The Bridge

March 24, 2023

The Mission of St. John’s is to be a community of God’s people who heal brokenness, build bridges, and exemplify borderless kindness.

Events and Announcements

Holy Week 2023 – The Triduum

The season of Lent is coming to a close and Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday on April 2. I invite you to participate in one of the Church’s oldest traditions - The Triduum. The Triduum begins with Maundy Thursday, April 6 and ends with the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening, April 8. This year St. John’s will include the ceremonial foot washing on Maundy Thursday. There will be two Good Friday services, English at noon and Spanish with the Stations of the Cross at 7pm. There will also be a Woman’s Stations of the Cross on Good Friday at 5pm, the Stations from the perspective of the women. The Easter Vigil will begin on Saturday evening at 8pm.

Participating in these three days allows one to experience the last days of Jesus' life on earth and his resurrection. It is an opportunity to more fully experience Holy Week and prepare for the Easter Season. I look forward to sharing this experience with you.

Mother Minerva

Click here for a description of the services.

Easter Baptisms

If you or someone in your family would like to be baptized on Easter, please let Mother Minerva know by Monday, March 27th.

Contact her at: RevMinerva@austinstjohns.org

LENTEN SERIES

What: The last of our Lenten Series - Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies by Rebecca Konyndyk will take place this week.

When: Wednesday, March 29

Time: 5:30 - 6:30 Meal

6:30 - 7:00 Service

7:00 - 8:00 Book Study

Where: Meal - Narthex

Service and Book Study - Sanctuary

How: St. John's Lenten Series will focus on studying the book Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies by Rebecca Konyndyk de Young. This book is available on Kindle and on Audible and in the Austin Library. We invite all of you to join us for an interesting conversation. Please call Mother Minerva if you are unable to find a copy of the book.

Join via the Zoom App:

Meeting ID: 885 4740 0808

Passcode: 571626

Or join via phone: dial 346 248 7799 and enter the following information when prompted:

Meeting ID: 885 4740 0808

Passcode: 571626

Wednesday Lenten Series

LENTEN BOOKS

We have Lenten books in the Narthex that you can take home to read on your own or with your family. These books are available in English and Spanish. Share with your family, friends, and neighbors.

Monthly Family Afternoon

2nd Sunday of every month. The goal is to have family friendly events once a month which will range from educational activities to fun activities. This event will allow us to get to know each other better and for our kids to have a good time. Our next event will be Easter Sunday, April 9th.

1x1 Conversations,

March 26, 2023

Get to know your congregation - St. John's will have another day of one-on-one relational meetings.

Join us this Sunday at St. John's - we'll pair you up for an opportunity to get to know one another better, build and strengthen relationships and find ways to act together to build a stronger church community.

Sunday, March 26th:

9:45 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Noon - 1:00 p.m.

Our Community

Episcopal Health Foundation (EHF)

IN COMMON 2023 -- Rooted: Putting Faith and Hope into Action!

Date: Saturday, March 25 @ 8:30 am - 3:00 pm

Location: St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 305 N 30th St, Waco, TX 76710

Cost: FREE!

Rosalinda Rodriguez is a featured panelist for the workshop on Ministry with and to Multicultural Communities that will be conducted in Spanish. Translation services will be available for all workshops: Spanish to English and English to Spanish.

The Episcopal Health Foundation (EHF) is hosting its sixth annual IN COMMON gathering. The goal of this gathering is to be inspired, gain new skills, and share hopes for building bridges and getting to know our neighbors. EHF and community partner organizations will share resources that can help congregations understand their communities better, identify their community’s needs and assets, and take action for positive transformation. Meet others across the Diocese, share stories and lessons learned, and build relationships for future work.

Click here for more information and to register for this event.

Apply Now for Episcopal Church 2023-2024 Educational Scholarships

Applications are being accepted for a wide variety of educational scholarships from the Episcopal Church for the 2023-2024 academic year. The deadline to apply is April 12. All applicants must be Episcopalian. Click for more .

Farmshare Austin

Sunday, from

11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Come shop for fresh, delicious, and affordable fruits and vegetables, local eggs and honey, and a variety of pantry staples!

The market accepts cash, credit, debit, SNAP, and Double Up Food Bucks.

Coffee and Fellowship

The Narthex is open for coffee and fellowship after each Sunday service!

Thanks to our volunteers who make the coffee, set it up, and clean up after.

Let's also be good stewards of our land and recycle! There will be signs in the Narthex with items that are recyclable.

