| | Weekly Dispatch, February 16th, 2022 |
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| |  | | St. John's Schedule- Catechesis Hour – Sundays at 9:00am before Church
- Holy Eucharist – Sundays at 10:30am at Church and via Zoom
- Evening Prayer and Lectio Divina – Wednesdays at 6:30pm at Church
- Cana Vox – Friday, February 18th, 7:30 PM at Church
- Annual Meeting – Sunday, February 20th, after Church
- Ash Wednesday – Wednesday, March 2nd, 6:00 PM at Church
- Eagle and Child - Thursday, March 3, 7:00 PM, location TBD
- Vestry Retreat – Saturday, March 19th, 10:00 AM at The Archibald's
| | A Message from Fr. Joe | As you certainly know by now, Epiphany is all about revelation or revealing Christ to the world. What an opportune time to pray and engage the mission of the Church for such a time! There are two areas I want to highlight for this Sunday.
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First, we have our Annual Parish Meeting. I am particularly excited to share with you the summary of our Vision Charette! My hope is that we can continue the momentum for what God is doing in the life of St. John’s and that your participation would even deepen in her mission. Much has already been said and written about the annual meeting, so I simply invite all people to attend even if you don’t consider yourself a member (yet!). It will be very informative for those discerning membership with St. John’s and hopefully may even confirm God’s call towards you with us.
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Second, according to our new Book of Common Prayer, this Sunday is commonly considered World Mission Sunday. It can be any Sunday in Epiphany, except the first and last, and I thought it would be appropriate to align this day with our annual meeting. Our liturgy will be adjusted in various prayers and readings to reflect the focus. The prayers of the people will be a missional litany composed by the New Wineskins Conference. This is an Anglican missions conference that meets every three years. Also, some of our prayers will come from the Kenyan Eucharistic Rite in their Prayer Book. Our desire is to see our prayers even more connect us with the wider Church around the world and remember that the mission of the Gospel is to be extended towards all people groups. Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday!
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If you would like to support St. John's during this time, you can give online by clicking the button below. You may also send a check to the following address:
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PO BOX 36591, CANTON OH 44735
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| The Heart of the Matter by Fr. Joe |  | A message from the series "Sermons from Lectionary Texts." This week’s epiphany, or revelation, focused on the human heart. We are moving closer to Lent; therefore, our readings are revealing more and more our need for rescue and divine intervention. The surprising epiphany is how God actually relates to our sinful hearts and what He has done on our behalf.
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|  | | Join us every second and fourth (usually) Thursday night for our Eagle and Child reading group! This is a group that meets to discuss and apply classic works in Christian theology from the likes of Lewis, Augustine, Bonhoeffer, and other important authors. Currently, we are reading The Love of Wisdom by Andrew Davison to discuss the history of philosophy as it relates to Christian theology and practice. |
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 | | Cana Vox is a discussion group that meets every other Friday where those, married or unmarried, who support a classical understanding of marriage can explore the controversial issues in a calm, deliberative setting that is not subject to the hostilities often found in today's public discourse on the topic. We seek to discuss thoughtful and gospel-oriented responses to the confusion surrounding marriage in our culture. |
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| | Catechesis| Adults: We continue our focus on the creeds of the Church. What are we professing every week and why does it matter? Join us every Sunday at 9am for a time of rich conversation, engaging teaching, and the coffee is on us! |
Children: Our children began a new catechetical approach called Gospel Play. Our children are focusing on the parables of Jesus where they are catching the revelation of Christ, what He came to do, and what His Kingdom is like. It is a highly interactive approach to catechesis, and we invite all children to participate! |
| | Annual Meeting| Why do churches hold annual meetings? What’s the point? The Annual Meeting is designed to empower you, as a member to give questions, concerns, voice, and even vote for certain matters in the church. All are welcome to attend, but only members are allowed to vote. We will give more details on membership in future dispatches, but all members should mark their calendars for February 20th after church. We will provide childcare too. The meeting should not last more than an hour. One of the major items on the agenda is voting for two new Vestry members. More information on nominating Vestry members is forthcoming, but I would ask you to pray who you might nominate to serve on the Vestry. |
| | How Can I Serve at St. John's? There are plenty of ways to serve at St. John’s and we would love for you to join in on what God is doing in the church. Below you can see all the different ways to serve. No special skills required, simply a willingness to learn and grow in service.
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| Acolyte Ministry – Carrying the cross, assisting at the table, and learning more about the Anglican Way. |
Altar Guild – Preparing the Lord’s Table for Holy Communion before the service and developing a sense of holiness in worship.
Readers – Approaching God’s Word with boldness and declaring it to the people.
Hospitality – Providing food, setting up and cleaning up the area, and making space for all people to feel welcome and belong. We also hold special events throughout the Church calendar preparing feasts together.
Gospel Play – Experience catechesis with our children with interactive materials enhancing biblical narratives within the liturgical calendar. It is a lot of fun!
Ushers/Greeters – Welcome people as they come to church, especially newcomers, handing out bulletins, and passing the plates for the offering. |
We hope to develop these ministries with more lay leadership. In the meantime you can contact Fr. Joe, Dcn. Chad, or Maggie if you interested in participating or even taking leadership in these various ministries. |
| | Evening Prayer and Lectio Divina| Alongside our regular Evening Prayer we are going to implement Lection Divina or “Divine Reading.” This practice helps us focus our attention towards the Scriptures and relies upon the Holy Spirit to direct our hearts and minds to the text. We will be praying through the Gospel of Luke outside of the normal Lectionary readings. Come and rest in prayer and the Scriptures. Every Wednesday at 6:30pm. |
| | Interested in Becoming a Member of St. John’s?| Fr. Joe would love to take you out for coffee discussing your interest in becoming a member at St. John’s Anglican Church. Membership is wonderful step forward in affirming your sense of calling to the local and even wider church. If you have any interest in becoming a member or seeking discernment of membership, please reach out to Fr. Joe. |
| | The Daily Office| Interested in a simple way to pray the daily office from the Book of Common Prayer? Follow this link for text and audio versions of the morning, noon, and evening prayer services taken directly from the 2019 ACNA BCP. |
| | Contact Fr. Joe
| I am here for you. If you would like to grab some coffee or other beverages, or would like a home visit, please don’t hesitate to contact me at: frjoe@stjohnscanton.org |
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