Our Weekly News & Updates
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We are well into Lent, friends. I hope your disciplines you took on are the challenge you hoped for and that you are doing well with them.
One thing that has been a joy has been making for you a Lenten Study of the whole Gospel of Mark. Harrison, our beloved deacon, and I have invited a special guest to join us each week and do a deep dive into three chapters of Mark. Our first guest is Neale Smith. In the coming weeks, Deborah & Martin Leggett, Gay Gibson, Bob Hughes, and the Rev. Becky McDaniel will be joining with us. The first one went live and I hope you will watch with us and leave your ideas or thoughts in the comments. We are working also to make these available as audio as well to make it easier for anyone who has a commute.
Each session is sizable, and it may be easier for you to break it into chapter sessions. We hope you will enjoy these and learn from the conversations.
Blessings, and thanks!
Rock+
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MARK LENTEN CONVERSATIONS
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We are thrilled to announce a thoughtful and creative way to read through the gospel of Mark in the Lenten season together. Each week we will be posting a different conversation between Rock+, Harrison and a member of our Parish. They read three chapters and discuss it as Spirit leads them. We are reading through the CEB (Common English Bible) Study Bible. Please come pick up your own copy on the table in the Memorial Garden. They are free for the taking. We hope you will join us as we begin the series with Neale Smith as our first "guest" discussing chapters 1-3 with Father Rock and Harrison. The link to watch is HERE on YouTube.
If you would prefer to listen as a podcast, click HERE.
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As we approach Annual Meeting on March 7th we have the opportunity to elect some new Vestry members. We will miss those rotating off and appreciate their service deeply on behalf of this community. We are excited to welcome and elect those called to the team. Below you will see the current candidates for Vestry.
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Jenny Bruce
Don and I met in the SJTL choir and were married here in 2001. We have four grown sons and four grandchildren. I’m retired from Randolph-Macon College, where I taught and assisted students with special learning needs. I have served on the vestry in the past as well as being an active choir member, eucharistic minister, lector and member of various committees. I am honored to have been asked to stand for the vestry. I feel called to step back into a more active role at this time of hope. As we emerge from the pandemic, reopen our doors to worshiping together, listen to the music of our new organ, and resume our lives dedicated to service, I look forward to working with the wonderful members of our vestry, led by Father Rock, as we begin a new and exciting chapter in the life of our church.
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Kimette Cannady
Kim and her husband, Steve, found SJTL when they first moved to Ashland. They reaffirmed their faith, joined the Episcopal Church, and stayed here until 1997. They then moved to Colonial Beach, VA, where she attended St. Mary's Episcopal Church. She served on the Vestry there. They came back to Ashland in 2017 and has been here ever since, in the town and SJTL. Steve passed away in 2017 and her SJTL community surrounded her with love. She leads the Prayer Shawl ministry here at SJTL. Kim feels called to the Vestry, after much prayer, because as someone with years of life experience, she wants to set an example for the younger generations.
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Karen Davies
My husband Paul and I joined St. James the Less soon after we moved to Ashland in 2014. We previously lived in Lynchburg, and before that Durham, NC, where we raised our three (now grown) children. During our children’s formative years I served as a Girl Scout leader for six years and then on a regional GSA board. I also worked as a preschool teacher, and as a reading tutor at their elementary school. I am a cradle Episcopalian and pulled my Presbyterian husband into the fold shortly after we married in 1985. Prior to becoming empty nesters, we were active in Sunday School, VBS, Coffee Hour and various “kid-themed” ministries at our churches in Lynchburg and Durham. Now that we’re empty nesters I have enjoyed branching out into other types of service. Since joining SJTL I have prepared food for the Free Clinic and parishioners requesting meals, and baked bread for Communion. Paul and I joined the usher group and have enjoyed participating in the Supper Club and the Brew n’ Que Festival. Up until this past March you could find me working at the Ashland Library. I have since retired and now spend time volunteering at Hanover Humane Society and hiking with our dog around the area. St James the Less welcomed us very warmly, and I would consider it an honor to serve on the vestry, welcoming new members into our fold.
