What will you do...what will we do... to help our fellow citizens find what they are really seeking?

Another tragic mass killing and we each search for answers. The horrendous recent day at the Washington Navy Yard is another wake-up call that as a society and a nation we need to face reality. And as we know from any positive change in our own lives, the first step in transformation is accepting the truth and seeing clearly what reality really is. Something is terribly askew in our culture today.

Yes, some form of extensive background checks on guns would be helpful. Yes, more attention and resources dedicated to mental illness are needed. And of course limits on the violence available through video games, online entertainment, and television and movies is well overdue.

But the real core problem - and it surfaces in many ways - is spiritual and of the heart. Today in America the most profound level of poverty is poverty of the soul.

Poverty of the soul is a national crisis. It affects us at so many levels. In the aftermath of the loss of faith and trust in nearly every institution from government to political to established churches to sports to you name it, so many folks are searching for a place to call home and for a life of meaning. And when they can't find it, they act out in totally inappropriate and dangerous ways.

It is not only bright young men picking up lethal weapons and ending the beautiful lives of innocent victims. It is young women with body image difficulties willing to tolerate abusive relationships. It is older people in their last few years of their lives having lost connection and times of joy. It is people going on another run of retail therapy and wondering if this is all there is. It is young people in our inner cities and rural towns in dire need of mothering and fathering. It is people with more connections than ever before because of the Internet but feeling totally disconnected from themselves and would-be friends. It is folks talking in numerous chat rooms but without a community.    Read more 

Have you been inspired by our celebration of James Chisholm as he served our community during the 1855 yellow fever epidemic?  Do you want to be part of something that really makes a difference in this community in our own day?  St. John's plans to celebrate "A Day to Shine" as our 2014 observance of James Chisholm's saint day.  We want your ideas!  Join in the planning at an organizational meeting on Tuesday, September 24th at 6:30pm.  Contact Jen Morrison or Renee Robbins for more information. 

Christian Formation continues this Sunday for adults and children!   Groups for toddlers through age five begin at 10am; groups for ages 6 through adult begin at 10:10am.    

St. John's Prayer Ministry reforming:  Are you being called to pray for others?  Do you want to learn more about the power of prayer?  In Ezekiel we read that "God looked for people to stand before him in the gap, but he found none" (22:30).  St. John's prayer ministry is looking for intercessors to stand in the gap for those in need.  Please contact Suzanne Erickson (289-5455) or Margaret Perkins (757-390-7831).

Thursday Morning Ladies Bible Study is underway.   Sponsored by AWE (Anglican Women Empowered), this Bible Study meets at 10am on the second and fourth Thursday of each month (September 12, 26; October 10,24; November 7,21.)  This fall we will study "Faithful, Abundant, True:  Three Lives Going Deeper Still" DVD study series.  Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer, and Beth Moore will each teach two lessons.  Please contact Patti Devers to order the series study guide.

Wednesday evening Ladies Bible Study is underway.  Sponsored by AWE, and starting on 9/18, this Bible Study meets on the first and third Wednesdays at 7 pm.  This fall we will study "Sacred Secrets" by Beth Moore.  There is a journal to be purchased for the series for $10. Please contact Barrie Harper to order the journal. 

Would you like to serve God by helping in worship?  Are you baptized and have the desire and ability to accomplish this ministry, even if you are very young or very old?  Then you qualify to serve as an acolyte at St. John's!  Acolytes carry the cross, candles, and the gospel book in our processions and help Fr. Derek prepare the altar for Eucharist.  Contact Sr. Heather to be included in our next acolyte training on Sunday, October 6.

Detour to Church?  The westbound lanes of Interstate 264 through the Downtown Tunnel West (from Norfolk to Portsmouth) are closed on weekends, except holiday weekends, through the Spring of 2014.  

The Parishioner Corner of our Website has news you can use.  Here you can access the latest parish directory, parish handbook, access worship ministry schedules, and read approved minutes of vestry discussions and actions as well parish financial reports.  Need or don't remember the password?  Click here.  

For Evelyn & Eric Stallings and Sarah & Jon McCorkill who are expecting a child

For the marriage of Stephen and Kat Taylor

For the marriage of Dariana Torres and Jason Dominguez

Departed

For Anna Cope

For those who died in the Navy Yard shootings and Colorado floods