St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

We have now broken ground and are looking forward to the construction of our new addition.  The building will house the ever growing Children’s Ministry and our administrative offices.  In addition, we will have work space, coffee station, storage areas, and a unisex/handicap accessible restroom.  This space will be the first new construction the congregation has seen since the first building was constructed on this site in 1980.

The contractor for the project is Jerry Omler who has done many of our present renovations and we look forward to working with him again.  At the present moment we are awaiting our contractor as he ties up loose ends at other job sites.  He assures us that construction will begin sometime in June.  The plans for the new construction can be viewed in the parish hall any day during regular operating hours and donations for the building and furnishings may be made to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, P. O. Box 12326, Lake Charles, LA. 70612

There is nothing more exciting than to be a grandmother!  I was admitted into this austere community recently and have been amazed at the number of revelations one can have while holding your grandchild.  Looking at that little face and watching her sleep I just think about how simply beautiful she is and can’t help remember the words spoken by God at the baptism of Christ.  “You are my beloved, in you I am well pleased.”  I’ve been told by one much wiser than myself, that we should note God did not use the term proud, God says well pleased.  Now this may seem like a small matter and not worth discussing, but I beg to differ.

You and I often think of our loved ones and those we know and have emotions of pride. As they go through life and accomplish all the things they set out to do we think to ourselves, “I am so proud of what they are doing or what they have done.”  There isn’t anything wrong with that emotion, but why do we feel pride.  Most of us didn’t have any direct responsibility for the action or accomplishment, pride is the wrong feeling.  What we are feeling is pleased, even thrilled; but to feel pride is to assert that perhaps we had something to do with the accomplishment.  When God looked at the face of Christ coming up out of the water even God didn’t take credit for Jesus’ accomplishments.  God was pleased with Jesus, God was pleased with the decisions and the actions Jesus chose along the way to his baptism; but God never felt pride.

Pride has a tendency to generate arrogance or self righteousness and that ladies and gentlemen is not a holy reaction.  As people of God, we should evaluate our reaction and feelings toward every event in our lives, and set those emotions in the correct context in order to truly practice righteousness.  When I gaze at my little grand daughter Aly, I look at her with immense love and joy, I am very pleased to have her in my life, and I am sure I will be pleased with every accomplishment she makes along her way.   And I am quite sure that old arrogance and pride will peep in on occasion, but I hope to practice what I preach and reflect and evaluate my own reactions toward her accomplishments.  I hope that when she gets that gold medal or that gold star I will look at her with love and say “Aly, you are my beloved, in you I am well pleased.”