The Bridge - Wednesday, October 21, 2020

The Bridge

October 21, 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.

From Our Interim Rector

The people in our lives

I have a thoughtful saying that always hangs in the office of wherever I am serving. Not being in the office, I miss it—hanging over the office door. It reminds me ‘that the people that are in our lives are not by accident’.

Sunday, August 31, 2008. I had just finished our 7:30 am service. A supply priest was taking the next service; Charles and I were flying out that afternoon on a vacation—yet, those plans had changed, without my realizing how severe the reason. As I drove into the parking lot of the hospital my phone rang. A doctor telling me, “Your husband is a very sick man.” I began to write down what he was saying. I hung up, sitting in the car, trying to process all this news scribbled on the church bulletin. My phone rang, a member, a dear member. I answered the phone—he was calling to tell me their son had just died. A week later, I was officiating at this funeral, four weeks later I was preaching at my husband’s funeral. Fast forward to this week, 12 years later. I received an email from former members of mine. After hearing a story from them; I replied, “You should have been a priest!” He emailed me back and said, “You are the second person to tell me this, and the first to bring tears to my eyes.”

How have the past seven months brought people into your lives or back into your lives? How has this time acutely reminded you of the people that you cannot see or, before, maybe took a bit for granted? I have gotten to know so many neighbors because we are always out walking our dogs! I don’t think I have ever met so many neighbors so quickly! God knows that, in one way or another, we need each other. A nephew from Florida called yesterday and needed help translating with a craftsman at a house he was building. “Neighbor” “family” “friend” “stranger” God in our midst “being” for one another! Adult children who initially began the COVID pandemic extremely worried about older parents, are learning how to cope, keep on living, though just as concerned as ever for their parents. I think about our youngest members, who have spent a half or a third of their lives in this time of COVID. How are they being shaped and formed? What about the youth and children of our church? I didn’t realize how much I miss seeing them until some were at the 1:15 service a week ago Sunday.

Yes, there is a “reason for the season” of people in our lives. Last week it was nice to take a break and spend a week with a dear college friend of 50 years. This past Sunday it was wonderful to have Deacon Victoria with us after seven months of her hiatus for precautionary health reasons. Think about the people in your lives. They are not there by accident. God softly reminds us, “Who is your neighbor?” “Who are you?” “What is God calling you to do?”

Faithfully,

Ann+

Holding Onto Hope: A national service for healing and wholeness

Save the date!

Sunday, November 1

3:00-5:30 pm Central Time

As the United States struggles through a time of turbulence and tension, Washington National Cathedral will host a national interfaith prayer service two days before Election Day – featuring Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and other spiritual leaders. The service will be livestreamed on The Episcopal Church’s Facebook page in English and Spanish.

“In the midst of pandemic, racial reckoning and a historic election, the livestreamed service will gather Americans for prayer, song, lament, hope and a call to love God and neighbor,” said the Rev. Stephanie Spellers, canon to the presiding bishop for evangelism, reconciliation and stewardship of creation.

For more information about the service, please use this link:

Washington National Cathedral to host interfaith prayer service on Nov. 1

Early voting

October 13 - October 31, 2020

General Election Day

November 3, 2020

For ballot information, polling places and ID requirements, click this button:

Voting Information

Thanks be to God!

Counting Blessings

Most every day when I go to Facebook, I will find a blessing from María Nuñez. It’s always a beautiful image with a message of hope and love. These inspirational messages bring a moment of joy and comfort to me. When I see them, I feel loved.

It’s similar to those moments I see an exceptionally beautiful flower. Whenever the sun shines through the clouds with streams of light seeming to come from the clouds themselves, I feel God’s presence. Those rays of sun assure me that God is real, and he is present.

I remember the day I was driving Mother to Seattle from her hometown a couple hours away for her catheter ablation. We were both treating the trip as something normal even though we were both a little nervous about the procedure. It was one of those wet Pacific Northwest days when the sun shines through the rain. Early on, we saw a rainbow or two. But as we continued, the rainbows seemed to multiply. A few of them were at eye level. As we neared Seattle, there were two or three that seemed to come straight at us! We kept pointing them out to each other: “Look there! Oh, there’s another one!” By the time we arrived at the hospital, we felt refreshed, confident, and ready for what lay ahead.

We need moments like these. We need beautiful stickers with hearts and flowers and birds. We need those moments when we feel special and loved. They remind us that “Surely the presence of God is in this place.” We need those moments when we feel special and loved.

Thanks be to God!

Deacon Victoria

Translation of sticker message: No day is like the other, and even if it doesn’t seem that way, each day has a different miracle to offer you. May you and yours have a good day. I hope that you woke up with encouragement to continue pursuing your dreams and everything that makes you happy. Have a great day.

St. John's is turning 60!

Here is the answer to this week's trivia question:

As part of our celebration of the 60^th anniversary of the founding of St. John’s, we have been asking trivia questions about the history of St. John’s. This week’s question asked the name of our first full time priest.

The Reverend Seth DeLeery was appointed the sixth Vicar of St. John’s in September 1981. Prior to Fr. Seth’s arrival, St. John’s had shared a priest with at least one other Episcopal church in the Austin area. Fr. Seth left St. John’s in 1984 to become Canon to the Ordinary for the Diocese of Texas. While Fr. Seth was here, we acquired the wonderful pipe organ that we are still using. Shortly after we received the organ in 1983, we remodeled the church building to add the “choir porch” – enclosing one of the outdoor porches on the building to make room for the organ and for an expanded choir.

Check the St. John's Facebook page on Monday for next week's question!

Sunday Services at St. John's

We are finding different ways to worship.

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:

Go to St. John's Facebook Live

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 879280948#.

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).

Holy Eucharist on the Deck

Limited in-person worship will continue this Sunday, with an outdoor Holy Communion Service at 1:15 PM. This week's service will be in Spanish.

Pre-registration is required; please click the button to register. Please register for only one Sunday service at a time so others will have an opportunity to attend.

If you need to cancel your reservation, please return to the registration site or text Fay Jones at 512-626-1771.

In case of inclement weather, this service will be cancelled.

Sunday Morning Prayer services at 10:00 AM in English and noon in Spanish will continue to be live streamed on Facebook. No login is required to attend the service.

Virtual Coffee and Fellowship:

Provide 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:

Virtual Coffee and Fellowship

To protect the meeting participants from any possible "trolls" who might try to interrupt our fellowship, the Waiting Room is enabled for this event. The meeting facilitator will admit you to the meeting as quickly as possible.

There are several ways you can continue to give towards the mission and ministry of St. John's:

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:

DONATE TO ST. JOHN'S

To those who have returned your giving intention for 2021 -

Thank You!

If you have not already done so, please return your giving intention (pledge) card for 2021 to the church as soon as possible.

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.

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.

Only Rev. Ann and essential support staff will be in the Chapel for the streaming of services and outside for the in-person Holy Communion services as we continue to follow the direction of government officials and the guidance of our Bishop.

Episcopal Diocese of Texas COVID-19