"To know Christ and to make Him known . . . "
The Chalice
The Weekly Sunday Bulletin of St. John’s Episcopal Church 
February 5, 2023

“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”(Matt. 5:13-16)


Jesus went out to the margins of society respected the dignity of everyone, healed the sick, forgave the penitent, and ate with sinners and outcasts. His words were so revolutionary that they transformed the community. His action of giving up his life on a cross that they might have life was also transformative because it means that we are loved and forgiven and loved by God, even when we mess up. I ask you today to come to church, to listen to the Gospel, to be transformed by the revolutionary words of Jesus Christ, to regain that belly burning salt, and to shine the light of Christ so brightly that it will transform others to the love of God. The focus for the coming year at St. John’s will be Spirituality, Evangelism, Children, Youth, and Young Adult Ministries, Outreach, Hospitality, and Pastoral Care.


I would like to thank all our parishioners who made this year deeply spiritual for one another. The Rev. Claire Mis, Deacon has certainly been an inspiration to all of us. Fr. James Reiss, our curate, has brought energy, enthusiasm, and a deep love of Jesus Christ to our community. Our Morning Prayer group met every weekday at 9 AM (260 times in 2022) and has prayed for our friends, neighbors, and for all in need. Prayer is the foundation of everything we do at St. John’s. Thank you for your leadership, your generosity, your ministry, and your continued faith in Jesus Christ. We are very blessed by your presence. I would also like to thank Coral, who has done an outstanding job as our administrator, Alex our talented musician and choir director, Jenni, our St. John’s Nursery School Director, and our wardens, Rob and Sean, who have led this parish with our vestry and committee chairs. May God continue to bless your ministries!


This week our service times on Sunday are 8:00am and 10:00am and we will have our annual meeting after the late service in person only! We will elect one warden and four vestry members. Our theme for this year’s Annual. Please live out your Baptismal Covenant by coming to church, worshiping with us on zoom, helping those in need in our community, donating to our Thrift Shop, volunteering in our Thrift Shop, striving for justice by supporting our racial reconciliation and social justice committee, and getting involved in a ministry of St. John’s such as our Altar Guild. 


I ask each committee to personally invite new members to join their group. If you are a new member or would like to help out please consider joining our Altar Guild, Thrift Shop, EFM, Racial Reconciliation and Justice Committee, HiHi, ECW, Lay Eucharistic Ministers, Youth Group, Christian Education, Readers, Spirituality Group, Nursery School Steering Committee, Ushers, Lay Eucharistic Visitors, Prayer Shawl Ministry, St. Hilda’s Guild, Laundry Love, or one of our other committees. Our mission team met this week to prepare for our trip to Puerto Rico in April. We are also planning a trip to Iona, Scotland in late September. This will be a restful and wonderful pilgrimage with Leslie Valentine. We still have 2 spots open!!


Our Sunday school starts at 9:45am and we will have confetti cake and ice cream cake after class. 1st Communion classes are beginning on Thursday, March 2nd at 5:00 and 1st Communion will be April 16th at the 10:00 service. Next Week, February 12th is the Souper Bowl of Caring and our Youth Group is collecting donations to fight hunger in the Huntington Community. If you are interested in volunteering for the Thrift shop on Tuesdays, Thursdays or Saturdays, please drop by on one of those days from 12-3.


In Christ’s love,

Rev. Duncan Burns  


SUNDAY WORSHIP THIS WEEK

Fifh Sunday after the Epiphany


Readings

Isaiah 58:1-12

1 Corinthians 2:1-16

Matthew 5:13-20

Psalm 112:1-10



Join us for Sunday Worship at 8:00 am and 10:00 am in the church or remotely on Zoom and Facebook.

 

8:00 am - Rite I Holy Eucharist

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83803451202

Facebook Live Stream: https://www.facebook.com/stjohns1745/live_videos/

Bulletin: Rite I Epiphany


9:40 am - Sunday School meets in the Canterbury Corner

2022-23 Sunday School Calendar


10:00 am – Rite II Choral Eucharist

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86739553648

Facebook Live Stream: https://www.facebook.com/stjohns1745/live_videos

Bulletin: Rite II Epiphany


Music

Opening: 525 The Church's One Foundation

Gradual: 529 In Christ there is no East or West, vs 1-3

Offertory anthem: "There is a longing in our hearts" by Anne Quigley

Communion: LEVAS 152 Let us break bread together (on our knees)

Recessional: 599 Lift every voice and sing

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDING BISHOP

Sense cannot be made of the murder of a young man at the hands of five men whose vocation and calling are to protect and serve. This was evil and senseless.


There is a passage from the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah, which is later quoted in Matthew’s Gospel when innocent baby boys are killed by an immoral dictator:


“A voice is heard in Ramah,

lamentation and bitter weeping.

Rachel is weeping for her children;

she refuses to be comforted for her children,

because they are no more.”

