St. John's Episcopal Church - Centreville, VA
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Parish News - October 27, 2021
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Dear St. John's Parishioners and Friends:
I wrote last week about the gift that we were given at the Clergy Conference to take time just to sit in God's presence, to bask in God's love, to be aware of God all around us, to enjoy the peace that God gives us. That theme continued when I spoke with my Spiritual Director earlier this week. We talked about how to translate that sense of peace that one might find at the beach or at Shrine Mont or anywhere that you feel surrounded by God's love and peace, to everyday life, whether we are working or retired. It has to do with awareness of the presence of God, even when we are not actively praying. As we go about the ordinary activities of our daily lives, we need to be aware of God's presence with us, of listening to what God is putting on our hearts. We need to have that quiet time alone with God, but we also need to recognize God's presence as we go about our daily tasks. How is God inviting us to be more open, more aware of God's love and presence? How does God help us along on our spiritual journey? God works in wonderful and amazing ways. Being more aware will help us to see God more at work in our lives.
The Rev. Carol Hancock
Rector
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PARISH NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
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We are searching for a new non-profit group to use the parish hall during the week. If you know of any group looking for space, please tell them to contact David Thompson at St. John's (703-803-7500). We need to spread the word as widely and as quickly as possible. There are flyers on the back table in the church if you know of someone to send it to or a public bulletin board to post it. We have put an ad on Craigs List. If you know other websites, social media, or other places where we could advertise (preferably for free), please let Carol know. Without this income from a group using the parish hall during the week, we will have financial difficulties down the road.
Remember to VOTE!!!! It is our civic duty to vote for officials that we want in leadership positions. Election Day is Tuesday, November 2. However you can also vote until this Friday at the Centreville Library from 12 - 7 pm.
All Saints' Day will be celebrated on Sunday, November 7. If you have loved ones who have died who you would like to remember on All Saints' Day, please send their names to Carol and they will be prayed for on November 7.
Our Annual Pledge Campaign for 2022 - During the month of October, we are hearing from parishioners about why they give to St. John's, and David Weir is offering some reflections in the E Notes (see below). The ingathering of the pledge cards will be Sunday, November 7. Please prayerfully consider what your pledge will be in response to God's great goodness and mercy and return your pledge card as soon as possible. To date, we have received 27 pledges for a total of $143,452. Most are an increase from last year's pledge. Last year, we had 47 pledgers for a total of $215,565. Thanks go to those who have returned their pledge cards to support St. John's financially in 2022.
Veteran's Day is November 11. We would like to remember all St. John's parishioners who have served, or continue to serve, in our armed forces, including active duty, reserves and National Guard. Please let Carol know what branch of the service you served in, your highest rank, and the years that you served. If there are former parishioners or family members who you would like to remember, send Carol their names as well. They will be remembered during the service on November 14.
Steve and I have gotten our COVID booster shots and flu shots. Have you? Let's do everything we can to stay healthy and keep everyone safe. Together we can stop this deadly disease from spreading. Carol
St. John's is doing everything we can to keep people who come to the Sunday services safe. Everyone must wear a mask. We have "touch-less" communion. You pick up your own cup with a consecrated wafer, and a small cup with consecrated wine. We do not pass the offering plate, but have it in the back for people to put in their offerings. We are averaging about 25 people in person on Sundays so people can easily distance themselves from others. If you feel comfortable being inside with these safety practices in place, please join us in church on Sunday morning. Being together in community is important. If you still don't feel safe, please watch our services online. Don't get "out of the habit" of coming to church!
Treasurer and Assistant to the Treasurer set to retire. After serving faithfully for 6 years, our Treasurer, Tom McDermott, and our Assistant to the Treasurer, Penny Parker, will be retiring at the end of the year. We need to find a new Treasurer and Assistant as soon as possible so they can "shadow" Tom and Penny and learn the ropes. If you have some financial skills and a little time to commit, please consider volunteering. If you have questions about what is involved, talk with Tom or Penny. Please let me, Tom or Penny know as soon as possible if you are interested. and willing to serve in either of these capacities.
Calling all lectors, crucifers and ushers! We need you to sign up to assist with the Sunday services in the coming weeks. We are also in need of others to be trained to be lectors, crucifers and ushers. For the next few weeks, Dick Griffith will be happy to train anyone who would like to be an usher. Please let Carol know if you are interested and willing to be trained to serve on Sundays.
