|
Our Mission Statement
|  | 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. |
|
| This Week @ St. James |
10/24 (7 PM) Pre-Convention Hearing Calvary Episcopal Church - Clifton
10/25 (5 PM) Community Supper - Lu Dunn Hall (6 PM) Summer Youth Mission Trip Informational Briefing w/ Slocomb Reed - Church (7 PM) Vestry Meeting - Vestry Room  10/28 (8 AM) Rite I Eucharist - (Communion w/ Joyce Keeshin Preaching and The Rev Canon Lynn Carter-Edmands presiding (9 AM) Adult Bible Study (w/ Joyce Keeshin and The Rev. Canon Lynn Carter- Edmands), Choir Practice (w/ Betty Richardson) (10 AM) - Rite II Choral Eucharist (Communion w/ Joyce Keeshin Preaching and The Rev Canon Lynn Carter-Edmands presiding), Children's Sunday School (11:15 AM) - Hospitality Time Note (Jim is away from the office from 10/26 - 10/29 - Contact Walt Dewar III for administrative issues and concerns. Contact Joyce Keeshin) for pastoral concerns and emergencies. Note - there are no scheduled "work parties" at St. Luke's Chapel of The Resurrection this coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Please ignore the "events" announcement regarding this scheduled activity.
|
|
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ
As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Who do you relate to when you read about Bartimaeus' encounter  with Jesus? Do you view yourself as a person yearning for Jesus to wander past you so that you can come to Jesus with your needs? Perhaps you're feeling disgruntled or angry about how the day and/or how your life is going. In that case, you may relate to the people in the crowd who frown upon Bartimaeus' loud appeals. On the other hand, maybe you're in a supportive and compassionate space today. You consequently identify yourself as one of the "they" who supported Bartimaeus in his efforts to encounter Jesus. Maybe, just maybe, you are outwardly acting as Immanuel's disciples. Maybe you identify with more than one, or none, of these characters. You might be in an entirely different place today. Are you faithfully aware of where you are?
Elizabeth McKay Moosbrugger, recently shared these thoughts about living into our Christian discipleship and pilgrimage. She writes that you we receive countless opportunities to reflect on powerful and meaningful questions of identity, discernment, practice and transformation. Such questions include: Who am I? Who is God calling me to be? How am I responding to God's call? And how am I changing and being changed by God's spirit working through me? Elizabeth adds that each of these questions are intentionally circular.  One answer unfolds, even as it changes the nature of the answer to the next enlightening moment in our Christian pilgrimage. Stepping back from the noise and crowds of our everyday lives in order to purposefully take time to ponder, pray and ask these questions provides us space to move away from the "normalcy" of everyday life into more sacred and true personal and communal spaces. We then have more courage and willingness to be vulnerable, like Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus completely comprehends where and who he is. He also knows where he is headed. He wishes to see God again so that he will be able to follow Jesus along The Way. (Mark 10: 51-52) It's my hope and trust in the people of St. James that we'll help one another figure out where and who we are in our Christian stories as people and as a church. Knowing that nothing is static and most everything in life is uncertain, let's support one another, especially those of us here and around us who are yearning to draw nearer to Jesus The Christ. Let's be fearless in asking the question. "What do you/I yearn for today?" Let's continue the journey, one day, and one step at a time full-well knowing that we're not walking alone and that our pilgrimage with Jesus leads us to a new, sometimes difficult, but assuredly transformed life with God and our neighbors.
Blessings Along The Way, Jim+
|
New Diocesan Mission Priorities
More than 700 people from around the Diocese of Southern Ohio have actively worked with one another over the past three years to prepare and present the diocese's new strategic plan at this year's diocesan annual convention. Here's one section that seems very important. Bishop Breidenthal writes:
The formation and transformation of disciples requires that each of our congregations focus on being a community of Christian practice, that is, a laboratory in which disciples are being formed. This is reflected in the first goal: congregations should become lively centers of Christian practice. It is also reflected in the fifth and final goal: more and more of our people should be actively engaged in the study of Scripture and our tradition's teachings about God.
He adds: we are to "know Jesus" so that we can "put the Gospel story into action." ... "Similarly, if we want people to know Jesus, we must be visible and effective in the communities that surround us."
I invite you to read Bishop Breidenthal's article as well as prayerfully consider how St. James and each one of us here may more fully live into living out the diocese's mission priorities . Our vision should be to actively engage ourselves in accomplishing prioritized goals in the months to come.
|
Commemoration of All Faithful Departed
We will celebrate Dick Wesp's life and presence among us on Friday, Nov. 2nd. Our Commemoration of All Faithful Departed Eucharist and Memorial Service will also offer opportunities for us to recall and thank God for St. James' parishioners, friends and family who have died between Nov. 2, 2011 and Nov. 2, 2012. Please call or e-mail Jim or Deborah if you desire to commemorate a loved one by having their name (including Birth date and Date of Death if possible) included in the "All Soul's Day" bulletin and memorial prayers.
Don't forget to purchase your tickets for the First Annual Dick Wesp Memorial Concert (7 PM - Nov. 2nd). There are no longer any complimentary tickets available. Tickets for the concert cost $20.00 and the proceeds benefit the Cincinnati Children's Choir.
|
 | |
You Don't Choose a Life You Live One
|
Has anyone seen the movie, The Way? I've heard a bit about it but I don't know the entire plot or the possibliities for using it here in a meaningful manner . I'd like to know what you think. Watch the trailer and let me know what you think about having a film night or something like that idea. Better still, if you've seen the movie, let us know if you gained a better understanding of the life you're living because of the movie or some other similar learning.
|
|
