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This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
—John 15.12

“All you need is Love,” a well known song from the Beatles made famous in the 60’s – during a time when life was turbulent. I would have us ponder the following question? When isn’t life turbulent? When do the winds of change ever stop blowing? 

Life can be turbulent when welcoming a newborn into ones’ family. Life as one knew it has now changed. Turbulent, joyful and a whole mix of emotions as parents adjust to the immediate transformation that a new little human with his/her own personality brings! Newborn welcome is certainly a fresh experience for Gary and me, as we continue to rejoice in the arrival of our first grandchild: Myles William Mis. Watching his parents jump through hoops to settle him down so reminds us of the turbulence we too went through as first time parents. Winds of change!

We too, as a parish family will welcome little Cayden Chipman into our fold through the sacrament of Baptism at our 10 a.m. serivce. In addition to his parents, Victoria and Brady, we, as his larger family are committed to keeping him in the faith and communion of God’s holy church. We pray that he will be filled with the holy and life giving Spirit and that he, and all of his new larger family will learn to love others in the power of that spirit. “All you need is Love.”

And speaking of love – wind and boundaries...

This Sunday, we also celebrate and actively support Episcopal Ministries of Long Island (EMLI) – an amazing ministry program that strives to move us out of our own little silos and open our eyes, ears, and hearts to the love and outreach of parishes within our very own diocese. How are we as a larger diocesan community connected beyond the borders and boundaries we often erect and to reach out to those in our neighborhoods who are in need of God’s love and bounty.

The winds of the Holy Spirit are interrupting our complacency and moving in our midst. We have been called into the mission field right in our own backyard, here at St. John’s in Huntington. And, we thank God to be able to reach out to EMLI for a grant to get us started.

The St. John's Garden of Grace

Grace: A Free Gift!!!  Our project will be a renewal and expansion of the good work that Alan Schorn began last year at the Robert Kubecka Memorial Organic Garden located off Dunlop Road in Huntington – three miles from our church. If we succeed in being awarded the grant, we will develop the land under the guidance of our very own master gardener, Fr. Duncan, (trained through the Cornell Cooperative Extension), to properly grow organic vegetables which will be distributed to the homeless, migrant and food insecure communities in our neighborhood.

There will be jobs that all of us can do to assist in this ministry:

• Pray-ers - to ask the Holy Spirit to be our guide
• Recorders - to record our progress each step of the way
• Builders – of raised garden beds
• Movers of mulch and soil
• Planters
• Weeders
• Harvesters
• Deliverers to Tri CYA and Helping Hands Rescue Mission

All that we do is out of love for our neighbor – to be able to reach out and make a tangible difference in someone’s life. So this Sunday, we ask you to support Episcopal Ministries of Long Island with your generous gift during our collection.  Let’s take down the invisible “no-tresspassing” signs and open our hands and hearts in loving outreach!

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In this week’s first reading from Acts of the Apostles’, we come across a story that has a unique character in it. The story of the Ethiopian eunuch is a well known one in the Acts narrative. Tradition tells us his name was Simon Bachos. He is from the court of the Candace (or Kandake), a title used for the king’s sister or a similar position like the queen mother, and who probably had land and was a respected leader. Eunuchs were used by royal courts to especially protect the women of the royal household. Their condition made them perfect servants for this job as they were no longer a threat to the royal household. 

Jewish culture did not have eunuchs (in Hebrew, called “saris”) but because the eunuch was used in many of the cultures surrounding them, they were well-known to the Jewish people. Isaiah 56:4-5 says this, 

“For this is what the Lord says:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,

  who choose what pleases me

  and hold fast to my covenant—

to them I will give within my temple and its walls

  a memorial and a name

  better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name

  that will endure forever.”

It is often thought that the Ethiopian eunuch is the beginning of the fulfillment of this passage. Because of the non-existence of eunuchs in Jewish society, the eunuch was always a Gentile and yet it was because of his unique condition that God seemingly knew there had to be a provision made for him. 

The Gospel reading from John talks about vines and branches that grow and bear fruit. Before, this almost always meant bearing children and raising large families as the way to glorify God. While the Gospel affirms the goodness of the family and children, it also turns it on its head, affirming those who can’t or don’t get married or have children, as mentioned in Matthew 19:12. Jesus Christ’s message expands from marriage and a family to everyone, even those who don’t fit into the traditional paradigm. It affirms that everyone plays a part in the Kingdom of God and those who abide in God and in Christ bear fruit.

