A Musical presentation by the Youth Choir

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Reflections on All Saints' Day

      All Saints' Day is approaching and we are called to remember those saints,known and unknown, whose lives have touched our own and allow us to glimpse God as reflected through their actions. The celebration of this Principal Feast of the Episcopal Church on November 1 was instituted by Pope Gregory III during the eighth century, and our observation on this date is believed to have its roots in Ireland with the Celtic festival of Samhain. A harvest festival, Sanhain, was the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice and marked the beginning of Celtic year.

      The Anglican mystic Esther De Waal writes, "it is time when in the northern hemisphere men and women began to think of the coming of winter, of the dark. It is the thinnest time of the year, the season at which the veil between time and eternity can easily become transparent, the time when darkness overtakes the light." These "thin moments," as Celtic Christians called them. were times when what has gone before give way to the new, when God's presence can be most palpable, when our communion with those who have gone before us calls us to new life. Scholars contend, however, that the desire of the Christian people to express the "intercommunion of the living and the dead in the Body of Christ" by commemorating those who have died is much older than the eighth century. The earliest reference is from Gregory Thaumaturgus in the year 270 who writes of the observance of a festival of martyrs.

      Today, we celebrate not only martyrs but also those whose lives are Holy examples. In her All Saints message from last year, Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schiori said, "The saints are followers of Jesus, and fellow travelers on the journey toward the City of God. They come in all shapes, ages, colors, and theological stripes." As we gather this week to celebrate, hold in your heart the name pf a saint who has touched your life and give thanks. Likewise, give thanks for those unknown saints who have touched your life and pray that you too may be a Holy example for all whom you encounter.

      —John Allison

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Future Adult Education Event

Save the date! Please plan to join Taryn Chubb at Cornell's Johnson Museum of Art on Sunday, December 13, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. for a guided tour of selected works from the collection. Taryn is a fifth year graduate student in the Department of the History of Art, specializing in the art of the medieval Mediterranean. she spent the summer of 2008 working as a graduate intern at the Johnson Museum and is looking forward to showing you some of her favorite works of art in the museum's collection.

Admission to the Johnson Museum is free, and there will be a shuttle service to and from the museum from the church parking lot. We will take reservations closer to the time.

All Saints' Day
Sunday, 1 November 2009

Please contact the church office (273-6523) if you wish to have a loved one memorialized by name or to be remembered with flowers on All Saints' Day, Sunday, 1 November. Checks should be made out to St. John's Church MEMO: Altar flowers. Please give the first and last names of those to be remembered. All names for the memorial list must be in the office by Thursday morning 29 October to be included in the printed bulletin on 1 November.

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Musical Notes

Autumn is always a busy season for church musicians. There's a whole pile of new music waiting for us, and our skills have gotten a little rusty over the summer. So, we go to work on the music and the technique, and gradually things seem to sort themselves out. Putting choir camp at the end of the summer gives those who attend a head start. Still, there's plenty to keep us busy. This year, through, we're especially busy.

       The bell ringers are leaning new positions and working hard on music they will play through Advent. This group will ring at the late service on Christmas Eve. We have room for more ringers and would love to welcome anyone interested in ringing. We rehearse in the balcony on Wednesdays at 6:45 p.m. Come now and can enjoy learning holiday music with us.

      The adults are off to an amazing start. I can't remember an autumn when they were singing this beautifully so early in the fall. And, they've had extra work, too. They sang an evensong to celebrate Father Snyder's years of ministry here, and they participated in the installation of Rev. Clark West's installation at Cornell. They will soon begin working on Heinrich Schültz's Christmas Story, which they will sing before the late Christmas Eve service. this is a beautiful work, and I encourage anyone who loves to sing to join us in preparing it. We meet in the choir room at 7:15 p.m. on Thursdays. The group also plans to do another evensong in the spring.

     The  children's choir is small, but mighty. They work hard, and they owe their beautiful sound to choir camp and enthusiasm. They will sing at the early Christmas Eve service, and they would love to have more children join them. The group is for children through 5th grade. If your child lives to sing, please bring them to children's choir rehearsal on Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. It's okay if your child doesn't read yet — some of our best singers joined this coir before they could read!

      The youth choir has grown in numbers, and their enthusiasm [as always!] is high. This is a great group of kids, and have an exciting year ahead of them. If your child, 6th grade and up, wants to sing, encourage them to join this group. We meet in the choir room on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m.

      The youth choir has been asked to sing at the Harvest Dinner on Friday, 13 November, and they're looking forward to it. The youth and children's choirs have been invited to sing an Advent concert at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Owego. This event, noon on Saturday, 5 December, is part of the church's 150th birthday celebration and will be followed by an ECW tea. These tow groups will be going Christmas caroling on Sunday afternoon, 20 December, too, followed by a party in the Chapman Room.

      Finally, the youth choir plan to perform Godspell on 20 March. They are hard at work raising money for the licensing fees andproduction costs. This will be an amazing event, and I encourage all of you to mark your calendar.

      So, there are many exciting musical opportunities coming up this year at St. John's. Please consider joining us or, if you prefer to be in the audience or congregation, mark your calendar to come support your musicians.

