There are many places where I experience the living presence of God. I love to worship God in familiar liturgy that survives the test of time like Rite I. I love prayers that I have been saying since I was young like the Lord’s Prayer. I love holy, beautiful, and magnificent spaces like Cathedrals. I love to hear God praised through prayer, chant, and song. I love to share Eucharist in community. I love to read the bible in community and discern what the Holy Spirit is saying.

But church is not the only place where I experience the eternal. I love to watch the sun rise and watch the sun set. I love to watch wind as it blows through trees. I watch wind as it forms ripples on the water and moves across the sea, I love to see waves at the ocean and to hear the melody of the water crashing against the shore. I love to watch water flow from the top of a mountain, through a waterfall and form a river. I love to stare into a fire. I enjoy the smell of burning wood, the feeling of warmth on a cold night, and the crackling of the fire. I love to hike deep into the woods. I love to hike so far and high into the wilderness that the only sounds I hear are the birds singing, the water rushing, and wind dancing through the forest.

It is in these places that I drift off from my mortal existence to the eternal truth and presence of the One, Holy, God. Time seems to dissipate as my soul emerges from the restrictions of my conscious mind to the beauty and freedom of my sub conscious existence. I don’t know what heaven will be like, but I imagine that God gives me a taste of the eternal in these and other ways. God’s eternal presence seems very close to me.

I tell people that the first step is to have faith that Jesus Christ is Lord. Faith requires a little shift from the front lobe of your brain, and that is where the experience can be lost before it even starts. This shift only occurs when we express true love and thanksgiving to God. I wish this were easier than it is, but God asks us for nothing less than our whole self. God responds by giving us a taste of the eternal. This love eventually burns in all of our senses. Our soul becomes a conduit through all our senses of the ever living God. So what are you waiting for? Go catch the fire of God’s love and share it with everyone you meet.

This Fall, we will travel to the Holy Cross Monastery on September 27^th to September 30^th. We will be led into the living presence of God through worship with the monks and then out into God’s beautiful creation to experience God in the changing of the seasons and in the beauty of mountains, rivers, and lakes. It will be a guided retreat with wonderful meals, great worship, and time to relax. Please contact me if you would like to attend. Please join Fr. John Morrison on zoom on Thursday, June 9th at 4 PM for a Spirituality Group presentation, “music, music, music.” The Spirituality Group is also sponsoring a labyrinth walk on June 11^th. We will meet at St. John’s at 10:00 AM and proceed to CW Post and then to Bar Frites for lunch.

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Duncan

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83803451202

Facebook Live Stream: https://www.facebook.com/stjohns1745/live_videos/

Bulletin: Rite I Day of Pentecost

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86739553648

Facebook Live Stream: https://www.facebook.com/stjohns1745/live_videos

Bulletin: Rite II Day of Pentecost

With your support of Episcopal Ministries of Long Island (EMLI) in 2021, you and fellow parishioners transformed lives across our diocese:

In these past two years, you bore witness to isolation, loss, and injustice – but you walked with your neighbors as Christ walks with us. Investing in EMLI is an opportunity to walk with our neighbors – and see Christ in them – every day. 

Your gift is a vital part of resourcing, nurturing, and amplifying ministries across the diocese. Will you make an investment in EMLI today and help us reach our goal of $100,000 by June 19th? Your partnership grows and strengthens this vital work bringing the love of Christ from the pew to the public square. 

For e-news: 

Give to the EMLI Annual Appeal Today 

Please visit episcopalministries.org to make a secure gift online. You can also mail a check to:

Episcopal Ministries of Long Island 

36 Cathedral Avenue 

We will begin a new prayer list for the summer season beginning June 11th. Please send your updated prayers to prayers@stjohns1745.org or call Coral in the Parish Office, 631-427-1752, ext. 101.

All are welcome at Morning Prayer. We meet Monday through Friday at 9:00 am via Zoom.

Our short prayer service is followed by some fellowship and discussion. Feel free to join us occasionally to listen and pray, or come more often to participate as a leader or reader, and to start your day with your focus on Christ and a deeper connection with your friends at St. John's.

Join us via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86041146543

Bible Study meets on Zoom, Mondays at 6:30 pm and Tuesdays at 11:00 am. Material covered on Mondays will also be covered on Tuesdays of the same week.

Our current unit on the Resurrection. We are reading NT Wright's Surprised by Hope. Please contact the Parish Office to get your copy.

