Parish E-mail address list

The parish e-mail announcement list has been moved. To ensure that you get the e-mail announcements, be sure to add the address stjohnschurchway@gmail.com to your Contacts or Address Book to help avoid messages from the church being marked as spam. If you would like to be added to the list, please send a message to the address above. For more info, contact John Edwards.

Save the Chapel Raffle

Tickets will be on sale in the parish hall every Sunday following BOTH services for this fundraising raffle. Two items will be raffled off: 1) Jean Bowerman’s Handmade Quilt – $5.00 per ticket and 2) Gift Certificate Basket – $10 per ticket. Includes restaurants, theatre tickets, sports events, and more…valued over $500. Drawing will take place on December 20, 2009 following the 9:30 service.

Celebration of the Commemorative Brick Walk Way, Sun., Nov. 1

PLEASE JOIN US
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2009
THE CHAPEL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE
AT 11:00 AM
TO
CELEBRATE THE INSTALLATION OF
THE COMMEMORATIVE BRICK WALKWAY

Light Lunch with Chapel Chowder to follow

Updates to the Church web site

The Parish History page on the website has been expanded — with meticulously researched information on the founding of the chapel and on the Willett and Carpenter families. Thank you Helen Farrell Allen!

Kathy O’Neel Webster kicked off the Stewardship campaign for 2010 in September; please read the campaign letter on the website.

Also, the lector and altar server schedule has been updated to include the rota for October and November
(see http://www.stjohnschurchway.org/protected/servers.shtml ). You must log in to see this page — see a Vestry member for the login information.

Blessing of the Animals, Sunday, Oct. 4

All are welcome!

At the 8 o’clock service there is a live-animal-free service, but bring photos of pets, live and departed, and there will be a special prayer of thanksgiving. Bring a new small stuffed animal to be placed on the altar and blessed. These will be given to a program that works with children in crisis.

At the 9:30 service, animals are welcome to the service IN THE SANCTUARY. Dogs that get along in social situations are invited (on their leads), cats, bunnies, birds and other small critters in cages (so that retriever types don’t get over stimulated and cats, etc., feel safer). Photos are welcome of dogs or cats that get too upset by the proximity of other animals or are aggressive and again folks are invited to bring a small, NEW stuffed animal to be blessed and given away. Some children don’t have a live pet, but a special stuffed one that they like to have blessed and taken back home. Horses or donkeys can appear in the doorway entrance to the church for a blessing.

Sunday School lesson plans for Fall posted on website

For information about exciting plans for Sunday School this Fall at St. John’s, please visit this page:

http://www.stjohnschurchway.org/formation.shtml

Guest Celebrant

We welcome the Reverend Bill Fraatz as our guest celebrant and preacher. The Rev. Fraatz will be leading our parish in worship quite frequently over the next few months as our supply priest.

Vacuum Cleaner Needed

The vacuum cleaner in the rectory apparently shorted out this past week. If anyone has an extra one at home that they could donate, or just let us borrow until the rectory renovations are done, it would make things easier for Howard. Contact Locke, Jaye or Lori in the office. Thank you!

Church Fair Update

A very sincere THANK YOU! to each and every one who helped make the 59th Annual Church Fair on August 1st a success! From donators to organizers, pricers to luggers, supply shoppers to poster plasterers, grillcooks to lobster roll stuffers, bakers to kid funmakers, setter-uppers to cleaner-uppers and all who helped in between…. Your time and energy is greatly appreciated. We generated a net profit of $3295.87 for our little chapel by the sea! What a wonderful community event! It’s never too early to start thinking about more great ideas for the 60th !

SUNDAY SCHOOL TO RESUME / Confirmation Classes Offered

Our children are our future. This fall, we would like to resume Sunday School, building on the past volunteer efforts of parent-teachers, most recently Perry Moylan, Diane Barzaghi, and Caroline Jenckes. Ideas for the 2009-2010 school year have been explored in depth by Julianne Hanavan and Gigi Edwards (both experienced teachers and curriculum builders), in consultation with other parish parents, vestry members, and Susan Stiles, our diocesan consultant. Our largest concentration of students consists of young teens, but there are also many smaller children whom we welcome. We believe that with flexibility and teamwork, we can serve everyone’s needs.

Several of our youth have already been confirmed. We invite them to serve as role models for the upcoming youth class, as well as supervisors of our youngest members, the toddlers. Many of our younger teens and “tweens” have expressed a willingness to learn more about what it means to be a Christian, an Episcopalian, and a member of the Chapel of St. John the Divine. These are the issues we will explore.

Some of the students may choose to be confirmed this coming spring. Those who are a bit young for 2010 confirmation will choose a metaphorical “pilgrimage” to undertake for the following year so that they can be confirmed in 2011. All those awaiting confirmation, whether this coming spring or the next, will ask adults from the parish (unrelated to them) to sponsor them. The confirmation process, and Sunday School in general, provide a wonderful opportunity for intergenerational, cooperative faith-building. We ask everyone to take an interest and to take an active role. A vibrant parish rears its youth to carry on its traditions!

We are currently talking about the following structure for our 2009-2010 Sunday School:

First and third Sunday of each month, during the 9:30 service.

Each biweekly curriculum will be pre-established and clearly laid out for the volunteer teachers, using books and materials provided by the church. Teachers are welcome/encouraged to adapt the curriculum to the needs and concerns of the particular students present.

All classes will be held in the parish hall, the room adjacent to the church where we hold coffee hour. (The rectory will be under construction.)

Two adults (not related to each other) will sign up to teach each class. There won’t be many more than a dozen classes from late September through early spring, so with plenty of volunteers, the rotation should be infrequent.

Children will rejoin the congregation during announcements and report briefly on what they learned/discussed/made.

THERE WILL BE A MEETING OF ALL SUNDAY SCHOOL PARENTS, STUDENTS, AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES AFTER THE 9:30 SERVICE ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 (the weekend after Labor Day). The initial class will meet on Sunday, September 20 (the third Sunday of the month). For more information, contact Gigi Edwards through the church office.