Announcements

2025 Boar’s Head Festival

 

 

We are delighted to have the 62nd Annual Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival on Sunday, January 5, 2025 .

There will be two performances 1:30pm or 4:00pm. Doors will open 30 minutes before each performance.

Performance tickets can be purchased by credit card through the Eventbrite link below. Performance and patron tickets can also be purchased directly from the church in person, by mail, or by phone. Please see details below the Eventbrite form.

Eventbrite
 

Tickets can also be purchased by cash or check in person at the church office during regular office hours Monday – Friday 9am-4pm.

If you would like to mail in your order, please print the document below and send it with your payment or include the following information:

name, phone number, self addressed and stamped envelope,

ticket quantity request with show time, check ($20 / ticket), & if necessary – Patron level of giving

If you would like to be a Patron of The Annual Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival, we have several Patron levels that you can choose from.

Patrons are asked to choose one of the following benefactor categories:

Boar’s Head Angels donation of $95 (patrons will receive 4 performance tickets)

Pipes and Drums donation of $150 (patrons will receive 6 performance tickets)

Star of the East Torchbearers donation of $300 (patrons will receive 8 performance tickets)

Patron levels below include unlimited tickets:

Yule Log Pages donation of $500

Waits donation of $750

Kings’ Pages donation of $1,000

Beefeaters donation of $2,000

Yule Log Sprites donation of $3,000

Christmas Sprites donation of $5,000

**Patron tickets may be purchased at any time. To ensure availability and to have your

name published in the 2025 Boar’s Head Program,

please purchase by December 5, 2024.

 

The Festival & Its History

A tiny sprite bears a lighted candle into the darkened church symbolizing the coming of the Light into the darkened world. Representing the Church, the Rector receives the light, and from this flame rise the lights of the altar, and then the lights of the Church itself.

A brass fanfare announces the entrance of the Boar’s Head company. Next come the waits, medieval carolers, praising the Incarnate Lord; then King Wenceslas and his page; the woodsmen with the Yule Log, ridden by a tiny sprite; the shepherds searching for the Christ; and finally the Three Wise Men, bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrhh.

When all have assembled, the haunting hymn of Christina Rosetti, In the Bleak Midwinter, is sung by both cast and congregation. To the music of the Eucharistic hymn Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, all kneel in adoration of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. The church is darkened and the Epiphany star shines over the altar.

The history of the Boar’s Head reaches back into the days of the Roman Empire. The Boar was the first dish served at great Roman feasts. In Norman England, the Boar was the sovereign of the great forests, a menace to man and a symbol of evil. The serving of the Boar’s Head thus represents the triumph of Christ over evil, begun with his birth at Christmas and manifested as Savior of the whole creation at Epiphany. By the 12th century the symbolism and ceremony of serving the Boar’s Head at Christmastide was fully developed.

The Yule Log, lit from last year’s embers, representing the warmth of the family fireside and the continuance of human life and concern, has from earliest times symbolized the rekindling of love. The old year passes, the new is born, yet the same love lights each.

No one knows who planned the first Boar’s Head procession. Its earliest origins seem to have been traced to Oxford University, founded circa 1167, and specifically to Oxford’s Queen’s College, endowed in 1340 (some sources say 1341), which recorded a Procession of the Boar’s Head by the mid-14th century. Within three or four centuries of evolution at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, other elements were gradually added to the celebration: the mince pie, the plum pudding, the Yule Log, the shepherds, the waits, the Three Wise Men, King Wenceslas, the pipers, drummers, and the Beefeaters (the ceremonial guards of the Tower of London). The Boar’s Head & Yule Log celebration was a popular Christmas event in the great English manor houses of the 17th century. Eventually, the custom was carried to colonial America.

In 1892 the Rev. Edward Dudley Tibbets, D.D., instituted the Boar’s Head & Yule Log Festival at the Hoosac School, Hoosick, New York, an Episcopal institution. This version, with some of the accompanying music by Frank C. Butcher, is the main source of the Festival as celebrated at St. John’s Episcopal Church. For more than four decades, the music for the format utilized here was selected, adapted, arranged, and composed by Dr. Ronald L. Gould, Organist-Choirmaster at St. John’s from 1960 through 2002. Upon stepping into the role of organist-choirmaster in 2003, Dr. Richard Konzen determined to carry on in Dr. Gould’s footsteps; thus although many of the specific musical choices change from year to year, certain traditional local elements remain constant and we continue to use Dr. Gould’s music and format.

