In the aftermath of events in Ferguson, Mo., the bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts issued a message on Dec. 2, 2014, calling for prayer, dialogue and renewed dedication to issues of racial equity and justice. You can find their statement at the link below, which includes links to groups and resources seeking to respond.
Category Archives: Miscellaneous
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, For a Marvelous Fair
Once again, friends from near and far gathered at St. John’s for the Annual Harvest Fair.. Thank you to cochairs Adrienne Sweetser and Whitney Hayden, to head chef Steve Spinetto and head baker Paul Newell, to Jake Sterling for the superb journal design, and to every person who served a meal, washed a dish, sold at one of tables, and came to support the fair with your presence. Over $5000 has come in so far, and we continue to receive some contributions from the Silent Auction. And, we are delighted that we can send 10% of the proceeds to help fund a new nursery school and playground in Kizara, Tanzania now being built and named in memory of Bishop Tom Shaw.
We’ll have more photos from the fair on the website in a week or two.
Rachel Johnston teaches Francis Hayden how to make a Thanksgiving pie at the Children’s Craft Table
Marion Wood and Kathleen Steen-Walsh tend to shoppers at the ever popular Jewelry Table
Gateways
Dear Friends,
This Sunday, November 2, we celebrate one of the great feast days of the church, All Saints.’ All Saints’ Day is actually November 1, and November 2 is All Souls’ Day on the church calendar. The first day emerged as a time to remember saints and those within the faith community who had died in the previous year. All Souls’ Day developed as a day to remember all of those departed whom we knew and loved. Our celebration on the 2nd will combine both these traditions, as we will see before us the names of so may of our friends and family who have died, and heard read the names of those who have died in the past year.
All Saints’ is also one of the four days recommended by the Prayer Book for baptisms, and we will joyfully welcome new persons into the Body of Christ this Sunday as well.
Often, baptisms occur in the beginning stages of life, and as we recall the saints we remember the endings of life. Some might describe baptisms and funerals as bookends to a life. But rather than bookends, might we look at them as gateways?
Baptism, once thought of as a necessary sacrament for salvation, is instead a beginning, the welcoming of a person into the Body of Christ, with the promises made to nourish and support that person, and to teach the way of Christ. It is a gateway. And at funerals, even as we grieve our loss, we celebrate the Good News of the resurrection: that even in death there is a beginning, a gateway to union with God that we who remain anticipate with both wonder and hope. There too, a gateway.
God embraces the whole of our lives; our beginnings and our endings. That is reason enough to come gladly to church to offer our praise and thanksgiving for all the portals through which we will pass, in this life and in the life to come.
Faithfully,
Tom
MGH Community Service Day at St. John’s
Last Friday, St. John’s was blessed with the work of a dozen volunteers from MGH’s Institute of Health Professions. They were were among 300 volunteers who spent two hours offering community service in places all over the city, as part of their 3rd Annual Community Day. Some of our volunteers raked, swept, and weeded in the Cutler Memorial Garden, and another group worked inside preparing all of our stewardship mailings for our upcoming campaign. We were grateful for the help, and look forward to their return next year!
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- Stuffing Envelopes.. With Smiles
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- Getting the Garden Ready for Winter
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- Sweeping, Raking, and Cleaning
A Saint John’s Church Spring Auction – this Saturday!
Join us on Saturday May 3 from 6pm – 8pm 
for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres upstairs in the Parish House with friends and neighbors. Charlotte Maynard has worked very hard to assemble a bounty of items which will be sold through silent and live auctions to support St. John’s and other charitable groups in Charlestown. Each of these groups will join us for what is sure to be a delightful evening! Tickets are $35 per person and proceeds will benefit Harvest on Vine, the Kennedy Center, Charlestown Lacrosse and Learning Center and Harvard Kent Partnership in addition to St. John’s.There are still ways you can help.