St. John's Episcopal Church - Centreville, VA
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Parish News - January 19, 2022
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Dear St. John's Parishioners and Friends:
In her book, "The Dream of God" by Verna Dozier, she talks about how we have fallen away from the dream that God had for us in creation. God created us as free human beings who could make our own choices whether to follow God's way or another way. Time and time again, as humanity has drifted away, God calls us back, calls us to return to God.
What is the "dream of God"? Dozier says, "the restoration of the good creation that God brought into being at the beginning" (page 4). She defines ministry as our service in response to the dream of God.
What is the dream of God for St. John's? Who is God calling us to be as a congregation? What does God want us to be doing in this corner of God's universe? I think God is calling us to be faithful servants of God, to live out in word and deed the life that God has called us to live, to be God's witnesses of a better way to live as followers of Jesus Christ.
God continues to call us as individuals and as a community of faith. During this upcoming time of transition in leadership at St. John's, it will be more important than ever to pray and listen to the voice of God to lead us and guide us as a new spiritual leader is chosen. Listen to who God is calling St. John's to be. Listen to new ideas and ways of doing things. Listen to God's call to love and serve one another as God loves us. For God is always with us, no matter what.
The Rev. Carol Hancock
Rector
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For the month of January, we will have online services only
(no in-person services) due to the large increase of COVID cases in Fairfax County and in the state of Virginia. The services will be live streamed at 9:30 AM on Sunday morning, and they can be watched later as well. While we would all prefer to gather in person to worship on Sundays, we are taking this step to insure the safety of everyone, particularly the most vulnerable. The link to the online service is found below and will be the same link every Sunday. On Saturday, we will resend the link, along with a link for the bulletin and the lectionary class.
SUNDAY LIVESTREAM LINK:
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PARISH NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
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OUTREACH
Many thanks go to those who donated household items for the Katharine Hanley Family Shelter. Those items are being delivered today.
As part of our continuing community outreach, we seek volunteers to help out in several areas at the shelter. They provide crisis intervention, stable housing, and supportive services to homeless families and victims of domestic violence. They are located nearby and currently house up to 12 families onsite, 12 families in hotel sites and serve over 40 families in their prevention and rapid rehousing programs.
Volunteer Opportunities:
The Katharine K. Hanley Family Shelter is seeking volunteers in collaboration with St. John’s for the following immediate needs and volunteer opportunities:
- On-call movers: Support for moving items of furniture: 3-4 volunteers with a pick-up truck or U-Haul Rental Truck, must be able to lift and move furniture and other household items – we can form teams around a member with a truck able to pick up these items. Let me know if you are interested in volunteering and especially if you have a truck.
- Volunteer Delivery Driver (VDD): Provides essential help in getting items to community members, residents, and Shelter House Program Participants. The VDD is asked to assist in delivering items to both public and private locations on an as needed basis. This position requires a working vehicle, license, and personal ability to navigate to new places. Items to be delivered range in size, quantity, and description. This is a
flexible / on-call position. (Ages 17+)
- Volunteer On Call Moving Assistant (VOCMA): A hands on position that
requires the ability to lift, carry, and drive. The VOCMA is invited to work directly with residents who are moving out of shelter or relocating and need assistance in both loading and transporting items such as boxes, furniture, etc. This position involves both physical labor and logistical planning. The VOCMA agrees to be added to an “on call” list and contacted by Shelter House staff when needs within the community arise. This position does not include the transportation of people. (Ages 18+)
- Volunteer Shelter Assistant (VSA): A versatile position that participates in
onsite tasks such as cleaning, organizing, and various hands-on activities depending on the needs of the shelter determined by the Building Manager and/or Community Coordinator. This position requires physical participation including but not limited to the ability to lift, carry, and bend. The VSA might have direct contact with shelter residents since much of their work is within and surrounding the building. (Ages 16+)
- If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please contact Rev. Deacon Steve at [email protected] who will coordinate with KKHFS Community Coordinator to get you started. Note: positions may require training from the KKHFS particularly those involving direct contact with clients.
- Please contact Deacon Steve for Additional information about the KKHFS
about these and other volunteer positions.
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Bishop Ted Gulick will be making a Bishop's Visitation to St. John's on Sunday, April 3. If anyone wishes to be confirmed, received into the Episcopal Church from another denomination, or renew their baptismal vows, please let Carol know as soon as possible. Classes for confirmation candidates will need to start in January.
