In this week's edition of the eNews:

- Livestream Milton's Ordination This Morning

- Weekly Reflection: Spotlight on Juneteenth

- Gwen Chapin's Funeral This Thursday

- Tuesday: Final spring book discussion, "Disarming Leviathan: Loving your Christian Nationalist Neighbor"

- Starting this Wednesday: Zoom Summer Bible Study on Matthew

- Last Call: Need your ideas for the front yard

- News from the Wider Church: Episcopalians and soccer, World Refugee Day, Pride Month, Episcopal Church considers selling its HQ, and more

- This Sunday at St. PJ's

• Happy Father's Day!
• Cycles of Prayer
• Video: Last Sunday's Service and Sermon

- There's Always More...

Livestream Milton's Ordination

This Morning

It is with great joy that Milton Gilder will be ordained tomorrow (Saturday) morning to the Sacred Order of Deacons in Christ's One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, with transitional intent (meaning he also remains on the path to be ordained a priest).

You can attend the ordination in person at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, or livestream the service on Facebook or YouTube. Roni Holcomb, Marilyn Bergen, and Rev. Nathan will be among his presenters and vesters.

Milton will also be with us on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. for his first Sunday as ordained clergy!

Weekly Reflection: Spotlight on Juneteenth

From the Episcopal Public Policy Network:

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in Texas were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Over 150 years later, Congress designated Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021. 

For the Episcopal Church, Juneteenth is not only a day of remembrance. It is a summon to truth-telling, repair, and faithful public witness. We honor the joy of freedom while also acknowledging that emancipation was delayed, contested, and incomplete. The legacies of slavery continue to shape racial disparities in wealth, health, housing, incarceration, migration, and political power. 

As followers of Jesus, we reject every theology and political movement that baptizes racial hierarchy, white supremacy, domination, or Christian nationalism. Our faith calls us instead toward Beloved Community: a society where every person bears the full dignity of being made in the image of God and where public policy protects the freedom and flourishing of all. 

To put your faith into action this Juneteenth, visit EPPN for action alerts about reparations, voting rights, maternal health, ending private prisons, and ending solitary confinement.

A Commemoration

By Peter Englert, submitted by Roni Holcomb

Today, we commemorate the end of slavery in America.

This day partially reminds us of the progress made.

This day also partially reminds us of the progress we have not made.

We celebrate the freedom of black lives in our nation.

We grieve that we have not correctly reconciled racism in our nation.

You created each person in Your image.

The two greatest commandments call us to love You with all our heart, souls, and minds;

Then, to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Your love for us motivates us to love each other.

If we do not love each other, then ultimately, we have not experienced Your love.

As much as we commemorate and celebrate Juneteenth, we grieve this day.

We mourn that our black brothers and sisters have not been loved as our neighbors.

We mourn that our black brothers and sisters have been treated less than created in Your image throughout history.

So, Lord, we confess our sins and repent.

The healing and reconciliation we desire comes from the gospel.

On Juneteenth this year, we ask You to guide our nation.

May the good news of the gospel motivate us to love each other.

May the ideals of our words match the practices of our lives.

May a fresh empowerment of Your Spirit unite us together.

Give us eyes to see and ears to hear Your will and leading.

Juneteenth Articles

- [RNS] 161 years after Juneteenth, there is unfinished work of freedom

By Episcopal Church leaders Kelly Brown Douglas, Stephanie Spellers and Winnie Varghese

- [RNS] In Richmond, churches retrace the path of the enslaved to confront their own history

- [RNS] For preservers of lynching history in the US, Juneteenth is a religious reckoning

- [Substack, Jemar Tisby] Juneteenth vs. America 250: The argument over which history gets told is not over

- [Substack, David Gushee] How White Christianity Learned Not to See

- [Substack, William Barber & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove] What Freedom Means A story from Berlin as we mark Juneteenth

- [Sojourners] How Our Church’s Art Project Bridged Juneteenth and Fourth of July: When we’re so adjusted to injustice, truth can appear very violent.

Gwen Chapin's Funeral This Thursday

Gwen Chapin’s funeral will be this Thursday, June 25, at 1 p.m. at St. Paul and St. James.

Your prayers and presence are requested as we commend our beloved sister to God.

Tuesday: Final spring book discussion, "Disarming Leviathan: Loving your Christian Nationalist Neighbor"

The spring round of our Margins & Movements social-justice book club will conclude this Tuesday, June 23, at 7 p.m. in the parish hall with a discussion of "Disarming Leviathan: Loving your Christian Nationalist Neighbor" by nondenominational Pastor Caleb Campbell, an acquaintance of Rev. Nathan's. Kelly Park will lead the discussion.

Get your copy from a local library or buy it online at Bookshop to benefit both the church and independent booksellers, rather than tech billionaires!

From the publisher: Campbell has watched as Christian nationalism has taken over large swaths of the United States. And he's suffered the relational fallout of standing against it, both in his community and his Arizona church. Campbell argues that while it's possible to be both a Christian and hold Christian nationalist ideas, Christian nationalism itself is an un-Christian worldview, rooted in ideas about power, race, and property that are irreconcilable with Christian faith. Campbell has come to see himself as a missionary to Christian nationalists, reaching out to them with the love and freedom found in Christ.

Starting this Wednesday:

Zoom Summer Bible Study on Matthew

Beginning this Wednesday, June 24, at 7 p.m., the Rev. Lynne Severance will host a weekly summer Bible study on the Gospel According to St. Matthew, now on Zoom.

