Join Us on YouTube this Sunday for a Service of Morning Prayer
Sunday, June 14
Facebook live at 9:00 a.m. and on YouTube anytime
Worship with us on Sunday, virtually! Click on the YouTube image above to participate. There will be music, prayer and preaching.

Watch it together "live" with others at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on our Facebook page or you may choose to participate at your usual service time (7:45 a.m., 9:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m.), or any other time you like.

Feel free to share the link with others.
Ordination of the Rev. Savannah Caitlyn Ponder
Saturday, June 13, 11:00 a.m. | Livestream via Facebook and YouTube
By the Grace of God and the people consenting
The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde
Bishop of Washington
will ordain
To the Sacred Order of Priests
in Christ’s One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

The Rev. Savannah Caitlyn Ponder

Saturday, June 13, 2020 at 11:00 a.m.
held at St. Paul’s Parish, K Street for St. John's Church, Lafayette Square

Your prayers and online presence are requested.

This ordination will be livestreamed via Facebook and YouTube channels for St. John’s, Lafayette Square, St. Paul’s Parish, and the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

In absence of physical presence, we are asking clergy, and anyone who can, to send letters to the ordinand. These letters can be mailed to: St. John's, Lafayette Square, 1525 H St NW, Washington, DC, 20005.
Sunday, June 14, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. | Online via Zoom
Please join us for a grace-filled and honest workshop to engage issues of race and how we at St. John’s will discern meaningful steps to play our part in dismantling systemic racism. We will have multiracial facilitators who will take us through this process, and they are skilled at using Zoom. The more parishioners who participate across our congregation, the better and more effective this will be .

Our leaders will be  the Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers  and  Dr. Courtney Cowart . 

Stephanie works on the Presiding Bishop’s staff on issues of evangelism and racial reconciliation. She is a sought-after preacher, teacher and author known across the Episcopal Church. Courtney is the Executive Director of the  Society for the Increase of Ministry (SIM)  She brings experience from being with St. Paul’s Chapel during the time when the world was watching as that historic church responded with inspirational love and service following the attacks of September 11th, and she also participated in the Diocese of Louisiana's work for racial healing as part of their response to Hurricane Katrina.

The workshop will be 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. this Sunday, June 14. Access to participate will be found on our website page for  Worship and Classes . Please join us! We will have a follow-up worship on the following Sunday for June 21.
Service of Compline
Monday to Friday, 8:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. | Online via Zoom
For more information, please contact the Rev. Savannah Ponder .
Bible Study
Sunday, June 14 at 10:00 a.m. | Online via Zoom
The Bible Study led by Jack Reiffer will meet at 10:00 a.m. online on Sunday via  Zoom .  Please contact Jack Reiffer and the Rev. Jane Hague for the links to participate .
Service of Evening Prayer
Sunday, June 14, 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. | Online via Zoom
For more information, please contact the Rev. Savannah Ponder .
Pastoral Care
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting our St. John's community in many ways. St. John's parishioners have expressed the desire to help their neighbors during this difficult time. Please  use this form  to let us know if you:

  • Can provide support for someone in need or
  • Are in need of support.

We will do our best to connect those in need with those who are able to help. If you are not comfortable using this form, please send us an email at  help@stjohns-dc.org  with your name, contact information and details of the type of support you can give or the support you need.

In addition to this direct support from parishioners, our Rector, the Rev. Rob Fisher, has an emergency fund for those who may be in need of financial assistance. If you are in need of financial assistance or would like to contribute to the emergency fund,  please reach out directly to the Rev. Rob Fisher .
Prayer List
Our prayers are requested for the special needs and concerns of this congregation, especially:

Those who are sick or recovering:

From our parish:  Bill Brownlee, Bobbie Falk, Susan Herrington, Andrew Hunt, Nelda Johnson, Bob Patchell, Dace Vidins, and Jeff White.

Friends and family of our parish:  Niels Beck (Michelle Mangrum), Rachael Buckley (Chrystal Martin), Tom Burkart (Pamela Venzke), Cay Buser (Carl Ward), John Frew Carter (Margo Arnold), Bill Clark (Clark Ervin), Brian Cohen (Jane Hague), Harry Davis (Mary and Carl Raether), Karl Dornemann (Deb Dornemann), Bobby Doyle (Alex Pappas), Geri Lucas Haji (Judy McKevitt), Courtney Jordan Hillman (Erika Northcutt), Lucas Hunt (Matthew Taylor), Vera Hyncik (Holly Sukenik), Amy Lowenthal (Andrew Tomlinson), William Markiewicz (Matthew Taylor), Tammy McCleaf (Matthew Taylor), Kevin Milstead (Andrew Tomlinson), Timothy Mullins (Jim Mullins), Zach Newton (Andrew Tomlinson), Judy Nicola (Cynthia Walker), Ginger Parra (Leila Taaffe), Cawley Scott (Robyne Johnston), Zoe Taaffe (Leila Taaffe), Garland Treadway (Karen Zachary), and Gabriel Van Oyen (Carolyn Crouch) .

Those who are in rehabilitative care:  

From our parish:  Max Hudgins and Marcella Odom.

Those who are in the hospital:  

Friends and family of our parish:   Diane Bender (Peter Odom), Sue Burton (Sigi Block), James Hodges (Matthew Taylor), Julie Howell (Cynthia Walker), Phyllis Lambert (Will Morris), Chase Madar (Rob Fisher), Gina Robinson (Matthew Taylor), Travis Rogers (Robert Carroll), and Mary Seidman (Nora and Hap Rigby).

