Our Weekly News & Updates | |
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Good morning, Church Family!
It is with great news that I introduce Dawn Sykes McNamara. I normally would wait till all the paperwork was completed, but we have verbal agreements with the Bishop, Dawn, and myself to be able to say the Dawn will be assigned (God-willing and bishop formalizing once all the paperwork is finished) to be the deacon serving at St. James the Less beginning September 18. Dawn recently finished St. Phoebe's Deacon School and will be ordained on September the 10th in Fredericksburg. We are excited for her and for us. Alice Cobb (our Senior Warden) and I have had conversations with Dawn, and you may have noticed her visiting with us a couple of times over the last few weeks.
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Dawn is a cradle Episcopalian and is a member of Grace and Holy Trinity in Richmond. She is a social worker by trade, and her family is active at Grace and Holy. Her son just started at Virginia Tech, so she will feel right of at home with many of you. Dawn brings a wealth of experience to her new role with us. She shared this about coming to work at St. James the Less:
I [am] interested in using the skills I have to enrich the church by preaching, setting the table and helping people discover their own spiritual gifts. I am trained in Spiritual Direction. I have also taken the Sacred Ground Dialogue series.
We would love to have a good representation at Dawn's ordination, and we will be taking our church van up Saturday, September 10th. We will be leaving the Church at 11:45am so we can grab lunch up there before the service, which begins at 2pm. Also of note, there are priestly ordinations that morning at another church in Fredericksburg where our former employee Paul Evans is being ordained. That service is at 10:30 am and will be livestreamed. If you would like to reserve a seat in the van to attend, please contact Kasey to add your name to the list.
Please give Dawn a warm St. James the Less welcome when you have opportunity to meet her! Blessings and welcome, Dawn!
Next week we will have a full run-down of our Program Year so you can set your calendars appropriately, and we will have a full pdf calendar you can print off. We will also have some copies available at the Church for you to grab. Finish your summer well, and we hope to see you on Sunday!
Rock+
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Wednesday, August 30, 2022
- 7:30am-Eucharist Rite II
- Breakfast following
Saturday, September 3, 2022
- 9am- Group Exercise Class
Sunday, September 4, 2022
- 8am- Eucharist: Rite I Service
- 10am- Eucharist: Rite II (music)
Monday, September 5, 2022
- OFFICE CLOSED FOR LABOR DAY
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We will be changing our evening services this year and wanted to give you a heads-up. FIRST SUNDAYS (beginning in October) will be Bluegrass Mass. The first one with be our St. Francis/Blessing of the Animals service. THIRD SUNDAYS will now have the Contemplative Service, beginning in September (Sept 18). These changes help the staff in many ways and will help us have better coverage in our Youth programming Sunday evenings. We hope you will join us!
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BLESSING OF THE BACKPACKS
Please bring your children and their backpacks THIS Sunday, September 4th at the 10am service for a Blessing of the Backpacks. Each child will get a tag that can go in or on their backpack with a blessing that will be prayed over them. We want to celebrate, mark and champion these kids as they head back to school. This has been a tradition of St. James the Less for a long time and we are excited to bring it back.
SUPPLY LIST
If you would like to participate in the ministry by donating supplies from our Amazon wish list, please click the link and know we are grateful. It’s your support that makes this happen!
CHILDREN’S MINISTRY REGISTRATION
Are you and your family hoping to use the children’s ministry this year? Please sign up here and let us know you are coming back. We want to make sure we are prepared and ready to help you and your child in the transition of coming back. We will have the nursery open again this fall. We will have Sunday School for the kids at 9am and then Children’s Church during part of the 10am service starting the week of September 11th. We are gearing up for an awesome year!
J2A (YOUTH GROUP) REGISRATION
If you would like to register your youth for Journey to Adulthood (J2A) for this fall, please use this link. You will be first to find out about upcoming events. It is a regional youth program that will include youth (middle school and high schoolers) from other Episcopal churches here in Hanover that meets on Sunday evenings, starting September 18th from 5:45pm-7:30pm. They will eat supper together, play games, and learn some cool stuff. Sunday, September 11th we will have a meal for the entire family to learn about the program. We hope you will join us!
