Weekly electronic newsletter
From the Rector The one where I talk about prayer. Again. Today while sitting for a spell to think and pray in the Memorial Garden, I spied a hawk gliding high in the sky above, circling and probably searching for lunch. It brought to mind a poem by Mary Oliver. As far as poems go,…
From the Rector Prayers when you feel anxious One of good things that came out of the last few months was so many organizations and companies creating free resources. One in particular that I have loved using is the Prayers When You Feel Anxious coloring pages from Illustrated Ministry. I shared it on Facebook earlier…
From the Rector In Person & Online Worship ~ 2 Services Begin This Sunday Beginning this Sunday we transition back to two services. We will gather at 8:30 am outside for Holy Eucharist in the Memorial Garden and field (more details on that below), and at 10:30 am we will gather on Zoom and livestream…
Vestry It has been over three months since St. James’ has held a church service in our church building – there are times it seems like 3 weeks and other times like an eternity! Your Vestry, the Nursery Board and the Thrift Board have continued to hold Zoom meetings each month (and Vestry more often)…
From the Rector – Re-Gathering Update The Re-Gathering Team has been meeting and working on an action plan to re-open our building for office and group use, and for outdoor in-person worship. Our tentative goal is for offices to open back up on June 29, and for outdoor worship to begin in early July –…
From the Rector We are excited to introduce Compassion Camp! Compassion is an important skill in creating resilient and caring children. Each day, leaders will work with children through bible stories, music, drama and art to teach compassion. We are joining St. Andrew’s, Glenwood and other communities to partner for Compassion Camp, making this summer program…
From the Rector – The Work of Re-Gathering I am pleased to share that our Re-Gathering Team is in place. I will be joined by Vestry members Jeannie Pellicier and Dave Rak, along with Jim Bullington, Vic Pellicier, and Mike Henyon. Our task is to follow the Guidelines and Parameters set up by our Diocese…
Vestry Although our church building has been empty, there are still bills to be paid and new contracts to be made. Due to our current electric contract expiring in June, it was time to negotiate a new one. Thank you to Jane Barger who researched a new broker for our utilities. This new broker, CQI,…
From the Rector Next Steps For Worship Following up on my Shell article from last week, here are some more details about the next steps for our worship. As I shared previously, in addition to Governor Hogan’s stages for re-opening for our state, we also must work within the guidelines of our diocese. Last weekend…
From the Rector The Grief & The Gifts A practice that I have taken up in recent weeks is to reflect each day on both the grief I’m feeling and the gifts I saw in the midst of everything. It’s a slight shift away from the standard gratitude journal, but one that I think is…