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www.facebook.com/stjamesrudyard/videos/506278060284055/

Good evening, everyone! In this time of disruption I will be posting on Facebook and our website announcements, updates, reflections on scripture, and thoughts about living right now. Maybe I’ll add to that, but this is new territory for me, so I’m not sure.

The first post will be tomorrow morning(Sunday March 15). As our church usually gathers for worship at 10 AM, I’ll have something posted by then. My prayer is that we can continue to be present for each other and our neighbors as we navigate through this rough patch. In other words, I pray that these posts will support us in being the Church wherever we are.

— Pastor Matt Lamb

Hello All,

In consultation with Pastor Matt, the St. James Church Council has, with prayer, concluded that for the time being the prudent thing to do is cease church services and Wednesday Lenten Soup Suppers, beginning with Sunday, March 15 2020. We feel that for the health of our members and friends, the best course of action is to eliminate the chance of transmission during our worship times. We are sorry to do this, and recognize that this will leave a void in our hearts to lose this opportunity to come together in worship and study.

In the meantime, we will be working creatively to design resources to help you in your devotions and family worship. Through this email group, and through our Facebook page, we will be sharing materials and videos for your use.

The other groups who meet in our fellowship hall and family room are asked to evaluate their use of these spaces and adapt/cease their use if appropriate. This is at the discretion of the leaders and members of these groups.

Thank you for your prayers for our congregation and our Pastor as we all work through these difficult days. If you have questions, please contact Sue Kabat, council president, at 906-203-8718, or any council member.

May God Bless Us,

Sue

““I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
‭‭John‬ ‭10:11‬ ‭NRSV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/2016/jhn.10.11.nrsv

From Pastor Lamb:

A blessed Easter season to all our readers!  Christ is risen!  Alleluia!  He who once was dead is raised to new life, a new life completely unknown before this.  Easter changed everything.

Easter changed death. Where once death had meant eternal separation from the living, now we know death is a doorway to the eternal presence of our living God and the “company of all the saints.” We now see that death is a process that returns our first container (body) to the dust and fits us with a new one ready for new life.

Easter changed life by confirming that there is nothing that will hold God back from being our partner in life, now and forever.  Jesus’ resurrection was God’s stamp of approval on Jesus’ life. In Jesus, God gives us all the model for new life.

So, what is this model of new life?  First of all, it’s not a life spent trying to get to heaven or avoid hell.  Rather, it’s a life lived in deeply trusting relationship with God and God’s people.  It is a life marked by confidence in God’s love and trust in God’s loving way.  What is this loving way?  It’s the way of living that Jesus had in mind when he said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”  

So, you might wisely ask, what are his commandments?  One of Jesus’ commandments, one that he called “new,” is to love one another like Jesus loved his followers.  And he loved them by being with them, among them, and attentive to them as if he were only interested in serving them.  Once, he washed the feet of everyone who was in the room with him, even those he knew would soon betray him, abandon him, and deny they ever knew him. He loved them all.  And he loved them to the end.

Jesus did this and all his other acts of love in order to create a community that would live like he did.  And he knew he couldn’t do it alone.  So he leaned on God.  As he leaned on God to live God’s loving way in a world greedy for wealth, power, and personal freedom, he encourages and teaches us to lean on (love) one another so that we can find the courage and wisdom to live God’s way of self-giving service in this world.  As Jesus leaned on God so that he could live his way of peace in a violent world, he encourages and teaches us to lean on him by leaning on each other so we can live as peacemakers, too. 

As we actively love Jesus and live his way by obeying his commandments, and as we take seriously his teaching to stay together and serve together even when others betray, abandon, or deny us, then together we will be a force making his presence more active in this world.  And just think how a more active presence of Jesus Christ would change our world.  Imagine that.

But, first, it must change my life.

Will you help me change?  I will help you.  Together we can do this.  At least that’s what Jesus said.