May this offering of praise to Jesus Christ at his Epiphany recall to us all the great gift of love given us by the Father in the person of his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Charles Ford McCall and Whitsunday

A view of Saint John’s Episcopal Church in 1950

Whitsunday by McCall
A view of Saint John’s Episcopal Church in 1950

Defining Regionalism

Charles Ford McCall’s painting of a 1950 Whitsunday service shows the influence of regionalism, an artistic movement that emerged in the United States in the 1920s and 30s. In that period, two major factors would alter the face of American art. One was the increasing presence of the European avant garde, as many of Europe’s leading artists fled to the West as fascism was spreading over the continent. The other factor was that America’s artists would be given federal commissions on a scale previously unheard of in the US during the 1930s through the Works Progress Administration, a program initiated to provide Ameri-cans with the opportunity to work during the Great Depression. Through the WPA, artists were tasked with commissions to paint large, public murals—works of art with a patriotic and civic purpose, in-tended to characterize the national identity and to represent the nation’s history, folk culture, as well as industry and agriculture. It was through these WPA commissions that regionalism, a movement characterized by romantic nationalism and celebration of the spirit of the American people, was transmitted to the public and found mass appeal.

American artists in this period felt the pressure to compete with their newly arrived European counter-parts in the pursuit of formal innovation so fundamental to modernist art. At the same time, there was a simultaneous need to manifest something of their own identity as American artists in contrast to the Europeans. Some regionalists rejected modernism with great ardor while others adapted its abstract tendencies to a realist mode of description, but in either case, the styles they developed reflect the drive to develop a uniquely American vernacular. The solution would place a pointed emphasis on popular accessibility. The sort of license taken by such Euro-pean modernists as Matisse and Picasso in rendering form was arguably a factor in the approaches taken by many regionalists, who exaggerated and manipulated the objectivity of their representations for the sake of pictorial impact, but the regionalist impulse was reined by a desire to communicate with the widest possible audience.

To these ends, regionalists developed formal styles which referenced the tradition of fine art in the United States—romantic yet pragmatic and unpretentious—as well as more common and popular forms, such as illustration. Regionalist work is meant to appear simple and genuine, rather than polished and academic.

Regionalism in Youngstown

Regionalists emphasized rural or small-town themes and imagery, rejecting the metropolis and its associations with increasingly abstract and esoteric forms of modernist art. Likewise, many of the artists did not feel compelled to live and work in New York as artists so often do, but rather were more inclined to inhabit small towns in the Midwest, where they might work to typify and pay homage to the culture of a particular region (hence the name regionalism.)

One may discern in McCall’s picture traces of the style and sensibility of Youngstown’s local regionalist master Clyde Singer. Singer, who was born nearby in Malvern in 1908, began his professional life as a sign painter. Using his earnings from this early vocation, Singer would attend the Columbus Museum of Art School and then the Art Students League in New York, where he learned from leading regionalist painters such as Thomas Hart Benton and Kenneth Hayes Miller. After completing his studies in New York, Singer settled in Youngstown in the 1940s, where he became a long-standing fixture in the artistic culture of Youngstown, not only for his paintings but also as director of the Butler Institute of American Art and as weekly arts columnist for the Vindicator.

McCall was born in Chattanooga in 1889. He moved to Ohio in 1917, residing in Poland and working as a realtor. A self-taught artist, he took up painting in 1941, participating regularly in exhibitions throughout the 1940s and 50s, including a number of shows at the Butler. Perhaps his most renowned painting, “The Great Blondin Crosses Federal Street,” a historical scene depicting the 19th century tightrope walker’s performance downtown, won first prize in the 1948 Area Artist’s show and was exhibited at the National Academy and the Carnegie Museum. It is currently in the collection of the Butler. Another of his paintings, “God’s Day,” in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, reflects his penchant for painting the Amish of Ohio and Pennsylvania. McCall, though a member of Indianola Methodist Church, painted “Whitsunday” as a gift to Saint John’s.

Saint John’s Then & Now

McCall happened to have produced his picture at a very opportune moment, as the church was just on the verge of a series of major renovations which would occur in the following years. The painting offers many details of interest relating to the church and its various monuments, many of which came to grace our church after McCall’s picture was completed.

