April 9, 2022
Dear PJ's community, Yesterday I ate my lunch outside and basked in the sunshine. The buds on the cherry trees in Wooster Square are about to burst open in glory (just in time for our Palm Sunday parade, fingers crossed!). The signs of spring, hope, and the resurrection are just at hand! However, as Christians, before embracing the joy of Easter, we must first confront the fear, hopelessness, betrayal, and death that comes during Holy Week. This is one of my favorite weeks of the year in the Church. We get an entire emotional roller coaster in one week – the exuberance of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem with songs of “Hosannah,” the gravity and love of the Last Supper, the frustration of the betrayal from one of Jesus’ friends, the grief of succumbing to the unjust authority of the Roman Empire, the agony of the cross, and finally, the disbelief and joy of the resurrection. PJ’s friends, I invite you to join us as we celebrate and remember this entire journey. The full schedule of our Holy Week services can be found at the bottom of this email, and I would encourage you to come to as many of them as you can. We are excited this year to bring back some of our pre-COVID traditions, including a jazz parade around Wooster Square on Palm Sunday, and a community meal of soup, along with foot washing and stripping the altar on Maundy Thursday. We will also be remembering Jesus’s request for his friends to stay awake in the garden with him on his last night, as we do a prayer vigil overnight from Thursday to Friday in the chapel. Please email Jeff and Janie (jlange2@mindspring.com) to sign up. Good Friday will feature a homecoming from our prodigal musician, Drew Fermo, as he will join Sarah Hill and Nate Solberg to sing the Passion story. In this most Holy Week of the year, let us also hold in prayer our siblings who are celebrating this holy time in different ways – our Muslim siblings currently observing Ramadan, and our Jewish siblings who start Passover this coming week. Let us remember that we are all of the same family, with the same wonderful God. Come along with us and buckle in for this wild and wondrous ride of Holy Week! Peace, Claire Cody Co-warden
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A reflection from Sally Fleming, long-time parishioner, and Loaves and Fishes and Sunrise Cafe volunteer
Dear People of St Paul St James, Prior to our weekly discussions about faith, I had often thought about my faith and what it is and how I demonstrate it. I am not a proselytizer, and don’t easily use faith talk. However I have long known that what I believe is summarized by Jesus’’ words in the Gospel of Matthew: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me…..Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”. At a point of transition in my life, I needed to find a church that devoted its resources to the community –that looked beyond its walls. The first time I visited then St. Paul’s, the priest’s sermon railed against the war in Viet Nam. I soon learned that this was a church that stretched beyond the walls into the community and the world. So it is here that I have worshipped and worked since the last 40 years. For those of you who are newer --and we are so glad you are here!, Loaves and Fishes began in the early 80s when Hanne Howard, our beloved elder, took $10.00 of her own money and bought canned food to give to those hungry people who knocked on our door. Her small beginning became a bona fide mission of the church and more recently its own 501C3, and now fills up to 1000 bags of food a week for those who come to our doors and for those in our community. It has been a perfect place for me to demonstrate my faith. I am a Martha, the one in the kitchen preparing a meal for Jesus, not Mary, who sat at his feet listening. For all these years, I have helped prepare for Saturdays, leading and helping the busy Saturday welcoming of those who need clothes and food. Since Covid, I have mostly been in the Clothes Closet, finding trousers and coats for those who come to our door. It often takes patience and forces me to remember that those who come are children of God, no matter how they are dressed or how noisy their need is exhibited. PJs has also opened me up to the spiritual side –surrounded by those who read and pray and who can articulate their faith in words that don’t easily come to me. This is my church and my community and it is here that I will continue to follow Jesus’ commandments. Sally Fleming A reflection from David Tate, Vestry Member