Certainly, this one person from Ethiopia did just that. Today the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church is the largest Christian body in Ethiopia with 40-50 million adherents. Christianity has played a central role in Ethiopian culture for nearly two millennia. I pray that each of us have the zealous faith like the Ethiopian eunuch so that we can take into our respective communities and bear fruit for the Kingdom. Thanks be to God!

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Zach

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The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever (Psalm 23).

Today we are back in John’s Gospel. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Jesus is the Word of God made flesh that we might know that Jesus is our redeemer, God’s son. John uses the metaphor of the good shepherd that we might understand the relationship between us and our Lord. God came to us that we might have abundant life in him. We are called into relationship with Jesus Christ through the breaking of Bread and the scriptures. Jesus, the good shepherd will walk with us through these troubled times and into the higher plane of the Beloved Community if we will stop to hear his voice.

This week, we will say Psalm 23. We profess our loyalty to God. God provides life and security. God is all we need! We shall lack nothing if we follow our shepherd. This is a way of being. Put your trust in God. Palestine is a desert and the sheep need to be led to green grass to eat and water to drink. This means that we will have sustenance (food and drink) from God. It means to be safe from harm. God keeps me alive. We depend solely on God. God draws us to the path of righteousness and justice. While some will be selfish and gather more than they need for themselves at a cost of others, Jesus teaches us to be self-giving. We need to eat healthy, exercise, rest, and give to others to maintain our good health. This puts God in charge of protecting us from death. God leads us home from exile. Jesus shows us the way from brokenness into wholeness and from death into life. We walk through the desert to higher ground. Jesus came out the other side of death to lead us to Beloved community. We don’t end up in the desert. God’s Kingdom is right here and we need to witness to others the love in our hearts that overflows to others. That is how they will see the marks in Jesus’ hands and feet.

I urge every member to develop a deep relationship through worship, prayer, and service to the Living God. Join us daily as we walk together with our Lord at 9AM through Morning Prayer. Follow the path of righteousness that Jesus has laid before us and have your soul restored. Please know that there are green pastures and still waters ahead. Our Thrift Shop is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 12-3. We need volunteers to sort and sell our cloths and collectibles. Mary Beth and our Thrift Shop team really need your assistance! You can offer one day or come every week. Please keep May 3^rd on your calendar. The ECW will be offering, “A Taste of St. John’s.” It is always one of our most popular events of the year. On Sunday May 5^th we will have a fabulous Jazz concert at St. John’s featuring, “The Jazz Loft All Stars.” Please buy your tickets early and get a nice discount.

In Christ’s love,
Fr. Duncan

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Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you

(Matthew 28:19-20).

This is a very special Sunday for me. My granddaughter, Lucy will be baptized at the 10:00 AM service. This is the first of five baptisms in the Easter Season at St. John’s. We are the living community of faith that receives the gift of the Holy Spirit at baptism for ministry. It is through our baptism that we are called to go forth, proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, teach and baptize.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:9-11).

The Baptism of Jesus helps us to understand the importance of the moment that Jesus came out of the water. In baptism, it is through water and in the Holy Spirit that we become fully initiated into Christ’s body, the Church. 

Do you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4).

Baptism is more than just grace bestowed upon us. While some claim that baptism cleanses a person from the stain of original sin, it is better understood as joining Christ in the death of our old self and walking in newness of life. In baptism we are fully initiated into the body of Christ by the pouring of the water and by the indwelling of the Spirit. Throughout history, water has played a role to convey God’s action in the world. Water is not just a symbol of life for human beings; Water is life. Without water we cannot live. In the stories of the Old Testament, water plays a crucial role. In the book of Exodus, Moses leads the people out of their bondage in Egypt and through water to the land of promise. John baptizes Jesus through water. Jesus is anointed by the Holy Spirit as Messiah to lead us out of death and into everlasting life. In the “Thanksgiving Over the Water” we pray,

“We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit. Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (BCP 306-307).

We find the symbol of water extremely important in the liturgy of baptism at this parish. We use a significant quantity of water at the baptism and will often slash the children who are watching after the baptism and ask them to remember their own baptism. The Spirit is the power of God that transforms our lives to the image of God revealed in Jesus Christ. While it was once thought that confirmation was the time when the Spirit completed the initiation process in the Episcopal Church, the 1979 BCP clarifies our understanding that baptism is full initiation. The Spirit also empowers the baptized for ministry.

Church has to be more than just a place we worship on Sunday morning. We need to be a vital part of the community. God is working in ways that we can’t even ask or imagine. Feel his presence in the breaking of the bread and in the water of the Baptism. Open your eyes to the presence of the Lord in our midst, not just on Sundays, but as you prepare meals for each other, hunger for peace and justice, visit those who cannot be with us, feed those who are hungry, cloth the naked, and most of all to show hospitality to all those who enter our church. 

