Announcements for November 29

• Cathedral Shelter Christmas Baskets
  Please sign up to provide Christmas food and gifts for a family in need. Information is available in the parish office. Completed baskets are due December 10.
  
  
• Holiday Cookie Walk: December 5
  Please bring your goodies to the undercroft next Friday, December 4, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Cookies should be brought in disposable containers and candies bagged or wrapped in small quantities. Thank you for taking the time and effort to bake cookies and make candies! The sale begins the following day, December 5, from 9:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Be sure to bring your families, neighbors and friends.
  
  
• Advent Wreath Making This Sunday
  Everyone is invited to gather in the undercroft this Sunday, November 29, at 9:00 to make Advent wreaths. Celebrating Advent at home is a rich and faithful way to prepare for Christmas. All materials will be provided, but if you have a ring from previous years, bring it.
  
  
• Help the Children of Lawrence Hall Celebrate Christmas
  Once again the Daughters of the King are committed to sharing with the children of Lawrence Hall the joy, the spirit, the hope of Christmas. The deadline is December 1; please be in touch with Iris Bestow this Sunday.
  
  
• College Student Addresses Needed
  If you have a child in college, please make sure we have his or her current address so we can send holiday good wishes. Please be in touch with Donica Van Voorhees.

Reflection for November 29

The Advent Collect
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. The Book of Common Prayer, p. 211.

Announcements for November 22

• Thanksgiving Services
  The Holy Eucharist will be celebrated at St. John’s Thanksgiving Day, November 26, at 10:00 am. The community interfaith Thanksgiving service, sponsored by the South Suburban Ministerial Association and featuring the Viking Choir, will be held Wednesday, November 25, beginning at 7:30 pm at Living Springs Church at 19051 S. Halsted.
  
  
• Cathedral Shelter Christmas Baskets
  Please sign up to provide Christmas food and gifts for a family in need. Information is available in the parish office. Completed baskets are due December 10.
  
  
• Holiday Cookie Walk
  If you didn’t get a call asking you to bake cookies or make candies for our Cookie Walk sale on December 5th, please know it was an oversight. We need your help!
  
  
• Advent Wreath Making
  Everyone is invited to gather in the undercroft next Sunday, November 29, at 9:00 to make Advent wreaths. Celebrating Advent at home is a rich and faithful way to prepare for Christmas. All materials will be provided, but if you have a ring from previous years, bring it.
  
  
• Help the Children of Lawrence Hall Celebrate Christmas
  Once again the Daughters of the King are committed to sharing with the children of Lawrence Hall the joy, the spirit, the hope of Christmas. For more information or to make a donation, please contact Iris Bestow by December 1.
  
  
• Bible Study on Vacation
  Wednesday Bible study will not meet this week, November 25. The Wednesday celebration of the Holy Eucharist with healing will be held as usual.
  
  
• Parish Office Closed for Thanksgiving
  The parish office will be closed November 26 & 27 for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Reflection for November 22

Don't give up meeting together
Who is a Christian? Someone who has not given up meeting together. That's not all that needs to be said about Christianity, but down through the ages we have no record of a single faithful disciple who refuses to gather with other fellow believers. William H. Willimon, author and United Methodis bishop of the North Alabama Conference. Read the full post at http://theolog.org.

Announcements for November 15

• Brunch Bunch is Back
  Let’s give thanks for our Saint John’s community and share a meal together this Sunday following the 10:00 am service. We’ll provide the entrée of turkey and dressing. If you can, bring a dish to share (last name beginning with A-G, a dessert, please; H-Z, a side dish). The most important thing to bring is yourself!
  
  
• Vestry Meeting
  The vestry meets Monday, November 16, at 7:00 pm.
  
  
• ECW Luncheon this Wednesday
  All women of the parish are invited to a potluck luncheon this Wednesday, November 18, beginning at 11:30 am.
  
