St. Andrew's Day

From today's reading: . . . John watched Jesus walk by and exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" Two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. . . They said to him, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" Jesus said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him. . . One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew. . . He first found his brother Simon Peter and said to him, "We have found the Messiah." John 1:35-41

I love Saint Andrew. Maybe it's because my Dad's name was Andrew and we named our son, Andrew. But I think it's more likely that the example of Andrew in the Gospel of John is of someone who believed in Jesus and from the very first day he knew Jesus, he brought people to Jesus. In today's lesson he brings his brother Simon. Later he brought some Greeks who were wanting to meet Jesus, and finally he brought a young boy who had 5 barley loaves and 2 fish. Could we ask for a better witness and example of what it means to be Christian?

St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and our heritage in the Episcopal Church comes through Scotland as well as England. After the revolutionary war, when the Anglican church in America changed its name to Episcopal, the leaders of the new church knew that they needed bishops. Three priests were elected and sent to England to be made bishops. The Church of England refused to do this, so the three made their way to Scotland where they were ordained as bishops. It is for this reason that the Episcopal flag/shield is made up of the St. George's flag (flag of England) with an adaptation of the St. Andrew's flag (flag of Scotland) in the upper left hand corner.