The Episcopal Church of St John the Baptist in Aptos, CA serving Santa Cruz County

 

 

Welcome to St. John’s

We invite you to get to know us and discover your place here among us. We are a  community that looks to the life and ministry of Jesus to better understand and enter into the heart of God. Jesus spoke out against injustice and poverty, Jesus healed friend and foe, Jesus broke bread with the rich and poor, Jesus points to the wideness of God’s compassion.  Our membership and leadership is comprised of the young and the old, the old-timer and the newcomer, married, partnered and single, gay and straight, rich and poor.   We celebrate the wonderful diversity of human kind and we seek to do that in faithfulness to the baptismal command to respect the dignity of every human being.   We strive to include a place for everyone around God’s table and believe there should be no outcasts in the Episcopal Church

 

The Season of Epiphany

6 January is known as The Epiphany or Feast of the Epiphany.  The word means “Manifestation” or “to make known.”  Epiphany remembers the coming of the Maji or wise men-The Three Kings-bringing gifts (Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh) to visit the Christ child, who by so doing “reveal” Jesus to the world as Lord and King.  Epiphany celebrates the arrival of the Magi from the East and Christ’s revelation to the gentiles – to the world.

The colors of Christmas and Epiphany are white and gold, the colors of celebration and newness. Epiphany is also a season of the Church lasting until Ash Wednesday on 18 February. The Epiphany season is when we focus on Mission; bringing the light of Christ to the world.

Epiphany closes the season of Christmas (the Twelve Days of Christmas), celebrating the incredible gift of the incarnation (God among us) and invites us to explore the Epiphany. Contemplate what this story says to the people in Matthew’s time and what it says to us today (Matthew 2: 1-12). Epiphany is also celebrated in the hymn “We Three Kings” (Hymnal 1982 # 128)

 

 

  • Rector’s Reflections October 2014

    I was a stranger and you welcomed me. ~ Matthew 25

    Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. ~ Hebrews 13:2

    In this season of stewardship, always a season of challenge to each of us, and often of growth, I want you to think with me that we are stewards of the Gospel of Christ, and that requires much of us, and invites us to show our faithfulness in a variety of ways. Consider what it means to be welcoming . . .

    It is quite an experience . . . → Read More: Rector’s Reflections October 2014