We are always looking for church-related pictures to share with the congregation. Submit them to LLowry@104.237.132.142.
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We want to provide support in your time of need!
Health regulations prohibit the clergy from being informed when our parishioners are in the hospital, so we will not know if you or someone you love is there unless you tell us. W e want to provide support in any time of need or crisis.
Please call the parish offices at 259.1570 or email
February 11, Jessica Bliss, Kelly Levy, Gertrude Stracey, John Whiteley, David Williams
February 12, Virginia McKay Bever, John Crosby, Mary Jean Gibson, Drew Graham, Nicholas Nitch, Eileen Pineiro, Sarah Sbar
February 13, Pauline Dean, Edward Roberts, Steven Sper, Zachary Taylor, Wren Wankelman
February 14, William Carson, Sarah Casey, Carter Crosby, Judith Galloway, Katherine Hancock, Adeline Lee, Fulvia Rodriquez-Conn
February 15, Helen Akst, Lauren Arce, Downing Gray, Mary Leach, Kim Reed, Melinda Rix
February 16, Ralph Belfatti, Emmett Boggs, Tracy Hodges, Amy Shoukry
February 17, Peter Dawson, Evan Foley, Lindsay Mickler, Jill Niell, Jeremiah Pederson, Sandra Peterson, Betty Rawlings, William Whitcomb, William Young
Sunday’s Scripture Snippet
O
Lord our God, you answered them indeed; you were a God who forgave them,
yet punished them for their evil deeds.
Psalm 99
Breaking News
Wednesday Lenten Series 2016: Living Luke
The 2016 Lenten Series at St. John’s, Living Luke, will explore the gospel of Luke in depth and help us find ways to use it as a guide for our spiritual journey during Lent and all throughout the year. Participants will get the chance to study the book with the leadership of our clergy, turning it from a book of the Bible that we think of only on Sundays into a guide that changes how we live our daily lives.
The gospel of Luke and its companion volume, Acts, contain the most specific instructions of any of books of the Bible for how Christians are to live their lives after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The explicitly-stated purpose of both books is to bring assurance to early Christians, in part by reminding them that Christianity has strong links to the early Church. This lent legitimacy to the fledgling religion and supported early Christians’ faith, as it does ours today.
Luke reinforces the idea of Jesus as our divine example, while still calling Christians to use him as a model for our own lives. He emphasizes the work of the Spirit and the necessity of demonstrating mercy to the poor and downtrodden, while demanding detachment from material possessions and things of this world, all appropriate reminders during the season of Lent.
The evenings will include a light supper of soup, bread, and salad, served family-style, and dessert. Fellowship begins at 5:45 p.m. and the program will close with worship and end at 7:45 p.m. each week.
Week 1 February 17 Introduction to Luke, led by Fr. Robert Baker
Week 2 February 24 True Self/False Self, led by Mother Alice Sadler
Week 3 March 2 Forgiveness, led by Fr. Chip Connelly
Week 4 March 9 Prayer, led by Miranda Harrison-Quillin
Week 5 March 16 Living into the Incarnation, led by Hal Wiley
Evensong: February 21
As you may have read elsewhere, we are increasing the frequency with which we sing the office of Choral Evensong here at St. John’s. Evensong is a simple (and short!) service sung daily in most cathedrals and college chapels, and is a wonderful way to end the day. Please join us for Choral Evensong in the Church on Sunday, February 21, at 5:00 p.m. The canticles will be sung to the setting in D by E.J. Moeran, and the anthem, fitting for the season of Lent, will be ‘Wash me throughly’ of Samuel Sebastian Wesley.
Bishop Visits Seminarians
Bishop Dabney Smith recently met with our seminarian, Chase Ackerman, and others at Sewanee during his visit for meetings of the Board of Regents. The Bishop returns this week to our diocese. Click here for the full article on the diocesan website.
Congratulations to our Newest Vestry Members!
Congratulations to our newest Vestry members, elected at the Annual Meeting on Sunday, February 7. The parish chose David Adams, John Marston, Lindsey Robbins, and Janice Straske to fill the four open slots. They were part of a very strong slate of parishioners, and we thank all who were willing to stand for election this year.
Officers of the Vestry are: Senior Warden, Christopher Lykes, Junior Warden, Steve Stanford, Treasurer, Drew Graham, and Clerk, Vickie Malizia.
We also thank our retiring Vestry members, particularly Senior Warden Kristie Salzer. Kristie’s duties included sitting on the School’s Board of Trustees during a very important year for this parish ministry, and Board chair Greg Hearing thanked her for her service on behalf of the entire Board.
Music During Lent
The season of Lent is one of restraint, abstinence, and penitence. There are many ways of marking this liturgically, but perhaps none more so than through the tone of the music. Some of the greatest hymns with their associated tunes, often in minor keys, were composed for this season, and this is reflected also through our anthems and motets.
