The Bridge
September 16, 2020
The Mission of St. John’s is to be a community of God’s people who heal brokenness, build bridges, and exemplify borderless kindness.
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From Our Interim Rector
Kids coming home after a playdate at a friend’s home put their things down and immediately go to their rooms. Mom, a bit suspicious, follows them only to discover that they are jumping on their beds. She asks both, “What do you think you are doing?” They both gleefully answer, “We are jumping on our beds!” She replies, “And who gave you permission to do that?” And the answer came back, “Well, at Bobby’s house they are allowed to jump on the beds. The mother answers, “This is not Bobby’s house and in our house, we do not jump on the beds!”
Yes, every house has different “rules”. Visiting the other night with a neighbor, I learned more about how their church is continuing services, continuing classes. Zoom is basically the “standard in the industry” these days for classes and meetings. However, their interpretation of celebrating Holy Communion is very different from ours. They are encouraged to participate with “bread and wine (or substitutes) from their own home while worshiping virtually.
We, as Episcopalians, have stepped back and are worshiping in different formats as found in our Book of Common Prayer, using either Morning Prayer from the Daily Office or the Liturgy of the Word, the first half of the Eucharist service. At St. John's, we have been doing this, in the chapel, live streaming since March 22. This Sunday we will be adding a third service. A service of Eucharist will be offered at 1:15 pm, in-person, outdoors on the wooden deck, using the small wooden altar. This area is shaded at that time, and the service will be about 25 minutes. Masks will be required, as will social distancing. Please bring your own chair or plan on standing. Why not bring your own Book of Common Prayer? Attendance at this service will be by reservation only: check the web page or the Facebook "St. John's Fellowship" group for the link. There is also a link in the article below announcing the service. This first week will be in English and the next week in Spanish; we will alternate back and forth. We ask that once you have signed up and attended a service, please give others the opportunity to attend a service. This service will not be recorded. Oct. 11 (Spanish) is already completely booked.
I remind you; our offices and buildings are still closed. Essential staff periodically stop by and do the business of the church.
As we try and figure out what is the safest way to worship, we "cannot harm (even unintentionally) while attempting to do good. This is one of our oldest ethical norms." Bp. Doyle. The Bishop also adds, “there is a bit of a slippery slope of liturgical theology here as well. When we make receiving of Eucharist, however prepared, a necessary part of Christian life, we undermine a core belief that has been present since the resurrection—the grace of the resurrected Christ is present regardless of the consuming of the Bread and/or Wine. This is a point made by Martin Luther in his text The Babylonian Captivity and it is also the theological understanding of the reformers Richard Hooker and Thomas Cranmer.
Thank you all for your patience, participation, and prayers. Yes, we are working towards being back in our beautiful church; please continue to participate and support St. John’s in all aspects of your lives.
By the grace of our Lord,
Ann+
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Steve Kriechbaum speaks to St. John's about blessings and some of the reasons he supports his church with time, talent, and treasure ... |
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Please prayerfully consider your gift and
mail your 2021 giving card back to St. John's
before October 4, 2020.
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St. John's is Turning 60!
December 8, 2020 is the 60th anniversary of the date St. John's became a mission in the Diocese of Texas. In honor of that, Rev. Ann has suggested that each member write a short story (about 500 words) about your experiences over those 60 years, or your portion of it. Perhaps you have been a lifelong Episcopalian. Perhaps you raised your children at St. John's and formed long lasting friendships with other young parents. Perhaps you are a newcomer to the Episcopal Church and St. John's. What ministries and activities have you participated in? These stories will be compiled and published in early 2021 - this is an important part of the history of our parish! Please consider writing your story to include in our book!
You may send your stories to fay@austinstjohns.org - I will compile them and begin working on our 60th Anniversary book.
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Sunday Services at St. John's
We are finding different ways to worship.