  
• Diocesan Council
  The 172nd Annual Convention of the Diocese of Chicago takes place November 20-21. St. John’s will be represented by Pastor Orr, Mary Jean Bond, Steven Russell, Gale Michael and Doris Sheffer.
  
  
• Holiday Cookie Walk
  Too bad the red claws are gone. But now we can look forward to our twelfth annual Cookie Walk on December 5th. We will need LOTS of your festive cookies and candies. Please say “Yes” when we ask you to bake.
  
  
• Church Landscape Cleanup Dates
  Thank you to everyone who pitched in last Saturday! We will do a final tidying of the grounds before winter on November 21, 9:00-11:00 a.m., or whenever you are available. Bring a favorite tool, rake, clipper or edger and your garden gloves. Some equipment will be available.
  
  
• Help the Children of Lawrence Hall Celebrate Christmas
  Once again the Daughters of the King are committed to sharing with the children of Lawrence Hall the joy, the spirit, the hope of Christmas. For more information or to make a donation, please contact Iris Bestow by December 1.

Reflection for November 15

On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? ... It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. (Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk)

Announcements for November 8

• Brunch Bunch is Back
  Let’s give thanks for our Saint John’s community and share a meal together on Sunday, November 15, immediately following the 10:00 am service. We’ll provide the entrée of turkey and dressing. If you can, bring a dish to share (last name beginning with A-G, a dessert, please; H-Z, a side dish). The most important thing to bring is yourself!
  
  
• Deadline to Sign up for Parish Dinner Groups
  Sign up for the 2009-2010 Parish Dinner Groups continues through this Sunday, November 8, 2009. Forms for signing up will be found on a table near the entrance of the church. If you have any questions regarding this unique opportunity to get to know your fellow parishioners a little bit better, please talk to Steven Russell, Dee McManamy, or Pastor Orr.
  
  
• Little Hands Outreach Ministry: Saturday, November 14
  The Little Hands Ministry is an opportunity for grade school aged children to participate in an outreach ministry. Little Hands will gather in the undercroft Saturday, November 14, from 4:00 – 5:00 pm to prepare Advent baskets to deliver to parish shut-ins. Bring a friend! Call Pastor Orr if you have questions.
  
  
• Holiday Cookie Walk
  Our twelfth annual Cookie walk will be held on Saturday, December 5th, from 9:00 am ’til 12:30 pm. We’ll be phoning you soon to ask you to bake cookies or make candies. Please say “yes”.
  
  
• Quite a Day for Faith in Films
  On Friday, November 13, Faith in Films presents Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story. The 1996 movie about the remarkable founder of the Catholic Worker movement stars Moira Kelly and Martin Sheen. Showtime is 7:00 p.m. sharp in the Guild Room, with discussion afterward. Popcorn is served; bring your own beverage.
  
  
• Church Landscape Cleanup Dates – November 7
  November 7 and/or November 21, 9:00-11:00 a.m., or whenever you are available. Help is needed to tidy up our grounds before the onset of winter. Bring a favorite tool, rake, clipper or edger and your garden gloves. Some equipment will be available
  
  
• Help the Children of Lawrence Hall Celebrate Christmas
  Once again the Daughters of the King are committed to sharing with the children of Lawrence Hall the joy, the spirit, the hope of Christmas. For more information or to make a donation, please contact Iris Bestow by December 1.
  
  
• Greeter and Usher Training: November 14
  All currently active greeters and ushers, both rookies and veterans, are encouraged to attend a training session at the church Saturday, November 14. Greeter training is from 9:00-10:00; usher training is from 10:00-11:00 a.m.

Reflection for November 8

A Way of Being Church
The Episcopal Church has often been described as a “pragmatic” church. In contrast to confessional churches, in which membership is marked by subscribing in some way to certain doctrinal statements, or to evangelical or Pentecostal churches in which a particular religious experience is expected, Anglicanism offers a practice of common worship. Participation in worship according to The Book of Common Prayer historically has marked the boundaries of belonging in this church. [Opening the Prayer Book by Jeffrey Lee]