Zoom Link for Mondays at 6:30 pm - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83373971746

NEW Zoom Link for Tuesdays at 11:00 am -  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82553627635

Prayerfully consider setting up recurring automatic payments directly from your bank account or using your credit card. Our secure online system, OnRealm, is an easy way to help to sustain us through the summer. Your regular stewardship payments are vital to the operation and maintenance of our beautiful church. Use the button below to make a regular payment or to set up recurring payements.

If you have not yet pledged, pledge cards are available in the pews and at the back of the church. You may also submit your pledge online using our online pledge form. You may send your regular stewardship payments in the mail, leave them in the collection plate on Sundays, or set up automatic, recurring payments online.

All are welcome to join St. John's Spirituality Group for their next monthly meeting on Thursday, June 9th at 4 pm on Zoom. Fr. John Morrison will lead discussion and reflection on...

If you are interested in exploring your spirituality and deepening your connection to others, consider joining us. Please contact Patti Aliperti (silverymoon33@yahoo.com) if you would like more information about St. John's Spirituality Group. 

All are invited to join us for yoga and meditation in the Garden of Blessings Fridays from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Practice will be led by Lynn LaBorde, a twice certified 200 hour yoga teacher, practicing since 1990 and meditation guide. Please bring your yoga mat. Yoga will move into the Great Hall if weather warrants.

To RSVP or if you have questions, please call Patti Aliperti at 631-385-1410, or email silverymoon33@yahoo.com.

To register online: LABYRINTH WALK ONLINE REGISTRATION FORM

June 11, 2022, 12 - 3 pm at the SCO Family of Serivces at 164 Third Avenue, Brentwood. Please spread the word among your immigrant friends and neighbors about a community event at the Long Island Immigration Clinic (LIIC) in Brentwood. It will provide information and resources about issues ranging from applying for a driver’s license to all about asylum to knowing your rights as a U.S. resident. This is a wonderful opportunity to walk in love with members of our immigrant community, joining them to learn and offering help and support. LIIC is supported by the Diocese of Long Island.

SUNDAY JUNE 12, 2022, 7 PM at St. John's Episcopal Church, Huntington. The Long Island Gay Men’s Chorus performs “Destination Anywhere” with songs about getting away, featuring songs like “Come Fly with Me,” I Go to Rio,” “Loch Lemond,” and the works of of Stephen Sondheim, Walt Whitman, John Denver, Peter Allen, JohnnyCash, Frank Sinatra and more!

 https://www.ligmc.org/concerts

If any one feels called to join in this ministry and help expand it, please reach out to Fr. James at jreiss@stjohnshuntington.org . All are welcome!

Donations Needed! We accept donations of new or gently used clothing, accessories, and household items. Please no books, furniture, out-dated electronics, or damaged items.

Volunteers continue to be needed - We are still bulding our Thursday and Saturday teams. If you wish to become a volunteer, please contact Lilly Welch, 631-271-1648 welchr@optonline.net.

Please join us at St. John's for Evensong, an ancient traditional Anglican/Episcopal service of evening prayers, psalms, biblical readings and canticles, chanted in a choral setting. In collaboration with Alex Pryrodny and the St. John's Choir, Fr. James will officiate our monthly Service of Evensong on the fourth Thursday of the month. Please join us Thursday, June 23rd at 7:00 PM in the church. Our guest preacher will be The Rev. Andrew Garnett who shares with us about the saint we remember that day: Etheldreda, Queen, Foundress and Abbess of Ely. All are welcome! Join us to pray for our broken world in need of healing, through the gift of music.

October 24 – 30 2022  

OUTREACH is sharing Christ’s love with all our neighbors! 

Thinking about joining us on the journey? Contact Deacon Claire as soon as possible.

We pray for Liz, Harry and Christine, Richard, Barbara, Fanny, Jackie, Diana, Edward, Christine, Fred, Tom, Allison, Amy, Kate, Cole, Jennifer, Spencer, Sue, Wylie, Matt, Susan, Maggie, Tom, Olivia, Christina, Victor, Melissa, Jack, Ursula, Anita, Nancy, Peter, Patti, Shannon, Kelsey, Justin, Cheryl, Kristin, Patricia, Jeff, Michael, Joseph, James, Sue, Bill, Dylan, Ruth, Kristen, Hal, Chyah, Jake

Please send your prayers to prayers@stjohns1745.org or call Coral in the Parish Office, 631-427-1752, ext. 101.