There will be No Public Service of Worship at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, 27 Devens Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, until further notice.

Online UPDATES will follow, as needed, on Saint John’s SOCIAL MEDIA

WE WILL BE SENDING NEWS & NOTES TWICE A WEEK ON TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS TO KEEP EVERYONE INFORMED AND UPDATED ON NEW WAYS TO GATHER TOGETHER THROUGH ZOOM. PLEASE KNOW, THAT AT SAINT JOHN’S 02129, WE’RE ALWAYS SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE, AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO CONNECTING WITH YOU!

Zoom works by creating a space where we can all see and hear one another as if we were in the same room. The instructions for how to do so are below. While it may be strange at first, worshiping with one another online will give us not only the ability to worship God and reflect on God’s Word, but a chance to see and speak and gather with one another.

How to join Online ZOOM services & download the free Zoom application here:

 https://zoom.us/download

Zoom for iphone

Zoom on Google Play 

Click on the “Join Meeting” link here: https://zoom.us/j/198363119

Join Zoom Meeting.

PALM SUNDAY, April 5th 10am

You are invited to make “Palms” at home to wave during the service. You are also invited to make a film of your family and palms and send for News & Notes!

ZOOM Meeting ID: 198 363 119

Tenebrae, April 8th 7pm “The Service of Shadows” begins with many candles and slowly gets darker as we pray our way through the ancient office of hours.

ZOOM Meeting ID: 872 104 5882

MAUNDY THURSDAY, April 9th 6pm

You are invited to bring your phone or computer to the Dinner Table and share your meal while we hear lessons. If you have plants or flowers,  create your own “Altar of Repose” to share.

ZOOM Meeting ID: 344 833 318

GOOD FRIDAY April 10th 7pm

ZOOM Meeting ID: 660 631 876

EASTER SUNDAY April 12th 10am

We hope to film from St. John’s Sanctuary, with participants watching via Zoom

ZOOM Meeting ID: 198 363 119

Sunday Morning Godly Play on ZOOM at 9:30am

Meeting ID: 765 646 721

Password: 003871

Sunday Morning Service & Coffee Hour on Zoom at 10am

Meeting ID: 198 363 119  

WEDNESDAY Evening Prayer Service: on ZOOM at 7pm

Meeting ID: 198 363 119

THURSDAY Evening Centering Prayer, with Jane Struss, on ZOOM at 7pm

For those who haven’t joined us before, Jane will give an explanation of what we’re doing at the beginning and guide us through the first part of the 20 minute meditation. The chant at the beginning is simple repetition. The silent part of the meditation is for 20 minutes, which may seem long at first, but after awhile doesn’t seem long enough.

Here is the link:

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/6840157248

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 684 015 7248 

There will be no services this Sunday, March 15th, Sunday, March 21st, or Sunday March 29th.

Friends and Family of Saint John’s,

  In keeping with many of our fellow churches in the Diocese of Massachusetts, the recommendations of both the Governor and the state and local health officials, and out of an abundance of caution, there will be no services this Sunday, March 15th, Sunday, March 21st, or Sunday March 29th.

  The decision did not come easily or lightly given the importance of “keeping the feast” together on Sundays for all of us.  But we believe that to Act in Love  as a community of Christ, and of a broader Charlestown, we must affirmatively protect the health of our Parish and our wider neighborhood. 

  Please keep an eye out for opportunities to stay engaged: Reverend Black will be posting suggested reflections and morning prayers until we can “gather stones together” again. 

  Hear the Spirit. 

Doug & Alice, Saint John’s Wardens

Wednesday, February 26 at 7pm

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the

observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance;

by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and

meditating on God’s holy Word. And, to make a right beginning

of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now

kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.”

from, the Book of Common Prayer, Ash Wednesday

Although the structure of the Ash Wednesday service is much the same as the usual Sunday Eucharist, there are a few important differences. Ashes (a sign of regret and mourning) are marked on our foreheads in the shape of a cross with the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Ash Wednesday begins the 40 days of the penitential Lenten with an exhortation to the observance of a Holy Lent. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, a 40-day period dedicated to reflection, prayer and fasting ahead of Easter.

