Vestry Nominees Announced 

Hugh Cruse

Harry Hedges

MC Jenkins

Susan Lang

Christopher Lykes

Dax Nelson

Lisa Sepulveda

Steve Stanford

Biographies of each nominee will be published in the coming weeks.  Elections will take place during our annual meeting on Sunday, January 20, 2013, which follows a combined service at 10:00 a.m.  Breakfast will be provided.  Please join us for this important event! 

Holiday Hours for the Parish Offices

The parish offices will reopen tomorrow, Thursday, December 27.  The parish offices will also close on Monday, December 31, at 12:00 p.m. and reopen on Wednesday, January 2, 2013. 

Tax Information for Contributions

Parishioners who plan to deliver year-end contributions to the parish offices must do so by 12:00 p.m. on Monday, December 31, 2012. Contributions being mailed must be postmarked by December 31, 2012. 

Last Few Days for ER&D Matching Gift Challenge

Double the impact of your gift during Episcopal Relief & Development's Matching Gift Challenge! From now through December 31, donations to all funds - online, by phone or by mail - will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $300,000, thanks to a group of generous donors. The matching contribution for each gift will be designated for the Global Needs fund, which sustains the ER&D's work toward alleviating hunger, promoting health, creating economic opportunities and overcoming disaster.

To have your gift matched, simply make a donation between now and December 31.  Making a gift to the Global Needs fund will ensure that your contribution will be used in the area of greatest need, though donations to any fund - including through the Gifts for Life catalog - will be matched.  Visit www.er-d.org/Matching-Gift-Challenge before December 31 in order to double your gift.

2013 Every Member Canvass  

Help Faith Café Reach their Financial Goal by 12/31 

The search for a new site for Faith Café began in the spring of 2011. Since then, the group has raised almost $400,000 from small and large donations. They have purchased the property, the site has been cleared, and the concrete slab was poured on October 31, 2012!  The group currently has $284,000 in their building fund after paying for the land and the permitting fees. The cost for the building is $368,000 and they also need to purchase interior furnishings, as well as cover operating expenses for 2013.  Therefore, the Café hopes to raise a final $200,000 by December 31.

To contribute construction materials, contact Burk Clark at  Burk@thesinclairgroup.com.  To donate funds, contact Mary Jane Schenck at mjschenck@ut.edu or Hugh Cruse  or hugh.cruse@gmail.com.  You may also donate directly through the website at www.faithcafetampa.com.  Please give prayerful consideration to donating so that Faith Café can re-open its doors and serve a hot noontime meal to over 100 very needy members of our community six days a week.

Feast Day Facts: St. Stephen 

Very probably a Hellenistic Jew, Stephen was one of the "seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom" (Acts 6:3), who were chosen by the apostles to relieve them of the administrative burden of "serving tables and caring for the widows." By this appointment to assist the apostles, Stephen, the first named of those the New Testament calls "The Seven," became the first to do what the Church traditionally considers to be the work and ministry of a deacon.

Stephen's powerful sermon before the Council of the Sanhedrin is recorded in the seventh chapter of Acts. His denunciations of the Sanhedrin so enraged its members that, without a trial, they dragged him out of the city and stoned him to death. Saul, later called Paul, stood by, consenting to Stephen's death, but Stephen's example of steadfast faith in Jesus, and of intercession for his persecutors, was to find fruit in the mission and witness of Paul after his conversion.

Feast Day Facts: St. John

John, the son of Zebedee, with his brother James, was called from being a fisherman to be a disciple and "fisher of men." With Peter and James, he became one of the inner group of three disciples whom Jesus chose to be with him at the raising of Jairus' daughter, at the Transfiguration, and in the garden of Gethsemane.

If, as is commonly held, John is to be identified with the "disciple whom Jesus loved," then he clearly enjoyed a very special relationship with his Master, reclining close to Jesus at the Last Supper, receiving the care of his mother at the cross, and being the first to understand the truth of the empty tomb.

According to tradition, John later went to Asia Minor and settled at Ephesus. Under the Emperor Domitian, he was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he experienced the visions recounted in the Book of Revelation. It is probable that John died at Ephesus. He alone of the Twelve is said to have lived to extreme old age and to have been spared a martyr's death.

Feast Day Facts: The Holy Innocents

Herod the Great, ruler of the Jews, appointed by the Romans in 40 B.C., kept the peace in Palestine for 37 years. His ruthless control, coupled with genuine ability, has been recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus, who describes him as "a man of great barbarity towards everyone." An Idumaean, married to the daughter of Hyrcanus, the last legal Hasmonean ruler, Herod was continually in fear of losing his throne. It is not surprising that the Wise Men's report of the birth of an infant King of the Jews (Matthew 2) caused him fear and anger. Although the event is not recorded in secular history, the story of the massacre of the Innocents is totally in keeping with what is known of Herod's character.

To protect himself against being supplanted by an infant king, Herod ordered the slaughter of all male children under two years of age in Bethlehem and the surrounding region. No one knows how many were killed, but the Church has always honored these innocent children as martyrs. Augustine of Hippo called them "buds, killed by the frost of persecution the moment they showed themselves."

Feast Day Facts: The Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ 

The designation of this day as the Feast of the Holy Name is new to the 1979 revision of the Prayer Book. Previous Anglican Prayer Books called it the Feast of the Circumcision. January first is, of course, the eighth day after Christmas Day, and the Gospel according to Luke records that eight days after his birth the child was circumcised and given the name Jesus. 

The Law of Moses required that every male child be circumcised on the eighth day from his birth (Leviticus 12:3); and it had long been the custom to make of it a festive occasion, when family and friends came together to witness the naming of the child. 

The liturgical commemoration of the Circumcision is of Gallican origin, and a Council in Tours in 567 enacted that the day was to be kept as a fast day to counteract pagan festivities connected with the beginning of the new year. In the Roman tradition, January first was observed as the octave day of Christmas, and it was specially devoted to the Virgin Mother.

St. John's Women's Mid Morning Bible Study 

The Women's Mid Morning Bible Study invites interested women to join them on Tuesday, January 8, at 10:15 a.m., in the Lowry Room as they explore the meaning of the parable of "The Good Samaritan" (Luke 10:25-37).  The Rev. Chip Connelly, Associate Rector of St. John's, will guide their study as they seek to know Jesus better through the enigmatic teaching found in his parables.    

The Circle 

The Circle will gather for "An Evening in Casablanca," featuring Mediterranean style cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, and dessert, at the home of Lisa and Steven Sepulveda on Friday, January 11 at 7:00 p.m.  The event is co-hosted by Katey and Cary Brown.  Attendes are asked to bring an appetizer, beverage, or dessert. Please email Kim French at frenchco@verizon.net for more details or to join our email invitation list. 

Youth 2013

Middle School Youth Group and High School Bible Study will resume on Sunday, January 13.  Email Arthur Taylor at ataylor895@gmail.com for more information.  We hope you will join us! 

Annual Meeting 

The annual meeting of St. John's Church will take place after a combined service at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 20.  A status report on our parish will be given, and four new vestry members will be elected.  Breakfast will be provided.