Dear People of St. John’s,
This past Sunday, Lent Three, found us celebrating the Eucharist at all three services with a very different, unknown backdrop. Thanks to Bill Cox, we were able to live stream and record our services. As I looked out at the nearly empty church, at each of the services, I had a touch of the reactions athletes have had the past couple of weeks; playing games in empty stadiums and arenas. We, for the most part, are people of community. And, the community at all levels of society has and is being split apart by this disease, Coronavirus. Looking at the world from another lens; as I mentioned in my sermon last Sunday, seems we are being turned back to our homes. While at home we have come to accept that the next couple of weeks we would be “hunkered down”, government officials and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, The Most Rev. Michael Curry, have issued stricter parameters. In Austin: dining rooms are closed at restaurants (take-out only); no gatherings of more than 10 people, social distancing (six feet between one another); and now we learn that our new skill sets of recording services live for virtual church are going to be called upon through Easter. Nothing, however, can separate God from his people! Today, when the Liturgy Committee meets by Zoom; we will be preparing for the last half of Lent, Holy Week and Easter as a virtual church. Yes, we are going to miss the joy and pain of Holy Week; and the jubilation of Easter Sunday. However, may I remind you of how creative the members of this church are and have been! Lent, Holy Week, and Easter 2020 will not be forgotten! Monday night as your Vestry met for the March meeting, there was a learning curve with some attending by zoom and a couple in person. Through it all, we arrived at a bottom line which is to stay in touch with one another and to care for one another as a church. Call each other! Text each other! Do the same for your neighbors! Make sure the senior living alone has food, and whatever else is necessary! Worship options this Sunday and until further notice: online, on Facebook, in English at 10:00 a.m. and at noon in Spanish. We will not be broadcasting from the church but from the chapel. The physical church is waiting our return! The actual church, you the people, in the meantime are invited to continue to worship online. Invite family members or friends to join us as we worship together, in a virtual format. Last week, my sister-in-law worshiped with us online from Georgia! The work of the church, the ministries are still moving forward at all levels. I think when this is over, our technical skills will have moved up a notch, too. The church is being called to minister differently, in new formats, with renewed purpose and call. I’ve had questions about the offertory plate. You can give online, very simple, just go to the St. John’s website; or you, may mail your check in to the church. See the weekly newsletter for instructions and details. Remember our three questions for this time of transition: Who are we? Who are our neighbors? What is God calling us to do? Here is a prayer I would like to share with you all: Almighty God, Giver of life and health, mercy and resurrection. We pray for all who are sick, and all who travel and who are stuck away from home. We are grateful for all who are working tirelessly in our grocery stores and especially for all physicians, nurses, medical technicians, and scientists working on medical remedies for the great suffering being endured now. We also pray for all social workers, mental health professionals, and all clergy and other spiritual leaders now providing hope and compassion. We pray that you will give all of them strength and wisdom. We pray all of this in the great love you offered in your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. (The Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith, Episcopal Diocese of SW Florida) Faithfully, Ann+ The Rev. Ann McLemore Interim Rector St. John’s Episcopal Church 11201 Parkfield Dr. Austin, TX. 78758
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Greetings to the good people of St. John’s,
As you all know, we are living in a period of time right now that is a source of anxiety, concern, and lack of knowledge; not to mention, fear. We are walking through a Lenten season that is new territory, a wilderness in many ways, with the worldwide issue of the Covid-19 outbreak. Bishop Andy Doyle sent out a letter around noon on Friday to the diocesan clergy and Standing Committee with his thoughts, prayers and recommendations for how we are to continue to pray, worship and be God’s servants in the midst of this virus. The Bishop so succinctly stated, “We are not attempting to stop the spread of the virus. We are attempting to slow the spread down to a low multiple so our health systems may be at their best and provide rooms and ventilators for those that need it.” We learned these lessons in both China and Italy. So, I am asking you, the vestry is asking you, and our Bishop is asking us to take the necessary precautions. What will that look like at St. John’s? Sunday, March 15, we will have services at the regular times with the following modifications: no chalice, no wine, no music, no coffee hours, no adult education, no lunch, and no gathering of the youth in the afternoon. All services will be live streamed on Facebook, and will be available for replay after services. Information about connecting to these videos will be sent out later today. Sunday, March 22, there will be one service at 10 a.m. in English via live streaming on