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Ian Sutton
Val and I moved to Ashland in ten years ago from Houston, Texas. We quickly found St. James the Less and immediately felt right at home. And it has felt like home ever since.
Last year I was asked to serve on the vestry to fill a vacancy. Almost immediately, we had to move the meetings to Zoom. Nevertheless, I have found vestry work to be both interesting and rewarding. We can be thankful that we have been able to maintain our church life so effectively during these difficult times, and that we have been able to reach out to so many people with our church’s videos. But, like all of us, I look forward to the time when we can all assemble in one place as a community (and listen to the new organ).
St. James the Less provides a wonderful base for community work. In my case it has been ACES and its senior ride program, but the church provides many opportunities for all of us to serve others.
It would be a privilege to continue to serve on the vestry.
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Our very own Anabel Shifflett is coordinating a blanket drive for the UVA Children's Hospital. If you would like to donate an (adult size) blanket, feel free to drop it off at the church any weekday through March 1. (This is our last week!) We will have a bin right outside the door, under cover, in the Memorial Garden. We will be taking the blankets in daily. What an incredible act of beauty! Let's rally around her and help cover these children with love.
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Join our "Lent Madness at Saint James the Less" Facebook page HERE. We will have some fun as determine who the Saint of the Year is. This year's line up of saintly souls feature 32 inspiring men and women, both known and unknown, along with a plethora of themed battles, some of which are obvious and some of which will soon be revealed. These particular saints have been hand-selected by the Supreme Executive Committee, following muchy discernment and based on nominations from the global Lent Madness public.
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Lent Bags & Gardens
We still have a few craft bags and Resurrection garden kits available. If you would like to participate in these youth offerings, please email Miriam.
Facebook Live/Memory Verse
Thank you to everyone that tuned in to Facebook to interact and share during the live video! Miriam will be back again this week to discuss your favorite memory verses! Please share with us on Friday at 5pm or if you can't make it, let Miriam know which one is your favorite so she can include it.
Family Survey
Please remember to fill out our family survey, even if you are already receiving the family emails and participating. This helps us to get the most up to date contact information and inform our future programming. Email us if you need the link or have questions.
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COVID Vaccine Information for Hanover Residents
(Chickahominy Health District)
As the Chickahominy Health District (CHD) rolls out the COVID vaccines to community members who fall within the phases established by the state, remember:
- Please DO call the COVID call center at 804-365-3240 or visit https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/chickahominy/ and complete the CHD Vaccine Sign-up Survey, if you’d like to add your name to the vaccine list. The call center is handling a large volume of calls so if you leave a message, the team will contact you as soon as possible. You only need to do one of these steps to be on the list.
- Please DO NOT expect an immediate call to schedule a vaccination appointment. Please be patient. You will be contacted when an appointment slot is available based on your eligibility and vaccine supply. When a Chickahominy Health District (CHD) team member contacts you, please do not give out their contact information without asking them first.
- DO (safely) help your eligible family and friends sign up to be on the vaccine list, if they are not able to do so on their own.
- DO NOT call or email daily to check on your status. CHD will contact you when an appointment is available. There is a process that must be followed for this to work.
- DO be kind and help if you are able. The links below are a few ways you can support local vaccine and COVID response efforts. As you wait for your turn, please continue to practice mask wearing, physical distancing, and hand washing. We are in this together and we will end this together.
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Mark your calendars for Sunday, March 7th at 11am for our Annual Meeting, following the 10am Morning Prayer Virtual Service. We will be meeting and voting via Zoom. For those who aren't comfortable with Zoom, we will be holding training sessions the week before to help ease any worries. Also, if you would like to phone into the meeting, instead of Zoom, call the office and let us know so that we can set that up for you. Happy to do it!
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Wednesday
Join us for the Morning Prayer service this Wednesday at 7:30am and then a cup of coffee afterward at 8am on Zoom. Please make sure that your screen name is your name so we know who is there. We look forward to seeing you!
Link to join the conversation at 8am: click here.
If you would like to call in (audio only) dial (646) 558 8656 and enter the Meeting ID: 826 2172 6493 and Password: 997124
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Wednesday
Book Club is such an awesome experience! The conversation is rich and thoughtful. We will meet on WEDNESDAY (this week only) at 10:30am.