Many cathedrals and churches suppress the use of the organ altogether during Lent, to the extent that in some places the hymns and service music are sung unaccompanied. I’m not sure that here in St. John’s we would want to go quite that far (!), but we will, as we did last year, suspend the closing organ voluntaries during Lent. There are at least two benefits to this practice. Firstly, Fr. Connelly and I hope that it will encourage a hushed and thoughtful departure after the service has ended, and secondly, that the organ voluntary, while missed by many, will be all the more appreciated when it returns on Easter Eve.
Simon
Dominican Development Group Outreach News
The next meeting of the Deanery will be scheduled later in February. In the meantime, Bill Kunkle and Sally Thompson will be attending the Dominican Development Board meeting in Santo Domingo on February 15
, which follows the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic. They will be attending the ordination and consecration of the Rev. Moisés Quezada Mota as Bishop Coadjutor by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. For more information, you can check the DDG website.
On Saturday, February 27, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the Parish Hall, parishioners of all ages from 5 to 95 are needed to join us for an outreach activity . We will be filling food bags for children in need through the Kids Against Hunger charity. The cost is $25 per family to cover the cost of food and supplies. Please come out and help kids that do not have access to food daily. If each of us do our small part, we can change the world one child at a time. Please email Stephanie Andrews at szam1317@gmail.com to sign up or with questions.
In 2012, Kids Against Hunger, a part of Food Aid International, nationally provided approximately 40 million meals, and nearly half a million meals in Florida alone. The food that is packaged typically goes internationally to Christian orphanages and schools throughout Haiti, Central America, India and Nepal. In the United States it has been shipped to Indian reservations, food banks, schools, and into disaster relief areas. The group partners with organizations that are vetted so that they know they will use the food properly.
Globally there are approximately 900 million people dying of hunger-related diseases. This represents nearly 1/7th of the world’s population. In the United States we have nearly 46 million people that are classified as food insecure. Come join us and make a difference!
Lenten Devotional Resources
Episcopal Relief and Development offers a Lenten Devotional book each year. The 2016 booklet encourages readers to actively seek the holy every day during Lent by reflecting on God’s call, their own lives and how they can live out their Baptismal Covenant by healing a hurting world. Copies of the devotional will be available following the Ash Wednesday services and the following Sunday. You may also download the booklet. Just Google “2016 ERD Devotional” and choose “Lent – Episcopal Relief and Development.” You may open the booklet at this point.
Pray As You Go is a daily prayer session, designed for use on portable MP3 players, to help you pray whenever you find time, but particularly whilst traveling to and from work, study, etc. A new prayer session is produced every day of the working week and one session for the weekend. It is not a ‘Thought for the Day’, a sermon or a bible-study, but rather a framework for your own prayer. Lasting between ten and thirteen minutes, it combines music, scripture and some questions for reflection. The aim is to help you to:
become more aware of God’s presence in your life
listen to and reflect on God’s word
grow in your relationship with God
It is produced by Jesuit Media Initiatives, with material written by a number of Jesuits, both in Britain and further afield, and other experts in the spirituality of St Ignatius of Loyola. Although the content is different every day, it keeps to the same basic format.
To download, Google “Pray-As-You-Go” and follow the directions from there.
Events and Fellowship
St. John’s Book Club
The St. John’s Book Club will meet Tuesday, February 16, at 4:00 p.m. in the Lowry Room. Sally Wiley will lead the discussion of Crossing to Safety
by Wallace Stegner. Everyone is welcome to come.
Women’s Mid Morning Bible Study
This group’s focus for winter/spring will be the study of Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. They will continue using the study guide Paul, The Prison Letters by N. T. Wright. The group’s next meeting is Tuesday, February 23, and Sally Olsson will guide their study of Philippians 4:2-23.
They invite all women of the parish and interested friends and neighbors to join them at 10:15 to 11:30 a.m. in the Church sanctuary (please note new location). They meet on alternate Tuesdays. For more information, contact Pat Wilson at patwilson68@tampabay.rr.com or 644.4640 or Joan McKay at mckayjhm@aol.com.
Men’s Ministry March Meeting: Advanced Heart Failure Care
The Men’s Ministry’s next meeting will be Tuesday, March 1, in the Parish Hall. The topic will be Advanced Heart Failure Care, as offered at Tampa General Hospital. Come hear about some amazing things that go on everyday just around the corner.
The guest speaker will be Dr. Benjamin Mackie, practicing advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist at Tampa General Hospital. Ben went to medical school at USF and completed his residency and fellowship at Emory. Click here for his full bio.
Ben will give a brief overview of Advanced Heart Failure services offered at TGH, including cardiac transplantation and different forms of mechanical circulatory support ” heart pumps.” There will be a question and answer period during which the group can also discuss any non-heart failure cardiac issues.
Please join us in the Parish Hall at 5:30 p.m. for fellowship time, followed by a fine meal catered by Holy Hog Barbecue at 6:00 p.m., and our speaker following dinner at 6:30 p.m. RSVP to Dallas Coffield at dcoffield@gmail.com
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Action Items and Opportunities
If an Angel Asked, Would You Give Up Toothpaste and Old Shoes for Lent?
