Dear People of St. John's:

Over the summer I had the privilege of visiting Charleston, SC for the first time, and blessing the marriage of Alicia Pagen. Many of you will recall that Alicia is the daughter of Karen Comisi and grew up here in the parish. She was a beautiful bride!

       On Sunday Kluane and I attended an Episcopal parish in suburban Charleston, close to our hotel. It was an old parish, likely established in colonial times with an ancient cemetery surrounding the original church. Now the congregation worships in a new building built in the colonial Williamsburg style. The facility had been carefully planned, the entryway wide, bright, and inviting, with the restrooms well marked. We were greeted and handed our bulletins. On a side table were shopping bags, colorfully decorated filled with goodies for people who had just moved into the area. The congregation filled the pews with many families and young children. Many of the parishioners wore nametags.

       Again, the church was very well laid out for liturgy of our time; the pews quite comfortable, and the thick bulletin impressive. The acolytes, readers, choir and celebrant were all well trained and competent. I’m not sure that the parish lacked for anything, for its July Sunday attendance averaged from two to three hundred and from its published weekly income needs, its annual budget was over 1.1 million, more than twice the size of any parish in Central NY.

       Yet, when we left after the final blessing and dismissal (we sat about half-way up, in the middle) not a singe person acknowledged our presence, with the exception of the celebrant who shook our hands warmly at the door. Now I’m sure if we had identified ourselves as newcomers of the community we would have been surrounded by well-wishers and given one of those loaded shopping bags, but we were not in that category.

       As we walked back to our car in the large parking lot, I was reminded of a book I have given for years to new vestry members entitled, The Inviting Church. Published by the Alban Institute, its research consistently supports that there is not a program or special training that makes a particular parish a friendly and warm parish. Rather the greatest determinant of a friendly parish is where the members of the congregation acknowledge the presence of those who are strangers to them in their midst.

       Especially as I approach retirement, I try to refrain from critiquing when I worship in another parish and I want to emphasize again that everything I observed about this parish indicated things were well planned and the leaders were quite competent. The people weren’t inherently unfriendly or snobbish. They were just very busy, busy greeting their neighbors, sharing news of those they hadn’t seen in a while, and promising to send an e-mail by Monday. Training, expertise, committees, and special welcoming resources weren’t the issue. All it would have taken was a simple smile, a two word “good morning”, or even a one word “hello” as they slightly nodded their head.

       Every week at St. John’s is usually the opportunity to welcome and acknowledge someone you don’t know. At a very basic level an acknowledgement of a good morning doesn’t open one to any embarrassment or mistaking a long time member for a first time visitor. If you want to go a little further you could ask, “Can you stay for coffee after the service?” Hardly a large disclosure that is going to threaten your privacy.

       The point is, no freshly baked loaf of bread (usually baked by a person in the parish named “somebody else”), no house call by a dynamic young team of personable callers, not even a colorful welcome bag filled with organic baked goods and a bottle of Finger Lakes wine is going to be as significant as openly acknowledging those who are strangers to you. Strangers, but who in the setting of St. John’s have come together to gather at the Lord’s table to worship as brothers and sisters with you in the family of faith. So what makes a welcoming church? It’s no secret, it’s YOU!           

With the blessings of God's peace,
                                    Philip W. Snyder, Rector

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MUSICAL NOTES

As you probably know, St. John’s runs an annual, week-long, choir camp for our youth and children’s choirs.  This is a time for the children to grow musically, socially, and spiritually. Activities that motivate cooperation and instill confidence are as important as the three daily rehearsals. It’s been an important part of the church’s children’s choral program for years.

       What you may not know is that I brought the concept of children’s choir with me when I came to St. John’s in October, 1999. In fact, I remember that Father Snyder had a lot of questions about ‘this choir camp’ during my initial interview.  It’s not an easy concept to explain, really, because so much of what happens is intangible. Still, he listened and, when the following summer came, he supported the program. Those first few years we went to camp with the choir from Trinity in Binghamton because neither program really had enough children to really do camp justice. Soon, though, we were on our own. In the beginning, we concentrated on improving vocal technique through anthems. Later, we learned cantatas. Finally, we learned complete sacred musicals. Over the years, we’ve learned the stories of Noah, Joseph, Elijah, Esther, Mary and Martha, and Daniel. One year we learned a collection of parables – our one New Testament offering.