In Christ's Love,

Fr. Duncan

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This weekend, we celebrate a special day in the church as three children will take their First Communion. Kay, Cole, and Theo have prepared for this day over the past few months. Many in the Episcopal Church, Anglican Communion, and worldwide Christian community do not practice a formal First Communion, as they see Baptism and Communion go hand in hand. This is the normative practice in the Episcopal Church and no child is obligated to wait, but many parents find the practice of First Communion to be a special one, as it helps their child to understand this Sacrament. An instructed First Communion offers time for children to reflect, learn, and grow in their faith. So even if they’ve taken Communion already, it’s another opportunity for children to experience what it means to be a Christian.

It was a blessing to journey with these children and teach them more about the faith and especially what the Eucharist means and why it is central to our service. For us Episcopalians/Anglicans, we view the Eucharist not as a mere memorialization of the Body and Blood but affirm the “Real Presence” of Christ within these elements. Again, this bread and this wine are more than mere bread and wine but offer for us a true, spiritual and material connection to the Body of Christ, united with Jesus Christ and each other. That is why I find First Communion to be so important. It helps us take a step back and really see and understand what we are doing and what we are consuming when we approach the altar rail.

In the class, they were able to get to know one another better. We read some Bible stories that pertained to sharing meals and being together as well as learning what the word Eucharist means. In one class, we explored the sacristy and sanctuary learning all about the different parts of a Sunday service along with learning more about vestments. At our last official meeting, the children baked the bread we will use on Sunday. That was a blast to do with them! On the day of this First Communion, Kay, Cole, and Theo are blessed to, as the Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer (pg. 860) says, “[strengthen their] union with Christ and one another…[for] the foretaste of the heavenly banquet which is our nourishment in eternal life.”

Credit and gratitude are also due to Sue McInnes and Fr. Duncan, as they also taught alongside me and led me through my first time teaching such a class. Thanks be to God for Kay, Cole, and Theo and their families!

In Christ,
Fr. Zach

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A message from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

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This Sunday, joining the community at the 8 am service or with the youth at the 10 am service, we will enter into the Passion narrative as it is told in the Gospel of Mark. It is easy to see Palm Sunday as a semi-joyous day because of our palm swaying and Hosanna-crying. And yet, we often wish to quickly pass by the fact we, as the Crowd, exclaims, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Thus, it is Episcopal theologian William Stringfellow, in the chapter headed “The Scandal of Palm Sunday” in his first major work, Free in Obedience: The Radical Christian Life, who reminds that, “Palm Sunday is a day of dramatic temptation for Christ. It is a day of profound frustration for the disciples and one on which the apprehensions about Christ on the part of the ruling authorities of Israel and Rome are exposed.”

This chapter on Palm Sunday informed me better as to what Palm Sunday means and why this meaning is so important for us today. With all the palm-waving and Hosanna-crying, and even with the Passion narrative being said, we might lose focus of the fact that Palm Sunday is a somber day. Stringfellow calls it a scandal because in the meaning of Palm Sunday is the richness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which for many is hard to bear. We are, “shown that Christ is…the One he is declared to be in the Word of God and which he confessed himself to be. The substance of the consternation is the desire for the gospel to end in the political triumph of Palm Sunday. If the work of Christ would only end in that way, Christians would be spared the betrayal of Judas, the apathy and cowardice of the other disciples, the mystery of the Last Supper, and Gethsemane’s sweat and agony.” Jesus Christ is tempted on Palm Sunday just like he was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness. The crowd is anticipating a political, zealous revolt against the Roman and local authorities and they are looking to Jesus to lead it. Indeed, all the authorities are also thinking that’s what’s happening. And yet, for many of us today we are looking for Jesus Christ to do the same thing, to lead us to achieve worldly power and build an earthly kingdom. But that is not the way of Jesus Christ. We are tempted in our milieu today to believe that our faith and our political stances will have victory, when the only true victory is the one that Jesus completed upon the Cross.

Knowing this we are actually then invited to live our lives in complete freedom and that what we offer the world is our own lives and that we are “secure from any threats which death may make.” This is Christian life a radical life (radical in the traditional sense of “at the very root”); we come to live a life that is “both repentant and penitential”. Knowing Christ came to conquer sin and death, and did, we can start to acknowledge our fallenness as well as the world’s fallenness. Through intercession, we confess our sins and the sin of the world. In being penitential, which Stringfellow describes as “the authentication of true repentance”, we move forward sacramentally in hopes of discerning God’s loving and eternal forgiveness for His people.

