Please join the Valley Shoreline Clergy Association for a service of music, text, prayer, and lament for our wider community to come together to address the pain of racism and racial injustice on Wednesday, June 24, at 7 p.m. Participating faith leaders include Rabbi Marci Bellows and Cantor Belinda Brennan of Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek, Rev. Dr. Jan Gregory Charpentier of First Congregational Church of Westbrook, Rev. Alan Froggatt of United Church of Chester, Rev. Joy Perkett of First Baptist Church of Essex, Revs. Linda Spiers and Benjamin Straley of St. John's Episcopal Church in Essex, and Imam Salman Tariq and Chaplain Zahir Mannan of Baitul Aman "House of Peace" Mosque in Meriden.

Thanks to all who brought food on Saturday, June 20! Special thanks to Marlene Going for organizing and delivering the donations. Thanks to the Rider and Smith families for receiving the donations at St. John's, and for Ellen Pfarr who helped get the word out. It was a huge success with a truck full and an SUV full of food for the Shoreline Food Pantry in Westbrook!

Thank you, Paulette Rider for capturing all the photos on Saturday!

Begins Thursday, June 25

9am, Noon or 8:30pm the 2nd & 4th Thursdays of the month 

Word on the street is that parenting and providing care for children of all ages has been a bit more (ahem) challenging in the last few months. While many of us have reached our Zoom limits, ECCT invites you into a sacred space of compassion and grace, hoping to provide some support and fellowship to those of us struggling to make it all work, as we care for children. We hope to have a little fun together, too. Each meeting, we’ll gather together with clergy and lay facilitators to hold one another up. 

Join the Zoom conversations here!

Please be sure your name in your Zoom “square” displays your name & your parish affiliation, so that we can safely be in conversation.

Here's an offering that the Racial Healing, Justice and Reconciliation Network included in this week's ECCT eNews--a conversation with Artists, Community Leaders, and Writers about COVID-19 which you may find interesting.

Wednesday, June 24, 7:00 pm:   Art and Pandemic: A Conversation with artists, community leaders, and writers about COVID-19

 

Description: 

All Art, Nina Simone famously said, "reflects the times.” Whether by design or default, COVID-19 challenges the way art is made, the issues it takes up, the community it gathers, and the public it engages. Bringing together a writer, an artist, and a leader of arts organizations, we will look at the emerging duties and opportunities that artists face now and in the future.

Calling all St. John's families with youth in grades 2-8! Last summer was so much fun downstairs in the Undercroft with the little kiddos, and due to COVID, we didn't want to stop having the fun this summer. There will be a virtual CT Bible-in-Theater Vacation Bible School (VBS) classes available.

The sessions will be held online from July 6 to July 31 on weekday mornings. Participants will spend that time rehearsing group and solo singing, choreographed movement, acting, and other fun activities that revolve around specific Bible Stories. Then, using what is covered during the sessions, they will independently submit recordings of themselves performing from the comfort of their own homes. These recordings will be compiled into a Christian Musical Theater video production that will be released (for a limited audience) sometime after July 31, 2020. For more information please contact the coordinator, Laurie Burke at [email protected].

You can give to St. John's through our online payment process with VANCO by click on the button below.

Please note, you may also setup an account through VANCO once you click on the buton.

You may also download the Give+ app to your tablet or mobile phone.