The Good News of St. John’s

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

St. John’s Inquirer’s Class

What Does It Mean to Practice?

Every Wednesday, as we begin our Centering Prayer time together, I remind the group that the reason we come together is so that we can practice, not so that we can perfect the prayer itself. I believe this is something we all need to remember when it comes to any kind of prayer or spiritual practice. The time we devote to it, is time that we have set aside to practice.

But what does that mean?

First, let’s remind ourselves that many things can be spiritual practices – prayer, reading, singing, gardening, hiking, advocating for others… the list is endless. But not everything on the list will work as a spiritual practice for everyone. God made us all different and we all go through many things in our lives. What worked for us at one point is not necessarily going to be useful when we are going through something else.

The biggest question we need to ask ourselves when we are determining whether something is a good spiritual practice for us is this: Is this something that challenges me enough to see myself more clearly and, thus, my relationship with others and with God?

I’ll use myself as an example.
I love watching movies – especially movies that have some kind of philosophical or psychological content to them. A movie like Inception or Blade Runner... something like that. I used to argue that watching these movies was a spiritual practice because storylines like this do inspire me to consider the nature of reality and our relationship with God. But when I really examined this, I realized that I loved these movies because they helped me to escape reality for a couple of hours. Now, escaping reality is not a spiritual practice. It isn’t a necessarily bad thing in moderation. It’s actually a form of self-care at times. But spiritual practice? No.

This means, it’s important to be honest with yourself. For example, maybe singing is a spiritual practice for you because you find that God sings through you in some way but if you like singing in church because you enjoy how special it makes you feel… then you might want to examine that. It’s not that you need to stop singing. It’s just that you need to be really honest with yourself.

Sometimes spiritual practices are difficult for us because sometimes this is what we need – a challenge of some kind to shake things up a bit. Other times, we may feel like a spiritual practice is boring or even annoying. Still, other times it may be quite enjoyable because we experience a state of bliss. As a matter of fact, people who maintain a consistent spiritual practice experience all of these things over time.

In short, here’s what it means to practice:

• Be honest with yourself. What is a good spiritual practice for you?
• Give yourself over to a practice for a long enough period of time so that you can experience the fruits it has to offer. If it’s a daily practice, I suggest 2-3 months at least.
• Let go of any expectation as to what those fruits will be. The important part is not the experience you have every time, but the fact that you showed up to practice. In other words: The day you really don’t want to do it, is the day you really need to do it.
• Don’t hesitate to ask for God’s help when you’re struggling.

If you’d like to talk more about spiritual practices, reach out to me.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

Announcements for March 5
The Second Sunday in Lent

THIS SUNDAY!

• All Ages Worship at 10:00 am. We’ll be talking about the gift of curiosity and Jesus’ friend Nicodemus.
• Mac-n-Cheese Bakeoff from 2-5 pm at Keegan Ales, a fundraiser for Angel Food East.

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

People Continuing on Vestry:
Warden: Claudette Ford (current term ends 2024)
Vestry members serving until 2024: Liz Moeller and Nilsa Rodriguez-Jaca
Vestry members serving until 2025: Paula Wisneski and Sara Hutton

The Ongoing Work of Anti-Racism and Racial Reconciliation

When I was at seminary, we went through a special 2-day anti-racism workshop. It was filled with reflection and conversation. I thought it was really good and it helped me to see some of the ways that I have developed a racial bias. And I remember we were also told that, as clergy in the Episcopal Church, this workshop (or some kind of similar training) would be required every 5 years. At first, I wondered why, but then I came to realize that Anti-Racism work is the work of a lifetime. There are layers of unconscious bias we have as human beings. And, as a Christian, as one who believes deeply in the message of the Gospel and the inherent belovedness of every human being… if I’m not doing this work all the time and making it a part of how I live my life, I’m simply not living into my baptismal vows, not to mention my priestly vows.  

As the community of St. John’s, we began this work before the pandemic, but we did not continue moving forward with it. Now is the time for us to pick the ball back up and continue. This will be happening in a few different ways.

