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Dear People of St. John’s: At a seminar I was fortunate to attend in early May, our facilitator1 reminded us that when Jesus was introduced to someone who was profoundly afflicted and needed healing, He did not delve deeply into discovering the person’s long history of infirmity. Jesus did not concentrate on finding out the when, how, and why the person got sick. Rather Jesus concentrated on helping the person get well. Indeed there is evidence that Jesus sometimes may have purposely gotten the person annoyed at always being considered a victim so that one would be determined never to be put down or think less of oneself again.2
Jesus called forth people’s basic inner worth, and made clear God’s abundant goodwill to all people. Hence, the Gospel stories that were spread from town to town were about those who, in the presence of Jesus, had been made whole, not about Jesus explaining the etiology of disease to the crowd. Jesus never wanted people to continually see themselves as poor suffering victims, but as people of infinite worth and potential. (“Get up and walk,” never “get down and crawl!”)
In a similar fashion, solutions to our weaknesses are usually found in feeding our strengths and rarely found in nursing our shortcomings. That is why at our “Gather Together, Grow Together” sessions, we first asked what you perceived to be our strengths and what you are most moved and motivated by in the parish. It is in acknowledging the things that we really care about that healthy solutions to challenges will be discovered.
Summer often becomes a time of saying goodbye to people we will keenly miss, as well as being the occasion of welcoming wonderful people into our fellowship. I wish we didn't have to do the former, much less do both at the same time, but that is what is given us. Nonetheless, the devotion and strength of this parish gives me great hope that our best days will always be ahead of us. Sincerely,
Philip W. Snyder, Rector
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PARISH LIFE AT ST. JOHN'S
 Members of St. John’s, Ithaca meeting with Deborah and Pastor Bruce Davenport of St. John’s # 5 Faith Church located in the 9th ward of New Orleans, and reading a feature article about Pastor Davenport’s work as “HIV Prevention Mobsters”.
Groups from Ithaca, including St. John’s, have been providing assistance and a time of rest and relaxation to the workers at St. John’s #5 Faith church since Katrina.
 Mary Arlin was honored on Saturday, June 5 at the
Diocesan Honored
Women Celebration Tea at Christ
Church, Manlius.
Mary was nominated
by the vestry for her many acts
of kindness, and for all of her gifts
of time, talents, and service to the
parish.
Congratulations Mary!
 Brett & Mindy Oakes, and Susan Ettinger at the 8 a.m. Pentecost celebration.
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Gather Together, Grow Together: The Results
“Gather Together, Grow Together” was a unique program developed by members of the St. John’s community to engage parishioners in discussions about their experiences at St. John’s and what they want for the future of this parish. A group of dedicated facilitators hosted a series of gatherings between mid-April and mid-June to which parishioners were invited for discussion and fellowship.
Between the first gathering, held on April 11th and the last gathering, held on June 13th, approximately 90 parishioners participated in small group discussions. Gatherings were held on Sundays, after both services, weekday evenings, and Saturday mornings as well as at Kendal and during the youth group Pentecost party. There is a yellow poster in the parish hall that outlines the results of the gatherings and we hope that you will have a chance to take a look at it this Sunday.
The gatherings are over—now what?
The Vestry will be using the information given to us during these gatherings to plan for our future. We’re already beginning to pursue several of these ideas, so stay tuned!
What if I have more ideas since I attended my gathering? What if I didn’t attend a gathering, but have ideas that I would like to share?
We welcome your ideas. This is your church and we always want to hear from you about how we can strengthen St. John’s. Contact a member of the Vestry to share your thoughts—all current members of the Vestry are listed on the back of the weekly bulletin.
Musical Notes
Summer is here, and the Come and Sing Choir is ready to go. This group is open to anyone who would like to sing with us during the summer – while we’ll gladly welcome you to remain with us next year if you choose, we’ll also simply enjoy your company during the summer months. Simply show up on Sunday mornings, beginning on the 4th of July, at 9:30 AM, and I’ll have an easy anthem for you. We don’t wear vestments, and we have plenty of fans to keep us cool.
