Easter blessings, sisters and brothers!

If all went according to plan, I landed in Richmond late last night. Every week I pre-write these, but my first sentence is my hopeful prayer. I will be going full force Thursday (again hopeful prayer post-jetlag), but will be taking it easy today.

I trust things are well underway with our sign-ups for St Jimmy's Jam, as we are in the final stretch.

This Sunday after church we will be having another coffee pot with Rachel Easter looking at her medical mission trip to rural Honduras and a follow-up trip coming soon. Rachel has been a gift to us since joining St James the Less, in our choir and family activities, and in our outreach with this important and life-changing work. She is doing feminine hygiene training for girls and young women so that they can stay in school during their monthly cycles. As we learned this is not only a problem "over there" but also here in our own county. Education and support are so needed and appreciated. I hope you will come out and learn with us this Sunday following our 10 am service.

Thanks and blessings, and I hope to see you this Sunday!

Rock+

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

• 7:30am- Eucharist Rite II & breakfast to follow
• 10:30am-Vinyasa Yoga

Sunday, April 30, 2023

• 8am- Eucharist Rite I
• 9am- Sunday School for adults and children
• 10am- Eucharist Rite II (music)
• 11am- Coffee Pot with Rachel Easter
• 5:45pm- J2A (youth group)

Monday, May 1, 2023

• 10:30am- Vinyasa Yoga
• 10:30am- Good Grief group

Our awesome youth group (J2A) doing service work in a community garden.

We are excited for our next installment of Book Club. We will be switching to Thursdays at 10am for this book club in May and June, beginning May 11^th . We will be reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. You can purchase it HERE from Amazon. The Pamunkey Library system also has it and you can check it out HERE. We really hope you can join us! If you have any questions or would like to be added to our Book Club email list, let us know.

St. Jimmy's Jam Volunteers

We would LOVE your help with our upcoming event on Saturday, May 6th- St. Jimmy's Jam. It is going to be an absolute blast to work and to attend. We are bringing the community together with some awesome performances. The cast of Little Shop of Horrors from Patrick Henry High School will delight us with a few numbers at noon. River City Band will be bringing us some delicious Bluegrass and Signature Move will move us to tap our toe or hum along with old favorites. We will some incredible food (shrimp & grits and BBQ to name a few) and fun children's activities. We can't wait to be together with you!

If you are willing to donate your time, please sign up HERE.

Calling all Bakers! 

At the St. Jimmy’s Jam on May 6th, we will be offering delicious desserts for sale. Please help us to raise funds by baking your favorite desserts and donating them to the event. We will be repackaging items in individual portions to make sales easier.  Please bring your cookies, brownies, cakes and pies to the Fourth Quarter Room by 4 p.m. on Friday, May 5th. If your items contain nuts or are gluten-free, please label. Thanks in advance for your support!

Graduates

It is getting close to the time we start celebrating our graduates in our community. Our graduate Sunday is June 4th. We would love to have them participate in the service if they are willing.  It is always a favorite for this community to be able to celebrate with our graduates and their families.  

If you have a graduate (high school, college, trade school, etc), we'd love to know:

• Full name as they would like to be celebrated
• Where they are graduating from 
• Their degree (if applicable)
• Their future plans (if known)
• And we’d love a picture to put in our weekly eblast to celebrate them
• If they would like to participate in our Graduate Sunday service at 10am on June 4th

If you can get this information to me by May 21^st, I’d be so grateful.  We look forward to celebrating with you!

John & Mona Wade Memorial Service

Please join us for a memorial service honoring John & Mona Wade on Saturday, April 29th at 1pm. There will be a reception in Brydon to follow. All are welcome to celebrate the lives of these wonderful parishioners.

Church Picnic

Please join us for our Church wide picnic on Sunday, May 21st after our 10am service to celebrate the end of our program meals. The church will provide fried chicken, water and lemonade. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. It will be a wonderful time to be together in community!

Flying Squirrels Game

Take me out to the ballgame! We are going to see the Flying Squirrels on Thursday, August 10 for Faith night at the Diamond. They will have pre-game faith-based bands, player testimonials on the field, post-game fireworks, and more! St. James the Less has tickets together for $10 a ticket. If you'd like to purchase tickets and sit with our community, you can do that HERE. (They will email your tickets to you directly, but you will be sitting with all of us)

• Sign up to bring meals for the Clinic Volunteers HERE
• Help stock our Emergency Food Pantry (outside the clinic)
• Send in your Pop Tops for McDonald House
• Bring in Hygiene or laundry items for Peter Paul
• Donate to ACES (see below)

Pantry:

• Canned meat (spam, chicken, ham, salmon, tuna, etc.)
• Canned fruit
• Peanut butter
• Spaghetti sauce
• Instant potatoes (smaller size boxes)
• Cereal (healthier varieties preferred)
• Pork & beans 
• Personal care items (soap, toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, deodorant, toilet paper, etc.)
• Cleaning products (laundry soap, dish soap, etc.)

