St. John’s Episcopal Church
E-Newsletter
May 7,
2008
Called by God to be a Community that hears God’s word
and does God’s work
TOPICS IN THIS
ISSUE:
Fr. Michael’s
Message
Activities &
Info
Stewardship
thought for the week
Last Chance for Graduate Recognition Sunday
New Chance to work on the grounds
Calendar
Liturgy
Ministries
Contact
Us
FR. MICHAEL’S
MESSAGE
I am
greatly looking forward to our celebration of Pentecost and to the tenth
anniversary of the consecration of this building and the
one-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of having a church building. It
promises to be a happy day.
PLEASE REMEMBER: THIS SUNDAY, 11 MAY,
ONE SERVICE AT 9:30 A.M. FOLLOWED BY A POTLUCK
BRUNCH.
Remember that we celebrated the sesquicentennial of the
church in 2006, with a slide show and quilt and new cookbooks. 1856 was
the organizational meeting of this church. Apparently it took the founding
members two years to locate property and build a church building; they began to
use it in 1858. This was on land close to where the university is now.
So one thing I invite you to do this Sunday is to look gratefully on the
treasures that have been brought from the former buildings.
Several
things are located in the entryway. Most significant is the font, which
more than anything else is a reminder of an ongoing communion of Episcopalians
in
Inside
the Sanctuary, we have three stained glass windows—very Victorian in their
piety. The smallest has a crown. I can imagine that it depicts
either Jesus’ crown in heaven or the crown promised to those who endure to the
end (Revelation 2:10). The other two windows represent two of the
theological virtues: faith and hope. The anchor has been used as a symbol
of hope, because hope is called our soul’s anchor in Hebrews 6:19. The
other shows an open book, with the words underneath: “Increase our faith,” which
was the request that Jesus’ disciples made to him in Luke 17:5. Above our
altar is our sanctuary cross, made with panels from the old altar. You can
see wheat and grapes there, and in the center, not a dollar sign (yes, we all
know that is what it looks like), but three letters superimposed: I and H and
S. These are the three first letters of “Jesus” in Greek: IESOUS—“H” is
what a Greek “E” looks like.
We have
continued to adorn this space: the wonderful furnishings made by Charlie Preble,
the vibrant quilt made two years ago with panels from different moments in the
history of this congregation, the page from the St. John’s Bible that depicts
the opening of St. John’s Gospel, in addition to all the ongoing care—painting
and cleaning inside, and the wonderful work in the gardens that make the outside
so attractive.
This
coming Sunday we will be blessing the building again.
We will
start outside, by the mailbox at the west edge of the parking lot. There
we will bless the gardens and the fire pit and collect earth and fire from
them. We will then come into the building, where we will bless the entry
and the rooms that we use: the nursery, the office, the choir room, the utility
room. We will go into the Parish Hall and bless classrooms and
kitchen. At each place we will collect some symbol of our ministry there
and bring it with us, so that all can be gathered as an act of gratitude and
presentation to God. Then we will be ready to enter the Sanctuary to give
God thanks for this building and all it represents in ministry and hospitality
and community.
And
don’t forget, we have brunch and cake afterwards!
ACTIVITES &
INFO
Peg is still
out of the office until May 13. So don’t send any email messages that you
need a quick answer to during that time!
GRADUATE
RECOGNITION SUNDAY May 18: Names of family members
who are graduating this spring or early summer are due in the office by Sunday
May 11. Graduate need not be present to be recognized. There will be
no tests!
New Ministry
Opportunity! Lead Gardener!
Louise Muggli
has worked creatively and wonderfully for many years planting and maintaining
our beautiful gardens. She has brought them to a peak condition and is
ready to step aside to make room for new vision and energy. We can't
express enough our gratitude and appreciation for the contribution she has made
to the life of this congregation with her talent and
passion.
So now someone
else gets to take up the trowel, so to speak, and adopt this ministry! Of
course, ideally, a team of people will have a better time of it as they work
together to maintain our gardens, with one or two people organizing and
coordinating the work. Please pray on this. Can anything be more fun
than working together with old friends and new to create something beautiful?
(And you can take the winters off!) Please contact Kathy Wiant
(320-255-9613, 320-420-9613 or jkwiant@charter.net)
MAY
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
The
events in italics are outside groups who will be using the
building.
The secretary will be
out of the office until May 13
Sun
11 Pentecost 9:30
service. 10th Anniversary, Mother’s Day, UTO Ingathering
and Potluck lunch!
Suzuki Studio recitals 2 PM,
sanctuary
Tue
13 Lunch Bunch
Eucharist and potluck 11:30
Fri
16 Partners in Hope Training 8 –
4
Private Piano Recitals, Parish Hall 6:30
Sat
17 New Covenant of Christ service 2:30 –
4:30
Sun
18 Graduate
Recognition Sunday at 10:30 service
Private Piano Studio Recitals 3 PM,
sanctuary
Wed
21 Last
Intergenerational Game night of the season! 6 – 7:30
PM
Thu
22 Vestry Meeting 7
PM
Sat
24 New Covenant of Christ service 2:30 –
4:30
Sun
25 Memorial
Day. Begin 9:30 summer service schedule
Fri
30 Private Piano Recitals, sanctuary 5 –
8:30pm
Sat
31 Region III
meeting, 10 - noon
Liturgy
Ministers
11 May
9:30
Chalice
Ministers
Marlene D &
Bea
Readers
Marlene D &
Sandra
Acolytes
TBA
Accompanist
Denise B
Altar
Guild
Jack &
Marty
Coffee
Available
Communion Bread
Priscilla
Hospitality
Ministers
Louise & Dorothy P
Offering
Recorders
Phil & Judy
Ushers
Ivan & Marie
Cleaning
Team
Phoebe &
Jeanette