Happy 50th Anniversary to St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Billings

RantWoman sincerely wants to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the St Andreews Presbyterian Church, Billings MT. RantWoman also wants to honor gifts founding pastor Paul Krebill and other church members brought the Rant Family.But first, the church as it is today, in its own words. 
http://standrewbillings.org/

The Sanctuary View, from S 24th St.

Our Mission Statement

Our mission statement is "Building a servant community seeking to be Christ's hands and heart."
“Building” means we are still creating together, open to new ideas and new people.
“A servant community” means a group of people gathered in a sacred place, committed to serving God by serving the world and building one another up with compassion and joy.
“Seeking to be” means we aren’t perfect or finished, but trying. We are all in process, trying to live into God’s call.
“Christ’s hands and heart” means we want to live out God's love, justice, and mercy in Jesus Christ. We want people to recognize Christ in compassionate action, breaking bread, and challenging destructive systems. We want people to recognize, as Jesus said, that the realm of God is within our hands and hearts. 

http://standrewbillings.org/pages/discover.html

http://standrewbillings.org/pages/gather.html

RantWoman was hoping to find a picture of the labyrinth. RantWoman imagines the labyrinth has grown some pleasant vegetation since RantWoman last visited. Alas, no pictures, but this wonderful informational link.

http://standrewbillings.org/pages/labyrinth.html





Graphic shamelessly borrowed
from the Church website

Now, as to the RantFamily,

Readers who want to celebrate--or visit--the church as it is today are invited to stop here.

Readers game for another trip to Planet RantWoman with an extra side of discernment about which of the "makes RantWoman's head explode" themes really must be spoken of in present community are invited to pray along below.

 RantWoman has been reflecting on a recent Adult Religious education session of fathers reflecting on their lives in Meeting. It does not sound like any of the speakers are the kind of parent whose teenage son will have to drag off to counseling.( Once. It did not really take.)

The RantParents migrated to St Andrews after RantDad stopped bing choir director at First Baptist. It was a mutual parting of the ways, years after RantDad's moaning after every choir practice led RantWoman to ask "Why don't you quit? God will open another door"


At some point, Rev. Krebill started taking recorder lessons from RantDad. RantWoman has a sense of great spiritual comfort for RantDad from those lessons.

 St. Andrews took excellent spiritual care of the RantParents: Sunday school. Worship. Music without RantDad having to organize it any more. A packed sanctuary with more musicians wanting to perform than would fit on the program for RantDad's memorial.

Somewhere in RantMom's cancer treatment, RantWoman was visiting. RantWoman kept nudging RantMom to create a care committee. Rantmom kept resisting. Finally RantWoman threw a fit: "MOM, it will make ME  feel better if you get a care committee."

So RantMom invited some people from her church and her Walk to Emaus group. RantWoman explained about care committees. The deacons' eyes all lit up: "We can think of about 5 people who need this!" RantMom got her care committee with extra reinforcement from RantMom's siblings.
 
RantWoman heartily thanks all the members of the St. Andrews community who thanked RantWoman for, much to RantMom's initial distress, making RantMom open up about matters on her heart. News flash: RantMom is assuredly not the only parent on the planet with highly imperfect adult children.

Here the spirit of God flourishes. May it do so 50 more years, at least.