One Service at 10 This Sunday

Join Us This Sunday at 10:00 AM!

Come worship with us this Sunday,

The First Sunday in Lent

Our preacher will be

The Rev. Gini Gerbasi, Rector

The service begins at 10:00 AM

All are welcome!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sowing Seeds of Love: A Lenten Project from St. John’s, Georgetown

Joy holds. Hope energizes. Love heals. For a while now, St. John’s, Georgetown has been exploring what it means to love. What does love in action look like? What are the skills of loving? What conditions make loving our neighbors easier? How does love spread? These aren’t abstract questions meant to distract us from hard times. They’re the kinds of questions that help us become a source of healing in a world that desperately needs it.

Over the last two years, we’ve learned a few things. Love in action shows up as justice, kindness, humility, and compassion. Joy and hope – whether in a community or a single human heart – create the conditions where love can flourish. Turning our attention to joy, we learned that joy holds: it holds space, holds people close, holds meaning, promise, and power. And we learned something about hope: it energizes, and it’s contagious, resilient, and powerful, often terrifying those whose power is built on fear.

So this Lent, rooted in joy and hope, St. John’s Georgetown will sow seeds of love – seeds we believe can help heal our hearts, our communities, and our country. Each day we’ll share stories (on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and our website) of good things breaking out in the world around us. And because joy and hope are contagious and build resilience, these tangible examples of justice, kindness, and compassion can inspire more acts of love and help others hold on through difficult times.

We are inviting you to contribute to this important project. We’ll start posting on February 18 and post each day until Palm Sunday (March 29). Send in a video (2 minutes max), captioned photo, audio file, poem, a short paragraph, or whatever helps us see or hear the goodness that you have found in the world. Send your files to SowingSeeds@stjohnsgeorgetown.org. Feel free to send more than one! If you need help, email Gini (@ stjohnsgeorgetown.org).

Together we can sow seeds of love that can grow and spread, and foster genuine healing – in our own hearts, our community, and the world.

UPCOMING SERVICES

PARISH ANNUAL MEETING is on March 1^st and will be directly after a 10am JAZZ Service! Be hip, be cool, and be ready to get jazzed up about hearing where we’re at and where we’re headed as a Parish.

COMPLINE – Every THURSDAY during Lent at 7pm. February 26^th through March 26^th. The final service in the Book of Hours, Compline, is also known as Night Prayer. This ancient practice first came about in the 6^th Century in the Rule of St. Benedict. Come immerse yourself in this brief but poignant moment of candlelit peace, chant and reflection.

Lenten Coffee Hours

Help us welcome and nourish one another by supporting our Lenten coffee hours! We invite anyone to contribute food for the spread, especially warm soups/chilis and bread. Please use the following Sign-Up to indicate what you will bring: Any questions? Please contact Parish Life Committee chair Andrea Kramer at ac_kramer@yahoo.com.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E044CADAF23A75-62464580-lenten

Easter Flowers

Easter is a wonderful time to remember those who have gone before us or celebrate the joys in our lives. You can use the QR code to submit your Easter flower dedications. Dedications are due to the office by Palm Sunday, March 29.

 Worship Opportunities

Want to get more involved in Sunday worship? It’s easy—just sign up!



We need volunteers each week for:

• Flower Guild
• Lesson and prayer readers
• Ushers
•  Acolytes
•  Altar Guild (assist clergy before services)
• Host Minister/Greeter (make announcements, invite all to coffee hour)

Training is available, but if you’ve attended before, you’ll likely already know what to do.

Tech-savvy? Rev. Laura needs help with the Sunday broadcast. Training provided; most controls are preset. Questions? Contact Patti Thorp (verger) at 919-491-4481 or thorppatti@gmail.com, or sign up at our Sign-up Genius page: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B044EABAC28A6F94-54060798-11am#/

GET YOUR TIX NOW – OUR CABARET SELLS OUT EVERY TIME!

Heat up an evening with libations, laughs and love!

The stars will come out again on Saturday, 2/21/2026 at 7pm (doors open at 6), when our very own Kate Vetter Cain and Derek Greten-Harrison will bring us their new show,

“Alone Together with You” accompanied again by Director of Music, Aaron Goen.

Delightful sips will be paired with a tasty feast of appetizers from Georgetown Restaurants!

https://secure.qgiv.com/for/alonetogetherwithyou/event/alonetogetherwithyou/

SAVE THE DATE! Georgetown House Tour 2026 is April 18^th!

This year’s Patron’s Party is on 4/15 at 6:30pm. New this year: a cocktail Forum here in Blake Hall with renowned designer Barry Dixon on 4/16, 5:30–7:30pm. 

The House Tour runs 4/18, 11am–5pm. Mark your calendar and consider volunteering—we need baked goods, Docents, House Captains, and more to support North America's longest-running house tour since 1931! Questions? Contact Judy Ryan, judy.ryan2@verizon.net or Rev. Laura Natta.

Lenten Reflections

For Lent, 1966 by Madeleine L’Engle

It is my Lent to break my Lent,

To eat when I would fast,

To know when slender strength is spent,

Take shelter from the blast

When I would run with wind and rain,

To sleep when I would watch.

It is my Lent to smile at pain

But not ignore its touch.

It is my Lent to listen well

When I would be alone,

To talk when I would rather dwell

In silence, turn from none

Who call on me, to try to see

That what is truly meant

Is not my choice. If Christ’s I’d be

It’s thus I’ll keep my Lent.

Wild Geese, by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

A Powerful Prayer for the 1st Week of Lent

O God,

As I begin this Lenten journey, I come before You with humility. Cleanse my heart and renew my spirit. Help me turn away from distractions and focus fully on You.

Teach me discipline in prayer, strength in fasting, and sincerity in repentance. Remove pride, selfishness, and doubt from my heart. Fill me with Your peace and wisdom.

Lord, guide me through these 40 days. Let this season transform me, not just outwardly but deeply within. Prepare my heart to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with true joy.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Holy Week & Easter at St. John’s

This year’s Holy Week will look at Jesus’ last week through the lens of our own time to show us that state-sanctioned and religiously supported violence is not just a thing of the past.

Holy Tuesday | March 31 | 7:00pm

Experience the Liturgy of the Empty Hands in solidarity with those who, out of fear of being unlawfully deported, are afraid to leave their homes. We will help fill some of those empty hands by collecting groceries and diapers for Justicia Alementaria.

Maundy Thursday | April 2 | 7:00pm - Location To Be Announced

Join us for a community meal and time of reflection and prayer on the night of the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the first Eucharist.

Good Friday | April 3 | 7:00pm

Remember the sacrificial love of Christ in this annual liturgy with the St. John’s Choir.

The Great Vigil of Easter | Saturday April 4 | 7:30pm

Join us in proclaiming the joy of the resurrection in this first service of Easter! This year our shared Easter Vigil service will be hosted here at St. John’s and we will be baptizing Meghan Klingler

Easter Sunday | April 5 | 10:00am

The celebration continues with these festive services with the St. John’s choir.



Join us at 10:00 am for a wonderful Easter Egg Hunt!