The SJLC Minute 4.26.2022

Commitment Sunday—May 1st Sunday May 1st is Commitment Sunday during worship, you will be invited to give your commitment cards offering your gifts to God. You may also mail your commitment card to the church office. We will celebrate the results together by congregational potluck picnic on May 15th. We invite you to celebrate with us!

ELCA Guatemala Sunday -May 1st Guatemala Sunday is an opportunity for congregations throughout our Synod to be involved in the partnership we share with ILAG. Congregations are invited to pray, learn, and connect.

Church Events •May 1st

Commitment Sunday ELCA Guatemala Sunday

•May 2nd

Monthly Movie

Meditations •May 4th

SAM’s Meeting

•May 12th WINE Meeting •May 14th

Meal & Porch Visits

•May 15

Celebration

Guatemala Sunday (elca-ses.org)

Sunday with

SAM--Senior Adult Ministry

Jonathan Hemphill

What: When: Where: Lunch:

& Congregational

Program: Blessing Basket:

SAM Wednesday, May 4th, 11:30 am Sparks Fellowship Hall Salad and Dessert Potluck - Instead of bringing $5 please bring a salad or a dessert to share “125 Years of American Movies: A Whirlwind Tour” By Dr. Chuck Maland

Please bring toilet paper for VMC Thank you for sharing with others!

RSVP to Mary Cole: memecole@comcast.net 865-584-3153 Please contact me as soon as possible Hope to see all of you! God’s Peace and Love Mary Cole

Potluck Picnic •May 22nd

Celebration for John Tirro’s Ministry for Tyson House

*denotes meeting off site

Monthly Movie Meditations After a good conversation about the Estonian anti-war movie Tangerines two weeks ago, we’ll follow up with our next discussion--of Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, a recent release that was nominated for eight Oscars and won the award for Best Original Screenplay. We’ll hold the discussion on Zoom on Monday, May 2 at 7:00.

Visit this site to join the discussion on the 2nd: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/92491187031 .

Branagh is known more as a theater actor and director of movies based on Shakespeare plays. Belfast may well be his most personal film, written during COVID, when the enforced isolation enabled him to write a semiautobiographical screenplay about his own memories of growing up in his early years in a working-class neighborhood in Belfast during the “Troubles,” the conflicts between Protestants and Catholics. The movie follows a close-knit family (the grandparents in the left picture, with their nine-year-old grandson Buddy, the parents in the right picture) as they try to decide as a family how best to live during this difficult time.

The movie is largely a coming-of-age story from the perspective of Buddy, and it also raises questions about how we can function as families during a time of polarization and social conflict. You can stream the film at home through a rental (currently $5.99 most places) on various sites, like Vudu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and YouTube. Watch the film ahead of time, and join us for the discussion!

Adult Faith Formation Continuing our “Good God Questions” at 10:10 in the Sparks Fellowship Hall May 1:

What Happens When We Die?

May 8:

How Do We Deal With Disturbing Biblical Passages?

May 15:

Is the Holy Spirit Active? What Did Luther Say About the Presence of the Holy Spirit?

Each Sunday, we’ll watch a short video in which Rolf Jacobson and three other theologians from Luther Seminary discuss the question as a prelude for our own discussions.

Join us for conversation, coffee, and donuts.

SJLC Website redesign … check it out at www.sjlcknox.org Special thanks to the Communications Team, especially Leader Michael Holtz, for coordinating a revamp of the St. John’s website! Please check it out at your earliest convenience, keeping in mind we are still tending to some page creation, typo corrections, and page construction.

If you have positive feedback or constructive critique (read “I’m concerned about ____, and here is my suggestion for addressing it!”), please reach out to Michael via e-mail at michael@michaelholtzonline.com.