Facebook; and a Spanish service at noon also via live streaming on Facebook. The Bishop is not asking the clergy not to lead worship; the Bishop is asking all of you to stay home. Bishop Doyle states in his letter, "It is my Godly counsel that we refrain from gathering for worship and in large groups at our churches during this time of Covid-19 outbreak - enabling us to slow the spread. I am asking all parishioners to worship with us from home for the next two weeks." Staying home provides the opportunity to worship in different ways. Again from Bishop Doyle's letter: "Is it uncomfortable? Yes. Is it irregular? Yes. Is it new? Yes. But is it Christian? Yes. Is it missionary? Yes. Will it require our best efforts? Yes. Will we have to figure out new ways to worship, spread the Good News, and serve our neighbors? Yes. How timely that our Lenten meditation booklet, “Living Well Through Lent 2020”, is based around the theme, Practicing Courage with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind. How appropriate, today’s reading is “When God Calls Us to Move out of our Comfort Zones”. The Bible verses with today’s meditation is, “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” In response to the Bishop's call for us to "stay home", the church office will be closed beginning on Monday, March 16 until further notice. We will be working virtually from home. If you need to reach me, my cell number is 769-257-2377. We will finish our Wednesday Lenten series at another time. All outside groups that hold meetings are being contacted that they will not be able to meet until further notice. Vestry meeting, March 16, will take place via Zoom from the church. Other meetings are being postponed or taking place via Zoom. The work and worship of the Church continues, it will just look different for a while. May we hold in prayer all those around the world battling this virus, medical workers and each one of us—God’s beloved children. Your support and understanding are gratefully appreciated. Ann The Rev. Ann McLemore Interim Rector Cell: 769-257-2377 Message to the Diocese of Texas from The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church.Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to send an update on recent activities. With Emily's help we did find a donated sewing machine a few weeks ago. Since then, several other families have asked for sewing machines, so we're on the look out for anyone willing to donate sewing machines. A few weeks ago a family I've known for a while had requested bunk bed mattresses; since we were not able to find bunk bed mattresses via donation, I went ahead and purchased some from Walmart. They fit the bunk bed frame perfectly and now these kids are not sleeping on the hard wooden bunk bed slates - I can only imagine how relieving that is. We had some back and forth about helping an Afghani who is struggling financially and we agreed that instead of giving him money for rent we'd be more comfortable purchasing him a HEB gift card - I'm hoping we can do that for him this month and I'll follow up with guys about that later. I was on the lookout for a bedroom dresser/vanity that an Afghani guy named Fahim was looking for. A colleague of mine had one to donate so I met up with Fahim on Saturday and we picked that up and delivered to his apartment, that was a cool donation because his wife requested that special item (she is due in April, so I'm going to stay close to them to make sure they have what they need for their baby when she arrives). Saturday afternoon I met up with Ramin who has been my main liaison with the Afghani refugee community. He caught wind of a man who was donating a bunch of furniture from his apartment, so Ramin, my brother, and myself cleared out said apartment and took the furniture to the shed. The shed is now 100% full, and Ramin has assured me that he'll find Afghani's who can use the furniture and when he does we'll hook them up. A lot of people have asked me what is happening since the current political environment has not been bringing new refugees to the country. My answer to this is: I'm aware that there are about 1,500 Afghani families in Austin that came within the last 5 years. Our ministry has helped approximately 25-35 of those families, which leaves plenty of refugees in Austin who, although they are not brand new to the country, are still struggling. Ramin (who I mentioned above) is a tremendous resources and uses his networks to identify families that are still living in apartments with no furniture - I assume there are probably between 500 and 1000 Afghani families in Austin that are still living with no beds, couches, and limited cooking utensils. We continue to identify and assist these families and the Trump refugee ban has not slowed us down in this regards. Thank you to everyone who continues to support this work. Please let me know if I can provide any additional details about anything. I know at some point we'll want to regroup and create a clearer game plan for going forward, so please let me know if/when you'd all like to meetup and we can come up with plans for the next year or so of refugee ministry. Warm regards, Chad Hall The Reverend Victoria Mason, DeaconThe story of the three Wise Men is very interesting on many levels. At first, it is a curious account of three foreigners, scholars, who wanted to determine whether their studies of the stars, particularly a special star, was correct. They chose to travel to the land where they believed they could get answers. Their journey is an example of an act of faith – an act motivated by academic curiosity.
