St. John's Episcopal Church - Centreville, VA |
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Parish News - March 10, 2021 |
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Dear St. John's Parishioners and Friends:
This week is the one year anniversary of the beginning of the COVID pandemic in the United States. None of us could have predicted that it would last this long. No one could have imagined that over 500,000 people would die and thousands of others would have long lasting affects from the virus. Our lives have changed in many ways - face masks, social distancing, not going to restaurants or movies or concerts or sports events.
Many have lost friends or family members to this awful disease. Many have been unable to celebrate milestones - the birth of grandchildren, birthdays, anniversaries. We have had to cancel trips and vacations, all to protect ourselves and others from COVID. It's been a hard year for everyone.
But what have we learned? What have we gained? We have spent more time with immediate family members, which hopefully has drawn us closer together. We have realized the importance of community and being physically together with friends and family. We have realized the importance of being together as a community of faith, to worship together and gain strength from one another. Sometimes we don't know how valuable what we have is, until we have to go without it.
We have also learned how to connect with each other virtually. It is often not the same as being in person but connections can still happen. Because we are now an online presence with our worship services, we can reach those who cannot, or don't want to, come to a church building. We have found creative ways to do outreach in spite of COVID.
During this past year, we have lost a lot. But I think we have gained a lot as well, including new ways of being "the church". What we have learned will stay with us long after the pandemic is gone and things are back to "normal". We have changed. Hopefully, we have seen God's presence at work as we have risen to the challenge of being the church in a pandemic world.
The Rev. Carol Hancock
Rector
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SPECIAL EASTER SURVEY
The Vestry and I are needing to get a sense of how many people would come if we offered an in-person outdoor worship service on Easter, which is April 4, 2021, weather permitting.
Let me explain what the service would look like. We would have a service of Holy Eucharist but we would have “spiritual communion”, as we cannot safely distribute the bread and wine. There would be no congregational singing, though we would have music and one or two of our choir members might do a solo. People would need to keep a six foot distance from each other and wear masks at all times. We cannot pass the peace or have coffee hour after the service. We are thinking of setting up the altar on the side patio (facing Gilead Green) and having people bring their own chairs and set them up in the parking lot. It will not be the kind of Easter service that we have had in the past. But we could at least see each other and worship together, if you feel comfortable doing that.
We currently have 29 people who have said they would come, weather permitting. If we get many more, we may offer several services so we don’t have too many people at one time. We may then have a sign up sheet online for people to reserve a spot at a particular service.
If the weather is bad, we will cancel the outdoor service, and a few of us will livestream or record the service from inside the church. If we have the outdoor service, we will also have an online service for those who do not wish to, or who cannot, attend a service at the church.
Setting up an outdoor service takes a lot of work so we will need your help to do specific tasks. Please answer the following two questions:
1. If St. John’s offers an outdoor worship service, weather permitting, on Easter Day, will you come?
2. If you are coming to the outdoor service on Easter, will you help with a specific task with set up or take down of signs, tables, etc.?
Please send your answer to these two questions to me at
[email protected] Include your name and how many members of your household (those who are living with you) are planning to attend.
Thank you for your help is determining how many people will attend an outdoor service on Easter and how many would rather watch the service online. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks to those who have already responded. Take care.
Carol
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME
Yes, its that time of year again. Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday, March 14. Remember to set your clocks AHEAD (losing one hour) on Saturday night or you will miss the coffee hour and the Adult Lectionary class.
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From the Bishop’s Office
In our continually evolving circumstances, we’ve all been anxious to have the most current status updates, especially the status of worship protocols and regathering for public worship. Many of our policies are guided by the Office of the Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia.
And while we will always communicate the latest information from the Bishop’s office, you are eligible to get these updates directly from the Bishop’s office by subscribing to the diocesan e-news service.
There’s another important reason you should subscribe. Last year, the Diocese made the difficult decision to discontinue the printing of the quarterly magazine, the Virginia Episcopalian. In a time of decreasing budgets, a costly magazine was simply not a luxury that our church or the Diocese could afford to continue.
The good news is that the monthly diocesan newsletter, the eCommunique, will now be incorporating some of the great storytelling and features you enjoyed in the Virginia Episcopalian, but without the lag time and hefty price tag of a traditional print publication. By subscribing to the diocesan news service, you will receive the monthly eCommunique plus announcements from your Bishops as they happen. Rest assured that the diocesan offices will never share your information with any other parties.
