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Dear St. John's Family,
I attended Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry for my seminary education. It remains the only Evangelical seminary in the Episcopal Church and was founded and led by Bishop Alf Stanway, a missionary Bishop from Tanzania who had served on the African mission field for 30 years. He applied the same principles he learned during his ministry to Trinity:
- Follow God's Leading (Matt 4:19)
- Start small and intend great things (Matt 13:31)
- Put money in the secondary place (Matt 6:33)
- Under God, everything depends on the quality of people chosen (! Samuel 13:14)
Trinity continues to be one of the premier seminaries for training future church leaders in America and throughout the world. As we fast and pray for revival in Africa this month, I'm grateful to be walking in the shadow of such a storied legacy like Bishop Alf Stanway!
Trinity School for Ministry
God Bless You!
Fr. Joseph
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Parish Secretary
Summer officially ends September 22. To reserve
facility space on the fall calendar for events and meetings and for
any changes to current meetings and events on the
calendar please notify parishsecretary@stjohnsnaples.com.
Would you like to include your picture in the Instant Church Directory? Get familiarized with Instant Church Directory; it is a great way to get to know each other as well as communicate with one another using the information provided at your fingertips. Please email your photo (jpeg image) to parishsecretary@stjohnsnaples.com. For further instructions on how to download the app or log into your directory, please scroll down to the Instant Church Directory information in this Enews.
Please stay in touch with St. John’s by sending your updated contact information to Claudia at parishsecretary@stjohnsnaples.com and visiting www.stjohnsnaples.com.
Claudia Trejos
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Stewardship Chair
Dear St. John’s Family,
As I write this message to my brothers and sisters at St. John’s I am praying a blessing over you. When Jesus sent out the seventy two, he sent his Spirit ahead of them to open the minds and hearts of those who would be receiving their invitation to come and meet Jesus. I am asking the Holy Spirit to go ahead of this letter and begin to open the minds and hearts of those who will be receiving next month’s invitation to explore their gift and call, that special something they are feeling led to do for the Kingdom!
Next month is Stewardship month, a time set aside to remind every individual that you are a gift to St. John’s, and we would like to celebrate that gift. The way that we celebrate this gift is by allowing you to be you, by allowing you to contribute a gift, a talent, a passion, a service… you name it, we’ll use it!
Gary Fusco
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Please Give
You can mail your gift to the church a
St. John's Episcopal Church
500 Park Shore Drive
Naples, FL 34103
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Sr. Warden
ANNOUNCING NEW BIBLE STUDY:
DAVID: HIS LIFE AND LEGACY
Donna Beecher, Skip Ruch, and Gary Fusco invite you to join them for an in-depth study of the life and legacy of King David. Beyond the accounts of Goliath and Bathsheba, the Bible records a multitude of stories about David that still resonate with people today.
David had many mountaintop experiences when he felt God’s overwhelming love, His power, His protection, and His mercy. He wrote heartfelt songs (Psalms) about the joy of knowing God.
David also had many troublesome and frightening experiences:
Have you ever been bullied by your older siblings?
Have you ever been betrayed by a friend?
Have you had to deal with rebellious children?
Have you ever had to clean up a predecessor’s failures?
Have you ever had to overlook and even forgive someone’s vile insults?
Have you ever had to fight enemies, foreign and domestic?
Have you ever had to escape threats to your life?
David not only face these situations, but he wrote heartfelt songs (Psalms) about his fears, his frustrations, his weaknesses, his need for God’s help.
Together, we will explore the events in David’s life and the corresponding songs (Psalms) he composed. We will have opportunities to share similar, personal experiences and reflect on God’s grace.
The class will meet in Brewster Hall (Library) on Thursdays, from 10:00-11:30, starting on September 9. We will take a break for Thanksgiving and for Christmas holidays. We will resume in January and finish up before Holy Week.
We plan to e-mail introductory notes and talking points to class members. If you will be out of town or unable to meet with us in person, send me your email address, and I will be sure to send you notes as well. My email address is dbeecher813@gmail.com.
