The Rev.
Andrea L. Wight
The Rev. Andrea
L. Wight graduated from one of the Episcopal
Church’s eleven seminaries, the Church
Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley CA, in
May of 2003, and her position at St. Mary’s
marks the beginning of her active, ordained
ministry.
She is a
lifelong Episcopalian, being born and raised in
New Jersey. As a teenager her family moved to
Wyoming where she continued her life in the
Church. She graduated from the University of
Wyoming in Laramie with a Bachelor of Science
degree in Pharmacy. Shortly after graduation she
moved to Las Vegas NV where she lived and worked
as a hospital pharmacist for close to 28 years.
She was
ordained to the Transitional Diaconate in
February of 2003, and was ordained to the
Priesthood on October 25, 2003.
She is very
active in the American Association of University
Women, a member of the Kiwanis, with the Diocese of Chicago, is
a member of the Greater Rockford Clergy Association, and is a
volunteer reader at Spring Creek Elementary School. She enjoys running and yoga. She has
two grown children, and two younger sisters.
Ten Essential Steps
for a Godly Life
- Confess often, get rid of
your sins: use the formal BCP confession,
prayers from the prayer book or make up
your own. Don’t feel you always have
to be right.
- Get in the habit of using
the name of Jesus often: think in his
name and use it in prayer.
- Don’t blame others when
you are sinning: when you know you are
sinning stop it as quickly as possible.
- If you are unhappy more than
you are happy, find out why and change
your life-it is inside you. We are
responsible for our own peace, our own
happiness. No one else can make us happy
and we can’t make others happy.
- Spend more time in prayer:
the more you pray, the easier things
come. Talk to yourself-Jesus is in you.
- Don’t hold a grudge;
you will be the one who ends up sick:
give it up. Let God given music flow
through you instead of the grudge.
- Do not agree with criticism:
this is the pivotal point in our
spiritual growth. When someone is
criticizing, especially the church, bow
your head and silently pray for the
person.
- Stay loyal to worship. When
you stay away from church you stop
praying and you are open to Satan: it is
not possible to be lukewarm.
- Don’t complain because
things end-let’s rejoice because
they happened.
From an article by The Rev. Lewis
O. Tanno,
St. Clement Episcopal Church, Tampa, FL
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New Year provides opportunity
to clear out the clutter
Happy New Year to All!
2011 closes in a rather
unexpected way at least as it applies to the weather.
Our days have been relatively
warmer, the sun has been shining more often and there is no
snow.
I know that’s not bound to
last long; however, I am enjoying it while it lasts, and I
hope you are also.
We enter into the season of Epiphany,
which in the church year is a time of revelation, of
discovery, of the revealing of the Christ child who in just
a few weeks time has become an adult Jesus.
There are few stories of his
life as a child growing into adulthood.
In the Gospel of Mark John the
Baptist appears in the wilderness, announces the time is at
hand when the Messiah will come, Jesus appears and is
baptized by John and things are off and running as Jesus
launches into his public life and ministry.
As
we launch into the New Year (hopefully not at quite the pace
of Mark’s gospel) I find that this is the time of year when
I’m indoors more, so it is a good time to sift and sort out
things that need to get done or are weighing me down.
I’m not one to make “New Years
resolutions;” however, when the New Year comes, I always
have a few things in mind that need tending.
For one thing I know I have way too
much stuff that needs to be cleaned out and brought down to
Attic Treasures or just thrown out.
That’s definitely on the list.
It’s a good feeling after I’ve
given the closets a good sort.
Sometimes I even discover
things I’d forgotten about and I know I’d use if I could
find just the right place.
Just last week as I was sorting
through my desk drawers I uncovered a night-light that
belonged to my grandmother.
It’s quite elaborate and
exquisite with a delicately carved angel forming the
covering for the light.
It reminds me of her and I can
just see it gracing my grandmother’s house.
I figured it was about time
that angel light got used again so now it has a new home
where I can see it every day.
Sifting
and sorting out I’ve discovered is also a good exercise for
the soul:
tossing out things that are
worn out or just aren’t useful anymore, recycling things
that are perhaps in good shape but no longer fit,
discovering things that have been buried and forgotten and
need to be dusted off and put to use again.
It’s a chance to clean out and
clean up our life; to make room for the spirit within to
grow.
Recently I heard a story about
McKenzie Phillips (TV and film actor) who was in sitcom “One
Day at a Time.”
She’s dealt with a lot of
serious issues over the years and even wrote a book about it
all.
One of the issues was that she
was a hoarder.
She agreed to have a
professional “declutterer” from one of the reality shows
come in and help her sort out and clean out her home.
The experience in her words
set her free and allowed space for her life to be healed and
transformed.
She made a promise to herself
not to let things get to that place again.
And so far it’s going well.
While we might not need quite that
extensive sorting and cleaning out, we could all benefit
from the process of “decluttering” life—it can be a
revealing and transforming soul experience.
One never knows what treasure
might be uncovered in the process or where we might
experience a moment of enlightenment.
One never knows what can be
made new again.
Grace and Peace to you in the coming year,
Pastor Andrea
This
page prepared by St. Anskar's,
Rockford
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