Worship at St. John's

Our Sunday morning worship and education schedule:

8:30 a.m. - The Holy Eucharist Rite I (English)
9:45 a.m. - Adult Christian Formation Class
11:00 a.m. - The Holy Eucharist Rite II (English)
1:00 p.m. - La Santa Eucaristía Rito Dos (Spanish)

To participate in our virtual Sunday services, you do not need to have a Zoom account or download Zoom. Simply click the link to join.

Zoom link for 11:00 a.m. service

Meeting ID: 879 9502 6837 No passcode is required

Visit the Website for the Bulletin

You may also join the service by telephone - dial (346) 248-7799 and enter the meeting ID when prompted. Meeting ID: 879 9502 6837

The video recording of the 11:00 a.m. service will be posted on the St. John's Facebook page, YouTube, and the St. John's website later in the day. Additionally, recordings of the English and Spanish sermons will be available. Links to the recordings will be posted on our website (www.austinstjohns.org).

Christian Formation

Sunday Morning Christian Formation

This class is postponed this week so people can attend the 1 x 1 Conversations between the services.

Class will resume 9:45 a.m. - Sunday, April 2nd

In person in the church (nave)

We will study the lectionary for that week.

Please contact Mother Minerva for more information.

Cornerstone Literary Circle -

Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Cornerstone Literary Circle has just finished reading "Solito" by Javier Zamora.

The next book will be "Caste: The Origin of Our Discontent" by Isabel Wilkerson. A reviewer for the NYTimes wrote: "Wilkerson’s book is about how brutal misperceptions about race have disfigured the American experiment. This is a topic that major historians and novelists have examined from many angles, with care, anger, deep feeling and sometimes simmering wit."

We are taking off for two weeks, giving folks 2 weeks to get the book and giving the host time to get ready to begin leading book discussion.

Our next Cornerstone meeting will be April 12^th, 5:30pm-6:30pm.

Contact Laurie Williams if you would like more information about the book or the book club.

Zoom Link to Cornerstone Literary Circle

Meeting ID: 865 2855 1870

Passcode 446185

Wednesday Night Bible Study

This class is postponed until after Lent. You are invited to join us for the Wednesday Lenten Series instead. (See above.)

Thursday Morning Bible Study

10:00 a.m. - Thursday

Thursday Morning Bible Study continues in our hybrid format at 10:00 a.m., via Zoom and in the narthex. We begin meeting the women of the New Testament and will hear what these women have to say to us. We will find many of them more familiar than the Old Testament women were, and look for both similar and very different themes.

Meeting ID: 821 5253 7149

No passcode is required

Zoom Link to Thursday Morning Bible Study

Please refer to our website www.austinstjohns.org or to the Christian Formation email sent every Tuesday for more information and links.

Ministries

Wednesday Morning Grounds Crew

For more information about this ministry, please contact Kevin Flegal.

Labyrinth Community Garden

To learn about how our Labyrinth Community Garden serves the community, or for information about obtaining a bed in the Garden for you and your family, please contact the Parish Office.

Card Ministry

St. John’s Episcopal Church is starting a new card ministry that will involve sending handwritten cards to our members who are suffering illness and/or bereavement.

Please let Henry Welles, Sandra Ward or Christi Crow know if you have a need or if you know of someone who does. Thank you.

Caring for

Each Other

For Prayer and Pastoral Care

If you find that your situation is causing financial, spiritual, or emotional difficulties, or if you are in need of food, do not hesitate to email Mother Minerva.

We are a church family; when a family member needs assistance we want to try and help that member.

Click on the link below for Prayer for Ukraine.

Prayers for Ukraine

Donations

Please visit our website (austinstjohns.org) for other ways to make a donation.

Please send mail to the Church post office box:

St. John’s Episcopal Church

P. O. Box 81493

Austin, TX 78708-1493

If you are having problems with the online donation system, please contact the treasurer at Treasurer@austinstjohns.org and someone will help you resolve the problem.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO ST. JOHNS. THANK YOU!

Fill out a pledge card here!

Gathering Policy

Masks are optional on the St. John's campus. The CDC guidelines highly recommend that all persons who are not fully vaccinated wear masks while indoors. Thank you for your cooperation in these efforts to keep our St. John’s community safe and healthy.

Austin-Travis County's COVID-19 Community Level is currently low.

For more information: Austin Public Health

Submit to the Bridge

You are invited to send pictures and articles to the Bridge! Please note the deadline: Noon, Wednesday preceding the Friday of publication.

Send to lshirah@hotmail.com with "For the Bridge" in the subject line. Be sure to note the date of the issue in which you want to publish the information or article.