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What a beautiful night and what a great bounty! Thanks to the many folks who shopped, lugged, sliced, chopped, grilled, baked, sang, set up, cleaned up and helped make this such a special evening. … Continue reading
St. John’s Annual Harvest Fair
Saturday, November 16, 2013
We are delighted to announce that this year’s annual St. John’s Harvest Fair will be held on November 16, 2013! The annual fair is an event that welcomes many beyond our parish, and the whole congregation is needed to ensure its success. Here are some ways that you can help:
Join the Harvest Fair Committee: Co-chairs this year are Whitney Hayden (whitney.hayden@gmail.com) and Christy MacLetchie (christy.macletchie@gmail.com). Volunteers are needed to head up various aspects of the fair. The majority of meetings will be conducted via e-mail. Please contact one or both of us to volunteer.
Donate your time or talent to the Silent Auction: Got skills? Offer to lend your talents to a fellow parishioner for the benefit of St. John’s. You donation could be in the form of time (two hours of computer assistance) or a specific item (a homemade pie delivered for Thanksgiving). *
Create a Gift Basket: You bring in a collection of new items to fit a theme and we package them as a gift basket for the fair! *
Bake some treats: Our bake table is always very popular. All kinds of baked goods will be welcome.This year we will also be selling coffee so fair attendees can enjoy a delicious baked good with coffee while they shop.
Help with the Turkey Dinner: From noon to 2 we be serving our famous Turkey dinner downstairs in the Parish House. SteveSpinetto will welcome your help: sspinman@mac.com.
Go on a Treasure Hunt: Please check your attics, closets and basements for gently-used and high-quality toys, linens, costume jewelry, books and “attic treasures” (collectibles, china, novelties from another era, decorative items, etc.). Please NO plastics, cookware, appliances, electronics, clothing, stuffed animals, furniture or large items of any kind. Bring your donations to church on Friday, November 15.
Help with Set-Up, Sales and Clean-Up: We will need many hands on Friday, November 15 and Saturday, November 16. Please mark your calendars. There will be signup sheets in the Parish House.
Show your support in the Fair Journal: This year we will have three ways for you to participate in the fair journal. For a $20 donation, you will be listed as a journal contributor. If you would like to recognize someone special to you, say thanks to the St. John’s community or include a picture of your family, consider a $35 donation for a ½ page in the journal or a $50 donation for a full page. Forms are available at church or through the church office. *
Thanks!
Whitney & Christy
* See flyers in the Parish House Coffee area for additional information on these fun ways to participate!
Dear Friends,
I have written more than once about the ways in which our worship is made possible each Sunday by the contributions of so many persons. At the 8 am service, early arrivers are always helping to prepare our space for worship, (now returning indoors after a glorious season of summer Sundays in the Garden). And long before 10 am, the choir, the Altar Guild, the ushers, the Coffee Hour Hosts, and our teachers in the Godly Play rooms are preparing the way for all of us to worship God.
Now there is another way that we can be preparing ourselves. Any of us who can are invited to join Douglas Witte, our Director of Music, and the choir at 9:30 am to go over the hymns and the psalm we will be singing that morning. Even a brief introduction to the words and tune of each song can lead to more confident singing. If chanting the psalm each week feels like a challenge, this time on Sunday morning will give you the opportunity to practice surrounded by the choir, whose voices will lead us in worship as well. After about 15 minutes of singing, you will then have time to sit and prepare heart, mind, and spirit for the worship service, as others gather in the church.
I know arriving up to a half hour earlier may not always seem possible or practical. But consider those times when it just might be possible, and do come. You might be surprised by how much it enhances your worship of God, and the community’s offering of praise.
Fred Pratt Green, the author of our final hymn this Sunday, puts it well in his concluding stanza:
Let every instrument be tuned for praise!
Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!
And may God give us faith to sing always –
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Peace,
Tom
PS – And don’t forget the Sunday Forum this week, where we will have a chance to sing some more and talk about music in church.
Blessing of the Animals: Sunday’s rain did not disrupt our Blessing of the Animals. Instead of meeting in Thompson Square, we all gathered at St. John’s Church, where Tom and Father Ronan blessed all creatures great and small. See this week’s Patriot Bridge for photos of the event.