristow and Emergency Infant Services along with the presbyteries of Sheppard’s and Lapsley, South Alabama, Transylvania, Western Kentucky, Blackhawk and the Synod of Lincoln Trails.

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE

Please make a note of these future events…

Sept 22 6:30p.m. Mariners Movie Night – Fellowship Hall

Sept 24 9:00a.m. Sunday School

10:00a.m. Worship Service

11:00a.m. Fellowship Time

11:30a.m. Focus Team

4:00p.m. St. Andrew’s Singers

5:00p.m. Youth Group

Sept 25 5:30p.m. Homeless Feeding

Sept 26 7:00p.m. Bunko – Fellowship Hall

Sept 27 7:00p.m. Sanctuary Choir

Oct 1 Communion

9:00a.m. Sunday School

10:00a.m. Worship Service

11:00a.m. Fellowship Time

4:00p.m. St. Andrew’s Singers

5:00p.m. Youth Group

Oct 4 6:15p.m. Potluck Dinner

7:00p.m. Sanctuary Choir

Oct 5 11:00a.m. PW Coordinating Team

12:00Noon PW Luncheon