Greetings!
PARISH NEWS for Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Volunteer Needed Now - We are in need of a new treasurer to start in January 2020, but we would like to find a treasurer now so that he/she can shadow our current treasurer, Tom McDermott, and learn the ropes before Tom retires. Tom has served as treasurer for the past four years. Not only does he need and deserve a break, but the diocesan canons require that a treasurer step aside for at least a year after serving for four years. The treasurer signs the checks, makes sure the financial books are in good order, and sees that expenses come out of the right account. If you interested, you can talk to Tom to get a further description of the job. We really need to get someone in place this summer in order to have a few months to work with Tom. Please let Carol, Tom, or Penny Parker know if you might be willing to serve in this capacity.
St John's Team Helps Build a (Very Tiny) Cathedral 
Eight parishioners from St. John's visited the National Cathedral on July 20 to install 169 bricks representing the 169 years of St. John's history in Centreville. 
 
The team built what will become the tower to the right side of the main door of the cathedral as well as part of the support of the great Rose Window. Those who wish to follow the progress of the building online can do so here and sign up for email updates of the construction progress. https://cathedral.org/LEGO/  
 

Volunteers who wish to build a Lego St. John's are currently being sought. 
 
St. John's Team with Lego Model
Lisa Heller, Tim Ramsey, Head builder Rev. Carol Hancock, Marie McDermott, Val Tucker, Mimi Spear, Patricia McPherson, Robyn Ramsey and Carissa Ruth Spear (granddaughter of Mimi)

Our organist has broken her foot......
and since she cannot get up the stairs to the choir loft, the electronic piano and the choir have moved downstairs. So for the next six weeks, while Mandy is in a "boot", she will use the electronic piano and the choir will sit in the first two pews on the lectern side. Our best wishes go to Mandy for a speedy recovery!

Thanks to you, we met our goal!!! We had been asked by Western Fairfax Christian Ministries to provide 25 large backpacks for children who can't afford them. As of today, we have collected 31!!!! Thanks to all who donated! And thanks to Denise McCarthy who has volunteered to deliver them in early August!

Lisa Heller will be moving to Pakistan for a year of service abroad with the State Department. Lisa will leave for Pakistan on August 19. Please remember Lisa in your prayers as she works in a conflicted part of the world, serving our country on our behalf. Lisa will be able to return home a few times during her year away. Jim will remain here, keeping the home fires burning.

Please remember in your prayers our students who will be starting college in the next few weeks: Peter Heller who will be going to William and Mary, and Lindsay Jones who will be going to Georgia Tech. Our returning students include Cecelia Sellars (William and Mary), Katie Heller (William and Mary), Jack Yagerline (James Madison), David Daniel Weir (George Mason), Catherine Crossett (Virginia Tech), and Samantha Belso.

Coffee Hour - As this Sunday is the first Sunday of the month, those whose last names start with A - L will provide the snacks for coffee hour.

It's that time of year... Vacation!
I will be on vacation from August 5 - 23, visiting family in New England and relaxing at the beach. Father Samuel Reddimalla will take the Sunday services on August 11 and 18, as well as the Wednesday service on August 14. Val Tucker will lead Evening Prayer on Wednesday, August 7 and 21. I will be back for the service on August 25. Carol

Mandy Hull, our organist , is offering a FREE trial period of three piano lessons during the month August to anyone available between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM on a weekday, Monday through Friday. Mandy teaches using the Simply Music Piano method, which emphasizes playing for enjoyment and recreation. Open to beginners and former pianists. Learn a variety of styles, including classical, blues and pop, and learn to accompany the singing of songs like Amazing Grace, Auld Lang Syne and Danny Boy within a couple of months. To set up a trial, please contact Mandy at amandahull101@gmail.com or text to 931-808-2789. 
Make an Online Pledge Offering!
The new way to send your pledge offering! You can download the app to your phone, or you can click the link below, and use your credit card!
SUNDAY SERVICE
We can prepare our hearts & minds by reading ahead
for the Sunday Service lessons.   

The Eighth Sunday After Pentecost


August 4, 2019

9:30 AM

 The First Reading: Hosea 11:1-11
God continues to lament the broken relationship he has with Israel, alluding to the tenderness and intimacy of their past interactions with familial language.

The Psalm: 107:1-9, 43 , page 746, BCP

The Second Lesson: Colossians 3:1-11
As members of the body of Christ, the church, each of us is called to live in humility and honesty, to test our own intentions and to examine our motivations as we speak to one another and live together.

The Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
With what are we occupied? What do we spend our time and energy turning over in our minds? May it be things which are eternal, not being concerned about possessions or things that will perish.
  ____________________________
 
CHILD CARE IS PROVIDED IN THE NURSERY  
(Rm. 205) 
During the Service
____________

JOINT SUNDAY SCHOOL: 10:30 - 11:30 AM
 Each week, St. John's children join with our Ministry Partners: 
Wellspring UCC & Grace Baptist Church
Room 207/208
_________________________

St. John's Sunday School class for ages 2-4, Room 215
Meets the first Sunday of each month from 9:50 - 10:45 AM 
(will not meet in June, July or August)
Our first class in September will meet on September 8 to avoid the Labor Day weekend.
_________________________

THE ADULT LECTIONARY FORUM

MEETS EACH SUNDAY IN THE LIBRARY, FOLLOWING THE SERVICE 
  FROM 10:50 - 11:50 AM

Forum Discussion:

George Freeman Bragg Jr. (25 Jan 1863 – 12 Mar 1940) was an African-American priest, journalist, social activist & historian. As the 12 th  African-American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States, he worked against racial discrimination and for interracial harmony, both within and outside the church. Born into slavery in Warrenton, NC during the American Civil War, he was baptized at Emmanuel Episcopal Church. After the war, his carpenter father & seamstress mother moved the family to Petersburg, VA to live with his grandmother Caroline Wiley Cain Bragg, a devout Episcopalian & former slave of an Episcopal priest. As a child Bragg delivered newspapers and established relationships with the city's white leaders.

After high school he began theological studies at the Bishop Payne Divinity School, but was expelled after for "insufficient humility." Bragg turned to politics, serving as a page in the Virginia House of Delegates (1881-82). In 1882, he founded the weekly Petersburg Lancet , advocating civil rights issues, but later successively rebranded it the Afro-American Churchman & The Church Advocate .

A change of rectors at St Stephens Petersburg allowed Bragg to resume his theological studies; he graduated in 1886, was ordained a deacon & became vicar of Norfolk’s Holy Innocents Episcopal Church mission the next year. In five years, the church was fully self-supporting. Successfully challenging a rule that black deacons must wait at least five years before ordination as priests, Bishop Francis Whittle ordained him as such at Norfolk’s St Luke's Episcopal Church in 1888. Three years later, he was rector of the oldest black Episcopal congregation in the South, Baltimore's St. James Episcopal Church, where he remained for 49 years, until his death. Under Bragg's guidance, its 63-person flock tripled, requiring them to relocate to a larger site by 1901—in three years it boasted 500+ parishioners. All the while Bragg fought racism & Jim Crow laws (within & outside the church); helped Booker T. Washington found the Committee of 12 , which sought to prevent black disenfranchisement in Maryland; backed hiring African-American teachers to educate black children in Baltimore's schools; co-founded the Niagara Movement , a precursor of the NAACP, continued publishing the monthly Church Advocate , wrote several books, & argued Episcopal overseas mission work needed to foster African-American congregations Stateside, too. He tirelessly lobbied for the election and consecration of black bishops and was himself twice interviewed, but never selected. When he died, after a short hospitalization at Baltimore's Providence Hospital, The Baltimore Sun eulogized his quiet manner, dignity and work for interracial harmony.

DIOCESE
Below is an exerpt from a statement written by The Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC, The Very Rev. Randy Hollerith, Dean of the National Cathedral, and The Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, Canon Theologian of the National Cathedral, regarding the climate of hate and racism that is prevalent in our country today. To read the rest of the article, entitled "Have We No Decency?", go to https://www.edow.org/news-events/news/2019/07/30/have-we-no-decency-response-president-trump

As leaders of faith who believe in the sacredness of every single human being, the time for silence is over. We must boldly stand witness against the bigotry, hatred, intolerance, and xenophobia that is hurled at us, especially when it comes from the highest offices of this nation. We must say that this will not be tolerated. To stay silent in the face of such rhetoric is for us to tacitly condone the violence of these words. We are compelled to take every opportunity to oppose the indecency and dehumanization that is racism, whether it comes to us through words or actions.

VOLUNTEERING AT ST. JOHN'S
Sign Up Here to be an altar server *, or to donate flowers for a Sunday service, or to bring refreshments for Coffee Hour after the service. * (if you're not an altar server, and would like to be a Lay Eucharistic Minister (LEM), a Lector, or a Crucifer, please see Carol).
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COMMUNITY
WESTERN FAIRFAX
CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES

"We know that food can be one of the most expensive items on a household budget list. Our hope is that in allowing our clients to visit once per month they will save enough money to pay for other expenses such as rent or utility bills."
I tems are collected weekly in the baskets at the front door of St. John's Church. For food list:
OPPORTUNITIES
Reminder
Every Wednesday evening, we have a service of Holy Eucharist and healing at 6:00 PM. The service is about 30 minutes. It is a perfect alternative for those who cannot come to church on Sunday mornings, as well as a good spiritual boost in the middle of the week. Come join us!

Limitations
There is great freedom in limitation, in knowing that you can’t do it all. How wonderful it is when the burden of carrying so much on our shoulders is lifted. What is it in your life that is just too much for you to handle? This is where Jesus is ready to meet you.
-Br. Jim Woodrum
My email address is stjohnscvpriest@gmail.com,
and the office number is 703-803-7500. 

May our ministry together spread God's love to all whom we encounter.
      - Carol

        The Rev. Carol Hancock, Rector
ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH | 5649 MT. GILEAD RD. , CENTREVILLE, VA | 703-803-7500
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