Volume 6, Issue 11

November 2014

New Year Resolutions!

T here’s a little notation on my desk calendar for November 2nd. It reads, “Daylight saving time ends”. One of the great joys of living in Arizona is

that we don’t mess around with the clocks by leaping into spring or dropping back an hour into fall. Many of us have lived outside of Arizona and already know how much messing around with the clocks used to mess around with our sleeping and eating patterns. We’re generally creatures of habit, and yet also children of much deeper spiritual rhythms.

A s the calendar year begins to wind down, we notice quite a few changes in our pattern of life. The weather cools down, our sweaters make their

annual debut, and hearty soups start to sound mighty good! As we watch the birds and animals migrating or gathering supplies for the winter, we too begin preparations for our own gathering of family and friends to celebrate God’s bounty, as well as the historical significance of Thanksgiving Day. We’ll gather as a community to share a simple soup supper and worship on Wednesday, November 26th at 6pm. Just ahead of the new calendar year, our new liturgical year begins on November 30th, which is the first Sunday of Advent.

A s we approach the biggest shopping season of the year, accompanied by the inevitable massive advertising campaigns, let’s carefully consider the

words we entertain in our daily lives; what we watch and listen to, and what we read. Words are powerful! Never forget that we have a choice when it comes to what media we allow to enter our homes and our cars. On the up side, we always have the opportunity to tune into the words of eternal life and allow God’s word to shape our thinking, and pattern our lives. Take a few moments to look up these passages from Scripture on the spiritual practices that keep us grounded, namely prayer, bible study and worship: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Luke 24:45, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalm 100:2, and Hebrews 10:24-25.

T hese joyous gifts of discipleship are mainstays of living in faith, and following Christ’s way. Even though we won’t gain an hour this month, if

we look closely we can probably find ways to offer more of our time to God. Perhaps, as a community, our new (liturgical) year’s resolution will be to spend more time together in God’s word. What a great way to discover just how powerful the Word is in the continuing transformation of our hearts, minds, and ministries.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

With prayers of thanksgiving for all,

Susan+

Look

Inside

For. . .

Page 2 Bishop Committee Reports

Habitat for St James

Page 3 Youth Group News Acolyte Schedule

Page 4

An Evening of Music

Page 5 Fellowship Opportunities

Page 6

Christian Formation Class Supper with Susan

Page 7

Preschool News Fall Festival

Page 8

A Word from Father Steve Iconography Workshop

Page 9

UMOM Walk Blanket Drive

Page 10

Advent Event Habitat Build

Altar Guild News Blessing of the Animals

Bishop’s Committee Meeting

November 19th

Financial Snapshot Financial activity in September showed a net loss of $1,681.18, even after taking into consideration support from the Diocese. This may be some slight cause for caution, but overall we are still in a much better financial position than we had forecast.

Thanks to all who have provided information on intended 2015 giving. The Bishop’s committee will be looking at the 2015 expenditures budget during the Nov. 19 meeting. We learned from the Diocese that their annual support will be reduced from $40,000.00 to $30,000.00 next year. The $10,000.00 Youth Ministry grant will continue.

The Oct 19 music/auction event was a success in all respects. Its financial

contribution to St. James was just over $2500.00.

Electronic giving is available on our web site: stjames.azdiocese.org Click on SimpleGive - or - text message: 480-725-3889.

Thank you for your continued support.

McKee Lundberg

This has been a really good couple of months. In case anyone is still wondering, St. James knows how to have fun, and I blame Pastor Susan for this! This attitude is outrageous! This attitude is scandalous! This attitude is GREAT! This celebrating attitude was really set off with Pastor Susan’s installation as Vicar. Until this day, we were completely content to drive the speed limit. Everyone was happy and we were growing. All of a sudden, while celebrating this installation we became turbocharged. It was then only a couple of weeks later when we filled St. James with a marriage blessing. We are now guilty of more happiness and more celebrating. It seems this attitude of celebrating has taken hold of us. As if this is not enough, a couple of weeks later we celebrate again with an unbelievable evening of classical music and fine wine. This attitude of celebration is contagious. It feels good and we want more. This is why we had so many people come and spend their Saturday to help with Habitat for St. James. This habitat day was filled with fun. There was fellowship and laughter and it felt like another celebration. What is more joyous than celebrating the love and life that comes out of St. James. Peace, Bob Klassen

Treasurer’s Report

Year-To-Date through October 25, 2014

Total Income $203,422.70

Total Expense $223,685.85

Sub-total Surplus / (Deficit) ($20,263.15)

Diocesan Support $39,666.79

Total Surplus / (Deficit) $19,403.64

From the Senior warden

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Bob Klassen (Bishop’s Warden)

Larry Kenyon (Junior Warden)

McKee Lundberg (Treasurer)

John Barnabas

Gerry Carlston

Carol Justice

Chris Papaccio

Janie Studt

At Your Service:

Your Bishop’s Committee

We wish to thank all who helped out at Habitat

for St James Day. The church looks beautiful and so many projects were completed in record time. You will never know how much all the hard work

everyone did to make the day such a success is appreciated.

