St. John’s Service of Christmas Lessons and Carols will be an online event this year. The service will be broadcast on our website and our Facebook page on Sunday, December 20 at 5:00 p.m. We invite you to sing along safely at home while Simon and the Quartet lead us through some Christmas classics!

Recently, several of our clergy and staff members were the victims of a phishing scheme involving their email addresses. St. John's clergy and staff will never reach out to you from their parish email asking for funds or asking you to click on a link. If you receive a suspicious email, please do not click on any links, forward it to the parish offices by email or call us at 259.1570 so we can confirm if it is real and report it to our IT department.

Please note, links from the Weekly Wednesday Scroll sent via Constant Contact are safe to click on.

Thanks to everyone who has pitched in to help the children at Cornerstone Kids! All 23 children are spoken for, so enjoy your shopping experience and bring your tagged, wrapped gifts into the church office NO LATER THAN December 9. 

If you want to help, we are still in need of $20 Wal-Mart gift cards for the parents. And, if you’d rather buy meal supplies, the program needs paper products (plastic forks, styrofoam plates, and 8-oz cups) and food (large or small cans of Beefaroni, Ravioli, or Dinty Moore Beef Stew; Minute Rice; yellow rice; cookies; chips; crackers; Nutri-Grain bars; wrapped candy). Please bring these supplies to the church office. They are separate from the donations inside the side door. Call MC Jenkins with any questions at 503.4605. Many thanks!

The St. John's clergy and our Director of Music are busy planning our 2020 holiday season. Stay tuned for more details soon, but mark your calendars for services at 4:00, 6:00, and 8:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, and at 10:00 a.m. on Christmas Day. The services will all be held in-person in the church and streamed live on Facebook and on our website. Please note, capacity remains at 25% and all safe distancing practices will be observed.

Our beloved annual tradition, the Children's Christmas Pageant, will take place virtually this year. Stay tuned for the link to the video!

This year, for the first time in many, St. John's Church will be adorned by the presence of a Christmas tree. The history of Christmas trees goes back to the symbolic use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome. Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century, when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking towards his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling among the evergreens.

There is an opportunity for our congregation to donate ornaments for the tree, which should be sacred and not secular in nature. For example, an angel ornament asks for God's guidance in the home. A rabbit on the tree symbolizes peace with nature. A fruit basket is for generosity and plenty to eat. An acorn ornament represents the gift of life from the birth of the Christ child. Homemade ornaments are welcome.

Should you wish to contribute an ornament for the tree, please bring it by the church office by Wednesday, December 9.

The season of Advent began Sunday, November 29. There are meditation books available to guide your personal prayer and study during this season of waiting in hope: The Wondrous Mystery: An Upper Room Advent Reader; and O Wisdom: Advent Devotions on the Names of Jesus. If you attend services in person, you will find copies available in the church, you may contact the parish office at jedgar@stjohnstampa.org to receive a copy by mail, or just stop by the church during office hours Monday through Thursday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

St. John's annual Advent program is a series based on Dr Amy-Jill Levine's book, Light of the World. Our St John's clergy members will each lead a session on Mondays from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Fr. Goodheart continues the series, leading on December 7, Deacon Moore will lead on December 14, and Fr. Cannon will lead the final session on December 21. If you plan to attend, you may pick up a complimentary copy of the Light of the World book in the church office.

On December 13 and 20, the Chapel Altar greenery is available. If you would like to take one of these opportunities to honor a loved on and support St. John's, please contact us at 259.1570 or parish@stjohnstampa.org.

The December Sunday School packets are being sent out this week! Please let us know if you'd like to receive our January at-home Sunday School packet by contacting Children's Minister Ayana Grady at agrady@stjohnstampa.org.

We have Advent Family calendars available! They are included in this month's Sunday School packet, or you can pick one up at the church office throughout the month of December.

Thanks to everyone who has signed up for this year’s Christmas Pageant! We will be filming the show on Saturday, December 12, contact Children's Minister Ayana Grady at agrady@stjohnstampa.org for more details. If you don’t feel comfortable participating in the full in-person Pageant, please sign up to record your family singing the Pageant songs from home!

This week’s Sunday School curriculum (for all classes) can be accessed here, along with the weekly cartoon videos.

6th through 12th graders! This Sunday, December 6, is our combined annual EYC Tacky Christmas Party (which is also an Outdoor EYC), from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. outside of Connelly House! Come in your tackiest Christmas sweater, and bring a wacky, wrapped Christmas gift worth around $15 for the White Elephant exchange. All gifts will be touched by one adult leader until after the gift exchange is done. Bring a chair, and masks are required. Don't miss this fun St John's EYC tradition--invite your friends!

