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!
Community Discussion: Barriers to Housing with Dr. J. Andrew Hansen
This Sunday, August 16 • 9:30–10:30 AM • Choir Room
Before worship on August 16, St. John’s will welcome Dr. J. Andrew Hansen, Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Western Carolina University, for a community discussion about barriers to housing in Sylva and Jackson County.
As a speaker through St. John’s Shelter from the Storm grant, Dr. Hansen will share his experiences and expertise around the challenges people face in accessing stable housing in our community. This is an opportunity to listen, learn, and engage together in an important conversation about housing and our neighbors.
We’ll meet in the Choir Room. If there is significant interest, we will move to the Parish Hall.
Please RSVP here so we can prepare for everyone who would like to attend.
High School Youth Gathering
As a new school year begins, high school students are invited to join Rev. Erin for an evening of gathering, reflection, and connection. We’ll take some time to set intentions for the year ahead, release fears, and share hopes as we begin again.
We’ll meet at Ange’s from 6:00–8:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 23. Dinner will be provided. Please RSVP to priest@stjohnssylva.org so we know to expect you!
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!
Serving This Week
Altar Guild: Jane Eastman and Dru Russell
Crucifer: Allison Tomas
Ushers: Mary Anne Farrell and George Granning
Oblation Bearers: Mike & Janet Boyle
Readers: Ally Rice (1st Lesson), Helen Jones (2nd Lesson), Johanna Price Vinyard (Prayers of the People)
Vestry on Duty: Mary Anne Farrell and Stephen Loper
Acolyte: Johanna Price Vinyard
Stream Team: Jane Eastman
Children’s Church: Beth Jones and Paige Madison
Coffee Hour: Children’s Ministry
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 16, 2026
The First Lesson
Genesis 45:1-15
Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’ And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.
The Psalm
Psalm 133
Ecce, quam bonum!
1 Oh, how good and pleasant it is, *
when brethren live together in unity!
2 It is like fine oil upon the head *
that runs down upon the beard,
3 Upon the beard of Aaron, *
and runs down upon the collar of his robe.
4 It is like the dew of Hermon *
that falls upon the hills of Zion.
5 For there the Lord has ordained the blessing: *
life for evermore.
The Epistle
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.
The Gospel
Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28
[Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”]
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
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