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Lenten Links
Thousands of people find Henri Nouwen's books very resourceful during Lent. Here's a sample of his teachings that you may contemplate upon this week.
 | | Check out the Brackets and Play! |
It's fun to learn about the Church's Saints. You can ever wear a Voter Button. Ask Tim Rich, Nancy Jacob, or others about Lent Madness and check out the comments and narratives online or in Lu Dunn Hall. You can be hip like me and get a mug or give one to someone else too.
Other Lenten Resources
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Potluck and Pucks
THIS SATURDAY !!!!
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.
Westwood Works will be hosting their annual potluck here at St. James on March 9th. Here's a great opportunity to share our hospitality by greeting them here at St. James and sharing a hockey game with them and one another.
 
Happening on March 23rd - Vespers (Evensong) with VOCE
Our friend Sandy Thornton returns with her talented musical colleagues from VOCE to share a contemplative and wonderful time of prayer and music prior to Holy Week. Plan to be here at 7:30 PM on Palm Sunday Eve.
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About Us
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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Getting Feedback
 | | Come As You are Survey |
We celebrated our initial Come as You Are and Worship Service last Saturday. We had about 20 people and they got fed with The Word and Sacrament. The teens didn't get the proper kind of soft drinks. We'll work on that for sure. We'd like to know what else we should work on as well as what was excellent. We've put together this survey for those folks who were there or thought about going. There are some questions you can answer about future worship services and upcoming events too. So, it will be take 5 minutes to complete and our hope is that the results will help us better serve you and Jesus. Thanks!
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| St. James Episcopal Church Westwood
Weekly Epistle - Mar 7, 2013
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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ
"So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him" ( Luke 15: 20)
Read Sunday's Lessons here.
The New Testament Hallmark for Radical Hospitality is Jesus' Parable of The Prodigal Son .
You know the story? A boy selfishly demands his inheritance. He's not really entitled to possess the wealth. His father isn't dead. The boy nonetheless gets the money goes and then wastes it. He comes home seeking to repent of his selfishness. Maybe he goes home just so he won't be hungry.
His father isn't interested in forgiveness or motives. The father is overwhelmed with joy that his vagabond son is home and alive. A big party happens thereafter for slaves and family members alike; except for the oldest brother who refuses to attend. Love doesn't work this way in most human families.
The oldest brother is angry. His father's mercy toward the younger brother is unwarranted, unfair. Forgiveness and joy nonetheless happen despite understandable righteousness and repentance. The oldest brother, as Rembrandt paints, remains in the shadows of his own jealousy and conditions for salvation. He is in "the right" while also standing by himself.
Radical, Jesus-like hospitality isn't always fair or even comprehensible. Why would God reward someone whose wasted away her or his life? Why should The Church be a safe place for sinners or beggars? Why would we welcome people, family members who hang out with prostitutes and pigs. Why would we sit at the table with loved ones or strangers who are dirty, smelly, unholy?
Because .... God does.
Jesus didn't have a soft spot in scripture or his ministries for righteous people. He chose sinners rather than priests, Law-abiding citizens and pious scribes. Radically hospitable understandings of his Gospel beckon us into dwelling in really uncomfortable places. Jesus provides us an exemplary life where we don't become too comfortable with reasonable understandings of charity, mercy and kindness. Those acts are indeed worthwhile. Welcoming a prodigal son home means not just being nice but trusting God enough to willingly share home-wrecking moments of unconditional love, blind faith, and illogical sharing of God-like Grace. It's impossible. It's living in the God's realm through our Christian faith.
Reconciliation is in a word, gutty. We willingly kill the fatted calves of our possessions and our preconceived notions of God for the sake of the lost and unworthy souls who we encounter. Usually it's someone we know -- up close and personally, perhaps even ourselves at times.
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Visit the Henri Nouwen Society Webpage |
Henri Nouwen wrote:
Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. ... Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human."
Compassion requires radical God-given hospitality and healthy doses of Christian companionship, prayers, and shared sacrifices and sacraments. Radical, compassionate hospitality takes shape, and amazingly happens here, among the unholy, yearning, prodigal sinners who we are and who God graciously offer life to each day.
Blessings Along The Way, Jim+
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This Week @ St. James
 | | Click here for the parish calendar |
Wednesday Mar 6 @ 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 Mar 7 - @ 11 AM
- ECW Meeting (Vestry Room)
@ 2 PM
@ 6 PM - Evening Prayer and Reflection
Sunday Mar 10 @ 9 AM - Adult Christian Formation
Choir Practice
10 AM - Children's Sunday School
 | | The Rev. Bill Scrivener - Senior Director, Department of Pastoral Care - Cincinnati Children's Hospital |
Rite II Holy Eucharist - Joyce Keeshin - Preacher The Rev. Bill Scrivener - Presider
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