St. John's Episcopal Church - Tower Grove
  • St. John's Episcopal Church
  • Welcome!
    • New Here?
    • Get in Touch
    • Map and Directions
    • St. John's History
    • Clergy, Staff, Vestry
    • Links
  • Worship
    • Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals
    • Choir
    • Acolytes, Chalice Bearers and Lectors
    • Altar Guild
    • Greeters and Ushers
  • Serving Our Neighbors
    • Peace Meal
    • Winter Outreach
    • Episcopal City Mission
    • Isaiah 58 Ministries
    • Tower Grove Pride Festival
  • Education
    • Children and Youth Christian Education
    • Adult Christian Education
  • St. John's as a Community
    • Coffee Hour
    • Young Adult Group
    • Book Group
    • Pastoral Care
  • Calendar
  • Blog
  • St. John's Episcopal Church
  • Welcome!
    • New Here?
    • Get in Touch
    • Map and Directions
    • St. John's History
    • Clergy, Staff, Vestry
    • Links
  • Worship
    • Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals
    • Choir
    • Acolytes, Chalice Bearers and Lectors
    • Altar Guild
    • Greeters and Ushers
  • Serving Our Neighbors
    • Peace Meal
    • Winter Outreach
    • Episcopal City Mission
    • Isaiah 58 Ministries
    • Tower Grove Pride Festival
  • Education
    • Children and Youth Christian Education
    • Adult Christian Education
  • St. John's as a Community
    • Coffee Hour
    • Young Adult Group
    • Book Group
    • Pastoral Care
  • Calendar
  • Blog
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

12/21/2020 0 Comments

The Vestry Bulletin Board: November 2020 Minutes

The Vestry has approved the minutes of its November meeting; they're available below.

​Remember that members of the congregation are welcome to observe Vestry meetings: please contact Senor Warden John Eads for the Zoom link to upcoming meetings.
Picture
november_22_2020_vestry_meeting.pdf
File Size: 56 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

12/14/2020 0 Comments

The Sunday Sermon: Rejoice

by the Reverend Sally S. Weaver
Today is Gaudete (gow-day-tay) Sunday.  Gaudete is a Latin word meaning “rejoice.”  In Advent, we prepare for the coming of Jesus.  But on Gaudete Sunday, we break out of our posture of waiting and anticipating and let loose with rejoicing.  Even the Advent candle we light on this day recognizes this change in attitude.  It’s a different color – pink rather than blue.  Just looking at the Advent wreath, we can see that we are more than halfway through this season of expectation.  Even as the days outside grow shorter and the nights longer, in our hearts the light grows, the darkness dissipates.

​From the Church’s perspective, the Advent wreath is a recent custom.  It gained popularity in Europe in the 1800s and was brought to the United States in the 1900s by German immigrants.  Surely we must classify as a new thing anything that’s been around as a church tradition only 100 years!  A parishioner from my childhood church claims she’s been around longer than that.  The point of this is to let you know that the symbolism of Advent wreaths is newly created and evolving.  One recent idea is that the pink candle, the Gaudete Sunday candle, symbolizes the Virgin Mary.  Whether this has any basis in history I don’t know, but it does work well and fit nicely with our liturgy.
Picture
"Rejoice!" by OakleyOriginals is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Read More
0 Comments

12/6/2020 0 Comments

The Sunday Sermon: Comfort My People

Picture
"Building a highway inside Bertha’s launch pit" by WSDOT is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
by the Reverend Dr. Warren Crews
The opening words of Isaiah, chapter 40, in today’s lesson from the Hebrew scriptures tell of a conversation in the heavenly council about how miserable the Hebrew people are living in exile in Babylon as a punishment for their sins.  God suddenly announces Israel has been punished enough.  It is time to restore Israel.
​God’s opening words to the council, “Comfort, o comfort, my people” has been immortalized by Handel’s Messiah.  In chapter 40, three different members of the heavenly council respond to God.  The first one commands the construction of a great highway in the wilderness in which every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill made low, and the rough places made plain.  He is imagining a new direct road between Babylon and Jerusalem, as opposed to the very long northern detour around the great Syrian desert wilderness.  

Read More
0 Comments

    Editorial contact

    Various members of the St. John's congregation contribute to this blog. For editorial suggestions, contact Jeff McIntire-Strasburg at jeff.strasburg1968@gmail.com

    Archives

    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020

    Categories

    All Bishop Deon Johnson Book Group Congregation Members Deacons Diocese Of Missouri Episcopal Church Features General Information Parish Events Podcast Presiding-bishop-michael-curry Sermons Terms-of-transition Vestry

    RSS Feed

Map

St. John's Episcopal Church
3664 Arsenal St.
St. Louis, MO 63116

(314) 772-3970

Sunday worship at 10:30 a.m.

Picture
Picture

Stay connected