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A reflection, by David Weir
The Deceitfulness of Riches
It was hard to be a recent immigrant in America. His father and mother had left their native land because of a lack of jobs and near starvation conditions. The family settled In Allegheny Pennsylvania. Once in the United States, times were still not easy for the family. When he was 12 years old, he helped the family financially by taking a manual labor’s job at a factory working 6 days a week. As a teenage he found a messenger job in Pittsburgh delivering documents to various companies. The job allowed him to meet executives and learn about their business.
The contacts he made and the business advice he received paid off in a big way. His name was Andrew Carnegie, and he was destined to be become the richest man in America. He also played a critical part in the Union’s victory during the Civil War. He made investments in railroads and telegraph companies that provided decisive transportation and communications advantages for the Union Army. After the war, he turned his attention to oil and steel. His investments resulted in companies such as U.S. Steel that became the foundation for the American Industrial revolution.
Andrew Carnegie’s legacy is remembered less today for his business achievements and more for his philanthropic accomplishments. He wrote an article called the “Gospel of Wealth” in which he argued that extremely rich people like himself have a moral obligation to share their wealth. The philosophy inspired him to donate vast sums for the expansion of the public library system in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He also donated millions of dollars to advance education, social causes, and promote international peace among nations.
Andrew Carnegie realized that money of and by itself is morally neutral. It is our decisions we make about how it is spent that makes all the difference. When Jesus spoke about the deceitfulness of riches, he was not condemning the wealthy but warning against being so blinded by the accumulation of material things that we lose sight of the greater things in the Kingdom of God. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he asked, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
As we close out St John’s 2022 Pledge campaign, some of you have already made your commitment and others are still considering. Regardless of your final decision, St John’s community of faith will continue to be a place of hope, healing, and hospitality. This means whether you are at St John’s in person or with us virtually you are always welcomed. And if you are still undecided about what to pledge, remember the value of what we have is always less than the value of what we give. This means:
To Find Joy …......Follow the Path of God’s Service
To Find Peace …. Travel the Road to Forgiveness
To Find Love …....Walk the Highway of Helping Others
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Online Service Videos
As we return to in-person worship, it will be important for us to continue our ministry of having our services online for those who cannot or choose not to come to church. Our videos are also sent out by parishioners to friends and family in other states. We need several people to take turns recording the service on Sunday mornings. Instructions will be given. Please join us if you can help with this ministry. We need several people so it doesn't fall on the shoulders of one person every week. Please let Carol know.
You may be on YouTube. As we are now recording our services in the church and posting them on YouTube, you might be recorded in the service, particularly when you are going up to communion or returning to your seat. If this is a problem for anyone, please let Carol know.
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Donations on their way to the military
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Thank you for all the items donated for Afghan Refugees
For now, we have collected all the shoes, socks, and luggage that were needed by the Afghan refugees coming to Dulles Airport. As the refugees begin to get settled, other needs will most likely arise. Please stay tuned to the E Notes and church announcements for updates. Thanks to all who have supported this ministry. A trip was made to Fort Lee this past Friday. (see photos above). No more donations needed at this time. However, this most likely change in the coming weeks as some of the Afghan refugees settle in N. VA permanently.
from the 'St. John's Outreach Committee'
a note from Ambreen -
Here are a few facts:
- Over $10,000 worth of goods: luggage, winter coats, hats, gloves, men and women clothes, belts, shoes, hygiene items, socks, undergarments, baby clothes, baby formula, baby diapers/wipes, baby cereal and many other essentials
- Over 100 items (at a minimum) in each items noted above
- Over 2 weeks of gathering goods and packing them with labels
- Many communities involved in the collection: St John’s Episcopal Church, McLean Islamic Center, Sisterhood of Shalom Salaam, Truist Bank, Doterra (oil essentials company)
- There are currently 1,000 Afghan refugees on the base with 500 more coming
- These donations will help Fort Lee through the end until they shut down with this mission sometime in end of November/December
- Donations were very appreciated and well needed; we were told that this one was the best donation they have received so far as the others had items which cannot be used (too big sizes or not suitable for the guests)
Thank you, Ambreen
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Western Fairfax Christian Ministries has put out their list of the foods that they need the most. You can bring your non-perishable items to the church on Sunday mornings, or drop them off in the box outside the door by the breezeway during the week and they will be delivered to WFCM.
