The E-Postle, February 20, 2022

Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
E-Postle
February 20, 2022

“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

*New or updated announcement this week

• Upcoming Dates
• Worship & Prayer:
  • *Children’s Talk this Sunday, Feb. 20
  • *Joining in Prayer with Indigenous Anglicans This Weekend
  • *Ash Wednesday—March 2
  • *Children’s Talks Throughout Lent
  • Zoom Worship Continues
  • Flowers for the Altar
  • Tech & Hospitality Volunteers Needed for Worship
  • Ongoing Pastoral Care & Support
• Formation:
  • *Lenten Program: Ecological Grief and Creational Hope
  • Forward Day by Day
  • Area Youth Group!
• Stewardship:
  • *Stewardship Reflection
• Parish Matters:
  • Annual Vestry Meeting – Feb. 27
  • Seeking New Parish Council Members
  • Current Parish Office & Buildings Status
  • Financial Status for November & December 2021
  • Parish Giving
  • Ongoing Updates Pages
  • E-Postle Submissions
• Parish Ministries:
  • *Anglican Church Women (“A.C.W.”) News
  • *Companion Diocese Parish Representative
  • New Members for the Altar Guild
  • ReSponse News
  • Food Bank Report
• Community News:
  • *Video from Ecumenical Evening of Taize
  • Community Kitchen Thurs Feb. 24 – Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo & Chicken Pear Salad
• 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/2022/program-updates/ for connection information)

Sunday, February 20              8:30am & 10:00am – *ZOOM ONLY* – Morning Prayer

https://zoom.us/j/542312325?pwd=R3FKTnZ4WUU1YUFveCtzOUljM2FLZz09
Meeting ID: 542 312 325
Password: 010729

Sunday, February 20               following 10:00am worship – Informal Zoom “Coffee Hour”
Tuesday, February 22             10:15am – 12noon – Bible Study
Tuesday, February 22             7:00pm – 8:00pm – Prayer Group
Thursday, February 24           6:00pm–7:00pm – Spring Street Community Kitchen – Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo & Chicken Pear Salad
Sunday, February 27              following 10:00am worship – Annual Vestry meeting
Wednesday, March 2             10:00am (spoken) and 7:00pm (with music) – Ash Wednesday services

WORSHIP & PRAYER

*Children’s Talk this Sunday, Feb. 20

Our 10am service this Sunday will feature a very special Children’s Talk, led by Sophie, focused on the upcoming (Feb. 23) annual Pink Shirt Day. Sophie will be teaching us more about this day dedicated to anti-bullying and how it connects to our faith lives.

Of course, everyone of all ages is always welcome at worship each week, but every month (often, but not always, the last Sunday), we have something devoted to nurturing the faith of our younger members.

*Joining in Prayer with Indigenous Anglicans This Weekend

We join with many others in prayer with the Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan, in light of this week’s sad news of discoveries of burial sites at two former Residential Schools – Fort Pelly and St. Phillips. In this time of mourning, National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop Mark MacDonald has invited Indigenous Anglicans and friends to join together with the Gospel-based Discipleship Group for 4 days of ceremony and prayer at 9am Pacific on Thurs Feb. 17 – Sunday Feb. 20 on Zoom.

*Ash Wednesday—March 2

Everyone is invited to begin the season of Lent together as a community. There will be two opportunities to observe Ash Wednesday on Zoom with your St. John’s family: a morning service (spoken) at 10am and an evening service (with music) at 7pm. All ages are welcome. Use the Zoom link for Sunday morning worship to connect to the services.

*Children’s Talks Throughout Lent

Beginning on Mar. 6 and continuing through the 5 Sundays of Lent, we look forward to having a Children’s Talk each week at our 10am worship.

Zoom Worship Continues

At the Parish Council meeting on January 18, there was discussion surrounding a suitable timeframe for a return to in-person or hybrid worship. It was decided that at this time, it is not possible to even suggest a date for return to hybrid worship. The main factors are of course the impact of the Omicron variant of the Covid virus, current public health orders, and Vivian’s ongoing medical treatments. It is expected that by early March we will be in a better position to assess the public health considerations, as well as Vivian’s well-being and energy levels.

