Wednesday, December 30, 2020

 

WORSHIP
Prayer for the Feast of the Epiphany

All powerful and everliving God     
you revealed in Christ, the Word made flesh, 
your eternal plan of salvation
and showed him as the light for all peoples.
Now that his glory has shone among us
you have renewed humanity in his immortal image.

Your light is strong,
your love is near;
draw us beyond the limits this world imposes,
to the life where your Spirit makes all life complete.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.


Our Sunday Worship Services 
 
Because of the rising number of coronavirus cases placing us in the Purple (worst) Zone
we cannot gather in the church for in-person worship.  
We will continue to gather virtually for our worship service of the Word of God and Spiritual Communion.  Our service will be livestreamed on the internet.
You may access the livestreamed service and the worship booklet through our St. John's website:  www.saint-john's.org  or our Facebook page:  Saint John's Episcopal Church.


Scripture Readings For the Week

Readings for Sunday, January 3, 2021, The Feast of the Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12

 
Facebook Link for Services:  Saint John's Episcopal Church
St. John's website: saint-johns.org

Wednesday Morning Prayer and Bible Study
 
Join us for Wednesday Morning Prayer and Bible Study
on Wednesdays at 9:30 am as a Zoom meeting. 

Please contact Rev. Cathey (revcat@gmail.com)
to be included in the Zoom meeting, or to update your info, if she does not have your current email.

The Morning Prayer guide can be found here:
 
OUTREACH
Becoming a Church for Military Members and Families
 
Ministry to military members and their families is an 
important outreach ministry, therefore, Bishop Susan 
Brown Snook recently appointed The Rev. Frank Munoz, retired Navy chaplain and Priest-in-Charge at Grace Episcopal Church in Menifee, as our first military missioner-and the first known diocesan military missioner in The Episcopal Church.
 
Men and women of the military have chosen to give of themselves in order to serve and defend the freedoms and liberties of our country. We have an opportunity to serve them in return. The most obvious reason to minister to the military is that they are our neighbors, and as neighbors some are in need of pastoral care.
 
Some of us have come from military families and others of us have had the experience of a military family coming to our churches while they live near us and fitting in quickly, until they are deployed to another base. While they are with us, they want what many of us want from a church community: fellowship, education, prayer, sacraments, and pastoral care. The problem is that not all military families find churches easily.
 
That's where we come in. We have an opportunity to become more intentional about reaching out to the military and inviting them in.
 
The Vestry of St. John's has agreed that we will register our parish with the Military Chaplains Association as Veterans/Military Friendly Congregations so that chaplains can send people our way. We also can advertise our military ministry on our websites and in our E-Newsletter
 
Bishop Susan has identified this coming year, 2021, as the Year of Evangelism. Ministry to the military offers us a way to tell the Good News to our many neighbors in the military and to give the opportunities to use their spiritual gifts while they are with us.
 
If you would like to me a part of this Outreach ministry to our military members and their families, please contact Rev. Roger at the parish office.
 
Pill Bottle Ministry

Did you know that in developing countries, the pill bottle and cap is often more expensive than the medication inside? You can donate your empty prescription bottles by bringing them to the Parish Office.  Sally Elliott has taken the lead on this ministry and will take care of shipping them to Matthew 25: Ministries. 

Matthew 25: Ministries accepts donations of empty plastic pill bottles for inclusion in shipments of medical supplies and for shredding and recycling. Their pill bottle program fulfills the dual needs of improving medical care in developing countries and caring for our environment.

Please note that we can currently only collect the clear orange prescription bottles. We have found that the others do not benefit the program.

Each shipment costs around $20.00.  If you would like to contribute your financial support as well as your pill bottles, we welcome your donations.

Emergency Food Pantry

The South Bay Community Services "Emergency Food Pantry" needs donations every month. If you would like to donate, please bring your items to the Main Office and they will be delivered to SBCS.
During the month of January, our featured items will be dried or canned beans, or boxed potatoes. 

