Restoration
St. James Commitment Campaign 2022
The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
Isaiah 58:11-12
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
Isaiah 58:11-12
Dear People of St. James:
The past two years have been difficult for us all. Little did we know that what started as a novel pneumonia in Wuhan, China in 2019 would soon sweep the world. Not only has Covid-19 caused a great loss of life, for a time it has brought life as we have known it to a halt. We had to learn to do things in new and unfamiliar ways. Our children had to learn remotely, many of us had to work remotely, we shopped remotely, we met with family remotely, and we had to learn to do Church remotely. “Virtual reality” became our reality.
This was a traumatic time for the Church, for the Christian faith is deeply incarnational, interpersonal, and physical. Our faith is grounded in the Word made flesh, Jesus, who walked among us, who came to live and die as one of us, and who reconciles us to God. Jesus didn’t do “remote,” rather, he laid his hand on lepers and touched the sick to heal them, he wept over the dead and took them by the hand to raise them back to life, he forcefully overturned the tables of the moneychangers, he held and broke bread, eating from the same plate and drinking from the same cup as his disciples, then he washed the feet of his disciples with his own hands. There is a physicality in Christian worship: our liturgy is incarnational and ministers to us using all our human senses. While we did our best to carry on worship remotely during the worst of the pandemic, it was merely a shadow of what our worship should be.
I want to thank each and every one of you who have so faithfully supported St. James financially during the past two years. Because of your generosity and faithfulness, we were able to maintain many of the ministries that are vital to our mission. We carried on doing Church and being the Church as best as we could. We listened to the science around Covid-19 and responded to the ever-changing situation day by day. We livestreamed. We closed. We re-opened with restrictions. We relaxed those restrictions. We imposed new restrictions. Everything we have done was in an attempt to balance the realities of the dangers of Covid-19 with our need to be the Body of Christ in the world. But with scientific advances including the approval of vaccines for adults and children and new anti-viral medications coming on the market, that balance has begun to shift.
The time has come for the Church to emerge from the shadow of this pandemic and to be the incarnational community God has called us to be: worshipping together, singing together, serving together, sharing the Peace together, and breaking bread together on our knees. It is time to rebuild from the ruins of Covid-19, raise up our foundations again for many generations, repair the breach, and restore our community. It is time to step out responsibly in the hope that, with the scientific advancements I mentioned, the worst of this pandemic is over, and that we are moving into a time of healing and restoration.
Your continued financial support of St. James and its many ministries is critical to our ability to restore our health and vitality and return once again to being the faith community God has called us to be. Your support funds our Christian education programs such as Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, adult Christian education, youth ministry and Lenten programs. As we re-open, St. James’ campus is once again reclaiming its role as a vital community center: bridge clubs, twelve step programs, high school sports teams booster programs, counseling services, immigration services, college club service projects, and local arts programs all use our campus as a home base as they minister to the community. While many churches have closed their doors to the community and have mothballed their space, your gifts enable St. James to continue to reach out and welcome the community to our campus.
St. James’ mission outreach budget is one of the largest of any church our size in the Diocese. We give well over $25,000.00 in direct financial support every calendar year. Before Covid interrupted our lives, your gifts sent underprivileged children to Camp Bob at Kanuga, we packaged and sent meals to the hungry throughout the world through Rise Against Hunger, we hosted and funded KAIROS prison ministry, we supported Canterbury Counseling Center, outfitted school children with clothing and supplies, and provided Christmas gifts to needy families, and so much more.
In a world starving for re-connection, I am asking you to stand with me and continue your financial support of St. James as we once again reclaim our incarnational faith and open our arms to the community and to each other in welcome and in love.
The past two years have been difficult for us all. Little did we know that what started as a novel pneumonia in Wuhan, China in 2019 would soon sweep the world. Not only has Covid-19 caused a great loss of life, for a time it has brought life as we have known it to a halt. We had to learn to do things in new and unfamiliar ways. Our children had to learn remotely, many of us had to work remotely, we shopped remotely, we met with family remotely, and we had to learn to do Church remotely. “Virtual reality” became our reality.
This was a traumatic time for the Church, for the Christian faith is deeply incarnational, interpersonal, and physical. Our faith is grounded in the Word made flesh, Jesus, who walked among us, who came to live and die as one of us, and who reconciles us to God. Jesus didn’t do “remote,” rather, he laid his hand on lepers and touched the sick to heal them, he wept over the dead and took them by the hand to raise them back to life, he forcefully overturned the tables of the moneychangers, he held and broke bread, eating from the same plate and drinking from the same cup as his disciples, then he washed the feet of his disciples with his own hands. There is a physicality in Christian worship: our liturgy is incarnational and ministers to us using all our human senses. While we did our best to carry on worship remotely during the worst of the pandemic, it was merely a shadow of what our worship should be.
I want to thank each and every one of you who have so faithfully supported St. James financially during the past two years. Because of your generosity and faithfulness, we were able to maintain many of the ministries that are vital to our mission. We carried on doing Church and being the Church as best as we could. We listened to the science around Covid-19 and responded to the ever-changing situation day by day. We livestreamed. We closed. We re-opened with restrictions. We relaxed those restrictions. We imposed new restrictions. Everything we have done was in an attempt to balance the realities of the dangers of Covid-19 with our need to be the Body of Christ in the world. But with scientific advances including the approval of vaccines for adults and children and new anti-viral medications coming on the market, that balance has begun to shift.
The time has come for the Church to emerge from the shadow of this pandemic and to be the incarnational community God has called us to be: worshipping together, singing together, serving together, sharing the Peace together, and breaking bread together on our knees. It is time to rebuild from the ruins of Covid-19, raise up our foundations again for many generations, repair the breach, and restore our community. It is time to step out responsibly in the hope that, with the scientific advancements I mentioned, the worst of this pandemic is over, and that we are moving into a time of healing and restoration.
Your continued financial support of St. James and its many ministries is critical to our ability to restore our health and vitality and return once again to being the faith community God has called us to be. Your support funds our Christian education programs such as Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, adult Christian education, youth ministry and Lenten programs. As we re-open, St. James’ campus is once again reclaiming its role as a vital community center: bridge clubs, twelve step programs, high school sports teams booster programs, counseling services, immigration services, college club service projects, and local arts programs all use our campus as a home base as they minister to the community. While many churches have closed their doors to the community and have mothballed their space, your gifts enable St. James to continue to reach out and welcome the community to our campus.
St. James’ mission outreach budget is one of the largest of any church our size in the Diocese. We give well over $25,000.00 in direct financial support every calendar year. Before Covid interrupted our lives, your gifts sent underprivileged children to Camp Bob at Kanuga, we packaged and sent meals to the hungry throughout the world through Rise Against Hunger, we hosted and funded KAIROS prison ministry, we supported Canterbury Counseling Center, outfitted school children with clothing and supplies, and provided Christmas gifts to needy families, and so much more.
In a world starving for re-connection, I am asking you to stand with me and continue your financial support of St. James as we once again reclaim our incarnational faith and open our arms to the community and to each other in welcome and in love.
To make your pledge, please select one of the options below.
Why St. James?
Amanda Davis
Jody Thompson
