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 …