Participants will watch a video from Yale Divinity School's former Dean Harry Attridge, and then engage in discussion. Contact Lynne for more information, including the Zoom link.

(This Bible Study had been previously announced as in person, but will now be an online discussion.)

Last call:

Need your ideas for the front yard

As our undercroft-entrance renovations near completion (thank you Brian Fillmore!), it's time to think about what to do with our front yard. A little free library? Benches? Landscaping?

Please email your suggestions to frontyard@stpaulstjames.org, or put them in the suggestion box on the hallway-side table this Sunday.

News from the Wider Church: Episcopalians and soccer, World Refugee Day, Pride Month, Episcopal Church considers selling its HQ, and more

- [ENS] Episcopal Church to market its NYC headquarters building for possible sale, redevelopment

- [ENS] Europe’s Episcopal churches promote EMM’s Rainbow Initiative during Pride Month, World Refugee Day

- [ENS] Episcopalians called to ‘Vote Faithfully’ as church renews, expands election engagement efforts

- [ENS] Executive Council elects new House of Deputies vice president, discusses strategic plan

- [ENS] An Episcopal ministry of hospitality at the FIFA World Cup

- [RNS] An Episcopal camp offers queer Christians an affirming haven in Idaho

[Ed. Note: This is about Coeur d'Alene, ID, in the Diocese of Spokane, Rev. Nathan's sponsoring diocese and hometown]

- [RNS] How does God show up in fatherhood? A Muslim and a Christian grapple with the question.

- [RNS] Five things resettlement orgs want you to know this World Refugee Day

- [Christian Century] A betrayal of refuge: In immigrant congregations, deportation anxiety can silence survivors and shield abusers

Come 10:30 a.m. this Sunday, June 21, for Jazz Eucharist and Coffee & Community to mark the fourth Sunday after Pentecost and Milton Gilder's first Sunday as an ordained deacon.

And of course -- happy Father's Day!

Children's Sunday School is on summer break until September.

Serving this Sunday:

Sunday

10:30 a.m.

Jazz Service

In-person and online

Wednesday

12:30 p.m.



Quiet Communion

In-person only

Thursday

12:30 p.m.



Midday Prayers

In-person only

Cycles of Prayer and St. PJ's Prayer List

In the Episcopal Church in Connecticut cycle of prayer for June 21, we pray for St. Ann’s, Old Lyme; Grace, Old Saybrook; Good Shepherd, Orange; and for Camp Washington, including its staff, board, counselors & campers.

In the Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer, we pray for the Church of South India (United).

On the St. PJ's prayer list, we pray for Doug Parker, Calvin Griffin, the Rev. Walter MacNutt, Kevin Gerbe, Leota Tucker, Edwina Johnson, Cynthia King, Paul D'Agostino, Richard Holcomb, Tiras Jaske, Uli Mackert and family, Charlie & Bridget Farrell, Alyce, Pam, Stephen Lett, Vanetta Lloyd, Marietta D'Albero, Marietta Coppola, Alexandra Sanseverino, Dr Milton Coke, Pam Yesner, the Rev. Carl Scovel, Karl Mini, Margaret Perry, Ryan Welch, Kyle Park, Fr. Tom, George Moore, A.J. Crosby, Adrienne Brady, Jeannie & Clemente Campos, Jean Douglas, Joan Capella, Joan Farrell, Sharyn Kessler, D.J. Multer, Michael Montenegro, Susan Yates, Meryl Tate Triplett, Tom Olds, Anthony Marchitto, Dawn Magliulo, the Gilder Family, Carolyn Wigley, Wendy McLeod, Lee J. Howard, Anne Cheney, Sandy Sanford, Judy Hopkins, Andrew Aiken, Shannon, and Cotton Burlingame.

Birthdays: Vanetta Lloyd (06/23)

VIDEO: Last Sunday's Service and Sermon

Last week was the third Sunday after Pentecost. Rev. Nathan celebrated the Eucharist and Dr. Samuel Ernest preached.

If you either missed or want to revisit last Sunday or other recent Sundays at St. PJ's, you can find the recorded livestream on our Facebook and/or YouTube pages.

Jazz, Justice, and Jesus: Urgent Needs for St. PJ's Ministry and Community

Church finances are urgently tight and getting tighter. Our budget is in the red, there is essentially no cash on hand, and expenses have already been cut.

There are questions each month about whether certain bills will be paid.

To help ensure that St. PJ's can continue to:

• offer robust worship with unique and spiritually grounded jazz
• physically support the work of Loaves & Fishes and Sunrise Cafe
• speak out for justice in Jesus's name
• gear up for a full year of Christian adult formation
• and more

Please spread the word about our available event and office rental facilities and consider making an extra donation if you can.

There's always more...

Please remember that there is a blue Lost & Found bin in the church office.

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

St. PJ's Staff and Contacts

Administrative Office Hours: Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - Noon

Priest Office Hours: Tuesday - Thursday by appointment

office@stpaulstjames.org

(203) 562-2143

• Priest-in-Charge: The Rev. Nathan Empsall, revnathan@stpaulstjames.org, (203) 278-9199
• Administrative Director: Monifa Atkinson, office@stpaulstjames.org
• Sexton: Sammy Rodriguez
• Children's Sunday School: Sarah Hill
• Interim Director of Music: Dylan Rowland
• Tech and Music Intern: Dontae James
• Vestry: Bill Evans (co-warden), Juhani Jaske (co-warden), David Hill (treasurer), Maggie King (clerk), Maurice Harris, Pam Sayre, Vanetta Lloyd, Lynne Severance, David Boyer, Roni Holcomb