Children's Clothing:

• Boy's and Girl's larger size summer clothes (sizes 12 - 18)
• Boy's and Girl's summer pajamas (all sizes)
• Boy's and Girl's shoes (all sizes)
• Girl's larger size underwear (sizes 16 - 18)
• Diapers (size 4, size 6 and size 7)... We do not need pull-ups
• Baby Wipes

Adult Clothing:

• Men's athletic shoes (all sizes)
• Men's jeans (waist sizes 30 - 36)
• Men's white undershirts (all sizes)
• Women's bras (band 36 and above; cup D and above)
• Women's underwear (size large thru 3x)
• Women's sanitary products

ACES is open on both Mondays and Wednesday from 8:30-11:30am. Thank you for your continued support!

Lord, we lift up this nation struggling with itself these days, reeling from this pandemic and its repercussions. Encourage us to faithfulness, righteousness, and compassion for all God’s Children. We lift up Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael, our Presiding Bishop, Mark & Gail, our Bishops, Rock+, our priest, and Dawn+, our Deacon. May they be strengthened and encouraged as the work with us to proclaim your Good News in this world. We pray for Joe, our President, Glenn, our Governor, and Steve, our Mayor, and all our elected officials. Guide them to lead us to the common good. 

We ask your prayers for peace; for goodwill among nations; and for the well-being of all people. Remembering especially Gus Miller, Erin Yagla, Meredith Moon, Meghann Batten, Michael Fox, Bill Blakemore, Dennis Folsom, Debra Bernard, Smith family, Court Warfield, Andrea Alexander McCallum, Janet Taylor, Jessica and family, Joy Stevenson, Kim Keene, Brad Rose, Wendy Vaughan, Andy Newchok, Pam Bowers, Bettilee, Iana Mason, Bill Mercier, Rebecca Hottman, Lyde Longaker, Haden Hopkins, Charles Bridges, Hilda Kelly, Lee & Susan Chambers, Michele Murphy, James Crump, Sr., Tre’ Michael, Brennan McFarlane,Tim Easter, Marie Bohrer, Melanie Fischer, Frank Buckingham, Jim Segneri, Barbara Brzozowski, Richard Grosse, Gordon Sutton, Harry Hassell, Morgan Winfrey, Margaret Rush, Robert & family, Carl Morlock, Luke David, Baker/Penland family, Carol Barnes, Joanne Flanagan, Vikki Snelgrove, Melissa & Riley Jones, Kendall Martin, Kathy Wimberly, and Bobby & Parker family.

We ask your prayers for the poor, the sick, the hungry, the oppressed, and those in prison. We also ask your prayers for those serving in the diplomatic corps, the military, and as missionaries: Larson Flangan, Kemper Jones, Greg Ericksen, Matthew Thomas, Philip Morison, James Ashley, Andrew Brunson, Jordan Fox, and Katherine Murphy. 

We ask your prayers for those who have died. We ask your prayers for those who grieve.  

We pray for governments and governing bodies of Metropolitan Richmond: For the Mayor and City Council of Richmond, the City Administrator, and all city employees.

For all those who seek peace in the world and for ourselves, that we may bring about God's Kingdom here on earth. For our enemies, and for those who wish us harm.



Praise God for those in every generation in whom Christ has been honored.

• Prayer List- Prayers of the People
• Giving Online- Click here to give online or text "GIVE2THELESS" at 73256 from your phone.
• Ask for prayer-Send in your prayer request (please acknowledge if the prayer is private or for our Parish list)
• The Collect Collective- Daily short prayer with Father Rock
• List of Local Food Pantries- Click here for a complete list of local food pantries.
• Fall Line Farms- A wonderful organization that supports local farmers. Click here to order food so you can pick it up here at SJTL on Thursdays.
• Self- Guided Ways Of Worship Brochure- It has wonderful ways of engaging with your own space (and the spaces around the church) to find the Holy, already present, within them.
• Father Rock's Blog- Access reading of all of Father Rock's Homilies.
• Blessings & Dressings- A copy of the SJTL Cookbook 
• End of Life Planning Kit- Help with estate planning from the Episcopal Church Foundation.
• Diocesan Creation Care Website- Creation Care Task Force

Saint James the Less Episcopal Church

125 Beverly Road

Ashland, VA 23005

(804) 798-6336

Staff:

The Rev. Rock Higgins, tssf Rector

The Rev. Deacon Dawn McNamara Deacon

Reggie Long- Organist/Music Director

Miriam Smith- Christian Formation- Children & Youth Director

Kasey Buckland- Parish Administrator