From the Rector's Desk

Dear friends,

St. John’s has been known for a number of years as a good parish for adult education, and I am hoping that 2008-9 will be a similar year for educational achievement. I wanted to use this venue to tell you a little bit about the plans for the next year.

Two major changes are proposed.

First, we are going to regularize the Rector’s Forum’s on the first Sunday of each month at 12:45 p.m. in the Church. In the past, the rector has chosen the topics, and because of all the dissent in the Episcopal Church and in the worldwide Anglican Communion, the forum has often dealt with those issues. But there are more we might look at, and I am open to finding out what people might want to talk about or learn about.

Second, I am considering reviving the Sunday morning class at 9:15 a.m., although probably pushing it to 9:30. I have felt for some time that we needed a more flexible educational forum. Sometimes we have events and interests that arise after the year’s educational plans have already been put “in the can” as they say in the movie trade. For example, we have had seminarians here who come with interests they would like to share, and this venue might be good for doing that exploration. There are sometimes little class topics, like current events and projects in the Diocese of New York which merit some exploration and discussion. Before each change of liturgical season, it might be good to consider the reason for the season and its various observances and traditions.

The Wednesday evening class series will continue. We will begin in the Fall with a second series on film. The Eastertide class series on Really Evil Movies was well received, but some of those who attended expressed an interest in films with, shall we say, a less sinister bias. So, we will have three films on redemption and new life, including, for example, Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. The film series will be somewhat more elegantly presented, since we have purchased a wide screen plasma HD television on which to screen them.

I am proposing that we engage the Rattlestick Theatre in a class event or two. [Rattlestick is the very fine nonprofit off Broadway group that manages the theatre above the Parish House at St. John’s.] I am going to ask a small group of parishioners to consult with the theatre management and see if we can find a few plays in the course of the year that we might attend, as a group, perhaps with a discount, and then follow with discussion.

The Advent Quiet Day and Lenten Quiet Day are so popular that they will continue in the same format as established. No sense in changing something which is working well.

We have booked a parish Retreat at the Order of the Holy Cross in Ulster County (about 70 miles up the Hudson from New York) for May 15-17, 2009. It is not too early to put that date on your calendar.

That is a little hint about the educational offerings to come next year. If you have any suggestions suitable for the open spots in the calendar, please let me know.


Faithfully,


The Rev’d Lloyd Prator
Rector