From the Rector – Parish Vision Update As we settle into the fall and the hubbub from our amazing Basket Raffle quiets down, I want to share an update about the parish vision work we announced at the Annual Meeting last January. The Vestry spent time on retreat in February delving deeper into core values…
From the Rector – Seeing the Face of God in Each Other Next month St. James’ will host the Diocesan antiracism workshop Seeing the Face of God in Each Other. This is one of the required workshops that all clergy, lay employees, and lay leaders in the Diocese of Maryland must take. This is part…
From the Rector – Stewardship 2017 Generosity changes lives. Whether we are on the giving or receiving end of generosity, when we experience it, we come close to God, and God comes close to us. This month we will be using this image as life as a journey to generosity to help us each prepare…
From the Rector – Sabbath in the Daily Life One of the most counter-cultural things I think religion has to offer our over-scheduled and over-stressed world is the practice of sabbath. It is a foundational part of our faith found in the first creation story in Genesis: after six days of work God rested, and…
Over the summer at our Vestry meetings, we began taking a few minutes each month to reflect on a brief article or resource about congregational life. One that really struck a chord with all of us was an article written by Erin Wathen about volunteering at church. The point she makes, and you can read her full article here, is that when…
From the Rector – The Church Does Not Need Volunteers Over the summer at our Vestry meetings, we began taking a few minutes each month to reflect on a brief article or resource about congregational life. One that really struck a chord with all of us was an article written by Erin Wathen about volunteering…
This Sunday, as we kick off another program year, we will also be celebrating that 10 years ago St. James’ made the move into this “new” building on North Main Street. In honor of this anniversary we are asking everyone to bring 10 items for the Mt. Airy NET Food Pantry. And to mark a…
From the Rector – Celebrating 10 Years on North Main Street This Sunday, as we kick off another program year, we will also be celebrating that 10 years ago St. James’ made the move into this “new” building on North Main Street. In honor of this anniversary we are asking everyone to bring 10 items…
I am excited to share that we are in the final stages of planning for the launch of the NEW digital Shell Newsletter. We stopped our monthly paper newsletter at the end of last year, and have been relying on our This Week at St. James’ Thursday news emails in the interim as we’ve dreamed…