A Special Week for St. John’s

Good Evening, St. John’s.

Today marks the first day in a very special week at St. John’s. On Tuesday evening, The Right Reverend Julia E. Whitworth will visit St. John’s where one of her first acts as Bishop will be to Celebrate the New Ministry and Institution of The Reverend Edward Thornley, St. John’s Ninth Rector.

St. John’s Parishioners had a vital hand in carrying the Church through the transition period. We would not be here without you. We hope you will join us to celebrate our community, our dedicated Rector Search and Transition teams, and this most joyous occasion. The Institution promises to be a meaningful service, a moment to recognize what we have been through, and to look forward together to our next chapter under the leadership of Father Ed. A celebratory reception will follow. We hope to see you there.

We also invite you to return to St. John’s Friday evening for the 2024 Holiday Boutique Cocktail Party—a beloved tradition and festive evening to shop, sip, and socialize. The Holiday Boutique is the Church’s largest annual fundraiser, and a wonderful opportunity to open St. Johns’ doors to the community and kick-off the holiday season. We are still looking to fill important volunteer slots. Please sign-up here. Every shift helps!

We are so grateful for our Church home, and all of you.

Faithfully,

Jody Jones Turner & Perrie O’Tierney-Ginn

On behalf of the St. John's Vestry

Holiday Boutique Cocktail Party

RSVP today for the chance to shop and socialize with your fellow parishioners at the annual Holiday Boutique Cocktail Party, just one week away, next Friday, Nov. 22! The event features a live auction with some amazing items. This year, place bids on some exciting experiences like a week on Cape Cod, a stay in Stowe, Vt., hotel rooms in Chatham and Nantucket, tickets to the Celtics and Bruins, and more! You won’t want to miss out!

Please purchase your tickets using the link below, or contact Nancy in the office to RSVP and send in a check. See you there!

Holiday Boutique returns Nov. 22-23

Holiday Boutique 2024! A beloved St. John’s and South Shore tradition, this year’s 24th Annual Holiday Boutique will be held on Saturday, Nov. 23 and as always, the Cocktail Party will be held on the eve of the Boutique on Friday, Nov. 22. As in past years, we need many volunteers to support this annual event and we have opportunities for people of all ages to get involved.

The online volunteer signup link is live! Please sign up here:

If you have any questions about getting involved please reach out to Jenn GaySmith or (617) 548-2434. Thank you so much for kicking off the 2024 holiday season by volunteering at this festive fundraiser and cherished annual tradition!

Cocktail Party Tickets on sale now!

Don’t miss St. John’s biggest social gathering of the year! Purchase your Cocktail Party Tickets here:

Holiday Boutique Yard Signs

’Tis the season to deck the streets with Holiday Boutique Signs! If you hosted a Holiday Boutique sign in your yard last year, please let Elizabeth Moulds know if you do NOT want one again, or if you moved. If you’d like to host a sign on a street that has good visibility, please contact Elizabeth. Fa la la la la, la la la la! 

From the Rector: Finding the prayerful threads in community

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

Over the last few weeks, I have been struck once more at how engaged our community is. We have witnessed the marvel that is The Not-So-Spooky Haunted House, thanks to the gargantuan efforts of Dan and Kaja Fickes, their daughters Elise and Kristi, John Lanza, and our incredible parishioners, and children and youth volunteers. I have also seen our Holiday Boutique appear more noticeably on the horizon, as plans are coming together around another major holiday event. We gathered for coffee hour at the Rectory last Sunday, as well as many of our parishioners engaging in our wider community through the Hingham Historical Society’s Tavern Night. Turns out St. John’s has quite the presence there!

Just when things seemed to calm down, I then found myself in meetings with Sunday School leaders, planning this Sunday’s All-Ages Worship and Stewardship Sermon; as well as our Outreach Committee’s meeting, a planning meeting for the South Africa trip, and of course our Wednesday morning Eucharist. And that’s before you get to our Transition Committee’s Wine and Cheese Evenings, the Men’s Group’s monthly meeting, our monthly Finance Committee meeting, and our community’s participation at the consecration of our new Bishop! A few of these events, I confess, I ultimately couldn’t attend because of clashes and, frankly, exhaustion! Oh, and I’m being instituted here on November 19 …!

When I was discerning, interviewing, and then finally preparing for arriving at St. John’s, I knew there would be a great deal of activity. Everyone in this community leads a busy life, to say the least! This was one of the things that inspired Devon and I the most about coming here. One of the great gifts of parish life is precisely what St. John’s does best, and that is, put simply, gathering. Through this we share our gifts and grow in our relationship with God through each of the particular aspects of parish life that draws us in and speaks to us most immediately. And at the heart of all these gatherings is prayer. Whether it is at a social event, a fundraiser, a committee or ministry meeting, or indeed an act of worship in and of itself; prayer is an essential part of each these. And prayer is part of even those gatherings which one might not immediately anticipate being explicitly spiritual or theological.

The last two weeks have felt like journeying a St. John’s “road map.” It began with the Eucharist on Sunday, from which point we left the parish church, going out into the world to engage in all the usual things that occupy our lives. And, in the midst of this, whether you are a priest, an administrator, a doctor, an accountant, or … fill in the blank … you find yourself back in our parish, sharing the gifts that you bring, and which make who you are with the community around you. There’s an interconnectivity between all these elements: a prayerful thread which ties everything together. Each act of gathering connects to another, from worship to social, from Haunted House to fundraising, from Hingham to South Africa and back, from one generation to another. As we move into a busy time of year, and approach a new liturgical year, how we navigate those specific prayerful threads that underlie our shared life will be an important theme, for “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” And I am excited to walk that journey with you.

The Rev. Edward Thornley

Rector of The Episcopal Parish of St. John the Evangelist

24th Annual Holiday Boutique

It may not feel much like winter outside but St. John’s is already hard at work planning for our 2024 Holiday Boutique (it’s our 24th year!), which will take place on Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23.

Vendor selection is in full swing and we’d like to extend an invitation to any interested vendors to apply now for this year’s show! The deadline is September 10th, but we invite vendors on a rolling basis so we encourage anyone interested to apply early! Please click here for more information and to apply.