May we all see the help we have in God, the one with the will and the power to change everything.

Christ is risen.  Wow.

Pastor Lamb

From Pastor Lamb

In the season of Lent my mind goes to practice.  By practice, I mean the things people do over and over so that they are ready when the need arises to do that which they have been practicing.  For instance, when preparing for the Olympic Games, athletes will spend years practicing their sport and participating in other competitions so that when the time comes their bodies, minds, and emotions will be ready to compete at the high level demanded by the Olympics.  Another example: I remember Alison and I attending childbirth classes before our oldest daughter, Lindsay, was born.  Alison learned how to breathe while birthing her child, I learned how to coach her, and we both learned tricks to help us focus on the task when things got especially painful or exciting.  Like athletes we practiced over and over again so to be prepared for the anticipated event.  Still another example: while working in the mining industry I would join my fellow workers every week in a “safety talk.”  This practice, along with an annual day-long safety meeting, would serve to remind us of different hazardous conditions and how to navigate them safely.  Each year we practiced first aid skills and resuscitation techniques.  This practice allowed us to develop safe work habits and to be prepared to respond to unusual hazards and accidents.

 

The church is big and practices.  We often call them disciplines, or spiritual disciplines.  In Lent the traditional disciplines have been prayer, fasting, and giving.  I would like to suggest another: thanksgiving.  But I would like us to stretch the practice of thanksgiving beyond Lent into every season of the year, because, I believe, it is a fundamentally important response to life.  The life, ministry, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ reveals to us that the breath and heart beat that we are given by God every moment of every day will continue forever, beyond the breakdown and death of our present bodies.  Upon that foundational gift, the rest of our lives are built.  Every spark of talent and seed of ambition comes from God.  Every word or hand of encouragement and support comes from God.  Every hope and joy can be traced to the hand and heart of God.  To give thanks for all of this seems right and good.

 

However, it also seems that we are not, by natural inclination, a thanks-giving people.  We often take for granted that we have breath and life, that people should be kind and supportive, and that we have access to the necessities of life.  We become so used to having more than enough that we forget to give thanks.  When that happens, we can easily slip into feeling that God does not provide, at least not enough to make us happy.

 

How do we avoid this?  By practicing thanksgiving.  As we practice looking around and into our lives and taking stock of all the gifts we’ve been given – the big ones, the small ones, the everyday ones, and the once in a lifetime ones – we become better at giving thanks and at being grateful.  And a grateful heart is a far more fulfilled and joyful heart than a heart that notices most that which we think we lack.  A grateful heart looks at life and others differently, more graciously, more humbly, more wondrously, more hopefully.

 

What are some practices of thanksgiving?  The time-tested ones include:

• saying a prayer of thanks before eating meals (or even snacks)
• saying prayers of thanks before you go to sleep or when you awake
• saying silent thank yous when you experience gifts of support or friendship or opportunity
• worshipping regularly, even when you don’t feel like it (maybe especially when you don’t feel like it) so that you can give thanks to God through your presence and participation in the community he gave us to shape our lives
• worshipping regularly so that you can experience the meal to which he invites us, the meal sometimes called the Eucharist (the thanksgiving), the meal God provides and Jesus hosts so that we may be forgiven and made whole, and so Jesus can be remembered.

 

This Lent, I am giving thanks for much, including you.

 

Your brother in Christ,

Pastor Lamb

 

HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE

 

March 25, PALM SUNDAY – Worship at 10 AM starting with the procession with palms as we reflect on the celebration that greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem days before his arrest

 

March 29, MAUNDY THURSDAY – Worship at 7 PM remembering the last supper Jesus ate with his disciples.  Bread and wine, readings and prayer around tables in fellowship hall, followed by the stripping of the altar and chancel. (Part 1 of the three-part worship service.)

 

March 30, GOOD FRIDAY – Worship at 7 PM with readings and candles, silence and song as we remember the suffering and death of Jesus. (Part 2 of the three-part worship service.)

