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Let’s Welcome
The Rev. Robin Teasley, our temporary Clergy Assistant
Starting this Sunday, the Rev. Robin Teasley will be joining our clergy while Blake is on paternity leave. She will primarily be serving at worship services– three Sundays in November and three in December, including Christmas. She may also get involved in some programming.
Robin has served churches in Blackstone, Petersburg, and the Richmond area. Robin loves preaching, teaching in small groups, and pastoral care. Contemplative prayer keeps her grounded.
To read Robin's full bio, please see our clergy page here.
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Tuesday, November 7
Tuesday Men's Bible Study - 7:30 am, Valentine Hall
A weekly hour of fellowship, discussion of the bible, and good food.
Contact: Patrick Strickler, jpstrickler@verizon.net
Stephen Spraker, stspraker@gmail.com
Wednesday, November 8
Living Faith Bible Study - 10 to 11:30 am
Currently on Zoom (in person gatherings TBD)
This opportunity for spiritual refreshment and enlightenment begins with fellowship, a prayer followed by study and discussions that help to make our Christian faith a “living faith” and apply the witness of the Scripture to our everyday lives.
Contact: Betsy Trow (804) 282- 4152 or betsytrow@gmail.com
Wednesday Noon Eucharist & Healing Service
held in the chapel located within the sanctuary
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Wednesday Night Dinner - 6 pm, Valentine Hall
Our Last One until after Christmas
Join us for dinner at 6 pm. The suggested donations are: Children, $5; Adults $10, Families, $25.You can pay in cash, check or credit card.
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Peek at the Week is now on the website (doers.org) too. So if you need to check in on what’s going on this coming week, click on the Peek at the Week banner (The Week's Events) on the home page: doers.org
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This week's eChimes features | |
- The Taste is coming
- Youth - come cook for Taste this Saturday
- Our Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive
- Relive The Celebration
- U2 Celtic Mass
- Annual Pledge update
- November Young Family Social
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- Vestry Nominations for the Vestry 2024 Class
- Share your St. James's story
- Discover the Collect of The Day
- This Sunday - Service of Community Lament
- Prayers of The People
- Diocese of Virginia
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The Taste is Coming!
Make room in your fridge.
And on your calendar.
The Taste of St. James is Wednesday, November 15th (that's less than 2 weeks away) from 5 to 7pm in Valentine Hall – just in time to stock up on Thanksgiving soups, meals and sweets.
Come for a night of food, fellowship, and fun, all the while benefiting our outreach and youth mission partners, with a focus on supporting food insecurity in the Richmond and Virginia area.
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Share you talent and passion,
sign up to cook for The Taste.
We still need cooks, bakers, and volunteers for the Taste to be a success.
All the delicious soups, chicken pot pies and sweets are made by our very own parishioners. We also need help with the bake shop wrapping and folks to man the tables. If you’re able to help, please visit our sign-up genius.
For cooking, we need help making the following items:
breakfast casseroles
minestrone soup
butternut squash soup
chicken chili
sausage, white bean, kale soup
For our bake sale, we would love any of your specialties!
Not a cook or baker? Save the date and come support us at the Taste!
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YOUTH
come cook for The Taste tomorrow & earn volunteer hours
TOMORROW morning, November 4, we’re cooking for the Taste of St. James! Come out and make soups, breakfast casseroles, and peppermint bark with us.
We’ll work from 9 am to noon in Valentine Hall - breakfast and snacks will be provided.
Come out and learn how to make something new! Sign up here (so we know how much food we can plan to make!)
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Our Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive supporting FEED MORE is back. With communities still experiencing extreme economic strain and increasing food insecurity, helping our friends at FEED MORE support the children, families and seniors who struggle with hunger is more essential than ever.
FEED MORE is dedicated to feeding our neighbors who are food insecure across 29 counties and five cities. There is a lot of need in Central Virginia –1 out of every 9 individuals in our service area is food insecure, meaning that more than 165,000 of our neighbors face hunger. And of that, more than 50,500, or 1 in 6 children, are not eating enough. Where there is need, FEED MORE is there to help.
St. James'sers, let's be DOERS and help too. Print a list of FEED MORE's Most Needed items.
- Starting this Sunday, November 5
Paper bags will be available in the Narthex, along with a list of FEED MORE's most needed items.
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You can also pick up a bag next Sunday (11/12). Or you may also use your own grocery bags.
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Return your bag(s) full of food to the Narthex on the Sunday, November 19, before Thanksgiving.
or at the Thanksgiving Service (11/23).
For more information contact Amelia Arthur, aarthur@doers.org
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Last year, the FEED MORE driver who picked up our donations said, “"This is way more than we usually get." Let’s see if we can out DO ourselves this year. | |
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U2 Celtic Mass
Sunday, November 19
at the 9 am service.
