Worship and Music

Worship is at the heart of St James. The parish values the full depth and breadth of the Book of Common Prayer especially during special services which draw the church family together in times of celebration and grief.

Worship
Sunday worship: two services, one at 8am (usually Rite I) and the other at 10:30am (usually Rite II). The choir sings at the 10:30 am service. An average of 235 persons worship each Sunday. We particularly treasure the procession of children to the altar with their gifts for the Helping Hands ministry:  we have seen in their ecstatic return down the aisle the joy that we should all feel as we offer our gifts and talents to God.

Read here about the many lay ministries that support our worship at St. James

Wednesday worship: Holy Communion and a healing service.

Baptism: celebrated approximately four times a year.

Other Services: special services during the year include a Thanksgiving celebration, a family service early on Christmas Eve, a festive midnight Christmas service with special music and a Christmas day service. On the Feast Day of St. Francis a happy (barking) throng participates in the Blessing of the Animals. 

Holy Week: Tenebrae, Maundy Thursday service with foot washing, Good Friday liturgy including the Stations of the Cross, and the Easter Vigil (at dawn on Easter Sunday).

We have a portable labyrinth that is often set up to use as a guide for meditation.

The Altar Guild, Lectors, Chalice Bearers, Flower Guild, Acolytes, Ushers, Greeters, Wedding Committee and other ministries provide excellent support for our worship.   Read more

Music
Music is exceptionally important at St. James. Our fulltime organist/choir director takes special care to integrate a broad repertoire of music with the liturgy, and leads the volunteer, thirty-member choir. On Christmas and Easter professional musicians from the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the university typically join with the choir to present works ranging from Tomás Luis de Victoria to Mozart and Haydn to Appalachian folk music and African-American Spirituals to Lauridsen and Duruflé.  A professional cabinet maker and a professional organ builder—both members of our parish and choir—built our new antiphonal organ at the back of the nave.   Read more

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Christian Formation