The Habitat for St. James Day Team

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This isn’t your parents’ youth group…. We’re getting real about growing in God, living life in your

world, serving our neighbors, and having fun.

Youth Group News

Christmas Pageant:

It is that time of the year when we start to work on the Christmas pageant. The pageant is open to any youth at St James who wishes

to participate. We will be meeting on the following Sunday’s after the 10:30am service: Nov 9, Nov 16 and Nov 23rd in the Library.

Dress rehearsal is on Dec 7th 11:30am-12:30pm in the Sanctuary.

Operation Christmas Child-Outreach

This is the last month before we put the boxes together. Sunday November 16th,

from 2:30-4:30 pm will be the box packing party in room 4 and 5. Come listen to

some Christmas music have some snacks and pack the boxes.

Donation items for this month are:

Composition books (example near donation box), Crayons, Pencils and Pens.

Children who do not have these items are not able to attend schools so these items

are very important to include in these boxes. Hard candy that will not melt, ie.

candy suckers, Skittles, etc.

Build a Bear Outreach:

This is open to everyone. Please send me an email by November 9th if you wish to participate in the Build a Bear workshop on

November 30th. My phone number is (480) 586-1124 or email is eflock@cox.net.

Office Remodel:

Aly has completed her Silver Award project. She chose to redo the Church office for Diana. We were able to give Diana a wonderful

surprise: she went to lunch with Susan and when she returned the office was complete. Thank you to all who gave donations and

attending the BBQ in July; it is very much appreciated. If you have not seen the office yet come on by and sit with Diana and have a

cup of coffee and visit.

Eileen M. Flock

(480) 586-1124

EYC Meeting Schedule

2nd Sunday of the month

Treasure Pre K-4th grade Sanctuary Hunters

3rd Sunday of the month

Jr EYC 5th-8th grades Room 4 Sr EYC 9th-12th grades Library

Acolyte Schedule for November 2014

DATE 8:30 am Service 10:30 am Service

2014 November 2 Simon C = Kyle BU= Aly

Nov 9 Henry C = Brandon BU= Steve

Nov 16 Pamela C = Cam BU=Morgan

Nov 23 John B. [Youth Service:] C= Dylan BU= Abby

Nov 30 Barbara C = Aly BU=Collin

Thanksgiving Eve - Wed. Nov 26 6:00 pm Looking for Acolyte Volunteer. See Deacon Robin.

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“An Evening of Music” Dear Members of St James,

About a year and a half ago, Jeff and I became members of the most loving, giving and sharing church I have ever experienced. The

love of Christ abounds and is immeasurable. On October 25th we presented our Evening of Music to the world and it was a

resounding success, raising just over $2500. This happened because of all the helping hands who donated their talents, time,

food, drink, items for the silent auction, setting up, cleaning up, advising, ideas, money and everything else. Thank you almost

seems not enough to say but I do say thank you with all my love and heart. You are the best and it would not have been possible

without you.

In Christ,

Jill Leatherman

Wednesday’s 4:00-5:00 pm

Room 4 of the Preschool Building

All women welcome!

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St James BookiesSt James BookiesSt James BookiesSt James Bookies

November’s book is True

Blue by David Baldacci. We

will meet Sunday, November

23rd, after the 10:30

service at Paradise Bakery,

Chandler Pavilions, 940 N.

54th Street, Chandler,

85226.

Join Us for Lunch!!

Thursday, November 20th 11:30 am

Biscuit’s

4623 E. Elliot Road, Phoenix (48th and Elliot)

Adult Singles Group

Join us for a movie and a meal afterwards!

Saturday, November 22nd

2:00 pm (tentative time)

We’ll meet at St. James and caravan to the movies at the

Ahwatukee 24 Theatres. We’ll then go to eat at

RigaTony’s, 1850 E. Warner Road, Tempe.

For more info, contact Ellen Rose, (480) 208-3861, or

ellenrose1601@gmail.com.