Other items that are always welcome:
Dry and canned beans, boxed potatoes
Rice, pasta, Mac & Cheese
Canned meat or fish and can openers
Cereals, powdered and canned milk
Peanut butter and jelly
Canned fruit and vegetables
Soup, ramen noodles and crackers
Canned stews and Spaghetti-o's
 
PASTORAL CARE
Pastoral Care
 
We Are Available in Your Time of Need

If you have a pastoral emergency when the parish offices are closed, 
please call 619-301-0724 or email revroger@saint-johns.org

MINISTRY OF PRAYER
Parish Prayer Lists

Birthday and Anniversary Prayers

We would like to acknowledge and pray for anyone celebrating a birthday and/or anniversary in the coming week.  Please let us know by Thursday of the prior week so that we can get it in the Sunday liturgy.  If you have a picture of you that we could post for your birthday and/or a wedding photo or current photo for those celebrating an anniversary, please email it to us - it would be great to allow everyone to see you.

Our Parish Prayer Intentions
 
Today and every day include some time for prayer, for yourself,
for your church family, and for those in need.  

For our Military
 
Matt, Drew, Cody, Cameron, Chariti, 
Mark, Sean, Jonathan, TK, Christopher, 
Timothy, Jeremy, David, Jonathan, Nick, 
Jamal, Matt, Daniel, Jocelyn, Devon, Taylor, 
Jorge, Katherine, Sebastian, Richie and Roberto.

For Strength in Time of Need

Scott, Betty, Steve, Dawn, Gary and Shirley, John and Sheryl,
and for all first responders, medical professionals, 
essential workers and their families.

Cycle of Prayers for the Church

In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, we pray for the congregation, for the clergy and wardens and for all others in leadership positions, with particular petitions for wisdom and guidance in the year to come.

In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we pray for the Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria.

Prayer Quilt Ministry
 
The leaders of the Prayer Quilt Ministry would like to remind 
you that there are many quilts available for anyone in need of prayer and support.  This important ministry brings comfort and healing to many people who are suffering with illness. Please contact Diane Gustafson directly (diangus15@aol.com) or through the office (maria@saint-johns.org). 

 
STEWARDSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION
You Are Needed!

The Vestry of St. John's will have two open  positions in 2021.

The Vestry serves as the Board of Directors for St. John's Parish.  According to the Bylaw of the Parish, the Vestry has the duties for the temporal business and affairs of the Parish.

The Vestry meets (usually) on the Fourth Wednesday of each month at 6:00pm.  The place of the Vestry meeting is designated by the Vestry (during this pandemic, the Vestry meets virtually on Zoom).

If you would are willing to serve as a member of the Vestry, please complete the short Vestry Member Biography.  Completed nominations and biographies should be submitted to Rev. Roger.  Election of the Vestry members will occur at the St. John's Annual Meeting on Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 10:30am.

Thank you for considering to serve St. John's Parish
 
Vestry Member Biography 2021

St. John's Annual Meeting
 
St. John's Annual Meeting will take place virtually on Sunday, January 24, 2021, at 10:30 am.
Details to come.
 
2020 Stewardship Campaign
 
It is with gratitude for the abundant grace received by our God, that St. John's gives thanks for all the gifts you have given to our family of faith. 
If you have not done so, you may still make your pledge at any time.


Stewardship Results Update

 
2020
2021
Number of pledges
70
51
Treasure amount pledged
$141,033.00
$112,270
Time and Talent responses
 
71

 

Pledge Envelopes
 
2021 pledge envelopes are available in the office. 
If you would like to receive yours by mail, please call or email Maria in the office
(maria@saint-johns.org/619-216-5220).

If you have been mailing in your pledge checks, you can continue to do so without a pledge envelope- your account will be credited correctly, with or without an envelope.
 
The Vestry

David Dennehy, Senior Warden
619-840-9994 
Terry Farrelly, Treasurer
Diane Gustafson, Clerk
Pamela Brittain
Tom Brzeczek
Ray Contreras
Muriel Kulikowski
Jim McDevitt
Judy McKay
Lynn Young

Upcoming Events at St. John's

December 31 & January 1


Office Closed
January 20, 20216:00 pmVestry Meeting

January 24, 2021

10:30 am

Annual Meeting

Parish Office Hours

Current office hours are 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, Monday through Thursday.
If you need assistance, please call or email Maria Love: 
619-422-4141 or maria@saint-johns.org

Rev. Roger's Office Hours
 
Rev. Roger will be in the office Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and all day Wednesday and Friday.  He will be available by appointment.  Please call the office (619-422-4141) to schedule an appointment.

In case of a pastoral emergency, Rev. Roger may be reached on his cell phone at 619-301-0724.


Your weekly newsletter highlights important events at St. John's Episcopal Church.  You can also find news about St. John's at www.saint-johns.org.

