The E-postle April 19, 2020

The E-postle April 19, 2020
April 18, 2020

Second Sunday of Easter

E-postle

April 19, 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: Holy Week Links, Online Worship & Prayer, Learning to Zoom Better
  • Parish Matters: From the Wardens – Parish Giving, Order of the Diocese Nominations Open for 4 More Weeks, 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

 

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, April 19                     8:30am & 10am – Sunday Morning Prayer

Sunday, April 19                      following 8:30 and 10am worship – Informal Virtual “Coffee Hour”

Tuesday, April 21                   10:15am–12noon – Bible Study

Tuesday, April 21                   7 – 8pm – Prayer Group

Tuesday, April 28                   7 – 9pm – Parish Council

 

Rector’s Note

Happy Easter again to all! I continue to pray daily for our parish and our wider community and world in the midst of Covid-19, and hope that everyone is keeping healthy and safe, and that God is holding you up in this time in all ways.

I wanted to just acknowledge that for many of us, it may sometimes be challenging to fully celebrate Easter this year. It may feel strange to say “Alleluia!” when at times we just don’t see or feel that fact of new life and resurrection quite yet in all ways. Take comfort in those times that the Easter season is a full 7 weeks! Those first disciples probably took a while to adjust to the reality of Christ come to life again, something that seemed so farfetched, something so unbelievable and too good to be true, something that some did not witness firsthand until later. So over those many weeks, Jesus stuck around. He kept appearing and reappearing, encouraging his friends and followers as they needed. It’s OK too for us to take the time that we need to welcome the resurrected Christ. This Sunday we’ll be remembering Jesus’ disciple Thomas. I love how Jesus didn’t scold Thomas for asking for what he needed – he knew that he needed to see Jesus before him, to actually touch his hands and his side to fully embrace the truth of Easter.

I encourage all of you to also not be shy about asking God for what you need in this season. What do you need to see the reality of new life and the resurrected Christ in your life right now? I pray that we would be open to how God might answer each of those prayers. I pray that we all would be open also to how each of us might even be the answer to someone else’s prayer in this time.

Peace, Vivian

 

STEWARDSHIP

 

Stewardship Reflection

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

2nd Sunday of Easter. John 20: 19-31

“I came so that you can have life and have it to the full,” says Jesus earlier in John’s gospel. Today we hear that these are written so that “you will come to believe… and … have life in his name.” A faithful steward shows this full life by the way they live out their daily lives. As they say, ‘There’s no life like it!’

 

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 “joy”. The next 2 themes are “family” and “thanks”. Themes will continue to be announced so that you all can keep creating! Take a look at the pictures from last week’s theme “Easter” on our Facebook page. If you want to participate, it is easy…draw a picture, colour a picture, or paint a picture and send it in to help brighten everyone’s day!!!

We are here for any questions, comments, or suggestions, so start creating today and submit your creations to Kristin at bobandkristinkuhn@gmail.com.

-Your Stewardship Team

 

WORSHIP

 

Holy Week Links

For those who would like to revisit a few of last week’s Holy Week offerings for further meditation:

 

Online Worship and Prayer

There are 2 ongoing ways to join in corporate prayer currently:

1. Sunday Morning Prayer on Zoom – 8:30am and 10am – To join us for Sunday worship, please download Zoom into your device and then at the gathering time, click on:

https://zoom.us/j/542312325?pwd=R3FKTnZ4WUU1YUFveCtzOUljM2FLZz09

Meeting ID: 542 312 325

Password: 010729

NOTE: You may also join us via telephone at 778-907-2071 (please have the above Meeting ID and password ready). You won’t be able to see everyone via video, but we will be able to at least hear each other’s voices.

A service leaflet and and scripture readings will be available by Saturday mornings at https://www.stja.ca/2020/program-updates/

 

2. Noonday Psalms & Prayer on Facebook – 12noon Mon-Sat – Every day (but Sunday) at noon on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/StJohnAnglican, a brief video is posted, featuring a reading of a psalm and some time for prayer for those in our lives and in the wider world.

We encourage you to stop for a few minutes of your day to view the video at noon (or view it later if you can’t make it at that time).  As with most things we’re trying out, this will be an experiment and feedback and ideas are welcome!

We’re looking for folks (of all ages) who would be interested in leading these psalms/prayers, so it’s not just Vivian all the time! Instructions will be provided. If you’re interested in being involved, please contact Vivian at rector@stja.ca.

 

Learning to Zoom Better

Some of us have not used Zoom before – never fear, we are all learning together!

We have been “Zooming” for more than a month now and it is very heartening to see more of you participating in our virtual worship each week. Should you wish to know how to “Zoom”, or use it more effectively, please connect with Ruby at peopleswarden@stja.ca. She will arrange a mutually convenient time to help you walk through the steps.

A few tips we have learned over the past couple of weeks:

  • Remember that everyone else in the Zoom meeting can hear (and see) everything around you! Please mute yourself (press the little picture of a microphone or hit your spacebar) if you are talking to a family member, receiving another call, or there is a lot of noise around you.
  • Use only one device to connect with Zoom (or take 2nd device to another room). If someone else in your household is connecting to Zoom worship with a 2nd device and is sitting close to you, there is a lot of loud feedback noise for the rest of us.
  • Relax, be patient, and laugh together! Worshipping with Zoom is not perfect – the sound will not be completely in sync, someone will invariably forget to mute themselves, some of us may get disconnected occasionally, and yet it is such a blessing to be able to connect to pray together in this time.

FYI the 2 main steps to connect via Zoom are:

  • Download the Zoom app onto your device. You can use your smartphone, iPad, laptop, desktop computer, etc. Visit your device’s app store or download the app via https://zoom.us/. If you have an older machine (and especially with desktop computers) you may also need to attach a microphone or earphones/headset to fully participate.
  • At the time of the gathering, click on the unique link for that gathering. Each event (e.g. worship, prayer workshop, etc.) has a different Meeting ID/password. See https://www.stja.ca/2020/program-updates/ for the Zoom links.

 

PARISH MATTERS

 

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 for 4 More Weeks!

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.
  1. 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, April 20, 7:30 – 8pm – Salia Joseph – Cedar Medicine and Song
  • Monday, April 27, 7:30 – 8pm – Eddie Gardner – Spirit of Xa:payelhp – the man who was transformed into a cedar tree

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 first episode, the Rev. Canon Ginny Doctor talks about the pandemic in the context of our Indigenous communities, and what we can do if we find our minds thinking or worrying too much in this time of lockdown. 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.

 

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:

*        St. Anselm, Vancouver – The Rev. Alex Wilson; St. George, Maple Ridge – The Rev. David Edgerton, The Rev. Melody Pearson; St. George, Fort Langley – The Rev. Kelly Duncan, The Rev. Eileen Nurse, The Rev. Karen Saunders; St. Mark, Ocean Park;

*       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 April 19, 2020 – Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

 

Readings for April 26, 2020 – Third Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35

 

Important Contact Information

Rector – The Rev. Vivian Lam – rector@stja.ca or 604-936-7762 (church voicemail) or 604-723-5029 (cell)

Deacon – The Rev. Anne Anchor – deacon@stja.ca

Parish Office – administrator@stja.ca or 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 Church Women (ACW) – Alma Oldenburg – 604-788-2562 or ACW@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

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