My dear St. John family,
This past Friday, after the shaking had stopped, and the assessment and cleanup had begun, I was so grateful to walk through the St. John building to find no real damage. Judith Goodrum, our preschool director was onsite during the quake, and spent some time cleaning up the bits that needed it.
Later that day, I received a phone call from one of our members, Cathie Clements. Cathie works for RURAL CAP and told me that one of their facilities, Karluk Manor had been without electricity, water, and heat for over 8 hours. Karluk Manor is a facility that works to help transition people from chronic homelessness and alcoholism into a more sustainable way of life.
She asked if St. John might be a safe place for these residents to spend the night. Of course, the answer was, “YES.”
In less than an hour, we had the building unlocked and ready for our guests. Robbie Brawner, our youth pastor, did a lot of organizing of volunteers, from cooks and servers, to musicians and entertainers, to Bingo callers and people just willing to visit with our guests.
Sal, from Sal’s New York Grill also came with his family, donating lots of food and time.
As I witnessed so many St. John members step forward to host our neighbors from Karluk Manor, I admit I was humbled. I was moved to tears. I was PROUD.
This weekend St. John, you proved that you are the church who you profess to be, loving neighbor as Jesus commanded. Never in my life have I felt more blessed to serve as a pastor. Never in my life have I felt such humility at your selfless actions and love.
From the bottom of my heart, St. John, I thank you, and I love you.
Your fellow disciple,
Pastor Andy
Christmas Eve Gift
Dear St John families and friends,
Each year our church council decides to whom we will give our Christmas eve offering. This year we will giving this offering to our sister church, Girdwood Chapel.
Housing in Girdwood is extremely expensive, more so than many neighborhoods in Anchorage. In effort to sustainably support a full-time pastoral appointment, Girdwood is seeking to build a parsonage. By financially partnering with our sister church, we are helping them to move from a part-time pastoral appointment to the ability to support a full-time pastor in a community that has very few churches.
This Christmas eve financial gift will be the first step in our partnership with Girdwood Chapel as they undergo this building process. Please join me in lifting Girdwood Chapel in prayer, and please consider giving generously to this gift on Christmas eve.
All grace and Peace,
Pastor Andy on behalf of the St John Church Council
The Season of Advent
Dear St. John Family,
The Season of Advent is upon us. The word Advent has roots in the ancient Latin language, Adventus means “arrival", and advenire means “to come.” This is the season that we learn to wait for the arrival of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ.
Our Bishop, Bishop Elaine Stanovsky, has encouraged us to consider using this Advent season as a kickoff to a year-long quest for spiritual formation, reorientation, and activation. We will be using a devotional by Brian McLaren entitled: WE MAKE THE ROAD BY WALKING.
The book is very easy to read, only 2-3 pages each week. This first Sunday in December, in Advent, we’ll begin with chapter 14, and read just one chapter each successive week through the new year, until we end with chapter 13 one year from now.
Bishop Elaine is inviting us to see 2019 as a CROSSOVER year, one in which we crossover into new life. St John is at a crossroads. Now that our debt is retired, what new and innovative ministry is God calling us to so that we can reach out to the next person with the love of Jesus Christ? Perhaps its not one of the roads before us at all. Perhaps God is inviting us to make a new path forward.
I want to invite you to join with me on this year-long quest for spiritual-formation, reorientation, and activation. You can purchase a copy of the book through your favorite book-seller. Our worship and sermons for Advent and Christmas will coincide with chapters 14-17a. Throughout the coming year, there will be other opportunities to interact with one another about the material we are reading, and the grace we are experiencing together.
So please join me on this quest, entering this year of crossover, as together, we make the road by walking.
Pastors Andy & Emily
A Special Thanksgiving Message from Pastor Andy
Growing up in Massachusetts, Thanksgiving was a big cultural part of my upbringing. (The town I grew up in was incorporated in 1655.) I remember school assemblies and field trips commemorating the early European settlers and the help they received from the Wampanoag people to survive and thrive in those first years. Unfortunately, we also brought germs that the Wampanoag had no immuno-defense against.
As a child and youth, I remember the tradition of our annual high school football game against our arch-rivals. Those of us in the marching band would sit shivering in the stands, holding our freezing brass instruments and drums, intermittently playing fight songs and passing around hot cocoa, wishing half time would hurry up and get here so we could get out on the field and move around to warm up a little!
And most years, after the football game was over, we would travel to my grandparents house for the traditional meal of turkey and stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows melted on top, and about every flavor of pie you could ever imagine. With aunts and uncles and parents and grandparents crowded around the table, we siblings and cousins were relegated to the folding tables in the living room to stuff ourselves silly. Above it all were loud voices and joyful belly laughs. And today I wish for one more gathering like that, but its not possible, because of distance, and because so many of those beloved people are no longer living.
Thanksgiving hasn't always been this way for me. Some years have been gathered with people from multiple countries and cultures. Some years have been quiet and alone, reflective times, and some have been with friends who are like family, very similar to the boisterous gatherings of my childhood.
Regardless of what your Thanksgiving gathering looks like this year, I encourage you to find a few moments, on your own, or as a group story-telling event, to remember those celebrations from years gone by. What was memorable? (What do you wish was NOT memorable!?) What did you love? What do you long for and miss?
And then, after remembering, give thanks to God. For the good, the bad, the boisterous and the quiet. For the love, the laughter, the joy, and the anger, and yelling, and sadness. Through it all, God has been with us, and God WILL be with us, “never leaving us nor forsaking us.”
In good times and bad, in sickness and health, in our wealth and in our poverty, God is with us. In Hebrew, Emmanuel, God with us. That is the blessing of this Thanksgiving season as we prepare our hearts for Advent. God IS with us. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Property Purchase and Being Debt Free Update
THANK YOU to all who have contributed to our land purchase and retiring the debt of St John. Because of your generosity, we have received cash and pledges totaling $514,915.47, well on our way to our goal of $900,000. We have been receiving gifts from people who no longer live in Alaska, but who once called St John home. I received a lovely card and generous donation from Rose McLean. It means so much that people across the globe believe in St John and want to continue to invest in her ministries. Please prayerfully consider joining those who have contributed to purchase the land next door and to eliminate St John’s mortgage and retire our debt. Every gift, from
$5 to $500,000 makes a difference! Thank you for your faithfulness and generosity.
~Pastor Andy