St. John’s celebrates
Mother Jackie’s arrival as priest-in-charge
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St John’s welcomed Mother Jackie as its new priest-in-charge on Sunday 4th May with a lunch in the parish hall. There was a big turnout and a huge home-produced lunch provided by members of the vestry.
Mother Jackie took up her post in April, but the parish celebration was postponed until after Lent.
Mother Jackie thanked the vestry for the delicious lunch and members of St John’s for their warm welcome. She said she had been touched by the many messages of support and affection she had received since her appointment was announced in March.
Mother Jackie, who will continue to work as a physician for Hartford Health Care, acknowledged the challenge of serving as priest-in-charge on a quarter time. She said St John’s had a ministry to the community of Niantic and to the wider world as well as to its own members – a ministry she said she would need to share with parishioners.
Referring to her sermon that morning, Mother Jackie said St John’s should be ready to find new ways of living faithful lives. She preached on Jesus’s resurrection appearance to the apostles as they were fishing, in which his call to cast their nets on the other side of the boat led to a rich haul of fish. In the light of the suggestion by the Bible scholar Karyn Wiseman that contemporary church communities should also consider fresh approaches to ministry, Mother Jackie
encouraged members of the church to take part in enriching its spiritual life and expanding its outreach.
Mother Jackie said that St John’s already had a lively children’s and youth program, but that some adults had expressed interest in education relating to their own spiritual lives.
She asked those present to use post-it notes on the tables to suggest ideas for adult education. Among several suggestions put forward were classes on scripture, theology, church history and how faith should and does affect our daily lives and relationships.
Others asked for sessions about various aspects of health, the issues arising at the end of life, and how to live as a man with a Christian faith. Mother Jackie said that as a physician she was interested in whole-person health and wellness, and that as followers of Jesus, an itinerant preacher and healer, we should be concerned with bodily as well as spiritual health.
Flowers and personalized cards were among the messages of welcome to Mother Jackie
Mother Jackie paid tribute to the dedicated leaders and volunteers who’d kept St John’s strong during recent months. She said the church’s committed congregation and its lively and faithful presence in Niantic had put it in a strong position to thrive in the future, and encouraged members of the church to think about what throwing the net out of the other side of the boat might look like at St John’s.