Those who died:  

Friends and family of our parish:  Kevin Pasley who died June 4, 2020.

Those in our parish celebrating a birthday this week:  Jack Bledsoe, Cay Buser, Walker Crochet, Doug Estes, Peter Koch, James Martens, Jennifer McCann, Austin McLaughlin, John Morefield, Obi Onwuamaegbu, Owen Owunwanne, John Paty, Lauren Raab, Will Rabbe, Mary Raether, Luca Russo, Anne Seidlitz, John Welsh, and Oliver Lehmann Weng.

Those in our parish celebrating an anniversary this week:  Julie and Thomas Cellucci, Martha Blalock and Chris Delucchi, Elizabeth and Chris Gardner, Barbara and Mac Johnston, Nancy and Sandy Martin, Diane and Howard Melton, Livy and John More, and Laura and Sam Patten.

For those on the frontlines in the coronavirus pandemic, especially:

Friends and family of our parish: Janie Abernethy (Elizabeth Lewis and David Abernethy), Sandra Brown (Becca Brown), Nathan Cobb (Livy and John More), Chris Gardner (Ann Gardner), Yee Houston (Quin Woodward Pu), and Marta Kochanska (Livy and John More).

Those serving in the Armed Forces including those who are deployed, and for the Armed Forces Ministry of the Episcopal Church:

Friends and family of our parish who are deployed:  Peter T. Watson (Wendy Fibison).
Book Group
Thursday, July 9 at 6:45 p.m. | Online via Zoom
The St. John's Book group will meet on Thursday, July 9, at 6:45 p.m. via  Zoom  to discuss  The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason. If you love to read, please join us for an evening of discussion and socializing. 

For more information and for links to participate,  contact Leila Taaffe .
Donate to our Youth Sponsored Fundraiser for Kwasa and Grace’s Table
The St. John’s Youth and Sunday School families have a tradition of selling home-baked cookies in front of St. John’s each May to raise funds for the children of Kwasa in South Africa . While the kids are not able to hold a traditional bake sale at the church this year due to the pandemic, the needs of children at Kwasa have only increased. Kwasa is shut due to stay-at-home orders in South Africa, but the Rev. Sharron Dinnie is finding new ways to deliver food to the Kwasa children when not in school. At the same time, the needs of the homeless people served by Grace’s Table here in Washington have also increased. 

Thus, the Sunday School and Youth invite you to join us in supporting both the Kwasa children and the people served by Grace’s Table with a virtual bake sale. Please consider a $10.00 contribution or any other amount f or a virtual dozen of tasty cookies. You can make your donation by clicking on the button below and choosing "Kwasa" from the Fund drop down menu. The cash donations will go to Kwasa and the baked goods will be delivered to Grace’s Table as soon as it b ecomes safe to do so. For more information, contact Sarah Wood, the Rev. Savannah Ponder, or Sigi Block.
St. John’s Mask Project Helps Both Refugees and Medical Workers
In an inspired example of mutual aid in a time of crisis, the St. John’s Refugee Committee this spring commissioned an Afghan refugee family to sew face masks for George Washington University Hospital. The project not only supplied badly needed surgery masks to GW medical professionals fighting the Covid-19 pandemic—it also provided much-needed income to the family of a former translator for the U.S. military, who has been furloughed due to the current pandemic.

Now, having delivered the 521st mask financed by a $2500 grant from the Refugee Committee to GW, project organizers Gay and Bob Pasley are seeking, through the Church, donations from St. John’s parishioners who would like to help keep the family employed and the masks flowing.

“We never dreamed that these two women would be able to make that many masks,” said Gay Pasley, referring to the former translator's wife and sister. The translator himself is doing most of the cutting of parts for the masks, Pasley added.

For this next phase of the project, the Church is seeking $500 to buy materials in bulk and pay the family for its labor. You can make your donation by clicking on the button below and choosing "Refugee Project" from the Fund dro p down menu . For more information, contact the Pasleys here.
Reflections and Updates from the Rector 
Click on the image below
Episcopal Diocese of Washington Covid-19 Emergency Relief Appeal
Many of us are asking how we can help during this pandemic. In our Diocese, we are seeing members of our churches suffering from food insecurity and other hardships. Congregations in low-income communities are an essential part of an increasingly fragile safety net for their most vulnerable neighbors.

To support the most vulnerable parishes, the diocese has suspended the Annual Bishop’s Appeal for the diocesan budget and has replaced it with a  Covid-19 Emergency Relief Appeal. 

St. John’s parishioners have shown a desire to support others through this crisis. If you would like to help, supporting this relief fund would be an excellent way. You can make a gift on the diocesan website at this link:  https://www.edow.org/about/giving .
St. John's on LinkedIn
As many of you know,  LinkedIn  is the top online business networking platform, with over 630 million registered members. While used primarily to list career and business interests, it also allows you to list (and link) outside interests, memberships and affiliations, including places of worship. As part of our outreach into the community and world of work, we invite you to list your membership (and roles) at St. John's. This will allow others who might be interested in St. John's to connect with you, and also show our interest in, and relevance to, the world of work.  

We have set up a  St. John's LinkedIn page , and would welcome congregational participation in building out and populating the page. 

To help with that or with any questions, please  contact the Rev. Will Morris .
In case you missed it
Stay connected with St. John's Church on social media!
St. John's Church, Lafayette Square
1525 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005