1. First, I will be forming a Committee on Anti-Racism and Racial Reconciliation at St. John’s and I will speak more about that in coming weeks.
2. Second, Vestryperson Paula Wisneski has offered to lead up a history project at St. John’s in which we look at our collective history as a congregation and its connection to slavery. Given that Sojourner Truth argued for her son’s freedom at the Ulster County courthouse in 1828 and St. John’s was founded in 1832 (and even though slavery was formally abolished in New York State in 1827), it’s likely that there is a connection. Why bother with the past? Because in order to move forward, we have to know the truth about our own past.
3. Third, I have installed a new bulletin board in the Parish Hall called Becoming Beloved Community. These resources were developed by the Episcopal Church’s Office of Racial Reconciliation and we will be using them throughout the coming year to frame our discussion as a congregation.
4. Fourth, the Episcopal congregations in Ulster County will be coming together for an online Lenten Learning Program based on Becoming Beloved Community. Please be looking for information on how to join the conversation and learning while getting to know others from the Episcopal congregations nearby.
5. Fifth, I will be communicating with everyone about more opportunities to be involved in the work of Anti-Racism and Racial Reconciliation – including the Poor People’s Campaign and the upcoming schedule for Black History Month in Kingston.

I sincerely hope you will join me and the larger congregation in these conversations. If you have any questions or concerns, please do reach out to talk with me. My door is always open.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

Announcements for January 29
The Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany

People Rolling Off Vestry:
Lynn Dennison finishes 2 consecutive 2-year terms as Warden (plus a 3- year term on Vestry prior to that).
Sheena MacGregor-Pilz finishes her year, completing a 3-year term.

People Continuing on Vestry:
Warden: Claudette Ford (current term ends 2024)
Vestry members serving until 2024: Liz Moeller and Nilsa Rodriguez-Jaca
Vestry members serving until 2025: Paula Wisneski and Sara Hutton

While masking remains optional at St. John’s, you are encouraged to consider wearing a mask during worship to help keep down the transmission of covid, flu, and other illnesses. Masks are available at both entrances.

Following Jesus

I have spoken about how I came to the Episcopal Church several times in my sermons. I have also spoken about my “conversion” experience of truly coming to terms with what God’s Love means for me. But I honestly haven’t spoken all that much about the decision I made to follow Jesus.

The reason I bring this up is because that was the Gospel message last week and that is the Gospel message this week too – following Jesus. Last week it was John’s version of Jesus calling the fishermen and this week it’s the same story, just Matthew’s version of it. And for both Matthew and John, it seems that there is a definitive moment when these fishermen clearly make the decision to drop everything and follow Jesus.

I have to say that I find myself jealous of that kind of clarity… where one moment, I’m living one reality and the next moment, it’s something completely different. That’s not my experience.

Rather, my experience of following Jesus has been one of gradual discernment over time – moments in which I make small, subtle decisions that reflect more and more a deeper desire that seems to be centered in something/someone other than me and my immediate concerns/needs. Decisions I make about the use of resources… about how to spend my time and energy… about what it means to love others. I am a very different person now than I was when I started going to Trinity Episcopal Church in Bend, OR about 20 years ago. And I honestly don’t think I was a bad or selfish person then. I didn’t need to overhaul my life. But I also didn’t realize just how much more to life there was and how much more expanded my heart and mind could become. I wonder then, what is coming? How will my life be different? Who am I being called to become?

And I wonder if you’ve experienced something similar – where following Jesus has been a gradual discernment process. Or is your experience more like Simon/Peter or Andrew… where suddenly you knew Jesus was calling you, and things changed quite dramatically in your life? From my perspective, I think Jesus is ok with either of the above and anything in between. At least I hope so.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

Announcements for January 22
The Third Sunday After the Epiphany

While masking remains optional at St. John’s, you are encouraged to consider wearing a mask during worship to help keep down the transmission of covid, flu, and other illnesses. Masks are available at both entrances.

St. John’s: Roles, Responsibilities, and Contacts

When the pandemic hit in the early months of 2020, the entire world was faced with a lot of change. One of the ways we changed at St. John’s had nothing to do with the pandemic but was because our parish administrator of 25 years, Cindy Puetz, retired in 2020. From that point on, nearly all of the administrative duties have been on my shoulders. And I took this on willingly during the pandemic for several reasons.

Now that Suzanne Campise is our Office/Kitchen Administrator, I am giving some of these responsibilities to her. Suzanne works 10 hours/week for St. John’s, spending most of her time meeting with potential renters for our spaces and managing the building schedule and rental program. In other words, if you need to know what’s going on in the building, she’s your person. But Suzanne is happy to help you with parish business if she can and, if she cannot, she will direct you to the right person.

Suzanne Campise, St. John’s Kitchen/Office Administrator
Suzanne will be in the office on Thursday afternoons to print bulletins, but she checks office emails and phone messages throughout the week from home. Here’s how you can contact her:
St. John’s Parish Questions: stjohnskingston@aol.com  OR  845-331-2252
St. John’s Rental: kitchenatstjohns@gmail.com 
Leave a message at any of the above and Suzanne will get back to you or forward your message as soon as she is able.

