News from St. James' Episcopal Church
Sunday, June 14, 2020
God's Time: On a Different Scale
A reflection by parishioner and vestry member Carolyn Briles
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness…
                                                                                               2 Peter 3:8-9
This was the last week of school, and like every year, I pack up my classroom and store too many crates of resources in my garage over the summer. Over ten years of teaching, it has become an easy routine. But not this year.

When I walked into my classroom this week, it had been almost three months since I’d been there. The coronavirus had closed school doors without warning in March, and in my classroom, time had stood still. The calendar was still turned to March 11. Announcements for Prom tickets were still written on the board. My students had been preparing for Pi day celebrations, and the tallies of pizzas that would never be ordered were still on my desk. It felt like a lifetime ago, and at the same time, just yesterday.

And suddenly I realized how relative time can be, how relative God’s time can be. In these days since COVID-19, I’ve been frustrated that a vaccine hasn’t come sooner. I’ve been aching to get back to our church, to sit in wooden pews and to kneel on needlepoint cushions. I’ve been impatient with details on what school will look like in the fall. Most of all, I’ve been annoyed with God that the answers to all of these things are taking so long.

But my classroom reminded me that God’s time is on a different scale. The answers to these things are in God’s working. He is not slow in keeping his promise, just working in his own time: a time in which three months can feel like a day, a time in which a day is like a thousand years, a time in which only he understands.
Celebrate our Graduates!
Join us in honoring this year's graduates this Sunday as they take the next steps in their journey. See them in the video below!

We offer this prayer for all young people, and particularly for our 2020 graduates:

God our Father, 
you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: 
Show them that your ways give more life
than the ways of the world, 
and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals.
Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, 
but as a chance for a new start. 
Give them strength to hold their faith in you,
and to keep alive their joy in your creation; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen.
Worship Online
As we continue our fast from in-person worship, we join together for worship on Sunday, June 14.

Join us as we "go live" on Facebook
 at 10 a.m.

to see our worship services.
Virtual Women’s Spiritual Spa Nights
(also known as the Women’s Spiritual Discussion Group)
The women of St. James and their friends are invited to join us for this opportunity to relax, connect, pray and laugh together from the comfort of our own living rooms.

If you have a specific topic or spiritual practice you’d like to explore with the group, don’t hesitate to email Debbie McGee. Join us for one, two, or all three evenings!

Tuesdays: June 16, July 21, and August 18

7 to 8:30 p.m.
Monthly Mission Partner:
Friends of Loudoun Mental Health
During June, we are praying for, learning about, and financially supporting  Friends of Loudoun Mental Health (FLMH).
 
Serving Loudoun County since 1955, FLMH provides support and direct services to mental health consumers living in Loudoun County.

FLMH’s cornerstone program, A Place To Call Home, provides monthly rental subsidies directly to landlords for clients who are in active treatment for a serious mental illness, live in Loudoun County and live at, or below, the federal poverty line (currently $22,600 for a family of four).
 
To learn more about FLMH, visit  www.loudounfriends.org or ask our very own St. James’ parishioner Michelle Jones, former Director of Business Development for FLMH.
 
If you are able, give generously to this worthy mission. Thank you!
From Bishop Goff
The Power of Symbols:
Support for the Removal of the Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond
"Symbols are powerful. Which symbols will we claim and hold high as signs of our faith and life in Christ? Which symbols will we remove for the sake of others? What new symbols will emerge as we walk Jesus’ Way of Love?" Read more
How Can You Help?
In this challenging time, many are asking, "How can I help?"

To assist our parishioners, family, or friends, as well as support community organizations that provide key services (food, shelter, or direct aid), ​ St. James' has established a  COVID-19 Response Fund.

In addition, Fr. Daniel Vélez Rivera, vicar of St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church (St. James' daughter church), works closely with Catholic Charities to help distribute emergency COVID-19-related rental assistance to people who are non lease-holders.

Grace to Go continues to serve to-go meals every Monday evening from the St. James' parking lot.
 
If you, a family member, or friend, find themselves in a place of need,  please  contact Fr. Earl.  Please do not hesitate to reach out if you are in need.

The readings for Sunday, June 14
Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Matthew 9:35-10:8-23
Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes."
In need of prayer? In need of care?
"In case of illness, the minister of the congregation is to be notified."
The Book of Common Prayer, p. 453

Please let us know when you are in need of prayer and care.

Whom should you call?
The Rev. Earl Mullins
Emergency Number:
410-409-9386

The Church Office
703-777-1124
When should you call?
  • When you become seriously ill, are dealing with a newly diagnosed disease or condition, or are hospitalized for treatment, surgery, or rehabilitation.
  • When you are experiencing a spiritual, physical, emotional or financial crisis.
  • When you become concerned for the person who usually shares the pew with you because he or she has not been in church for a while.
  • When you experience one of life's many transitions: a birth, a death, a job loss/change, a move, an empty nest, retirement, etc.
  • When you need prayer and care, but don't want to "bother" anyone with your troubles -- please contact us anyway; you will not be "bothering" us!
Keeping Close in Prayer
Alice Lynn, Becky Crisman, Mary Paul, Inez Peebles, Caroline Ennis, the Lynch family, the Page family, John Marsh, and the Riley family, Mary Bracken, Jennifer Griffith, Tim MacNamara, Fiona Ahrweiler and family; for other persons: Kathy Raymond, Orma Call, Chris DeWaard, Jay Watkins, Mark and Meghan Roomsfa, Lori Turner, Chase Smith, Wendell Schott, Charlotte, Christian Cutillo, Ruth Guerra, Miline Hughes, Erin Stanton, Barbara Rose, Nancy Hylton, Bridget Steel, Matthew Britto, Betty Overson, Dewey, those who are unemployed or underemployed; and those serving in the armed forces at home and abroad.
Vestry, Clergy and Staff
St. James’ Vestry
Carolyn Briles
Katherine Bucklin
Andy Durot
Jim Ferry
Ed Hatrick
Karen Knobloch
Steve Mayo
Deb McGee
Page Moffett
Wayne Newell
Terry Prevost , Junior Warden
Jane Roth, Secretary
Mark Snow , Senior Warden
Fred Williams
Seth Griner, Youth Representative

Treasurer
John Forcier
  St. James’ Clergy and Staff
Interim Rector

Dr. Steven Cooksey
Director of Music/Organist

Dr. Stephen Knobloch
Corner Chorale Music Director

Walter Litzenberger
Assistant Choir Director/Organist

Parish Administrator and Registrar

Janet Stayrook
Preschool Director

Adan Cortez
Lead Sexton

Francisco Ramos
Sexton 
Stay in touch