On Ash Wednesday,the priest applies ashes to our foreheads in the shape of a cross. People generally wear the ashes — which symbolize penance, mourning and mortality — throughout the day to publicly express their faith and penance.

The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are made from the burning of palms blessed in the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration. The following year, the fronds are burned to create the ashes for Ash Wednesday. The ashes are usually mixed with Holy Water or oil, and carry the scent of incense.

Today is Ash Wednesday.

For many of us, the smudge on people’s foreheads signifies the first day of Lent. The images above are made by, Photographer Greg Miller, who has been documenting this ritual on the streets of New York City for the past 20 years. His book, Unto Dust, features 40 portraits from his decades of work. You can see more of his images, by following the link, below:

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/14/585638036/on-streets-of-new-york-the-penitent-pause-for-a-portrait

Tuesday, February 25th, @ 5:30PM

Gather family and friends for this wonderful tradition at Saint John’s Parish Hall, where devoted flippers have been serving delicious pancakes dripping in butter and maple syrup to the Episcopal congregation in Charlestown, MA, for too many years to even remember when they first learned the one handed flip. We’ve not begun our own traditional Pancake Race, YET, but we laugh, we sing, we have a rollicking good time, and we welcome you to join us! Please remember to bring last year’s palms to burn for Ash Wednesday, and if you would like to learn more about the community tradition of the Pancake Race, held elsewhere, and now an international sensation, please read on!

Celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday, Shrove Tuesday, also called, “Pancake Tuesday,” or “Pancake Day,” is the final day before the forty day period of Lent begins. This year it falls on February 25th.  Its name comes from the Germanic-Old English word, “shrive,” meaning to present oneself for absolution, and it is the last day of the liturgical season historically known as, Shrovetide.

Because it comes directly before Lent, a season of fasting and penitence, this was the day that Christians would go to be “shriven,” by their confessor.  In the Christian tradition, Shrove Tuesday is also known as, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), Faschingsdienstag, Malasada Day, Sprengidagur, Martes de Carnaval, and Pancake Day! All these terms refer to the last hurrah of overdoing it before the Lenten fasting begins. Celebrating by eating pancakes uses up your supply of oil, eggs, milk, and sugar, which you may be giving up until Easter.

Many communities have a pancake festival or some kind of gathering to eat pancakes together before Lent. One of the oldest is in the village of Olney, England where an annual Pancake Race dates back five centuries! On Shrove Tuesday, women compete against each other in a 415-yard race in which they must carry a pancake in a skillet. The legend is that when the church bells rang for Shrove Tuesday service in the year 1445, a certain housewife was not finished grilling the cakes. Not wishing to ruin her pancakes, she ran to the church with pan in hand.

The Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race is now an international tradition with various rules, such as follow:

1.  Gentleman and gentlewoman behavior will be strictly observed at all times. 

2.  Administrators will especially be expected to be on their best behavior and to act as an example to all participants. 

3.  Frying pans must not be used as weapons or as a means of making unseemly gestures, whatever the depth of provocation or the nature of the person at the root of the provocation. 

4.  Any surplus eggs, flour or butter remaining from the earlier making of pancakes must not be propelled in the direction of other participants or spectators.

5.  The course is over 25 meters and, in that distance, pancakes must be tossed once to a minimum height of 30cm. 

6.  If a participant allows a pancake to fall, he or she must return to the starting line and begin again.

7.  Members from each team will run in relay and the pancake, frying pan, and apron must be exchanged intact before the next member of the team can proceed. 

8.  The organizers reserve the right to send off violent or unruly participants.

For more information about where we gathered this information, please follow the links, below:

https://episcopalchurch.org/library/article/pass-syrup-—-its-shrove-tuesday

https://www.pancakeday.net

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/23976/happy-pancake-day

Following the 10am worship service on this coming Sunday, February 9th, we will gather to review our 2019 achievements and milestones, thank our outgoing Wardens and Vestry members, and chart our course for 2020! 

Copies of the 2019 Annual Report will be distributed, the Parish budget will be presented, and new Wardens and Vestry members elected.  We will meet in the sanctuary following a brief time for coffee and refreshments.  Childcare will be provided.

The Annual Meeting is a very important part of our life together.  Please make every effort to be with us.