St. James - Westwood - Weekly Epistle
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Funeral Events
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Here is an overview of Dick's upcoming funeral arrangementsRichard Wesp's family will host a visitation on Sunday, Sept 23 from 3:00 - 6:00 PM at Anderson Center (7850 Five
Mile Road). Please contact TP White @ 513-231-7150 for more details about the visitation.
Richard's Funeral Services will take place on Monday, Sept. 24th @ 11:30 AM @ Christ Church Cathedral (318 East Fourth Street ) .
Friends may send cards and condolences to Richard Wesp Family, c/o St. James Episcopal Church, 3207 Montana Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45238. You also may send sympathy e-mail messages to the family here A combined choir will sing at the funeral services. Pls. contact Michael Spresser in person to express your interest. Rehearsal will take place @ 10 AM on Monday at the cathedral, Stephan Casurella, Director of Music Christ Church Cathedral will be directing.
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O God of grace and glory, we remember before you this day our brother Richard. We thank you for giving him to us, his family and friends, to know and to love as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage. In your boundless compassion, console us who mourn. Give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth, until, by your call, we are reunited with those who have gone before; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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'Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ
 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. (Mark 9: 36-37)
I can't even begin to ponder how many children's and teenagers' lives were transformed because Richard (Dick) Wesp shared musical grace with them. He taught them to sing. He nurtured their talents. He cared for music enough to dedicate his entire life to it so that children's lives would indeed, beautifully sing, in more than one way.
Plato is quoted (in English) as saying:
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.
Music at St. James will never be the same. Our common life here will never be as it has been for more than the last five decades either. Richard (Dick) Wesp's death has left a hole in our hearts and in our being as a church.
I commented to a reporter yesterday that I have never met  someone (other than Dick) whose "voice print is on so many people." I am however receiving comfort in a couple of ways right now. First, I am re-living and learning more about Dick's love for St. James and Christian life through the stories and experiences that his family and close friends are sharing with me. You are living witnesses to the soulful and imaginative charm that Dick possessed. His presence alongside of Jesus the Christ's in each of you will provide the hope and perseverance we need as the people of St. James to abide with death as we grieve peaceably and hopefully with one another.
Second, I find St. Paul's writing to the Romans to be especially relevant and meaningful:
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8: 38-39)
Perhaps we should take faith in Jesus' love for children. Perhaps we should hold fast to the realization that Dick was a compassionate and thoughtful teacher of children of young people. Some of you were (or are) children who Dick impacted and loved in a Christ-like manner. All of us may wish to perceive ourselves as being children at Jesus' feet without the need to know
 | | Add your prayers and remembrances to the Richard Wesp Memorial and Remembrances Page |
what will happen in the days ahead but confident of Jesus' constant love.
Blessings Along The Way, Jim+
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This Week @ St. James
 Thursday - Sept. 20th (6 - 9 PM) - 3 Sisters
Pet Rescue Fundraiser
Sunday - Sept. 23rd (8 AM) - Rite I Eucharist
(9 AM) - Choir Practice
Adult Bible Study
(10 AM) - Rite II Eucharist w/ Guest Preacher and Deacon -
The Rev. Canon Anne Reed 
11:15 AM - Coffee hour and chat w/ Anne
There will be no "Open Space Meeting" this Sunday. We will re-schedule the event for later this autumn.
3:00 - 6:00 PM - Richard Wesp Visitation (see above) |
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Crossing The Bar
 I was a Freshman or Sophomore when my high school A Chorale performed a choral rendition of Alfred Lord Tennyson's Crossing the Bar.
Experts suggest that Tennyson was reflecting upon his impending death when he wrote this poem. Tennyson lived during a devout period of Anglican Christianity in England. His own faith seemed somehow uncertain. He once wrote:
There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds.
( From In Memoriam) However, Tennyson clearly hopes that he will encounter his pilot (Jesus the Christ) when he crossed from his mortal life to the next one. Don't we all? I invite you to listen to this lovely video, read more about Tennyson and his religion, or Cross the Bar w/ Tennyson here.
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| Contact Information | | |
St. James Episcopal Church
 Jim Strader+ - Rector, Priest, and Pastor 513-661-1154
St. James Episcopal Church is called to be a center of worship and common life where Christ's love is visible and experienced in order to seek and serve Jesus in others.
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