Saturday October 7:  Blessing of the Animals, 9-11 AM, please come at 8:30 AM to help with set up and please invite your family, friends, and neighbors to bring their pets to be blessed.

Sunday October 8: 7:45 am Service and 10 AM Combined Service followed by Parish Picnic at Fort Hunt Park (right off George Washington/Mount Vernon Parkway) No Sunday School this week.  A great picnic and a great time so invite family, friends and neighbors.  Parish provides BBQ, cole slaw, potato salad, hamburgers, hot dogs, and some beverages.

Natural Law, America's Founding, & Today

Probably the portion of the Declaration of Independence with which more Americans are familiar than any other is the first sentence of the second paragraph: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This is a further development of the first paragraph's justification of the Declaration by an appeal to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God.”

The concept of Natural Law is, simply stated, the assertion that there are certain laws that are inherent in the order of the universe and that these laws take precedence over any laws created by human monarchs, executives, judiciaries, or legislatures. Considerations of the character and degree of authority of Natural Law have occupied some of the best minds of the Western intellectual tradition. It is the central issue of Sophocles' tragedy Antigone, Aristotle examined it at length in The Nicomachean Ethics, and Saint Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica places it firmly within the framework of Christian theology by asserting that the Natural Law is a gracious creation of God for the just and proper ordering of all things, including relations among human beings.

Thomas Jefferson, like many of the 18th Century Founders, was far from an orthodox Christian, but he was neither an atheist nor a deist, if by that somewhat slippery word we mean one who believes that the universe was created by a God who after the creation did not intervene in human affairs. Nothing makes Jefferson's faith clearer than the final sentence of his second inaugural address: “I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with his providence, and our riper years with his wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join with me in supplications, that he will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures, that whatsoever they do, shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.”

This nation was created by men and women who believed that it would only survive and prosper if it were to attempt to discern and to adhere to the true nature of justice and governance. They did not believe that they could hope to do so except by conforming insofar as humanly possible to the Natural Law, to God's will for humanity. I regret to say that I believe much of our political and religious establishment have abandoned that belief in favor of an arrogant assumption that their own authority and power enables them to deny the reality of Natural Law and to remake the created order in accordance with their own wills and desires.

It can hardly be denied that we are in a state of national decline. As the proportion of the population recognizing the existence of God and the obligation to serve and honor Him continues to shrink, the quality of our national life is increasingly degraded in terms of prosperity, manners, morals, family stability, obedience to law, and other ways too numerous to list. I believe that the vital task of communities such as our parish is to stand firm in our beliefs and to resist the pressures to conform to the literally godless direction of the current culture. When the realities of Natural Law are defied, the consequences of that defiance will always eventually be destructive. Remember Galatians 6:7: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” and as it is for individuals, so it also is for nations … and churches. When the people of this nation are willing to recognize that and to return to spiritual sanity, let us be among those who can demonstrate the humility before God and the confidence in His will that may inspire that return.

--Father Bragg+

 
All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee
Please click here to help St. Andrew & St. Margaret of Scotland. Your support is needed and greatly appreciated.
Upcoming Events

This Saturday October 7:  Blessing of the Animals, 9-11 AM, please come at 8:30 AM to help with set up and please invite your family, friends, and neighbors to bring their pets to be blessed.

Altar Guild Class – This Saturday, October 7, at 10:30 a.m. The class is designed for altar guild members desiring a refresher course and for those who might be interested in serving in this important ministry.

This Sunday October 8: 7:45 am Service and 10 AM Combined Service followed by Parish Picnic at Fort Hunt Park (right off George Washington/Mount Vernon Parkway) No Sunday School this week.  A great picnic and a great time so invite family, friends and neighbors.  Parish provides BBQ, cole slaw, potato salad, hamburgers, hot dogs, and some beverages.
(for online participation for the services go to: https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland/ )

Wednesday at Noon – Holy Communion and anointing for healing (for online participation, check info under Sunday Services)

Vestry Meeting, Monday October 30, 7:30 PM, Church undercroft

Kirkin of the Tartan, St. Andrew's Day, Thursday November 30, 7:00 PM
 
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St. Andrew & St. Margaret parish has a long history of helping others in the community. Two of our ways of doing this are food donations for the Christ House food bank and needs for babies and infants to the local crisis pregnancy center. Please take a look at the lists below and, if you can, please provide some of the needed items.  You can also help by donating money  through the secure donation button in this e-letter by selecting Charity & Mercy in the drop down menu on the donation page.  Thank you.
 
Food Donations 
Please help this month with a food donation if you are able. Christ House is very thankful for the food we provide to them each month. Please also buy low sugar cereals (and not the kid's types that have lots of sugar).  Current needs include the following:
• canned meats (chicken, corned beef, spam)
• peanut butter
• jelly
• tuna
• canned vegetables (corn, green beans - (regular and low sodium)
• individual fruit cups (low sugar)
• canned fruit (low sugar)
• cereal (low sugar)
• pasta (regular and gluten-free)
• instant potatoes
• Macaroni & cheese kits
• Coffee, cooking oil, flour, sugar 

The list for MaRIH Crisis Pregnancy Center's needs was just updated again.  The items in bold type are in critical need.  If you can, please donate those items.
 
Updated List of Needs for MaRIH Center (crisis pregnancy center)
MaRIH Center with its all volunteer staff provides help to mothers-to-be and mothers in need.  If you can provide some of the items that are needed, please do so. (You can leave the donations where the food for the food bank is collected on the pew in the undercorft.)

Especially Needed
 In Bold and  * are a critical need.

Diapers (sizes newborn, 1, 2, 3, 4*, 5*, & 6*)
Lovies
Baby wipes
Diaper rash ointment
Fall/Winter Clothing:0-3 mo*, 3-6 mo*, 12-18 mo*, 2T*
Baby shampoo
Baby blankets*
Bibs
Formula: Simulac Advance Formula*
Formula: other but not recalled
Wash clothes
Hooded towels
Grocery gift cards*

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Our mailing address is:
St. Andrew & St. Margaret of Scotland
1607 Dewitt Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22301-1625