St. PJ's eNews: June 20, 2025 | | |
- Extreme Weather: Tomorrow's Hymn Sing POSTPONED
- Weekly Reflection, from Dr. Jemar Tisby: "Before you celebrate Juneteenth, remember why we needed it in the first place."
- A Note About Musical Prelude Timing
- News from the Wider Church: "Lift Every Voice and Sing" turns 125, TransEpiscopal responds to the Supreme Court, a new Indigenous missioner for the Episcopal Church, and more
- This Week at St. PJ's and Cycles of Prayer
- Video: Last Sunday's Service and Sermon
- Parish-wide Visits with Rev. Nathan
- There's Always More...
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Extreme weather: Tomorrow's Hymn Sing
POSTPONED
At the time of this writing, Monday’s high is forecast to be 94 with a heat index exceeding 100.
Regretfully, with no air conditioning plus the retained indoor heat from Sunday afternoon's 90+ temperatures, Rev. Nathan has made the health-first decision to postpone Monday evening’s ice cream social and hymn sing until a date to be determined later.
We're very sorry not to be able to gather in song this Monday evening, but it will certainly still happen soon, to the glory of God and with love for one another. In the meantime, please stay safe and cool, and pray for those who cannot!
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Weekly Reflection on Juneteenth
Yesterday was Juneteenth, the day that commemorates when word reached the last enslaved Black Americans of their freedom on June 19, 1865.
Juneteenth National Independence Day was made a federal holiday in 2021, and was given that full name to combine it with the Fourth of July -- Independence Day -- to tell a fuller story of America's long, slow, incomplete, and ongoing march towards freedom for all.
The church staff observed this federal holiday yesterday, and was not in the office. For this week's reflection, I am including a piece from the New York Times bestselling Christian author Dr. Jemar Tisby. You can read the full thing at (and subscribe to) his Substack column, "Footnotes."
Jemar also has a weekly podcast with fellow notable Christian authors and scholars Diana Butler Bass, Kristin Kobes du Mez, and Robert P. Jones called "The Convocation Unscripted," which often responds to the challenges and blasphemies of white Christian nationalism.
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"Before you celebrate Juneteenth, remember why we needed it in the first place"
By Dr. Jemar Tisby
One pattern I’ve noticed as people celebrate Juneteenth is the tendency to skip past slavery and rush to emancipation.
Many people in the United States are quick to gloss over the unpleasantness of human bondage and simply celebrate the freedom that came afterwards.
James Baldwin got it right when he said,
"It is worthwhile to point out that for most Americans slavery is quite remote and America herself would really prefer that we remained dispassionate about it. Well I, for one, will never be dispassionate about slavery or any other unforgivable atrocity committed against humanity."
You can’t appreciate the joy of Juneteenth unless you understand the sorrow of slavery.
I think the actual day of Juneteenth should be one of joy and exuberance. Leading up to Juneteenth, however, we should take a few moments to remember the crushing reality of slavery.
This isn’t about being morbid or making a spectacle of human suffering. It is about honoring the history, the full history, of Black freedom by recognizing the bondage that prevented it for so long.
O, Ye Nominal Christians!
In my first book, The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism, I talk about the story of Olaudah Equiano.
He was an African born in the Igbo region of Nigeria around 1745, but he was stolen into slavery at a young age.
He later gained his freedom, and he wrote an autobiography called The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; or, Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789).
In that book he explains the experience of waiting on the coast of the Atlantic in a prison called a “factory”—essentially a holding pen for Africans while they waited for slave ships to fill up and begin crossing the ocean.
“The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any amount of time,” he wrote.
On board the ship, he told of the tubs which held human excrement “into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated.”
His younger sister was captured with him. They were separated but found each other for a brief instant and “clung to each other in mutual embraces, unable to do anything but weep.”
Yet just as abruptly as they had been reunited, they were sold to different enslavers.
“Scarcely had the fatal morning appeared, when she was again torn from me forever! I was now more miserable, if possible, than before.”
Equiano turned his attention to professed Christians.
“O, ye nominal Christians! might not an African ask you, learned you this from your God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you?”
Slavery was family separation. ...
[Redacted for length; read the full column online]
You’ll sometimes hear the myth of the “happy slave” or comments that enslavement benefitted Black people—they knew their place; they had food, clothes, shelter, and work; they became Christians.
There is no sense in which Black people were better off or happy under slavery. These descriptions should put to rest any such notions.
Race-based chattel slavery deprived people of African descent of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Thankfully, through the sacrifices, prayers and the spirit of justice in countless people, slavery was abolished in this nation.
To fully appreciate the progress that Juneteenth represents, we also have to sit with the reality of the slavery that made it necessary.
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A Note About Musical Prelude Timing
Please note that in order for our Sunday service to begin at 10:30, the musical prelude now begins at 10:25, not at 10:30.
This gives worshippers a chance to enter and settle in with a moment of prayerful musical reflection before the service begins.