Well . . . the Angel Closet at Faith Cafe is asking. And this February is your chance to join others at St. John’s who are helping to meet the needs of the men and women who come regularly to Faith Cafe for a meal. But the hungry do need more than food. And that is where you come in.
By dropping off clothing, shoes, and/or personal care items at St. John’s anytime during the month of February you can join with your fell ow parishioners who are working to make life a little better for those struggling to meet their basic needs.
What would help most? Most of Faith Cafe’s guests are men, so the greatest need is for men’s shoes, socks, underwear, tee shirts, and jeans. Slacks, shirts, sweatshirts, and hats are requested, too. All need toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, razors, shaving cream, soap and shampoo. Donations may be placed in boxes just inside the door into the parish offices/school building.
Faith Cafe is operated by volunteers from the seven churches that participate in South Tampa Ecumenical Ministries (STEM). It serves lunches to its guests Monday – Saturday from its building located off Himes Avenue near I-275. For additional information, contact your STEM board representatives, Mary Jane Schenck at mjschenck@ut.edu or Sally Wiley at swileytampa@aol.com or 253.3906, or visit the Faith Cafe website at www.FaithCafeTampa.com.
Do You Have Holy Hospitality?
Parishioner Melissa Ariss (pictured with Steve Stanford speaking with the Soiree group) is now leading our Greeters and Shepherds ministry. The group is looking for new volunteers, so they invite anyone with holy hospitality in their heart to join them on Sunday, February 21, at 10:30 a.m. in the Lowry Room for an informational meeting.
Kitchen Help Needed
Our resident chef, Dave Kenyon, is in need of assistance in the kitchen to produce the delicious meals he has planned for our Lenten series. The series begins on Wednesday, February 17, and continues for each of the five Wednesdays of Lent. Help is needed from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on these days. Please contact Dave at 404.5000 or davekenyon@gmail.com if you can help.
Sandwich Sunday Hosts Needed
Each month, we make sandwiches and bag lunches for the patrons of Faith Café to take with them after they eat a hot meal at the Café. We are in need of monthly hosts for 2016 on March 20, June 19, October 16, November 20, and December 18. Hosting means purchasing supplies (costs are reimbursed by St. John’s), helping facilitate the assembly line, and delivering sandwiches to Faith Café. If you are interesting in hosting on one of the dates, please contact Sandwich Sunday Coordinator Cindy Martin at cdmcasa@gmail.com.
This Week at St. John’s
Thursday, February 11
10:00 a.m.
The Holy Eucharist and Healing and Anointing (Chapel)
11:45 a.m.
Men’s Thursday Bible Study and Lunch(Peterson Room)
The Men’s Thursday Bible Study and Lunch group continues weekly. The readings the group will study are those from the Revised Common Lectionary for the coming Sunday. The group will continue with this pattern, reading and studying the lessons for the Sunday to follow, to better understand and absorb those readings and Sunday’s sermon.
Parking is available in the School’s parking area across Plant St. under the Cross-town expressway if the regular lot is full. Please do not park in the Four Green Fields parking lots. Lunch is sandwiches at $5 per person. RSVP to dlrncrtpa@verizon.net if you would like to partake.
The study group of Bible Women by Lindsay Freeman meets on Mondays at 4:00 p.m. in the Lowry Room. All women are welcome and each week is a standalone lesson. The book may be purchased from Forward Movement for $15. Please complete the noted readings and reflections. This week, we will learn about Rebekah, the wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau. Readings: Genesis 24-27 and pages 44 – 50.
Tuesday, February 16
6:45 a.m.
Contemporary Women’s Bible Study (Peterson Room)
CWBS continues their study of the book of Daniel on Tuesdays from 6:45 to 8:00 a.m. in the Peterson Room at the School’s Middle Division campus. After conversation and a light breakfast (fruit & some type of bread) that members take turns bringing, the study starts at 7:00 a.m. and ends shortly before 8:00 a.m.; a few people may leave early if they have to go to work.
All women of St John’s and their friends are welcome; the current group includes several valued members from other branches of Christ’s church. They would love to have you join them.
For more information, please contact Kathleen Moore at 221.6253 or kathleenmarymoore@gmail.com
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12:15 p.m.
Noonday Prayer (Chapel)
St. John’s Book Club
The St. John’s Book Club will meet Tuesday, February 16, at 4:00 p.m. in the Lowry Room. Sally Wiley will lead the discussion of Crossing to Safety
by Wallace Stegner. Everyone is welcome to come.
Wednesday, February 17
12:15 p.m.
The Holy Eucharist (Rite II) (Chapel)
6:00 p.m.
Lenten Series: Living Luke (Parish Hall)
Wednesday Nights at St. John’s (Parish Hall)
No Meeting Tonight
The group will join Lenten Series attendees during the season of Lent beginning this week. Following Lent, the Wednesday Nights group will continue viewing “CHRISTIAN (It’s Not What You Think),” an eight-session video Bible study.
