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April 1 - 30, 2001 St. John’s Episcopal Church 404-761-8402 SPECIAL EVENTS
EACH WEEK WE OFFER
TRANSITIONS Welcome to Helane Hooker who comes to us from St. Luke’s. Please add Helane’s name and address to your Parish Directory: PO Box 311921, Atlanta, GA. 31131, 404/755-8344. Our love and sympathy to the family of Annie Ellison who died on February 28. May the souls of the faithful departed rest in God’s nearer presence.
EASTER DECORATIONS Please send your donation for Easter decorations (with a note as to whether it is in memory of someone or a thank offering) to the church by April 9. Tenebrae on April 4 Tenebrae is the only service that moves us from light to darkness. Candles are extinguished as we read lessons and recite psalms. Tenebrae is a wonderful "bookend" to the Easter Vigil, which moves from darkness to light. Plan to come, and if you have one, bring a penlight! Dinner at 6:30.
NIGHT WATCH From 8:30 p.m. on Maundy Thursday until noon on Good Friday we will observe our annual Night Watch. There is a sign-up sheet in Bott Hall for those who would like to spend time in prayer in the chapel that night. "Could You not watch with Me one hour? Watch, then, and pray, that you enter not into temptation."
ST. JOHN’S YOUTH DO US PROUD We are very proud of Whitney Reeves and Ashley Graham, who have been selected as Counselors in Training at Camp Mikell this summer. Ashley will work at the Outdoor Midget Camp and Whitney will be at the Junior Camp. Whitney will also be a participant in our Diocesan Youth Mission trip to Ecuador! Way to go! Let us know of accomplishments of other young people in the parish. We want to tell!
GOOD-BYE to diana Diana Blosser will leave us after Easter to become the Director of Christian Education at St. Catherine’s. Her twelve years at the organ have enriched us all, and we send her off with our love.
WORK DAY Pitch in on our work day April 21 from 8:00-noon. Come help spruce the place up before Bishop Tharp comes the next day for our Convocational Confirmation (at 4:00 p.m.).
CONGRATULATIONS! Our own Ray Townsend has been elected to the Board of Directors of Family Life Ministries. We are proud of Ray and honored that he represents us so well. Ray volunteers at Family Life every Tuesday morning (and takes our contributions from the food barrel).
WE’RE ON THE WEB! Check out St. John’s new web site (the address is in the masthead). We’re still working on the site, but it looks great! Thanks to Paul Brady for preliminary work and to Robbin Iddins for building the site.
OUTREACH NEEDS YOU! Our spiritual growth comes through reaching out (or inward) to others. St. John’s needs your input! If you are willing to be a part of the committee to formulate a plan for St. John’s outreach, please contact Debbie Reeves or Blanche Shropshire. Thanks!
HOLY COMFORTER On April 25, we will again visit our friends at Holy Comforter, a parish in East Atlanta that cares for mentally disabled adults. We meet at St. John’s at 5:15, carpool, make supper, worship at Holy Comforter, and make new friends. Call the church if you can go. If you’ve never been, try it! You’ll be with friends.
HELP WELCOME NEWCOMERS Please contact Jeanne Mull (770/969-0489) if you can help the Newcomer’s Committee welcome newcomers and follow-up on their visits. We have some great new ideas but need your help to implement them. Everyone is invited to be a member of the group, especially newcomers! Please call - we need your help. APRIL Birthdays
FROM THE VESTRY By Robbin Iddins For about a month I have been thinking and worrying about what I would write about for the Eagles Notes. I thought about several topics and discarded them quickly because I was not knowledgeable enough. I have all kinds of doubts because I am just a baby in Christ at this stage of my life. Sometimes, I feel unworthy to call myself a child of God but then I think about my life and who I was three years ago – thinking I knew what I wanted in life and that I had control of what would or wouldn’t happen in my life. Boy, was I in for a surprise when God knocked on my heart. I’m still not knowledgeable enough but I feel that God has put this subject in my heart today and I wanted to share it with all of you. The subject is God’s love for each of us. Being a former Baptist, I am still learning about the different traditions and seasons of the Church Year that we Episcopalians have. Lent is one of those seasons. I hear others talking about what they are going to give up for forty days and I think long and hard about that. I‘ve decided for the last couple of years to quit smoking and after the second day, I fail. I tell myself, I’m weak and think how disappointed God must be in me. But then, I think about how much God loves me. Yes ME. Weak Me. I am a product of God’s love. I’ve done many, many things that I’m ashamed of and think there’s no way God would love ME. Nevertheless, God’s love has lifted me and changed me forever. As you might have noticed, once in while I’m crying (boy, is that an understatement!). These tears are tears of joy and thankfulness for receiving God’s grace, love and forgiveness. This Lenten season, I have been reading Henri J.M. Nouwen’s book, Show Me The Way (readings for each day of Lent). During some point in the day, I stop everything to read, pray and listen to God. I’m at Camp Mikell today and during our free time I walked down to the creek and sat in the sunshine on a rock. Listening to the birds chirp and the babbling water, I think to myself, How Great Thou Art, Lord! I begin with the reading for the Saturday of the Second Week in Lent. It’s a story about returning, returning to God and remembering that he made ME from his own hands and that he LOVES what he makes. Below is a portion of the reading that touched my heart, and I hope it will touch yours. "I so much want you to be with me. I so much want you to be close to me. I know all your thoughts. I hear all your words. I see all of your actions. And I love you because you are beautiful, made in my own image, an expression of my most intimate love. Do not judge yourself. Do not condemn yourself. Do not reject yourself. Let my love touch the deepest, most hidden corners of your heart and reveal to you your own beauty, a beauty that you have lost sight of, but which will become visible to you again in the light of my mercy. Come, come, let me wipe your tears, and let my mouth come close to your ear and say to you, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’ "This is the voice that Jesus wants us to hear. It is the voice that calls us always to return to the one who has created us in love and wants to re-create us in mercy."
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Eagle Notes