Dear siblings in Christ, Lent is intended as a time of reflection. It seems there is so much upon which to reflect; mostly negatives. The senseless tragedy in Ukraine; the paradox of how Ukrainian refugees are being welcomed versus the treatment of Iraqi, Syrian, Afghani, Yemeni, Sudanese and other refugees; and at the same time African and Asian students encountering discrimination while trying to flee the horrors in Ukraine; and here at home growing violence against Asian Americans accompanied with legislative assaults on trans people, women’s reproductive rights and the very right to vote itself. It appears the evil one is busily at work undermining the core value of our faith which is hope. Yet this is where I find the Spirit once again present and active. Yes evil does exist in the world and we are called to confront it. We as a people are called to follow Christ’s example as he humbled himself to God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus submitted to unspeakable pains in order to fulfill God’s greater glory and make us whole. We too are called to sacrifice some part of ourselves in order that the Spirit may empower us for the greater good. We are called to reflect on ourselves and our lives. Lent is the traditional time for us to take stock and engage intensely in that reflection. We do so knowing that this discipline is meant to draw us closer to God and prepare us for the Easter miracle. Even in the darkest times we are people of faith who know the Son will rise. I have been a member of this parish for approaching 40 years and an Episcopalian Christian since baptism in infancy. I have been a Co-Warden of this parish twice and a member of vestry for more years than I remember. I have witnessed many transitions both positive and negative and watched us uplift many to ordained ministry including our soon retiring Diocesan Bishop Ian. I have also witnessed the Spirit’s power in the birth and growth of our lay ministries. Around 1990 then Canon Jack Spaeth met with the parish and pronounced that, based on our finances, we had about five years before we could no longer sustain ourselves, leave alone call a full time rector. He has since passed to God’s glory. We remain; stronger than ever. Since that time we have begun revisioning our worship space and our relationships with the greater New Haven community. I truly believe the Spirit is active and God is continuing to use us as an instrument of grace. Let us take the time to reflect with joy as we embrace the hope that God inspires in and through us. In the name of the One who was and is and is to come. Amen. David Tate, Vestry Hello and welcome to The Episcopal Church of St. Paul & St. James! We are an open and affirming community of faith centered around the Eucharist, and grounded in compassion and generosity - for ourselves, each other, and those around us.
Our FAITH is expressed in loving-kindness to all whom we encounter. Our openness creates a safe space for those with questions of faith or complicated relationships with church. We manifest our faith through the rise of lay leadership who have answered new calls during this transitional period, and through our apostles who daily go out into the world to serve their neighbors. Our lay Pastoral Care team reaches out to those in our community who are homebound, or who may not be able to get to church every week. Our WORSHIP is enthusiastic, spirited, and creative while remaining reverent with respect for tradition. Our jazz music is vibrant, inspirational and founded on Christian theology. We value sermons from a diversity of voices that are both theologically imaginative and practical. In addition to Sunday services, we continue to worship in-person on Wednesdays for noonday prayer, and online on Tuesdays/Thursdays for Compline. Our embrace of openness and adaptability is embodied in our recent decision to remove our pews, creating a flexible worship space in our sanctuary that is ripe with possibility. OUTREACH into the neighborhoods around us is most visible in our support of and participation in the weekly Loaves & Fishes food pantry and clothing closet which happens in our undercroft. Parishioners also support and participate in the daily morning meal served by Sunrise Café in the same space. We recently launched “The Square at St. PJ’s Church,” opening our building and resources to the community-at-large for celebrations, cultural events, sacred events, co-working space, and more. Given these strengths, we also have areas for growth regarding outreach; for example we intend to lean into our history and responsibility around racial reparation and reconciliation with all of our local communities. Our CHALLENGES as a community include solving such mundane issues as parking availability, in addition to the more spiritual matters of empowering disciples into action and initiating Christian education for our young children. We also look forward to increasing our visibility as a faithful worshiping community so that we may grow in body and spirit. Our next PRIEST-IN-CHARGE will delight to stand with us and thrive among us – we are on this journey with Jesus together. We are hoping our next Priest-in-Charge will help us to support our growing lay ministry to expand their gifts in areas including preaching and leading small groups. They will provide spiritual leadership and help us to make theological connections in all that we do. The Priest-in-Charge will share church duties with the laity, and introduce more Christian Formation sessions. They will encourage us to look outside ourselves and increase our meaningful involvement in the neighborhood and the world. |
AuthorPJs Wardens and Vestry Archives
August 2022
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