Author Archives: Saint John's Episcopal Church

Be a Blessing with B-SAFE

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Summertime is B-SAFE time and we need your help!!

For the past three years, St. John’s has teamed up with our friends at Old North to spend a wonderful, fun-filled week assisting with B-SAFE … the Bishop’s Summer Academic and Fun Enrichment program.  This fabulous Diocesan program provides a safe, fun, academically enriching environment for more than 600 elementary and middle school students at six Episcopal church and school sites in Boston and Chelsea. B-SAFE also offers meaningful work experience for teens and young adults hired as counselors-in-training and staff.  We will be assisting at the St. Luke’s, Chelsea site from Monday, July 25 through Friday, July 29. Your financial support, your time and your talents are needed.

Donations are being accepted now: Checks made out to St. John’s with “B-SAFE” in the memo will go to purchase the food we will be serving at lunch on Wednesday and Thursday, July 27 and 28, and for lunch and other costs associated with the field trip we are sponsoring on Friday, July 29.

Please check your calendar and sign up now to assist!  We need your help here in our kitchen Wednesday evening, July 27 to prep the meal we will serve on Thursday, and again Friday morning to prepare bag lunches for the field trip. Your help is also needed from 10:30am until 2pm, Monday through Thursday at the St. Luke’s Chelsea site where our friends from Old North will be joining us to prepare lunch, serve lunch and join the children to eat lunch each day.  Middle and high school age children are welcome to assist as well — both in the St. John’s “prep” kitchen and at St. Lukes!

Please click here to go to the electronic sign-up sheet and let us know when you will join us to help.  You can also call the office, or speak to Steve Spinetto to volunteer. Ask anyone who has helped in the past … this is a wonderful, fun and grace filled thing to do!

Ziti was a popular choice for lunch last summer!

Ziti was a popular choice for lunch last summer!

An Invitation to Ministry With the Homeless Community

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AN INVITATION FROM MAUREEN LAVELY

ecw 005MANNA (Many Angels Needed Now And Always) is a community of homeless and previously homeless folks that meet at the Cathedral of St. Paul on Tremont Street, Boston every Monday at 10:00 am for a meeting, and then lunch for ANYONE who wishes to come at noon. After lunch we have a service with Eucharist celebrated each week.

The Missioner of this program, Cristina Rathbone, is traveling to India for a three-month sabbatical. While there’s a “seasoned” group of volunteers and staff, new energy is always welcome.

Typically I leave Charlestown around 9:20 am to walk to the Cathedral; however, I’m willing to take the T if you’re not a walker. I’m usually home by 3:00 pm. I eat with the guests.

Please speak to me if you’d like to give this opportunity to serve a try.

Thanks.

Maureen Lavely mglavely@verizon.net
617-242-3868

The Giver and the Gift

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thDear Friends,

On Monday, I had the privilege of presiding at the funeral of Virginia Spencer, the mother of George Born, a member of our parish. Although I had never met Mrs. Spencer, I benefitted greatly in preparing for the service by reading a memoir she had published several years ago. As with every human life, it was not without its challenges, and she knew both joys and disappointments.  Reflecting on her own life, in the last chapter she posed a question for herself, and no doubt, for the reader. The question was this:

“What does the giver of life want me to do with the gift?”

When we reflect on our own mortality, or the mortality of others, it is a question that resonates. It resonates for a woman who lived a long and fulfilling life. And it resonates  this week, as we respond to another senseless tragedy and see the suffering of the innocent.

Many of the victims of the slaughter in Orlando were so young, and were just beginning to answer that question for themselves. Quite a few were from Puerto Rico, and were beginning to build lives in a new community and in a new place where the future seemed bright. For so many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons, responding to the gift of life means nothing less than living honestly and openly, and not denying who we are. That is precisely what some of the victims were doing in that nightclub.

On that Sunday morning in Orlando, the gift was taken from too many. The gift was taken, not by God, but by a senseless act of evil. Amidst all the reactions of anger, despair, and fear, amidst all the questions that arise from such an atrocity,  I hope we will also hear the question that leads us to reflect on our own lives and the capacity we have to love.

What does the giver of life want us to do with the gift?

We may think that we have years or even decades to answer that question. Then we are reminded that the time we have to respond is this moment, and this day.

What does the giver of life want you to do with the gift?

Faithfully,

Tom

Addressing the Drug Crisis in Our Community

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The Charlestown Mothers Association will present a community event, “About Youth Substance Abuse” on Wednesday, June 22 from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Knights of Columbus Hall (545 Medford Street, Charlestown). There will be an opportunity to hear from experts in the field, personal stories from patients who have been there, and a chance to hear from youth as well. Prevention measures will be included.

The program will feature the Charlestown Substance Abuse Coalition, as well as Special Presentations by Hidden in Plain Sight and No First Time. Click below to see a flyer for the event.

About Youth Subtance Abuse

 

A Season of Song

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IMG_2365On May 22, our choirs completed their ministries of music, and will resume their rehearsals and offerings on Sunday mornings in September. Please make a point of thanking our children and Nancy Armstrong, Director of the Children’s Choir, as well as our choir members and their Choirmaster, Douglas Witte. We are blessed by the gifts they bring, and all the ways they contribute to our praise of God.