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Our Sunday services are being live streamed from our Chapel:
- 10:00 a.m. Morning Prayer in English
- 12:00 noon Morning Prayer in Spanish
There are two ways for you to participate in our Sunday services:
- Go to Facebook Live. No login is required to attend the service, but you must log into your Facebook account to comment or to view other comments. Click this button to attend the service using Facebook:
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Call 1-888-958-7272 and, when prompted, enter an access code to listen to the service on your telephone. For the English language service on September 20, the access code is 682319903#
In both cases, the live stream for each service will begin approximately 5 minutes before the start of the service.
Recorded video from both services will be posted on the
St. John's YouTube channel later in the day so that you can replay a service at your convenience. Links to the YouTube recordings will be posted on our website (www.austinstjohns.org).
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Holy Eucharist on the Deck
Limited in-person worship will resume on Sunday, September 20 with an outdoor Holy Communion Service at 1:15 PM. Pre-registration is required; please click the button to register. Please register for only one Sunday service at a time so others will have an opportunity to attend. In case of inclement weather, this service will be cancelled.
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Sunday morning prayer services at 10:00 AM in English and noon in Spanish will continue to be live streamed on Facebook. No login is required to attend the service.
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Stepping onto Sacred Ground
Becoming Beloved Community
Twenty parishioners are participating in a series of conversations titled Stepping Onto Sacred Ground, beginning on September 22.
These conversations are a continuation of the Baptismal Covenant series that was held in August. They are designed to explore how to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being" (BCP, p.305) and to explore who we are in society. We will explore the historical roots of racism and the current realities that continue the injustices of systemic racism. Participants will study assigned readings and videos prior to each session to enhance the learning experience.
As our guiding principle, we will honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vision of the redemptive power of love to create the "Beloved Community." The Episcopal Church embraces this ideal as a way to "restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." (BCP, Outline of Faith, p.855).
The Sacred Ground series will create a safe, respectful, and holy space in which we can begin a journey of discernment. There will be time for listening and for speaking. All opinions will be respected without judgment.
The Mission of St. John's Episcopal Church is to be a community of God's people who heal brokenness, build bridges, and exemplify borderless kindness.
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Virtual Coffee and Fellowship:
Provide your own beverage and treat of choice
Join us for our Virtual Coffee and Fellowship on Sunday beginning at 11 am! This 30 minute opportunity to visit with friends you haven't seen in a while will be a separate Zoom meeting so you will need to use this link to join:
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Note that the Waiting Room is enabled for this meeting, so somebody logged into the St. John’s account must be present to admit people into the meeting. This is to protect the meeting participants from any possible "trolls" who might try to interrupt our fellowship. The meeting facilitator will admit you to the meeting as quickly as possible. |
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Building Bridges and Healing Brokenness
Fridays are Flower Days. Yes, literally.
by Catherine Turner
Those white vases that sit at each end of the chapel altar? They need fresh flowers each Sunday. They were pressed into service after COVID turned the chapel into a video studio. Because these vases are small, their arrangements can now be done in-house rather than by a florist. Here is how that happens.
On Friday mornings at 9:00, I don my mask and cruise the floral department at one or sometimes two grocery stores. Cut flowers—roses, mini-carnations, lilies, daisies, mums, alstroemerias, plus filler and foliage—are more abundant now than in the spring when COVID sheltering began. In those days, trucks transported food and paper goods but almost no flowers to stores. Fortunately, the church was observing Lent at the time and did not need flowers.
Most grocery store flowers are imported from Central America. They are cut, bound in bunches, refrigerated, and shipped to the US in long corrugated boxes. The flowers aren’t necessarily pretty when they arrive—they are scrunched, slightly wilted, even a bit battered. Stores receive flowers in one or two deliveries per week. The altar flowers for St John’s usually come from Randall’s, where a fresh shipment is already displayed in black buckets on Friday mornings by nine o’clock.
Before 10:00 I have flowers—3 to 6 bunches— and am on the way to the church. Sandy Welles and Bill Cox are usually already there. Sandy is my assistant/apprentice in flower arranging. Bill kindly hauls the big bucket of flowers into the kitchen for us. Bill’s further role will be clear in a bit.
