St. John's Common Room

Community of Hope class #5 completes its training

After 12 weeks meeting every Thursday evening for 3 hours, the fifth class of Community of Hope completed its training with a retreat. We were delighted to again have volunteers from St John Medical Center, members of St John's Episcopal Church and a community member participate. Churches represented included Episcopal, Roman Catholic, United Methodist, and Diversity Christian Fellowship. Community of Hope trains people to be lay pastoral listeners in a variety of settings. The group will now embark on a three-month internship to explore their ministry interests.

Congratulations to all those who were dedicated in attending the training, to Debra Gibson our training facilitator for her many hours of organization and leadership, and to those who taught the various classes. We are excited that our Community of Hope program has matured to the point that other members now teach various sections of the course, including Marilyn Bedford on meditation and Charlene Fabian on Benedictine spirituality.

  Missing from the picture: Dian Peacock

Cold vegetable donation brings smiles to community gardens

At  5:10 pm on Wednesday March 24^th a large truck from the Bert R. Hybels company in Michigan arrived on S Atlanta Place to deliver a generous donation of cold vegetables. Have you ever seen an Episcopal “bucket line?” Steve, an Episcopalian himself and the driver, handed down flats from the rack to five parishioners. In the end he said that we did a quicker job of offloading the rack than some companies to which he delivers! What he didn’t know was that we were trying to finish before the 5:30 pm Eucharist service.

 

We received 108 flats including the following vegetables: early and late cabbage, red cabbage, snow crown and late cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, collards, and head and romaine lettuce. Each flat includes 18 3-paks so we had over 5000 plants to give away.

 

The Web is a wondrous help. The emails were sent to a few and forwarded to many. In the end, we supplied veggies to community gardens based at schools, recreation centers, at a senior’s complex, to Philbrook for their partnership with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, for the Indian Health Centers and for our own Garden of Hope, a ministry to support Iron Gate in downtown Tulsa.

 

Many thanks to the Bert R. Hybels, Inc. for bringing so many smiles to those working to reduce hunger in our community!

 

Here are some photos:

 

http://sjtulsa.typepad.com/photos/vegetable_donation/

 

St John's Gift and Bookstore a treasure - for Outreach!

We are so grateful to Barbara Burke and her dedicated volunteers who select products, display them and sell them. There are many wonderful items in the store located at the north entrance door on S Atlanta Place. Tell a friend!

What you may not know is that the proceeds from this venture support our Outreach initiatives. In 2009 the Gift and Bookstore presented checks totalling $3,500 to support our Outreach ministries! In 2010 they hope to give even more.

The Gift and Bookstore is open after services on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays 10 am to 2:00 pm, and Wednesdays 5:00 to 7:00 pm. To volunteer contact Barbara Burke via 742-7381.

Interested in what St John's supports in the community? You can find our Outreach goals and a list of agencies we support at http://www.sjtulsa.org/outreach/index.cfm.

Prayers and Squares seeks to learn more to serve more

Ever wonder who makes all those beautiful quilts on which we tie knots and say prayers for those who are sick or dying or who need the comfort of a prayer quilt?

A committed corps of women cut fabric into squares, sew these squares together in designs, quilt them by machine and pull the 50-60 ties. Since late 2003 these dedicated women have created 513 quilts!

On Saturday February 27^tha group from the ministry joined together for brunch and then a very informative tutorial conducted by Dianne Schooley, founder of Prayers and Squares, and Karen Potts and Karen Kelly early members of this ministry. We learned the history of our ministry and heard some of the funny stories. Barbara Lawson, current head of this ministry, didn’t even have a sewing machine when she started! There were many exclamations of “so that’s how you do that!” or “here’s how I do it!” We laughed and learned together.

We come together on the third Monday of the month at 5:30 pm and the first and third Tuesdays at 1:00 pm. If you are interested in joining the ministry, please contact Barbara Lawson through the office 742-7381. All skills levels are welcome!

Photo by Dianne Schooley

Thank you to Community of Hope!

Dear Rev. Cutter, Rev. Methven, Clergy and members of St John's Episcopal Church,

I would like to thank everyone for making the opportunity of participating in the Community of Hope training. Your welcoming hospitality and vibrant desire to serve our community through embracing individual giftings is refreshing! And very timely in these challenging times.

