Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Readings

Isaiah 49:1-7

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

John 1:29-42

Psalm 40:1-12

Join us for Sunday Worship at 8:00 am and 10:00 am in the church or remotely on Zoom and Facebook.

8:00 am - Rite I Holy Eucharist

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

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

Bulletin: Rite I Epiphany

9:40 am - Sunday School meets in the Canterbury Corner

2022-23 Sunday School Calendar

10:00 am – Rite II Choral Eucharist

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

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

Bulletin: Rite II Epiphany

Music

Processional: 8 Morning has broken

Gradual: 76 On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry, vs. 1-2

Communion: PB 54 Be Present Jesus

Recessional: LEVAS 136 I have decided to follow Jesus

The Parish Office will be closed on Monday, January 16th in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Monday, January 16, 2023, and Beyond . . . 

In preparation for a weekend-long array of activities to celebrate MLK Day this year, from January 13 through January 16, Abraham’s Table Long Island has been promoting anti-hate practices by various faith groups. As its name suggests, Abraham’s Table’s mission is to create a spirit of common heritage, peace and cooperation among the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions here on Long Island through honest and respectful dialogue and joyful celebration of each other’s religious traditions as it simultaneously acknowledges the uniqueness of each religion. All three faiths share a common heritage of love of God, love of neighbor and nurturing loving communities, although we see so many stark reminders all around us of the incidents of hate against one or the other of these faith traditions and their followers.

As a Christian, I prefer to describe such activities as the practice of love, not of anti-hate. This is fundamental to our faith based on God’s love demonstrated so compellingly by the sacrifice of his Son on the cross to wash away our sin and whose only command is that we love him back in return… and love our neighbor as ourselves. That’s how our Presiding Bishop’s Jesus Movement would call it too. And that is at the heart of the Sacred Ground program that we have offered over and over again and will do so again shortly here at St. John’s, to practice that love and in so doing to become the beloved community of God.  

Interestingly, the theme also selected by Abraham’s Table for this weekend is Becoming The Beloved Community. That is no accident since it was the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who popularized the idea of beloved community (although the intentional use of the phrase “the beloved community” was first coined by philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce more than a half century earlier). The fact that it is an interfaith effort is also not by accident since the beloved community is the cornerstone of the Abrahamic faiths. 

How appropriate it is for us at this moment in the season of the Epiphany to focus our attention on the practice of love! As Fleming Rutledge says so eloquently in her book of sermons, Means of Grace, that we are studying in Bible Study, “Epiphany marks the transition from the manger to the cross. The ultimate glory of God is to be brought about by the ultimate sacrifice.” That sacrifice, we know, was based on His boundless love for us.

Various churches and their congregations are participating in the MLK weekend activities.  We can too, both as a faith community and individually. How can we respond? Attend and participate in as many of the activities as you can. Go to the Abraham’s Table website to find the flyer describing these activities. But, more than this, the reality is that becoming a beloved community is not a once-a-year event; becoming a beloved community by loving one’s neighbor is a daily practice. It is daily doing the little things, the small acts of kindness to give hope in the midst of some other person’s hopelessness, speaking up and standing up to defend someone else’s dignity and rights. This is at the heart of what the sacred command to love our neighbor means. The choice of a ‘neighbor’ is endless – not just your pew mate at church or a friend or someone who resides in your own community but also the drunk or addict you see lying asleep on the sidewalk in Everycity, USA, the exiles, whether at our southern border or bused to other cities by border states in sheer acts of political lunacy reflecting the frustrating inability of unaided human solutions, exiles from so many countries around the globe both from wars, violence, food scarcity and devastation of climate change, the poor or unemployed whose situation many studies document are not the typical stereotypes we keep thinking and talking about; they are not the lazy good-for-nothings, the minorities, those who prefer to live on a government handout in this country.  

I like the way Fleming Rutledge thinks. I’ll end by quoting her again: “God breaks through to where even the smallest acts of human charity signify the coming of the time when the dead will be raised and all our sins and foolishness will be no more.” Let’s all start doing small acts of human charity for others made in the image of God in and for the love of God. 

Heather G. Kress

Chair, St. John’s Racial Reconciliation &Social Justice Ministry

Abraham's Table is offering, through partnerships with other faith communities, a variety of events beginning this Friday through Monday.  Here are the two major events. The first one occurs before the Chalice is sent, so perhaps just include the second:

Abraham’s Table of Long Island 

 Beloved Community Interfaith Responses  

to Hate on Long Island 

Before, During and After MLK Weekend January 13-16, 2023 

• There will be a Beloved Community brunch/opening ceremony on the morning of January 13th at 10AM at the Suffolk Y JCC in Commack featuring speakers and choirs.

• There will be a closing choir concert with a speakers including keynote speaker Keynote Speaker Frank Meeink, a recovering Skinhead, on Monday January 16th at 4PM, both at the Suffolk Y JCC in Commack. (For more information: Bat Sheva Slavin - bslavin@syjcc.org)

Here is a link to see what other faith communities are doing to honor MKL:

ABRAHAM'S TABLE BELOVED COMMUNITY MLK ACTIVITIES

First Holy Communion will take place on Sunday, April 16, 2023 for children 2nd grade and above. First Communion classes will meet on Wednesdays at 5 pm in the Guild Room beginning on March 1st.

If you are interested in First Holy Communion for your child, please register using the link below. Forms are also available at the back of the church. If you have any questions about First Communion, please feel free to reach out to Fr. Duncan or the Parish Office.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION REGISTRATION FORM

Saturday, February 25th at 4:00 pm

Come and enjoy an evening of uplifting African-American anthems and spirituals!

Featuring Alex Pryrodny, soloists from St. Augustine’s Episcopal church, and others.

Donations to benefit St. John’s Concert Fund.

Tuesday, Thursdays & Saturdays

12 - 3 pm

HELP! Volunteers continue to be needed - If you wish to become a volunteer, please contact Mary Beth Dieterle, (631) 427-1752, ext 106.

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

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

The Annual Meeting will take place on Sunday, February 5, 2023 at 11:00 am in the Great Hall.

All ministry chairs please submit your group’s annual report to the Church Office (cfreas@stjohnshuntington.org) no later than Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 9am. Please sumbit as a Microsoft Word document, Google Doc, or as text in the body of an email.

Nominations are open for 2023 Vestry Elections. At our Annual Meeting we will be voting on one Warden, three Vestry seats including one Clerk of the Vestry. If you would like to run for any of these open roles, please contact the nominating committee of either Fr. Duncan 845-271-9134 or Rob Wheeler at 631-271-8286.

Nominations for St. John's Delgates to the 2023 Diocesan Convention are now open. If you are interested in attending the 2023 Diocesan Convention as a voting delgate on November 10-11, 2023, please let Fr. Duncan or Coral in the Parish Office know.

2023 Giving envelopes have arrived and are ready for pick up at the back of the church for those who indicated on their pledge cards that they would like a box.

There are still giving numbers available, so if you would like a box of weekly giving envelopes, please reach out Coral in the Parish Office.