8:00 a.m. Spoken Holy Eucharist

9:30 a.m. Faith Forum: Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of John

10:30 a.m. Choral Holy Eucharist

Copies of St. John’s third annual Lent devotional, with writing and art contributed by parish members and friends, will be available.

There will be no Word Alive for children during the 10:30 service for the month of March. Word Alive will resume in April.

Click here for a service preview – Besides a preview of the service music and bulletin for upcoming services, this link also provides access to sermon texts, podcasts and live-stream service videos.

We are thrilled to announce that Margie Baker has been hired as St. John’s new curate (a term for a clergy person who has just finished seminary and is in their first professional position). Margie will start at St. John’s on June 15. For more information about Margie’s role at St. John’s, her background and family, please read these letters from the rector and Margie.

You’re encouraged to use the “Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of John” series from the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) this Lent. Click here to learn more about and subscribe to this series of daily e-mailed video meditations. Susan Pinkerton will introduce this series and John’s gospel in the Faith Forum this Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

The CitySingers will present their popular Celtic Fire program of Celtic chant, folk melodies and compositions by celebrated composers here at St. John’s on Saturday, March 9 at 4 p.m. This concert is free, with open seating. A suggested donation of $20 is welcome.

In the annual Choral Music for the Soul concert, the St. John’s Youth and Adult Choirs will sing the Duruflé Requiem, accompanied by Larry Allen on the organ, on Saturday, March 23 at 3 p.m. As with all Music at the Red Door events, this concert is is free (suggested donation: $20), with open seating. Please mark your calendars and invite a friend!

Our annual Faith@Work series will take place at 9:30 a.m. on four Sundays in Lent — March 17, March 24, March 31, and April 7. This popular series of Faith Forums features people in a variety of professions discussing how their faith and work intersect, in an informal Q&A format. Mark your calendars!

Beginning March 12 and continuing through Lent, the “Women Together” group will read A Season for the Spirit: Readings for the Days of Lent by Martin L. Smith. Women Together meets weekly on Tuesdays from 2 to 3:15 p.m. in the Reception Room at St. John’s. The group includes women from St. John’s and Trinity churches, and women from any church are welcome to come and share in this time of study, reflection and fellowship. For more information, contact Sarah Kieffer.

Sacred Circle is a small committed group of women who meet once a month to explore our relationship to the sacred and to honor the divine in everyday life. Our meeting this month will be on Tuesday, March 19 at 7 p.m. in the church nave. This month our topic will be “Living through Grief.” We will discuss what we know about the grief that naturally follows death and loss. Together we will explore the insights our faith gives us to live through grief and grow from it. Please come. All women are welcome.

While St. John’s has traditionally collected food for a local food pantry on the first Sunday of the month, you are always welcome to bring food donations to church on any Sunday or during the week. Place your items in the wagon in the back of the church. We donate non-perishable food to Grace Seventh Day Adventist Church on Prospect Avenue for their weekly Wednesday food pantry. They are always in need of canned vegetables and fruit, canned soups and stews, dry pasta, pasta sauce, peanut butter, canned meat and fish, rice, canned beans, and cereal.

If you forget to bring your food donations on the first Sunday, or if you decide to take advantage of a good sale to buy multiple items for the food pantry, just bring your contributions the following Sunday or during weekday office hours.

Last Friday night, St. John’s hosted the Grace Academy Girl Scouts for their annual sleepover here. St. John’s supports Grace Academy as one of our community partners, and parishioner Mary Hardy is the Girl Scout troop leader. Here are just a few of the beautiful notes that the girls left, thanking St. John’s for welcoming them.

A friend of St. John’s recently unearthed a newsletter from Connecticut Mutual Life dated September 7, 1972. The newsletter featured our own Walter McKenney as the “September Man of the Month,” noting his professional work as a Hartford firefighter and volunteer work in his Dutch Point neighborhood. We are grateful that Walter now brings his commitment and energy (and of course, that booming voice that reads the Gospel most Sundays) to St. John’s as our deacon.