|
|
| noon: rest from work, van gogh |
|
|
Don't Forget!
This Saturday Is a Laundry Love Day
We hope you can help our neighbors do their laundry this Saturday.
Volunteers will help distribute coins and soap and visit with those who are doing their laundry.
Laundry Love is a nationwide project that helps families direct their hard-earned wages to other life necessities by providing money for laundry expenses.
Saturday, July 21
11:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Richmond Coin Laundry, 25th & Fairmount
|
The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, July 22
Nursery 9:45 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
Children's Chapel, Keeper's Cottage
11:15 a.m. Coffee Hour, Parish Hall
|
Dear Friends,
A few weeks ago, at the opening Eucharist of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Curry formally invited the whole church to take up the Way of Love. Turn. Learn. Pray. Worship. Bless. Go. Rest. These are the steps we take to follow the way of Jesus.
A huge part of this is do-ing stuff. Do-ing justice. Do-ing acts of love. Do-ing forgiveness. But, as Bishop Curry reminds us, we need to rest, too.
Life today is pretty hectic, and with our electronic gadgets, we are always a split second away from whoever thinks they need something. Not only that, we make busy-ness a badge of honor. "How are things going? We are asked, "Pretty busy!" we answer. And that has an implicit message: I'm worthwhile because I'm busy.
But no, I need to remind myself. That is not true! We have worth, but it doesn't come from our seventy-hour work-weeks, or our month straight with no day off. These things aren't a badge of honor, but marks of an imbalanced life, and they will do us in, if we don't watch out.
In our Gospel lesson for this Sunday, we find Jesus after an
insanely busy period of teaching and healing. After he and his disciples had given of themselves over and over again, walking in the way of love, Jesus tells his disciples, "come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."
Come away. To a deserted place. All by yourselves. And rest a while.
I think we all need to slow down and savor these words - and hear in them the permission and the inherent command to rest.
Come away.
This isn't just "going away," but "coming away" with Jesus. He isn't an angry boss who works us from sunrise to sunset, but knows we need refreshment in the Presence of God.
To a deserted place.
Group retreats and activities are great, we also need time alone. We need to go to where there is nothing, and that's probably a place deserted by wifi and email, voicemail, Facebook and Twitter. We have a spiritual need to get out of the trenches and be alone.
All by yourselves.
Yes, in case you missed it in the last phrase - Jesus really means it.
And rest a while.
This isn't laziness, or a perpetual state. It's temporary...for a while. But, for that while, it's about rest. We cannot "Turn. Learn. Pray. Worship. Bless and Go, day by day, month by month. If we don't rest, if we don't slow down, we will be of no use to anyone, especially God.
So, now that we are in the midst of summer-follow Jesus. To a deserted place, all by yourself. And rest. For a day, for a week, or as much time as you need. Put down the iPhone. Don't update your status. Set the "away" message on your voicemail and email, and don't even think of checking on it.
Come away. To a deserted place. All by yourselves. And rest a while.
|
|
St. John's Sunday Worship Schedule
We invite your feedback
Last summer, the vestry surveyed the congregation on several aspects of worship,
including worship times. Based on that data, they determined that a trial of adjusted
worship times should be conducted in 2018, from Lent through the end of the program year.
During that period, we held Sunday services at 8:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., and our Adult Forum
met at 9:30 to 10:145 a.m.
Now that we have concluded the trial period, we welcome your feedback.
Paper copies of the survey will be available Sunday during worship,
if you prefer that method.
Thank you for your feedback.
|
Join Our
Summer Book Study
with Sarah Price
Participating in our parish summer book study, Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise by author Richard Beck, is a great way to live into our ordinary-yet-extraordinary lives of faith. Seminary intern, Sarah Price, is leading a Wednesday night study based on the biblical, theological, spiritual and practical lessons from the book. Each session meets in the Parish Hall, beginning with a light meal at 6:30 p.m. followed by book study at 7:00 p.m. The discussions work through the sections of the book as follows:
July 25
:
Sharpening Our Emotional and Spiritual Eyesight
[Part 2: "The Emotional Battlefield"]
August 1
:
Theological Visioning and Re-Visioning
[Part 3: "I Shall Be Love"]
August 8
:
From Vision to Action
[Part IV "Practicing Hospitality" and Part V "How to Save the World"]
Wednesdays through August 8
6:30 p.m. Dinner
7:00 p.m.
Discussion
Parish Hall
|
Next Parish Work Day, Saturday, July 28
The ever-industrious property ministry has planned yet another Parish Work Day for
Saturday, July 28, to clean out underneath the church in preparation for maintenance work St. John's Church Foundation has planned. Work will begin at 9:00 a.m. and end at 12:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided. Please notify
Jamie Isaacs
if you plan to help.
|
Do You Want to Serve
During Church?
Our lay Eucharistic ministers, acolytes, and ushers are essential to our worship services. There is no time commitment outside of the Sunday service you already attend. We especially encourage our young members, ages 8 and up, to consider becoming acolytes.
We will hold training sessions after the 10:00 a.m. service on the following dates.
July 29-
- Lay Eucharistic minister training
August 5-
- Usher training
August 12-
- Acolyte training
|
|
National Night Out
Ice Cream Social
Needs Volunteers
The Young Adults will sponsor our annual National Night Out Ice Cream Social, when all of us can offer hospitality in the form of ice-cream and friendliness to our neighbors in an effort to know them better.
National Night Out is an annual event, locally supported by the Richmond Police Department, that aims to lower crime rates by bringing citizens outdoors to meet their neighbors.
It's free and open to the public, so bring your friends and family (and dogs).
If you'd like to help, please email Heather Jones. We need volunteers to show up early to set-up and to stay after to clean-up.
