Rector – As Lent Approaches
Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great
devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and
it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a
season of penitence and fasting.
~from the invitation to the observance of a holy Lent
from the Ash Wednesday service
Ash Wednesday falls on March 6th this year, marking the beginning of Lent once again. With its focus on penitence and fasting, Lent can be a season to slow down, look inward, and discern places in our lives where we need to make changes. To repent evokes the image of returning to God – of re-turning our lives so that God is at the center. It is with that image in mind that we will be changing our worship space for the season of Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday.
We will be re-orienting our chairs to create seating in the round with a small altar table in the center. It is a very different experience to look up from where you sit and see the face of another person rather than the back of their head. It is a very different experience to be gathered around the holy table where we celebrate and share holy communion as if it were our family dinner table. It is a very different experience to symbolically put God in the middle of community and feel how we are all connected through that center.
Because we will be using a smaller altar table, and because it will be in the midst of the gathered community, I will also be inviting children to come and be at the altar with me as we bless and consecrate the bread and wine. It will be an opportunity for them to come close and see what we do so they will know when we say that liturgy is the “work of the people” that they are “the people” too.
So, we’ll try this out for the five+ weeks of Lent and Holy Week, and then on Easter morning we’ll turn forward again and perhaps see that we’ve come to know something new about our faith, our understanding of community, and maybe even God.
One other note is that another difference in worship this Lent will be that we’re using a Eucharistic Prayer form that is entirely chanted (at both services). I look forward to hearing how you experience this sacred prayer in a different form – so be sure to let me know.
Yours in God’s peace,
Kristin+
Nursery School
We won!
Hello all! We would like to share some very exciting news! Michelle Rippeon, our Green Room Pre-K teacher, won a grant to receive a free Promethean ActivPanel installed in her classroom. We are so pleased that the submitted video, below, was selected by the Promethean World Company! We will be working, over the next few years, to install smart board technology into all of the classrooms at St. James’ Nursery School. These interactive boards can be utilized by teaching staff to enhance whole and small group instruction and to streamline and update Circle Time content. We personally thank Michelle for spear-heading this endeavor, Mr. Boyer for filming, editing and designing the video, and all of the Tuesday/ Thursday students for starring in it! God is good! Watch the fantastic winning video below!
Quartermania
SAVE THE DATE
Our next Quartermania will be held on Friday, June 7, 2019.
Quartermania is a game that can be played by anyone from three to 93–a great family activity! Imagine a game that combines Bingo and an Auction using only quarters with lots of prizes to bid on! Win special gifts for yourself and your loved ones while supporting the ministries of St. James’
WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Office Schedule for the week of February 24.
Monday – Thursday 10-4.
Bring in Palms from last year.
Shrove Tuesday is coming up on March 5. We will have our traditional Pancake Supper and Burning of Palms. You can bring in last year’s palms until then and place them in the collection box in the narthex.
Grace & Grub Dinner Fellowship
One more Sunday to sign up for our Grace & Grub dinners which will begin next month.
Groups will meet on 2nd Saturday of each month, March through June, for potluck dinners (the grub part) and getting to know each other better (the grace part). Whether you bring your kids, come solo, or with your best friend in the parish – we’ll laugh, talk, and pray together.
A is for Africa Presentation THIS SUNDAY!
Join us on Sunday, February 24 at 9:30 am when we welcome Mary Anne and Rick Smith who will update us on this important ministry. Every year in Lent, our Sunday School children (and anyone else who wants to!) collect money in mite boxes to be donated to A is for Africa and the work they do with school children at Matim. Come see the slideshow and pick up your mite box!
Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
Join us on Tuesday, March 5 from at 5:30 for an amazing parish feast as we prepare to enter the holy season of Lent. Breakfast for dinner is always great – and it’s even better when you don’t have to cook it! Activities will include coloring an ALELLUIA banner to hide away until Easter and the burning of last years’ palms to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday. Don’t miss out on the celebration! Requested donation $6 for adults/$4 for children/$15 max for families. BRING YOUR PALMS FROM LAST YEAR FOR THE PALMFIRE!
There is table in the Narthex where you can sign up to attend and volunteer to help with Cooking & Serving, Bringing Food Items, and Cleanup. There are still some food items needed; so please check out the sign-up sheet.
Lenten Calendars for Mt. Airy Net
The season of Lent is approaching fast! We will have Lenten calendars available to each family in our church. If your friends or coworkers would like one, please give them one too! Let them know the contributions are for Mt. Airy Net. The calendars and instructions will be available for pick up on Sunday, March 3 in the Narthex. The Sunday school children are decorating boxes to place the food and sundry items. The first day of Lent is March 6 so your calendars and boxes will come at the perfect time!
Reach the Mountaintop! ~ Summer Service Trip to Appalachia
We’re returning to Barnes Mountain and St. Timothy’s Outreach Center this July – and the deadline to sign up is NOW!
Join folks from St. James’ and St. Andrew’s, Glenwood for a week of community building and construction projects in Kentucky from July 21-27. New this year will be a day trip to Berea College for our youth and local teens, as well as a deeper partnership with them in planning and running day camp and on work sites.
Interested adults and teenagers 15+ need to contact Kristin+ by FEBRUARY 24 to register and make a $200 deposit toward the total trip cost of $450. We will work with participants to do fundraising to help cover the balance!
Questions? Call, text, or email Kristin+.
Prayer Rotation
Please join the Daughters of the King in praying for each parishioner in rotation during 2018 by taking this notice home and by posting it where it will remind you to pray on a daily basis for the needs and blessings of:
Robert and Kathleen Barazotto (Phillip, Daniel)
Jane Barger
Stephen and Jamy Batdorff (Jackson, Jacob, Julianna)
A member of the Daughters of the King will be contacting you this week for special prayer requests.
Readings for the 7 Epiphany, February 24, 2019 :
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Luke 6:27-38
| This week’s Commemorations (A Great Cloud of Witnesses, 2019, Church Publishing Group)
February 24 Saint Matthias the Apostle February 25 John Roberts, Priest, 1949 February 26 Emily Malbone Morgan, Prophetic Witness, 1937 February 27 George Herbert, Priest, 1633 February 28 Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, 1964, and Elizabeth Evelyn Wright, 1904, Educators February 29 John Cassian, Abbot at Marseilles, 433 March 1 David, Bishop of Menevia, Wales, c.544 March 2 Chad, Bishop of Lichfield, 672 |
