St. James's Children's Kiosk
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Our Children’s Kiosk is where you can get books, crayons and coloring pages for your little ones during Sunday services to keep them occupied while you’re listening to the lessons and sermon. The kiosk is in the Narthex to the left when you come in the church doors.
The story behind the Children’s Kiosk
We recently had the opportunity to meet Monica Rumsey, who designed the Children’s Kiosk which her husband, Nicholas then built. Monica had reached out to Winnie Canup, Development Director of the Children’s Center and an old neighbor of Monica’s. She was going to be in Richmond and wanted to see the kiosk for the first time since it left the Rumsey’s workshop in the 1990's.
Winnie set-up a time for the visit and also asked Kathy Conrad to come. The Children’s Kiosk is in thanksgiving for John and Kathy Conrad’s son, John Jr. and all the children of St. James’s. Kathy and John are long time parishioners of St. James's and John is currently on the vestry. They needed an inclusive learning program for their son, so they founded St. James’s Children’s Center in 1986. You can learn more about the history and mission of St. James’s Children’s Center here.
Now here's what we learned from Monica. She opened a binder with Children’s Kiosk drawings and a photo of her husband making the kiosk, then begun telling us about building the Children's Kiosk. For the design, Monica chose Loaves and Fishes and the sheep to symbolize we are God's people. Once the design was complete, Monica and Nicolas started bringing it to life. During the building process, Nicholas used an inlay technique called marquetry, which few know how to do these days. Once the inlays were done, Monica used a technique called pyrography (to burn in wood shading and detail) to do the details in the boy, girl and other elements.
We enjoyed meeting Monica Rumsey and hearing the story behind the Children’s Kiosk. Now that you know more about the kiosk, we hope you will take a closer look when you're at church.
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This week's eChimes features
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- Get your tickets for The Flying Squirrels
- "See Ya Summer" Youth Lock-In
- Blake's Reflections from Congregational Development Conference
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- Learn about our amazing Confirmation Program, Sunday, August 21
- Shrine Mont Parish Retreat
- Those who passed away
- Prayers of the People
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Thursday, August 18
Flying Squirrels Baseball Game
Summer isn't summer without a Flying Squirrels game. August 18 is Faith Night at the ballpark, plus there's a fireworks display after the game.
Come for the fun, come for the fellowship.
We'll be sitting in General Admission above Section 205 (along First Base)
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"See Ya Summer"
August 19-20
Grades 6-12
Come to our Youth Service Lock-in from August 19th-August 20th at St. James’s! We’ll meet at 5pm on August 19th, have dinner, and go to the Goochland Drive-In Movie Theater. The next morning, we’ll wake up, have breakfast, and engage in a service activity until 3pm!
To sign up, go here. Hope you’ll join us for fellowship, service, and fun!
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Blake's Reflections from Congregational Development Conference
I spent all of last week just outside of Rochester attending the Episcopal Church’s College for Congregational Development (CCD). The weeklong conference was held at a Catholic retreat center that was perched on a hill overlooking Canandaigua Lake. Over the course of the week, I (along with all of the other participants) adopted a quasi-monastic pattern of life. Our day began with breakfast at 7:30am followed by Morning Prayer at 8:30am. We were then in plenary sessions or small groups until Compline at 8:00pm, with an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner. At the conclusion of Compline, I hurried back to my 9 ft x 6 ft cell and fell fast asleep with a crucifix hanging over my head and an icon of Mother Mary watching over my right shoulder.
While I enjoyed the opportunity to spend a week in this highly structured environment beginning and ending each day in prayer, the primary purpose of the week was to dive into what the name of the conference suggests, Congregational Development. According to CCD, the goal of Congregational Development is the “development of congregations… into more faithful, healthy, and effective communities of faith.” It does this through taking insights from the secular field of Organizational Development, examining those insights through a theological lens, and then applying them to the local congregation.
I could write for days unpacking all that I learned, but I especially wanted to share one theory in particular- the Trust Development Theory created by Jack Gibb. Essentially, the theory suggests that acceptance and belonging are the foundation of any congregation (or any other organization for that matter). In order to progress to any of the subsequent levels of trust development- like sharing information, creating shared goals, or implementing strategy, all members of the community must first feel as though they are accepted and valued.
As Christians, this shouldn’t necessarily feel like new information. As we read throughout the New Testament, the call to follow Jesus often begins with an invitation to acceptance and belonging. While we’re all called to participate in God’s work in the world and to be “doers of the word”, before we can go about doing, we’re first called to simply be, to rest in the truth that we are loved and accepted by God unconditionally, and, by extension, are also welcomed into God’s community (i.e., the Church) unconditionally. Then and only then can we go about our doing.
As we approach the beginning of a new program year at St. James’s, I’ve been reminded and even convicted that doing the work God has called us to do must always begin with that original and primary vocation. It must begin with being a community that embodies God’s unconditional love. It must begin with being a community of unconditional acceptance, where the longtime member, the first-time visitor, and everyone in between feels as though they truly belong. This is the foundation of all that we do, and this is what Congregational Development looks like.
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Learn about our amazing Confirmation Program,
Sunday, August 21
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Confirmation is one of the most meaningful and fascinating parts of a young person's life--especially here at St. James's, where our confirmation program has become a mode for other churches around the country.
To learn what we have planned for 2022-2023 please attend our Virtual Information Session on Sunday, August 21, from 7 to 7:45 pm.
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2022 Parish Retreat: Save the Date
October 21-23
The 2022 Parish Retreat is the weekend of October 21 thru 23 at Shrine Mont. If you've never been to our Parish Retreat or Shine Mont, you definitely want to attend.
But just as important is keeping your eye open in mid August, because that’s when registration will begin. And, like last year, we expect the slots to fill up quickly.
All the info will be in future eChimes, but you can also reach out to Rev. Amelia Arthur with questions at aarthur@doers.org.
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Parishioner who passed away recently:
Marshall Earl, Jr. (died 7/29/2022)
We commend Marshall to God’s love.
If you would like information on how to reach out to the loved ones of the deceased, please do not hesitate to contact the church office.
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We do our best to keep this list current, but if you want your name added or removed, please contact Mary Brown or call her at 804-355-1779, ext. 313.
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St. James’s Episcopal Church | DOERS.ORG | (804) 355-1779
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