If you would like to volunteer to help with the youth, email Miriam.
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The Communion Table is wide and has an invitation to all. If you are homebound or unable to visit one of our in-person services, please email us or call the church (804-798-6336) if you would like someone to visit and bring Eucharist. We would love to do this for you.
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Our very own Bobbie Street will be taking over the Western Hanover Backpack Program. She will be looking for volunteers to help her with this. It would be one day a week, just to pack food for the delivery. This is a weekly program that sends food insecure children home with meals for the weekends when they don't have school to get meals. If you are interested in helping out, please reach out to Bobbie. It will be a huge blessing to those families.
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We are thrilled that book club is about to start again on Thursday, September 8th at 10am on Zoom. We will be meetings for 10 weeks on Thursday mornings at 10am, reading a chapter a week. This time we are reading The Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard. The link to purchase it on Amazon is HERE. If you would like us to purchase it for you or need help with the cost, please let us know. We don't want there to be a barrier to you joining us. It is a very special group!
The Divine Conspiracy has revolutionized how we think about the true meaning of discipleship. In this classic, one of the most brilliant Christian thinkers of our times and author of the acclaimed The Spirit of Disciplines, Dallas Willard, skillfully weaves together biblical teaching, popular culture, science, scholarship, and spiritual practice, revealing what it means to "apprentice" ourselves to Jesus. Using Jesus’s Sermon of the Mount as his foundation, Willard masterfully explores life-changing ways to experience and be guided by God on a daily basis, resulting in a more authentic and dynamic faith.
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We are thrilled to announce that we are taking our Parish Retreat to Shrine Mont on October 14-16, 2022. It is a restorative time for yourself and your family. It is also chocked full of community and faith building. We hope you can join us. There are multiple ways you can let us know you are planning on coming. You can fill out this online form HERE. You can call Kasey and have her sign you up at 804-798-6336. You can also sign up on the bulletin board in the hallway.
The cost is $75 for children (ages 4-12), $90 for teens (13-18), and $175 for adults (18 +). If you would like to complete a Chenery grant request to help with the cost of your trip, please complete THIS form. We don’t want cost to hinder anyone from this awesome experience.
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WAYS TO HELP OUR COMMUNITY | |
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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)
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Pantry: Canned beef stew (smaller cans), Canned fruit, Canned mixed vegetables, Canned baked beans, Canned soup (all except cream based), Boxed potatoes (smaller containers preferred), Bagged rice (smaller bags preferred), Spaghetti/Pasta sauce (cans or jars), Laundry detergent (smaller size containers preferred), Shampoo (with or without conditioner)
Adult Clothing: Men’s boxers or boxer briefs (all sizes), Men’s undershirts (all sizes), Men’s athletic socks (all sizes), Men’s athletic shoes (all sizes), Women’s underwear (all sizes), Women’s bras (cup size D and larger/band size 36 and larger), Men’s and Women’s fall and winter clothes (any size)
Children's Clothing: Boy’s shoes (all sizes), Boy’s and Girl’s fall and winter clothes (sizes 12 and larger preferred), Boy’s and Girl’s pajamas (sizes 12 and larger preferred)
ACES is open on both Mondays and Wednesday from 8:30-11:30am. Thank you for your continued support!
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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, Susan and Jennifer, our Bishops, the Bishop Elect, The Rev. Canon Mark Stevenson and family, and Rock+, our priest. 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, Paul Robb, Debra Bernard, Smith family, Jeff Lawrence, Court Warfield, Andrea Alexander McCallum, Tom Ficklin, Janet Taylor, Bower family, Cameron & Camilla Sharma, Jessica and family, Joy Stevenson, David Turner, Kim Keene, Brad Rose, Sara Reece, Richard Rennolds, Andy Newchok, Jim Smith, Joe Beane, Iana Mason, Sally Temple and Allison Provencher.
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: 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, especially Wiley Hughes. 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.
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Proper 17
August 28, 2022
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September 1
Jay Fines
Cami Stiles
Harper Bowles
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September 5
Connor Olin
Fox Urquhart
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Weekly E-News Deadline: If you have an announcement to be shared with the parish, please get the information in no later than noon on Monday. | | | | | |