· Canned garbanzo beans (low salt preferred)
· Canned kidney beans, red beans, and black beans (low salt preferred)
· Canned pasta
· Pasta Sauce (low salt preferred)
· Canned Tuna and Canned Chicken
· Flavored pasta/rice
· Mashed Potatoes
· Oatmeal (Quaker Oats Healthy Old Fashioned Oatmeal)
· Canned vegetables (corn, carrots, spinach, beets) (low salt preferred)
· Canned Pineapple (no sugar added preferred)
· Tomato Paste (low salt preferred)
· Toiletries: Toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, feminine pads, deodorant, baby wipes, shaving cream, mouth wash (NOTE: we are not currently in need of diapers due to our partnership with Greater DC Diaper Bank. Please only donate larger size pull ups or wipes if you want to donate items for babies.)
Outreach Opportunity to Help Our “Neighbors”
The Western Fairfax Shepherd Center is still accepting volunteer drivers to support clients who need help getting to appointments, shopping trips (for food), and to deliver food from WFCM to clients. Please contact the Shepherd Center at 703-246-5920 or email [email protected] and copy Deacon Steve at [email protected].
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Sign Up: Sunday service reader or usher We welcome, need, and value your help! The lector will read the 2 lessons and the psalm. The usher will hand out bulletins and bring the elements and offering to the altar. If you would like to do either of these, CLICK HERE.
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Sign Up: Altar Flowers
Please indicate how you wish your flower donation to appear in the Sunday bulletin.(Wedding anniversary, in memory of someone - something special you want to remember by providing flowers.) CLICK HERE
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Service of Evening Prayer - Virtually
Every Wednesday, St. John's has a Service of Evening Prayer. It is a peaceful way to end the day, and it's now being held virtually. Here is the link to this evening's service:
Wednesday, October 27 -
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THE ADULT LECTIONARY FORUM - IN PERSON & ON ZOOM
All are invited to join in, following the Sunday service. Here is the link to the Lectionary Forum via Zoom, in case you cannot attend in person:
PLEASE NOTE LINK updated
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Last Sunday's recorded service: The Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost, October 24, 2021
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SUNDAY WORSHIP & EDUCATION
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THE ADULT LECTIONARY FORUM - HELD EACH SUNDAY
All are invited to join in, following the Sunday service, in the library. Or use the link to the Lectionary Forum via Zoom, in case you cannot attend in person, found above.
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We can prepare our hearts & minds by reading ahead
for the Sunday Service lesson
The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
October 31, 2021
The First Reading: Deuteronomy 6:1-9
As God gave his people a land to inhabit in ancient times, so today, those who follow his son, Jesus, are given an inheritance of their own in God’s kingdom, to enjoy security and stability in our inmost being.
The Psalm: 9:11-14. p. 593
The Second Reading: Hebrews 9:11-14
Rather than giving a gift or offering, putting something or someone else in front of God, Jesus as our high priest puts himself in that in-between place, being the gift and offering himself.
The Gospel: Mark 12:28-34
The commandments to make sacrifices and to love God and neighbor are not so unrelated as they might seem. If the sacrifice is of our own self-interest and our own possessions for the sake of our neighbors, the two commands become one.
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Online Contributions
to St. John's
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St. John's now offers three buttons for online donations via Tithe.ly. You may use the buttons below to go directly to Tithe.ly, or you may download the Tithe.ly app on your phone or tablet.
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The Pledge payment button may be used only to make your pledge payment (after signing up to be a pledger, which may be done at any time in the year. See Carol or Vestry)
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The Facility Campaign button may be used only for any contribution for the facility's buildings and grounds, or special facility campaigns.
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The Donation button may be used for any other type of donation to St. John's. To designate a special purpose (i.e. Organ Fund, Ministry Partner payments, etc.) please send a note to [email protected].
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Rewiring
In the house that is the Diocese of Virginia, we know that we have a solid foundation, and we know that as long as we remain firmly tied to the rock that is God in Christ Jesus, we’re on firm footing. If we remain grounded in Christ, anything that is amiss can be fixed, updated, removed, or renovated.
We can take our time with some things, budgeting time and money as we go. Other things that turn up in our house inspection require immediate action, like it or not, because they pose a clear threat to the safety and soundness of structure. Everything may look just fine, but some hidden issues can be lethal. One of those issues is wiring.
When I was young, we lived in a small house with a laundry “room” in the back of the detached garage. The dryer would shock my mother when she turned it on, so she called an electrician to fix it. He went into the garage, poked around a bit, and came out ashen-faced. “Lady,” he said, “lock the door to that garage and never, ever go in there again.” Then he ran for his life.