We welcome your feedback, photos, and news items. Contact Maria Love at 619-422-4141 or maria@saint-johns.org.

Please submit your announcements by Tuesday of each week for inclusion in the Enews.

IN GRATITUDE
 
I would like to thank you for the Christmas greetings that you sent to Cliff and me.  Please know that I appreciate all the cards and gifts. Your kind words of care, concern and support are very meaningful to me.  
I look forward to a new year filled with joy and new opportunities.
  

Ann Marie Mackay is the mother of the Gustafsons' daughter-in-law. She fell in November and broke both hips and her pelvis and was sent to a rehab unit to stay until February. At that point, Rev. Cathey blessed a prayer quilt for her, parishioners said prayers, and Diane tied the knots before mailing the quilt to Florida.  

In early December Ann Marie went home because of a surge of COVID cases in the rehab facility. Five days later she was diagnosed with the virus. She has had days of delirium and lost seventeen pounds in less than two weeks. But she is doing better and wanted to send this message to the people of St. John's:

"Please tell them that when I was in my darkest moments I would pray and hold each piece of string knowing that God is helping me through prayers. Thank you, thank you!"
 
AROUND THE DIOCESE
Bishop Susan's Christmas Message

Beloved in Christ,

Today we celebrate the birth of our Savior, 
King of kings and Lord of lords. For many of us, this Christmas will feel very different from others we have known. We will not be gathering in our beautiful churches to sing our favorite carols but will content ourselves with online celebrations, singing along to the beautiful music we know so well. Many of us will be missing the family and friends we normally share this day with, and a few of us will be mourning loved ones who have been lost to the pandemic or to other causes this year. All of us will likely be looking forward to emerging from a difficult year and will be praying for better days in 2021.

Yet the truth of Christmas is that Jesus was not born into a world of warmth, family gatherings, and brightly lit celebrations. Jesus was born into a world of challenge and difficulty. He was laid in a manger in a town far away from home, brought there by the whim of a faraway emperor who had little concern for the health of his small family. His birth was attended not by a family celebration, but by shepherds, among the least respected people in his world. God came to a people in trouble and poverty, a people who had little power to affect the rulers of their world. Jesus knows our troubles because he has lived them.

By his birth into a troubled world, Jesus filled the world with God's love, cracked open the border between heaven and earth, and made our redemption possible. God's love shined light in the world where Jesus was born. As the gospel of John tells us, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. And if this year doesn't feel like the usual Christmas to us, maybe that's because we've never needed Christmas so much as we do this troubled year.

So let us celebrate the birth of a Savior who knows our troubles and our worries, because he has experienced them himself. Celebrate God's love that comes to us anew each day. And join me in praying that 2021 will bring an end to the pandemic, the economic suffering, the racial injustice, and all the other troubles that confront us.

In thanksgiving for the birth of Jesus, let us pray the collect for Christmas Day:

Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born this day of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.

Merry Christmas,

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Susan Brown Snook

EDSD Statement of Commitment
 
As part of the Jesus Movement and the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, we pledge to love our neighbors and protect the most vulnerable among us, remembering our baptismal vows to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being." We live these pledges out by actively engaging in dismantling racism. For many of us, this will mean learning more about our racial identity, listening to those who have experienced racial prejudice, speaking out against racism, and showing up alongside those in our community working to change unjust systems in our society. We also live out this pledge at worship during this pandemic, by wearing face-coverings, respecting distancing guidelines, foregoing the common cup and refraining from congregational singing.
 
Episcopal Relief and Development
What Would Love Do: 1000 Days of Love

Love calls us to care for our neighbors and for our enemies. Love calls us to attend to those in prison, to those who are homeless, to those in poverty, to children, immigrants and refugees.

What would love do? To you, who so generously support the transformative work of Episcopal Relief & Development, love calls you to continue to sow seeds of lasting change

Visit Episcopal Relief and Development: One Thousand Days of Love to see how you can help.

 
Reporting Misconduct
 
As part of our ongoing commitment to creating a safe haven for everyone, our diocese trains people in the prevention of misconduct and encourages all to report misconduct. All reported incidences are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly and confidentially. If you believe you have experienced misconduct of any kind, please contact Mr. John Seitman, (jseitman@pacbell.net), 858-793-4555 or Ms. Equilla Luke, (aequilla@icloud.com), 760-583-0485.

Safeguarding God's People
 
In this issue
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phone: 619/422-4141
pastoral care: 619/301-0724
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