Greetings!
PARISH NEWS for Wednesday, May 22, 2019
The church office will be closed on Monday, May 27 in observance of Memorial Day.
As in years past, we will have a short service outdoors by the bell at 12:00 noon to remember all who have died in service to our country. Please invite your friends and neighbors to attend.
Help Wanted - Ministry Partners Administrator
St. John’s Episcopal Church is looking for someone to oversee and work with our 15 Ministry Partners, which are other groups that use space at the church. Excellent oral and written communication skills are required. Knowledge of Korean a plus, but not required. 10-12 hours per week. $15.50 per hour to start. References required. If you know someone who might be interested, please contact The Rev. Carol Hancock, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 5649 Mt. Gilead Road, Centreville, VA 20120. 703-803-7500. [email protected] .

Job includes the following duties:
1.   Do contracts with all MP
2.   Make sure all insurance papers are up to date.
3.   Answer calls/emails about MP issues
4.   Arrange with others wanting one time special events. Check date and fee. Fill out application.
5.   Keep MP calendar up to date
6.   Problems/questions about building issues (AC, storage, changes to building)
7.   Arrange set-ups and take downs for each group
8.   Arrange SDA Week of Evangelism
9.   Inform MP of changes in fees when Finance Committee/Vestry change them
10. Write up new MP proposals and anything that needs to come before Vestry
11. For special events, notify other MPs it will affect.

We are looking to fill this position as soon as possible.

All LEM's, lectors, crucifers, ushers....please sign up to help!
As we are starting into the summer months when many people are out of town, we really need your help to sign up for the Sundays when you will be here. The next several Sundays need volunteers to sign up as well. Please sign up so we know we can count on your help during the summer.

Thanks go to David Weir for replacing the light bulbs in the office and breezeway to LED's. This will save us a good bit on our electric bill. Thanks, David!

Coffee Hour - As you may know, the refreshments for our coffee hour are provided by the choir on the second Sunday of the month, and by the Vestry on the third Sunday. We have been relying on volunteers to sign up for the first and fourth Sundays. Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't. Patricia McPherson had a wonderful idea.....ask those whose last names begin with the letters A - L to bring something for coffee hour on the first Sunday of the month; and those whose last names begin with the letters M - Z to bring something on the fourth Sunday of the month. We will start this Sunday. If your last name begins with the letters M - Z, please bring something to share at coffee hour. Thanks, Patricia! Great idea!

Sunday School Class for ages 2-4 - The parents of the young children have decided that we will take a break from having this monthly class for the summer as so many families travel. We will start again on the second Sunday in September (the first Sunday is the Labor Day weekend). Starting in October, we will meet on the first Sunday of the month. Parents, if you are interested in getting together to discuss the timing and content of the class, and/or a social event for families and others during the summer, please let me know! ([email protected])

As we are coming into the hot summer months, please check on elderly neighbors and friends, especially those who live alone.


The Progressive Dinner last Saturday proved once again to be a popular event!

St. John's Parishioners enjoyed...
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SUNDAY SERVICE
We can prepare our hearts & minds by reading ahead
for the Sunday Service lessons.   

The Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 26, 2019

9:30 AM

 The First Reading: Acts 16:9-15
The Holy Spirit leads Paul throughout the Mediterranean region. Wherever the missionaries are called, their needs are provided for, as they depend on God and remain faithful to their calling.

The Psalm: 67, page 675, BCP

The Second Lesson: Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
In the holy city, God is the source of all. This is true even today. God is the light, the place of worship, the origin of nourishment, the font of wisdom.

The Gospel: John 14:23-29
Jesus prepares his disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus leaves them, they will continue to be guided by God, through this Holy Spirit. This is how the followers of Jesus know the truth of God.
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CHILD CARE IS PROVIDED IN THE NURSERY  
(Rm. 205) 
During the Service
____________

JOINT SUNDAY SCHOOL: 10:30 - 11:30 AM
 Each week, St. John's children join with our Ministry Partners: 
Wellspring UCC & Grace Baptist Church
Room 207/208
_________________________

St. John's Sunday School class for ages 2-4, Room 215
Meets the first Sunday of each month from 10:50 - 11:30 
(will not meet in July, July or August)
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THE ADULT LECTIONARY FORUM

MEETS EACH SUNDAY IN THE LIBRARY, FOLLOWING THE SERVICE 
  FROM 10:50 - 11:50 AM

Forum Discussion:

Saint Helena (c.248 – c. 330), was an Empress of the Roman Empire, and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. Born a commoner in Drepana, Bithynia (modern Turkey), she became the consort of the future Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus (reigned 293–306) and the mother of the future Emperor Constantine the Great (reigned 306–337). Helena ranks as an important figure in Christian and world histories due to her influence on her son. In her final years, she made a religious tour of Syria, Palaestine, and Jerusalem, during which she allegedly discovered the True Cross. While visiting Jerusalem she allegedly took exception to the presence of a temple venerating Venus, and ordered it torn down. It is on that site that Emperor Constantine later ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to be built. Helena died around 330, with her son at her side. She was buried in the Mausoleum of Helena, outside Rome on the Via Labicana.


