The Bridge
September 2, 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.
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From Our Interim Rector
Greetings,
One year ago today, September 2, 2019, it was the “Day After” Bishop Doyle’s visit with us at St. John’s. The grounds, the church, the parish hall, the meal, confirmands, baptisms, receptions all had been celebrated in style! We even had one little girl come forward at the Bishop’s invitation and he baptized her! I’m writing this to you on Monday, the “Day After” Bishop Ryan’s visit on August 30, 2020. Yesterday looked and was different than the Episcopal visit last year; however, yesterday offered something so beautiful, so meaningful – St. John’s doing their very best under whatever conditions and circumstances. The grounds were manicured, walkways weeded, offices organized, and everything neat, simple and clean.
Bishop Ryan is learning Spanish. She worked hard and wrote her sermon for yesterday first in Spanish and from that to English. There was one word that glowed in both sermons and that was the word ‘love’ – “amor”. What is so important in our relationship with God and with one another, our neighbors, is the belief in love. Love doesn’t need a big meal, a fancy church, a lot of pomp and ceremony – love needs the children of God to do as we have each been called.
Sunday afternoon, I received a very nice email from Bp. Ryan and as she offered, “Please tell all how much I appreciate the care they took with each detail, from the care of the grounds, to the classes in preparation, to the Vestry sharing and questions, and the tacos, water, and worship music. I’m grateful for all of you and know you worked hard for all that my visitation involved.”
The Reaffirmation of our Baptismal Vows is fresh in our hearts and our minds; may we keep it in the front row for a long time to come! Yes, it is September, and as we enter into the fall, we will be preparing for so many different aspects in the life of church and community at St. John’s. We have been live-streaming Sunday services now for 5-1/2 months. We will continue to live stream, but will be adding some services that are part of our journey back into the church and worshiping together. Beginning on Sunday, September 20, we will be offering an additional service at 1:15 on the wooden deck outside of the Parish Hall. This will be Holy Eucharist, limited to a total of 10 people. Masks will be required as will social distancing. This service will be about 25 minutes in length. Bring your own lawn chair or you can stand. Attendance will be by reservation, and this service will not be recorded. One week will be English and the next week will be Spanish. We will begin on September 20 in English.
Senior Warden John Williams and I have been discussing this worship opportunity, and feel we have a green light after visiting with Bp. Ryan on Sunday. She explained to us that at the last House of Bishops meeting (now by Zoom, quarterly, all the Episcopal Bishops of the U.S.), the Bishops met with Dr. Anthony Fauci who stressed that the safest place to worship in community, is outside, still using masks and respecting social distancing. Bp. Ryan continued explaining that as we learn more about the virus, the priority is not as intense about surfaces as it is about what is airborne and remains airborne. In another words, we cannot be spaced too far apart for indoor worship. Services indoors need to be as short as possible. Singing and praying together out loud continues to be a vehicle for launching more virus-filled droplets. Our liturgy team is going to look at how spacing and worshiping inside the church might look under these newer guidelines. Bottom line – we cannot just sit back and wait. Waiting for the vaccine may be a two-year process. Life and how we live it will continue in a world with new parameters. What will worship and community look like in that time period? That is the big question, and the road has many turns right now.
May our prayers continue to be ones asking for God’s blessings, His wisdom, and our perseverance to do as He has deemed to be our call to service in this world; through the love, grace and faith of Jesus Christ.
Faithfully,
Ann+
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Please use our online donation system to donate to Bishop Ryan’s Discretionary Fund.
It isn't too late! We can help Bishop Ryan serve those we can't by donating to her discretionary fund. Use the “Donate to St. John’s” button on the austinstjohns.org web site or scan this image to go to our online giving portal. Please use the “Other” category and list “Bishop’s Discretionary Fund” as the purpose of the donation. If you prefer, please mail a check to the church office and list “Bishop’s Discretionary Fund” in the memo line of the check.
St. John’s Episcopal Church
P. O. Box 81493, Austin, TX 78708-1493
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Our Baptismal Covenant and Reaffirmation of Faith
Thank you so much to this wonderful congregation for your participation in the August Baptismal Covenant series and for the great turnout for Bishop Ryan's visit on Sunday August 30. We had 30 people consistently attending the Wednesday evening sessions, more who watched the recorded sessions, and 44 who attended the online service Sunday! You can see here the certificate which Bishop Ryan signed - congratulations to all!
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Generosity Changes Everything
Our fall Stewardship Campaign, “Generosity Changes Everything,” kicks off this week. The Stewardship Team will be sending out giving cards this Friday. Accompanying the giving cards is a letter telling the story of how our members’ generosity brings our church’s mission to life. Please keep an eye out for it! While you're at it, click on the link below to watch a video with a stewardship personal story from Senior Warden, John Williams:
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Building Bridges and Healing Brokenness |
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Sunday Services at St. John's
We are finding different ways to worship.
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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:
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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, the access code is 292278176#
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).
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Stepping onto Sacred Ground
Becoming Beloved Community
"The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." - - BCP, Outline of Faith, p. 855
"But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community." - - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from his speech “Facing the Challenge of a New Age,” 1956
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The Episcopal Church has called us to fulfill the mission of the church by doing just that - Becoming Beloved Community. And it has provided resources to do this sacred work. In June 2020, we formed a Racial Justice Team here at St. John's to explore how our church could live into this call.
Many of you participated in the Baptismal Covenant series in August where we opened the conversation about racism and Becoming Beloved Community. Our next step will begin in late September when we prayerfully and respectfully deepen our dialogue on race and racism. More information will be available as we finalize the plans.
If you're interested in learning more about this initiative, please contact John Williams, Senior Warden (512-924-0591; jfwilliams29@yahoo.com); Ann McLemore, Interim Rector (769-257-2377; mclemore.a@gmail.com); or Victoria Mason, Deacon (512-297-5953; DeaconVic@austinstjohns.org).
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News from the Diocese of Texas
If you want to subscribe to the Diocesan newsletter which comes by email, please use this link:
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Do Your Kiddos Need Breakfast or Lunch?
Austin ISD, which has been providing meals for all children and their parents and caregivers this summer, will transition to providing both free and reduced and regular-priced meals for students who are enrolled for the 2020-2021 school year.
Please use this link to find out about schools which are offering curbside breakfast and lunch when school starts on September 8:
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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:
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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. |
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Fay Jones, Editor (fay@austinstjohns.org) |
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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)
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