 —Dr. Nancy Radloff, Director of Music

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Starting Out Fresh: Perspective on the First Sixty Days

     It's been roughly two months since my first meet-and-greet with the youth of St. John's Church and finally—finally—a pattern is emerging. It's just one one of those things (and this happens to me all the time) where it's not nearly as simple as I might have thought. The first time I was asked what my philosophy was on teaching the youth, and the first time one of them shared the complexities of their life I knew I was behind the ball.It's a very humbling thing to realize you haven't prepared as well as you should have or that information you gained from past experiences is still not enough to meet a new goal. But I'll tell you what, it is motivating!

      Our group has narrowed in one a general mission statement and some key dates for the next few months and attendance is on the rise. For the time being our plan is to schedule two meetings a month that take place after Church on select Sundays as well as coordinate an additional monthly activity. I am working closely with the Episcopal Church's own materials to ensure that what Father Snyder is sharing with the full congregation is being reinforced with the tweens and teens. I plan to continue using the materials found on the Church's Web site as a starting point for Bible study and dialogue and develop short activities to compliment the text along with a bit of camaraderie if all goes well! We're further trying to simplify the lives of our fellow parishioners by scheduling meetings on the same day as youth choir performances. To that point, I've been lucky enough to have Nancy Radloff take me under her wing and support me with ideas and offers of integration. My philosophy is the bigger the better, and ideally the more surround our young people with like-minded peers doing good thing in the Church and local community, the more positive influence we'll be able to have on their lives!

      I'd like to welcome you all to share opportunities and topics that you think are exciting for the Youth Group and to feel free to approach me with comments. If you'd like to see what we're up to and when, check out our bulletin board in the hall leading to the back door near the kitchen. It'll be an ever-evolving information center, so be sure to check it frequently.

 —Mindy Carter, Youth Minister

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Outreach at St. John’s

As a family of Christians, we are continually challenged to do the work God has given us to do, to love and serve God as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.

      Individually and collectively such challenges can be met by:

• Supporting Loaves and Fishes and the Ithaca Food Pantry with labor, foodstuffs, or money.
• Volunteering for the Family Reading Partnership's children's book gift-wrapping project in November and December and donating "gently" used children's books anytime.
• Donating furnishings or money to the specific needs of St. John's #5 Faith Church in New Orleans (watch for an upcoming notice in the bulletin).
• Saving your small change in the"blue boxes" for the United Thank Offering (UTO) semi annually.
• Buying Christmas gifts for the Salvation Army "Adopt a Family" program. We will be "adopting" three families this year. Details will be forthcoming in the next two weeks.
• Supporting the Millennium Development Goals defined by the United Nations and endorsed by the Episcopal Church. The committee is gathering information on the world problem of human trafficking with the help of Sam Eschenbrenner, one of our parishioners, who has specific experience in understandng this issue.

      We continue to welcome each parishioner's suggestions and participation on and in one or more programs outlined here. Please contact any member of the committee with your thoughts. Committee members are Jon Meigs, Woodrow Miller, Susan Jones, Judith Wood, Amy Jaffe, and Scott Russell.

 —Scott Russell

Dean & Kate Hawthorne and Joella Sloand represented St. John's and walked the full distance in the recent Ithaca Crop Walk.

Additional Outreach Volunteer Opportunity

Family Reading Partnership is in need of volunteers to gift-wrap children's books for the Christmas period. The time commitment ia a three-hour shift, one week day in November and one weekday in December at one of the WIC sites in Tompkins County. You may submit for a preferred site and shift time. The sites range from Newfield to Groton (south to north) and Jacksonville to St Catherine's (Northeast) (west to east). If you can fill this need, contact Sarah in the church office (273-6523). she will have the volunteer submission form. Shifts range in three-hour increments from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

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Some Impressions

St. John's hosts area pastors' meeting with Asaf Shariv, Consul General of Israel in New York (third from right in photo, flanked by Rabbi Scott Glass and Pastor Marjorie Mason)

On Friday, 16 October pastors from the interfaith religious community of Ithaca gathered at St. John's at 8:00 a.m. to meet and talk with the General Consul of of Israel,Mr. Asaf Shariv. The night before he spoke at Cornell University and has requested to speak with religious leaders so that he might hear what folks are saying and thinking about the state of affairs with Israel. Walking through obvious security guards at the entrance to St. John's, we were warmly welcomed by Rabbi Scott Glass and Rev. Philip Snyder who were hosting the vent. Shortly there after, Mr. Shariv arrived and we gathered around the table for what proved to be an open and honest conversation.

       We met for four hours Randall gathered seemed to share a concern about escalating violence in the region and the toll it is taking on the young children on both sides of the conflict. We learned that Mr. Shariv would like nothing more than for this conflict to be resolved and that each time there is perceived progress, there also seems to be major setbacks. While it is not clear whether or not those gathered around the table were even in agreement with each other over what is happening in the Middle East, we were in agreement that it is obviously a situation fraught with significant complexities and nuance and at the very least, it is a situation that warrants of of us praying for peace, together.

—The Rev. Marjorie Mason, Senior Paster
St. Paul's United Methodist Church

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