 

April 1, EASTER – Worship at 10 AM with Alleluias and anthems and amens sprinkled with shouts of “He is risen! He is risen indeed!”  (Part 3 of the three-part worship service.)

 

 

                      A Christmas Poem 

The Christmas season is upon us and I want to know

How are you going to handle the extra-heavy load?

Will you let yourself get all worked up to a frazzle?

Or will you just enjoy all the razzle and dazzle

 

Of the twinkling lights and the Christmas carols too,

Or will you be overwhelmed by all you have to do?

As the days go by, will you be caught saying “Bah, humbug?”

Or will you take the time to give a much needed hug?

 

Will you look around and maybe not too far,

And see someone else much worse off than you are.

Remember, it’s not the number of gifts under the tree,

And it’s certainly not about Poor Little Ole Me.

 

It’s about helping your neighbor, a stranger, or a friend

And when Christmas is over, you’ll feel blessed, once again.

                                               

 

CHRISTMAS EVE WORSHIP SCHEDULE

 

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24

 

10 AM – The 4^th Sunday of Advent –Advent Carols, Preparing the Stable for Jesus, and Holy Communion (40 minutes)

The coffee will be on but no snacks after this service – we’ll save that for the Christmas Eve services this afternoon and evening

 

4:30 PM – CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLE LIGHT SERVICE followed by Christmas cookies, drinks, and conversation

 

7 PM – CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLE LIGHT SERVICE followed by Christmas cookies, drinks, and conversation

 

From Pastor Lamb – December 2017

I went to the funeral home the other day to pay my respects and offer my condolences to a long-time family friend whose daughter had died.  I went during the visitation, that time before the funeral, but I didn’t stay for the funeral because I didn’t know them that well.  At least I didn’t know them that well anymore.  Years ago we had been much more connected, regularly sharing talk and tasks in our daily lives. But the years and distance diminished the time we spent together and the activities we did together.  We didn’t share life anymore; we just remembered when we did share it.  Our connection remained but it had loosened a lot.  You know what I mean, right?

As I was driving home from the funeral home I got to thinking about people in our congregation, in what we call our church family.  How well do we know each other? How many of your fellow followers of Christ would you say you know well?  How many do you spend time with either talking or sharing some ministry or other activity?  Have you made any effort to get to know anyone better or to make and grow a connection with someone new?

Of course, thinking of connections with my church family led me to think about my connection to God, which made me think of the upcoming seasons of Advent and Christmas.

The four-week season of Advent begins Sunday, December 3.  This is the season when we, the Church, think about the coming of Christ into our midst – both for the first time as a baby to grow, live, and die among us, and the second time as a restorer to restore the earth and all creatures to its right relationship with God.  This is the season when we anticipate, celebrate and give thanks to God for visiting us in the form of the Son, Jesus Christ.  This is the season we celebrate God’s loving desire to connect with as more deeply, so deeply that God has moved heaven and hell to be in all of our lives and at all of our deaths.  This is when we get real about the fact that Jesus was God’s way of saying to you and me, “Please, please get to know me.  No one – and I mean the broken or whole, bad or god, poor or wealthy, sad or joyful, grieving or comforted, young or old, disrespected or respected, unskilled or skilled, lazy or ambitious – no one will be turned away by me.  I want you to see who I am for you and for everybody. Please get to know me.”  (Jesus called this process of getting to know, and connecting with, God discipleship.)

How well do you know God?  Do you feel well-connected to God?  Are you satisfied with how well you know God and how connected you feel?  Is it working for you, for your family, and for the world?

During Advent I invite you to give this some thought.  Take your time; it’s important.  Then choose what, if anything you will do differently in the New Year to get to know God better.

God gave us Jesus. Maybe we can give God some thought.

A blessed Advent and Christmas to you all from Alison and me.

+ Pastor Lamb