Power is a necessary thing. It makes things run. Not enough, and the systems don’t work. Too much, and things blow out. Sent in the wrong direction, or uncontained, it is lethal. It can start fires; it can shock; it can even kill. And the challenging thing, in old houses, is that the kind of wiring that was the latest technology for our ancestors -- cloth-covered wire, aluminum wire, unprotected outlets in kitchens and bathrooms -- the old ways of understanding and directing power are now known to be deadly dangerous. So we pull the old wiring, and we re-wire. We don’t just say: Well, the lights come on, and so far nobody I know has been harmed here; no need to change. People who have lived with obsolete wiring have been electrocuted. Houses wired that way have burned to the ground.
And our house has a particular wiring problem: the long legacy of racism and slavery. It’s an issue that goes far beyond any conscious desire of white people to discriminate against people of color (which I fervently hope is not true of anyone in the Church -- and when our work is done, anyone else). It’s not enough to believe that we are not prejudiced against individuals. Our call is much broader than that, because the habits and systems and images and cultural disconnects that went into constructing systemic racism are wired into every aspect of our common life, whether we are consciously aware of it or not. The bad wiring is a spiritual issue, not a political issue, because we are called and commanded by God to love our neighbors, ALL our neighbors, as ourselves. We can’t do that -- I’m speaking here to other white people -- unless and until we come to a deep understanding of what life is like, still, today, for our Black siblings and other people of color.
To understand where we are now, we first have to unravel our views of history to include the perspectives and experiences of all the people who were part of it. To choose not to look, to choose not to see the whole picture, is to refuse both to see the present and to see ourselves. Once we see, we are able -- rather, compelled -- to change the present, and the future.
I have learned so much as I have immersed myself in the complex web of life that is Virginia. Since the public murders last year of George Floyd and Brionna Taylor (among uncounted others), I have spent many hours reading, participating in conversations like my bishops’ Sacred Ground group, and working alongside and learning from Black colleagues who were gracious and generous in schooling me on much that I had somehow managed not to see. It is frustrating, and sometimes embarrassing, to face my own ignorance and blindness, but it is also life-giving and soul-healing. I still have a long way to go, taking in so much injustice, so much trauma, so much despair, so much resilience, so much courage, and so much hope. It’s just so much -- and it’s the tip of an iceberg others have lived with for centuries.
I have come to understand how inadequate, and how misleading, much of my (fine and expensive) education was. The history that white people have received was written by white people, and it is woefully, sinfully incomplete. This is not necessarily always a result of intentional bias in the writers; it is sometimes a function of historiography going back to Thucydides in the fifth century BC. (On this subject, I commend to you The Ever-Changing Past by James Banner). We who are part of the dominant culture have a lot to learn from Black (and other) chroniclers of the ideas and events that have made us all who we are, for better or worse.
In Virginia, this has particular and powerful import. The concept of race -- that people coming from different continents with different appearances are somehow fundamentally different, with some groups inherently superior or inferior -- that notion was first codified in Virginia. Human enslavement was not invented here, but racially based, lifelong, hereditary enslavement was wired into the social, legal, and economic fabric here in a new and devastating way. (For the documented details, see In the Matter of Color by Leo Higginbotham.) Virginia was not alone in this evil, but we were front and center. The most casual and callous observer knows that the impact of racist slavery on Black life did not end with the Emancipation Proclamation of the 1860s, or the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The horrors of Jim Crow, lynching, peonage, segregation, redlining, and mass incarceration have left us, especially our Black citizens, with deep, unhealed scars.
The reality is that all of these things were wired not just into the body politic, but into the Church in Virginia. Bishops, clergy, and congregations held enslaved persons. By our own diocesan count, 82% of Episcopal clergy in Virginia were slaveholders at the beginning of the Civil War[i]. Many congregations held “glebes,” land that was worked by enslaved labor. It’s a fair assumption that all the churches built before the Civil War were built, entirely or in large part, by enslaved labor. Long after the war, congregations remained segregated. Our histories are not fully known or understood, and the effects of the behaviors of our spiritual (and sometimes literal) ancestors on our collective soul remain to be surfaced and healed. These are the bare, oversimplified surface facts.
The question I hear -- a question I might have asked when I was younger -- is: Why bring up the past, when it is so terrible and depressing for all concerned? Haven’t things changed? Hasn’t our wiring already been upgraded?
There’s a simple answer: It is still hurting people. The wiring can’t be right if there are still shocks and fires. Jesus commands us to love one another. It is not loving to gloss over, to ignore, or to minimize the pain of our neighbors. The pain is real, and it is deep, and if we are not fixing the things that cause it, then we are accountable for it. People living today are not to blame for the past, but we are not exempted from changing ideas and habits and systems that hurt others just because they are inherited. The biblical “good Samaritan” inherited all kinds of negative attitudes about Jews, but was a neighbor to one who was robbed and beaten and left to suffer alone. That is the neighbor our Lord and Savior explicitly, pointedly, calls us to be.
