Parish Work Day:
Calling all Lay “Weeders!”
Come one, come all!
Saturday, May 14 from 9:00 – 12:00
Bring your rakes and your gardening gloves and wear your hats and your old jeans. We’ll be spending the morning outside around the St. John’s property to get some tasks done and get us ready for summer. Raking, planting, cleaning, weeding.
Be sure to dress appropriately for a warm day as it looks like it will be in the 70’s on Saturday morning. Much of the work we have to do is in the shade but there is plenty to do out in the sun too. We’ll have plenty of water on hand.
Masks are not required for working outside. We will have some small indoor tasks for those who cannot work outside.
Come and join in community and get to know the other folks at St. John’s. These Parish Work Days are always a lot of fun as we all work together for a common goal.
See you Saturday morning!
________________________________________________________
UPDATE: Committee to Elect a Bishop
As you may recall, I was elected to serve on the Committee to Elect a Bishop. This is a group of 9 clergy and lay ministers from across the Diocese of New York who are tasked with finding a slate of candidates so the larger diocese can elect our new Bishop Diocesan on December 3 of this year. We have priests from every corner of the diocese as well as lay people who have been doing church work for a long time and others who are young and/or relatively new to church work.
We spent a few meetings getting our heads around the work and organizing ourselves into subcommittees. Then the work really began. During the month of March, there were 3 weeks of Zoom sessions that anyone in the diocese could attend and offer thoughts about what we need in a bishop. We also received hundreds of surveys from people across the diocese. All of this information helped the Committee decide what we needed to be in our public profile, which was on display for 4 weeks, and also what kinds of questions we need to be asking our applicants.
Now that the applications have all been received, we are excited and delighted to begin reading through their wise and thoughtful responses to our initial set of questions. Then, the Committee will meet in person next week to discern which applicants will move forward to the first round of interviews.
I have to say, this is quite a process! The Diocese of New York has, within its boundaries, the wealthiest congregations in the entire world as well as one of poorest areas in the nation, both extremely urban and relatively rural contexts. Geographically, we extend from Staten Island all the way up to Saugerties and linguistically, we have congregations that speak Creole, Spanish, English, Chinese, and ASL. This is just a bit of how complex this diocese is, so finding a bishop who can be a pastor, administrator, and liturgical leader for this entire tapestry… well, it’s a bit daunting.
All this to say, if you’re looking for a way to pray for the wider church… the members of the Committee to Elect a Bishop appreciate your prayers very much. We have lots of work to do before the electing convention on December 3 and we know that it’s prayers that can help to keep us connected more to Holy Spirit as we do this work together.
Stay tuned throughout the year for occasional updates on this work.
In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle
__________________________________________________
Announcements for the
Fifth Sunday of Easter: May 15, 2022
Next Sunday! May 22 from 9:00-12:00 Pastoral Care Team Meeting immediately after worship. All are welcome to attend.
Social Hour Hosting: You are invited to sign up on the bulletin board in the Vestibule to be a social hour host! Talk with our Hospitality Coordinator, Barbara Johnston for more information.
New “club” starting! – St. John’s Walking Club
Well, we don’t know the actual name yet, but we’re working on it. Come and walk with us! Talk to Ana Hernández for more information.
Exploring Sophia Centering Prayer Retreat This has been postponed. Please look for more information on rescheduling!
Page Turners Book Club: The next books are: June 7th: The Book of Hope, by Jane Goodall, July 5th (date might be changed): The Cold Millions, by Jess Walter. Currently the book club is considering the idea of meeting in person again but, as no decision has been reached, the May meeting will be on Zoom. Please contact Lynn Dennison for more information if you’d like to join!
Benefit Concert for Ukraine: All are welcome to participate in the planning, just contact Rev. Michelle. The Kingston Interfaith Council is hosting the concert at St. John’s on Sunday, June 26 at 2:00 pm.