Rector's Annual Report

The Body of Christ.

A parish community is both a place to find the Body of Christ and to be the Body of Christ. I am grateful to be a part of a parish community in which the life of the Body of Christ is so richly shared, both within the parish fellowship and beyond.

For example, just in the last month or so:

Before Christmas the children who participate in the Little Hands ministry invested their spirit, time and creativity to create and deliver Advent gifts for some of our less mobile parishioners. They decorated cookies and made cards and bags which proclaimed both the love of Christ and the care of the children towards the recipients.

Christmas services were full of glory. We welcomed and celebrated the remembrance of Christ’s birth in the majestic and reverent liturgy of the church. The children’s Christmas pageant was the “Best Christmas Pageant” ever. We had the largest number of children participating that we’ve had in recent years. But even more importantly, the children were both happy and proud to be a part of the pageant, to be the evangelists sharing the story of Christ’s birth with the parish. At the late service on Christmas Eve our worship shone brightly in the night like the star that proclaimed Jesus’ birth. Music is surely one of God’s greatest gifts to us. As the choir makes music so richly within worship—especially on Christmas Eve—they enable us all to share in celebration and praise of God’s gifts and presence with us.

Christmas Eve falling on a Friday this year, it just happened to be St. John’s night to staff P.A.D.S. at St. Agnes’ Catholic Church in Chicago Heights. So at the same time that Christians everywhere were celebrating Christ’s birth in a dingy stable because there was no room for the holy family at the inn, lay ministers from St. John’s were helping to offer shelter, in Christ’s name, to individuals in our own community. The Body of Christ reaching out.

For the last several years in early January the vestry has offered a Feast to the parish. The Feast of St. John the Evangelist began out of the vestry’s desire to thank the people of the parish for being the parish, for being the Body of Christ. It is wonderful to see individual vestry members give so generously of their time and creativity, to exercise their ministry of leadership in acts of service. The event itself certainly highlights the gift of fellowship… what a gift it is to share fellowship as the Body of Christ across a wide range of ages and backgrounds.

Over the last six months the vestry has been methodically working to address needed improvements in the physical accessibility of St. John’s. There should be no barriers to participation in the life of Christ. In early January requests for bids were sent to architectural firms. This manifests a care, not only for those within our current congregation who may have various physical limitations, but also a desire to welcome others whom we do not yet know who may be seeking the Good News of God in Christ.

As 2010 ended and 2011 began we also hosted two funerals. Like many others, they were “good” funerals. Good because the Body of Christ was very much in evidence. They were times of sadness and loss, both within Adrienne and George’s immediate families, and within their larger parish family. But the individual faith each of them lived was a lively example to all and worthy of celebration. And the hands and voice of Christ were definitely present within the parish in the many acts and words of kindness shared, in the many individuals who offered their time and help with the receptions, and in the voices and hearts of all those who prayed, and continue to pray, in the confidence of eternal life given by God and shared with the saints in light.

Several new parishioners have become a part of the parish community recently. Again and again they say how strongly they feel at home within this parish community. This speaks both to the welcoming nature of parishioners and also to the presence of Christ, made real and made known among us here. Christ, who yearns to welcome us all home into his presence.