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Brothers and Sisters at Saint John's:
Happy End of Summer!
This is to say, this Sunday, September 9, is the last Sunday of the Summer schedule with worship at 8 & 10am. I am preaching this Sunday.
The Program Year begins next week. Your parish has been getting ready. Rev. Jill & I, with worship, youth and adult education, and Martha & Margie with Sunday School, and Jessica & Greg with the Music Program, and Trish Young with the Ladies Literary Fellowship (Sunday afternoons, monthly) and Sue & Danielle with the Women's Spiritual Fulfillment Group (Monday Evenings, Monthly) and Carol Angus & her Auction Committee team (Saturday, November 3) and Ron, Steve, Bill & team with the Property Committee, and Paul, Ted Marti & Company with the Capital Campaign Committee's construction project, and Amy Borer & the Pastoral Care Committee and Jane in the Church office, with Maureen's volunteer help, preparing calendars that schedule and manage all this fall activity. All these people -- and more -- have been preparing for a blessed new fall program year at Saint John's!
If you ever wonder when an event is happening at Saint John's, just visit our Google Calendar at our web page, www.saintjohnsconcord.com. Its as up to date as we can be, and Jane is constantly updating it as events are added or changed in the church.
Its often fun to try new things at Saint John's, and last week, Labor Day Sunday, both Rev. Jill and I are away. So instead of hiring a guest priest, we looked inside the parish for worship leadership. Deacon Dee Faison, who is retired and attends the 9:15 service with her grandson, lead the liturgy with Deacon's modifications. And Sue Hammer, who has been accepted as a Postulant into the ordination process and will begin theological studies, preached the sermon. I heard from many of you that this was a blessed experience! Thank you, Sue and Dee!
The lessons for this Sunday challenge us as a Christian community to examine our treatment of the "other" and the outsider, as well as the visitor. The author of the Letter of James asks us if we treat the well-dressed, wealthy visitor with equal hospitality and love as we do the poorest, poorly-dressed visitor. And in Mark's Gospel, Jesus' encounter with the Syrophoenician women exposes Jesus' own possible prejudice towards outsiders and his willingness to overcome his own cultural prejudices in the service of the Gospel of Love.
I hope you'll be there with me to explore these stories at 8 or 10 on Sunday, September 9.
Rev. John
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Parish Hall Construction update, August 28, 2019:
Vestry allocates Richard Mendenhall's $100,000 bequest to the capital campaign project!
In this first photo, you can see the new roof, connecting to the old room, that creates the two story courtyard addition. The two gable ends of the roof will have large glass windows, as is shown on the photo.
Update: The Courtyard addition has a high peaked roof, so that rain will properly shed onto the existing roofs below. This means that there is a large attic space (photo above) which will make an excellent second floor space for classrooms or meeting rooms. At this time, there is not the funding to complete the finishes of the attic space, so it will be used for storage for the time being.
On the first floor of the courtyard construction, the ceiling is under construction, which is also the floor of the large second floor area (photo left). A stairway is under construction in the photo at left, allowing easy access to the second floor. A second stairwell will be constructed as well to meet code requirements for "egress" in public buildings.
There is not the funding available to complete this whole project, so the plan has been to complete the project in phases, stopping when the cash runs out, and restarting when more giving is available from parishioners.
Parishioner Richard Mendenhall died in January, leaving Saint John's $100,000. After six months of prayerful discernment, the vestry has decided to allocate the entire $100,000 to the Capital Campaign Project. This will allow us to complete the new, handicapped accessible, modern bathroom complex in time for the fall Auction the first week of November . . . with a special "Game of Thrones" giving opportunity at the auction to "cap off" the bathroom construction!
Right: Richard Mendenhall attended the 8am service faithfully most every Sunday. He was a quiet, kind man who loved horses and worked as a horse identifier in Delaware, and lived on his family farm in Garnet Valley.
Richard felt that he was greatly blessed in life. He wanted to express his gratefulness for his financial blessings by leaving a generous bequest of $100,000 to Saint John's. There being no restrictions on the gift, the money has been allocated by the vestry to the Capital Campaign project.
this is an excellent opportunity to remind all friends of Saint John's that you, too can remember your church in your will. You can restrict the gift (specify what it is used for) or make the gift unrestricted. Those who name Saint John's in their estate planning become members of the "1702 Society" in honor of the founding date of our parish.
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Guatemala Volcano Relief
The Diocese of Pennsylvania, through its churches like Saint John's, raised over $5,000 for volcano relief. A check was sent to the Diocese of Guatemala. Thank you for your part in supporting this effort!. You may also give online by clicking here.
Guatemala Mission Trip veterans Fr. John, Burt and Mary Pay Lynam joined Bishop Gutierrez at annual Guatemala Mission Committee potluck dinner held Monday, June 4th at 6:00 at St. David's, Radnor.
St. Mary's Food Cupboard
Saint Mary's Episcopal Church in Chester hosts a weekly food distribution. Saint John's is one of several Episcopal Parishes that donates food, and joins in the distribution each Thursday. There's a collection bin in the church entryway, you are encouraged to place food items there!
Please double bag your donations.
Contact John Keenan if you wish to join the delivery group, on the 1
st or 3
rd Thursday of any month.
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576 Concord Road, Glen Mills, PA 19342
Phone: 610-459-2994
Rector:
The Rev. Dr. John T. Sorensen:
Email
Cell Phone: 610-389-9278
Assistant Rector:
The Rev. Jill M. LaRoche Wikel:
Email
Music Ministry:
Organist:
Greg Rettew
Sunday School Director:
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