The Guitar Ensemble and The West Gallery Choir will sing music by U2 at the 9 am service on Sunday, November 19. The service also includes Gaelic hymns and a liturgy written expressly for this mass. Join us and bring a friend.
Here’s how U2’s Bono sees the connection between U2’s music and God: There [are] cathedrals and alleyways in our music. I think the alleyway is usually on the way to the cathedral, where you can hear your own footsteps and you’re slightly nervous and looking over your shoulder, and wondering if there’s somebody following you. And then you get there and realize there was somebody following you: It’s God.
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Our 2024 Annual Pledge Campaign kicked on November 3, and we're now 62% of the way to our goal. As of Friday, we've received 238 pledges worth $1,107,360. Thanks to everyone who has made the start of our Pledge Drive so successful.
But, as you know, a fast start doesn't guarantee a strong finish. If you haven't pledged yet, please consider making your pledge here. Thanks!
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November
family fun and fellowship.
The next Young Family Social is just around the corner. On Saturday, Nov. 11, from 4 to 6 pm we'll be gathering at the home of:
Allison and Joe Marchetti
25 Albemarle Ave.
St. James’s will provide snacks, water, and juice. Parents are welcome to bring a favorite adult beverage if you wish. These socials are for any St. James's family with children living at home. The parents have as much fun as the children at our Young Family Socials.
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St. James’s is now accepting nominations
for the 2024 Vestry Class.
Serving on the Vestry is one of the great privileges of church membership--and one of the most important responsibilities.
All confirmed members of St. James’s are eligible to be nominated. And our goal is to have the Vestry continue to represent as wide a range of parishioners as possible, including both new and long-time members. It’s also important to find Vestry members with a range of talents and interests.
As you think about who you might nominate, consider folks who can bring the imagination, focus and dedication required for this essential position. Being on the vestry is a three year term. And, yes, a previous Vestry member can serve again.
Nominations are due by Wednesday, November 22 to Veni Davidkova, Parish Administrator at vdavidkova@doers.org.
Please do your best to provide the following information about each of your nominees:
- Name
- Nominated By
- Age Range
- Relevant Work
- Why you think your nominee would be a good choice
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SHARE
YOUR ST. JAMES’S STORY
As part of our We are St. James’s, You are St. James’s campaign, we’ve asked folks to share their St. James’s story. From Laura Shuford and Chris Peace to Wyatt Beazley and Katie & Whit Morris (video to come), we’ve already heard some inspiring and lovely stories.
Now it’s your turn.
If you’d like to share what you love about your life here at St. James’s, and have it appear in the eChimes and/or on social media, reach out to Jay Sandusky, director of communications at 804-355-1779, ext.344 or at jsandusky@doers.org.
All of our stories are interesting. Every single one has meaning. Yours will make a difference.
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Discover the Collect of the Day on Social Media.
This week we began posting the Collect of the Day on our social media pages. A collect -- like the Collect for Purity, for instance -- is simply a prayer meant to gather the intentions of the people and the focus of worship into a succinct prayer. The Collects we'll be posting -- which will appear at 6 am on most but not all days -- are a chance for you to briefly focus on your own spiritual life on a regular basis. The Episcopal Church's Collects are among the most beautiful set of writings in the English language. We hope they provide you with solace, inspiration and joy whenever you read them.
All of the Collects more or less fit a pattern that Archbishop Thomas Cranmer developed, and some would say, perfected in the first Book of Common Prayer (1549). The structure of Collects is actually quite simple.
- First, there is an address to God and to his character or actions in the world on our behalf.
- Second, there is a request.
- Third, there is an invocation and doxology.
- Finally, there is The Amen.
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It’s the constant story in our newsfeeds: Yet another shooting. This one at a school, this one at a grocery store, this one at a synagogue. This one at our own Monroe Park. We’re scared and angry, confused and frustrated, frozen and numb. But we’re also people of faith. And as such, we’re called to share these feelings with God—and to call on God to act.
With this in mind, you’re invited to a Service of Community Lament, to be held at 5:30pm on Sunday November 5 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, on Northside. Join others from around Richmond as they share their grief with God, while standing firm on God’s promises to bring about a better world. One without gun violence.
If you’d like to contribute to a prayer for the service, please register for an upcoming Zoom or in-person workshop. Workshops will be led by The Rev. R. Dale Smith, a deacon in the Episcopal Church and former writing professor. At these free workshops, you’ll learn about the ancient, cathartic practice of lament, and compose one as a group. Click here for more details and to register.
These events are part of the Beyond Thoughts and Prayers series. Other events include: A Service of Community Healing from Gun Violence (Dec 3), a public worship service (in the spring, date TBA), and a call to community action (also in spring, date TBA). All are invited to these events.
Hear the good news: We do not need to carry the cross of gun violence alone; we can share it with each other and with our God; we can trust that change will come. Amen.
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St. James’s Episcopal Church | DOERS.ORG | (804) 355-1779
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