Bible

Study

TUESDAYTUESDAYTUESDAYTUESDAY November 11thNovember 11thNovember 11thNovember 11th

6:00 pm6:00 pm6:00 pm6:00 pm

Abuelo’sAbuelo’sAbuelo’sAbuelo’s 3440 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler3440 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler3440 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler3440 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler

North of the Chandler Fashion CenterNorth of the Chandler Fashion CenterNorth of the Chandler Fashion CenterNorth of the Chandler Fashion Center

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Christian Formation For All — CFFA!!

Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord… … with our Advent study beginning November 30th. This year we will have selections from four

authors with a wide variety of backgrounds who offer us some fabulous insights into the four weeks

of Advent. Our discussion will be lively, and I invite you to share your voice and the experiences of

your faith journey. All the material will be available before the first Sunday of Advent. Here’s

what we’ll be reading:

we’ll be reading a portion of The Shaking Reality of Advent, by

Alfred Delp. Condemned as a traitor for his opposition to Hitler,

Father Alfred Delp, a Jesuit priest, wrote this piece in a Nazi

prison shortly before he was hanged in 1945.

This Sunday we focus on a portion of The Penitential Season, by

William Stringfellow. Stringfellow was an American lay theologian

and activist who died in 1985. As an Episcopalian, Stringfellow’s

activism centered on injustice in all its forms including racism, and

homophobia. He supported the ordination of women, and served

others in his profession as a lawyer often defending victimized

tenants and impoverished African Americans.

This week we hear from Evelyn Underhill’s work, The Light of the

World. Underhill, who died in 1941, was an influential English

Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist known for her numerous works

on religion and spiritual practice, in particular Christian mysticism.

In the final week of Advent we turn to The Coming of Jesus in Our

Midst, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran

pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of

the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the

secular world have become widely influential, and his book The

Cost of Discipleship became a modern classic.

November 30thNovember 30thNovember 30thNovember 30th

1 Advent1 Advent1 Advent1 Advent

December 7thDecember 7thDecember 7thDecember 7th

2 Advent2 Advent2 Advent2 Advent

December 14thDecember 14thDecember 14thDecember 14th

3 Advent3 Advent3 Advent3 Advent

December 21stDecember 21stDecember 21stDecember 21st

4 Advent4 Advent4 Advent4 Advent

On November 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd, we continue with our reading and reflections of the Psalms!

Join us in the library between services each Sunday.

This is your invitation and opportunity to get to know Susan+ in a relaxed and enjoyable setting over great food, and to get to know others in the congregation who you may not have met before. Sign up in church on Sunday!

Supper With Susan Friday, November 14, 2014

6:00 pm

Seating is limited to 8 guests.

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Barro's Pizza, located on the SE Corner of Kyrene and Warner Road, is hosting a family dinner night fundraiser for St James Preschool on Wednesday, October 5th, from 4 PM - 10 PM. Simply visit Barro's Pizza and mention St James Preschool upon ordering. Barro's will donate 20% of all proceeds back to the preschool. This offer is valid on all dine in, take out and delivery. I look forward to seeing everyone at Barro's! Thanks for supporting our school! Blessings, April

Preschool

Fall Festival

October 17, 2014

Thank you everyone who came out to our annual Fall Festival! We had a blast! A special thanks to all of our teen volunteers!

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A Word from Father Steve

Excess Baggage As Paul Simon once observed, there may well be fifty ways to leave your lover. Many years of experience have taught me, however, that there are only two ways to pack for a trip.

The first and apparently the more common is to take the biggest suitcase one can possibly find and then “stuff it full of stuff” (to coin a phrase). Witness, for instance, the folks at airport curbsides who wrestle what look like packing crates with handles out of the back of pickups and then pay some guy with a reinforced steel cart to wheel it to the check in counter. Or consider the people at luggage carousels for whom it takes three or four passes of a giant valise to muster enough strength and leverage to heave it off of the moving belt. These are fascinating procedures to watch.

The unconscious motivation behind this first sort of packing, I suspect, is to carry things in one’s baggage simply because one has them. Lots of clothes, for instance. Got ‘em? In they go. A laptop computer, of course – and probably a hairdryer and an iron and a vast array of toiletries. The more things one has on a trip the better the trip will be, or so the thinking seems to go.

The second way of packing, endorsed both by me and by Jesus himself, is to gather up the bare minimum one thinks is necessary, and then remove about half of that. As he sent them off to parts unknown, the Lord wisely advised his disciples “to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics” (Mk 6:8-9). “[O]ne’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Lk 12:15b), he points out. Neither does ease of travel.

