St. John’s Episcopal Church
“One thing above all is important: the return to the Father. The Son came into the world and died for us, rose and ascended to the Father; sent us His Spirit, that in Him and with Him we might return to the Father.
That we might pass clean out of the midst of all that is transitory and inconclusive; return to the Immense, the Primordial, the Source, the unknown, to Him Who loves and knows, to the Silent, to the Merciful, to the Holy, to Him who is All in All.
To seek anything, to be concerned with anything but this is only madness and sickness, for this is the whole meaning and heart of all existence, and in this all affairs of life, all needs of the world and of men, take on their right significance: all point to this one great return to the Source.
All goals that are not ultimate, all ends of the line that we can see and plan as ends, are simply absurd, because they do not even begin. The return is the end beyond all ends, and beginning of beginnings.
To return to the Father is not to go back in time, to roll up the scroll of history, or to reverse anything. It is a going forward, a going beyond, for merely to retrace one’s step would be vanity on top of vanity, a renewal of the same absurdity in reverse.
Our destiny is to go on beyond everything, to leave everything, to press forward to the End and find in the End our Beginning, the ever-new Beginning that has no end.” Tomas Merton
During Lent St. John’s is having evening prayer each Wednesday at 5:30 in the chapel.
Social distancing will be practiced in church and temperature checks and hand sanitizer are available as you enter. The church is professionally sanitized each week using an ozone generator. CDC COVID-19 guidelines (Vestry approved) list is on table in the back of church.
Dates to mark in your calendar for next week:
April 13….Stations of the Cross, Wednesday at 5:30 pm in the church
April 14.... Maundy Thursday (Stripping of the Altar) at 6:00 pm in the church
April 15.... Good Friday service at noon in the church
April 17.... Easter Sunday
WORSHIP AND EDUCATION NEWS:
Worship: April 10, the Holy Eucharist, Rite I, with Rev. Canon Jason Alexander
Readings: Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14—23:56
Please keep the following in your prayers: Debra Richardson, Kathy Sullivan, Courtney Turner, Kathleen Gibson, Cole Jefferies, Carol Spencer, Bonnie & Charles Rowland, Jo Liddy, Janet Juengel, Jim Howe, Cliff Clark, Sylvia Ross, Linda Dowling, and Susan Taylor.
OUTREACH NEWS:
Grace Food Pantry: plastic bags go in the labeled container in the narthex.
CHURCH OFFICE NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
April 6, Wed, at 5:30 pm: final week of Lenten Evening Payer at St. John’s Episcopal Chapel
LEM: Ben Pittman
April 9, Saturday, at 9:30 am: All Altar Guild will meet to make palm crosses at St. John’s
Guests from the Diocese of Arkansas this Sunday are The Rev. Canon Jason Alexander and James Matthews, Communications Director for the Diocese
April 10: The Liturgy of the Palms at 10:00 in the garden of First United Methodist Church
April 10: Palm Sunday, at 10:30 at St. John’s Episcopal Church
Lay Eucharist Minister: Mike Fielder
Acolyte: Mike Fielder
Altar Guild: Bennett Sellers
Ushers: Tait Owens & Tap Jennings
Video - Facebook: Angie Fielder
April 11, Monday: ECW will meet at 5:00 at the church.
CDC COVID-19 guidelines (Vestry approved) list is on table in the back of churchï¸
For those that cannot attend in person, there will be live streaming on Facebook.
The new link for Sunday service is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/929943537685987
Facebook Group: Events and Pictures of St. John’s Episcopal Church; Helena, AR
St. John’s Church Office:
Phone: 870-338-8115
Email: office@saintjohnshelena.org
Mailing address: P.O. Box 770, Helena, AR 72342
Street address: 625 Pecan St., Helena, Arkansas
Lilly Order Form
I/We would like to order _________ Easter Lilies at $18 each.
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In Memory of: ____________________________________________
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In Honor of/ In Thanksgiving for: _____________________________
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Please make all checks payable to St John’s Episcopal Church
