Week of April 4-10, 2022 | Vol. 80 Issue 14

A Lot Can Happen in One Week

For some of you, spring break begins this weekend.

You have made plans to get away for a week or to visit relatives.

Hopefully, you will find your spring break week to be fully enjoyable.

For all of us, this Sunday begins Holy Week.

These days between Palm Sunday and Easter’s dawn remind us that a lot can happen in one week.

In one week,

there was a parade of praise with cloaks, palm branches, shouts of acclamation, and human-contrived visions of Jesus overthrowing Rome and religious hypocrisy;
Judas betrayed Jesus for the price paid to a master for a slave killed in an accident;
while Jesus needed his closest friends to support him, Peter, James and John slept;
Jesus shared the Passover Meal with his disciples giving new meaning to bread and cup while proclaiming a new commandment, “love one another";
Jesus was arrested although he never injured anyone or committed any crime;
Peter heard the rooster crow;
corrupt men in positions of religious and governmental power conspired to place Jesus into a position where only the powerful love of God could win the day;
a guilty Barabbas was released from prison to walk free;
soldiers followed orders and pursued hatred by beating and scourging Jesus;
Jesus was nailed to a cross revealing the costly forgiveness of a loving God;
Jesus offered hope to a repentant thief;
Jesus heard words hurled at him while he hung on the cross;
Jesus spoke from the cross revealing his commitment, confusion, love and trust; and
Jesus died before being placed in a tomb.

This Sunday, we will enter in praise with palms and depart in silence after extinguishing the candles of the words spoken at Jesus on the cross and by Jesus from the cross. We will use next week to reflect on the fact that a lot can happen in one week. In fact, in one week, we will gather again in the sanctuary to recall and celebrate what God is still up to – one week, one day, one life at a time.

Shalom,

Dennis

An Afternoon at the Charlotte Knights Game on May 22

All are invited to watch the Charlotte Knights play the Norfolk Tides on Sunday, May 22, at 1PM.

The cost per ticket is $15.50 for the game only (food and beverage at your own cost).

There will be an opportunity to ride the streetcar to the game if the group is interested.

The deadline to sign up is Wednesday, April 20. Purchase tickets with the button below or contact Lee Gray.

Knights Tickets

A Word from Kevin

On Easter Sunday, we will conclude the service with one of our favorite traditions, the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus by Handel. If you know this work, I invite you to join us. I would ask that you attend either the last Wednesday rehearsal before Easter, or come to the choir room at 9:45 on Easter Sunday morning before worship. In the past we have had many people augment the choir and the congregation was greatly blessed by the outpouring of sound and spiritual energy that came from the choir loft. I am here to answer any questions you have, so feel free to email or call me.

J. Kevin Gray

An Evening with Karen González:

Speaker, Writer, Immigrant Advocate, and Taco Enthusiast

On Saturday, April 30, we welcome Rev. Karen González to St. John's. A speaker, writer, and immigrant advocate, who immigrated from Guatemala as a child, Karen is a sought after speaker, who has written about and presented on a variety of topics, including spiritual formation, Latinx identity, race and culture, women in the church, the Enneagram, and immigration. She also has bylines in Sojourners, Christianity Today, The Christian Century, Christ and Pop Culture, and others. She is also a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary and works for World Relief, an organization that serves immigrants and refugees.

She lives in the heart of Baltimore, Maryland, where she enjoys cooking Guatemalan food, traveling, watching baseball, playing with her nieces, and writing while her cat Scully naps beside her.

In 2019, her book, The God Who Sees: Immigrants, The Bible, and the Journey to Belong (Herald Press, May 2019), was published about her own immigration story and the many immigrants found in the Bible. Our own women's book study and Immigration and Refugee Ministry Group have read and discussed this book.

We are DELIGHTED to be welcoming Karen to St. John's on April 30 at 6PM in Broach Hall for a lecture, discussion of her book, and a book signing. She will also be our guest proclaimer on Sunday, May 1 in worship at 10:30am.

Tickets for Saturday are only $10 and can be purchased through Eventbrite at the button below.

Tickets for April 30 | An Evening with Karen González

If you have any questions about purchasing tickets or would like to pay with check/cash, please let Mallory Brown know at mbrown@sjcharlotte.org or Jacquelyn in the office.

Save the date!

J. Kevin Gray and Rick Bean's

Jazz Mass

May 21 at 7PM in the Sanctuary at St. John's

Featuring soloists Dawn Anthony and Herbert Johnson and Sonja Sepúlveda as conductor

You don't want to miss this night!

Please Pray for our Search Team and Volunteers

Our chair of the diaconate, Sally Young, has enlisted two search teams. These teams have been affirmed by the Personnel Resource Team. The Minister for Youth and Young Adults Search Team consists of co-chairs Todd Stillerman and Lindsay Wilson; youth representatives, Wilson Gray and Mattie Stillerman; and young adult representatives, Meg Bond, Steven Follis and Eric McCombs. The Minister for Children and Their Families Search Team consists of chair, Marc Cardella, Kimberly Follis, Bobbie Hinson, Stacey Norris, and Dan Redding. Dr. Foust serves as ex-officio on both search teams. Sally Young and Nancy Wilson, chair of Personnel, are serving as points of contact as needed.

We are grateful for these members who have agreed to the many meetings focused upon discernment and vision. And we appreciate the prayers of the church as these efforts unfold through the next few months. In addition, we are thankful for the parents and volunteers who have stepped forward to assure our ministries with preschoolers, children and youth continue to be strong aspects of congregational life.

From the Heritage Room: Dr. Chauncey W. Durden

Dr. Durden was the second minister at St. John’s and served for fifteen years from April 1929 at the age of 61 until his retirement in April 1944 at the age of 76. When he came to St. John’s, the membership was 680; when he left, the membership was 1286. He guided the church through the global economic depression. He was highly esteemed as an exemplary pastor amount Baptists and was a very good friend of J.R. Sampey, renowned Professor of Old Testament and President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He had an extensive library which he left to the church. One of these books he authored was The Epic of Jesus. This book is in the Heritage Room. It is written as an epic poem on the life of Jesus.