Saint John’s Episcopal Church Reredos

 

One such example is the view of the empty Reredos, which today hold statues of Christ and the four Apostles of the Gospels. The sculptures were installed and dedicated on January 13, 1952. Designed by John Angel and sculpted in Italy, these statues were commissioned in memory of Reverend William Kinder, who served as Rector of Saint John’s from 1942 until his death in 1949. Reverend Kinder was followed in his role by Reverend Burt. Young Reverend Burt, who was still in his first month as rector of the church on Whitsunday of 1950 is seen at the end of the procession along the left edge of the painting.

McCall’s picture also gives us a view of one of the original white chancel windows, which in July 1951 were replaced with stained glass representations of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Amos. The church’s clerestory windows, which were later installed in 1955 and which commemorate parishioners involved in the local steel industry, may also be said to bear the influence of regionalism, both in form and content.

In addition to the windows and sculptures, other alterations to the décor of the church are evidenced in McCall’s picture. The interior of Saint John’s under-went a massive renovation in 1954— one sees the original pews and the marble façade of the altar in Whitsunday, which were replaced by the current furnishings in that year.
One also notices the choir approaching the altar con-sists of men and boys. Today, our choir consists of men and women, but prior to the mid-1970s, a men’s choir and a women’s choir would sing at different services. It is evident that Whitsunday depicts an eleven o’clock service, as the men’s and boy’s choir sang at the later services.

Though many details have changed since Mr. McCall painted Whitsunday, Saint John’s remains a sturdy beacon upon our city, committed to the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed to our congregation, community, and the world. Please visit us on Sunday Morning. All are welcome.

 

 

Written by Adam Sullivan

Lenten Reflection by Cindy Sharish

 

Lent is a time for reflection and renewal. Spring and Easter are fast approaching! Our 40 days of Gratitude invites us to give thanks for the ways we get to interact with and tend to nature. There are so many ways to celebrate and interact with nature. We are fortunate to have a beautiful park and gardens in our community where we can watch the birds and animals, as well as the flowers which will soon be showing off their beautiful colors and shapes.

The robins and other birds will soon be returning to build their nests and raise their young. Perhaps you will welcome them back with a bird house and some seeds. The hummingbirds and the butterflies will soon be looking for some delicious nectar that you have provided. Have you ever stopped to watch a honeybee gathering pollen? Or a butterfly drinking nectar from a flower?

Our rhododendron and lilac bushes outside the church smell so amazing when they bloom! Please take the time to smell them and say a prayer of gratitude. The next time you are outdoors, take a moment to look around you at all the beauty God has given us. Look at the stars and planets!

What a wonderful world!

“All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all!”

 

Submitted by Cindy Sharish

Lenten Reflection from Marcia Gould

This is the year of 2024 and it happens that this year, Ash Wednesday is also Valentines Day.  Recently, my husband, Ron Gould and I were swimming at the Boardman YMCA pool and I noticed something on the wall ahead that said, “Love is not February 14, Love is John 3-16”.  So I came home and checked the Holy Bible which said, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that who ever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”…  some thoughtful words to reflect upon as we go about our busy lives this Lenten Season.

 

Submitted by Marcia Gould

Dylan Weaver Art Show Opening / Stewardship Kickoff

Help us celebrate the Time, Talents, & Treasures of St. John’s and our Community on October 5th at 6pm. Join us in welcoming artist Dylan Weaver as he showcases several paintings in our gallery space. The evening will also feature ambient soundscapes created by Lux Quieta.
The church will be open and guests are invited to participate in an guided tour of St. John’s.
All are welcome!

Pet Blessing

All owners of any friendly pets are invited to our Pet Blessing on Saturday, October 7th at 10:00am in Wick Park on the corner of 5th Avenue and Broadway.

50 Year Members Celebration!

50 Years of Membership!

 

You’re invited to help celebrate our parishioners who have been members for 50 years! Attend our 8:00am or 10:30am services to see these members recognized on August 6th! Parish Life & Growth will provide a light brunch for all parishioners at 9:00am! Please join us!

Parish Fitness Challenge

 

  St. John’s Episcopal Church is engaging in an All Parish Fitness Challenge this summer. Help us reach our final destination of Maine, and then get back home stopping to visit other St. John’s Episcopal Churches along the way! You can log your miles on the bulletin board each Sunday, or email them to stjohnohio@gmail.com if that’s easier for you! Follow us on our journey below:

 

 

 

Starting at St. John’s

Sunday, June 4th we embarked on a collective journey from our St. John’s Episcopal Church in Youngstown, Ohio and began to log our miles towards our next destination!