We received this note, along with a gift to Community of Hope, from Cynthia Patterson, a community member who trained with our last class.

We have started our 5th class for Community of Hope with 8 members: 3 from St John's, 4 from St John's Medical Center, and a Rotarian. Debra Gibson is our the Training Facilitator.

Community of Hope members serve in a variety ministries within our parish (as hospital visitors, lay Eucharistic visitors, on the bereavement ministry) and in the community (at St John Medical Center, Clarehouse, Saint Simeon's, as well as other retirement or skilled nursing facilities). Your ministry is only limited by your imagination! If you are interested in exploring this ministry please contact the Rev. Susanne Methven or Debra Gibson through the office (742-7381).

Shrove Tuesday at St John's

We had one last "blow out" fellowship event on Shrove Tuesday. We came, we ate (pancakes, sausage, and applesauce), inaugurated a new liturgy (burning the palms from last Palm Sunday to make ashes for Ash Wednesday), and then witnessed the children's delight as Safari Joe shared his exotic animals and insects and even snakes.

Here are some photos of the event:

http://sjtulsa.typepad.com/photos/shrove_tuesday_2010/

New ways to recognize the importance of Holy Communion at St John’s

During his sermon on February 14^th Irv reminded us of the centrality of Holy Communion in our liturgy. There are two new ways that we are emphasizing its importance:

1. Instruction for youngsters. A lively group spent two sessions with Irv learning about communion. Congratulations to those who participated in the class!

Blake Randall, Austin Cutter, David Schaffer, Miriam Schaffer, Bobby Byers, Piper Szabo, Charlotte Vanderyt, Olivia Vanderyt, Wyatt Summers, Kit Ferguson, Emma Cinocca, Nathan Cinocca, Erin Dean, Evan Dean, Jake Rawlings

2. Congregational sending out of Eucharistic Visitors. We have a number of people who faithfully bring communion to the shut-in or hospitalized after the Sunday service. As of today, when a Eucharistic Visitor takes communion, the congregation will send the person out:

Celebrant    In the name of this congregation, I send you forth bearing these holy gifts, that those to whom you go may share with us in the communion of Christ’s body and blood.

People    We who are many are one body, because we share one bread, one cup.

 

Brotherhood of St. Andrew sponsors Boy Scout Chili Cook-off

The Common Room was packed on Friday February 5^th as parishioners and Boy Scout and Venture Crew supporters tasted 32 different pots of chili! The tradition of support for the Boy Scouts goes back over 40 years, starting as a bean and cornbread feast and, for the last seven years, the Chili cook-off.

 

Winners of the Chili contest were (in order): Bob Baker, Christy Rawlings and Don Bradshaw.

 

The event raised $1,150 for the Boy Scouts and $320 for the Venture Crew.

 

St. John’s is proud to sponsor Boy Scout Troop 153 for the last 49 years.  Any boy approaching his 11^th birthday is welcome to join this very active troop. The Venture Crew was formed 8 years ago and is co-ed. Any young person 14 and over is welcome to join Venture Crew. To join either group contact Paula Rule at 742-7381.

 

Congratulations to all involved for a wonderfully festive evening!

 

Of note!

 

We just celebrated Michael Bedford’s 20-year anniversary at St John’s. What a blessing that Michael shares his talents at the organ, with the choirs and as a composer with us!

 

We’ve heard of a new accomplishment of note: Michael has won first prize in the 2010 Organ Composition Contest sponsored by the American Guild of Organists. His piece, Theme and Variations on “Le P’ing,” a Chinese folk melody focusing on God’s creation, will be premiered as the convention opener in July in the National Cathedral! Please congratulate Michael when you see him!

 

 

Epiphany 2010 and fellowship with one another

We started inside the church in almost darkness - only the candles in the torchiers lit. After prayers for the light we lit the candles held by parishioners and candles on the altar. Finally we were in full light. How marvelous is light in darkness; how marvelous was the star guiding the wise men! How blessed we are to have the Light of Christ! After the service we ate a drip beef dinner hosted by the Altar Guild. We left warmed by the gospel and our fellowship before the sleet and snow were scheduled to arrive.

 
The torchiers at the beginning of the service

 

A delicious meal shared with friends