—Jeremiah 31:15, Matthew 2:18


With the murder of Tyre Nichols, another mother, as in the biblical texts, weeps, with the mothers of Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others. A family grieves. A community fears. A nation is ashamed. Like the psalmist in the Bible, something in us cries out, “How long, O Lord, how long?” How long violence, how long cruelty, how long the utter disregard for the dignity and worth of every child of God? How long?


As if this wasn’t enough, there is another horrible dimension to what happened. Tyre Nichols was beaten, kicked, and cursed as if he was not a human being. Then, after he was lying on the ground, having called for his mother, they let him stay there for several minutes without anyone, including the police and EMT who were present, providing medical assistance. Not one Good Samaritan.


Jesus once told a story to teach about what it looks like to love one’s neighbor, which Moses and Jesus both said is a commandment of God. It’s a story about a man beaten nearly to death and left on the side of the road to die by people who knew what Moses taught about love for God and neighbor—and what the prophet Micah taught when he said that God requires three things of us: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.


Only one person stopped to help the man, and he did so without regard for the fact that they were of different religions, nationalities, ethnic groups, and even different politics. This second man was a Samaritan, and he helped because the man on the road was human. He helped because he was a fellow child of God. He helped because the man lying on the side of the road, regardless of race, class, clan, stripe, or type, was his brother. And the man who helped has been called the Good Samaritan.


The fundamental call and vocation of law enforcement officials, and indeed every one of us, is that of the Good Samaritan.


Here is where there is hope: The Good Samaritan in the parable of Jesus was not the last one.


There are Good Samaritans who are government officials in Memphis who, after assessing what happened, fired the offending officers, charged them with crimes against human life and dignity, and have committed to addressing systemic and cultural issues that created an environment in which this evil was enabled.


There are Good Samaritans doing what is necessary to radically reform the environment and culture of law enforcement—to create an atmosphere in which the dignity and worth of every human being is respected, protected, affirmed, and honored.


There are Good Samaritans in law enforcement, and other first responders, who often work while others sleep, laboring to protect and serve, at times risking their own lives for the neighbor they do not even know.


There are Good Samaritans, people of goodwill and human decency, who are peacefully protesting. There are Good Samaritans who are activists working tirelessly for the realization of communities and countries where there is truly, as the Pledge of Allegiance proclaims, “liberty and justice for all.”


While we grieve, we cannot give in or give up. Just throwing up our hands in despair is not an option lest we leave a brother, a sister, a sibling on the side of the road again. No, let more Good Samaritans arise so that Tyre Nichols’ death will not be in vain.


Please pray for Tyre’s family, the whole Memphis community, this nation, and world. But also pray for people to rise up like the Good Samaritan and work to create change so this never happens again.


And may the soul of Tyre, and the souls of all the departed, through the mercies of God, rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen.


The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry

Presiding Bishop and Primate

The Episcopal Church

ANNUAL MEETING

The Annual Meeting is this Sunday, February 5, 2023 at 11:00 am in the Great Hall.

 

2023 Vestry Elections. At our Annual Meeting we will be voting on one Warden, four Vestry seats, and the Clerk of the Vestry.


All ministry members are invited to sit with their respective ministries. Any new member is welcome to join the table that interests them.


Potluck Brunch - Please bring your favorite breakfast/lunch dish.

HEALING SERVICE

Thursday, February 9th at 7:00 pm

 

Please join us for a safe and loving offering of prayer and healing

 

We believe that not only does Jesus still heal today, but that healing is one of the most powerful ministries of evangelization. Jesus never preached the Gospel of the kingdom of God without demonstrating the kingdom through signs, wonders, and miracles, with healing as the most frequent demonstration of God’s love.

 

Healing services at St. John’s will include a time of worship and praise, proclamation of the Gospel and preaching, corporate prayer for healing ending with individual prayer teams for healing. Come prepared for a breakthrough!

YOUTH GROUP SOUPER BOWL SUNDAY

A Souper Bowl Sunday collection will be taken up on Sunday, February 12th.


Each year on Super Bowl Sunday, the Youth Group asks parishioners to make a donation to the "Souper Bowl of Caring" to help fight hunger here in the Huntington community.


Please donate non-perishable food or feminine hygiene products for our local food pantries. Cash donations in any amount are also appreciated.

ECW MEETING

There will be a general meeting of St. John's ECW this Sunday, February 12th, in the Gulid Room immediately following the 10 am service.

 

Please contact Carol Goldbaum, St. John's ECW President, with any questions. 

NEWCOMERS' SUNDAY

On Sunday, February 19th, we are welcoming our newcomers with a special newcomers brunch.


We invite all members and newcomers to put on a name tag and join us after each service in the Great Hall for fellowship and good food.

SHROVE TUESDAY PANCAKE SUPPER

Join us on Tuesday, February 21st for our annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, 5:30-7:00 pm in the Great Hall.


A free will offering will be accepted to benefet our 2023 mission trip to Puerto Rico in April.

ASH WEDNESDAY

The 2003 Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday on February 23rd.


