St. PJ's eNews: May 3, 2025 | |
- Weekly Reflection: Empty tombs, full branches
- WEDNESDAY: Teriyaki Madness Fundraiser for Loaves & Fishes
- L&F was also featured in the NH Independent this week
- Stage and Song: See St. PJ's members do amazing things
- Opening Night tonight: David Tate in "A Jukebox for the Algonquin"
- "Another Octave" women's concert, May 10
- Change in how Sunday School starts
- Let us know your favorite hymns
- News from the Wider Church: Easter message from Bishops Jeff and Laura, William Barber arrested for praying at the U.S. Capitol, Christians speak against Trump's co-opting of faith, and more
- This Week at St. PJ's and in the Cycles of Prayer
- It's our turn!
- Adult Ed on Hold Until May 11
- Video: Last Sunday's Service and Sermon
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Weekly Reflection
Empty Tombs and Full Branches
From the Rev. Nathan Empsall, priest-in-charge
Every spring, there seems to be a week - sometimes even a single day - when everything changes. Maybe all the brown branches are suddenly green; maybe all the flowers burst into bloom all at once. The specific change can vary from year to year, but there's always a point when I look out my dining room window and am quite surprised at what I see.
That week was this week for me. Not quite a single day like before, but it definitely came on quickly and all at once.
The seasons change in accordance with God's will. I'm not saying that God decides each year when spring or fall will come, but this is what God set in motion at the beginning of all things. Cycles are part of God's design for creation - particularly cycles of energy and rest. Our bodies go all day and need to sleep all night. We run all week and are commanded to take a day of rest each weekend. Our crops use up the earth's nutrients, and so need to rest every few years in jubilee to restore the soil.
And so it is with God's earth: Resting each winter, bursting into full glorious view in the spring with rich bright air and inviting colors, running with a child's energy all summer long, then slowing down to reflect by the fire in the fall -- not to end, but to start the cycle all over again. To rest in order to recharge.
We're moving through the earth's seasons, and also the church's. The trees and birds outside tell us it's spring. The white colors and Alleluia banners in the church tell us it's Easter. All around us, there is new life. And God has designed the world to use that new life: To come out of hibernation, to put forth flowers and leaves, to pull carbon from the air, to share the beauty of the divine image in all things, and to grow.
Looking at the full flowering branches, we know how the earth will use the new life God has given it this spring.
Looking at the empty tomb, how will we use ours?
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WEDNESDAY: Teriyaki Madness Fundraiser for Loaves & Fishes
This Wednesday, May 7, from 4-9 p.m., 10% of all sales at Teriyaki Madness Hamden (2100 Dixwell) will go to Loaves & Fishes.
Loaves & Fishes was also prominently featured in the New Haven Independent yesterday, in the story "Snapshots Of A City 'Hungry For Change'" by Laura Glesby.
“Right now, we’re seeing unprecedentedly low return from Connecticut Foodshare,” said Lorrice Grant, director of the local food pantry Loaves and Fishes. “Five weeks in a row, I got 3,000 pounds of food when I normally get 10,000 pounds of food. My storeroom was empty. And I’m not sure how we’re going to meet the need.”
Grant described the last half hour of the pantry’s Saturday hours, when food — especially produce — starts to run thin. “My heart breaks for the families that are coming in the door looking for hope,” she said, “and they’re seeing just a few cans left, or maybe one or two pieces of meat left, or one type of vegetable.”
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Stage and Song:
See St. PJ's members do amazing things!
Our friend on stage: David Tate in "A Jukebox for the Algonquin" - OPENING NIGHT TONIGHT!
St. PJ's member David Tate is playing the part of Johnny in Paul Stroili's award-winning "A Jukebox for the Algonquin" at Curtain Call in Stamford, starting TONIGHT, May 1. Break a leg, David!
From the Curtain Call website:
"At a senior living community in the Adirondacks, a small group of residents decide they’re not quite ready to 'go gentle into that good night.' This band of displaced former city dwellers from Brooklyn and The Bronx hatch a plot to prove that aging is not a New York state of mind. A Jukebox for the Algonquin is a tale about those who will not be forgotten – a serious comedy about sex, drugs, and rocking chairs."