It's not as if we don’t think history matters in Virginia. We carefully preserve old buildings, old silver, old traditions. We can’t simultaneously be proud of history, and in the same breath argue that history doesn’t matter. If we tell the story at all, we must tell the whole story. To tell only the parts that seem pleasant for some people is to deny the reality, even the existence, of Black people. To ignore the reality of the past is to deny the reality of the present.
Of equal or greater importance is that we come to see clearly the current experience of Black people here in the Diocese and beyond. It can be difficult for white people to know how to take the steps to do this without causing more pain and frustration for Black colleagues and friends; we can’t just march up to people and demand that they recount their pain for our benefit. My own first steps were to engage in Sacred Ground, and to read like a maniac. There’s a growing mountain of good writing about life as a Black person in America. Come along with me in exploring those gifts, and in expanding our exposure to broader culture through arts, culinary experiences, cinema, and other media, not to mention service in the community. It helps to find another white person who is ahead on the path of learning. I have also found great joy in finding a way to work alongside people who look different from me, sometimes being given the gift of seeing through their eyes. “Beginner’s mind” -- that is, assuming that we have a LOT to learn -- will serve us well. Then we can see where the Spirit leads.
The generational inequity, injustice, and trauma of a large proportion of our population requires that the whole community engage the whole truth. There is no other way to repair the damage.
To learn is the first part. To act is the second, and crucial, part. When Jesus said “love your neighbor as yourself” he didn’t mean that we should think loving thoughts. He meant, take care of your neighbor the way you take care of yourself. We do that by pulling out the bad wiring: the barriers, the barely conscious assumptions, the thoughtless comments, the tolerance of obvious inequity and imbalance and oppression and disenfranchisement and violence. We replace that with Christ-like wiring: justice, safety, mercy, kindness, respect, dignity, agency. Start anywhere. There’s more than enough to do. If you are stumped, here are a few ideas, courtesy of the kindness of a colleague: 106 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice; Dear White People: Here Are Ten Actions You Can Take to Promote Racial Justice in the Workplace.
A note: I am well aware that this divide, the legacy of Black enslavement, is not the only one we face. I believe that divides are all problematic, but they are different in character, so I intentionally did not speak generically. I’m also aware that this is a bit long, and at the same time it barely scratches the surface. It’s a crucial, central topic, and there are others to address. I apologize for these shortcomings. I am also aware that others have waited on the sidelines while I address our white communicants. For today, what I want to say is: I see you, better and better every day, and I want to do everything I can so that all of us see you, so that the necessary work falls on the right shoulders -- so that we can announce and reveal the Kingdom together, true siblings in Christ.
Our house is a fine house. It is built on Christ, the solid rock. It’s quirky. It’s roomy. It holds treasures. And it has wiring that needs fixing. Let’s not lock the door or run away; let’s fix the wiring. Here’s the thing: The Church in Virginia then was part of the creation of the foul history of racist slavery. We are the Church in Virginia now. We have a sacred responsibility, and a holy opportunity, to take the lead in setting things right. We must never lag behind others in this work; we must never lose our zeal for justice, for kindness, for the cure of souls, and for the revealing of God’s dream to a hurting world. May God, who has called us to be his people, give us the courage, the strength, and the grace to always, always, always love our neighbors as ourselves.
Peace,
Bishop Jennifer Brooke-Davidson
[i] Meet Me in Galilee: Beginning the Journey From Repentance to Reconciliation: The History of Racism and Race in the Diocese of Virginia, p. 27. The Diocesan Committee on Race and Reconciliation, 2012. Read it in its entirety. Also of great value in understanding later eras is Episcopalians and Race: Civil War to Civil Rights, by Gardiner Shattuck, Jr., 2000.
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Inclusion
We want God to love us, but not them; to be on our side, but not theirs; to come to our aid, but forget about those others. But that’s not the way God works, and it’s certainly not the way Jesus works. Just look at who Jesus spent his time with: sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes. He went out of his way into the highways and byways to compel all to enter the kingdom, for he was sent to call not the righteous but sinners.
-Br. James Koester
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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
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Please note: If you choose to unsubscribe below, please be aware that you will no longer receive either St. John's sermons or E-Notes, which are sent weekly. If you do unsubscribe and later want to be added back in, that needs to be done through the provider, Constant Contact. Please email St. John's office with the request: [email protected].
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