Given this, it was decided to continue with Zoom-only worship through the end of February. The annual Vestry meeting is on February 27th, and the new Parish Council will meet shortly thereafter to consider this matter and decide how best to proceed in a way that will safely meet the needs of the parish.

Flowers for the Altar

Due to services being held via Zoom, we ask that anyone who has signed up to have flowers at the Altar choose an alternative date once in-person services are resumed. Please speak to Brenda Binns or any member of the Altar Guild.

Tech & Hospitality Volunteers Needed for Worship

We are continuing to look for help with technical support aspects of both Zoom services and (future) in-person services, as well as people who could help online with hospitality and welcome for our Zoom participants. Training will be provided. If you or someone you know is interested, please connect with Vivian at rector@stja.ca to chat. Descriptions of the roles can be found at http://www.stja.ca/2022/e-postle-ongoing-announcements#techsupport.

Ongoing Pastoral Care & Support

A note from Vivian:

Please know that St. John’s is here for you as we continue to move through this pandemic. Now that I don’t see many of you as regularly, and with the limitations of virtual interactions, it is more challenging to know what everyone’s state of wellbeing and ongoing pastoral needs are. I invite and encourage you to reach out to me or to any of the other parish resources described at http://www.stja.ca/2022/e-postle-ongoing-announcements#pastoralcare, if and as you need.

FORMATION

*Lenten Program: Ecological Grief and Creational Hope

This Lent, we will be using a program developed by the Diocese of Toronto to explore what it means to have Biblical hope in the face of the climate crisis. Beginning on March 8 and going for 5 weeks until April 5, we will be meeting during our Tuesday morning Bible study time (10:15am-12noon) to discuss, share, and learn together.

If you would be interested in having a group meet at another time, e.g. an evening or Sunday after worship, please let Vivian (rector@stja.ca) or Anne (deacon@stja.ca) know your time preferences ASAP, so that we can determine if there is enough critical mass to gather an additional group.

The program guide that we will be using can be downloaded from https://www.toronto.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/LentCurriculum2022.pdf. It includes additional resources and activities for use during the week. If you would like a printed copy mailed to you, please contact Deanna in the office at administrator@stja.ca – donations are welcome to offset printing and mailing costs.

From the program introduction: The world as we know it seems to be changing irreversibly. Loss of biodiversity, unbearable heat, flash floods and forest fires have started to bring home the reality of the climate crisis. For many, this has created both deep grief, as we mourn the loss of the beautiful and diverse world we grew up with, and deep anxiety, as we worry about the world that will be our future home. For many, this grief and anxiety has made it di­fficult to imagine a hopeful future. What if we allowed the Bible to provide some guidance in our struggles, recognizing that the Biblical text is acquainted with our griefs and our anxieties? The Bible is a book with stories about climate crisis, creational breakdown, and the challenge of hope in bleak times. This curriculum seeks to draw on that ancient wisdom and re-engage with our love for God’s creation and all of God’s creatures.

Forward Day by Day

We have copies (both large and small print) of the February-April 2022 “Forward Day by Day” booklets. If you would be interested in having one mailed to you, please contact Deanna at administrator@stja.ca. (You may also read each day’s devotional online at https://prayer.forwardmovement.org/ )

Forward Day by Day is published every three months by 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.

Area Youth Group!

Are you a member of our St. John’s community that is aged 14 to 19? There is a local youth group that meets to have fun together at St. Laurence Anglican Church regularly and is involved in all sorts of youth-related community and church projects! For more information or updated details about upcoming youth events, please feel free to contact Kristin Kuhn (778-957-8987 and/or bobandkristinkuhn@gmail.com).

STEWARDSHIP

*Stewardship Reflection

From Holy Textures prepared by Minister David Ewart.

Luke 6:27-38
The word used here for love, agape in Greek, does not mean romantic love, liking or even friendship. What it does mean is wholehearted, unreserved, unconditional desire for the well-being of the other. Expecting nothing in return.

