Announcements for April 8

• Easter Egg Hunt
  The traditional children’s Easter egg hunt will take place on the front lawn following the 10:00 a.m. service. Please bring your own basket or bag for collecting.
  
  
• Youth Confirmation Classes Begin
  In the Episcopal Church confirmation is the time when children who were baptized as infants reaffirm their baptismal vows in their own voice. It is also the rite in which individuals specifically affiliate with the Episcopal Church as a denomination. Classes will be offered during the 9:00 a.m. Sunday education hour beginning next Sunday, April 15, for young people seventh grade or older. Confirmation will be Saturday, June 9, at St. James’ Cathedral. If you are interested or have questions, please speak to Cyndie Knoll or Pastor Kristin Orr.
  
  
• Good Friday Donations for Jerusalem
  Since 1922 Episcopalians in the United States have supported the ministries of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East through the Good Friday offering. If you would like to be a part of this effort but were not able to make a donation at St. John’s Good Friday service, you may still contribute. Please place your donation in the Sunday collection plate or send it to the parish office— clearly marked “Good Friday.”
  
  
• Faith in Films: Amish Grace on April 13
  The story of the strength of a community and their powerful commitment to forgiveness after a gunman kills five children in the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. The film will be shown in the Guild Room, Friday, April 13, beginning at 7:00 p.m.
  
  
• Yarn Donations Still Welcome
  If you have extra yarn to donate to the knitters in Japan, please bring it to the box in the undercroft by April 29. For more information, see the Wall Street Journal article on the table near the box.

Reflection for April 8 - Easter Day

Many people think they have no faith because they feel they haven’t. They do not realize that they must make a choice to believe, take the risk of believing, of committing themselves and setting themselves to live out the commitment. Never mind that they continue to feel that they do not believe. Under cover of being “authentic” we can spend our lives waiting for the kind of certainty we cannot have (Ruth Burrows, Carmelite sister, “Prayer is God’s work,” Christian Century, April 4, 2012).

Holy Week Service Schedule

• Palm Sunday, April 1
  7:55 a.m. Blessing of the Palms; Outdoor Altar
  8:00 a.m. The Holy Eucharist Church
  
  Christian Formation classes will not meet
  
  9:40 a.m. Blessing of the Palms; Outdoor Altar and procession around Flossmoor
  10:00 a.m. The Holy Eucharist; Church
  
  Youth Worship will meet on Palm Sunday at 10:00 in the Youth Worship room.
  
  
• Monday in Holy Week, April 2
  7:00 p.m. The Holy Eucharist
  
  
• Tuesday in Holy Week, April 3
  7:00 p.m. The Holy Eucharist
  
  
• Wednesday in Holy Week, April 4
  9:00 a.m. The Holy Eucharist with Healing
  7:00 p.m. The Holy Eucharist
  
  
• Maundy Thursday, April 5
  6:30 p.m. The Holy Eucharist (with foot washing for those who wish), followed by the agape meal and the stripping of the altar.
  8:30 p.m. - 11:30 a.m. (Friday) Prayer Vigil and Watch at the altar of repose
  
  
• Good Friday, April 6
  12:00 p.m. The Proper Liturgy for Good Friday
  7:00 p.m. Good Friday vespers
  
  
• Easter Eve, Saturday, April 7
  3:00 p.m. Liturgy of Light for Children; Undercroft. With the raising of the A******* banner.
  8:00 p.m. The Great Vigil of Easter with Holy Baptism

Announcements for April 1

• Palm Sunday Liturgies Begin Early
  This Sunday, Palm Sunday, the liturgy of the palms begins at 7:55 a.m. at the outdoor altar, followed by the Holy Eucharist at 8:00 a.m. in the church. For the later service, the liturgy of the palms begins at 9:40 a.m. at the outdoor altar, followed by a procession through the neighborhood. The Holy Eucharist begins in the church as usual at 10:00 a.m. Youth worship will meet at 10:00 a.m. on Palm Sunday.
  