       Something else you may not know is that I don’t know of any other church that offers a program like this. Trinity in Binghamton now offers a 3-day day camp, held at the church. None of my colleagues from my Peabody days does this type of program, either. Why? Well, many churches don’t have a children’s music program. And, frankly, a successful camp is a huge project. I generally spend more than 60 hours preparing the program. Camp itself is 5 16-hour (or more) days, and I’m not the only one working then. Father and Mrs. Snyder, my husband Bruce, and however many more adults I need work hard at camp, too. Parents get their children to camp, pick them up, and pay the fees. Members of the parish support the program with their donations. It’s a big undertaking, and it only works because we all do our part.  Please accept my deep gratitude for the support you have provided to this program over the past 12 years.

       In addition to learning and presenting our musical on the life of Mary and Martha, the campers also prepared and presented a Rite I evensong at the historic Episcopal church in Hamilton. Nathan Roman, Loie Faulkner, and Peyton Tracey served as our cantors, and the choir sang like angels.  They were excellent.

       Now, of course, camp is over and summer is behind us. School buses are again rolling down the streets, and we’re all getting back into our fall routines. Please consider joining us if you like music and would like to participate in a music ministry. And if you or your children are interested but the rehearsal times don’t fit into your schedule, please email me at nsradloff@fltg.net and let me know. Below are the current rehearsal times:

• Bells          Wednesdays at 6:45 PM in the balcony
• Children    Thursdays at 4:30 in the choir room
• Youth         Thursdays at 5:30 in the choir room
• Adults        Thursdays at 7:15 in the choir room.

Hope to see you there!! 

Dr. Nancy Radloff, Director of Music

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The Youth Choir Camp ready for offering a sung evensong service at St.Thomas's Church in Hamilton.

Rehearsing and rehearsing for Life of the Party in the Cleveland Room at White Eagle.

Fun and games at choir camp: Something happened on a mid-morning and we were transported off to Harry Potter land.  Father Snyder and Bruce turned into soul sucking Dementors and they whisked us off to Azkaan where they imprisioned us.  Fortunately we had some time in the prison yard as a small group and we were able to form a star with a rope that Dumbledore was able to see and he rescued us. The group solved the problem in record time with the help of Eleanor's hair elastic.

Eleanor and Lillian packing at the community "Feed My Starving Children" mobile pack event. Over 233,280 meals were packed that day with the help of 1,100 volunteers!

Rehearsing and rehearsing for Life of the Party: The Story of Mary and Martha in the Cleveland room at White Eagle

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Parish Picture Directory

We are publishing a parish picture directory this fall, the first time in quite a while. Your gift to all of us is taking the time to have your picture taken.  It really is helpful, especially to those who are new to the parish, to shut-ins as they read the Eagle, and keep up with parish news, and to the larger congregation of St. John's in particular where over half of us are "new" compared to a decade ago.  There is no charge and you will receive a free photograph.  Yes, you will be asked if you wish to purchase additional pictures, but there is no obligation to do so, and the parish does not receive a commission whatsoever for any picture sold.

The times for photograpy here at St. John's are:

Wednesday through Friday, October 12th - October 14th 2-9:15 p.m.