We strongly encourage you to subscribe to keep up with what is happening in our diocese.
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Lenten Book Study - For our Lenten book study, we are discussing Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's most recent book, "Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times." We are meeting on Monday evenings in Lent from 7:00 - 8:00 PM. We will be discussing chapters 7 and 8 next Monday. March 8.No need to pre-register - just join us on Monday night. The link for the Lenten book study is
Lenten Resources - There are a variety of online resources as well as books you can order to enhance your Lenten journey. Here are a few:
--The Episcopal Church - Has various daily devotions and other Lenten resources from a variety of Episcopal organizations. Free
--Forward Day by Day - Provides daily devotions not only for Lent but year round. It is online (free) or you may purchase an individual subscription.
If you don't own your own Book of Common Prayer.... you could purchase one at www.churchpublishing.org . They range from $23 and up, depending on the size and the kind of cover, and if they include the hymnal or not. During this time of online services due to the pandemic, it would be easier to participate in the services if you had your own prayer book and hymnal.
Beer, bugs and bathrooms - Do you know what these three things have in common? These were the topics of conversation during our virtual coffee hour last Sunday! Beer (wouldn't it be fun to have a St. John's gathering at a brewery after the pandemic), bugs (the cicadas are coming back!), bathrooms (we have a report that the rest areas along the New Jersey Turnpike are quite clean and have COVID precautions). See what you missed??? Please join us for coffee hour next Sunday at 10:00 AM on Zoom. It's 30 minutes of tantalizing conversation, information, and an opportunity to see other parishioners. The link is sent out on Saturday.
Then after you have attended the coffee hour, click on the link (sent out on Saturday) to attend the Adult Lectionary class. Although we don't usually discuss beer, bugs and bathrooms, we have interesting discussions on the readings for the day. We also hear about the saint of the day, including some you may never have heard about, Their stories are fascinating. The class is led by Walt Cooner who is an incredible scholar of history and the bible. You will learn about what's going on at the time that the bible stories were written, why they were told, and how they affect our lives. The class starts at 10:30. Come and give it a try - just listen if you want. Don't feel intimidated by your perceived lack of knowledge. We are all on this journey together and we'd love to have you join us.
Diaper Drive: Collections through March 31
The St. John’s Outreach Committee is embarking on an aggressive Diaper Drive through the end of March. The group is assisting the Ampersand Pantry Project in Leesburg VA. The Ampersand project distributes free meals seven days a week in the town of Leesburg. The program has morphed into greater than just the food security issues. They soon realized the young families were short on diapers. The delivery will be on Saturday morning April 3rd so please get in all diapers by the end of the month.
Items Needed:
· Diapers: Size 4, 5, 6
· Wipes
Please leave in the box in the front of the church. If you need someone to pick up any supplies or would like to give funds for someone else to make the purchases, please contact the church office @ 703-803-7500.
The Outreach Committee
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Be a Sunday service reader, from anywhere!
During this time of covid, St. John's holds a Sunday morning prayer service which is "aired" on Sunday mornings at 9 AM. The readings are
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...pre-recorded, and several parishioners have been doing a great job doing them, from different venues - no matter where they are! We welcome, need, and value your help! If you would like more information on how to do this, click here for the info page on SignUp Genius. Please sign up a week before the Sunday you would like to read, so we can get the readings to you and you can get your recording to David Weir by Thursday.
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Every Wednesday, St. John's has a Service of Evening Prayer at 6 PM. It is a peaceful way to end the day, and it's now being held virtually. Here is the link to this evening's service:
Wednesday, March 10
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Sully District Neighborhood College
Neighborhood College is designed for residents who want to make a difference but aren’t sure where to start. It is a FREE, seven-session civic engagement program (March 11 - April 29) open to residents interested in learning about Fairfax County and how to work with neighbors, community organizations and local government to strengthen neighborhoods, build community capacity and promote a sense of community. It is also a leadership program for residents who serve as officers on their homeowner or civic association board. To register, click on this link:
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The link to the Sunday service is sent out each Saturday as usual. Then join us for the coffee hour from 10:00 - 10:30 and the Adult Lectionary Class at 10:30 AM on Zoom. The links will be sent out in Saturday's email to all.
