The Good News of St. John’s

2023 Seasons of Lent and Easter at St. John’s

St. John’s Inquirer’s Class

Lenten Reckoning

The Season of Lent is here. And on the first Sunday of Lent, we begin our worship with the Great Litany – a form of prayer that is designed to help us sink deeply into prayer. It can be very powerful and I hope you’ll join us. We take this moment in our liturgical year to name the ways we have indulged in unloving behavior. And we do this because in naming the truth and in coming to terms with it, we can hope to find our way back to experiencing God’s Love, which is already there awaiting us.

For those of you who were unable to make it out to Ash Wednesday services yesterday, I’d like to share with you a bit from the sermon:

Lent is not about punishing. But it is about reckoning, coming to terms with the truth – that we are God’s beloved. Full stop. Miraculously formed of the elements of the earth, loved into being by the Holy One, The Gracious Spirit, God who is Love.
It is in knowing this – the full truth of the wild and audacious love God has for us and understanding just what it means for our true nature to be good and holy – only from knowing this, might be able to see when we are being indulgent or when we might see where we could do better. Because God loves us, our only real response to that fierce, reckless, unruly love is to become more loving ourselves. In that we become truly free.

As we begin our journey this Lent, I hope that you will find some time to reflect on this.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

Announcements for February 26
The First Sunday of Lent

2023 Seasons of Lent and Easter at St. John’s

Preparing for Lent

As most of us probably know, Lent is a time in which we are called to give something up or take on something new. The idea is that we take these 40 days to develop a new discipline that will better support life, something that will help us physically, psychologically, or emotionally because ultimately those things all help us spiritually.

We often think of this as “fasting.” All religions have periods of fasting as a part of the larger practice. Muslims have a month of fasting and prayer called Ramadan. Jewish people have fasting days throughout the year such as Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av. And both Hinduism and Buddhism utilize the discipline of fasting around particular holidays or life events.

For you, perhaps Lent could be a time of exploration in which you consider learning something new or challenging yourself to understand a different viewpoint than yours. You could decide to embark on a daily routine of some kind that nourishes your body and your soul. It can be literally anything – singing, eating (or not eating) chocolate, refraining from criticizing others, working at a food pantry, walking, reading affirmations, praying, refraining from self-criticism, reading scripture or a particular book that you’ve been meaning to read, drinking more water, learning about the Episcopal Church, or participating in our Deanery Lenten Conversation Series (you can register here: CTKBBCLent.)

Whatever it is that you decide to do (or not do), I hope that you’ll see it as a way to deepen your relationship with God, with yourself, and with one another. Because the act of fasting or taking on a discipline is really meant to be a formative one. It’s not the fast itself that matters, it is about how it forms you as a disciple of Christ.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

Announcements for February 19
The Last Sunday After the Epiphany

Learning together is a wonderful way to develop community and deepen relationships between one another. We hope you’ll join us for the upcoming Inquirer’s Class series because it’s not just for people who are new to the Episcopal Church – it’s for everyone at St. John’s.

Come for the entire series or come for a few sessions. Each session will be held in person at St. John’s on Sunday afternoons from 1:00-3:30 pm and cover a wide range of topics from worship to history to scripture.

There is a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in the parish hall, just to give Rev. Michelle an idea of how many handouts to make.

March 12: How We Pray: Worship in the Episcopal Church
March 26: Who We Are: History and Structure of the Episcopal Church
April 2: What We Believe: The Creeds of the Church
April 23: How We Read Scripture I: The Hebrew Scriptures
May 7: How We Read Scripture II: The Greek Scriptures
May 21: What We Do: Ministry and the Baptismal Covenant

2023 Seasons of Lent and Easter at St. John’s

Special Lenten Zoom Conversation

Resistance and nonviolence are not in themselves good. There is another element that must be present in our struggle that then makes our resistance and nonviolence truly meaningful. That element is reconciliation. Our ultimate end must be the creation of the beloved community. – The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

A few weeks ago, here in the newsletter and also at our Annual Meeting, I spoke about the Episcopal Church’s Becoming Beloved Community and that we would be using this format for a larger parish conversation about Anti-Racism and Racial Reconciliation. The Beloved Community as Dr. King told us is not some fanciful, idealized moment in which we are beyond difference. It’s actually quite the opposite, it’s a real, tangible society that celebrates difference by working for justice and living in peace with itself. He believed that it is possible and so do I. I would not stand and invite you to a Table of Reconciliation every Sunday if this were not the very thing I believe in.

Signing up is simple – just go to the CTK website by clicking here. And then clear your schedule on Thursday nights for this special conversation.

I sincerely hope that you’ll join us.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

Announcements for February 12
The Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany