The Good News from St. John’s Kingston

Life Is For Sowing. The Harvest Is Not Here Yet.

by Deacon Sue Bonsteel

Last Friday I was searching for something to watch on Prime and came across the 2018 film “At Eternity’s Gate.” Somehow I wasn’t aware of the film when it was being shown in local  theaters. I was also surprised since one of my favorite actors – Willem DaFoe – had been nominated for an Academy Award for his lead role as the deeply tortured and spiritual artist Vincent Van Gogh. So how did I miss it?

Well, now it’s a film that I can’t stop thinking about.

If you know anything about Vincent Van Gogh, you might think of bright yellow sunflowers and blue starry skies. Self-portraits. Irises. The potato eaters. He was a prolific painter amassing a catalog of close to 2000 drawings and paintings, with the best known works completed during the last three years of his life. That alone is stunning since Van Gogh was known to suffer from long periods of psychotic episodes as well as times of great productivity. The image of a tortured artist, unknown by most and ignored by the art world during his lifetime, certainly comes to mind.

There is a powerful scene in the film where a priest is addressing the painter’s mental state to determine if he should be freed from the asylum in which Van Gogh is being treated. The priest challenges Van Gogh’s statement that he believes that his unique artistic vision is indeed a divine gift from God. The priest then shows the artist one of his darker, more haunting and disturbing paintings and asks, ” Why then would God give you such a gift if it keeps you in such misery?”  Van Gogh’s response to the priest is “Maybe God made me a painter for people who aren’t born yet. It is said, “Life is for sowing. The harvest is not here yet.”

Vincent Van Gogh’s creative brilliance and impact upon modern art would not be recognized until well after his tragic death at the age of 37. Today he is considered one of the greatest Dutch painters of all time, leaving the world a legacy that will be enjoyed for generations.

Coincidentally, the subject of legacies came up last week at the vestry meeting. It was a brief conversation but one I thought more about afterwards.

Do we understand our legacy as purely a financial obligation? Of course as stewards of our church, we are expected to support the ministry of St. John’s as best we are able. Obviously we can’t continue to run the church if we can’t pay our bills. While our wardens and vestry are working very hard to find wise solutions, they can’t do it alone. It’s difficult to admit but no amount of magical thinking will solve our financial problems. Hoping we hit the lottery will not end our worries.

But a legacy can also be much more than a financial gift or a gift of property. What each one of us can do – what our individual legacies can be – is to step up and volunteer our time and talents now. While we do not yet know what our future may hold, we are still a community that can thrive on service and love for one another, even in the midst of  great challenges. Our faith teaches us that we will always find joy and hope when we serve the church we love and the world around us. I believe this is certainly true at this moment in our history.

St. John’s seeds were planted close to 200 years ago. Over the years many have labored to keep the church strong and a constant and visible presence in Kingston. Their commitment was their legacy. I believe that we can continue to be this presence, even if we are called to be so in a new way. We are the sowers once again. But the harvest is not here yet.

Deacon Sue Bonsteel

The Good News from St. John’s Kingston

Discernment About the Future of St. John’s

As you know, the Vestry has been working with The Rev Canon Alissa Newton, Canon to the Ordinary for the Diocese of New York to explore options moving forward. Rev. Alissa met with the parish in June and a letter was sent to the entire congregation following that meeting. Friends, our beautiful church is in significant disrepair and our budget does not allow us the opportunity to meet the operating costs needed to maintain our space for much longer. Rev. Michelle resigned, in part, because she understood the financial challenges we faced by having a full time (and then part-time) time priest.

After careful thought, much prayer, and a listening spirit, our Vestry has decided to look at three options including relocating to a smaller church space, potential closure, or possible merger with another parish. Given the fact that there is another parish of Episcopalians at Holy Cross/Santa Cruz, we have begun this process of discernment of merger. Holy Cross/ Santa Cruz has also met and they, overwhelmingly, want to move forward with this journey with us. Please remember that this process will take months to work out before any final decisions are made. Consider it a marriage of sorts in that we need to get to know each other, plan worship and activities, and come to a shared vision of a new Episcopal presence in Kingston. The decisions about the shared assets, including the buildings, will come at a later time.

In the meantime, let us worship and support the work of St. John’s by participating in parish life. This includes keeping our vital pledges and plate offerings up to date. This is financial support is necessary as we need to make this discernment process proceed at a pace that seems right for everyone.

We realize that this decision is painful and creates anxiety for some. We understand this pain and feel it deeply as well. Please consider that this is also an opportunity to listen for the Holy Spirit and see hope for the future. Together, we may share resources that would only exist by the close collaboration and the possibility of merger.  Perhaps this future includes a growing body of people in prayer and followship., maintaining and growing current programs, creating greater service to the community, enriching our own lives with a more robust Sunday School and Choir, and by developing a shared and devout life of worship.

Please speak to Leah or Lynn if you have further concerns about this complex and heartfelt process.

