Reflection for November 17

As online worship becomes more common in some churches, leaders within the United Methodist Church are debating whether the denomination should condone online communion…. The majority of the leaders agreed with the statement that communion “entails the actual tactile sharing of bread and wine in a service that involves people corporeally together in the same place.” Not everyone, however, agreed that congregants must be in the same place. The debate raises fundamental questions at the heart of the church experience: the definition of community, individual participation, the role of tradition and basic theological understandings of the meaning of communion (Christian Century, November 13, 2013).

Announcements for November 10

Stewardship: Annual Pledge Campaign
This year you received three pledge cards: one for your pledge of financial support, one to pledge time and talent to programs and ministries at St. John’s, and one to pledge your efforts to outreach ministries. Please prayerfully consider what you can offer. Pledge Sunday is November 24. You may offer your pledge cards during worship on that day or return them to the parish office at any time before November 24.

Loaves & Fishes This Sunday
Following the 10:00 a.m. service this Sunday, November 10, Loaves and Fishes is offering the traditional turkey and dressing brunch. Everyone is invited! If you can, bring a side or dessert to share. If it is not convenient to bring a dish, you are still welcome to share the feast and fellowship.

Parish Dinner Groups Sign Up Ends This Sunday
Sunday, November 10, is the last day to sign up for Parish Dinner Groups. Information and forms for signing up will be found on a table in the undercroft. If you have any questions regarding this unique opportunity to get to know your fellow parishioners a little bit better, please talk to Gale Michael or Pastor Orr. Please turn in your forms to Gale, Pastor Orr or the Parish office.

Cathedral Shelter Christmas Baskets
Cathedral Shelter is one of the Episcopal Charities of the Diocese of Chicago. It provides a wide range of services to homeless individuals and families and to people struggling with addiction. The Christmas Basket program provides gifts to families and seniors who otherwise would not be able to afford them. Information is available in the undercroft on how you can help by adopting a senior or a family.

Coffee Hour Contributions
Thank you to all who have contributed over the last two weeks to support coffee hour expenses. In the weeks and months ahead please continue to be mindful of the need to support this ministry.

Holiday Cookie Walk
St. John’s annual Holiday Cookie Walk is December 7. Most of the money raised at the Cookie Walk goes to benefit local outreach and service agencies. Please say “yes” when we ask you to bake.

Blue Jeans Sunday – November 24
Help out with fall clean up of our parish grounds. Wear your gardening clothes to church Sunday, November 24, and stay a little while after church to do landscape work.

Reflection for November 10

Life is driven by renewal, the persistent energy of rebirth that makes all things new. Pain and loss and death are inevitable, but each and every time they happen, there will be new life. Death happens, but it is never the final answer. Everything that begins ends, and every ending contains the promise of a new beginning (New Life, Edward Stone Gleason).

Announcements for November 3

Stewardship: Annual Pledge Drive 
The mission and ministry of St. John’s depend upon your financial support and participation. Pledge cards can be returned to the parish office at any time or you will have the opportunity to offer them within worship on Sunday, November 24.

All Saints Open House at the Rectory
Everyone is invited to the annual All Saints Open House at the Rectory this Sunday, November 3, from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

High School Youth Group
The high school youth group meets this Sunday, November 3, from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
 
Parish Dinner Groups
Sign up for the 2013-2014 Parish Dinner Groups continues through Sunday, November 10. Information and forms for signing up will be found on a table in the undercroft. Please join us even if you are not a “couple” or you can’t host a dinner in your home. If you have any questions regarding this unique opportunity to get to know your fellow parishioners a little bit better, please talk to Gale Michael or Pastor Orr.

Loaves & Fishes Next Sunday
Everyone is invited to stay for brunch following the 10:00 a.m. service next Sunday, November 10. More details in next week’s e-vangelist.

Yarn Ministry
The yarn ministry will meet Monday, November 4, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Guild Room. All knitters and crocheters are welcome.

Blue Jeans Sunday – November 24
Help out with fall clean up of our parish grounds. Wear your gardening clothes to church Sunday, November 24, and stay a little while after church to do landscape work.

Daylight Saving Time Ends
Daylight Saving Time ends this Sunday, November 3. Remember to set your clocks back one hour.

Reflection for All Saints Sunday - November 3

The Church is “the communion of Saints,” that is, a people made holy through their mutual participation in the mystery of Christ. This communion exists through history, continues in the present, and endures beyond the grave and gate of death into heaven, for God is not a God of the dead but of the living, and those still on their earthly pilgrimage continue to have fellowship with those whose work is done. The pilgrim Church and the Church at rest join in watching and praying for that great day when Christ shall come again to change and make perfect our common humanity in the image of Christ’s risen glory. (Holy Women, Holy Men, p. 742).

Announcements for October 27

All Souls Day Service – Saturday, November 2
The Commemoration of All Faithful Departed (also known as All Souls Day) developed—as sort of an extension of All Saints Day—as a day on which the Church remembers that vast body of the faithful who may be unknown in the wider fellowship of the church but are no less members of the company of the redeemed, particularly family members and friends. This year St. John’s will offer a service on All Souls Day, November 2, beginning at 5:00 p.m. You are invited to bring a small photo or memento of any individual you wish to remember at this service. These will be displayed during the service. You may also still submit names to be remembered in the prayers of the All Souls Day service by calling or e-mailing the parish office.

Parish Dinner Groups
Sign up for the 2013-2014 Parish Dinner Groups continues through Sunday, November 10. Information and forms for signing up will be found on a table in the undercroft. Please join us even if you are not a “couple” or you can’t host a dinner in your home. If you have any questions regarding this unique opportunity to get to know your fellow parishioners a little bit better, please talk to Gale Michael or Pastor Orr.

All Saints Open House at the Rectory
Everyone is invited to the annual All Saints Open House at the Rectory next Sunday, November 3, from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

New Acolyte Photos on Display
A new compilation of photos of acolytes is now on display in the hallway outside the Guild Room.

Coffee Hour Contributions
A nudge from the vestry: Coffee hour contributions are running considerably less than costs. If you are a regular participant in coffee hour, please remember to toss a dollar or two in the basket.

Yarn Ministry
The yarn ministry will meet Monday, November 4, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Guild Room. All knitters and crocheters are welcome.

Blue Jeans Sunday – November 24
Help out with fall clean up of our parish grounds. Wear your gardening clothes to church Sunday, November 24, and stay a little while after church to do landscape work.

New Rector at Church of the Holy Family
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Family in Park Forest has called a new Rector. The Rev. Rachael Gregory begins her tenure on November 1. Welcome, and God bless her in her new ministry.

Reflection for October 27

Baseball breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops (A. Bartlett Giamatti).