St. John's will hold an Ash Wednesday Holy Eucharist with the Imposition of Ashes at 12:00 noon and at 7:00 pm on that day.

SPIRITUALS IN CONCERT

Saturday, February 25th at 4:00 pm

 

Come and enjoy an evening of uplifting African-American anthems and spirituals!


Featuring Alex Pryrodny, soloists from St. Augustine’s Episcopal church, and others.


Donations to benefit St. John’s Concert Fund

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION CLASSES

First Holy Communion will take place on Sunday, April 16, 2023 for children 2nd grade and above. First Communion classes will meet on THURSDAYS at 5 pm in the Guild Room beginning on MARCH 2ND.


If you are interested in First Holy Communion for your child, please register using the link below. Forms are also available at the back of the church. If you have any questions about First Communion, please feel free to reach out to Fr. Duncan or the Parish Office.


FIRST HOLY COMMUNION REGISTRATION FORM

LENTEN RETREAT TO HOLY CROSS

Registration is now open for our 2023 Lenten Retreat to Holy Cross Monastery, March 7th to March 9th. The retreat will be led by one of the monks of the Order of the Holy Cross. There will also be quiet, reflective time on the beautful grounds which overlook the Hudson River in West Park, New York. We will meet at St. John's on the morning of March 7th and carpool. We will return in the afternoon of March 9th. The cost of the retreat is $230 per person. Space is limited.


REGISTER FOR LENTEN RETREAT AT HOLY CROSS

THRIFT SHOP MINISTRY

Tuesday, Thursdays & Saturdays

12 - 3 pm

 

St. John's Thrift Shop and its ministry are vital to our mission in the community. We are so grateful for our dedicated group of volunteers. If you are looking for a way to serve your parish and community, our Thrift Shop could be the ministry for you.

 

To volunteer or find our more, please contact Mary Beth Dieterle, (631) 427-1752, ext 106.

 

Donations welcome. We accept donations of new or gently used clothing, accessories, and household items. Please no books, furniture, out-dated electronics, or damaged items.

MORNING PRAYER

All are welcome at Morning Prayer. We meet Monday through Friday at 9:00 am via Zoom.


Our short prayer service is followed by some fellowship and discussion. Feel free to join us occasionally to listen and pray, or come more often to participate as a leader or reader, and to start your day with your focus on Christ and a deeper connection with your friends at St. John's.


Join us via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86041146543

BIBLE STUDY

Bible Study meets regularly Mondays at 6:30 pm and on Tuesdays at 11:00 am on Zoom.

 

Monday Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83373971746

Tuesday Zoom link:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82553627635


On Monday, January 2nd at 6:30 pm and Tuesday, Janaury 3rd at 11:00 am, we will begin a new unit referencing Means of Grace: A Year of Weekly Devotions by Fleming Rutledge.

2023 PILGRIMAGE TO IONA, SCOTLAND

PILGRIMAGE MEETING - There will be a meeting for all those registered for the Iona Pilgrimage on Tuesday, February 7th at 7 pm in the Guild Room.


For more information or questions please contact the Pilgrimage Leader, Leslie Valentine: Phone: (516) 815-1169; Email: leslieval@aol.com


Pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona, Scotland

September 29-October 8, 2023

 

IONA WELCOMES ALL! Come you of great faith and you who struggle with faith; you who believe and you who doubt; explorers and questioners, adventures and contemplatives! Experience Iona without expectation. Let the sacred isle uncover what you need to see and reveal what you need to hear!

 

Registration in limited and will fill up quickly, so please respond as soon as possible to secure your place.

 

Iona 2023 Brochure

 

Iona 2023 Registration Form

REGULAR MINISTRY MEETINGS

Prayer Shawl Ministry - 1st Thursday of each month at 6 pm in the Guild Room. Contact Noelle DeLoreno or Lynn Hansen.


Spirituality Group - 2nd Thursday of each month at 5 pm in the Guild Room. Contact Patti Aliperti.


Racial Reconcilitation & Social Justice Minsitry - 4th Wednesday of each month on Zoom. Contact Heather Kress.


St. Hilda's Guild (Sewing & Crafting) - Weekly on Tuesdays, 12:30 - 3 pm in the Guild Room. Contact Sue Hartman.

PRAYER CONCERNS FOR ST. JOHN'S

We pray for Richard, Barbara, Edward, Christine, Fred, Ana, Patti, Luke, Cassandra, Valarie, Danielle, Amy, Kate, Cheryl, Anne, Carmen, Lou, Mary Beth, Daniel, Sue, Pedro, Anita, Chaya, Valerie, Hal, Sue, Hortense, Louise, Angela, Bill, Mary Ann, Brooke


Please send your prayers or updates to prayers@stjohns1745.org or call Coral in the Parish Office, 631-427-1752, ext. 101.

St. John's Episcopal Church

12 Prospect Street

Huntington, New York 11743

(631) 427-1752

stjohns1745.org


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