It’s also an example of how there are many ways to find God. In this case, curiosity. We remember the shepherds who left the sheep behind in the field and went to Bethlehem because the angels told them of the Messiah's birth. In this case, they had a sign. Each of us here had a reason to come to Jesus for the first time – perhaps it was simple curiosity, or maybe there was sign or maybe some other incentive. I remember the story of a young man who was in prison and had no hope. He found Jesus when he started reading the pages in his Bible. The confrontation of the wise men with King Herod, who served the Roman Empire, gives us an insight of the political context. Herod was afraid when he heard that the sages were searching for the recently born king of the Jews. His position of power depended on having control of the government of the Jews. The Roman Empire was a government of conquerors and this possibility of a Jewish king created a serious threat. With this perspective of the story, we need to remember that the Jews believed that the Messiah would lead them to the freedom of the oppression of the Roman Empire. They believed that the Messiah would be a great military leader and a righteous king – much like King David. But Jesus' ministry was not like that. Jesus' ministry was countercultural – he incarnated the power of love, healing, justice, and inclusion. It is a testament to these powers that Jesus' life and ministry was stronger and more durable than the power of the Roman Empire. In the end, the encounter of the wise men with the child, Jesus, gives us insight into the Kingdom of God. The homage of the Magi means that other people of various nations and religions, can know the Glory of God. That God is the king of all the world, not just for one group of people, in this case the Jews. Also, we remember that Jesus' family was not rich. Bethlehem was a village, a very small and humble town. And, here were three people of wealth, education, and status of honor, kneeling to this child, paying homage and giving him very expensive and rare gifts. I think they underwent a transformation in their lives. Not only that could they understand that they needed to avoid Herod and return to their country by another way, but also that their hearts were overflowing with the Glory of God. In the Old Testament, "the Glory of God" in Hebrew meant "the Presence of God." And when anyone was in the Presence of God, they were was transformed. Remember what happened to Moses when saw the Glory of God? His face “shone from having spoken to the Lord. ... he put a veil on his face” because people could not look at him directly. Well, it makes sense that the Three Wise Men were also transformed after seeing Jesus. Can you recall a time when your life seemed changed when you came to Jesus with a prayer? A time when you experienced relief? Or a sense of peace? Maybe you didn’t feel the change instantly; maybe it happened over a period of time. For example, there was a period of time in my life when I flew to various parts of the country often. I started experiencing the fear of flying. I needed to change this, but I knew I couldn’t do it alone. With prayer, I devised a visual image of putting my fear in a wooden box and handing the box to Jesus. I used this image every time I got on a plane and was preparing for the take off. I can tell you there were many times when I grabbed that box away from Jesus when the ride got bumpy. But I always admonished myself to give the box back to Jesus. It was a couple years after I started using this image as a prayer that I realized that I no longer had the fear of flying. Every time we pray, especially in those darker moments of life, we are giving God the gift of ourselves. We are offering our whole self to God. And when we do that, we are in the Presence of God. And through this story of the Wise Men, we can believe -- believe that our prayers to God are like their journey to Bethlehem. When we pray, we are looking for the King of our hearts. We're following the star of hope. We're looking at the glory of God. And in prayer, we are transformed. In prayer, Jesus gives us power – the power of love, healing, justice and inclusion. And in this power, we are able to face any problem and overcome our fears. We can know that the Lord always walks alongside us at every moment of every day. And we can to move forward with confidence that God is helping us carry our burdens. Thanks be to God! |