8:00 a.m. – Spoken Holy Eucharist

9:30 a.m. – Sunday School & Faith Forum: The Beginning of the Journey – Abraham

10:30 a.m. – Outdoor Holy Eucharist with Baptism, Steel Band

12 to 3 p.m. – 4th Annual Block Party

The fourth annual Community Block Party will take place after the 10:30 a.m. service. This popular event includes live music, food, a bounce house and other fun activities for kids, and more.

Sign up to help prepare or serve food at the Community Block Party. We need people to bake treats ahead of time, as well as cook and serve hot dogs at the event. Sign up here: https://signup.com/go/YtgriwX.

Youth Helpers Needed for Block Party!

On September 15, St. John’s Youth are helping at the Block Party in the following ways:

FACE PAINT: So much fun, and so easy to do because we’ve got stencils! You can also paint without stencils, of course.

BOUNCE HOUSE: Bounce House Bouncer, anyone? Help the kids take turns, remind them about the no shoes rule, and generally pay attention.

PARACHUTE PLAY: Parachute fun! Raise it, lower it, hide beneath it, bounce a ball on it.

BEAN BAG TOSS: Help the kids take turns, assist them when they need it, cheer them on.

SIDEWALK CHALK: Sidewalk Chalk is fun for all ages! Invite kids and assist them if they need it. While you’re at it, make something cool!

Margie has made 30-minute slots for these jobs. Sign up for one or two or six 🙂 Follow this link to sign up.

Not so! Continue your education and deepen your faith every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. at the Faith Forum in Hubbard Hall. Topics and formats are varied, and coffee and bagels are provided. Join us!

This Sunday: The Beginning of the Journey – Abraham, 9:30 a.m.

This year’s theme for adult Christian education is “Journeys of Faith,” and we kick things off this week with a conversation about Abraham as a central player in how the biblical story of God’s relationship with God’s people begins. Grab a cup of coffee and a bagel, and join the rector in Hubbard Hall.

We will continue to give away vegetables from our community garden on Sundays, after the 10:30 service, until the growing season ends. Please stay and help out — we regularly have a dozen or more people waiting to receive veggies, and it only takes 20 or 30 minutes to give out everything we have. If you have an abundance of vegetables from your own garden, you’re welcome to bring them to church and add them to the giveaway!

Bring in non-perishable food donations. Donations go to the Seventh Day Adventist Church Food Pantry on Prospect Avenue, which is open every Wednesday to anyone who needs food: no ID check, no lists, no limits on how often patrons can visit. New this fall! – Children will begin bringing up food pantry items during the Offertory on Sunday, September 22. This serves two important purposes: it shows that the food collected is an offering to God, to be shared among the needy in our community; and, it involves the children more fully in the service. What will this look like? At the Offertory sentence, children may go to the back of the nave and pick up a food pantry item. They will walk with their item up the central isle and place the item in a basket on the chancel steps. Each child will carry one item at a time but may make multiple trips, until there are no more items to take up. Then an acolyte will move the baskets off the chancel steps. This is both a small change (it doesn’t require a rota, or planning meetings, or a budget) and a big change (added movement during the Offertory; children out of their seats). How can you help? Add the food pantry to your shopping list. Bring in food as often as you’d like. There is always a need. Invite your children or grandchildren to bring up food pantry items.

Help in the community vegetable garden on Wednesday mornings. Our curate, Margie Baker, will be in the garden (which is out back, behind the sexton’s house) from 8 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday mornings, weather permitting. All are welcome to stop by (kids are welcome with an adult) to help weed, water and harvest. You don’t need to sign up ahead of time, and you don’t have to stay for the whole two hours. Just come on by in your gardening clothes, and stay for as long as you can! If you’d like to help but that’s not a good time, contact the parish office to make other arrangements.

Give to vulnerable communities affected by Hurricane Dorian. Episcopal Relief and Development has established a Hurricane Relief Fund to allow them to respond quickly to communities affected by Dorian. Give online at www.episcopalrelief.org.

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. Meetings are the third Tuesday evening of the month. Our meeting this month will be on Tuesday, September 17 at 7 p.m. in the church. Please come. All women are welcome.

Our annual “Girls’ Night Out” — an evening of beverages, food and conversation hosted by the 2019 Spring Fling Committee — will take place on Thursday, September 19 from 6 to 8:30ish, at the home of Virginia Van Dyk. This event is a beloved tradition and you do not want to miss it! If you have not yet reserved your spot, never fear. The cost is $25, and you may drop it off at the church office or just bring it with you on the 19th. Please put “Girls Night Out” in the memo line. You do not need to RSVP ahead of time.

The ancient and beautiful service of Choral Evensong is presented on the fourth Sunday of selected months at St. John’s. For our first Evensong of the program year, we’re issuing an open invitation to singers from St. John’s as well as other churches in the area. Do you love to sing Evensong? Join us at 3:15 p.m. to be part of the choir! If you plan to sing, please RSVP to Scott Lamlein

St. John’s will host a three-part luncheon lecture series on The Art & Architecture of Faith, at which Michael J. Crosbie, Ph.D., FAIA, will offer a series of presentations on the roles that architecture and art play in the lives of faith communities. Dr. Crosbie is professor of architecture at the University of Hartford’s College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture, and former chair of the Department of Architecture and associate dean. He is editor-in-chief of Faith & Form, a quarterly journal on religious art and architecture. He is also a frequent contributor to Architectural Record and writes about architecture and design for the Hartford Courant.

Dr. Crosbie’s programs will take place after the 10:30 service on September 22, September 29, and October 6, in Hubbard Hall. Lunch will be served free of charge, with donations accepted. Please RSVP to the parish office by September 18 so we have an accurate count for lunch, and invite a friend!

Acolyte Training is scheduled for Sunday, September 29 from 12:00-2:00. Lunch will be provided. New and returning acolytes should attend! Children and Youth grades 5-12 are eligible to acolyte. Acolytes serve on a rotating basis at the 10:30 service and at other important services throughout the church year.

After Acolyte Training, stick around for ACOLYTE OLYMPICS with the EYC, from 2PM to 4PM. You do not have to be an acolyte to come to Acolyte Olympics! It will be silly and fun.

Please RSVP for the acolyte training using this form. The RSVP form also includes a poll where you can give your Sunday availability from September through January, to help with acolyte scheduling.

Starting this fall, we will offer Christian education for children, youth and adults EVERY Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Our fall 2019 schedule includes Faith Forums for adults, Sunday school for children and youth ages 3 to 18, nursery care for infants and toddlers, and several intergenerational programs that will bring everyone together. Click here for a PDF flyer with the fall 2019 program schedule (note that it is two pages — adults on one side, children and youth on the other).

Women Together is a group that gathers weekly to explore our Christian faith and practice through book discussion, prayer and fellowship. We will resume meeting on Tuesday, September 10 at 2 p.m. Open the Door – A Journey to the True Self by Joyce Rupp is the focus of the first six-week session. The book is available at amazon.com and other booksellers, and includes a reflection for each day of the week. At our first meeting on September 10, we will discuss Week 1. Women Together meets every Tuesday from 2 to 3:15 p.m. in the Reception Room at St. John’s, and is currently attended by women from St. John’s and Trinity, but new members from any church are always welcome! For more information, contact Sarah Kieffer..