Reading Camp South County 2023, July 31 - August 4

  

Reading Camp, lead by Paula Davis, will take place July 31 - August 4. We are expecting 30 children who will visit honey bees and learn about working in unity. We thank all who have volunteered to make this year's camp a success. If you are able to donate anything to this worthwhile cause, please make your check out to St. James' Parish and give it to Janet Bruce in the church office. If you have questions please contact Paula Davis at pkay621@aol.com.

Musical Coffee Hour, June 18

The choir is thrilled to announce that our first “Musical Coffee Hour” will take place this Sunday, June 18, directly after worship in Ticknor Hall! The format will be a normal coffee hour... but with music provided by the choir! We will sing a song to open and close our time together with time for requests in between! Come ready to sing along and submit your favorite songs for us to sing from the Renew hymnal. Please consider attending and participating in this event to support our music ministries here at St. James'.

Required Training - Safeguarding God's Children

The course "Safeguarding God's Children" is a required course for all Vestry Members/Officers, Staff Members, Reading Camp volunteers, Adults who work with youth, and Church School teachers who have not taken it in the last three years. The class takes place on Sunday, July 9 in the afternoon via zoom. If you last took the class in 2020 or before, you will need to take it again this year in order to continue serving. Please contact the church office if you will be taking the course. Thanks for your service and for helping to keep our children safe!

Annual Parish Picnic, June 4th

     Our Parish Picnic will be held on Sunday, June 4 following the 10:00am service. Please come and celebrate with your church family as we mark the completion of another school year and enjoy the beginning of the summer season. Lunch will include Italian sausages, generously donated by the Encore Sausage Company, as well as hamburgers and other picnic fare.
     Please bring a side dish or dessert to be shared with the Parish, if you are able! Food will be served from the Ticknor Parish Hall, and everyone is encouraged to bring lawn chairs as well as corn hole or other games so that we can enjoy the outdoors and have some friendly competition. Please join us and bring a friend!

Celebrating Our Graduates, June 4th

On Sunday, June 4 at the 10:00am service, we will be honoring graduating seniors from High School, college, and trade schools. Any parent that has a student graduating, please notify Sharon McGlaughlin at sharon.mcglaughlin1692@gmail.com. We will also acknowledge the teachers who served our youth and are now retired. Please join us.

Pentecost Sunday - Church Birthday Party!

Our Pentecost celebration on Sunday, May 28 will include the reading of the Pentecost Story for children. At the conclusion of the service, the children will lead us to Ticknor Hall for a birthday party. Cake, ice cream, and beverages will be served. There will be a special pinata for the children. Please wear red and join us for this special celebration of the formation of the Christian Church. For further information contact Sharon McGlaughlin. Please join us! There will be no Church School on Pentecost Sunday, but please bring your children for this special party

Coffee Hour Volunteers Needed!

     Please consider contributing a simple food item for our weekly Coffee Hour after our 10:00 am Sunday worship service. Just leave it on the counter in the kitchen, and please be sure to put your name on any dish you’d like returned (and remember to pick it up!).
     We also need volunteers to host each week by setting the food items out on a table, making the coffee, and cleaning up after everyone has enjoyed the fellowship. The sign-up sheet is on the bulletin board outside of the Parish Office, or you can call the Parish Office at 410-867-2838 and ask to have your name(s) added to the list for a specific date.
     Thank you for enabling our fellowship to continue by providing your participation and support!

Stain Glass Window Update

One of the altar windows is almost completed and the second altar window is about ¼ completed. The bottom panel of the Lily window is completed. They are looking to install all three in June.

St. James' Parish Spring Dinner, May 20

     The St. James' Parish Spring Dinner will be held on Saturday, May 20 from 1:00PM until 5:00PM. This year we are happy to announce crabcakes will be returning to the menu along with two types of ham, cheesy potatoes, country green beans, coleslaw, and rolls. Because of the high price of blue crabs these days, the individual meal cost will be $30.00. As always, it takes the whole Parish to make this dinner a success. We need volunteers to help with preparation, set-up, table service, and clean-up.
     We are also seeking donations from Parishioners to help offset the cost of the event. This can be a simple donation to the Women of St. James’ or a sponsorship of a particular part of the meal such as the cost of the ham, rolls, or crab. An alternative donation could be sponsoring tickets for our neighbors in need to enjoy this special meal. We plan to give up to 60 tickets to the people who seek help from our Community Assistance Program or SCAN food bank.
     We greatly appreciate the Parish’ participation in this important community fellowship event and look forward to working with you and seeing you there. Please contact Lillie Barrett at garylillie502@gmail.com or Edlu Thom at edlu.th@comcast.net, if you have any questions.

Parish Life and Outreach Coordinators

We are looking for anyone who might be interested in serving as coordinators for our Parish Life and Outreach ministry areas. To be clear: we are NOT looking for someone to head up every social or community service event that we do here at St. James', or to commit to a meeting every month! Instead, we're looking for people to serve as the "communications hub" for each of these ministry areas. For Parish Life, what that might look like is: coming up with ideas for new social events that will enrich our parish life; helping to identify a "project coordinator" for each event, so it's not just the same people doing the work for every event; and communicating with clergy, Vestry, and people involved in our parish life ministries to make sure we're all on the same page. For Outreach, we're similarly looking for someone to help us dream big about how we can serve the needy and vulnerable in our local communities. Reach out to Fr. Joe or Edlu if you feel the Holy Spirit pulling you towards one of these ministries!

Messy Church Success & Messy Church Returns!

     In March we were blessed with another successful Messy Church! In attendance were 23 adults and 21 kids. This gathering was the first exposure of church for a few of the children. It was a resounding success shown in their excitement.
     Messy Church is happening again Sunday, April 23 at 4:00 pm. There will be singing, laughing, stories, crafts, and communion—all helping the kids learn the stories and symbols of our faith. It will be loud, it will be silly—and it will be a wonderful way for our kids to begin exploring their spirituality. Invite a friend!

2023 Reading Camp - We Need Your Support

Can you help support Reading Camp? It’s time to think about reading camp for this summer. It costs about $200 per child and we plan to have 30 kids. If you are able to donate to this worthwhile cause please talk to Janet Bruce in the office, or contact Paula Davis at pkay621@aol.com.

Easter Vigil, April 8th

Join us for the holiest and most important worship service of the year - you don't want to miss it. The service will be located at Christ Church, West River, 220 Owensville, Rd. West River, Saturday, April 8 at 8:00pm. Last year Christ Church joined us for our combined Easter Vigil and this year we return the favor!

Maundy Thursday Vigil

This year during Holy Week, we'll be bringing to St. James' a tradition common at many Episcopal Churches: a Maundy Thursday prayer vigil, through the night. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, his disciples couldn't stay awake for him even one hour. Out of this moment of Scripture, the custom developed of keeping a "Holy Hour" of prayer in a garden-like setting with the consecrated wafers, the Body of Christ, between our Maundy Thursday service and the noon Good Friday service. We'll have slots for signing up every hour, all through the night and morning. Be praying about whether you're being called to spend part of your Holy Week in this special devotion!

Stations of the Cross

Our Stations of the Cross are again up along the road in the New Cemetery. We'll be using these as a congregation during Holy Week, but please know they're available for private devotional use (and handicap-accessible!) throughout the season of Lent!