Donna Beecher
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Youth Program Director
The Sunday School class has had a fun filled summer of learning with their Summer Curriculum. They have enjoyed the following lessons: God is Always Thinking of Us, God Never Changes, Shield Ourselves from Temptations, Jesus Helps Us Soar, Finding the Joy in Nature that God created, Jesus Makes Us Smile, God Gives Us Life and God Wants Us to be Full of Grace. To go along with these lessons, we have done some fun projects. Some of the projects were making homemade birdfeeders, decorating sunglasses, kite making, planting flowers and making binoculars. The children also loved making their own stained glass windows and doing sand art.
This month we are going to continue our learning with the Ten Commandments. We took a break from learning about the Ten Commandments for the Summer but we are ready to jump back into learning, discussing and applying them in our daily lives! Before our Summer Curriculum, we learned about the first five commandments. This month, we will review the first Five Commandments, focus on the last Five Commandments and learn how we can continue to practice them daily. We will continue to learn through lessons, hands-on projects and games along with filling out our Commandment Books.
Sunday School and the Nursery will continue to meet during the 10am service this month. If you have any questions or would like to continue to stay updated on Sunday School, please feel free to email me at youth@stjohnsnaples.com
Dayna Sottosanti
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Outreach Grant Celebration
St. John's awarded 10 Collier Charities $210,000 in 2020. One Charity will be in focus each month.
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Special Olympics Florida
Dear Grant Committee Members,
Thank you for our special consideration for a 2020 Outreach Grant with the loving proceeds from St. John’s Thrift Shoppe. Special Olympics Florida is a leader in innovation, implementation, and communication, and advances the agenda supporting the health and well-being of athletes with intellectual disabilities (IDD). We began with a small sports program in 1972 and brought that program into the public school system because it resonated with teachers and students with disabilities. More sports were added, competition evolved, and county and state games were developed.
Today, Special Olympics Florida – Collier County is a true cornerstone for services, resources, programs and support for the IDD community, athletes and their families/caregivers, and by receiving this grant, we will continue to expand our work with more coaches, volunteers, healthcare professionals, governmental and educational agencies, and personal advocates asking us – “how can we help?”. We are known for our growth and management, our ability to evolve and understand our changing environment, especially this year with COVID-19. Our responsibility to the IDD community grows greater every year, and we know to plan for that and have the tools and resources administratively, to continue to provide the best programs, services and resources to the IDD community throughout Collier.
This 2020 grant will fund: our inclusive youth physical education programs and their growth & retention strategies (Young Athletes and Unified Champion Schools); COVID-19 specific signage, banners, distancing equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), education and screening stations; and additional sports equipment to eliminate sharing such as balls, rackets, clubs, etc.
We will work diligently with educators, politicians, and healthcare professionals to implement programs that are inclusive and inspire leadership within administrations to embrace health and fitness and longer, healthier lives for our athletes and their families. For the majority of our athletes, Special Olympics is not just a program to learn how to run a race or throw a ball – win or lose. We are a movement, creating a platform for acceptance and excellence for all. Sports may be our engine, but Special Olympics Florida – Collier County is so much more. We envision a world where everyone belongs, where bravery triumphs, ability emerges, skills grow, laughter invites, the human spirit is unleashed, and the world is changed; one volunteer, one fan, one doctor, one teacher, one athlete at a time.
We sincerely appreciate your support and look forward to sharing our programs’ successes.
Best regards,
Meredith Narayanan
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St. John’s Thrift Shoppe has limited hours through September 30th, 2021. We will be open from 10 AM to 2 PM Mon. to Sat. Tamiami Square. 14700 Tamiami Trail N. Naples, FL 34110. 239-597-9518. www.stjohnsshoppe.com
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ABOUT AFRICA RETURNS
The Return is now moving to Africa. The Lord gave birth to the Vision of Africa Returns in the heart of Dr. Oluwasayo (‘Sayo) Ajiboye. The Lord quickly touched young and older people in Chinese House Churches in the USA, raised groups of seasoned ministers in East Africa, stirred up Millenials in the nation of Nigeria to do marvelous deeds. Africa Returns was in progress without the strength of man.
