As the Church Member Coordinator for St. John serving Love INC, I am delighted to let our congregation know how our Bathroom Essentials Gap Ministry is doing.  With the acquisition of the LOVE INC Annex, the supplies which were being housed in my garage now have a more accessible place in which baskets can be assembled.  From your generous donations, volunteers are able to supply baskets for our neighbors in need.  Please continue to drop off these items (shampoo, conditioner, combs, brushes tooth paste/brushes soap, towels, laundry baskets etc.) in the basket outside the church office.  A reminder: If your items are gently used, please be sure they are clean, in good condition, ready to deliver.  We provide basics, not electronics or decorations. [Read more...]

Computers make our lives easier, but sometimes things go awry. In recent weeks we’ve been having some difficulties with contact management in the church office. We believe some recently updated data may have been lost and are unable to recreate all of the changes we made. If you have requested a change in address and it doesn’t happen, please help us be informing us again of the needed change and we will try it a second time. As John Wesley liked to say, “We are all going on to perfection!”

Over 150 children and 75 adult and youth leaders participated in this year’s Vacation Bible School at Saint John. The children were treated to an exploration of the universe as we celebrated the Galactic Blast theme. Visits from great Biblical characters, singing and dancing, crafts and story telling made for very full days. What a great celebration. Thanks to all who had a hand in making this the best VBS ever!

The Christmas Totem, the beautiful retelling of the Christmas story using the totem imagery of the Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska, was recently installed on the lawn at Saint John UMC. The totem is the creation of pastor emeritus David Fison, an adopted member of the Tsimshian Nation. He first carved the totem years ago, using tradition native images and ideas to tell the story of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Our recent interim pastor, John Dodson was inspired by Pastor Fison’s insightful telling of the Christian story through the use of totems and encouraged David to make this project possible. The totem was made possible by a gift from the Fison family. Pastor Fison was the pastor of Saint John UMC from 1982-1989.

Recently a group of church members gathered to install the Christmas Totem, which is an exact replica of the original cedar log carving. It is traditional custom that totems kept outdoors must be painted, and so the totem is decorated in beautiful traditional colors.