Buddy Up!
Just in time for Easter services, we'd like to launch the St. James Buddy System. We're looking for volunteers who would be willing to sit with a visitor during a service and make them feel extra-welcome. Your buddy may need help figuring out which book to use, or when to kneel, or what to do at the communion rail. Be sure to invite your buddy to our coffee hour! To volunteer or for more info, please talk to Lisa Holstrom.
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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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Music to Mediate by
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Click here to listen to Evensong Music composed by Tallis and others as performed by the choirs of Trinity Episcopal Church Hartford CT and Choirs of St. John's Episcopal Church West Hartford CT |
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| St. James Episcopal Church Westwood
Weekly Epistle - Mar 20, 2013
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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ
After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'" So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" They said, "The Lord needs it." Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
Read Sunday's Lessons here (Liturgy of the Palms) and here (Liturgy of the Passion)
 | | Learn more about Palm Sunday Icons and their meanings |
There are moments in life when we knowingly move into scary places. We do so sometimes because other people or circumstances force us to move. We intentionally decide at other times to move away from where we stand because we believe that it's time for transformation: real everlasting change. it might be that we move out of love or perhaps we've decided to conquer our own human fears, with God's help and/or the encouragement of family and friends.
Often though, we remain exactly where we are, whether we want to or not because the risks of doing something bold appear to be too costly, maybe even too deadly. Jesus doesn't get stuck like us. He instead tells his disciples to steal a colt and bring it to him. He needs the animal to move from where he is to where he is going. His path includes hearing the crowds scream hosanna as he arrives as their Messiah. These are the same people who will publicly betray him in front of Pilate in a few more days. They didn't get what they expected.
Another observation would be that Jesus needs the colt because he believes there's something that he has to do in Jerusalem that he can't do anywhere else. He understands the risks. He confronts Pilate anyway. It's a story worth hearing, here and now. It's a story with many deeper understandings and interpretations.
It's clear on Palm Sunday that Jesus has a hunch that he's going to die, horribly. We observe Jesus sitting on the colt praying, believing, and living into the real human realities of what and who it means to be God's loving example for all of us. One way of understanding his sacrifice is that our hero rescues us for all eternity. Thanks be to God! That's one understanding. What are some others?
I believe that we should walk step-by-step through all of Holy Week, beginning this Sunday at Jerusalem's gates. Otherwise it's rather easy to avoid Holy Week's beautiful, complicated, tragic, revealing moments of Jesus' final mortal hours in Jerusalem. It takes courage and faith to participate. We who willingly enter into the Passion story gain opportunities to comprehend each and every moment of Jesus' Passion. It's not easy listening. It's easier to not wash someone's feet on Maundy Thursday or gaze at Good Friday's cross. We actually accommodate such anxieties in a liturgical sense by reading all of the Passion narrative on Palm Sunday. I invite you to be here for that service. It's a great place to begin this year's Holy Week pilgrimage. There's much to be missed if you don't show up again till Easter.
I encourage you to take some additional time during this Holy Week to detach yourself from what's going on in the world and spend some intentional time with Our Lord. He needs you. We need him. We also need one another, this year, now. All of us are valuable and important at St. James. One person's absence impacts our entire Christian community. Going through Holy Week isolated and alone like Jesus did is not what we are called to do. We are called to be his and each other's companions. We are the disciples he yearns to remain with him. We are the ones who should honor his life, death, and resurrection. We are the ones who may also invite others into the mystery and questions that abide at the core of our shared faith.
We're outside Jerusalem's gates. There's lots going on in the world to distract us from what's about to happen over the next several days. Or... we can go grab a colt along with the disciples, place Jesus on the animal, and go along with our Lord for the entire ride of Holy Week. It's a choice, to remain tethered to where we are or move along to where Jesus is going. Which one will be more life-giving for you, for us?
Blessings Along The Way, Jim+
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This Week @ St. James
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Thursday Mar 21 - @ 7PM
-Vestry Meeting (Vestry Room)
Sunday Mar 24 @ 9 AM
- Adult Christian Formation (in the Vestry Room)
Choir Practice
10 AM - Children's Sunday School
Beginning in Lu Dunn Hall for those who wish to process in the Liturgy of the Palms
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