We will be reviewing Chapter 8. Please read the chapter before, if you can.
We are reading The Ragamuffin Gospel:Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out, by Brennan Manning. We hope you can join us!
To join the Zoom meeting click here
If you would like to call in (audio only), dial (301) 715-8592 and enter the Meeting ID: 840 2332 3497 and Passcode: 570346
To watch the recording from last week, click here. Password:*e*f!c49
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Sunday Morning
We hope that you will join us at 10am for virtual Spiritual Eucharist Worship service. It will be a beautiful time of connection and community. The link to watch and the bulletin is below in the schedule.
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Monday Morning
Grief Group is continuing via Zoom on Monday mornings at 10:30am until we are allowed to meet again in person.
To join the meeting on Monday, simply click here
If you would like to call in (audio only), dial (301)715-8592 and enter
Meeting ID: 879 5406 9630 and Passcode: 062583
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OUTREACH
"We rise by lifting others." -Robert Ingersoll
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First Baptist Church Food Pantry is offering food to any resident of Hanover County that might need it.
WHERE: 800 Thompson Street, Ashland 23005
WHEN: First Tuesday, Third Tuesday or Third Saturday from 9 until 11 am (come 1 time within a 30 day period)
They offer food, hygiene items, and baby needs. Tuesdays are drive through to receive a bag of food, freezer items, bread,hygiene items. Saturdays are self shop in fellowship hall. COVID procedures in place: Temperature checks, masks required, social distancing. Call 804 -798 -9014 for more information.
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Saint James the Less Free Clinic
Right outside our very own Saint James the Less Free Clinic the Girl Scouts have donated a food pantry. It is available 24/7 if people might have an immediate need. Please feel free to come by and donate non-perishables to this. It would be an incredible blessing to our community.
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ACES is in need of the following items:
- Pantry:Canned and Boxed Potatoes, Applesauce, Oatmeal, Toothpaste, Toothbrushes
Adult & Children's Clothing Closet & Household items are currently closed due to COVID-19 spike. We are only accepting food and financial donations at this time. Because our clothing closets are closed, we do not have the staff to handle clothing or household item donations. Thank you for your understanding.
Thank you for your continued support!
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POP TOPS
We are still collecting Pop Tops for Ronald McDonald house. Hang on to them or bring them by when you can. This is a valuable resource that goes to help families with children in the hospital here in Richmond.
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To all the churches that helped us over many years host CARITAS at St. James we again want to send our thanks for serving our community and neighbors. Currently the permanent shelters are finished; the men’s in 2018 and the women's December 2020. The families are being served by other groups, so this is the final step to ending the churches hosting the homeless. The details are available on-line and a summary is attachment in our church Annual Report.
All the prayers and support from our communities' churches are still needed, more than ever. Caritas has been busy with construction, coordinating programs with the Greater Richmond Continuum, and transforming services to meet the current needs of our neighbors. They have not worked out all the details and COVID threw its wrench in, but there are multiple choices for service.
So, we wanted to reach out to all our Caritas partners and build up the momentum again. The last two years our church has combined with another church and provided a Friday night meal at the men’s “Healing Place.” We found out that about 100 men fighting additions live and work there, including rotating making meals for themselves and the additional 35-40 men who were homeless. They were so appreciative and helpful as we served homemade food last year! This year we were not allowed to serve but met the men outside, as they were excitedly gathering the goodies to take inside (chicken stew from St. James and rolls, ice cream, and homemade cookies from St. Peter’s Methodist of Montpelier).
This is a simple list of some of their needs and opportunities from Caritas’s website, which we are offering to our congregation and we thought it might be helpful to others. See website for specifics.
· Prayers
· One Friday meal for 100-140 men at the "Healing Place"
o 700 Dinwiddie Ave - Richmond.
· One Friday meal for 50–75 women at the “Healing Place"
o Jefferson Center – Richmond.
· Provide and deliver 35-40 Lunch Bags for homeless (after COVID?)
- “Welcome Home Kits”
- “Workforce Development Kits”
- “Create a Hygiene Kits”
- Furniture and kitchen items; (ie-fill a truck with pots and pans!)