We are hosting a parish wide Potluck BBQ Party after service on Sunday, October 6th with our new friends from Holy Cross/Santa Cruz. Sara Hutton has offered to get a committee together to help plan this activity. Please reach out to her if you can help! Sara can be reached at (845) 633-3784 or shutton324@gmail.com

Supply Priest Schedule

Sunday, September 1^st        Rev. Joe Campo, worship in the parish hall
Sunday, September 8^th      Return to the Sanctuary for worship, choir, and Godly Play. Vestry meeting after church. Rev. Joe Campo presides
Sunday, September 15^th    Rev. Tyler Jones
Sunday, September 22^nd   Morning Prayer
Sunday, September 29^th    Rev. Heidi Newmark

The Good News from St. John’s Kingston

Are You a Piece of the Puzzle?

by Paula J. Wisneski

If I asked you to put a puzzle together, what would you say?  A 5-piece, easy peazy. 50 pieces, ok.  500 pieces alright but it will take me a few days.  5,000 pieces maybe a month or more (with help).  What if I asked you to put a 5,000,000-piece puzzle together.  You would look at me like I was crazy.

In the beginning of this transition, I felt like a 5,000,000-piece puzzle as we had to put it together alone.  In these past few weeks, I can see where we are not alone.  With the guidance of Warden Leah, Retired Deacon Sue and all the vestry members, Bruce, Kathy, Michele, Keith, Sara and myself we are putting this puzzle together.  It started with the outside edge, getting pulpit supply priests (The Rev. Janet Vincent), and having morning prayer.  As we start filling in the puzzle with the help of Rev. Canon Alissa Newton, the Episcopal Diocese of New York, with our recent Vestry Retreat and Forum.  A conversation and some solutions.

This puzzle takes all of us to help keep filling in. We need your input.  To all of the kids and adults: we need you to share your ideas, your talents, your cookies and lemonade. Add your puzzle piece and soon a wonderful Spiritual image will emerge!

Supply Priest Schedule

August
4 – Janet Vincent
11 – Tyler Jones
18- Tyler Jones
25- Morning Prayer

September
1 – Joe Campo

The Good News from St. John’s Kingston

A Note from Leah Siuta, St. John’s Warden

Saying good byes are always difficult as they mark the end of a chapter in our community life. Saying good bye to Michelle is particularly difficult because she has been with us for 8 years and has brought us inspiration, wisdom, guidance, and love. We give thanks for her Ministry and her devotion to St. John’s. We will cherish the memories we have created along the way. Please join us on June 2^nd as we celebrate her ministry with us. We will be having a special reception after the 10:00 service. Michelle, we wish you and Ana, much joy as you start this next chapter of your lives. Know that you will be missed!

With love,
Leah Siuta, Warden
(845) 380-8413
Leah.StJohnsKingston@gmail.com

From Rev. Michelle

Dear Ones,

This is my last missive to you as your priest. And I want to spend this space and your time on where I see hope in you – the community of St. John’s.

Over these 8 years as your priest, I must have talked/preached/written about change more than just about any other topic. The church is
definitely changing. The Gospel itself never changes but how we “do” church and what church looks like – these are the specific ways we see this change manifesting. And this, I believe, is a most hopeful thing. We may engage in nostalgia on occasion, but it does none of us any good to live in how things used to be or try to make it like it was. Because where we are called to be, and where God always is, is forever going to be here and now with the people of God, serving one another to our best ability.

I offer this because I am so proud that St. John’s has become a community that embraces change – a community in which God’s Holy Spirit can truly speak herself into being. There are so many signs of this: in how we listen to one another and notice acts of kindness; in how we speak with reverence about God and the myriad ways in which God is made real to us; in how we not only welcome but expect our younger members in worship (we don’t feel complete without them!); in how we boldly pronounce to everyone who drives down Albany Ave that we are open and affirming of LGBTQ people; in how when we say “All are welcome at God’s Table,” we truly mean ALL; and in how we are asking the hard questions about our financial future with courageous hearts.

I have never found God’s hope in comfort and ease (although, admittedly, that’s nice from time to time). God’s hope, I think, is found in the compassionate and earnest response to what is happening right now.

And equipping ourselves to be able to do that, is our only true responsibility as Christians.

• How are you feeding your minds? (news, movies and TV, stories we tell ourselves about ourselves or others)
• How are you practicing open-heartedness? (assuming kindness in others, being touched by the beauty of God’s creation, gratitude)
• How are you maturing in your behavior, truly caring for yourself so that you can actually be compassionate, Gospel-centered people who have the capacity to respond to the needs of the world? (practicing forgiveness for others and yourself and actively participating in life)

My deep wish for you, my beloved friends, is that you continue on this journey of becoming who God is calling you to be. Don’t get lost in stories of comparison. Don’t get mired in wishing that circumstances were different. And don’t lose one another in temporary disappointments. These are the twisted paths down which you will find that character named Satan from our baptismal examination. That one is always up to no good.

Instead, I invite you to believe – believe in yourself, in one another, in this community, and in God. Believe that, if you bring your courageous hearts to this time of transition, you will be amazed at the possibilities. So, invite one another. Show up for one another. Pay attention to and discern what God’s Holy Spirit is saying with one another. Because this… this is how we know God is with us, when we are with each other becoming what God is calling us to be.

In God’s love and mine – always,
Rev. Michelle