Announcements
🎵🌼🎵 Summer Pop-Up Choir: June 28th! 🎵🌼🎵
Join us for a fun, “pop-up choir” experience this Sunday, June 28th! Join your friends in the choir room downstairs at 10:20am to make a joyful noise. We’ll learn a song together (in a very short amount of time!) and sing it for the offertory that day during the 11am service. (Bonus points if you bring a friend from outside our parish!)
This is a no pressure, purely fun singing experience. Communal singing is good for the soul, so please join us and bring your friends!
Questions? Please reach out to Erin McCully at elmccully@gmail.com or talk to her during coffee hour!
Jackson County Meals on Wheels is in need of food deliverers. They are located at the Jackson County Department on Aging, 100 County Services PK. Hot lunches are delivered to the homebound Monday thru Friday. Depending on your route, it takes an hour or two, starting at 10am. Volunteers choose the day/days they can work.
For more information or to volunteer, call Sara Forbis at 828-631-8044.
Community Table: Ways to Get Involved
During last week’s Coffee Hour, Steve Steen, the Operations and Food Pantry Manager for Community Table, spoke about the work they do in Jackson County to combat food insecurity.
The Community Table is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide nutritious meals, in a welcoming environment, to our neighbors in need. Since 1999, our vision has been that no one in Jackson County, NC goes to bed hungry. We are more than a soup kitchen, more than a food pantry. Through our partnership with MANNA Food Bank, ASAP, local farm hubs, small farmers and producers, local grocers, and community gardeners, as well as the ongoing support of our community, we are a powerful resource for those in need.
Learn more about their mission and work here.
Want to get involved? Volunteer here!
Updated Directories Available
The directory has been updated, and copies are available in the Parish Hall. A digital directory, including a photo directory, is in the works!
Thank you to everyone who updated their information. Missed something? Reach out to saintjohnssylva@gmail.com with any further updates or additions!
Serving This Week
Altar Guild: Allison Tomas and Paige Madison
Crucifer: Jane Eastman
Ushers: Mary Anne Farrell and George Granning
Oblation Bearers: Mike & Janet Boyle
Readers: Joe Noeker (1st Lesson), Helen Jones (2nd Lesson), Jane Eastman (Prayers of the People)
Vestry on Duty: Mary Anne Farrell and Cyndie Faircloth-Smith
Acolyte: Johanna Price Vinyard
Stream Team: Help Needed! Interested? Email Cyndie!
Children’s Church: Lisa Boynton and Cyndie Faircloth-Smith
Would you like to volunteer? Sign up to host Coffee Hour using the dry erase board in the Parish Hall. For everything else, please email Cyndie at fairclothsmithc@yahoo.com. Thank you!
Upcoming Events
Check out the full event details for each by clicking the event banner.
Click here to view the full event calendar.
Readings for this Sunday: June 28, 2026
The First Lesson
Genesis 22:1-14
God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
The Psalm
Psalm 13
Usquequo, Domine?
1 How long, O Lord?
will you forget me for ever? *
how long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long shall I have perplexity in my mind,
and grief in my heart, day after day? *
how long shall my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look upon me and answer me, O Lord my God; *
give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;
4 Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” *
and my foes rejoice that I have fallen.
5 But I put my trust in your mercy; *
my heart is joyful because of your saving help.
6 I will sing to the Lord, for he has dealt with me richly; *
I will praise the Name of the Lord Most High.
The Epistle
Romans 6:12-23
Do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Gospel
Matthew 10:40-42
Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple– truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
June Vestry Update
Things are always happening at St. John’s! Thanks to the hard work of Mother Erin, Music Director Erin, and Stephen Loper, we have approved a plan to create additional space in our growing church. The choir and organ will be moved to an improved acoustic location by switching sides at the back of the church. This change will create additional pew seating and provide more flexibility for crowded events such as funerals, weddings, and other large celebrations. We hope to complete this project before the end of the summer.
Our aging church and rectory always require ongoing care and maintenance. This summer, we will be painting the exterior of Hastings House to address lead paint concerns. We are also installing new safety and security systems throughout the church, including smoke detection, water leak detection, and entry monitoring systems.
Thanks to the hard work of Jan Stafflebach, our Parish Administrator, the new church directories are now available. If you were inadvertently omitted or if your information is incomplete or inaccurate, please contact Jan at saintjohnssylva@gmail.com. Everyone is encouraged to be included in the directory.
And finally, the best news of all: our mortgage has been paid in full! Thank you for your generosity and faithful support of our capital campaign, which made this milestone possible. More information will be coming soon about a special church celebration as we give thanks and honor this achievement together.
(Some features, including events and readings are best viewed on the website. Pardon our dust as we continue our work in progress!)
The new site—and this newsletter—are still works in progress, and we’d love your thoughts as we continue shaping them. If you have suggestions, notice something that isn’t working quite right, or simply want to share ideas, please reach out to Aeryn Knight at arcolton16@gmail.com. Your feedback helps us create tools that truly serve our community.
We’re glad you’re here, and we can’t wait for you to explore what’s new at St. John’s.