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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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This Week @ St. James
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Tonight- 7 PM Ash Wednesday with Imposition of Ashes and Communion
7:30 PM - Narcotics Anonymous Meeting -
We are looking for parishioners, including our youth to provide childcare for the parents who attend this NA meeting. Please speak w/ Jim if you would be willing to be a team member to support our neighbors in their recovery & processes.
Thursday Feb. 14 - @ 2 PM Crossroads Hospice Grief Recovery Program w/ Donna Hartmann. Contact Donna for more info. if you're interested. @ 6 PM - Evening Prayer and Reflection Sunday Feb. 17 @ 9 AM - Adult Christian Formation Choir Practice 10 AM - Children's Sunday School Rite II Holy Eucharist 11:15 AM - 2013 Annual Meeting and Lunch (Election of Vestry Members, Trustees, Delegates to Convention, and Review of 2013 Budget) Download and review our
Support your favorite contestant or cause. Get signed up in our Lenten Mustache/Goatee Contest. 1:00 PM - Open Space Meeting. (downstairs in the newly "opened space") |
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| St. James Episcopal Church Westwood
Weekly Epistle - February 13, 2013
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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ
And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" ( Luke 4: 6-8) Read Sunday's Lessons here.  | | Jordanian Wilderness |
It's difficult to remember everything wonderful that God has done, is doing, and will do in the middle of a crisis. It's even more challenging when you are physically alone, angry, hungry, tired, or all of the above.
Folks familiar with recovery programs usually learn about "H.A.L.T." We need coping mechanisms to physically, mentally, and spiritually restore us when we're wrestling with our demons. It's so much more difficult to relieve stress when we're overwhelmed with our physical or spiritual hunger. We lose all sight of God when we are angry with God, someone else, or ourselves. Loneliness provides an open door to all types of unhealthy and evil possibilities. Tiredness may trick us into anything but seeking calming rest. Such is the nature of human life, especially when we think that we have all of the answers or the world will provide for all of our wants.
Lent's wilderness invites us to explore any or all of these tempting possibilities. Why? Why should we fast for 40 days.? What will we gain by seeking time alone and risk becoming lonely too? Why tempt ourselves by uncomfortably learning something about our human limitations such as what angers or tires us?
Jesus' answer. Because we love God. Ok, that belief may be reason enough for some of us but it's often nothing much more than lip service at other times. Why else?
Because the Wilderness is indeed wonderfully liberating. It's the place where we can best strip away everything that isn't necessary and really live life more freely. It's the place where you will indeed meet God while letting go of something you don't really need but hang on to anyway.
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Barbara Brown Taylor
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Barbara Brown Taylor writes:
"I think it is good news--because even if no one ever wants to go there"
(the wilderness), "and even if those of us who end up there want out again as soon as possible, the wilderness is still one of the most reality-based, spirit-filled, life-changing places a person can be." ... After forty days in the wilderness, Jesus had not only learned to manage his appetites; he had also learned to trust the Spirit that had led him there to lead him out again, with the kind of clarity and grit he could not have found anywhere else."
(Taylor, The Wilderness Exam, 2010)
The Spirit leads us into Wilderness moments all of the time, usually unexpectedly or even as we scream at the top of our lungs that we won't go. Why not, as Jack Koepke preached on last Sunday, take a hike this Lent. Prepare your pack & demonstrate your willingness to wander around in the Wilderness by showing up today on Ash Wednesday and for forty more days thereafter. Prayerfully relate with God rather than your emotions & decide where there is the most room for personal growth. Live more freely by encountering God's love more silently and hungrily.
Yes, your weaknesses will assuredly surface... so will God if you'll trust that Divine Love abides through all of life, especially when we surrender our will to God's deepest desire to fulfill what we and the world cannot offer to ourselves.
Blessings Along The Way, Jim+
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Saturday Night Worship Experience
Happening on Sat. Feb 23 @ 6:30 PM - Alex is playing the tunes. Jim is offering the Word. Everyone gets communion. Music that's not out of the hymnal. Blue Jeans are encouraged.
(Invite the neighbors and let's see what happens)
Potluck and Pucks Here's a terrific chance for us to get to know our neighbors better. Bring some food & plan on sharing a meal and a hockey game in a couple of weeks.  |
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Can you spare a minute?
How long does it take you to brush your teeth? How many minutes does it take you to choose a television show to watch. My guess is that neither of those chores takes more than a minute or two. It takes much less than that much time to say The Lord's Prayer. Try it and see. How much closer would you be to God if you were to offer Jesus' prayer 4-5 times a day. It'll cost you all of .... 3-4 minutes maybe. In the meantime, enjoy Andrea Bocelli's .
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