A Midsummer Letter
July 17, 2008

Dear St. Andrew’s Family,

As my Pentecost Letter noted, during the summer we “move” through what is known in the Liturgical Calendar as Ordinary Time. This summer has, however, been “Ordinary” and “Extraordinary”

As part of the Ordinary life of the Church, we celebrated two infant baptisms, Victoria Aquilar-Scheib and Morgen Alexis Weickerson. A week apart, these baptisms seem almost like a parenthesis of vision, hope and promise surrounding our celebration of the life of and saying farewell to our beloved Dick Magee whose faith had been nurtured and grounded at St. Andrew’s for over sixty years. As we “die to Christ” in baptism, we are reminded that even “in the midst of life we are in the midst of death.” So also, in death is new life being formed. I thank God for the ordinary pastoral liturgy of our Prayer Book which gives us the ability to call upon worship as the structure upon which to frame our Life in Christ.

This extraordinary of the summer began outside (or “extra” to) the norm of parish life. It began with worship in the Glebe on the Feast of Corpus Christi. Our garden has never looked so lush or cared for. Thank you to Joe Wisnet, Robert Kapchan, Doug Bobak, Kevin Rung, Fr. Stephen and those whose names I may have missed. Next, St. Andrew’s was the site of gathering for the Walk for Canaan House. Though most parishioners were not able to join in the walk, Deacon Ed Ihde represented us well. Thank you to the many parishioners who contributed financially to the good work of our former Deacon, Shirley Trail, with Canaan House and women coming out of incarceration.

We also had visitors from across the ocean. The Revd Dr. Canon Andrew Wingate, the founder of Network of Interfaith Concerns in the Anglican Communion (NIFCON) who is also the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Counsel for Interfaith Concerns and Queen’s Chaplain for Interfaith visited St. Andrew’s, with his wife, on a research sabbatical. The time he and his wife Angela spent in Buffalo assisted St. Andrew’s in providing conversations in and outside the diocese with our bishop, lay persons and other clergy as well as various interfaith groups. The Wingates also spent time in the Dioceses of Washington, D.C., New York and Massachusetts and noted their time in WNY provided the most grass-roots and information regarding interfaith relationships in the United States.

The majority of time these past several months has been engaged with St. Andrew’s future. As many of you know, we have been looking towards de-accessing some of our hidden resources in the form of art to see if some of the riches we have been left may provide investment for our future. We have been very clear to consider letting go only of items not of necessity to our worship.

To date we have been in conversation with major auction houses (Christie’s and Sotheby’s) as well as those smaller (Doyle’s and Skinners); had appraisals from local artists and art galleries; been in contact with the University of Rochester Department of Sculpture, Burchfield-Penny Gallery, the Albright-Knox, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art and Hispanic Society of America.

Since we are no longer able to support our building as is, we have been in conversation with social service agencies and art groups which have proven we are a very desirable space for rental at a desirable location. (We are grateful for Mary Kate O’Connell of O’Connell and Company in making a significant contribution to St. Andrew’s to use our space for Theater Camp Cabaret this summer). However, because we are unable to keep up financially with the upkeep and upgrading needed to lower costs, we are having to look seriously at the reformation of our community in letting go of the building we know and love.

A real estate appraisal has been obtained; conversations have begun with many persons at the University of Buffalo and others as to future prospects for the building. We have also contacted those who specialize in environmental sustainability. Our building has been inspected and we have been given assurance of our suitability to be granted status on both the National and NY State historic registers. We have stayed in regular contact this past year about our financial picture with our bishop and kept the Standing Committee, Deanery, Diocesan Board of Trustees and Council informed of our status.

The above has been about our Church Building which we all love and would hope to keep. However, as we look more openly to our vision statement crafted several years ago, we need to remember St. Andrew’s, the Church, is the People, not the building. God may be calling us into some new kind of formation. As our vision statement acclaims: “St. Andrew’s is a spiritual oasis nurturing and replenishing the soul of the journey of faith. With unwavering trust in God, St. Andrew’s steps boldly forward as a catalyst for individual change and the transformation of the University Heights District and City of Buffalo.”

We are at a crossroads, a liminal place or threshold of the unknown. To this end, our work as The Church is really just beginning. Through the past six years I have spent with you, I have come to believe in the faith, fortitude and grace of this community gathered. Having the building and point of gathering has been of necessity for forming who it is we are today. The question is “are we willing to step outside together?” I wonder whether our Statue of St. Andrew’s “coming down from above and moving out into the unknown” was in deed a precursor of our calling.

Matt Buettgens, Kevin Rung and Fr. Stephen attended a program in Jamestown this past month on the Emergent Church. This was led by The Revd Ian Mobsby of the Moot Community in London. Fr. Stephen and I had visited and worshipped with this commuity last fall. We came away from our visit in faith that God is moving in new ways in the Church. For sometime I have been contemplating what God may be doing with our community. I learned from an international wine broker I sat next to on a plane, that the quality of the wine is contingent on the age of the root. If who we are in Christ is based on the root of the faith handed down and we are ever mindful of that being nurtured and replenished, it ultimately makes no difference where we worship, rather who and why we worship and how that informs our being. NEW WINE from THE ANCIENT ROOT OF THE VINE.

Do everything you can to attend next SUNDAY’S COMMUNITY CONVERSATION JULY 27th AT NOON (see flyer for details). I have been invited to the Lambeth Conference to present on Pastoral Concerns for Interfaith Marriage to both Bishops of the Anglican Communion and their Spouses. I will miss not being with you. I have every faith in our Vestry and in Matt Buettgens, Sr. Warden in particular. Fr. Stephen will also be with you at the meeting.

Please pray for me as I travel, pray for the Bishops in our Anglican Communion and know of my prayers for the Community of St. Andrew at Canterbury Cathedral, the holy see of our Anglican Communion.

With love in Christ,

Mother Sarah+

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at 6:48 pm and is filed under Notices, information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.