Choir camp is just around the corner. I will be taking 19 campers to Casowasco on Sunday, August 29th. While a look into our robe room indicates that we should have every prop, set piece, and supply that we could ever need, things never seem to work out that way. This year, we’ll be doing 2 complete shows. [I can’t provide the experience I want for this many kids with only 1 show.] I HIGHLY encourage any of you who can to come to Casowasco on Friday, September 3rd, at 1 PM to see our shows. This camp is closer than White Eagle and much more accessible to Ithaca. I can’t explain or describe what happens at camp, but if you come up on Friday, you’ll see it for yourself.
If you have any of the following items languishing in a closet somewhere, and you don’t mind sharing, we will need:
1. A large rubber snake that you can have back;
2. 4 umbrellas that you don’t want back [because when we’re done with them, you won’t want them!];
3. 4 Large Styrofoam rectangles [you won’t want them back, either];
4. Large pieces of cardboard;
5. “gold” rings, bracelets, etc – we can return these.
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We will also gratefully accept cash donations, which will be used for scholarships and supplies.
Have a great summer!
—Nancy Radlof
Outreach Committee
The Outreach Committee and the Vestry hosted an evening with Pastor Bruce Davenport and his wife Deborah recently at St. John’s. As usual it was a delight to spend some social time with them and Mike Ellis of Love Knows No Bounds. On a more serious note we were updated by the Davenport’s on the efforts at St. John’s #5 Faith Church to provide meaningful HIV/AIDS education to the youth of the Seventh Ward in New Orleans. They have had to find ways to keep going while government funding is reduced or eliminated and the need grows. The funds that they require for all of their social services are beyond what we could raise.
Which brings me to a recent experience of mine that proves the value of “paying attention”. While watching Good Morning America this past week I was drawn to a segment that included an interview with Doris Buffet, Warren Buffet’s sister. She is the subject of a recent book titled “Giving It All Away”. She is a principal in a foundation that looks to support immediate needs without the administrative delay of other funding sources. I mentioned her work to Mike Ellis and asked to pass it on to Deborah Davenport. It turns out that Deborah and one of her support people were aware of the Buffet foundation and had already been granted $20,000 to continue their work and are considering a larger request. Information can be as effective as monetary support especially when the need is so great. I wonder if there was a spiritual nudge in the incident.
One of the principles of outreach is to give personal time and effort locally and give monetary support nationally or worldwide. To that end the Outreach Committee is working to develop information on volunteer opportunities for individuals in support of Ithaca non-profit charitable organizations. We believe there are two sources for this information. One is to review the non-profit organization list in Ithaca and select an appropriate segment to reside on the St. John’s website. The second is to discover what non-profit organizations parishioners of St. John’s are currently supporting through volunteer activity.
The committee has begun compiling a list of Ithaca non-profits and will work to develop a website location to house the information for parishioners to use to find suitable opportunities. The committee is asking parishioners who are currently volunteering time and effort in support of Ithaca non-profits to advise us of your activity. The intention is to recognize your volunteer activity and to motivate others to volunteer as appropriate. Please provide a note or personal comment to any of the committee members, listed below, or to the Parish Office.
St. John’s outreach will continue to include the Episcopal Relief and Development, United Thank Offering, Crop Walk, The Area Congregations Together Food Pantry and Salvation Army Gift Program, and the special needs of Loaves and Fishes in its annual planning as well as advise of periodic needs for St. John’s #5 Faith Church and others that may come to an appropriate attention level. As always, your input is welcomed.
The Committee: Scott Russell, Jude Wood, Amy Jaffe, Jon Meigs and Woodrow Miller.
—Scott Russell
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Youth Group News
Everything but Sleep at the St. John's Slumber Party
On Saturday, May 22nd, all of St. John’s youth in grades 6-12 were invited to a Slumber Party. The event was not only intended as a social opportunity filled with laugher and silliness, but also to cap off Eastertide and celebrate the first day of Pentecost. Thirteen kids and six adult volunteers answered the call and a fun, albeit exhausting, time was had by all.
Father Snyder kicked off the evening with a very special and personal youth service which was immediately followed by a pizza dinner, and the first ever youth "Gathering Together and Growing Together" meeting, hosted by Taryn and Pam.
Around 8:00 p.m. the music and games kicked off with an hour and a half of karaoke where nearly every student and all the volunteers took time to serenade the crowd! As my own musical talents are limited to a range of three vocal notes and slow, painful pecking at keys on a piano, this volunteer spared the crowd a song and instead fully participated as a cheerleader on the sidelines!
