One Service at 10 This Sunday

Join Us This Sunday at 10:00 AM!

Come worship with us this Sunday,

The First Sunday of Advent

Our preacher will be

The Rev. Gini Gerbasi, Rector

The service begins at 10:00 AM

All are welcome!

Tuesday Evening Centering Prayer

Tuesdays at 5:30 pm

Join us on Tuesday evenings at 5:30 pm for a contemplative Eucharist with Centering Prayer. Services take place

in person and over Zoom.

Terresa Orrison Beal

Elizabeth Caskey

Thomas & Julie Cooke

Tammy & Sam Cox

Carol Dawson

Roxana Day

Jean-Louis & Kate Delayen

Mark Duer & Julio Leonard

Jocelyn Dyer & Michael Flanagan

Andrew Fiske & Daniel Lyons

Phillip & Elena Fletcher

Rev. Gini & Joseph Gerbasi

Aaron Goen & Matt Register

Tom Grooms & Rodger Streitmatter

Brandon Hemmelgarn & Shelby Rudd

Shirley Hibbitts

Raymond Honeycutt

Margaret Huckaby & Carmel Keilty

Jim Johnson

Alphonse & Ann La Porta

Robert Laycock & Thomas Vogt

Joan & David Maxwell

Tyler Metteer

Avery Miller & Gregory Mocek

Sarah Moore

Rev. Dr. Laura Natta & Kathryn Wood

Sally Ostad

Andrew & Chelsea Overton

Jen Page

Garrett Rasmussen

Robert Rea

Kirk Renaud & Rev. Sarah Duggin

John & Judy Ryan

Leigh & Carol Seaver

Howard Spendelow

Craig & Elizabeth Talbot

Holden & Patti Thorp

Jay Tuttle & Meghen Miles Tuttle

Julie van Steenwyk

Reuben Varghese & David Wacaster

Anthony Vernon

James Warren & Stephanie Bothwell

John Wise

David & Barbara Wolf

Kenneth Wong & Andrea Kramer

Wilbur Wright

Thus far in our Stewardship we have raised over $180,000 in pledges for 2026.

St. John’s needs to raise $265,000 in pledge income in 2026.

Your financial support is essential to building the St. John’s community.

If you wish to financially commit to supporting the work of the church in 2026 (in any amount!) please submit your pledge online at stjohnsgeorgetown.org and set up online giving to fulfill your pledge for the year ahead.

There’s Something About Hope…..

“Real hope immediately makes you vulnerable. That real hope has scars. It has wounds. It’s been fractured over and over, and yet, every single day, it stands up and hopes again. Real hope is the active conviction that despair will never have the last word.”

Senator Cory Booker in conversation with Historian Jon Meacham at a forum at Washington National Cathedral, October 27, 2025.

In uncertain and tumultuous times, some things remain steady - and in these uncertain days, the conscious choice to hope becomes more crucial than ever. When it seems as if everything we know is beyond our control, hope is still ours to have – if we choose it. Our choice enacts hope as an internal tool —turning our hearts toward our values and possibilities – even as the World seems murky, dangerous, and out of control. Hope necessitates us to keep our hearts and minds open to other ways to be, resist the pull of despair, and to trust that new life can emerge.

Advent has long been a season of waiting, but waiting does not mean standing still. Hope does not simply drift into our lives; it is cultivated through intention. When we stay connected to one another, when we take small yet meaningful actions, when we pay attention to our inner world, when we care for our bodies and spirits, and when we draw courage from the resilience of those who came before us – we strengthen hope.

This Advent, we commit to choosing hope on purpose: seeking it, practicing it, nurturing it within ourselves and among our community. Grow hope with us in our Hope Rope, our Finding Hope journey of the 3 Kings, and our annual Hyde-Addison Angel Tree. Give hope in our Christmas Food Drive or Gift Drive for Justicia Alimentaria.

In a world that feels fragile, hope remains one of the most unshakeable gifts we possess.

Lord of light,

hold me in Your promise.

Let hope rise in me

like morning sun,

until my heart rests in You. Amen.

Advent Parish Activities

TODAY, Sunday, November 30^th 

There’s Something About Hope: Letting Go, Looking Forward.  

As we light the first candle of Advent, we remember that hope is not dependent on circumstances, but on our decision to hold fast to meaning and possibility. Hope is a choice—sometimes quiet, sometimes courageous—that shapes how we move through a complicated world. This week we practice that choice with intention and creativity. At Coffee Hour, Miranda Morris, Ph.D. and Kathryn Wood, LCPC, RDT will join us as we take-on Advent wreath-making and set our intentions for the season!

Sunday, December 7th

There’s something about Hope: Discussion with Millennials & Gen Z

This second week of Advent, a coffee hour panel invites us to listen to the hope-formed wisdom of Millennials and Gen Z—generations who have come of age amid rapid shifts, climate anxiety, political volatility, and constant information overload. Speaking honestly about the world’s fractures, they will give us insight as to their viewpoints regarding the current social climate and imaging new futures. As a community, listening to their experiences will broaden our own views of what hopeful living looks like today.

