The Bridge
August 19, 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.
|
|
From Our Interim Rector
St. John’s as a congregation is on one side of the river and approaching a bridge. On the other side of the river is a fresh start for the congregation. In the midst of the pandemic, life has continued to march along to the best of everyone’s ability! Maybe our transition time hasn’t looked exactly like we all thought it might, however, who is to say what is for the best at times? Yes, plans of all kinds have been changed, rearranged, put aside for another season. Just think! At one point, August 16 was a target date to be back in church for in-person services! I’m so proud of how many of you have figured out Zoom, joined groups that might not have been possible to join before, and “come to worship” with your church, with your community, on Sunday mornings.
My grateful thanks to all that have made Sunday morning live-stream possible. We have offered close to 40 services in this format. Yes, sometimes it could be a lot easier to just come in and pre-record a series of services and put them out on the airwaves at the right time; but thank you to all who have made the “current time worship” available so that even if we are not physically together we are worshipping and hopefully, being spiritually together by our intentions and our prayers!
Last August, a couple of weeks before Bishop Doyle was with us, we received in the office the form from Bishop Ryan’s office to fill out all the details for her first visit with us in an Episcopal capacity, for August 30, 2020. Who would have known all that has happened since we received that form!
Bishop Ryan is physically coming to St. John’s on Sunday, August 30, to worship with us by live stream. Hope we “fill the rafters” that morning, at both services, tuned in to the live stream at 10 in English and noon in Spanish. This will be a very special and unique service as we reaffirm our baptismal vows as a community, as a church. Between the services, Bishop Ryan will be attending our Zoom coffee hour at 11:00! This is exciting folks!!!!! At 2:00 pm she will join the vestry for a Zoom meeting.
English classes in preparation for Reaffirmation are on Zoom at 7:00 pm through the month of August. Spanish classes are going online later this week, so they can be accessed at any time. Come give the class a try!
We haven’t quite finished our ministries for this side of the river … so let us pray, stay focused, zero in on our purpose, and know that we may be in new territory, but we are not doing any of this alone—we HAVE God’s help!
Ann+
|
|
Our Baptismal Covenant and Reaffirmation of Faith
In preparation for Bishop Ryan’s visit to St. John's on August 30, please join us on August 19, 26 at 7 pm. Each week, we will study one of the Baptismal Promises and look at how these promises are lived out in our daily life. The class will also include a special discussion of how these promises can help us confront racism.
We will continue to utilize Zoom for these meetings. The link will be sent out with the regular Tuesday Christian Formation emails, and can be found on our website.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Fay Jones by email (fay@austinstjohns.org).
|
|
Generosity Changes Everything
As summer draws to a close in this very unusual time, our minds are drawn yet again to what normal was like "pre-COVID-19". We look forward to starting school, preparing for the holidays - what do those "normal" activities look like, feel like, now? As Rev. Ann has asked, who would have ever predicted that we would still be staying home in order to stay safe?
Even our annual financial stewardship campaign looks very different this year. Your Stewardship Team has been meeting regularly to determine the best way to reach out to you in these uncertain times and invite you to continue, or begin, supporting St. John's financially. We believe that our decisions have been made with compassion and understanding for all the myriad ways the pandemic has affected our people.
In order to maintain the ministries underwritten by your financial support, we will be sending out information soon about generous, prayerful giving for the year 2021. You will receive a giving card in the mail, with a stamped self addressed envelope to mail it back to the church. Our "Harvest Sunday" will be October 4, so please have yours back to the church before then.
Only you can decide the amount of your pledge, and that decision should be based on a prayerful conversation between you and our Lord. Above all, let your gift come from a place of joy and thanksgiving; “each person should give what they have decided in their heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).
St. John’s Stewardship Team
|
|
Building Bridges and Healing Brokenness
"Walking In The Midst Of Loss"
By Rosalinda Rodriguez
This pandemic has made us live in a different way. I have had to learn to walk through losing the one person who loved me the most in my life, my mother. At the same time, I was recovering from surgery and I had to keep a smile for my children. They were to attend a camp that we had planned months ago and could not take that away because of the adversity.
I asked God many times when I would return to normal and at the same time understanding that nothing would be normal again. While planning my children's journey and my mother's journey, I fell into my reality. I had to remain a mother, wife, sister, and in going back to my work, let everything flow and know that God was with me.
I remember that I have always given thanks to God since he gave me my firstborn. I held the cross with which I always pray and knew that there, once again, was the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ helping me to continue. I saw the Lord’s work when I received the support of Mother Ann, Madre Victoria, and the flowers that the vestry sent. It all came with all the good wishes each sent me, after that I knew I was not alone.
It was beautiful to know that I was not alone and that in the midst of my loss, my mother, although in ashes, came to my house, my children came back from that camp, happy, loving even the ants! My work keeps me busy, my brothers are more united, so I knew that I have much to go on for. No matter how dark we see things, God gives the strength to keep walking during so many losses. Thank you to my family of St. John’s.
|
|
Sunday Services at St. John's
We are finding different ways to worship.
|
|
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:
|
|
-
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 August 23, the access code is 446800634#
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).
|
|
Thanks to your generosity, St. John's will be sending a check for over $600 to Family Eldercare for fans.
|
|
Virtual Coffee and Fellowship:
Bring 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:
|
|
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. |
|
Giving at St. John's
People have asked how to continue their giving as the ministry of the Church continues.
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:
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
Fay Jones, Editor (fay@austinstjohns.org) |
|
|
|
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)
|
|
For more information about events at St. John’s,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
