From the Rector – It Begins With a Meal Today we enter the holiest days of the Christian year – the Triduum – the three great days that follow Jesus’ final footsteps. ~ Maundy Thursday, the last gathering with beloved friends. ~ Good Friday, the day Christ died. ~ Holy Saturday, when all the world…
Vestry St. James’ is in the process of establishing a Buildings and Grounds Team to help tackle the maintenance tasks, special projects and minor corrective repairs that come up routinely. Our goal is to use the wealth of resources we have in our congregation to keep our wonderful building in top shape while reducing our…
From the Rector – The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday Every year I feel the same tension between the celebration of Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday (March 25 this year). It feels like whiplash to have such a brief Palm celebration and then immediately dive deep into the solemnity of the Passion reading. Why…
From the Rector – Reading Luke I read scripture, in some way or another, almost every single day. But the joy I’ve been finding in purposely reading through the Gospel of Luke using Forward Day by Day as a guide, has been unexpected. Part of what’s making it extraordinary, is knowing that I’m reading alongside…
From the Vestry The St. James’ vestry took part in a successful 2018 retreat last weekend. This year we started off Friday evening with fellowship and a pot luck dinner hosted at Jane Barger’s home. We enjoyed a delicious meal and conversation then we moved into scripture reflection with a focus on The Acts of…
From the Rector – Appalachia Here We Come-With Your Help! We are excited to share that so far TEN youth and adults from St. James’ will be going on the summer service trip to St. Timothy’s Outreach Center in Irvine, Kentucky! The cost of the trip is $450 per person, and we’ve asked everyone going…
From the Rector – The Great Litany We will begin the First Sunday in Lent this year with The Great Litany. This ancient prayer can be used at any time, but is especially appropriate in Lent because of its penitential tone. This intercessory prayer, which can be said or sung, was used as early as…
From the Rector – Entering the Holy Season of Lent We will be getting our celebration on next Tuesday with a fabulous pancake supper, Mardi Gras music, and an ALLELUIA banner to decorate. We will end the evening burning last year’s palms to make our ashes for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is our doorway…
From the Rector – Delving Deep in Scripture & Community As we prepare to enter Lent in few of weeks, I want to invite you into a different kind of Lenten series this year. As you can read about in the Formation article below, we will be joining Episcopalians from across the country in reading…
From the Vestry The Vestry has now joined the rotation for Shell Newsletter articles and will be sharing monthly reflections after our regular meetings. Two of the things we discussed and approved last fall were the new LED parking lot lights and new LED fixtures over the side and rear doors. Several people have commented…