Thirty-five people attended Saturday afternoon's Zoom event, Finding God in the New Normal. Thanks to Sharon Stoll for organizing and speaking, as well as to speakers Dr. Hal Wiley, Sally Wiley, and Fr. Michael Cannon.

St John's Backpack Tags for the new school year will be blessed at this Sunday's 10:00 a.m. service! Then starting on Monday, August 17, parents of Children and Youth can come to the parish offices to pick up one tag per child. Please let us know if you would like to receive your tag in the mail instead. We are looking forward to a great (though different) school year! 

We are excited to announce that parishioner Leslie Jennewein will be leading a new film-based dialogue series on race and faith called Sacred Ground. The series will be held in a small group limited to 15 people and conducted on Zoom in 10 sessions, meeting every other week beginning September 13. 

The small group will be invited to walk through chapters of America’s history of race and racism, while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity. The series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories. Sacred Ground is part of Becoming Beloved Community, The Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society. For more information, visit https://episcopalchurch.org/sacred-ground or contact Leslie by email at ljennewein@gmail.com with questions or to join. Thanks to Leslie for leading!

First Sunday of the month Virtual Coffee Hours will begin on September 6. Watch the Scroll for more information!

St. John's School is in need of help for ASP.

The Primary Division needs two adults (over the age of 22) from 2:30 to 6:00 p.m. every weekday at the campus on Rome Avenue for their after school program (ASP). Contact Ana Ibanez for more details.

The hours for Lower Division are from 3:00/3:30 to 6:00 p.m. during the week. The Lower Division does not have to hire adults, as they have two dedicated faculty members already leading the ASP Program. In years past, the School has hired high school or college age students to help run the ASP Program. Contact Michael Salzer if you are interested.

St. John's opened to students today, August 12, for the new year. The School has full enrollment in all grades and has instituted a waiting list for families interested in attending during the 2020-2021 school year. St. John's also offers e-learning for those families who opted not to return to in-person classes. Safety measures for in-person classes include distancing, upgraded technology, and minimized movement of students, among many others. The measures were developed over the past several months, starting as far back as the beginning of this crisis in March, and involved stakeholders from across the School and the community to help find the best and safest ways to return.

For more information about the safety plan, click here, or contact Michael Matthews, CFO/COO.

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.l The link is the same every day: www.stjohnseagles.org/daily-chapel, but the services become live each morning. You can also access the Chapel Book here if you would like to follow along. "Eagle-eyed" alumni will notice that it has been revised thanks to Fr. Reho after nearly 15 years of using the old version. It's a short but joyful and reverent service. We hope you will join our students!

On Tuesday, September 8, the Women’s Mid Morning Bible Study will begin a fall virtual study of some of the general letters or epistles, so called because they were intended for the early Christian church as a whole, rather than being directed to a specific church, as were those written by the apostle Paul. They will be using the commentary The Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah by N. T. (Tom) Wright, as their study guide. It will be a virtual class, using St. John’s Zoom, and will begin at 10:00 a.m. to allow time for greeting one another prior to the lesson. The lesson time will be 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. Subsequent classes will be on alternate Tuesdays with the final class scheduled on December 1. The class is open to all women in the Parish as well as friends you might like to invite.

More information on how to access the Zoom portal will be available in early September. For more information

regarding the study, contact Pat Wilson at patwilson68@tampabay.rr.com or 245.9562 or Joan McKay at mckayjhm@aol.com.

The Cornerstone Kids after-school program, a long-time outreach partner of St John's, is making plans for a return to face to face classes beginning September 8. To allow for smaller class groups with social distancing, the program is in need of 2 additional instructors/tutors. These positions provide academic assistance to the at-risk students of Cornerstone, including tutoring in academic areas related to the core curriculum and assisting students with their school homework assignments. Hours are Monday through Thursday, 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., during the regular school year.

To learn more about Cornerstone Kids Inc, go to www.cornerstonekidsinc.org; for more information about the tutor opportunities, contact MC Jenkins at bucsjenkins@aol.com or call Deacon Kathleen at 785.9400.

As the new school year approaches, your generous support is requested for the children of Cornerstone Kids. The goal is to raise $1,500 to cover the cost of backpacks and school supplies for 35 children. Please put your check- made out to St. John’s- in the alms basin, drop it off in the parish offices, or mail it to the church (906 South Orleans Avenue, 33606) by Sunday, August 23. You can also give online at our website, select “Cornerstone Kids” from the drop down Fund menu. Contact MC Jenkins with questions at BucsJenkins@aol.com.

The Sunday Adult Formation Group continues to meet 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 beginning a study of Diana Butler Bass's book, Broken We Kneel: Reflections on Faith and Citizenship (2nd Edition).

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

Laurie is available to walk you through any of these methods by email at llawther@stjohnstampa.org or a phone call at 259.1570.

August 13, Adelaide Few, Mike Foley, Cary Brown, Grace Andrews, Darren Milling

August 14, Ken Hyatt, Carson Tappan, Michael Eachon, Martha Robin, Lee Peterson, Bradley Mackie, Judith Coffey, Ed Sprenkle

August 15, Mary Jane Schenck, Jan Elliott, Grace Tellekamp, Parker Fluharty

August 16, Megan Kelly, Zachary Smith

August 17, Joey Peel, Michael Sunich

August 18, Charlie Crumpton, Edwin Mills, Carson Weekley, Scott Decelles, Annelise Pederson, Reid Nelson

August 19, Stephen Bowles, Keith Lindquist

The Men's Interactive Bible Study meets every Thursday at 11:45 a.m. to study the readings for the coming week and for fellowship. Email John in the parish offices at jedgar@stjohnstampa.org for the link to join.

Choral Morning Prayer, 10:00 a.m., at Church and on Facebook Live.

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. The current study is the Acts of the Apostles. 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 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. Connelly streams evening prayer daily Monday through Saturday at 3:00 p.m. on Facebook Live. Intercessory prayers are invited in the comments during the feed or email Fr. Connelly.

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 be matching needs with resources so we are able to help one another in Christ's name.