Tuesday, August 7
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
In Front of Church (on the sidewalk)
|
Join Us for Our Final
Summer Saturday Contemplative Service
(for this season)
During the summer, St. John's offers a service the
second Saturday of each month at 5:30 p.m.
The service includes Holy Eucharist, contemplative music, a quiet, candlelit atmosphere, and the rite of healing, as a relaxing supplement to your Sunday morning worship.
Please invite friends who prefer contemplative worship in the early evening. Our final service for this season is on
August 11
. Everyone is welcome; no exceptions.
Saturday, August 11
5:30 p.m.
|
Reserve Your Spot
for the Annual Parish Retreat
to Shrine Mont
by August 31
This year's Shrine Mont retreat weekend is
October 19-21
, and the Shenandoah Valley in the fall is quite beautiful.
Autumn is a popular time at Shrine Mont, rooms go quickly, and there is little wiggle room once reservations are confirmed, so act quickly. Details about this year's activities, fees, etc., are coming soon.
|
Spotlight on Outreach
St. John's is committed to living our Baptismal Covenant--
to seek and serve Christ in all persons,
loving our neighbor as ourselves and respecting the dignity of every human being.
School Supply Drive
: It might still be summer, but school will be back in session before you know it! Help St. John's collect school supplies for our neighborhood elementary school, Bellevue. Every Sunday in August, just drop your donation in one of the boxes in the chancel on your way to communion. Start shopping now. (Virginia's Tax Holiday is August 3-5.)
Shop from the list, found here.
Join the $5 Club:
Pledge to spend at least $5 a month on non-perishable foods to feed others. Bring your donations on the first Sunday of each month, or deposit your donations in the wicker basket at the rear of the church anytime. Remember that while we might take a vacation this summer, hunger does not. Thank you for your generosity in supporting First Fruits. Your living out the Gospel allows others to go to bed without being hungry.
First Fruits Sundays
:
First Sunday of every month. Bring non-perishable food items to church for donation to the Christ Ascension Food Pantry.
The food bank especially needs cereal and peanut butter.
This month you contributed 146 pounds of food, giving us a 944 pound year-to-date total donation. That's 63% of our goal 58.33% of our way into the year. Look at you!
N
ext First Fruits Sunday--August 5
Laundry Love
: Third Saturday of every month, 11:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Help do your neighbors' laundry at the laundromat at 25th & Nine Mile.
In June, we helped 56 neighbors wash 96 loads of laundry and dry 105. That's a lot of clean clothes!
Next Laundry Love Day--This Saturday, July 21
|
General Convention Recap
As many of you know, our seminary intern, Sarah Price, attended the 79th General Convention of The Episcopal Church July 5 - 13 in Austin, Texas. Sarah has compiled a quick list of notable developments and is always happy to talk with anyone who wants more information. Here is a quick review of the happenings:
- Both houses agreed to a resolution which allows for full access to trial use marriage rites for all people, whether in same-sex or opposite-sex relationships. The proposal, reiterating what was passed in 2015, also allows all Episcopalians to be married by their priests in their home parishes even in dioceses where Bishops might need to delegate their pastoral oversight in order to do so.
- The Episcopal Church of Cuba was readmitted as a diocese of The Episcopal Church since its politically-induced departure in 1961. It was a re-welcoming with open arms!
- Taking a wide path to embrace both historic and expanded language liturgy, General Convention reaffirmed the centrality of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer while encouraging experimentation with expanded language liturgies and supplemental resources.
- General Convention 79 adopted a $133.8 million 2019-2021 budget focused on three central priorities: evangelism, racial reconciliation and justice, and Creation care.
- Public Witness events were held, including a rally hosted by Bishops United Against Gun Violence and a prayer vigil at the Hutto Detention Center. Each day, people gathered in the Convention Center lobby to pray for an end to violence and 97 wooden crosses were distributed to participants to commemorate the lives lost to gun violence each day in the United States.
- Each day of General Convention about 1,500 attendees gathered to worship and celebrate Holy Eucharist with each other and pray for the Church. They also held an "Episcopal Revival" for the general public where over 5,000 Episcopalians from General Convention and all-around Texas gathered to worship and pray together.
|
Next Vestry Meeting
Tuesday, August 14,
at 5:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall
All members of St. John's Church are welcome to attend vestry meetings as observers. Minutes of recent vestry meetings are displayed on the bulletin board in the Parish Hall foyer. Please share your ideas or questions about the life of St. John's Church with a vestry member.
|
Reserve Your Spot
in the Van Headed
to Karla Hunt's Ordination
Karla Hunt, a long time member of St. John's, will be ordained as a vocational deacon
Saturday, September 29,
at Christ and St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Norfolk.
St. John's is renting a 15 passenger van to provide transportation for those who wish to attend.
We will leave promptly at 7:45 a.m. from St. John's and should return to Richmond by 4:00 p.m.
|
Prayer Group & Sunday Prayer
s
Bring your prayers to the Wednesday morning prayer group. Pray with us silently or aloud as the Spirit leads you, and let us surround you with love and prayers. Find sacred silence and hear the still, small voice of God. Simply stop by the Keeper's Cottage any Wednesday at 10:00.
Prayer ministers also offer individual prayer Sundays during communion.
Wednesdays
10:00 a.m.
Keeper's Cottage (to the left of the church)
|
St. John's Church
2401 East Broad Street
Office: 2319 E. Broad Street RVA 23223
804-649-7938
The deadline for submitting copy for the weekly bulletin insert and parish-wide emailis Wednesday morning, but earlier is always appreciated.
Please send your content to Patty Duffy. Please note that content may be edited to accommodate space limitations and style guidelines.
|
|