 

 

 

Stop 1

Our first stop was St. John’s in Bellefonte, PA. We reached far beyond this on Sunday, June 11th with a total of 343 miles!  This church is a lovely Gothic Revival style built in 1871 and is one of the few churches in its area to still have its original spire!

 

 

Stop 2

Our second stop was St. John’s Episcopal Church in Yonkers, NY. We reached this on Sunday, June 18th with a total of 136 miles!

This church’s exterior is stony like our St. John’s and has a breathtaking roof design. St. John’s in Getty Square was built in 1872. Part of the earlier 1752 Colonial church is preserved and incorporated in the 1872 church, making this St. John’s one of the earliest examples of historic preservation in America.

 

Stop 3

Our third stop is St. John’s in Northampton, Massachusetts!

Completed and consecrated in 1893, St. John’s Northampton is situated on the edge of a college campus – just like our St. John’s! The proximity to Smith College allows St. John’s Northampton to engage in many activities to assist with the college students such as a Midnight Pancake Breakfast during finals week!

 

 

 

 

Stop 4

Our fourth stop was St. John’s in Randolph, VT!

This quaint little church sits in the center of a neighborhood! Their website has the following information about this church:

For many years there were two Episcopal Churches in Randolph. Grace Church at the Center, and St. John’s in the Village. Both churches trace their ancestry to Christ Church, Bethel, which was organized as a parish in 1794. The first Episcopal service in Randolph was held about 1820 and Grace Church was erected in 1848, fourteen years after the “Episcopal Society in Randolph” was organized.

A complex chain reaction saw St. John’s Randolph grow out of old Grace Church, which was demolished in 1969. St. John’s owes part of its existence to the activities of nineteenth century railroad barons who pushed through a new line in the Civil War era to the town known as West Randolph. Population soon followed and the vestry of Grace Church authorized construction of the present building on Summer Street. (Cost $3,896).

Stop 5

We’ve tallied so many miles this week that we have made it to our weekly destination as well as earned a *bonus* stop in the trip! Our official stop this week landed us in Sanbornville, NH – 143 miles.

St John’s Sanbornville was consecrated in 1877. This gothic style building has over a dozen stained glass windows, many of which are memorials to the family that inspired and funded its construction. St. John’s Sanbornville boasts the only pipe organ in its surrounding area and was a gift to the church in 1924. Restoration work added 122 pipes to the organ in 1992. This church is continuing to grow and saw an addition added in 2021 containing classrooms, offices, and a kitchen to help the local community.

 

 

 

Stop 6: Bonus Stop!

 

Our *Bonus* stop on the trip is St. John’s in Ashfield, MA.

Another quaint church! St. John’s Ashfield was consecrated in 1828 and was the first parish in the diocese to call a woman priest – Susan Crampton – and the first parish in its diocese to offer a blessing on same-sex couple.

This church holds many artifacts including a wall of photographs depicting every bishop or vicar to serve within its walls since 1828!

 

 

Stop 7

Our stop this week landed us in Dresden, Maine.

St. John’s Church in Dresden, Maine is was built in 1832 and dedicated in 1833. It was meant to serve four congregations and was designed as a duplicate of a neighboring church in Pittston.

The original church building blends the architectural styles of Federal and Greek Revival. It’s exterior is a single-story wood-frame structure, with clapboard siding, and a granite foundation. It still has the original louvered shutters and its original box pews.

In 1852 it was dedicated for use exclusively by the Episcopal congregation that was in existence in Dresden since 1770. The church was then named St. John’s Episcopal Church. Gothic Revival elements were added such as an alter and railing, tower spirelets in the balustrade corners, and a Vestry room all set it apart from the Pittston copy.

Currently, this church building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is used for holidays and special events.

Stop 8

Together we logged over 250 miles and arrived at our final destination before heading back home! This St. John’s is in Southwest Harbor, Maine on Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park! It is part of a network of churches on Mount Desert Island consisting of five other churches! Below is a photo of the church interior showcasing their 1885 Hook & Hastings tracker organ affectionately called Greta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can view a short video clip of the interior of St. John’s Southwest Harbor, Maine by clicking the following link: Video of St John’s Southwest Harbor, Maine.