Vestry Candidates Needed - On February 6 at 12:00 noon on ZOOM, we will have our Annual Parish Meeting where we will be electing new members of the Vestry. Three of our current Vestry members will be completing their three year terms. Six people will remain on the Vestry so we can elect up to six additional members. If you would like to have more information about the work of the Vestry, please feel free to talk with a member of the Vestry (listed on the back of the bulletin each Sunday) or to attend one of our meetings on Zoom. Just let Carol know ahead of time so she can send you the link. The Vestry currently meets on Zoom on the third Sunday of the month at 7:00 PM. Vestry members must be confirmed communicants in good standing. To date, we have three people who have agreed to run for the Vestry. This will be an important year for the Vestry as St. John's moves into a time of transition with Carol's retirement and the call of a new priest. The Vestry will appoint the Search/Discernment Committee; decide whether to call an Interim, Priest-in-Charge, or Rector; interview the candidates; and call the next priest to serve St. John's. We need YOU on the Vestry!
The link for the "Sign Up Genius" for 2022 is below. Please sign up for the dates you would like to provide flowers for the altar, and write your intention (in memory of a loved one, in thanksgiving for a birthday or anniversary, etc.). If you are a lector, usher or crucifer, please sign up for the dates when you can serve. (We do not need to have ushers while we are having online services only). It is helpful if people sign up ahead of time so we don't have to call around to find someone at the last minute.
Please remember to send in your monthly pledge or donation. Even though we are not currently having in-person worship services, our bills continue to come in.
A woman recently called St. John's and is in need of a used camper or RV for housing for herself and her 3 children. We are one of many places she has contacted in the hopes that someone will know someone who can help. She is in dire need and will lose her housing at the end of the month. Her children may have to go into foster care. If you know of anyone who has a camper or RV to donate, please let Carol know.
COVID test updates - Yesterday, the government opened it's website for those who would like to order 4 free COVID tests. Only one set of four is allowed for each residential address. The website is www.covidtests.gov .
COVID testing is now available in parking lot B at the Fairfax County Government Center by appointment only from Saturday - Wednesday 9:00 - 5:30 pm. To get an appointment, go to Virginia Dept. of Health website. These are PCR tests, not rapid tests.
If you are not receiving the E Notes on a regular basis each Wednesday, please check your spam folder. If you continue not to receive it, please let Catherine Packard know . ([email protected]).
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*Wood Bundles Now For Sale*
The price is still nominal at $5 per bundle and the bundles are located outside the breezeway. Donations can be put in the envelopes provided and put in the secure adjacent mailbox.
Andrew Wade
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Western Fairfax Christian Ministries has put out their list of the foods that they need the most. You can bring your non-perishable items to the church on Sunday mornings, or drop them off in the box outside the door by the breezeway during the week and they will be delivered to WFCM.
· Canned garbanzo beans (low salt preferred)
· Canned kidney beans, red beans, and black beans (low salt preferred)
· Canned pasta
· Pasta Sauce (low salt preferred)
· Canned Tuna and Canned Chicken
· Flavored pasta/rice
· Mashed Potatoes
· Oatmeal (Quaker Oats Healthy Old Fashioned Oatmeal)
· Canned vegetables (corn, carrots, spinach, beets) (low salt preferred)
· Canned Pineapple (no sugar added preferred)
· Tomato Paste (low salt preferred)
· Toiletries: Toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, feminine pads, deodorant, baby wipes, shaving cream, mouth wash (NOTE: we are not currently in need of diapers due to our partnership with Greater DC Diaper Bank. Please only donate larger size pull ups or wipes if you want to donate items for babies.)
Outreach Opportunity to Help Our “Neighbors”
The Western Fairfax Shepherd Center is still accepting volunteer drivers to support clients who need help getting to appointments, shopping trips (for food), and to deliver food from WFCM to clients. Please contact the Shepherd Center at 703-246-5920 or email [email protected] and copy Deacon Steve at [email protected].
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Sign Up: Sunday service reader or usher We welcome, need, and value your help! The lector will read the 2 lessons and the psalm. The usher will hand out bulletins and bring the elements and offering to the altar. If you would like to do either of these, CLICK HERE.
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Sign Up: Altar Flowers
Please indicate how you wish your flower donation to appear in the Sunday bulletin. (Wedding anniversary, in memory of someone - something special you want to remember by providing flowers.) CLICK HERE
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Service of Evening Prayer - Virtually
Every Wednesday, St. John's has a Service of Evening Prayer. 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, January 19
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THE ADULT LECTIONARY FORUM - IN PERSON & ON ZOOM
All are invited to join in, following the Sunday service. Here is the link to the Lectionary Forum via Zoom, in case you cannot attend in person:
PLEASE NOTE LINK updated
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SUNDAY WORSHIP & EDUCATION
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THE ADULT LECTIONARY FORUM - HELD EACH SUNDAY
All are invited to join in, following the Sunday service, in the library. Or use the link to the Lectionary Forum via Zoom, in case you cannot attend in person, found above.