PARISH MATTERS

Annual Vestry Meeting – Feb. 27

Annual Vestry will be held virtually on Zoom next Sunday, Feb. 27, directly following the 10am service. The official notice has been sent out via email (and postal mail for those without email addresses on file), and the Annual Vestry Reports and Financial Reports will be sent as soon as they are ready.

Seeking New Parish Council Members

As we move into a new year and come up on our next Annual Vestry meeting, we are looking for several new folks to stand for election to Parish Council. An email was sent out recently with a letter from the wardens with this call, and included a specific request for someone with bookkeeping or accounting experience to consider stepping into the role of Treasurer.

You may be wondering, what is Parish Council and what would it look like to serve? First, being on Council doesn’t mean you will be expected to do everything at the church! One of our parish values is “We strive to be a spirited and courageous family, valuing all people—laity and clergy—in their ministries.” Here at St. John’s, responsibilities are shared and everyone has a role to play, whether on Council or in another capacity.

Council has previously spent time clarifying what we see as some of the KEY ROLES of Parish Council:

• Praying together while recognizing and seeking God’s guidance in parish decisions
• Responding efficiently to our church’s needs – making decisions, recruiting others, delegating work
• Listening to and hearing the needs and wants of the congregation, and representing those voices at the table
• Identifying the gifts of people in the parish
• Visioning for and with the congregation
• Being fiduciary overseers
• Being a bridge/liaison to our diocese and to the outside world

When we reflected on the HIGHLIGHTS of being on Parish Council this year, a few things we came up with:

• Getting lots of stuff done
• Lots of laughs!
• Spiritual reflection time at the beginning of meetings
• Knowing what’s going on in the church and being able to participate in it
• Being able to help out, give back to our church, and make a difference
• The satisfaction of helping things run (like running a business)
• (For Lay Delegates) being part of diocesan synod meetings
• Efficiency and ease of Zoom meetings

Do any of these descriptions of Parish Council resonate with you? We hope you will prayerfully consider whether you may be called to serve this year – please talk to Ruby or Rich (peopleswarden@stja.ca or rectorswarden@stja.ca) if you are interested.

Current Parish Office & Buildings Status

Please read the current status of Worship, Parish Office, Small Groups, and Outside User Groups at http://www.stja.ca/2022/e-postle-ongoing-announcements#buildingstatus

Financial Status for November and December 2021

Please see the Parish financial status as of Dec. 31 at http://www.stja.ca/2022/e-postle-ongoing-announcements#financialstatus.

Parish Giving

Thank you to all who have continued with your offerings via PADs and cheques. If you wish to e-transfer your contributions directly to the church account, please contact Ruby at peopleswarden@stja.ca or Amalia at treasurer@stja.ca for more details. There are also links on our website at https://www.stja.ca/supporting-st-johns/ if you would prefer to donate by PayPal or Credit Card.

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/2022/program-updates/ – current information on programs, including Zoom meeting information and the bulletin and scripture readings for Sunday worship.
2. Updates on Covid-19 at St. John’s –  https://www.stja.ca/2022/updates-re-coronavirus/ – a collection of all special correspondence from the Bishop and from our parish re: actions that St. John’s and our greater diocese are taking with the Covid-19 virus.

E-Postle Submissions

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

PARISH MINISTRIES

*Anglican Church Women (“A.C.W.”) News

World Day of Prayer:
The ACW will be gathering via Zoom to celebrate the Annual World Day of Prayer on Friday, March 4th at 1 pm. The featured countries this year are England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is an open invitation to participate to all members of the Parish.

Please contact ACW@stja.ca for the Zoom Link to this event.

*Companion Diocese Parish Representative

Our own Diocese of New Westminster and the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines has enjoyed a companion diocese relationship since 2016. You may have noticed that we pray each Sunday for our twin church at St. John the Evangelist Mission, Balugan.

We are looking now for someone to serve as a parish liaison for this companion diocese relationship. The first step would be to establish contact with our twin church, with the hope, over time, of the 2 churches building a mutual relationship of prayer for, learning from, and support of each other.

Please let Vivian know at rector@stja.ca if you would be interested.

