Announcements
🎵📣🎵 We want YOU in St. John’s Choir! 🎵📣🎵
Are you looking for an opportunity to hang out with folks in the St. John’s community? Seeking an opportunity to recreate the fun you had in chorus in school? Or maybe you’re looking for another way to give back to St. John’s. Whatever your reason, we’d love to have you with us in the St. John’s Choir! We’re looking for new members (and we could especially use altos and tenors) – all are welcome!
Rehearsals are Wednesday evenings from 5:30-6:30pm, and we meet on Sundays at 10:20am before the service. Our choir season begins with a Choir Retreat on Saturday, Aug 29th in the Parish Hall, and our first Sunday back is Aug 30th.
Learn more about the Choir at St. John’s and fill out the interest form here. Please reach out to Erin McCully (music@stjohnssylva.org, 803.381.6454) with questions or for more details – we would love to have you!
Deanery Community Resilience & Preparedness Day
Saturday, August 8, 2026
9am-1pm
Grace Episcopal Church, Waynesville
free, lunch provided
Join this workshop, facilitated by Kelsey Davis, to explore community resilience and disaster preparedness together, from disaster phases and practical tools, to the science of resilience, asset-mapping, and concrete action planning.
Hosted by: Episcopal Diocese of WNC Disaster Response & Recovery Team
RSVP Here: https://forms.gle/GEgwGfzrLfCw4uNZA
Diocese of Western North Carolina Bishop Search Update
The Diocese of Western North Carolina’s Bishop Search Committee is inviting every member of the diocese to participate in an important season of prayer and discernment as we seek the next Bishop of Western North Carolina.
As part of this process, the committee asks us to join together in praying for the Search Committee, those discerning a call to the episcopate, and our entire diocese as we listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
An online diocesan-wide survey will open Sunday, August 2, and remain available through Sunday, August 30. The survey is an opportunity for every member of the diocese to share their hopes, priorities, and vision for the future of our shared ministry. Weekly reminders will be sent throughout August to encourage broad participation.
We encourage everyone at St. John’s to take part in this important process. Your voice will help shape the discernment of the qualities and leadership our diocese seeks in its next bishop.
Stay informed: Sign up for the Bishop Search Committee newsletter to receive survey links and future updates directly in your inbox. www.diocesewnc.org/newsletter
Watch the update: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DZ3iM73YIT8
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
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!
Join Katie, Richard, and Bodie Conley for a baby shower to celebrate the welcoming of a new family member! This weekend, August 1st at 3pm, Chelsea Tharp, Karen Tharp, and Marion El-Bayadi are hosting the baby shower for Marlie Celeste.
Reach out to Chelsea to RSVP or with questions.
Serving This Week
Altar Guild: Mary & Cary Elvington
Crucifer: Cyndie Faircloth-Smith
Ushers: Helen & Joe Butler
Oblation Bearers: MaryK & Joe Buranosky
Readers: Joe Noecker (1st Lesson), MaryK Buranosky (2nd Lesson), Mary Anne Farrell (Prayers of the People)
Vestry on Duty: MaryK Buranosky and Mary Anne Farrell
Acolyte: Diane Tunze
Stream Team: Interested? Email Cyndie!
Children’s Church: Beth Jones and Lisa Boynton
Coffee Hour Hosts: Helen & Richard Jones
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: August 2, 2026
The First Lesson
Genesis 32:22-31
The same night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
The Psalm
Psalm 17:1-7,16
Exaudi, Domine
1 Hear my plea of innocence, O Lord;
give heed to my cry; *
listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.
2 Let my vindication come forth from your presence; *
let your eyes be fixed on justice.
3 Weigh my heart, summon me by night, *
melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.
4 I give no offense with my mouth as others do; *
I have heeded the words of your lips.
5 My footsteps hold fast to the ways of your law; *
in your paths my feet shall not stumble.
6 I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; *
incline your ear to me and hear my words.
7 Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, *
O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.
16 But at my vindication I shall see your face; *
when I awake, I shall be satisfied, beholding
your likeness.
The Epistle
Romans 9:1-5
I am speaking the truth in Christ– I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit– I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
The Gospel
Matthew 14:13-21
Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
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