St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Prineville OR

04/07/2026

Community Astronomy at Barnes Butte is back for the 2026 season.

New! Variable white utility and red safety LED lighting, thanks to a generous gift from Crook County Rotary.

Please plan to arrive 20-30 minutes beforehand. You may bring a folding camp chair. All sessions are weather dependent. Email and Facebook announcements will confirm each session a day or two prior.

May
Friday 15th - Open Public Viewing, begins at dusk 8:45 pm
Saturday 16th - Community Evening Prayer 8:15, followed by Open Public Viewing 8:45
New Moon. 0% illumination - best for dark skies and observing deep sky objects such as distant galaxies.
Jupiter and Venus setting in the west after sunset.

June
Friday 12th - Open Public Viewing, begins at dusk 9:15 pm
Saturday 13th - Community Evening Prayer 8:45, followed by Open Public Viewing 9:15
Waning Crescent Moon, 7.6% illumination, sets at 6:30pm - good for dark skies and deep sky viewing.
Jupiter low in the west early on, the summer Milky Way rising in the east.

July
Friday 17th - Open Public Viewing, begins at dusk 9:00 pm
Saturday 18th - Community Evening Prayer 8:30, followed by Open Public Viewing 9:00
Waxing Crescent Moon, 15.9% illumination, sets at 10:47 pm - great viewing of lunar features along the day/night terminator.
The rich Milky Way of summer is prominent.

August
Friday 14th - Open Public Viewing, begins at dusk 8:30 pm
Saturday 15th - Community Evening Prayer 8:00, followed by Open Public Viewing 8:30
Waxing Crescent Moon, 6% illumination, sets at 9:08 pm - good viewing of the slim lunar crescent
The Milky Way is high overhead presenting a wide variety of viewing targets.
This is only 2-3 days after the Perseid meteor shower, so you can expect to see some meteors too.

04/05/2026

04/03/2026

The community of St. Andrew's wishes you a blessed Good Friday. Remember that Christ died for you on this day. Hold Him in your hearts with faith and thanksgiving.

03/24/2026

The people of St. Andrew’s Church invite members of Prineville Presbyterian Church, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, and community friends to a

FOCUSED PRAYER VIGIL
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Front Yard
680 NE Elm St. Prineville
March 29 6:00-7:00 PM
All Are Welcome
Corporate and Individual Prayer
We will offer prayers for:
LIVES LOST IN CONFLICT, PEACE, UNDERSTANDING, AND LOVE,

Bring a camp chair, flashlight, coat or blanket.
For Questions call Jan Uffelman, 541-420-9480

11/11/2025

During the holiday season we are inundated with "Hallmark" images of joy, celebration, and family togetherness. Those images remind us of the way life could be, and should be. But the sad reality is that for many, the holidays can be a time of grief, struggle, and loneliness.

Our Savior Lutheran Church, Prineville Presbyterian Church, and St. Andrew's Episcopal Church invite you to come together as loving community in a quiet Blue Christmas service of reflection, grace, and mutual support. Community leaders affiliated with social services related to addiction recovery, mental health, justice, homeless, and other services will be participating in the service and will be available for additional information and support.

Tuesday, December 9, 7:00 PM
Our Savior Lutheran Church
695 NW 3rd St, Prineville

10/04/2025

Wishing everyone a blessed Feast of Saint Francis today! Hope to see you all tomorrow!

09/16/2025

This man - John Dobson - would have celebrated his birthday on Sep 14. He was a major influence in my life and ranks among my heroes. He was one of the reasons I chose to focus my training in physics and astronomy toward public access and education. He was a major reason I became passionate about the nexus where science and faith meet. I do a lot of what of I do in the community today because of his influence.

John was born in 1915 in China to Methodist missionary parents. He was a militant atheist as a young adult, and later became a Vedantan monk for 23 years. His personal quest was to integrate spiritual concepts with rational inquiry and promote the dialog between science and faith. He started devoting a lot of time to building inexpensive and easy to use telescopes - the design of which bears his name to this day - and going AWOL to take them out on the streets of San Francisco, encouraging people to look up and ponder the mystery of the heavens and the universe. When this came into conflict with the focus and time commitments required of his order, he left the order to pursue "Sidewalk Astronomy" as a full time ministry. He mentored and taught countless people how to grind and polish their own mirrors and build their own telescopes.

John died in 2014 at the age of 98 in Southern California. I encountered him in the early 1980s while I was a physics undergrad at UC Irvine. In 2004, the Crater Lake Institute honored him for pioneering 'sidewalk astronomy' in national parks. In 2005, Smithsonian Magazine named him as one of 35 people who have made a major difference in the world during the lifetime of that publication.

"How can you ask ultimate questions about the universe if you've never seen it?"

(Talking about Big Bang 'creation' event. He did not agree with the conventionally accepted model. ) "I can understand how, in the absence of three dimensional space as we know it, you have the absence of separation and the absence of division. And I can understand, how in the absence of time as we experience it, you have the absence of change. That means this all arose out of the changeless and the undivided. And that's a LONG way from 'nothing'".

In the pictures of the community observatory at Barnes Butte, my red telescope is a Coulter Odyssey 13.1" (mirror) from 1987, and the large 18" (mirror) truss telescope is donated to the community of Prineville by the Sunriver Observatory. Both are Dobsonian-design reflecting telescopes.

- Rev Ray Jeff

Send a message to learn more

09/16/2025

The yearly Feast of St. Francis is a traditional time for the Church to be intentional about appreciating the animals that bless and enrich our lives.

The actual Feast of St. Francis falls on Saturday October 4. A good time to remember your animal companions and do something special for or with them.

St. Andrew's will be offering a blessing of the animals following services on Sunday the 5th. All are welcome. A prayer of blessing will be said over your pet, and you will receive a certificate commemorating the day. There might even be special treats for our furry pals. All we ask is that people be responsible about keeping their pets on leash or under control to ensure the safety of all others involved.