Upcoming Events

Tuesday, Sept. 9:        Commissions, 6:30 PM; Vestry, 7:30 PM

Saturday, Sept. 13:     Clean-up Day 

Saturday, Sept. 27:     Feed the Homeless, 9:30 AM

Sunday, Sept. 28:        Odeon Concert, 4:00 PM

Birthdays

September 

1   Felix Spinelli

1  MyChi Haan

4   Laura Kennedy

8   Lucille Selby

8   Nghia Dao

10   Rachel Burgess

11   Oanh Phan

13   Debbie Clark

13   Doan Huynh Tucker

13   Michael Knowles

14   Thanh Nguyen

18   Pauline Leonard

23   Hannah Knowles

24   Deani Coker

24  Margot Deanna Miller

28   William Houston

29   Justice Lebo

30   Michael Spinelli

Our Prayer List

We remember in our prayer:

Cathy Anderson, Dee Bailey, Kari Boeskov, Brandon, Rachel Burgess, Jane Chapman, Marie Cosimano, Tim Clary, Dorothy Connelly, John Davis, Michael Dickinson, Loretta Dougherty, Steve Escobar, Nance Finegan, Luis Garay, Carolyn Gawarecki, Louise Gibney, Jean Graham, Katherine Hafele, Margaret Ellis Harris, Alek Hensley, Leslie Hogan, Cindy Hogman, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Michael Horn,  Lindsay Johns, Gray Johnson, Jamie Kaplon, Laura Kennedy, Quinn Kimball, Alice King, Michael Knowles, Ashley Kolitz, Peter Kosutic, Susan Lawrence, Thai Lee, Bruce Lineker, Evelyn Morgan, Danielle Morgan, Que Nguyen, Chick Nixon, Mary Esther Obremskey, Tom Olander, Olive Oliver, Jim Owens, Gary Owens, William Ross, Fern Shuck, Irene Skowron, Josh Smithers, Inez Stanton, Candi Stewart, Patrick Stefl, Barbara Stefl, Kara Stryker, Walter Sushko, George Thomas, Elizabeth Trigg, Tammy Vanphung, Michael Weekes, Warren Weinstein, The Crowley Family, The Westfall Family, Meredith Wiech, Bernard Williams, Rev. Letha Wilson-Barnard, Rudy Zimpel.

               ____ 

Note: If you have a loved one or friend who needs prayer please call the church and leave a message at 703-532-5656, or write to Winnie Lebo at

thelebos@verizon.net  or call her at 703-536-2075.  Also, should a name need be removed from the list, please let Winnie know promptly, and give the reason.  

Saint Patrick's Ministers 

The Ministers of Saint Patrick's Church are the People of this Parish

We serve our Lord as part of the Diocese of Virginia

led by

our chief pastors

The Rt. Rev. Shannon Sherwood Johnston, Bishop

The Rt. Rev. Susan Goff

Bishop Suffragan 

and  

The Rt. Rev. Ted Gulick,

Assistant Bishop 

The Vision of St. Patrick's

Saint Patrick's Episcopal Church is a community of care, called to be Christ-centered and multicultural in worship, Christian education and action to proclaim  Christ's love to the world.

St. Patrick's Organized for Missions and Ministry 

SAINT PATRICK'S ORGANIZED

FOR MISSIONS AND MINISTRY

Other members of the Vestry:   Elisabeth Nguyen, Milton Thomas, Victoria Kennedy, Ann Nelson. 

GROUPS AND ACTIVITIES

The Propers 

Given by Dr. Kathy Oliver      

August 24, 2014

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

I find it hard to believe that summer is almost over. Working for the school system, I begin to feel as though summer has ended when people start coming back to work after their summer vacations-first the assistant principals come, tomorrow the teachers, and finally, in just one more week, the students will return. Last week, the assistant principals were back, and the principals and assistant principals of Title 1 schools gathered for their beginning-of-the-new-school-year meeting.

In Fairfax, Title 1 schools serve populations where 40 percent or more of the students are economically disadvantaged-that is, 40 percent or more of the students in the school receive free or reduced priced meals. Westlawn Elementary School, our faith-partner school, is a Title 1 school. It is a school where despite the economic richness of our neighborhood, some children come back to school looking forward to school lunches because they are hungry and have not had enough to eat during the long summer vacation.

The Title 1 meeting started with a grounding activity designed to help us separate ourselves from the busyness of the day in order to focus more clearly on the work to be accomplished during the meeting.

We were seated at round tables with 5 to 8 people at a table. In the center of each table was a stack of small pieces of paper. On each one each one was written a bit of educational wisdom-mostly quotes from well known people in the field.

We each took two pieces of paper from the stack, read the two quotes, and then, individually, selected the one that had the most meaning for us. We passed the other quote on to the person sitting to our left so that we each had multiple opportunities to choose between a pair of quotes before making our final selection. Finally, we shared the quote we had selected with the people at our table explaining why we chose the quote that we did.

Most of the quotes were ones that we had heard before or at least they referred to things that we had read or discussed before.   At my table, as we took turns reading our quotes and justifying our selections, one person was more eager than the rest of us to read and defend her choice.

The quote she selected was written by a student-a sixteen-year old girl from a high school in Indiana. Amy Maddox wrote:

            He prayed - it wasn't my religion.

            He ate - it wasn't what I ate.

            He spoke - it wasn't my language.

            He dressed - it wasn't what I wore.

            He took my hand - it wasn't the color of mine.

            But when he laughed - it was how I laughed,

            And when he cried - it was how I cried.

The message was titled, "Underneath We're All the Same."

Amy's message reminded me of Saint Patrick's and the wonderful community of faith that we have become. In many ways we are a diverse group. But when we laugh and when we cry our differences disappear.

Although we are all worshiping this morning in an Episcopal church, we've arrived at this place on our spiritual journeys by traveling different paths. A few of us may be cradle Episcopalians, that is, we were born into families that were Episcopalian, and we have been Episcopalian for our whole lives. Others may have been Baptist, Buddhist, Catholic or a member of yet another faith. Although when we eat together at a Saint Patrick's potluck, most of us head for the Vietnamese spring rolls, when we are at home sitting down for supper, I suspect we choose to eat different things.

And yet here in this place-here at Saint Patrick's-we have found a common ground, a real sense of community. For underneath we are the same; we laugh and we cry alike.

Underneath, we are called together by an Almighty God who is filled with love for each and every one of us. As the author of today's Psalm wrote, God is faithful. He answers when we call. He increases our strength. He cares for the lowly and for the hungry. He keeps us safe. He stretches forth his hand against the fury of our enemies, and with his right hand, he saves us all.

Each week, during this time of change and transition, we have prayed for Saint Patrick's. And while it is important that we continue to pray for Saint Patrick's, we must also remember to give thanks for the changelessness of the God that we worship. We may change, but God hasn't changed.

In this morning's Old Testament lesson, we are called to lift up our eyes to the heavens, to look at the earth beneath, and to remember that God's salvation is forever; and His deliverance will never end. What the prophet Isaiah is telling us is that God is changeless. He will give us strength, and he will sustain us.

One of the prayers that will be read at the close of this morning's service actually comes from the service of Compline rather than Morning Prayer. With slight modification, it reads:

Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through all the hours of this day, so that we who are worried by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness...

May we, in the midst of the turmoil of our lives, find comfort in God's unfailing love and in His eternal changelessness.

May we, when we are tempted to fret and worry about the future, remember that God's salvation is forever. He is faithful, and He will deliver us. Amen.