Shortly after the music stopped and the equipment was packed away, back-to-back movies were played in the upstairs Youth Room. Those who could stay awake until the last movie ended didn’t see the back of their eyelids until around 3:30 a.m. Ironically, the downstairs room designated as the “quiet room” had the only all-nighter in the group….not that anyone was 100% awake or alert to welcome in the season of Pentecost.
To help the Youth ease into the next morning, the kids were treated to a traditional breakfast before Church on Sunday and all sat together for the service, dressed in red clothing to signify the color of the new Church season.
It was certainly a very fun event and one that we will repeat on an annual basis. That in said, my sincere thanks to the brave and tireless volunteers who stayed late—or all night—to make sure everyone was happy and healthy. The volunteers included; Susie Backstrom, Taryn Chubb, Pam Talbot, Gary Anderson, Charlie Ciccone, and Brett Oakes. Also a special thanks to Father Snyder for the extra service he prepared for the occasion!
—Mindy Oakes
Youth waiting for Karaoke to begin
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Overnight volunteers ready for a post midnight snack.
Members of Christ Church, Willard honored their priest, The Rev. A. Richard Strauss, on the occasion of his 30th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. Fr. Strauss was ordained by Bishop Cole at St. John's, Ithaca. Pictured with Fr. Strauss at the reception following the Sunday Eucharist on June 6th is Linda Bailey, Richard's sister.
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Feed My Starving Children
Feed My Starving Children is a Christian organization that focuses exclusively on providing food for children in the most impoverished countries. Currently 25% of their food goes to Haiti, but they serve 60 countries overall.
Feed My Starving Children depends entirely on volunteer labor, and with that labor, can produce meals for children at just 17¢ a day, meals that were designed especially for the nutritional needs of malnourished children. The organization is based in Minneapolis, where has volunteers pack food every day, and it also runs mobile packing events in other communities that want to join in the effort.
Hopefully you have already heard about the Ithaca community effort coming up September 10 and 11 to pack 100,000 meals for starving children across the world. Maybe you saw us at the Parade, or maybe you saw our ad in the Ithaca Journal. The packing event will take place at Trinity Lutheran Church, but we are a diverse group from the Ithaca community (including Sheri Johnson from St. Johns) working in conjunction with the organization Feed My Starving Children (FMSC.org).
So far, the labor support has been astoundingly generous – in fact we probably have enough volunteer interest already to expand our endeavor beyond 100,000 meals. But in addition to volunteers, we also need to raise at least $17,000 ( for 100,000 meals at 17¢ each.) If you have a heart for world hunger, please consider making a contribution ( keeping in mind that 100% of the monies directed towards our MobilePack event goes toward the food that we pack.) It doesn’t take a lot - if you donated only $5.10, you would have fed a child for a month.
There are three ways to give:
1. Write a check directly to Trinity Lutheran Church. (Gifts given this way will receive supplementary funding from the organization Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
2. Pay on-line by going to FMSC.org: click on MobilePack events – the drop-down tag will direct you to “donate to an event” – simply click on our event in New York.
3. If you would rather donate your time, we still have a few spaces for groups to sign up to pack meals, and beginning August 1 there will be a place for people to sign up on-line to be individual packers.
If you would like more information about this event, feel free to call Sheri Johnson (St. Johns member) at 227.1304, or check out the videos at www.FMSC.ORG
—From the Feed My Starving Children Ithaca Committee
New procedure for donating altar flowers
As you may be aware from notices in the weekly Bulletin, I have recently assumed coordinating donors and ordering the altar flowers for the Sunday services. Altar flowers are given in memorial or thanksgiving, and the cost is $45 per week. More than one individual or family may contribute the same week and share the cost, and requests for certain flowers or colors is welcomed.
If you are blessed with a green thumb and a flourishing flower garden and wish to prepare the flowers yourself, that is also possible. Remember that your memorial donation “lives” long after the weekly services when the flowers are divided into smaller bouquets that are delivered to parishioners during pastoral visits.
If there is a specific date you wish to reserve, I hope you will get in touch soon. Please contact me at EEL1@cornell.edu (put Altar Flowers in the subject line) or call 255-2949 (my office). With a few exceptions all dates are available for the remainder of the year.
—Elaine LaRocque
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