- Financial gifts always welcome.
- Volunteers always needed.
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Tuesday, February 23, 2021
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12pm- Noonday Prayer (online)
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
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7:30am-Morning Prayer Service (online)
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Link to watch service
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Link for bulletin
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8am- Coffee & Conversation (online)
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Link to join
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12 pm-Noonday prayer (online)
Thursday, February 25, 2021
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10:30am- Book Club
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Link to join
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12pm- Noonday prayers (online)
Friday, February 26, 2021
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12pm- Noonday Prayer (online)
Sunday, February 28, 2021
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9am- Children's Sunday School (online)
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Link to join
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10am- Morning Prayer Worship (online)
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Link to watch service
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Link for bulletin
Monday, February 29, 2021
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10:30am- Grief Group (online)
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Link to join
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12pm- Noonday prayers (online)
Join us daily for Noonday Prayer online here. You can follow along with the service on page 103 of the Book of Common Prayer or visit BCPonline.org (Click on "Daily Office" and then"An Order of Service at Noonday")
If you can't join us live-time, no worries. All of our services can be viewed at your convenience afterward on Facebook. All our Sunday morning and Contemplative services will be posted on our YouTube Channel, "St. James the Less Ashland VA." You can access that here.
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Lord, we lift up this nation struggling with itself these days, reeling from this pandemic and its repercussions. Encourage us to faithfulness, righteousness, and compassion for all God’s Children. We lift up Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael, our Presiding Bishop, Susan, Jennifer, and Porter our Bishops, Rock and Becky, our priests, and Harrison, our deacon. May they be strengthened and encouraged as the work with us to proclaim your Good News in this world. We pray for Joe, our President, Ralph, our Governor, and Steve, our Mayor, and all our elected officials. Guide them to lead us to the common good.
We ask your prayers for peace; for goodwill among nations; and for the well-being of all people. Remembering especially Gus, Pat, Dick, Erin, Joanie, Anna, Meredith, Madge, Mary Ann, Katie, Molly, Amy, Meghann, Mark, Carol, David, Alice, Dennis, Barbara, Colin and Caleb, Jimmy, Ricki Carson, Michael Fox, Alex Gillette, Bill & Beth Arrott, Michele, John & Johnny Murphy, Bill Blakemore, Rose, Mason, Elizabeth Attkisson (Erin Cobb's mother), Jan Meacham, Karl Meyer, Chambers Cromwell (friend of Betty & Jim Moore), Horace Crowe (friend of the Meyer’s family), Delaney Thompson family, Aubrey Fletcher, Dee Alvarez, Ginny Miller (sister of Carol Barnes), Shelby Davies, Lyla Buchanan, Kathy Marshall, Kimette Cannady, Melanie Bruce, Bob Ellithorpe, Elaine Belyea, Pam Gillette, Melanie Fischer, Dennis Folsom, Tom & Fran Burke (Beth Renswick’s aunt & uncle), Ginny Miller (Carol Barnes’ sister), Maria & Jarrett and Rev. Dr. Susannah Metz.
We ask your prayers for the poor, the sick, the hungry, the oppressed, and those in prison. We also ask your prayers for those serving in the diplomatic corps, the military, and as missionaries: Kemper Jones, Greg Ericksen, Matthew Thomas, Philip Morison, James Ashley, Andrew Brunson, Jordan Fox, and Katherine Murphy.
We ask your prayers for those who have died.
We ask your prayers for those who grieve.
We pray for the coming of God’s realm in Metropolitan Richmond: For redemption of the divisions, prejudices, pettiness, despair, and discrimination of the past.
For all those who seek peace in the world and for ourselves, that we may bring about God's Kingdom here on earth. For our enemies, and for those who wish us harm.
Praise God for those in every generation in whom Christ has been honored.
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THIS PAST SUNDAY'S HOMILY
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NeverTheLess and Weekly E-News Deadline: If you have an announcement to be shared with the parish, please get the information to Kasey no later than noon on Monday. Thanks!
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February 25
Roy Lynn
John Wade
Forrest Lewis
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February 26
Connor Freeman
February 29
Wiley Hughes
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