The beauty of Palm Sunday is found within its glaring paradox. While many joyous words seem to be said, its somber reality is what we should be focusing our attention on. Are we looking for a king to smash our enemies and score our culture war points, or are we resting in the faith of our Lord, who takes away the burdens, heals and gives meaning to our wounds, and in whom we can know true peace?

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Zach

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Into the Darkness

Only the seed that has died and is buried
lives to bear fruit, Jesus said.
Lead me then into the darkness and dying,
so you can raise me up from the dead
Jesus, help me die and rise.

All of my living, my loves and desires,
all of the things that I cling to,
now I surrender to die and be buried.
Raise me in following, serving you.
Jesus, help me die and rise.
Portions of a song by Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Lent this year, for many of us has been a time of slowing down – a time to be still and to be present to the God who loves us more deeply than we can imagine. It is a time of letting go – to relinquish the things that hold us hostage – and to be free to live fully into the person God has created us to be. It is hard to be silent – because if we truly look deep into our hearts, silence can remind us of our own death – the quiet darkness that can be so overwhelming. So we cling to life – fists tight – hold on. And we miss some of the most profound joys that Jesus has for us as we continue to follow him to Calvary.

We have become so busy – hustling and bustling everywhere - clutching things that are just not that important that we lose sight of the central message from our Gospel this week. Jesus reveals in the moment the Greeks came to see him just how far and wide his ministry would extend. His time has come. And he tells us what this looks like by foreshadowing his own death. “Very truly, I tell you , unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies it bears much fruit.”

So let us slow down. The time has come for us to walk with Jesus – with open hands, allowing all the seeds of love that we have been given to fall into the soil – to die. Like the tiny grains of wheat – which, when sown in good soil multiply beyond our imagination. Letting go – Let go of our own need to be in control and allow God’s love to grow more deeply. Death into life by slowing down – dying to ourselves – getting out of the way – opening our fists in surrender and trust. Together, let’s follow Jesus  - to the cross. And “they will know we are Christians” by our open hands and abundant love.

On the journey with you,
Deacon Claire

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Almighty God, whose Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, was moved with compassion for all who have gone astray and with indignation for all who have suffered wrong; enflame our hearts with the burning fire of your love, that we may seek out the lost, have mercy on the fallen and stand fast for truth and righteousness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (Prayer of Divine Compassion).

What a weekend at St. John’s! Our nursery school delivered a truckload of baby items to Helping Hands along with all the baby items that our church collected. The HIHI chefs were in full force with Nelly and Dave Lasek leading the way with an incredible feast of Puerto Rican culinary delights. The ECW ran a successful and fun evening of Zingo that will send 7 children to summer camp at Family Service League that would not have been able to go. Our breakfast team led by Dave Lasek and Heather Kress is serving full tables once again after the 8:00 and 10:00 services. The thrift shop has a fine selection of cloths at inexpensive prices and just gave several bags of cloths to the homeless and Fr. Juan. Our Racial Reconciliation Committee just released their report of Slavery in Huntington and with St. John’s members. The Spirituality Ministry has been doing wonderful things. The Wardens are leading the vestry and our parish and will soon meet to look at the future of St. John’s in a changing church culture. The concert committee of Alex, Deacon Claire, Christine, Bill, Sue, Leslie and Liz worked tirelessly to market and prepare for our inaugural Jazz Concert Series. The results were a standing room only crowd and a fabulous concert. We are preparing for our Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter services. First Communion and Youth Confirmation classes are also going well. St. Hilda’s Guild, the Prayer Shawl Ministry, Education for Ministry, Bible Study, and our Christian Education ministries are also returning to pre-Covid form and beyond.

Lent is a time of preparation, when we teach the faithful to draw closer to the one we love. It is by our example of our music, worship, study, prayer, ministries, and outreach that others will see that Jesus Christ came that we might have life and live it abundantly. Jesus Christ came that we might be transformed from our present state to the beautiful children of God that we were created to be. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Eternal life begins today and never ends. Please use these next few weeks of Lent to draw closer to the one who loves you deeply. Apostles have been transformed by the cross of our Lord, to do the will of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit. We have the power to transform the nightmare that the world can be into the blessing of the Kingdom of God. So if you have been hurting, frustrated, sick, or a little down, have faith that God will make all things new again. We will emerge from this state of the world as we emerged from our baptism, wet in the waters of the Holy Spirit and anointed to become the beloved community that God calls us to be.

In Christ’s love,
Rev. Duncan Burns 

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