Dear Members and Friends of St. James, In our Parish Update this week, brevity is the order of the day, in the main because a routine, i.e. a more recognizable pattern, appears to have returned to our parochial life. The coronavirus pandemic has faded into our recent memory, making us aware of the need to …
1 Lent Psalm 32; Genesis 2:15–17, 3:1–7; Romans 5:12–19; Matthew 4:1–11 Jesus was then led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. Matt. 4:1 My former colleagues in creative writing courses would instruct their students that words have consequences. The choice of words and the order in which we use …
Dear Members and Friends of St. James, As you will read in my reflections offered Sunday at Eucharist, I attempt to make a revised approach to our understanding of and observance of Lent. If, as your priest, I take such a stance—one slightly different from the traditional one of distain for worldly matters—I should be …
Last Epiphany (7 Epiphany) Psalm 2; Exodus 24:12–18; 2 Peter 1:16–21; Matthew 17:1–9 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ (Matt.17:7) During the Cuban Missile Crisis 1962, when the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock stood close to striking midnight, a married couple, Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne …
Dear Members and Friends of St. James, Attached, as many of you have requested, are my reflections shared during our in-person Eucharist on the Last Sunday of Epiphany 2023. The main item, to which I bring now your attention, is that on Wednesday of this week, 22 February, we will assemble in our sanctuary to …
6 Epiphany Psalm 119:1–8; Deuteronomy 30:15–20; I Corinthians 3:1–9; Matthew 5:21–37 Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No.’ (Matthew 5:37) Because I have not recently been involved in what is called “the housing market,” I have paid little attention to how volatile, sluggish, bearish, or steady the selling and buying of residences have …
Dear Members and Friends of St. James, I draw your attention in this update to several items of note. The first is to report that Annual Meeting was held on Sunday, 12 February, immediately following Eucharist. Copies of the printed reports are available in St. Francis Hall, as well as at the Broadway entrance to …
5 Epiphany Psalm 112:1–9, [10]; Isaiah 58:1–9a, [9b–12]; 1 Corinthians 2:1–12, [13–16]; Matthew 5:13–20 You are salt to the world. And if salt becomes tasteless, how is its saltness to be restored? It is good for nothing but to be thrown away and trodden underfoot! You are light for all the world. A town that …
4 Epiphany Psalm 15; Micah 6:1–8; I Corinthians 1:18–31; Matthew 5:1–12 Hear what the Lord says: ‘Rise, plead your case… Micah 6:1 The words spoken by the Prophet Micah, “Hear what the Lord says: ‘Rise, plead your case’” caused me to recall a line which I heard in a TV criminal series, when a witness …
Dear Members and Friends of St. James, BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION ALERT!!! We three men of St. James are,Bearing cake we travel not far! Join us on Sunday next, after Eucharist in St. Francis Hall to help us celebrate our birthdays which, so we discovered, are closely aligned. Come and let us be merry. Signed: David Olsen …