Southwest Harbor, Maine is adjacent to Acadia National Park. This area was chosen due to its beautifully restorative landscapes and quaint small town feeling. Acadia National Park consists of 49,052 acres of land that was donated by private citizens in order to preserve the majestic beauty of this area of the country – just like our Mill Creek Park!

The Acadia National Park welcomes over 2 million visitors every year and it’s stewards work diligently to “nourish and protect the land, ocean, and nature so that the magic will continue.”

 

We hope you enjoyed this small tour of this area, rest and relax here for a while before we head back home! There are still several more churches to experience on our way back!

Remember to log your miles as you walk, run, bike, or swim for our Parish Fitness Challenge. You can also email your miles to stjohnohio@gmail.com if that is easier for you!

 

Returning Home: Stop 9

 We asked and you delivered!! Together we logged over 450 miles and arrived at our next destination on our Return Journey!

This week we stay over at St. John’s in Essex, New York! Built in 1835 by Henry Ross, the original purpose of this structure was a school house with the intention to later become a church. St. John’s was incorporated in 1853 and although the church building fell in disrepair and was almost left, the Vestry voted to maintain the building, purchase an adjacent lot in order to create a Parish house and much of the Gothic Revival elements were added to the structure and interior.

For much of the 20th century, St. John’s Essex held worship services as a seasonal church, used occasionally by a shrinking community and vacationers. The church fell into disrepair until the 1980’s when vacationers began retiring to Essex, repairing and endowing the future of the church, and ultimately hiring its first full-time Rector.

St. John’s Essex, New York has changed many times over the nearly 200 years its existed and it’s very inspiring to see all of the wonderful things happening there today.

Returning Home: Stop 10

We made it to our next stop in Ithaca, New York!

Ithaca’s St. John’s Episcopal Society was organized on April 8, 1822 at a meeting held in the Methodist chapel. The original building was consecrated on September 11, 1826 however, after being enlarged in 1855, and a parsonage purchased, the building was torn down and a larger building was constructed in 1860.

St. John’s in Ithaca, NY and its parishioners have experienced many things over the last 200 years. In the 1960s its parish members supported sit-ins of Cornell and financially supported Black institutions during the Civil Rights Movement.

St. John’s spent their 200 year anniversary compiling histories of its remarkable parishioners including composer Julius Eastman who was in the Boy’s Choir, Connie Cook, an activist who fought for the New York Diocese to allow ordained women to serve the church, and Anna Baker, who saved the church from bankruptcy singlehandedly.

Currently, St. John’s Ithaca works with a non-profit Loaves and Fishes who have recently started a laundromat for those in need in the basement of their church!

Returning Home – Stop 11

We made it to our next stop in Youngstown, New York!

St. John’s traces its history back to the first Anglican services held in Western New York in 1759 at Fort Niagara!

Formally organized in 1868, the original congregation met in private homes and for a time shared worship space with a Methodist congregation. The present church building was built in 1878 on land donated by Ordnance Sgt. Lewis Leffman.

St. John’s Youngstown, New York was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. It is only one of a few “carpenter” gothic churches in Western New York with an active congregation. The board and batten siding is original, and the church’s 19 stained glass windows, representative of several eras and styles of church window design, bring light and color into the church. Several of the oldest windows were recently restored, and parishioners have worked hard to ensure that the church is preserved for future generations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Made It Home!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Logging over 2200 miles, we have made it to the coast, up to Maine, nearly to Canada, crossed into 6 different states and arrived safely back home. We visited 11 different churches and learned about their history. All of this would not have been possible without your hard work and dedication to continue to log your miles each week! Thank you all for such a fun summer project to help keep us connected. Glad to be back home and excited to start the new season together!

Diocesan Listening Sessions

Bishop Anne B. Jolly and staff will visit St. John’s on Thursday, July 13th at 6:30pm to build and deepen relationships in the diocese with facilitated discussions and table conversations about the vision for the diocese and how the Bishop and her staff can support congregations in living out their missions.

 

Annual Church Picnic – July 2nd

Sign ups are on the bridge for the Church Picnic. Let us know if you can contribute a side or dessert! All are welcome to the annual church picnic at noon on Sunday, July 2nd. Hope to see you there!

Older Posts