There are 7:30 p.m. performances on May 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17, and 2 p.m. matinees on May 4, 11, and 18.
Buy tickets from Curtain Call now >>
Our friends in song: "Another Octave" women's concert, May 10
"Another Octave: CT Women’s Chorus" will present its 35th anniversary concert this coming Saturday, May 10, at 7:00 p.m., and include three St. PJ's members: Judith Lhamon, Becky Severance, and Lynne Severance!
The show will be held at the Unitarian Society of New Haven in Hamden. From the press release:
"We’ve dipped into our archives for some of some of the songs we – and you – have loved best and added new pieces as well. We’ll pay homage to women across the years like the indomitable Joan of Arc, and poke some fun at our own history with Tag Sale Blues. You’ll hear songs of resistance by Holly Near and Ysaye Barnwell, and country anthems by Dolly Parton and the Chicks. Characters from Star Wars will make an appearance."
Buy tickets at the Another Octave website >>
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Change in how Sunday School starts
Beginning this Sunday, May 4, the start of our "Children's Garden" Sunday School will look a little different. Instead of going directly to the second-floor classroom before church, children should head to the Sanctuary with their families. Ms. Molly will then call the kiddos forward during the Welcome just prior to the first hymn, and they'll all head up to the classroom together before returning during the Announcements.
One more note about the Children's Garden: To ensure that we can keep growing, Ms. Molly needs volunteers on Sunday mornings! She'll still take care of the lesson-planning and teaching -- we just need the presence of a loving second adult with the kids until they return at the Peace. You would need to take Safe Church training with the diocese first, if you haven't already. (The training is free.)
Please tell Molly Clayton if you're interested in helping out, even just one week every month or two.
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Let us know your favorite hymns!
Rev. Nathan and our musicians Will and Dylan are planning a special community hymn sing for later this spring (date TBA).
If there's a special hymn in your heart you want to be sure to sing, please email revnathan@stpaulstjames.org with "favorite hymn" in the subject line!
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News from the Wider Church
And one last note from ECCT, regarding several recently deceased retired Connecticut clergy members:
"We write to inform you of the deaths of The Reverends Richard (Dick) Alvin Ellis, H. Bacon Collamore, Jr., Harry Knisely, Peter R. Lawson, and Donald Peet. We give God thanks for their lives and for their years of faithful ministry in The Episcopal Church in Connecticut. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May t soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Yours in Christ, - Bishop Jeff & Bishop Laura." You can read their obituaries here.
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Come for Jazz Eucharist this Sunday, May 4, at 10:30 a.m. as we celebrate the third Sunday of Easter.
St. PJ's member Bev Lett will preach, and Rev. Nathan will celebrate.
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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
This week is a fun one!
In the cycle of prayer for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, we pray this week for St. John’s, New Haven; St. Luke’s, New Haven; and St. Paul & St. James, New Haven, and for retirement communities, especially Armsmear in Hartford; for chaplains at retirement communities; and for Retired Clergy Chaplains.
In the global Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we pray for the Church of Ireland.
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Adult Ed on hold until May 11
With Rev. Nathan's apologies, "God's Microphones" will pause one more week and return on May 11, not May 4 as previously announced.
Our discussion of church figures who opposed authoritarian governments will resume NEXT Sunday, May 11, with a discussion of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, then conclude May 25 with a discussion of other World War II figures, particularly St. Maximillian and the Saints of Dachau.
"Each one of you has to be God's microphone. Each one of you has to be a messenger, a prophet. The church will always exist as long as there is someone who has been baptized." - St. Oscar Romero
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VIDEO: Last Sunday's Service and Sermons
If you either missed or want to revisit last Sunday at St. PJ's, you can find the recorded livestream on Facebook or YouTube. Tudy Hill officiated Morning Prayer, and Deacon Andrew Stump preached.
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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
- Volunteering with St. PJ's
- Adding a name to the St. PJ's prayer list
- Purchasing grocery-store gift cards to benefit St. PJ's
- Talk to parishioner Kate Galambos on Sundays
- Reserving a place in the St. PJ's columbarium or purchasing a plaque on the Memorial Wall
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