Easter 2014 - St. James altar
St. James Episcopal Church's Weekly Epistle
May 15, 2014 
Approaching the Fifth Sunday of Easter 
 
Alleluia - Christ is Risen 

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.   ( John 14: 12-14)

Read Sunday's texts here
Daily Bread - Photograph by Pamela Casey 
Daily Bread - Photograph by Pamela Casey
      
It's hard to believe that we're back at the "Last Supper" with Jesus and his disciples. That's were we are though in this Sunday's Gospel. It is even harder, in the midst of all the confusion, despair, and sadness of that "First Communion" to believe that Jesus will do anything his disciples ask for in his name. 
 
One of the disciples who believed in Jesus as the Messiah surely prayed for God to rescue Jesus from his impending death.  I've similarly listened to faithful Christians young and old pray in Jesus' name for all kinds of deeply felt and honorable causes. They yearn for the birth of a healthy child or the graceful death of a parent. Less fortunate outcomes sometimes occur regardless of such faithful prayers. There are assuredly times in my own prayer life when I feel like concluding Jesus' reassuring words with "yeah, just not in the way I expect or not at that time I desire."  

Answer Me Jesus Toy This past weekend I saw a rather sacrilegious toy called the "Answer Me Jesus" toy.  It's kinda like the "Ask 8 Ball
" toy that you may have seen on an office desk or in a child's bedroom. The possessor of the Jesus toy is invited to offer a prayer and then turn Jesus over to receive a response.  (Of note, Answer me Jesus is no longer in production so I suppose that channel of communication with The Divine is now, and righteously so, closed).  The toy suggests that contemporary disciples crave for Jesus Christ to hear our prayers. We want answers. Silence is the last thing we want and yet we often must wait to observe how God is acting.    
Perhaps we should begin with letting go of what we crave for most tightly. Instead we can trust that God yearns for, and is creating something, even to the point of death, much more wonderful for us. It is Christ's resurrection that provides us the courageous love we need to live our lives as his disciples in our circumstances, without a magic Answer Me Jesus on the shelf.

Nanette Sawyer 
Nanette Sawyer - Author of Hospitality - The Sacred Art 
Nanette Sawyer
speaks of such faith and love when she writes:

"Jesus tells them (his disciples and us) to trust in God and trust in him. He also implicitly tells them (and us) to trust in themselves and in their relationship."  (Sawyer, April 2008, para. 5)

She adds: "Trust what we have done here together. Keep doing it. Keep loving each other as I have loved you. You know God, because you know me. You know the way, because you know me. Trust yourselves, trust me, trust God." (Ibid.)

It strikes me that we often come to church seeking reassurance from Christ and one another, especially during tumultuous periods of our life. Communion, in the sacraments as well as in the love we share with one another provides us bread for life's journey just as it did at Jesus' first Eucharist with his closest friends. Let's join together with them and one another in believing that God's power is working in us to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, today & forevermore.


Blessings Along The Way, Jim+ 


This Week and Soon to Happen @ St. James 

Check out our web calendar for important event information


 

  
Forest-Aires Concert Banner 
Our Springtime Music Series Continues tomorrow night with a performance by The Forest-Aires Women's Chorus. Bring yourself and your friends!
Sunday - @ 9:00 AM Adult Christian Education - Vestry Room

Eucharist and Worship @ 10:00 AM  -
Church

Procter Summer Camp Banner 
This Sunday is "Procter Summer Camp Sunday!"

This Sunday, May 18, we will join Episcopalians around the Diocese of Southern Ohio in recognizing Procter Summer Camp Sunday!  Procter Summer Camp is nestled in the farmland of London, Ohio and is committed to bringing students, and families, to create a faith based community. That community is showing daily what the world could be like. Here's a list of this year's various camp offerings.  

  

Garyne and Grayson at campWe invite everyone who has been to Procter to wear their camp tie-dye shirts to church and share a camp story with a guest or someone who hasn't been to Procter. Let them know what a great place and time camp is for everyone!
 
 


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A group of excited parishioners is teaming up to craft, publish and share a monthly newsletter. Make sure to talk with Jean MacGregor or Barb Taber and get involved in this new parish-wide communications project.

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Come Hear the Anderson HS A Cappella Chamber Choir on Monday, May 26

  

If you're looking for a great way to conclude your Memorial Day festivities, consider spending it with the A Cappella Chamber Choir from Anderson High School on Monday, May 26, at 7:00 p.m. You may have heard them perform last year on our Springtime Music Series and at previous Dick Wesp concerts. They will present an eclectic program of classical, world and pop music that is sure to entertain. Free admission! See you there!   

 

 

It's just 13 days till  St. James & Findlay Market sneak preview Westwood's Farmstand here at the Church! 

Farmstand Banner
Fresh fruits and vegetables from Findlay's farmers, to your church's yard and table. Check out our Facebook Event. Make sure you're going and inviting  your friends and family to be here with you! 
 
My Father's Eyes

Eric Clapton - My Father's Eyes (Live Video Version) 
Eric Clapton - My Father's Eyes (Live Video Version)

Eric Clapton knows a little bit about doubt and hope.
He never met his biological father who died when Eric was young. His mother, who was a teenager when Eric was born, was incapable of raising him on her own and essentially, along with his father, abandoned him. Thus Eric's maternal grandparents were his surrogate parents. He was raised in a wonderfully musical household but nonetheless experienced a melancholy childhood.

He has lived a very complex life since then. He has  experienced many triumphs including winning more than 10 Grammy awards. He has coincidentally battled and overcome addictions to heroin and alcohol. A son of his tragically died as a child.  Conor fell from a window that a housekeeper accidentally left open.

In 1998, Clapton released a song entitled "My Father's Eyes." The tune accounts for the grief and hope that Clapton has lived through during his life. The song won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1998. He seemingly believes in something or someone greater than the tragedies and victories of his days. I invite you to enjoy the video and well as read more of Clapton's biography


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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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