Saturday, October 15th: 9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

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1. The worship life of St. John’s is strongly based on Eucharistic-centered services, using Rites from the Book of Common Prayer at both Sunday services. We have a mid-week healing service with a Eucharist. Members of our congregation have expressed wishes for more use of the various liturgies in the Book of Common Prayer, with regularly scheduled instructed liturgies and laity-led Morning and Evening Prayer services during the week.
2. The spiritual life and growth of our congregation is centered around Sunday worship, along with Sunday School classes for children and specially challenged adults. There are additional educational activities, including adult class series and the Education for Ministry series. A desire has been expressed for short term retreats, quiet days at the church, and more topic driven book studies.
3. St. John’s music ministry is strong, alive and well, engaging many participants of all ages. We have an adult choir, children’s choir, youth choir, two quartets, bell choir and youth choir camp each summer. We encourage participation by university and college students and conduct periodic musical productions at the church, including recitals and musicals (most recently “Godspell” featuring youth choir members). Our congregation would like to develop additional financial support to further strengthen this ministry.
4. The membership of St. John’s is moderately diverse economically and socially, with some ethnic diversity. A high percentage of our members are college graduates. Ithaca itself is a university town, with all the benefits and drawbacks that status brings with it. New opportunities for participation and leadership in parish activities occur regularly. We would like to increase opportunities for newer parishioners to be integrated more quickly into our parish life.
5. Many of our parish youth participate in a group for which there is a lay minister and a lounge. Recently there has been a strong growth in youth involvement in our music ministry. Both adult and youth parishioners have expressed their desire that our youth be encouraged to join parish committees and to provide stronger ministry opportunities, including a Sunday service conducted entirely by youth members.
6. Fellowship at St. John’s revolves around several traditional annual events, as well as a monthly parish breakfast. There is an ongoing fellowship group for 20’s - 30’s-age parishioners. There is a desire that everyone who wishes to do so can be in one or more small fellowship groups. For this to happen, all parishioners need to be aware of the various groups and ministries within our parish, and to understand that they are encouraged to participate in established groups or to form new ones as their ages and interests change.
7. We see ourselves as welcoming to visitors and newcomers, however we cannot underestimate the importance of being a place that is more immediately welcoming and comforting. Some of this can be accomplished by better communication among our membership and the greater community. Our major means of communication presently are the parish newsletter (The Eagle), announcements at the Sunday services, a bulletin board and our parish web site. We are in the process of developing and utilizing a more active electronic media presence, gearing specific sections of our web site toward college-aged and new people in town, and creating a St. John’s Facebook page.
8. St. John’s physical plant consists of a beautiful historic building in downtown Ithaca, New York. This brings with it many pluses: being centrally located, highly visible, and with a continuing historic presence. We need to fund the growing costs associated with maintaining this handsome but aging structure.
9. Financially, St. John’s current endowment provides about 31% of our annual parish budget, with an annual draw of 6% from the principal. We need to increase the size of our endowment so it will generate an equal percentage of interest for the annual budget but with an annual draw of 4% or less. To accomplish this, we will need to develop a capital campaign in the near future which draws more of our members into the financial life of St. John’s.
10. Lastly, and most importantly, we are children of Christ, on varying paths of individual discipleship and discovery. We share a future in which we wish to express our faith by gathering together to worship and by growing together in Christ.”

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Outreach News

St. John's #5 Faith Church

Love Knows No Bounds (LKNB), the Ithaca not-for-profit that supports underserved populations that have experienced a disaster, has been busy this summer working with St. John’s #5 Faith Church in the seventh ward in New Orleans. Many of you have met Pastor Bruce and Deborah Davenport during their Ithaca visits in recent years.

Since Katrina, LKNB has sponsored building parties to New Orleans to rebuild 16 homes and provide furnishings and counseling help to the seventh ward community members. One of this summer’s projects is to return Miss Audrey to her home. She has been maintaining the mortgage on her flood damaged home for the six years since Katrina and is prepared to move back this fall. Several fund raising activities have been conducted and are yet scheduled to raise the final increment to allow her return.

Here is a listing of some opportunities to help.

Maxies Supper Club On October 17 Maxies will sponsor a “Miss Audrey” night at the restaurant on W. State St. All chicken or tofu dinner orders will contribute $5.00 to the LKNB project. There will be live music and a raffle.

GoodInKind – A new on-line way to contribute to your favorite charity. Basically you pledge to provide some expertise of yours, e.g. cooking a favorite recipe, gardening, painting, etc. A buyer of your service or goods will commit the money to the charity. Watch for public announcements.

LKNB Website – Two other projects for the future are listed on the website, purchase of vans for the HIV/AIDS program and the construction of a community center, both for the New Orleans 7th Ward community.

The LKNB website is www.loveknowsnobounds.org. Check out a history of the past six years and the future objectives of this amazing organization. Contact me for questions.

– Scott Russell

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