Searching for a Bishop
As many of you know, Rev Michelle has been working on the Committee to Elect a Bishop this past year. Our current Diocesan Bishop, Andy Dietsche, is retiring. Last year, he called for the election of a Bishop Co-adjutor, someone who will walk alongside him in his final year. Then, in 2024, he will retire and we will have a new Diocesan Bishop.
The Committee to Elect a Bishop (CEB) has been working since December of last year to get to a point where, at the end of September, they were able to announce the slate of candidates who are willing to stand for election to be our Bishop Co-adjutor on December 3.
Please take the time to “meet” these incredibly talented candidates by following the link below. On this link you will be able to see a few photos, a video in which they introduce themselves to you, their responses to essay questions, their resumes, and links to other resources they have provided so far. Click here to learn more about the candidates.
Before the election on December 3, the candidates will visit the diocese for a week – November 14-19. They will spend a day in each area of the diocese so they can talk to the lay people and clergy as well as visit some important ministries. At the end of each day, the candidates will engage in a Q&A session, to which, all are invited. Please take a look at the schedule below and note that the Q&A session for the Hudson Valley is at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Newburgh on Tuesday, November 15 at 7:00 pm.
Monday, Nov 14: St. Mary’s, Castleton (Staten Island)
Tuesday, Nov 15: St. Geroge’s, Newburgh (Hudson Valley)
Wednesday, Nov 16: St. Andrew’s, Harlem (Manhattan)
Thursday, Nov 17: Trinity/St. Paul, New Rochelle (Westchester/Rockland)
Friday, Nov 18: St. Margaret’s, Longwood (The Bronx)
The CEB hopes to have these sessions available via Zoom so that more people can participate. and Rev. Michelle will keep us all updated about both a trip to Newburgh on Nov 15 and access to these sessions via Zoom, if it’s available.
Here are the candidates! And you can learn more about them by following this link.
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SCHEDULE ANNOUNCEMENT!
We will have Godly Play on the 4th Sunday this month – October 23 – as this is when Leah can be available to teach this month. We are sorry for the change this month and remain committed to ensuring the schedule for Godly Play is consistent. If you are interested in helping with this ministry to help us maintain a regular schedule, please reach out to Leah Siuta or Rev. Michelle.
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Continuing Education
You may have noticed that I haven’t been in Kingston lately. Ana and I took a quick trip to Ocean Grove, NJ the first week of October to have vacation together and, aside from getting the tail end of the hurricane (constant rain for 2 days), it was a delightful trip.
As a priest in the Episcopal Church, I am expected to do regular continuing education. And, this week, I have been training with a program called the College for Congregational Development. This program was developed around 10 years ago in the Diocese of Olympia and several dioceses have imported the program because it’s so effective including California, Northern California, Michigan, Spokane, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Maryland.
As brief overview, this program trains congregational leaders (both lay and clergy) on how to facilitate and develop plans of action. As an example: If a congregation wanted to develop a ministry around the issue of the care of creation, they could utilize one of the tools we were given to develop a plan, so the members of that ministry know the focus and goals of their ministry. That’s a simple example, of course, because the possibilities for using these tools are literally endless.
So often congregations face difficult decisions and leadership can easily get bogged down in trying to determine the best way forward. So, when Victor Conrado, our Canon for Congregational Development and Formation in the Diocese of New York, offered me a scholarship to attend this program in Chicago this past week, I jumped at the chance because we are facing some important decisions about the future of St. John’s.
I’m so glad I went because this is really the best continuing education I have ever done – and I’ve been a priest for 12 years now! I learned so much and was given information and tools that I can easily and quickly use to help the leadership of St. John’s plan for our congregational present and future. I am hopeful that we will be able to import this program in our diocese so that more people in our congregation and our diocese can be empowered by this program.
In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle
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Announcements for the Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
October 16, 2022
St. John’s Harvest: Feeding people is our jam!
Join us in the kitchen to clean, chop, stir, and make cool stuff on the last Saturday of the month from 10-5. No experience necessary. Hands of all ages welcome. Show up for shifts of 2, 4, or 6 hours, and let’s have fun while we raise money for St. John’s! Clear your calendar and come to help on Saturday, Oct. 22. Sale dates: Nov 20 and Dec 11NEXT WEEK: Godly Play! All young people are invited upstairs to our Godly Play Room for the first part of worship where Leah Siuta will lead a lesson. Then, everyone comes down to the Sanctuary for Communion.
Stewardship Campaign: October 23 – November 13
Recommitment, Renewal, and Reconciliation. These are the words on our Stewardship banner at the back of the Sanctuary. For the past year, we have been using these themes to look at our lives in the Gospel. Now, this coming year, we will be Continuing the Journey of Recommitment, Renewal, and Reconciliation by revisiting our Mission Statement and the Stewardship of our Mission. During these 4 weeks, we will listen to people talk about the Mission of St. John’s and their reasons for pledging to support it. If you’re new to St. John’s or would like information about pledging, pick up a Stewardship flyer along with your bulletin.
Page Turners Book Club At their recent meeting the book club decided to move their meetings to the first Thursday of the month at 2 p.m., in the parish hall. Upcoming books are: Nov 3-‘The Sweetness of Water’, by Nathan Harris; Dec 1-‘Horse’, by Geraldine Brooks.
Safe Church Training: Many ministries in the church require this training. Please speak directly with Rev. Michelle today to register for in-person workshops on Saturday, Oct 22 at St. John’s.
Outreach Meeting Join us on October 30 after worship for our Outreach Committee meeting. All are welcome as we discuss ways for us to be engaged in and support the larger community of Kingston and Ulster County.
St. John’s Forum – Nov 13: The Story of Historic Kingston, with Stephen Blauweiss. Join us after worship for a presentation by local author and producer Stephen Blauweiss whose passion for telling the story of Kingston led him to publish his most recent book, The Story of Historic Kingston. Stephen will be selling books at this event too!
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.
Calling all bakers! Do you like to make things in the kitchen? Our Communion Bread recipe is easy and quick. You bake one batch, deliver the bread to the church, and we keep it in the freezer until we use it. Sign up to bake for a month (or two) this year. The sign-up sheet is on the bulletin board in the Vestibule.
Have an announcement for the bulletin?
Please send by Wednesday at noon to stjohnskingston@aol.com