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"LIFT ME UP" FACILITIES CAMPAIGN
In the last few chapters of Ezekiel, the people of Israel are sent a vision of a brand new temple to replace Solomon's temple that was destroyed during the Babylonian exile (587 BC), and "the glory of the Lord" enters the temple (43:4) with rejoicing (and a large number of animal sacrifices.) It probably won't be quite so spectacular when we can finally gather at St. Johns, but our building will have had lots of needed updates when we do.
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We have one more week remaining in this year's Capital Campaign.
We won't have to raise new walls, gates, and pillars like the Judean exiles but our new roof, HVAC systems, and lighting will provide a wonderful environment in which to worship just the same. If you haven't already, please send your contributions to the church office before March 17. Maybe we can move from $38,500 to $50,000!!
Thank you to all our wonderful supporters.
Lisa Heller and Andrew Wade
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SUNDAY WORSHIP & EDUCATION |
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The Adult Lectionary Forum
Now being held virtually via Zoom. All are invited to join in, following the virtual Sunday service. The links to the Forum and the service are sent out in a separate email on Saturdays.
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We can prepare our hearts & minds by reading ahead
for the Sunday Service lesson
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 14, 2021
The First Reading:
Numbers 21:4-9
The thoughts and habits that we let form our hearts and minds make a real difference in our health, our families, all our relationships—with God and with others. Gazing upon Jesus on the cross sets our minds and hearts aright.
The Psalm: 107:1- 3, 17- 22, page 746, BCP
The Second Reading:
Ephesians 2:1-10
The work and way of Jesus is the opposite of what the world would tell us to do. God has a different plan, one for our good.
The Gospel:
John 3:14-21
Jesus came to save, but in order to be saved, we must admit that we’re in need of a Savior, that we’re not doing just fine on our own. There’s no need for someone else to judge us, because we’ve rightly judged ourselves!
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Online Contributions
to St. John's
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St. John's now offers three buttons for online donations via Tithe.ly. You may use the buttons below to go directly to Tithe.ly, or you may download the Tithe.ly app on your phone or tablet.
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The Pledge payment button may be used only to make your pledge payment (after signing up to be a pledger, which may be done at any time in the year. See Carol or Vestry)
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The Facility Campaign button may be used only for any contribution for the facility's buildings and grounds, or special facility campaigns.
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The Donation button may be used for any other type of donation to St. John's. To designate a special purpose (i.e. Organ Fund, Ministry Partner payments, etc.) please send a note to [email protected].
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Sermons from the Bishop's Online Chapel
Each week, one of our bishops or a member of the diocesan staff prepares and posts a sermon based on the Sunday's readings that can be used for online services. Here is the sermon posted for this past Sunday.
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A Meditation for the Third Week in Lent:
Getting Out There
Every single day, I think about getting out there. Mostly, I’m thinking about getting out there to eat a meal that somebody else cooked, or taking in an actual movie, or hanging out with actual three-dimensional people -- and, of course, worshiping with the community I love. I’ll bet you have a list of things you can’t wait to get out there to do.
And there’s another kind of getting out there that’s calling to me, too, and to many of you as well. I’m dreaming of the possibilities that come from being cast out of our old well-worn paths (let’s not call them ruts…), out of our pre-COVID automatic habits, out of the tracks we had laid from house to work to church building. There’s a precious chance for some reinvention, some expansion, some re-imaging of the ways we engage what’s out there. On the downward slope of the greatest socio-everything disruption of our lifetime, we can make our world even more connected, more just, more peaceful, more caring, more an outpost of God’s Kingdom, just because we’re out of the old track and we can re-shape the new one if we want to.
In normal times (if memory serves me), we talk a lot about “thinking outside the box.” We wonder if we dare to do it. We speculate about the cost, the repercussions, the potential impact. We hire consultants to expand our awareness of the box and of the world outside it. We coax and cajole the reluctant, and we cheer -- and then worry about -- those who climb a little beyond it. Nobody ever expected the box to just evaporate. And it’s been mighty unsettling.
AND -- and, now the green blade riseth, even in the first half of Lent (this can happen when boxes dissolve…).
When I got involved in church leadership many years ago, I heard quite a bit from my dad, who was then the Bishop’s Deputy for Congregational Development in the Diocese of West Texas. The reality of declining church membership was just starting to come into focus for the Episcopal Church, and my dad had a pretty good bead on what was needed. First, more and better prayer, study and action, to strengthen the spiritual life of the members, and then, the willingness to go outside our boxes, to where the people are, and build bridges of the kind of meaningful relationships that lead to spiritual conversations. And, he averred, maybe just some old-fashioned preaching to people, in their space, might change the equation.
“Jennifer, do you know where all the missing people are on Sunday morning? I can tell you. They are at Walmart. Just go look at how their parking lot compares to the church’s. If you’d go hang out in the Walmart parking lot instead of an empty Sunday School room, you could really make an impact. You could stand in the bed of a pickup truck and talk about the Gospel -- your voice carries, you know. You’d reach a lot of people.” He was only half joking. My dad’s as traditional and as accomplished a lay liturgist as you’ll find anywhere. But you know how sometimes the voice of God sounds a lot like your mom or dad, how there’s a profound holy reverberation in a casual comment that rings like the cosmic gong of God’s own truth? That conversation has haunted me for decades.
Last week I met with the North Fairfax Region (stay with me -- this is coming together). There were all kinds of reports, celebrations, challenges, questions. The President Pro Tem of the region asked the reps to share how things were going -- for good or ill. Of course, there’s fatigue and frustration, but there’s far more commitment and enthusiasm. The congregations are blessed with good internet service, which helps a lot. But two things got my attention. One is that, if you made a “word cloud” graphic of the words that came up most often, congregation after congregation, the giant word in the middle of them all would be CREATIVITY. Faced with limitations and fueled by the Spirit, these communities of faith have flung themselves into creativity. And why not? Might as well have some fun. So there are things I hear about all over the Diocese of Virginia -- Lent activity bags, innovative food pantry delivery schemes, greatly increased participation in book groups and Bible study and online Morning, Noonday, and Evening Prayer and Compline and outreach. North Fairfax is right in there with all of it.
But even with all the good fortune with internet connectivity and healthy congregations, it was the story of drive-in church that grabbed me. Holy Comforter Vienna, like a number of our congregations, is holding drive-up low-frequency FM worship, and the Rev. Jon Strand and the Rev. Ann Gillespie climb up in the bed of a PICKUP TRUCK and preach! Be still, my South Texas heart!!! My old conversation with my dad reverberated so loudly in my soul that I wondered if others could hear it.
And on Wednesday of last week, a Holy Comforter parishioner, whom I met in an entirely unrelated context (that’s how the Holy Spirit does it), sent me the photo attached to this article. Wednesday was the feast day of John and Charles Wesley, Anglican priests of the 18th century and two of the greatest saints in the Anglican firmament. John engaged in open-air preaching and large public lectures on theology, as well as organizing and tracking a serious and demanding structure for making mature disciples of our Lord. Charles wrote over 6,000 hymns, many still in use. The Wesleys would have loved the pickup truck bed and the low-frequency FM station -- and they would have rejoiced, as do I, that the Word of the Lord managed to get out of the box and into the parking lot. If you know about the Methodist movement in America in the two centuries after the Wesleys, you know what God can do with preachers and pastors who get out of the box.
Not for one New York minute do I believe that God visited any of the calamities of the past year upon us, but I do believe that the Holy Spirit can and will take any opening to pour the Good News of God in Christ into this beautiful and broken world.
So I wonder -- and I’d love to hear from you, as would we all -- where has the box blown open for you? Where do you find yourself living a life of passion and grace even in the wake of pandemic and upheaval? Where is God calling you, and your community of faith, further out of the familiar and deeper into the world? Now that the box has been gone for a while, where are you seeing blue sky -- and the inbreaking of the Kingdom? What is your pickup truck in these new days?
Breathe deep. The Spirit stirs among us.
Blessings!
Bishop Jennifer Brooke-Davidson
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Lord's Prayer
It is so easy to pray the Lord’s Prayer, as it trips almost unthinkingly off our tongues, but the reality is otherwise. We should pray it in fear, trembling, conscious that we do so, not as individuals cataloguing our personal needs, but as part of a great chorus of believers. We are asking not simply for our own needs, but also for the needs of those whom we love, and those whom we don’t, those whom we know, and those whom we may never know.
-Br. James Koester
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and the office number is 703-803-7500.
May our ministry together spread God's love to all whom we encounter.
- Carol
The Rev. Carol Hancock, Rector
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