The Women’s Mid Morning Bible Study will take a break for Advent and Christmas and resume their study on Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

The class begins at 10:00 a.m. to allow time for greeting one another prior to the lesson. The lesson time is 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. Classes are on alternate Tuesdays with the final class scheduled on December 1. The class is open to all women in the Parish and invited friends.

For more information about the study, contact Pat Wilson at patwilson68@tampabay.rr.com or

245-9562 or Joan McKay at mckayjhm@aol.com. Email Joan to get the Zoom link.

The Sunday Adult Formation Group meets via Zoom each Wednesday from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Generally, each session includes a short presentation followed by group discussion. Topics are suggested by the group. The group is currently involved in a study of The Meaning of Mary Magdalene by Cynthia Bourgeault.

All are welcome; if you have not previously attended the Wednesday afternoon sessions, contact Deacon Kathleen at kmoore@stjohnstampa.org or 785.9400 for the login information.

Contact Laurie Lawther at llawther@stjohnstampa.org to set up.

Go to www.stjohnstampa.org and click on "Give Now" on the right side of the top blue bar. The church now has the ability to accept credit and debit card payments, along with checking/savings account payments. To make a pledge or pay in some other way, click on "Stewardship" in the top website menu.

In the 'To' field of the text type 73256, then in the message, type SJE. You will receive a text back immediately with a link to complete the payment.

Laurie is available to walk you through any of these methods by email at llawther@stjohnstampa.org or call her at the parish offices at 259.1570. If you prefer, you may also call John Edgar in the parish offices and he will fill out a pledge card for you.

December 3, Ray Stoll, Doug Tozier, Gavin Moore, Vincent Shellgren

December 4, John Few

December 5, George Burchill, Robin Gonzalez, Larry Heisel, Harrison Browning

December 6, David Schenck, Dee Russ, Hayden Kendall, Reed Wilson

December 7, Jim Voss

December 8, Mark Schabacker, Sydney Braun

December 9, Thomas Conlee, Jack Koch

Healing Service, 10:00 a.m., Church

The Holy Eucharist (Rite I), 10:00 a.m., Church, on Facebook Live, and our website

Bulletins and other resources are available here. 

Click here for the readings, St. John's follows Track 2.

The Contemporary Women's Bible Study (CWBS) group is doing a weekly virtual study on Tuesday evenings from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. This is a Zoom meeting, so if you are interested in participating, you will need to register. Contact Deacon Kathleen at 785.9400 or kmoore@stjohnstampa.org; or Sally Thompson at tampasal@gmail.com or 254.3009.

The group meets by Zoom from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. If you would like to join them, contact Deacon Kathleen at kmoore@stjohnstampa.org for login information.

St. John's continues to stream our 10:00 a.m. services on Facebook Live on Sundays. Access the stream at our page at https://www.facebook.com/stjohnstampa/. The stream is also live on our website.

The audio for sermons is here. New sermons are uploaded by Monday each week. Bulletins for Sundays are here, each week's bulletin is uploaded to this page by Saturday. Click here to find the readings for this coming Sunday (St. John's follows Track 2). You can also see Sunday services on our YouTube channel, they are uploaded each Sunday by mid-afternoon.

The parish offices have reopened. Regular hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, however most staff and clergy are still working from home, so please make an appointment with the staff or clergy member you wish to meet with to be sure they are available. Email us at parish@stjohnstampa.org or call 259.1570 to speak with John Edgar if you have questions.

Fr. Reho invites you to join the School for daily chapel services on the School's YouTube channel. For safety, students will have chapel in their homeroom via video for the time being. A reminder that the sermon is geared to children, but is no less enjoyable for that fact. The link is the same every day: www.stjohnseagles.org/daily-chapel, the services become live each morning at 6:00 a.m., Monday through Friday. You can also access the Chapel Book here if you would like to follow along.

Our clergy and staff stream evening prayer daily Monday through Saturday at 4:00 p.m. on Facebook Live. Intercessory prayers are invited in the comments during the feed or email us.

Nightly compline is offered by the brothers of the Society of St John the Evangelist on their web site at www.ssje.org.

If you have any questions or trouble using the online services noted above, please contact Lee Lowry by replying to this email, or John Edgar at jedgar@stjohnstampa.org. You can also contact the clergy member or parishioner who is the contact for each ministry. 

If you are someone who is able to help your fellow parishioners with errands and other means of support, please contact Fr. MIchael at mcannon@stjohnstampa.org. Conversely, if you are a parishioner who needs help, please also contact Fr. Michael at email at mcannon@stjohnstampa.org or by phone at 864.320.7116. He will match needs with resources so we are able to help one another in Christ's name.