Having the word-of-welcome and the opening hymn right at the announced service time will also help us to finish by 11:45, so that post-service volunteers aren't held longer and younger families can care for their children's needs.
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Come for Jazz Eucharist this Sunday, June 22, at 10:30 a.m. as we celebrate the Second Sunday after Pentecost.
We are excited to welcome the Rev. Helena Martin as a supply celebrant.
Parishioner Bev Lett will preach, and the Rev. Andrew Stump will serve as deacon with us for the last time (though he and Eva will be in the pews on June 29 to say goodbye).
It's going to be hot -- dress comfortably, and know that we are taking steps to make the service a little shorter!
(As a half-time priest-in-charge, the diocese requests that Rev. Nathan limit himself to three Sundays per month, in order to save more of his hours for non-Sunday tasks. Because June has five Sundays, this means he will be away twice. We will have our monthly, lay-led observance of Morning Prayer on June 29.)
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Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.
In person and online
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Wednesday Prayer 12:30 p.m.
In person
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Thursday Compline 8 p.m.
On Zoom
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Cycles of Prayer
In the cycle of prayer for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, we pray this week for St. Paul’s, Riverside; St. Andrew the Apostle, Rocky Hill; and Christ Church, Roxbury; and for wardens, treasurers, clerks, all vestry members, and elected delegates.
In the global Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we pray for the Church of Pakistan (United).
ST. PJ'S PRAYER LIST: Rachel, Doug Parker, Anne Matthies, Betty Hill, Tim Barnes, Calvin Griffin, Lenny Santarsiero, Rev. Walter MacNutt, Tom Caffelle, Kevin Gerbe, Leota Tucker, Edwina Johnson, Cynthia King, Paul D'Agostino, Richard Holcomb, Tiras Jaske, Gwen Chapin, Uli Mackert, Steve Crowson, Charlie & Bridget Farrell, Alyce, Judi, Tom, Leslie, Andrew, Pam, Tommy, Beverly Lett, Vanetta Lloyd, Janea Barthle, Debra, Richard Saykosky, all who work outdoors or live in unsafe conditions during the coming extreme heat
Birthdays & Anniversaries: Vanetta Lloyd (6/23)
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VIDEO: Last Sunday's Service and Sermon
If you either missed or want to revisit last Sunday at St. PJ's, you can find the recorded livestream on our Facebook and/or YouTube pages.
For Trinity Sunday, Rev. Nathan shared stories from the fourth-century Nicene Council, which established Trinitarian theology and gave us the Nicene Creed that churches around the world still pray together today.
If you missed it, tune in to learn about that time Santa Claus went to bishop jail for punching a heretic in the face... no, seriously...
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Upcoming Visits with Rev. Nathan
As previously announced, I am now trying to meet with every St. PJ's member -- as families or individuals -- and get to know you and your dreams for our community life together.
I want to hear about who you are, what makes you tick, what you believe and love, your history at St. PJ's, and your hopes for this congregation's future. Through these meetings, I hope to get a better feel for who we are as a community -- and where the Spirit might be leading us!
Ideally this meeting would be at your home, where I can also offer a home blessing. If you prefer a coffee shop, your office, or a park bench on a nice day, those are fine options too -- anywhere but the church itself.
Because I am half-time, it will undoubtedly take several months to get through these visits. If you would like to meet sooner, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to use an Excel random-number generator to determine the order in which I'll reach out. But whether it's next week or in September, know that I can't wait!
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There's always more...
If you would like to submit an item for consideration in the eNews or bulletin announcements, please let Rev. Nathan know at revnathan@stpaulstjames.org by next Wednesday afternoon.
Please contact Monifa Atkinson in the church office at office@stpaulstjames.org or (203) 562-2143 if you are interested in receiving more information about any of the following:
- Renting space at St. PJ's for your next party, meeting, concert, wedding, or other event. More info at the St. PJ's website here >>
- Volunteering with St. PJ's
- Adding a name, birthday, or anniversary to the St. PJ's prayer list
- Arranging pastoral care needs
- Purchasing grocery-store gift cards to benefit St. PJ's
- Reserving a place in the St. PJ's columbarium or purchasing a plaque on the Memorial Wall
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St. PJ's Staff and Contacts
Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - Noon
office@stpaulstjames.org
(203) 562-2143
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Priest-in-Charge: The Rev. Nathan Empsall, revnathan@stpaulstjames.org
- Administrative Director: Monifa Atkinson
- Sexton: Sammy Rodriguez
- Children's Ministry: Molly Clayton
- Director of Music: Will Cleary
- Associate Director of Music: Dylan Rowland
- Tech and Music Intern: Dontae James
- Priest Associate: The Rev. Steve Crowson
- Vestry: Bill Evans (co-warden), Juhani Jaske (co-warden), David Hill (treasurer), Maggie King (clerk), Roni Holcomb, Steve Crowson, Maurice Harris, Pam Sayre, Vanetta Lloyd, Lynne Severance
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