All graduating high school seniors are invited to participate and to be recognized on Sunday, May 14, during the 9:15 a.m. service.  As in the past, seniors will have the opportunity to offer remarks during the service and a reception hosted by the parents of juniors will follow.  Parents of seniors can pick up a photo board in the parish offices that can be displayed during the reception.  Contact Kim French at frenchco@me.com if your senior is planning to speak during the service or if you have any questions.

The Fathers Ministry is organizing an all-parish service event at Metropolitan Ministries on Saturday, May 20 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. This opportunity is open to everyone in the Parish with a minimum age of 8 years old with adult supervision or 14 years old without supervision. This will be a wonderful opportunity for family and fellowship as we work together in support of Metropolitan Ministries and their valuable work within the local community. Volunteer activities will include assisting as needed in the kitchen, sorting donations in the warehouse, and picking vegetables in the local community garden.  If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions, please contact Kevin Kellar at  kcwkellar@yahoo.com or at  892.6238.   CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP. Go to the “Morning Volunteer Opportunity” link for May 20. RSVPs are requested by Saturday, May 13. Click here for general background information about Metropolitan Ministries

Flowers and candles are available on the following Sundays:June 11 – Candle in the Sanctuary LightJune 18 – Flowers at the Church AltarJune 18 – Candle in the Sanctuary LightJune 25 – Flowers at the Church AltarIf you would like to take one of these opportunities to honor a loved one and support St. John’s, please call the parish offices at 259.1570 or parish@104.237.132.142.

Parishes from St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Tampa are joining together to hold an Interparish Racial Reconciliation Fellowship Dinner on May 20.  The group will courageously and whole-heartedly embark on a journey of understanding the dynamics of racial power and oppression in the spirit of our Baptismal Covenant and with the goal of honest, loving reconciliation for the church and for society. The dinner is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 20 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Clearwater, 1676 S Belcher Road, Clearwater, FL 33764.   The evening will begin in the sanctuary for a 5:00 p.m. service. The parish is just north of East Bay Drive. Seating is limited to 50 adult participants. Dinner and childcare will be provided. Please sign up by Friday, May 12.  Register by emailing ChristiansForReconciliation@gmail.com

The Preserve Our Heritage Campaign is in full swing!  We have completed the “building envelope” work, and we have begun the replacement of our antiquated lighting control system in the sanctuary.   Plans to renovate the courtyard are progressing too. The contractor for the “building envelope” portion was Western Specialty Contractors.  This work included repairing, cleaning, and sealing the walls and windows of the entire church and school buildings on the Orleans campus.  On April 20th, the contractor, along with vestry, clergy, and CBRE, provided a final walk-through and sign-off on the work.  On that day, we took photographs of the work andyou can view more of these by clicking here. A major portion of the work included pressure washing, applying mortar in cracks (“repointing”), and applying a sealant on the buildings.  Special care was taken to attempt to match the color of the new mortar with original and previously repaired areas.   This was a challenge due to the various colors used for repairs over the years and, as a result, close inspection of the mortar still shows it in different colors; but clean and neat, nonetheless. Another highly visible portion of the project was repair of the casings and coverings of the stain glass windows in the church.  A close look at these windows and you can see how the wood work around the windows has been carefully stripped, sanded, refinished, and painted.  The Plexiglas coverings have been replaced too, bringing renewed brilliance to these important assets of the parish. Other notable improvements made as part of the campaign, although not in Western’s scope, included one highly visible improvement and one virtually invisible:  refinishing the doors on the sanctuary and applying insulation below it.  The doors are outstanding, and the insulation will help us run the HVAC system more efficiently.  Pictures of both of these can be seen in the link provided above. Please take a look around and we think you’ll agree that important work is being done. We need to continue on this path to ensure the beauty and integrity of our facilities will serve us now, and well in to the future. The Campaign goal is $445,000, and we launched the Campaign with existing commitments totaling $245,000 from the School, our Endowment, and a few large individual donations.  We are now raising the remaining $200,000 from St. John’s parishioners to reach our goal, and we have received $189,000 in contributions from 92 families and individuals toward that goal to date.  We expect to reach our fundraising goal soon!  We are hopeful that we will exceed our goal, as this will allow us to do more in key areas, including replacing our sanctuary lights with LED lighting, which will garner substantial savings on electricity costs over time and virtually eliminate the challenge of replacing the current bulbs as they burn out due the long lasting nature of LEDs.     If you haven’t yet contributed to the Campaign, please prayerfully consider a gift.  Contributions to the Campaign should be made to St. John’s Church, and please note “Preserve Our Heritage” on the check.

St. John’s Church  invites you to a  Soirée at the home of  Mary and Ron Hulse,  4912 Lyford Cay Road     Friday, May 12 7:00 p.m.     Bring an hors d’oeuvre to share and a drink of your choosing.   RSVP to Mary Hulse at   391.7743  or  mmhulse@tampabay.rr.com  or  to  Pat Wilson at  644.4640 or patwilson68@tampabay.rr.com.

While Mom will get lots of “Luvs” and “Huggies” on her special day, remember that others need to be pampered too.  We can all help the mothers and babies at Alpha House by bringing in “Wish List” items on (or before) Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 14.   All donations will be collected in the courtyard prior to all three services this Sunday, Mother’s Day, or drop off in the parish offices prior to May 14.

This is the second year of a three-year project building San Timoteo Episcopal Church in Nizao. The teams will also be working at the San Matías Church and School in Santana, Baní adjacent to the Morrow Center (our lodging).  We will be completing much needed repairs, painting and sealing the concrete roof. The school was constructed by the Tampa Deanery in 2002-2003.   There will be three one-week teams of up to 15 missionaries each:  Team I (June 10-17); Team II (June 17-24); Team III (July 1-8). Sally Thompson and Father Roy Allison from St. Mark’s are heading up Team II, and we are looking for volunteers.  For more information contact Sally at tampasal@verizon.net  or 813-760-5120 (cell/text).

Do you love to help others?  Do you love summer camp?  Why not do both at the same time?!  All youth (rising 6th  graders through rising 12th  graders) are encouraged to sign up for Mission Camp this summer at DaySpring, from  July 23 through 28 .  We will join youth from across the diocese for a week of serving God and others, as well as taking advantage of all the things summer camp has to offer, including swimming, canoeing, the ropes course, and more!  As if that isn’t enough to entice you, Fr. Chase will be serving as one of the camp chaplains!  Be sure to visit  www.campdayspring.org  to register for Mission Camp or contact Fr. Chase for more information.

Sunday, May 21 will mark the final day of our school year Sunday School program, after which we will switch to weekly volunteers throughout the summer. Host families will provide a snack and teach a lesson to a mixed-age group of children in the Parish Hall. You can sign up to teach one class or a few classes via the schedule by clicking here.