New Members for the Altar Guild

The members of St. John’s Altar Guild are looking for some new members to join us. We work in groups on a 4-week rotating schedule, usually on a Saturday morning, arranging flowers, cleaning the brass, setting up for the Eucharist and laundering the altar linens. Please speak to Brenda Binns or any member of the Altar Guild if you are interested in joining us.

ReSponse News

Please visit http://www.stja.ca/2022/e-postle-ongoing-announcements#response for current information on the ReSponse refugee ministry.

Food Bank Report

Please visit http://www.stja.ca/2022/e-postle-ongoing-announcements#foodbank for current information on the Food Bank.

COMMUNITY NEWS

*Video from Ecumenical Evening of Taize

As you may recall, St. John’s was invited to join with St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Port Moody, in an evening of Taize worship together at St. Joseph’s Church a few weeks ago. The event was organized as part of the annual ecumenical celebration of a “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” to promote Christian unity and interfaith understanding.

For those who were not able to attend, there is a video recording of the service at https://youtu.be/dR50owCNQPA

Community Kitchen Thurs Feb. 24 – Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo & Chicken Pear Salad

Our next Spring Street Community Kitchen will be this Thursday, Feb. 24, 6-7pm on Zoom. Our returning guest chefs are two of our team members, Jenn and Julie, who will be making a “One-Pot Creamy Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo” and “Lemon Chicken & Pear Salad”. As always, there will be opportunities to ask questions and share conversation with others.

Pre-registration is required – email your name and email address to SpringStreetCommunityKitchen@gmail.com for Zoom connection information or if you have any questions. Volunteers for future kitchens – including planning, hosting, moderating, and tech support – are always welcome.

Donations in support of our Spring Street Community Kitchen are being re-gifted to the communities we serve. Funds raised for this gathering will be gifted to Rain City Housing Support Society for 3030 Gordon Avenue. 3030 Gordon Avenue is a purpose-built shelter in Coquitlam that provides an emergency shelter and transitional housing for people who are homeless in the Tri-Cities. Donations can be given via https://www.stja.ca/supporting-st-johns/; please designate your gift to our Community Kitchen project.

(The Spring Street Community Kitchen is a partnership between St. John’s and Inlet United Church – be sure to like and follow us at https://www.facebook.com/SpringStreetCommunityKitchen.)

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 Province of BC and Yukon – The Most Rev. Lynne McNaughton, Metropolitan.

The Diocese of New Westminster – the Rt. Rev. John Stephens, Bishop.

And this week:

• Sorrento Retreat and Conference Centre –The Rev. Michael Shapcott, Executive Director, Staff and Board of Directors.
• Education for Ministry – The Rev. Paula Porter Leggett, Diocesan Coordinator.
• Our partner Diocese of Northern Philippines, 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 Kathy Martin.
• The brothers and sisters who share our worship space: The Port Moody Korean Presbyterian Church.

*Readings for February 20, 2022 – Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

Genesis 45:3-11, 15; Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42; 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50; Luke 6:27-38

*Readings for February 27, 2022 – Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36

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	Deanna Lemke	administrator@stja.ca	604-936-7762
(No drop-in visitors at this time – please make an appointment to come in. General office hours are Tues/Thurs/Fri, 10am-2pm, but may occasionally change.)
Rector’s Warden	Rich Thompson	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	Geri Grigg,     Secretary	parishcouncilsecretary@stja.ca
Altar Guild	Brenda Binns	altarguild@stja.ca
Anglican Church Women	Alma Oldenburg	ACW@stja.ca	604-788-2562
Bible Study	Lynne Milner	biblestudy@stja.ca
Building Repairs / Maintenance	Rich Thompson	property@stja.ca
Children’s Ministry/Godly Play	Christina Anchor	children@stja.ca
E-Postle	Kathy De Vaal	news@stja.ca
Food Bank		foodbank@stja.ca
Parish Visiting Ministry	Joanne Walton/Alma Oldenburg	pastoralvisits@stja.ca
Prayer Circle	Sue Elliott	prayer@stja.ca
Prayer Shawls	Rosa Weisensel	administrator@stja.ca