Fish Fry, April 11

Join us on Friday, April 11 for St. John’s Fish Fry from 6:00 to 8:30 pm. Your ticket ($16 adults, $10 kids) includes fish, homemade slaw, fries, roll, and dessert. Cash bar. Soft drinks and non-alcoholic beverages available.

Tickets available by Venmo (scan code above) or Zelle (treasurer@stjohnschicago.com). Please put “Fish Fry” in the memo. Tickets are also available at the door (cash/check). All are welcome!

Announcing the Rector Search Committee

February 16, 2025
After prayer and careful consideration, the Vestry is please to appoint the following to serve on the Rector Search Committee:

  • Christina Calvit
  • Frank Gaytan
  • Chris Horlacher
  • Melissa Kanter
  • Jason Martin
  • Amy Meadows
  • Rich Gage, Co-Chair
  • Laura Singer, Co-Chair

More info about where we are in the process is all on our Rector Search page. The group will be commissioned for search on March 2nd at both the 8am and 10am services.

NEW! St. John’s Creative Arts Community

St. John’s Creative Arts Community is a newly formed group of artists and crafters of all skill levels who meet twice a month at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 3857 N. Kostner Avenue, Chicago.

Craft Day: First Wednesday of the month from 1 to 4 pm
Craft Night: Third Wednesday of the month from 6 to 9 pm

We welcome all who need a space to work on art projects, are looking to learn a new skill, or just want to hang out with other talented, creative people. If this sounds like you, please stop by! Attendance is free. Join us in the church hall and bring a project that you want to work on. Children are welcome to join the fun, but please note we do not provide any childcare
Questions or have a skill you want to teach to others? Please contact Debbie at dmaher34@gmail.com.
Open to all in the Irving Park Community!

Search Committee Update

Last week, as announced on Sunday 11/3, the Vestry named Rich Gage and Laura Singer as co-chairs of the Rector Search committee.

Next steps: The Vestry and the Search Committee co-chairs, Rich Gage and Laura Singer, will be meeting with our diocesan transition minister at the Nov. 20, 2024 Vestry meeting at 7:15 p.m. All are welcome to attend that meeting to hear what the diocese shares with us. Use this link to attend on Zoom. We also meet in person.

The Vestry and Co-chairs will meet again in December to plan and develop the self-nominating process for the St. John’s Search Committee.

For questions or more information, please contact Rich Gage at richardgage51@sbcglobal.net or Laura Singer at laura.t.singer@gmail.com.

In the meantime, please pray with us:

God, please help us set aside
Everything we think we know about You,
Everything we think we know about ourselves,
Everything we think we know about others,
And everything we think we know about
St. John’s, so we may have open minds
And new experiences with these
Things and come to know You
Better. Please help us see the truth.
Amen

A Personal Tribute to Emmett Till

In honor of his birthday on July 25

Emmett Till & Marvin Childress, self-portrait
photo of Emmett Till & Marvin Childress, self-portrait

Parishioner Marvin Childress was a friend and classmate of Emmett Till. On Sunday, July 23 at 9 am Marvin honored Emmett’s memory by sharing his memoires of Emmett, growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s, and his reflection on life and racism in Chicago today. You can listen to the 45 minute talk, including questions with this YouTube link A Personal Tribute to Emmett Till by Marvin Childress.

Reckoning and Reconciliation with our Indigenous Neighbors

A reading list

Recommended reading and resources for parish study groups and book clubs from the Peace & Justice Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago

Art by Rose Teyuthahukwa Malanik

The Red Nation: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth (2021)

Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous leaders, Dreamers and Changemakers from the Past and Present by Adrienne Keene (2021)

Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance (2nd edition) by Edgar Villanueva (2021)

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer 2013 (Study Guide available)

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2014)

The Four Vision Quests of Jesus by Steven Charleston (2015)

Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder by Kent Nerburn

The Night Watchman a novel by Louise Erdrich (2020)

Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder North America by Micahel Johnson Witgen

Videos available from “Indigenous Ministries” on The Episcopal Church website: 1. “Native Voices: Speaking to the Church and the World” (37 min.) 2.“Doctrine of Discovery” (14 min.) 3. “Native Voices: A Response to the Episcopal Church’s History with Indian Boarding Schools” (1 hr. 33 min.)

National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition  

Article from Sojourners: “Will Christians atone for church boarding schools?”

Bexley-Seabury Course by Mary Crist:

Report calls church to address harms of white supremacy, colonial and imperial legacies; create $2 million healing coalition by David Paulsen