This move of the Spirit was further evident in that Dr. Ajiboye continued his daily duties unchanged and carried the burden in his blossom until the early weeks of October 2020. Leaders of the House Churches from China directed a Man of God, Pastor Henry Byamukama from Uganda, to meet with Dr. Ajiboye in Dallas. At this meeting, the Spirit of God came down, and the East African Push began!
Africa Returns is a continent-wide Prayer and Transformational Movement which will take place on September 10-11! Africa Belongs to the Lord!
Africa Returns
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OPENING PRAYER IN THE KANSAS STATE SENATE
This interesting prayer was given in Kansas, USA, at the opening session of their Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people.
When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says: "Woe to those who call evil good", but that is exactly what we have done.* We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.* We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.* We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.* We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle.* We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.* We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.* We have killed our unborn and called it choice.* We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.* We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.* We have abused power and called it politics.* We have embezzled public funds and called it essential expenses.* We have institutionalized bribery and called it sweets of office.* We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.*We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.* We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh GOD, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!"
The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa and Korea. With the LORD'S help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and WHOLEHEARTEDLY become our desire so that we again can be called "ONE NATION UNDER GOD."
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Noteworthy News
Bob Geroy's Funeral Service is Tuesday, September 7th at 10:00 AM followed by a reception in Sugden Hall.
Sisters for Life gather Mondays at 5:30 PM in Brewster Hall. Please contact Dee Hayes at 239-784-8759.
Co-Ed Bible Study continues Tuesday’s from 10 AM to 11:30 AM. We meet in Brewster Hall. We welcome anyone who would like to join us. Contact Joan McCarthy at 331-625-2196.
Men's Bible Study fellowships on Wednesdays at 7:30 AM in Brewster Hall. Bring your own coffee. Plenty of room to distance. We continue our study of Matthew. Please contact Skip at ruchstewart@yahoo.com.
Centering Prayer is held Wednesdays 9 AM. For more information please contact Pat Mills at 239-596-8890.
Order of St. Luke gathers Wednesdays at 10 AM in Sugden Hall.
Co-ed Bible Study: A study on David, His Life and Legacy on Thursdays at 10:00 AM. For more information, please contact Donna Beecher at 239-263-8309.
OSL healing prayer continues on Sunday during the service. For healing prayer at any other time, please contact Vickie Bauch at 239-249-0957.
St. John's worship services are Saturday 5 PM and Sunday 10 AM. Join us in person or via live stream!
Library hours are Fridays 1PM-4PM weekly. For any questions, please contact Noreen at nschum3806@mac.com or 860-985-3662.
Labor Day: The office is closed Monday (September 6th)
Enews deadline is Friday (September 10th).
AFRICA RETURNS. A GLOBAL MOVEMENT OF PRAYER & REPENTANCE is now moving to Africa. Prayer and Transformational Movement will take place on September 10-11! Africa Belongs to the Lord! Visit https://africareturns.org
Stitches of Love will start Friday, October 8, 2021 - 10:00 AM until noon in Brewster Hall. Questions please contact Jane Kindorf at 630-542-1243 or Mary Frances Aiken at the 239-450-3199.
Columbus Day Celebration Concert featuring soprano Jeannette Vecchione-Donatti to benefit the Guadalupe Center of Immokalee. Please join us Sunday, October 17th, 4pm for this very special program of Italian Opera. Reception to follow.
Life Relaunch will be at St. John’s on the following dates: Women’s (9/10 - 9/11) & (10/15 -10/16). For more information, contact Susan Uresti at susan@liferelaunch.org.
Plan your Pilgrimage to the Holy Land June 20-29, 2022. For more information please contact Cathy Latimer at cathylatimer123@gmail.com.
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Remembering September 11, 2001, 20th Anniversary of September 11th, we remember and honor those who lost their lives on 9/11/01.
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Food For The Poor
Dear Parishioners,
Please join us the weekend of September 11, 2021 to hear The Rev. Holly Ostlund speak at all the services about a ministry providing direct relief to the poor throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Reverend Oslund will share personal witness about Food For The Poor's mission to care for the destitute as a means of living out the Gospel mandate to love one another.