  
• Sign up for the Watch
  The sign up sheet for the prayer watch Maundy Thursday evening through Good Friday is available in the back of the church.
  
  
• Flower Donations
  Please help bring beauty and the glory of spring to the church for our Easter celebration by making a contribution to the Easter flower fund. Special flower donation envelopes were included with the Easter letter and are also available in the pews.
  
  
• Christian Formation Classes on Vacation for Palm Sunday and Easter
  Christian formation classes for children and adults will be on vacation April 1 and 8.
  
  
• Children’s Liturgy of Light – Saturday April 7
  All children in the parish are invited to a special liturgy of light on Saturday, Easter Eve (April 7) beginning at 3:00 p.m. in the undercroft. We will light the Paschal Candle and prepare the children’s worship space for Easter. We will also raise the A******* banner.
  
  
• Yarn Ministry Not Meeting in April
  The yarn ministry will not meet on April 2nd, due to Holy Week. The next meeting is May 7th.

Reflection for April 1

When Jesus says, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34), “he makes himself one, not only with my pain but with my sin—because I myself, and you yourselves, and all of us ourselves, are sometimes victims of others and sometimes torturers of others and sometimes both, and when we recognize this we are, as Jesus says to the scribe, ‘not far from the kingdom.’” To know this deeply is to do the work of Holy Week (Debra Dean Murphy, “Palms and passion,” CC blogs network, quoting Fleming Rutledge).

Announcements for March 25

• Palm Sunday is Next Sunday, April 1
  The liturgy of the palms begins at 7:55 a.m. at the outdoor altar, followed by the Holy Eucharist at 8:00 a.m. in the church. For the later service, the liturgy of the palms begins at 9:40 a.m. at the outdoor altar, followed by a procession through the neighborhood. The Holy Eucharist begins in the church as usual at 10:00 a.m. Youth worship will meet at 10:00 a.m. on Palm Sunday.
  
  
• Christian Formation Classes on Vacation for Palm Sunday and Easter
  Christian formation classes for children and adults will meet as usual this Sunday, March 25, then be on vacation April 1 and 8.
  
  
• February Vestry Minutes Online
  The minutes from the February meeting of the vestry, approved at the recent March meeting, are now available on this blog. Click the label for vestry minutes.
  
  
• A Plea for Yarn
  A plea for yarn donations for a group of elderly Japanese women from the tsunami ravaged fishing village of Shichigahamo, Japan. The yarn ministry group at St. John’s will be collecting yarn, new or partial skeins, knitting needles and crochet hooks for the next six weeks to send to the Yarn Alive Club in Japan. The article from the Wall Street Journal regarding the plea for yarn will be on display in the undercroft, along with a container for your donations through April 29th. For more information, please contact Mary Agnes Long or Sue O’Brien.
  
  
• Organ Recital Open to All this Sunday
  The Episcopal Church of the Holy Family Music Director Mark Downey and Associate Organist Cathy Griesmeyer invite all to a special organ recital this Sunday, March 25, at 3:30 p.m. The recital will be followed by a Choral Evensong in celebration of the Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Dinner will follow in the parish hall. The cost is free, but good will offerings will be accepted.

Reflection for March 25

When he was challenged by Jesus to accept a life of voluntary poverty, the rich young man knew he was faced with the simple alternative of obedience or disobedience. When Levi was called from the receipt of custom or Peter from his nets, there was no doubt that Jesus meant business. Both of them were to leave everything and follow. Again, when Peter was called to walk on the rolling sea, he had to get up and risk his life. Only one thing was required in each case — to rely on Christ’s word, and cling to it as offering greater security than all the securities in the world. The forces which tried to interpose themselves between the word of Jesus and the response of obedience were as formidable then as they are to-day.... But the call of Jesus made short work of all these barriers.... (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship).