The E-postle May 3, 2020

Fourth Sunday of Easter
E-postle
May 3, 2020

“The Parish of St. John the Apostle is called to be
*             A Spirited Community at the heart of Port Moody
*             transformed through the experience of the presence of Christ
*             and sent out to share God’s Love”

 

THIS ISSUE AT A GLANCE

–   Upcoming Dates
–   Rector’s Note
–   Stewardship: Stewardship Reflection, Community “Phone a Friend”, Easter Season Art Project
–   Worship: Virtual Coffee Hour
–   Parish Matters: E-Postle Submissions, Forward Day by Day, From the Wardens – Parish Giving, Order of the Diocese of New Westminster – Nominations Open, Ongoing Updates Pages
–   Parish Ministries: Food Bank Temporary Suspension & Ongoing Support Needed
–  Community News: Welcome Post Project 2020 – XAPAYAY – Tree of Life, Sacred Teachings Podcast
–  Weekly Devotions: Prayer Cycle, Scripture Readings
–  Important Contact Information

 

UPCOMING DATES

 ***Note: All gatherings below take place online via Zoom unless otherwise indicated.***
(Visit https://www.stja.ca/2020/program-updates/ for connection information)

Sunday, May 3                       8:30am & 10:00am – Sunday Morning Prayer

Meeting ID: 542 312 325
Password: 010729

Sunday, May 3                       following 8:30 and 10:00am worship – Informal Virtual “Coffee Hour”

Tuesday, May 5                      10:15am–12:00pm – Bible Study

Tuesday, May 5                      7:00pm – 8:00pm – Prayer Group

 

RECTOR’S NOTE

This Sunday, the 4^th Sunday of Easter is often unofficially called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” since we always read Psalm 23 and the Gospel passage focuses on Jesus as our Good Shepherd. Psalm 23 is perhaps one of the—if not the—best known psalm. Over the centuries, the familiar cadences of “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” and “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” have been read, memorized, and offered solace and encouragement to so many people in different life situations. The words of this beloved psalm speak clearly of belief in the promises of God’s abiding and ever-present love and care for us.

What are the favourite, familiar scriptures that you are turning to in this time, to encourage and remind you of God’s promises of abiding love and care in this time of physical distancing? If you’d like someplace to start, the psalms really are a great resource. One way to get your feet wet with them is to check out our daily Noonday Psalms and Prayers videos on our parish Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/StJohnAnglican/. This week we also get the special treat of beginning to see/hear a few new faces and voices join me and Anne – thanks to Rich, Natasha, Georgie, and Ann for stepping up to help lead us in these psalms and prayers going forward.

Wishing you all a safe, healthy, and steeped-with-encouraging-Scripture week.

Peace, Vivian

 

STEWARDSHIP

Stewardship Reflection

From Sunday by Sunday: Reflections on Stewardship, prepared by the Ven. Dr. Michael Pollesel:

Jesus is the ultimate steward. He cares for the sheep, i.e., what has been entrusted to his care, with utmost regard for their welfare. As people who want to be his disciples, ought we not to take his life as an example, a template, for our own actions?

4^th Sunday of Easter. John 10:1-10

 

Community “Phone a Friend”

Your St. John’s Stewardship Team have set up a “phone a friend” service for us all to keep from feeling a bit disconnected during these days of physical distancing. We have set up phone teams to call each week to “check in” and help relieve some of the loneliness that is inevitable in the current circumstances.

We would like to make sure no one out there is left out, so email or call Kristin (bobandkristinkuhn@gmail.com or 778-957-8987) or Natasha (freefromfear101@gmail.com or 604-961-6630) if you are not receiving a call and would like to, or if you are interested in helping to make these phone calls, and we will make sure you get hooked into the service.

We know that the caring community that is St. John’s will not leave any of its people feeling more separated than is absolutely necessary. “Distance means so little when people mean so much.”

-Your Stewardship Team

 

Easter Season Art Project

Your stewardship team has been working hard to come up with some meaningful projects to engage the whole parish, including our children. We are collecting pictures from anyone and everyone in the parish, children, adults, or just anyone out there who would like to be creative. We will then display these online for all of our parishioners. Amanda Mungal had the wonderful idea that once the pictures have been created and submitted online, they could then be put up in the windows of our homes so they would be visible for our neighbours and friends to see.

Any parishioner can submit a picture, so if there are any children or adults out there that would like to participate, we would welcome your pictures. The theme for this week’s pictures is “thanks”. We haven’t had pictures coming in for this project, so this will be the last chance to submit something before we wind the program down. Thanks to anyone who participated and submitted something to brighten up on our Facebook page!

We are here for any questions, comments, or suggestions. Please submit your final creations to Kristin at bobandkristinkuhn@gmail.com.

-Your Stewardship Team

 

WORSHIP

Virtual Coffee Hour

Join Vivian for a new Zoom experiment this Sunday after the 10am service – we’ll be trying out a feature called “Breakout Rooms” where we can video chat with each other in smaller groups. We’re hoping it will be a little more like regular coffee hour (i.e. chatting while sitting around tables), and would love your feedback.

 

PARISH MATTERS

E-postle Submissions

If you have submissions for the E-postle, please email them to Kathy at news@stja.ca by Wednesday at 9:00pm.

 

Forward Day by Day

Forward Day by Day is a booklet that is published every three months by the Forward Movement, a ministry of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.  It is a daily devotional with an excerpt from scripture and a short meditation, with each month featuring a different author.

Previously, copies of the booklet would be available at church; however, we cannot provide printed copies at this time.  The good news is that there are several other ways to receive Forward Day by Day:

• Sign up for an email subscription;
• Go to forwardmovement.org every day to access your daily devotional;
• Visit the App Store on your smartphone and download the Forward Day by Day app;
• Get a daily podcast either through their website or anywhere you listen to your podcasts;
• Subscribe and receive your personal copy by mail (deadline for the May through July booklet has passed); or
• Follow Forward Day by Day on either Facebook or Twitter.

You can review these options in more detail by visiting their website at https://www.forwardmovement.org/Pages/About/Subscription.aspx and finding which option works best for you.

Extension of Churches’ Reopening Timeline

Archbishop Melissa has announced that suspension of in-person worship and other gatherings in all churches in our diocese has been extended (for now) until June 14. Please see her letter at: https://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/news/reopening-continuing-anew-from-archbishop-skelton

From the Wardens – Parish Giving

We are pleased to let you know that in addition to PADs and cheques, we have now set up e-transfers directly to the church account. Should you be interested in this method of contribution, please contact Amalia treasurer@stja.ca or Ruby at peopleswarden@stja.ca for more details.

 

Order of the Diocese of New Westminster – Nominations Open

If there is someone in the parish that you would like to nominate, please let Vivian know at rector@stja.ca. It would be helpful if you could write up a short biography (bullet points are fine) about why you are nominating the person. Applications to the Diocese will be closed by 29th May and we would appreciate receiving nominations by 15th May.

For more information, you may log on to: https://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/programs/the-odnw

 

Ongoing Updates Pages

There are 2 important pages on our parish website which will be updated regularly as we have new information (links to both pages can also be found at the top of our homepage www.stja.ca):

1. Program & Worship Updates/Links – https://www.stja.ca/2020/program-updates/ – current information on programs, including Zoom meeting information for Sunday worship.
2. Updates on Covid-19 at St. John’s – https://www.stja.ca/2020/updates-re-coronavirus/ – a collection of all special correspondence from Archbishop Melissa and from our parish re: actions that St. John’s and our greater diocese are taking with the Covid-19 virus.

 

PARISH MINISTRIES

Food Bank Temporary Suspension & Ongoing Support Needed

The St. John’s Food Bank is not able to operate until further notice due to the COVID19 virus and the many restrictions that are in place for the safety of all our community and beyond. The Food Bank will resume when safe to do so and will continue to rely on the generosity of our parishioners. Please speak to Lynne Milner at foodbank@stja.ca with any questions about the Food Bank ministry in general.

Since this ministry to our community is a priority for St. John’s, Parish Council has decided at our March 31 meeting to use funds that would normally have gone into purchasing food for our own Food Bank to support others who are able to continue to serve our community in this time. We will be giving $1000/month for April-June to SHARE Food Bank. Please continue to give generously to our Food Bank ministry so that in this time of great need we can continue to support this important work for the most vulnerable among us.

In the meantime, we have been informed about 2 local food programs that are currently still operating if you are interested in inquiring about other ways to help.

1. SHARE Food Bank – https://sharesociety.ca/news/share-covid-19-update
2. Club Freedom, a meal program run by CityReach Care Society, Broadway Church, and Eagle Ridge Bible Fellowship – https://www.cityreach.org/clubfreedom. (To volunteer or donate food for Sun/Tues/Thurs contact Craig Savage at craigs@cityreach.org or 604-253-2700. To volunteer or donate food for Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat—contact Debbie Fell at debbiefell@shaw.ca or call 604-942-5622)

 

COMMUNITY NEWS

Welcome Post Project 2020 – XAPAYAY – Tree of Life

This year, the weekly events are going on-line on Mondays at 7:30pm. They can be accessed through the Noons Creek Hatchery Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Noonscreek/ or by going to Port Moody Ecological Society on-line https://noonscreek.org/, where it will bring you to the list of events and links on how to participate. The posting of the events will be updated weekly in the Epostle.

• Monday, May 4, 7:30pm – 8:30pm – Ronnie Dean Harris – Land Outward – a profile presentation focused on land, water and starts from the viewpoint of a descendant of the Xem-they-nem aka Coquitlam William
• Monday, May 11 7:30pm – 8:00pm – Rennae Morriseau and M’Girl

Once again I reflect on the similarities we have with Indigenous thinking. The theme for the project this year is “Tree of Life” and I am reminded of the song we sang at the beginning of Lent, “Tree of Life and awesome mystery”

-Anne Anchor

Sacred Teachings Podcast

The Sacred Teachings podcast is back for its second season, with a new theme: “Path to the Stronghold“. In the 3rd episode “The Elders Warned Us”, Tyson Halkett talks about life under lockdown in Montreal, Lake Saskatchewan. Check it out at https://www.anglican.ca/im/podcasts/.

The teachings, languages, traditions and stories of the Ancestors are shared in this “Sacred Teachings” podcast series, which is sponsored by the Anglican Church of Canada. Highly respected Indigenous speakers are featured in this series, with a different theme for each season, including the sacredness of Creation and finding meaning in a global crisis.

WEEKLY DEVOTIONS

Prayer Cycle

The Anglican Church of Canada – the Most Rev. Linda Nicholls, Primate, and the Most Rev. Mark MacDonald, National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop.

The Diocese of New Westminster – the Most Rev. Melissa Skelton, Archbishop, and Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of BC and Yukon.

And this week:

• The Diocesan Management, Finance and Property Committee – Bob Hardy, ODNW (Treasurer and Chair), Shailene Caparas (Staff);
• Our partner Diocese of Northern Philippines, Bishop Brent Alawas, and especially the people of our twin church at St. John the Evangelist Mission, Balugan;
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada – National Bishop Susan Johnson, BC Synod Bishop Greg Mohr;
• The brothers and sisters who share our worship space: The Port Moody Korean Presbyterian Church

 

Readings for May 3, 2020 – Fourth Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10

 

Readings for May 10, 2020 – Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14

 

IMPORTANT CONTACT INFORMATION

Rector	The Rev. Vivian Lam	rector@stja.ca	604-936-7762 (church voicemail) / 604-723-5029 (cell)
Deacon	The Rev. Anne Anchor	deacon@stja.ca
Parish Office		administrator@stja.ca	604-936-7762
(Office is closed at this time, but email and voice messages will be checked Tuesday – Friday)
Rector’s Warden	Geri Grigg	rectorswarden@stja.ca
People’s Warden	Ruby Ng	peopleswarden@stja.ca
Treasurer	Amalia McGlashan	treasurer@stja.ca
Envelope Secretary	Sheila De Vaal	envelopesecretary@stja.ca
Parish Council	Kristin Kuhn, Secretary	parishcouncilsecretary@stja.ca
Altar Guild	Brenda Binns	altarguild@stja.ca
Prayer Circle	Sue Elliott	prayer@stja.ca
Pastoral Visiting Ministry	Joanne Walton/Alma Oldenburg	pastoralvisits@stja.ca
Anglican Women’s Network	Alma Oldenburg	ACW@stja.ca	604-788-2562
Epostle	Kathy De Vaal	news@stja.ca
Children’s Ministry/Godly Play	Christina Anchor	children@stja.ca
Prayer Shawls	Rosa Weisensel	administrator@stja.ca
Bible Study	Lynne Milner	biblestudy@stja.ca
Food Bank	Lynne Milner	foodbank@stja.ca
Building Repairs/Maintenance	Brian McGlashan, Building Coordinator	property@stja.ca