Our Mission
Sharing ourselves and our faith with others...
St. James is a Christian community that welcomes all with respect for
the inherent dignity and value of every person.
We strive to enable spiritual growth through worship, education, outreach, and stewardship for
the purpose of restoring all people to unity with God and each other.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Hello Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well. If you are on Facebook, I would suggest you follow me. There you will get to see more short videos on what is going on at St. James. You may be wondering about what I am making videos about what is going on when it seems like the world is shut down. Just because we cannot gather and that we are being smart and prudent by suspending public worship, does not mean that our work as the Church is not continuing.
I hope you have seen some of the videos on our YouTube page. There, I will be posting videos on how to utilize your Book of Common Prayer. I will also be posting videos sermons for each week's lectionary readings. But that isn't the only work going on. This past week, we started experimenting with Zoom video conferencing. Our Daughters of the King held a video meeting and I have heard wonderful reports about that gathering. Our Common Grounds Youth as well as one of our AA groups will be experimenting this week with gathering via Zoom. If you are already in one of bible studies or prayer groups, you will be getting an invitation to join in a video meeting of your group. As those groups get settled after their first video meetings, I will share with you how you will be able to join.
On Palm Sunday, April the 5th, I will host a Bible Study and Coffee hour via the Zoom app. I very helpful video telling you how to install and use Zoom can be found here. But more on this work of the Church next week.
As you all know, our Food Pantry was already the largest food pantry in Northern NM. And as we have all known, this ministry is essential work at all times, and especially in this time. Last week, we saw a 12% increase or so in the volume of clients with 312 cars passing through our parking lot in 3 1/2 hours. Yesterday we had 493 cars in the same timeframe, an increase of about 33%. The Church is still preaching the Good News and feeding all who come to the altar of Love. Thank you for your continued support and prayers. Thank you to all of the volunteers who are getting this work done.
Our Vestry has taken superb actions to care for all in our community during this time. We have a number of hourly employees who are in the 'at risk demographic' and yet also rely on their hourly wages from St James. Our Vestry has resolved to continue our payments to these employees as if their schedules were not affected. This is also some of the best Church we can be. We are called to love as we are loved and to be a symbol of God's grace and love to all. As your rector, I relay the abundant gratitude and love from those employees for your support. However, that does pose a sticky wicket. St. James relies upon your continual and weekly support to maintain our operations. And with our services and office hours hindered the logistics of that process has been interrupted.
To that end, I am asking all of you to go to our webpage, click on the 'donate' button, and set up an online giving account. You can set it up to be your pledge fulfillment on a regular basis. You can give to the Food Pantry, my discretionary fund, or any other of our regular outreach and parochial ministries. If you have any questions, please send me an email or a give me a call. This is the work of the Church for those of us who prudently can not be the hands that labor, yet they are still the hands of Christ in support and prayer for that labor.
My friends, I hope you are finding this time a time of renewal and reflection. I am still holding pastoral meetings over the phone and via Zoom. Our parish has counselors who have offered their aid to any during this time. Please do not hesitate in reaching out. Last week I made some prayer book deliveries and am happy to do so again. Let me know how we can be of service to each other these days.
Be prudent, be smart, wash your hands, and say your prayers.
In the Light of Christ,
Mac+
Hello Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well. If you are on Facebook, I would suggest you follow me. There you will get to see more short videos on what is going on at St. James. You may be wondering about what I am making videos about what is going on when it seems like the world is shut down. Just because we cannot gather and that we are being smart and prudent by suspending public worship, does not mean that our work as the Church is not continuing.
I hope you have seen some of the videos on our YouTube page. There, I will be posting videos on how to utilize your Book of Common Prayer. I will also be posting videos sermons for each week's lectionary readings. But that isn't the only work going on. This past week, we started experimenting with Zoom video conferencing. Our Daughters of the King held a video meeting and I have heard wonderful reports about that gathering. Our Common Grounds Youth as well as one of our AA groups will be experimenting this week with gathering via Zoom. If you are already in one of bible studies or prayer groups, you will be getting an invitation to join in a video meeting of your group. As those groups get settled after their first video meetings, I will share with you how you will be able to join.
On Palm Sunday, April the 5th, I will host a Bible Study and Coffee hour via the Zoom app. I very helpful video telling you how to install and use Zoom can be found here. But more on this work of the Church next week.
As you all know, our Food Pantry was already the largest food pantry in Northern NM. And as we have all known, this ministry is essential work at all times, and especially in this time. Last week, we saw a 12% increase or so in the volume of clients with 312 cars passing through our parking lot in 3 1/2 hours. Yesterday we had 493 cars in the same timeframe, an increase of about 33%. The Church is still preaching the Good News and feeding all who come to the altar of Love. Thank you for your continued support and prayers. Thank you to all of the volunteers who are getting this work done.
Our Vestry has taken superb actions to care for all in our community during this time. We have a number of hourly employees who are in the 'at risk demographic' and yet also rely on their hourly wages from St James. Our Vestry has resolved to continue our payments to these employees as if their schedules were not affected. This is also some of the best Church we can be. We are called to love as we are loved and to be a symbol of God's grace and love to all. As your rector, I relay the abundant gratitude and love from those employees for your support. However, that does pose a sticky wicket. St. James relies upon your continual and weekly support to maintain our operations. And with our services and office hours hindered the logistics of that process has been interrupted.
To that end, I am asking all of you to go to our webpage, click on the 'donate' button, and set up an online giving account. You can set it up to be your pledge fulfillment on a regular basis. You can give to the Food Pantry, my discretionary fund, or any other of our regular outreach and parochial ministries. If you have any questions, please send me an email or a give me a call. This is the work of the Church for those of us who prudently can not be the hands that labor, yet they are still the hands of Christ in support and prayer for that labor.
My friends, I hope you are finding this time a time of renewal and reflection. I am still holding pastoral meetings over the phone and via Zoom. Our parish has counselors who have offered their aid to any during this time. Please do not hesitate in reaching out. Last week I made some prayer book deliveries and am happy to do so again. Let me know how we can be of service to each other these days.
Be prudent, be smart, wash your hands, and say your prayers.
In the Light of Christ,
Mac+