The Rev. Holly Ostlund is a priest of the Diocese of Southwest Florida and is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Barry University , and The Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest. Rev, Holly travels most weekends for Food For The Poor introducing people of the First World to the people of the Third World. She lives in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. and loves to spend time with her adult son Grant and their dog, Sahara. Weekdays, Rev. Holly is a Palm Beach County hospice chaplain.
Please join me in welcoming Reverend Ostlund.
Fr. Joseph
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Avow Volunteer Opportunities
Visit Patients
Provide respite to the primary caregiver so he/she can run errands, go to lunch with a friend, go to scheduled appointments, etc. Or provide companionship visits to Avow Hospice patients residing in skilled nursing or assisted living facilities or our Georgeson inpatient center. At Georgeson, you may also be asked to assist the kitchen with delivering/retrieving meal trays, care for floral arrangements, and help with other hospitality-related tasks.
Visit Patients with Your Certified Pet
Call on our patients who live in facilities with a cat or dog certified by Pet Partners or PAWS Assistance Dogs, Inc.
Hand Aromatherapy
Relieve patients’ stress through gentle touch and the use essential oils and room spray.
Avow Kids
Assist Avow staff with children’s programs such as grief support day and weekend camps.
Serenity Singers
Serenity Singers is a women’s a cappella choral group whose mission is to bring comfort through song to hospice patients. The volunteers sing at the patient bedside, in groups of two to four. Participants are not required to read music, but must be able to carry a tune and coordinate with other singers for a blended vocal sound. Auditions are required and participants will need to commit to a rehearsal schedule.
We Honor Veterans
Volunteers with veteran status are assigned to fellow veterans, providing recognition of service, and historical review of service connection if requested.
Bereavement Volunteers
Help support our bereavement team by making phone calls to family members who have recently lost a loved one in our program, or by guiding support group attendees to the Center for Grief and Bereavement offices.
Treasures Resale Shops Volunteers
Our Treasures resale shops offer volunteers a variety of jobs. Volunteers assist customers, create displays, stock shelves, and work in the clothing boutiques.
Office Volunteers
Assist with clerical duties such as filing, sorting, making telephone calls, creating manuals, photocopying, etc.
Teen Volunteers
This program is for Collier County students between the ages of 13 -18. Students participate in a special orientation where they learn about Avow’s hospice services and prepare for visiting Avow patients living in skilled nursing facilities and at Frances Georgeson Hospice House. Teen volunteers may participate in special events and fundraisers such as bake sales and carwashes or work at Avow’s resale shops.
For more information please contact Christine Gardner at 239-280-5983 or christine.gardner@avowcares.org.
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Facility Key Release Form is available at the office. You will be asked to fill out a form when a key is released. The key return date will be filled out by the office staff.
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For Lost and Found inquiries, please contact the church office. We may have found your item! Any items found, please feel free to drop it off at the office.
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St. John’s WiFi system is present in all buildings.
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Rosh Hashanah, September 6-8, 2021
The Jewish Holiday of Rosh Hashanah is generally known as the New Year's Day of the Jewish calendar, but has a fourfold meaning - It is the Jewish New Year, the Day of Judgement, the Day of Remembrance, and the Day of Shofar Blowing.
- It is the Day of Judgement - Jews across the world examine their past deeds and asks for forgiveness for their sins.
- It is the Day of Shofar Blowing - The Shofar (an ancient musical horn usually made of a ram's horn) is blown in temples to herald the beginning of the 10 day period known as the High Holy Days. The sound of the horn is meant to awaken the hearers from their spiritual slumber, to make them aware of their actions and their repercussions
- It is the Day of Remembrance - As Jews remember the history of their people and pray for Israel.
- And of course, it is New Year's Day - Celebrated with its holiday greeting cards, special prayers, and festive and eating sweet foods such as apples dipped in honey (to ensure sweetness in the New Year).