Additionally, our feeding ministry, Angel Food East is generally in the kitchen on Mondays and Thursdays. The AFE Kitchen Manager Cheryl MacGahan receives messages at: 845-331-6538. If you would like to volunteer in the kitchen for AFE or as a driver, let me or Lynn Dennison know, and we will connect you with Cheryl directly so she can schedule you.

Finally, my schedule will change as follows beginning Jan 16: My Sabbath day will move to Fridays which means that I am unavailable except for pastoral emergencies on that day of the week. I will be also be in the parish office on Mondays from 11-4 so you’re welcome to come by the office if you need to chat for a few minutes. If you need more time, however, please let me know beforehand so we can schedule an appointment. Of course, you’re always welcome to contact me via phone, text, or email.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

Announcements for January 15
The Second Sunday After the Epiphany

House Blessings – one of the traditions of this season is to bless our homes for the new year. During our Epiphany Celebration on Friday this past week, we marked our own doors of St. John’s to acknowledge and remind ourselves of God’s blessing of Light and Love. So that you can do this at home, there are take-home kits available with everything you need. Questions? Ask Rev. Michelle
Becoming Beloved Community – A few months ago, Rev. Michelle spoke about a program of the Episcopal Church called Becoming Beloved Community. During Epiphanytide, we will be learning more about this program to prepare us for our Lenten learning. Look for more information on the Parish Hall bulletin board in the coming weeks.
Annual Meeting: Sunday, January 29 – The Annual Meeting is a time for the congregation to learn more about the business (budgets, buildings, etc.) and ministry plans for the past year and the coming year. Everyone’s presence is requested. We will have childcare for this special meeting.
Adult Inquirer’s Class – Beginning in mid-February, Rev. Michelle will offer an Adult Inquirer’s Class (6-8 sessions). All members of St. John’s are welcome to attend. We will cover topics like: How do Episcopalians read the Bible? How did the Episcopal Church get started? What do Episcopalians believe? Please reach out to Rev. Michelle via email if you are interested and we will determine the best class times based on the availability of those interested. Childcare will be made available for in-person sessions.

Pledge Envelopes Are Here
If you made a pledge to St. John’s for 2023, your pledge envelopes are available. You can find a set with your last name on the box where you pick up your bulletins near the lectern. If you’re new to using them or have any other questions, speak with Lynn Dennison.

While masking remains optional at St. John’s, you are encouraged to consider wearing a mask during worship to help keep down the transmission of covid, flu, and other illnesses. Masks are available at both entrances.

Christian Formation

I came to Christianity as an adult even though I grew up in a small town in Western PA in the 1970’s, a place and time when it was assumed that everyone was Christian. But I never went to church unless I went with my friends on occasion, so I grew up understanding Christianity largely through the lens of what I saw on TV… which, to me, presented a slick, hypocritical version of what I knew about Jesus, and most especially, what I understood about God from my own personal experience.

When I decided to explore Christianity and eventually “hitch my wagon” to this faith in my 30’s, I took Christian Formation very seriously. I wanted to learn as much as I could through a more mature lens than the one I had in my teens and twenties. Enter a person named Bill Ellis, a most generous, smart, and gifted priest. I have often said that it’s his “fault” I’m a priest.

As I think back on it, it wasn’t just Bill. I learned more by being in a community of learners than I ever could have by myself. So I am also deeply grateful to the members of Trinity Episcopal Church in Bend, OR who showed up to learn alongside me. I look back on that time as one of sweetest periods of my entire life.

I offer this story because often people characterize Christian Formation as the programming we offer to kids or believe that taking part in church formation programming is not important. But we never stop being formed by God so our spiritual life deserves as much attention, if not more, than the other parts of our lives. After all, our spiritual life will prove to be more crucial for us in throughout our lives than just about anything else.

And for those who, like myself, may come to St. John’s with no connection to a formal faith community and identify as spiritual-but-not-religious, Christian Formation is central to becoming a person of faith. Learning in community is the most meaningful part of that. It’s one of the ways we show up for each other and truly get to know the people with whom we worship. We listen and we are heard.

Over the next month, I will be asking you to fill out a survey because I’d like to know more about the things you’d like to learn, the questions you have about God and the way God works in the world. I’d like to know your thoughts through this survey and have your participation in our programming. I know you won’t be able to come to every forum or every piece of programming – no one can come to everything. But this is a community you have decided to invest yourself in, so come. Learn. Be with others and reflect on what you’ve heard. Deepen your spiritual life. Stretch your imagination. Take in something new and let God work with you.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

Announcements for January 8
The First Sunday After the Epiphany

The Coming of the Light

I heard someone say the other day that they always talk about the Winter Solstice as the first day of summer. It’s an interesting thing to think about, really. We know, of course, that the Winter Solstice is the official beginning of winter – cold, snow, ice – all happen in the 3 months after the winter solstice. But what this person was referring to, is the slow movement of the earth as the Northern Hemisphere begins to tilt toward the sun again.