Sunday, December 21

There’s something about Hope: Setting the Table for Justice

As Advent nears its culmination, we turn toward hope expressed through justice—hope that is chosen, embodied, and lived. This Sunday we welcome 

Denise Woods from our outreach partner Justicia Alimentaria (Food Justice DMV), whose work with immigrants offers a vivid witness to hope in action. As a reminder that we can always choose our response, Denise and her colleagues choose compassion, dignity, and solidarity each day. She will share how JA began, what she has seen in the field, and where hope rises in the midst of exhaustion, resilience, courage, and community. Through JA we glimpse the Advent promise that hope is not only a feeling but a practice—a justice-shaped way of being in the world that makes God’s love visible.

Advent Music

December 7, 3:30pm Christmas in Harmony, Dominican Embassy Concert

We’re thrilled to be hosting a unique and special embassy event here at St. John’s! Come hear all Dominican artists in a lyric evening of Latin Grammy-nominated soprano, Natalie Peña-Comas, with Conductor Darwin Aquino and the Trinity Chamber Orchestra. Come one, come all! Bienvenido a todos!

Please let Mark Duer know if you’re attending:

office@stjohnsgeorgetown.org

December 14, 5PM There’s something about Hope: Lessons & Carols

“We Need a Little Christmas – Right This Very Minute!” A different kind of Lessons & Carols Service

In a season when the world feels strained and uncertain, we are gathering because we need a little Christmas—right this very minute—not as an escape, but as nourishment for the spirit. The Advent theme, “There’s something about Hope,” highlights that hope is an active choice we nurture. In Lessons & Carols, we embrace the idea that music can powerfully inspire and deepen our sense of hope.  Christmas music, especially the beloved hymns and carols we carry in our bones, has a way of cracking open our hearts, helping us remember who we are, whose we are, and what God is still doing in the world.

Lessons & Carols is more than a tradition; it is a communal act of hope. When the written word, melody, memory, and community are woven together with the amazing voices of our choir, something sacred happens. Music invites us to breathe deeply, to imagine boldly, and to trust that light still shines in the darkness. Community reminds us that we don’t walk this journey alone. Tradition grounds us in the resilience and faith of those who have sung these same carols across generations.

Lessons & Carols is a journey toward hope—through story, song, and the simple grace of being together. As we listen, sing, and allow the music to carry us, let’s rediscover the joy that has been waiting within us, and may we leave renewed in our commitment to choose hope – right this very minute – in a world that needs it more than ever! Parish Christmas party to follow, please join us!!!!

Advent Volunteer Opportunities

Advent Coffee Hours

Help us welcome and nourish one another by supporting our Advent coffee hours! For each of the four Sundays of Advent, we’re having themed coffee hours. We invite anyone to contribute food for the spread. Please use the following Sign-Up Genius to indicate what you will bring: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E044CADAF23A75-60415698-advent#/

Any questions? Please contact Parish Life Committee chair Andrea Kramer at ac_kramer@yahoo.com.

11/23 The Hyde School Angel Tree is here in Blake Hall, decorated with cards containing each child’s name and wish. Wrapped and tagged gifts are due by Sunday December 14.  The following week, the wagons will be filled with gifts and trundled across the street to the school. Each child receives 3 gifts, and parents receive a gift plus a Visa gift card.

This year we’ll give gifts to at least 6 families. It’s so easy to spread joy: Just take a card from the tree, add your contacts to the sign-up sheet, and return the wrapped gift with the card attached to the church by December 14. You can brighten the holidays for a child from Hyde-Addison. Contact Ann La Porta: a_laporta@yahoo.com with any questions.

11/29 Need a boost to get into the Christmas spirit? Volunteer to join our festive Bedeck, Bauble & Beautify Band on November 29th at 10:00 a.m. We’ll dress and adorn the church inside and out with garlands and bows, trim the tree, and joyously connect to all the things that signal love coming down among us at Christmas including a tasty breakfast together. Contact Virginia Elgin with questions:

sselginmd@verizon.net.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B044EABAC28A6F94-60783099-help

Justicia Alimentaria Christmas Gift & Food Drives 12/19

We are inviting anyone able and willing to share more deeply this year by donating food and/or gift items to our immigrant neighbors in crisis. GIFTS of lovingly cleaned and folded second-hand clothing , diapers, household items, cleaning supplies, and new or like new unwrapped toys can be dropped off  at St. John’s . We know that shopping in bulk is not everyone’s cup of tea so we are making it super easy - unlike paying retail prices, we can buy 25 pound bags of rice for 25 dollars. Masa harina can be bought at 3.50 per 5 lbs bought in cases of 10 5lb bags. We are accepting rice, beans and masa harina FOOD donations. Drop off your gifts and food to the church office between 10am – 4pm. Or donate funds and we’ll do the shopping and schlepping for you! Donations can be made under the GIVE button/1-time Offering/Memo: Food Justice on our website or by check/cash here at the church office.