Thanks Be to God!

“For what was, for what is, for what will be, thanks be to God!”

The work of our parish community is a call-and-response. If we attend closely, we become aware of these exhortations echoing from two hundred years of St. Andrew’s past. When we roll up our shirtsleeves today, we step right into the loving responsibility of care. And as for the future, the energy of St. Andrew’s family, together with the resources of the Capital Campaign, will help us meet challenges we have yet to face.

May the Lord make his face shine on you, and be gracious to you.

St. Andrew's and Our Neighbors

“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” If it were easy to forego our personal wishes for ourselves, it would be easy to give our wealth to others, right? When you are weighing how or whether to make a gift, it may help to remember how St. Andrew’s strives to contribute to both our literal neighbors and to the wider community – around New Hampshire, and even abroad. For example, our neighbor-love extends from Got Lunch with local school kids all the way to solar panels added to Head to Head school in rural Haiti. The Mission Tithe plank of the Capital Campaign ensures that our generosity in this work reaches a wider community, too.

 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

"Let There Be Light!"

Our anticipated 17kW solar panel installation will provide for 100% of our current electrical usage, reducing our annual CO2 emissions by 13.7 tons (17%), and saving us more than $2200 per year. The simple payback period for the panels is 17 years. And that's on panels with a 25 year warranty, and an expected lifespan of over 40 years without significant production loss. In addition to providing 100% of our electricity, they are also 100% sacramental. Sacraments are "outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace," and the inward spiritual grace in this case is a further reconciliation of our own lives with the entirety of a sustainable, sustaining, verdant creation.

 A prayer from Laudato Si by Pope Francis:

Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the Earth. Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.