St. Andrew & Holy Communion

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Welcome to St. Andrew & Holy Communion
Celebrating 150 years of ministry in South Orange, NJ!

We are not whole when you are not here!

Who we are:

We are a colorful tapestry of faith, weaving together both believers and seekers. We say we are a church which is loose around the edges and solid at the core.

We mean that we hold to the fullness of the Christian faith as we have received it, but we try to practice the openness that Jesus displayed in his own life. He rejected judgmental religion and believed everyone had a right to a relationship with God and a welcome in the community. So do we.

Children are at the center of our life together and we live out the saying that "it takes a whole village to raise a child." Children know this place to be home – a safe sanctuary in which they are loved and in which their spirits are nurtured and tutored so that they might be resourceful and contributing members of the wider community. They are respected for the gifts they bring to us and encouraged to discover those gifts and to use them as they lead worship on the first Sunday of every month.

The Episcopal Church of St. Andrew & Holy Communion
Parish Office: 973 763-2355
FAX: 973 763-1120

Summer Sunday Services at a glance:

9:00 a.m. Mass
10:00 a.m. Small Fry Mass - for Families with Small Children
10:40 a.m. Fellowship Hour

Please see the "Week Ahead" in the right column for more information on services and other events coming up.

St. Andrew and Holy Communion is collecting backpacks with school supplies for the Apostles' House in Newark. Please bring in school supplies in backpacks so that we can help prepare needy children for the start of school.

Check out our brand-new Facebook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/South-Orange-NJ/St-Andrew-and-Holy-Communion-Episcopal-Church/109974582351700

Our graduating Seniors presented poems that they had written or collected for our Graduation Sunday. Following is the poem presented by Eric Bennett, a poem by William Ernest Henley,

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

The Earthquake in Haiti

Dear Friends,

As so many of us know, yesterday was a devastating day for the people of Haiti, in the wake of a horrible earthquake. We especially pray for Joy and Antus Manasse and their family. We pray with our brothers and sisters in this devastation, and I am including information which gives us an opportunity to make our prayer real in the form of contributions through Episcopal Relief and Development. This organization contributes 100% of the money you contribute to Relief and Development and the Haiti Fund is the one to which you want to contribute. We have just gotten word of the following from one of our friends who is a deputy to General Convention. The Diocese of Haiti is the largest Diocese in the Episcopal Church, and is also in Province 2 here with us. After this note, I am including a message from the Presiding Bishop and Contact information for Episcopal Relief and Development.

Let us be present through prayer and contributions---call me if you need to talk.

blessings and peace,

Reverend Sandye+

973-902-9970

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop on disaster in Haiti

[January 13, 2010] Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued the following concerning the January 12 earthquake in Haiti:

The people of Haiti have suffered a devastating earthquake, and it is already clear that many have died and many more are injured. Even under “normal” circumstances, Haiti struggles to care for her 9 million people. The nation is the poorest in the western hemisphere, and this latest disaster will set back many recent efforts at development. I urge your prayers for those who have died, been injured, and are searching for loved ones – and I urge your concrete and immediate prayers in the form of contributions to Episcopal Relief & Development, who are already working with the Diocese of Haiti to send aid where it is most needed.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop

The Episcopal Church

Message from our Brothers and Sisters in Haiti:

Dear Friends in Christ:

We have devastating news to share with you from Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake yesterday. According to reports I have received here in Les Cayes, the damage in Port au Prince and areas around it is terrible. There is no Cathedral. The entire Holy Trinity complex is gone. The convent for the Sisters of St. Margaret is gone. The Bishop's house is gone. The College St. Pierre is gone. Bishop no longer has a house in which to live. In Trouin, four people were killed during a service. In Grand Colline, the church is gone. One part of St. Martin of Tours is gone. In St. Etienne Buteau the church, the rectory and the school are gone. In Les Cayes, BIT is OK, but some people were injured trying to get out of the buildings during the quake. The rectory in Les Cayes is in very bad condition.

The Rev. Kesner Ajax
Executive Director, Bishop Tharp Institute (BTI)
8 Rue du Quai, Cayes
Tel. Office: 011-509-2286-4676
Mobile: 011-509-3445-3346