Carrying minimal baggage on a journey frees one up to see and do and experience things that simply wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Had I been loaded down with seventy pounds of “stuff,” I couldn’t possibly have rented a $2 a day motorbike in Laos and traveled throughout the country to revel in God’s creation of its land and its culture. Similarly, a ton of baggage would have made it unthinkable for me to go around Lake Victoria last year in African “bush taxis” (usually ancient fourth- or fifth-hand minibuses crammed full of people and assorted livestock), getting off and wandering around to explore whenever the Spirit moved me. And I certainly couldn’t be trekking in pickup trucks around the northern Middle East, as I’m doing as you read this. “[T]he Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness,” we read in Mark’s Gospel, “[and he] was in the wilderness for forty days” (Mk 1:12-13a). He couldn’t have done that had he been weighted down by a huge American Tourister suitcase or a steamer trunk.

If we think about it, out life on this earth is a journey – from conception or “viability” or the maternity room (depending on one’s theological perspective) to wherever it is that we’ll take our final breath. The trouble is that we accumulate a whole lot of baggage along the way – stuff we stuff inside us and carry around simply because it’s come our way. The weighty baggage within all of us includes resentments and jealousies which are useless in successful living. Our baggage contains things like envy and pride, which get in the way of our dealings with others as well as with God. And it might include a relationship or two which we know to be unhealthy for us and for the other(s) involved. All of this slows us down in life and limits our opportunities; it keeps us from seeing and doing and experiencing things that might well be the Spirit’s will for us.

On a trip, when we realize we’re carrying way too much, we’re free at any point to jettison what’s holding us back. The same is true on our journey through life. We can, any time we choose, unpack and chuck out the excess baggage we carry around – the pointless and useless “issues” we lug with us simply because we have them Our journey is made difficult by our “carrying heavy burdens” (Mt 11:28), but traveling light frees us up to “have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).

Father Steve+

Sacred Illuminations: An Iconography Workshop with Brenda J. Fox, Iconographer. Come learn an ancient way of prayer and contemplation through the art of “writing” an icon. No former art experience necessary. Brenda will walk you through a step by step process of learning to create an icon from start to finish. This is a time of contemplation in prayer and painting. Icons are painted in acrylics. The cost: $325 and includes all art supplies. A deposit of $125 holds your spot. Balance due at workshop. November 6th through 8th from 9:00 am to -5:30 pm. Bring a journal or notebook, cheater glasses if needed, a sack lunch, comfortable clothes and a snack to share. Registration questions: Brenda Fox @ (602) 574-4016 or email: bjfox7600@aol.com.

What’s Going On with Outreach?

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UMOM Walk Saturday, September 27th

Thanks for coming out - we had a blast!

Talk the Walk! Aly, Dylan, Eileen, Brandon & Steve

Blankets For

Navajoland

Carrie McCullough is collecting blankets to take up to Navajoland again this year. Please bring new, wrapped (not white) blankets to church by Sunday, November 30th. Please bring standard bed sizes only. Carrie and Jim will take them up to Sedona the first week of December.

Aly & the Storm Troopers!

November Outreach project

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St Francis Celebration & Blessing of Animals

Sunday, October 5th

The 9th ((((Somewhat)))) Annual St. James Advent Event & Greening of the Church

Sunday, December 7, 2014 at 5:00 pmSunday, December 7, 2014 at 5:00 pmSunday, December 7, 2014 at 5:00 pmSunday, December 7, 2014 at 5:00 pm

We'll be making very unique Nativity Sets and we need volunteers to help prepare the materials. Please see Diana

if you would like to help.

Bring your favorite Potluck Dish to share!

We’re getting a team of folks together for Saturday, November 22nd build for the Nkumbuyinka family. The address is 6829 N. 61st Avenue, Glendale AZ 85301. Please let Steve Wilmot know if you plan to work that day. Start time is 8:00 am and we finish our work with lunch. Please arrive a little earlier if you can to get the sign in and other paperwork completed. The scheduled work is dry walling.

From time to time we ask your help in raising funds for special altar items. This year we’re purchasing a set of Advent candle shells that will last many years, and be safer to use with our greens, but cost a little over $300. For Advent 2015, we’re planning to purchase a light blue altar frontal. While purple can also be used for Advent (and will be for this year by necessity), purple is also the liturgical color for Lent. Advent blue helps to differentiate our Advent season of self-examination and anticipation from the deeply penitential season of Lent. Your help and support is much appreciated.

Altar

Guild