The ten days starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur are commonly known as the Days of Repentance or the Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim). This is a time for introspection, a time to consider the sins of the previous year and repent (Teshuvah) before Yom Kippur. Jews are expected to reach out to friends, loved ones and community members and apologise to them for any wrongs they did to them during the year. And any apology must sincere and meaningful.
Shanah Tovah! (Hebrew for "Have a good year!")
Yom Kippur, September 15-16, 2021
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year and marks a time for atonement through fasting and prayer. A Jewish day to atone for misdeeds and become cleansed and purified from them.
Yom Kippur is considered the “Sabbath of all Sabbaths” because, not only is it a day of complete rest (no work, no driving, etc.) but it's a day of fasting and other restrictions. The literal translation of 'kippurim' is cleansing.
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Hurricane season starts June 1 and lasts until Nov. 30. For more information visit stateofflorida.com
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Parish People
New Members:
Transfer: Susann Benson
Deaths: Liliana Pezzullo Dumas and Bob Geroy
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PRAYERS FOR
Annabeth, Darren, Mary, Sawyer, Dayna, Nevin and Carolyn, Shelley, Marilyn, Suzi, Linda, Cathy and Ken, Joan and Raymond, small businesses, St. John's Parishioners and Families.
Names are kept on the prayer list for 4 weeks unless the office is notified.
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Song of Deliverance
“You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.”
Psalm 32:7 (NIV)
I experienced God at such a young age that the deacons in the church questioned if I knew what I was doing. I was six when I felt a gentle push and an overpowering unction to go forward and join the church one Sunday.
As my life has transpired, I understood that my coming forward truly was God’s doing. I can see why he had me come forth so early in my childhood.
My mom had five girls and one boy. She was a teacher and divorced, but she had a friend. I was his favorite. Being the favorite is important when you’re a kid, but then one day when I was ten, I found out what favorite was to him. It was a fearful moment in my life, but God was with me.
My mother’s friend reeked of alcohol when he drove me to a wooded area. I can still remember how fast my heart was pounding. “Why are we here?” I asked him. Even though I didn’t know why, I knew it wasn’t a good thing.
“If you tell anybody about this, I’m going to kill your mom and then I’m going to kill you,” he said, opening the glove box and pulling out a gun. I looked around to see how I could escape, but he’d taken me so far out that I didn’t know where I was, but I did know one thing—God was with me.
The man pushed me down flat on the seat. When he finally pulled away, he said, “You’ve done this before.” I was too young then to know what he was talking about, but later when I did, I knew that he was so inebriated that night that he thought he had done what he set out to do, but he hadn’t. That wasn’t a burden that God wanted me to bear.
The man kept trying to get to me, but each time, God protected me. Once, my mom caught the man. She took me and ran. The next day, she called the police. They could arrest the man, but the story would be in the paper and Mom might lose her job. She didn’t press charges, and she made me promise not to tell my daddy or granddaddy because they’d kill the man and end up in prison. Worst of all, she stayed in relationship with the man.
The summer I was fourteen, I got a job as a dishwasher at the Hilton Inn. I was excited to be making me some money. One day when I came home from work, my mom said she was taking me to her daddy’s. I’d just started my job. I didn’t want to go, but she insisted on packing me off to the opposite end of the state. She dropped me at my grandparents’ just outside of Tallahassee, then drove back home to Naples to teach summer school the next day.
My grandfather worked out of town during the week. My grandmother was an invalid. Caring for her fell totally to me. It was a very difficult summer. Why had my mother sent me—and only me—away? By the time I got the courage to ask her, I was a married woman with a child of my own on the way. We both cried when she answered my question.
“He said he’d pay me $3,000 for you, and if I wouldn’t take the money, he’d take you anyway,” she told me. I wondered what all the man had put her through when she returned from Tallahassee without me.
Whenever I’d read or hear stories about girls being molested, brutalized and killed, for a long time I asked why God protected me from those same things.
Through the years, when I developed a heart for helping young people in situations similar to mine, I found a piece of the answer.
Pamela Solomon Sooknanan
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Acts 1:8
Empowered by the Spirit
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
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