Sandy and I work in the little sacristy at the far end of the church kitchen. We remove wrappings from flower bunches, trim bottoms off stems, and strip lower leaves. There are reasons for these latter two operations. A fresh cut stem draws water better. Plus, plant leaves under water rot easily and cause the whole arrangement to deteriorate more quickly.
With preliminaries done, we return the flowers to their bucket. Sandy adds a pitcher or two of water. If any of the flower stems show an orange tinge at the bottom, a few drops of bleach will also go into the bucket. The orange color indicates bacteria are present.
Arrangements can be done with a single color scheme, but most of ours are done in two or three colors. The colors offer contrast to each other and stand out better in our chapel’s available light. When the arranging begins, three stems of one color, cut at various heights, are placed in each vase. Then three stems of another color, also variously cut, go into the vases and onward until the arranging is finished.
Are we finished? Ah—no. This is where we need Bill’s help with video equipment. The flowers must be viewed on screen or through the camera viewfinder. What looks good in person may look misshapen on screen or simply blend into the wall behind. Some colors don’t show up well. We tweak the arrangement, trim a stem or two, insert foliage or an extra flower, and try to second-guess what changes from water and light will occur before Sunday.
Only once has a Sunday flower malfunction occurred. The flame-colored gerbera daisies for Pentecost wilted. Time permitted a quick change-out, so you never saw them.
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Flowers you see on screen each Sunday when the service goes live will always look different from the previous Sunday. The same flowers will look different to Sandy and me, too, but in another way. After stems draw water and light changes with the day, no arrangement looks the same: lilies open, roses round out, stems strengthen, and small blooms turn their heads toward the light. The Sunday flowers show a bit of pleasant magic in the midst of COVID. |
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Giving at St. John's
There are several ways you can continue to give:
Mail your check to the Church: St. John's Episcopal Church,
P. O. Box 81493, Austin, TX 78708-1493
Go to your bank's website and set up direct payment - the bank will send a check directly to St. John's using this address:
St. John's Episcopal Church, P. O. Box 81493, Austin, TX 78708-1493
Use this link to learn more about online giving: Click here
Use this button to go directly to our online giving portal:
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A Message from Farmshare Austin
"We miss operating markets very much and while we still do not feel we can safely operate markets yet this fall, I will be in touch the moment that changes. We are exploring different options and plans for how we might eventually modify our market protocols to provide a safe market experience for customers, staff, and our hosts.
In the meantime, I was hoping you could remind the individuals that your organizations serve about Farmshare Austin's Curbside Delivery Program. While we are taking our usual September break from programming, online ordering for this free delivery service will begin again on September 25, and deliveries will resume on September 30. This program offers the same healthy, fresh, and affordable produce and grocery items as the Mobile Markets but delivers customers' orders right to their homes. We still accept SNAP, Double Up Food Bucks, credit, debit, and cash. This program may be especially helpful to individuals who are home-bound, lack transportation, or are relying on SNAP/Pandemic EBT for their groceries right now."
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Caring for Each Other
If you, or someone you know, need prayer or would like to be contacted by the church, please contact the Reverend Ann McLemore at 769-257-2377 or RevAnn@austinstjohns.org to add names to the Prayer List.
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Need Help?
If you find that your situation is causing financial, spiritual, or emotional difficulties, or if you are in need of food, do not hesitate to call Deacon Victoria (512-297-5953) or Rev. Ann (769-257-2377).
We are a church family; when a family member needs assistance we want to try and help that member.
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Only Rev. Ann and essential support staff will be in the Chapel for the streaming of services as we continue to follow the direction of government officials and the guidance of our Bishop.
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All meetings and activities at St. John's are temporarily suspended.
Ministry continues. All St. John's meetings will be held virtually (via Zoom).
We will post a notification here, on Facebook, and on our website when this restriction has been lifted.
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Fay Jones, Editor (fay@austinstjohns.org) |
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St. John's Episcopal Church
P. O. Box 81493, Austin, TX 78708-1493
Virtual Sunday Services
10:00 am in English (Facebook and website)
Mediodía en español (Facebook y sitio web)
In-Person Holy Communion
1:15 pm Sundays
Outdoors on the Deck
Alternating weeks: English and Spanish
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