DIOCESE
Church Vitality Day - "Wonder in All"
Saturday, June 1; 9:30 AM – 3:00 PM
Aquia, Stafford
2938 Jefferson Davis Hwy 
Stafford, VA 2255
Come for Annual Giving ... and every other ministry, too!
At its heart, stewardship is about 'using the gifts God gives us to do the work God calls us to do.' Attend as an individual or with your entire leadership team to cultivate and nourish momentum across all ministry areas. After all, churches with a vibrant congregational life are also churches that are vibrant in giving.
The day will be filled with remarks by our bishops, engaging workshops, and community round tables. Join us to connect with lay and clergy leaders from every corner of the Diocese of Virginia. We look forward to seeing you there!
Workshops include
Please let Carol know if you would like to attend. Registration is required. We can carpool from St. John's.

Bishop Goff's Reflection 
on Abortion and Reproductive Health
With renewed national attention to issues of abortion and women's reproductive health in recent weeks, I've been asked by people from across our Diocese about the position of The Episcopal Church on these matters. I write this reflection in response to those questions and in hope that it will be helpful as we think, pray and act as individuals and as a Church community.
Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."  John 13:34
These words from the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday of Easter shape our most basic motivations as Christians. Following Jesus' commandment to love one another animates who we are and what we do. Our commitment to love stands front and center as we hear and respond to recent legislation about abortion, reproduction and women's health in our highly politicized era.  
 The Episcopal Church has held our arms of love wide open across the decades in the midst of political and moral debate about these matters. We assert without equivocation the sanctity of human life. "All human life is sacred," we affirmed at the 69th General Convention in 1988. "Hence, it is sacred from its inception until death. Human life, therefore, should be initiated only advisedly and in full accord with this understanding of the power to conceive and give birth which is bestowed by God."
In a series of statements over the decades we as a Church have fleshed out our understanding of the sacredness of human life, the lives of women as well as the lives of the unborn. We have declared "that we emphatically oppose abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection, or any reason of mere convenience." We have also declared our "unequivocal opposition to any legislation on the part of national or state governments which would abridge or deny the right of individuals to reach informed decisions [about the termination of pregnancy] and act on them."
At our most recent General Convention last summer we resolved that "equitable access to women's health care, including women's reproductive health care, is an integral part of a woman's struggle to assert her dignity and worth as a human being." A complete summary of General Convention resolutions on abortion and women's reproductive health can be found  here .
Our statements about abortion and women's reproductive health are bound together by our unshakable affirmation that all life is sacred and all human beings are worthy of abiding love. As a woman, as a child of God and as a bishop, I hold my own arms wide open in love to support women in making informed decisions about their bodies and their reproductive health. I reach out with pastoral care toward those women who chose to end a pregnancy and to those who choose to give birth in difficult circumstances. I call on our legislatures to provide access to adequate health care, education, safety and freedom from violence for all who are born. While honoring the sanctity of life for all people and upholding our Church's teachings about the seriousness and "tragic dimension" of abortion, I will do what I can to keep our society from returning to an era of backroom abortions in which the lives and health of women are threatened. With arms held wide open in love, we can reach out to people on the many different sides of these issues without becoming polarized. God bless us all as we navigate these waters in the love of Christ Jesus.
The Rt. Rev. Susan Goff
Bishop Suffragan and Ecclesiastical Authority

VOLUNTEERING AT ST. JOHN'S
Sign Up Here to be an altar server *, or to donate flowers for a Sunday service, or to bring refreshments for Coffee Hour after the service. * (if you're not an altar server, and would like to be a Lay Eucharistic Minister (LEM), a Lector, or a Crucifer, please see Carol).
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COMMUNITY
WESTERN FAIRFAX
CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES

"We know that food can be one of the most expensive items on a household budget list. Our hope is that in allowing our clients to visit once per month they will save enough money to pay for other expenses such as rent or utility bills."
I tems are collected weekly in the baskets at the front door of St. John's Church. For food list:
OPPORTUNITIES
Reminder
Every Wednesday evening, we have a service of Holy Eucharist and healing at 6:00 PM. The service is about 30 minutes. It is a perfect alternative for those who cannot come to church on Sunday mornings, as well as a good spiritual boost in the middle of the week. Come join us!

Promise
Yes, there is always trouble and danger. There always has been. But if you look beyond all that, you will see that there is a God of LOVE who has brought all this into being and who is now holding it and caring for it. And the LOVE that God is never changes. It can never fail us, or forsake us, or forget us.
-Br. David Vryhof


My email address is [email protected],
and the office number is 703-803-7500. 

May our ministry together spread God's love to all whom we encounter.
      - Carol

        The Rev. Carol Hancock, Rector
ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH | 5649 MT. GILEAD RD. , CENTREVILLE, VA | 703-803-7500
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