Vestry
A couple weeks ago, Kristin and I attended our second and final week this past year at the College of Congregational Development. As she mentioned, we put the time and energy in completing the work at home, at church, and in the classroom to pass the exam and “Graduate”. And after all the energy we had to put into accomplishing these tasks individually and together, I am even more convinced it was worth every moment of the work.
This year the College focused on reinforcing all facets of the Core Models for developing your congregation into a healthy, faithful, and effective community of faith. In addition, they focused on how to identify personality types and how to utilize that information in how to build trust and when needed, resolve conflict, both on a personal level as well as within a congregation.
I personally found this area of study fascinating but also reassuring. Part of the work was to assess ourselves and our parish. We had to look for areas where there is active conflict and troubleshoot resolution techniques. I was hard pressed to come up with any active conflict within our church family. When Kristin and I dove deep into “OUR” (St. James’) personality, I found that we are healthy at communicating, forgiving, and working together. These personality traits apply to our lives together whether administrative, ministries, or worship. You could say this a “top down” responsibility and to a big degree, you are correct. Kristin and our leadership work very hard to be transparent and build trust with each other and the congregation. However, within the congregation, these must be the same, and for St. James’, it is. We trust each other and work at communicating so we continue to have a happy faith filled “home”.
Although the work Kristin and I have done with the Vestry classified St. James’ on the Life Cycle Model as Stable but moving toward Stagnant/Stale, it also clearly shows we are still healthy. This identification with our “personality” reassures me that the work we will begin as a congregation in the Fall will be successful because we are of the “type” to want to grow and work together for the community inside AND outside our own walls.
Exploring my own personality type (although not surprising to me) and looking at our Church community, reinforced why I chose St. James’ as my church home. The warmth and openness of the people at St. James’ welcomed me and my family, both immediate and extended, and enfolded us in the love and caring that is one (but not only) of the strengths of our Church family. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn what the College had to teach me but I’m more grateful for the opportunity to utilize what I have learned to give back to the community that has shown me so much love.
Heather Albertson, Vestry Member
Formation
SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS
Summer is here…..school is out…..and Sunday School will resume in the fall. In the meantime, we will be able to keep in touch with our parish families during summer worship at 9:30 a.m.
What a joy it was to honor all our wonderful Sunday School students and teachers during our closing ceremony. At that time we presented our A is for Africa mite box outreach donation to Mary Anne and Rick Smith – our Mt. Airy representatives. The collected coins amounted to $456.73, which funds were matched by our St. James’ Outreach Committee for a total donation of $913.46. Thank you all! It is exciting to know that our A is for Africa school friends will benefit from our support.
Have a wonderful summer and please think about the possibility of volunteering to work with our Sunday School team. (For information, contact Joan Fader faderj1@juno.com).
Yvette Allen, Jessica Bahorich, Betsy Davis, Natalie DelRegno
Joan Fader, Nancy Nanavaty, Mara Snyder
Prayer Hike
Our first prayer hike is this Sunday! We will meet at 3:00 pm. by the shelter in the west parking lot at Sugarloaf Mountain. Our anticipated route is to take the Blue Trail to the Red Trail up to the summit, and then the Green Trail (stairs) back down. We will begin our hike with an opening prayer, stop at the top for a short reading and time of reflection followed by the of offering prayers, then a closing prayer at the end of the hike. Bring a friend! [call/text Rev. Kristin the day of if you’re running late or can’t find the group to begin the hike – 443-902-0106]
Youth Group
Youth Group started the year by compiling a list of over 40 burning questions that we had. These questions ranged from “What was Jesus like as a kid?” to “Why are there so many religions?”. These questions were sorted into several categories and every 2nd Sunday throughout the year we discussed the questions – and learned that while some questions didn’t have absolute answers, they did provide for some great discussion and learning (i.e. “Why do bad things happen?” and “What does heaven look like?”). Our last 2nd Sunday meeting in May tackled the remaining questions and we successfully made it through all of the answers to our questions!! A big thanks to Youth Group for asking such great questions this year – can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year!!
For our final fellowship activities, we dodged the rain and enjoyed ice cream at Jimmy Cone! Thanks for a great year!!
WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Office Schedule for the week of July 7
Monday through Thursday 10-4.
Kristin+ Away
Kristin+ will be on vacation 7/3 through 7/9. Please contact Senior Warden, Jeannie Pellicier if a pastoral emergency arises.
Website Update
This week we began the process of updating our website format. The content will mostly remain the same and it will look similar to our old format, as we’re still using a WordPress theme. However over time, as we continue to make edits available with the new theme, you will begin to notice more visual and content changes. If you have questions or reflections please share them with Kristin+.
Morning Prayer on 7/7
Kristin+ will be away on vacation on Sunday 7/7. Because we were not able to find another clergy person to be at St. James’ on that day, we will be turning to another part of our worship tradition and having Morning Prayer instead of Holy Eucharist. Some folks remember when Morning Prayer was the Sunday worship norm and others in our congregation aren’t familiar with this prayer practice – but we hope everyone will enjoy this change of pace over the holiday weekend. Blix Winston will be leading worship and offering a brief reflection on the scripture readings of the day.
Exciting News – Scouts are coming to St. James’!
Last Sunday we shared the news that St. James’ is becoming a new Charter Organization for the Boy Scouts of America. Click here to see all the information.
Got Old Towels? Got Old Blankets? Got Old Sheets?
The Outreach Committee is holding a drive to collect old towels, blankets and sheets to donate to local animal rescue facilities. As you go through your closets and drawers look for items you could give us to help keep rescued dogs and cats comfortable. We will put a box at St. James’ to collect your donations. Thanks from the Out reach Committee!
Prayer Rotation
Please join the Daughters of the King in praying for each parishioner in rotation during 2018 by taking this notice home and by posting it where it will remind you to pray on a daily basis for the needs and blessings of:
Glenn Mullett and Averelle smith (Kenleigh, Lindsay)
Sean and Lynne Murdock
Leslie Murphy and Chris Richard
A member of the Daughters of the King will be contacting you this week for special prayer requests.
| Lectionary readings for the The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, June 30, 2019 (Year C, RCL) 2 Kings 5:1-14 Psalm 30 Galatians 6:7-16 Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 |
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This week’s Commemorations (A Great Cloud of Witnesses, 2019, Church Publishing Group) July 11 Benedict of Nursia, Abbot of Monte Cassino, c. 540 |