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We can prepare our hearts & minds by reading ahead
for the Sunday Service lesson
The Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 23, 2022
The First Reading: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
The Psalm: 19, p. 606, BCP
The Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
The Gospel: Luke 4:14-21
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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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To Tell the Truth
This day is named for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but it is a day for all of us. It’s not just about the Civil Rights Movement. It’s certainly not just an equal opportunity holiday for a segment of our citizens. It’s a celebration of truth – the truth about America, the truth about our common humanity, and the truth of what we are called to be. Jesus said to those who believed, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Without truth, there is no true freedom. As St. Paul taught us, we are all part of one another. Truth, freedom, and community are woven together into the fabric of the Kingdom of God – God’s dream for us.
In Dr. King’s writings: “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”, “Why We Can’t Wait,” “The Strength to Love,” and the speeches and letters we will hear again today, three interwoven and crucial strands of truth emerge. There is the hard truth of the way we have been and the way we are now. Coming out of the legacy of slavery, followed by jim crow, segregation, and brutality, the world of the 1960’s became a place of reckoning. Dr. King and others active in the Civil Rights Movement paid a heavy price – for him, the ultimate price – to change the worst of our common life. Until the truth was told, out in the daylight and in front of the cameras, the evil of racism had cover to continue its predations. Dr. King knew that going along, playing along, demurring to the powerful, would not set us free. The whole, hard truth had to be told.
And so it is today, because our present reality is that discrimination and other forms of bigoted cruelty and violence have yet to be rooted out. The whole truth, out in the daylight and in front of the cameras, must be told, so that we all might be free. That is why it is so important to name the names – Philander, George, Breonna, Ahmaud, and more. Truth with a name is much harder to deny, to ignore, to forget. We must know these truths, because they are the present reality of the connected Body of Christ, and we can’t get to freedom without naming them.
However, like Isaiah and the other prophets, Dr. King did not stop with naming and lamenting the scourges of captivity, oppression, and exploitation. He also named the deeper, more powerful truth: this is not what God intends for us. God intends a world where justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. God intends a world where all people feast upon the abundance of God’s house and drink from the river of God’s delights. God intends a world where no-one hurts or destroys on the holy mountain, where the water of the river of life, bright as crystal, flows down the middle of the street of the city of God, with the tree of life on either side with its twelve kinds of fruit, and healing for the nations in its leaves. Dr. King proclaimed this profound truth; it is the foundation of the “I Have a Dream” speech that we will hear repeated today. We must hear these truths and proclaim them to the world, because they are the hope and salvation of all of us.
And third, Dr. King named that core truth of Christianity: the vindication and salvation of God comes to the whole of God’s people, not just to individual people or self-appointed sub-groups. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Whatever any of us do to the least of us, we do to Christ. The sin Jesus seems to have hated the most was hypocrisy, an offshoot of the self-centeredness that is the root of all sin. Hypocrisy denies the truth; self-centeredness set us up as judges. We can come to the wedding feast or not; it is our choice. But we cannot dictate the guest list. And we certainly can’t blast our way in with weapons, or wall other people out with power, or blow up the bridge behind us.
Jesus constantly spoke against the fear that motivates such behavior – the fear that there will not be enough, or that if others are exalted, we will be lowered, that if others gain something, then we lose something. That is impossible in the Kingdom. There is abundance for all. There is kindness and mercy and goodness and justice and beauty and peace – not to mention feasting and music and rejoicing. The Kingdom of God is not a zero sum game. It’s actually the opposite: when anybody is diminished or injured, we are all diminished and injured. When anybody is rescued or restored, we are all rescued and restored. When you are saved, I am saved. We are one body.
Dr. King saw the truth as Jesus taught it. He saw the quotidian reality of hypocrisy and injustice and fear in the world as we run it. He saw the sacred reality of the beauty and grace of God’s dream for all God’s people in the world as God intends it. He saw that the manifestation of God’s dream would be the beloved community, and walking in any other direction is the wrong direction. And like Jesus, he begged us to turn around, because the Kingdom of God is very near.
May we hear the truth, may we see the truth, may we name the truth, and may we all be set free to live the truth of God’s dream for all God’s people.
God bless you, Dr. King, and God bless all who proclaim the Gospel, and all who seek the Truth.
+Bishop Jennifer Brooke-Davidson
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"Because the Bible is a theological book, it is a book of wrestlings, not a book of answers. In each age, the people have to struggle to hear the word of the Lord for their time, and sometimes their hearing is keener than at other times."
The Dream of God by Verna Dozier, page 18
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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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