As we know, the movement of the earth was happening long before Jesus was born, and long before the birth of Christianity after he died. The observation of the solstices, the celebration of the return of food sources in plant and animal life, the marking of time throughout the year… these have all been happening for eons in different parts of the world. They have always been ways of recognizing God is with us and our response of gratitude for this is deeply important to our humanity and, therefore, to our personal salvation.

As Christians, we have come to associate these seasonal shifts with Christ in the celebration of Christmas and Easter, among others. There was, of course, some political reasons for this back when these holidays were set into the current calendar. Nonetheless, we are still celebrating the fact that God is with us. And Christ – the Incarnate God – is what has been with us throughout all time. Jesus gave to us a profound way of understanding this truth that he found in the core of Jewish teaching – we are here for one another and, therefore, systems of oppression must be overturned. This is also deeply important to our humanity and to our personal salvation.

We have come to see this knowledge as Christ’s light. Jesus’ gift to the world. That the incarnation is not here just for our consumption, something for which we “ought to be” grateful. We are a part of the incarnation and, therefore, responsible for its care so that our gratitude then manifests as a kind of custody and safe-keeping. We are one another’s keepers.

The light we receive at this time of year, the good-will and the love birthed among us… this light is what begins to grow in us… if we let it. And as this light grows, so does our understanding of how to tend to this life within us and around us. Moving from consumers of God’s abundance to inheritors of God’s abundance, fostering true growth of God’s Love and Light.

This is God’s promise for each of us. May this year be one of Love and Light for each of you.

Emmanuel: God is with us.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

Announcements for the Christmas Season
December 25 – January 6

Dec 25, Christmas Day: Morning Prayer, online at 10:00 am. Join us on Zoom for hymns and readings! Click here to join.
Jan 1: Come as You Are Sunday. It’s New Years’ Day so come as you are for a relaxed worship service in the Parish Hall.
Jan 6, Feast of Epiphany: Epiphany Celebration 7:00 pm. Come for a Friday evening celebration of light and love. Firepit, hot chocolate, singing, and storytelling – activities for all ages!
Jan 8: The Baptism of Jesus: At the beginning of the year, we renew our Baptismal Vows as we tell the story of Jesus’ baptism by St. John the Baptist (our patron saint!).

Thin Spaces

Ana and I watched a movie called Summerland last night on Netflix. It’s a beautiful story that will likely make you cry so, you know, bring the tissues. The title comes from the name of the afterlife, according to Theosophy (an American spiritualist movement in the 19th century). In a book by Andrew Jackson Davis called The Great Harmonia, he calls “Summerland” the highest level of the afterlife a human can hope to enter. It’s an in-between place where souls go between their incarnations. As Christians, whether or not we believe in “Summerland” is not the point of my post today.

My point is that it seems to me that “Summerland” is like “thin space,” when our everyday experience seems to take on a new character that seems to be closer to the non-physical world. Some call this heaven, some call this nirvana. It’s an experience of, perhaps, feeling a bit closer to God, or a bit more emotionally vulnerable, or even an experience of lightness.

Even before I started following a Christian path in my 30’s, I thought of Christmas as one such “thin space.” Perhaps it comes from staying up on Christmas Even to watch the old Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol or It’s a Wonderful Life… that I would come to think of Christmas as a magical time – not about presents but about an other-worldly sweetness that comes to be embodied in this reality.

It’s as if something shifts in our consciousness and, dare I say, in the consciousness of people across the world, enough so that reality itself is imbued with a kind of luminous presence. We become more aware of the beautiful and powerful fragility and connectedness of all life. What has been so solid and impenetrable, seems to become tender and more real, more immediate.

I believe that people who are sensitive to this shift in energy can sometimes cause people to act out even more during the Christmas season. We have proof that “the holidays” can be stressful for people. But I think, if we slow down just enough… if we quiet ourselves just a bit… we start to see the shifting towards light in our lives and in the world around us.

My sincere prayer for each of you this Christmas is to find this “thin space” to be restorative for you. A respite for your soul. An experience of God’s Love that comes with the magic of true belief: Christ is born among us again. God’s promise becomes incarnate.

Emmanuel: God is with us.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

Announcements for the Christmas Season
December 25 – January 6