7 from Kevin - May 2022
Kevin Jeske-Polyak • May 6, 2022
- Thanks to everyone who contributed to this year’s Easter Remembrances program honoring the memory or expressing thanksgiving for the life of loved ones. As a result, $480 was raised for the Flower Guild, $1,225 was raised for Bryant’s Bridge, and $2,375 was raised for the Clergy’s Discretionary Fund.
- Please help St. James achieve our goal of having 175 parishioners attend the Justice Knox Nehemiah Action Assembly on Monday, May 2 at World’s Fair Park. Team Leaders Mark A, Margaret B, Nick S, and Carol Y have worked very hard all year to keep us informed about how attending this event can help us seek justice and mercy and walk humbly with our neighbors.
- Thanks to Fr. John Mark for his creative inception and the special content he provided for our Easter Sunday worship bulletin. His notes in the “sidebars” were so interesting and meaningful. These design elements added a very special texture to our already inspirational Holy Week.
- For nearly ten years, Andy C & Sam F with A.C. Lawn Care have been handling our mowing, blowing, and trimming landscaping needs, as required at St. James. Both are extremely impressed with the outstanding work of our St. Francis Guild and the many outreach ministries at St. James. Each is also very involved in family & spiritual life and serving our community in many different ways.
- Eucharistic Ministers assist the clergy during the Sunday communion services by sharing the chalice of wine with members of the church community. Now that wine is being served again, we are grateful for the assistance provided by Jane C, Gregg D, Victoria H, Drew J-P, Carlene L, Brigitte M, and Mary Nelle O.
- Cross-training is one of the best ways to build strength and preserve traditions. The St. James Audio/Visual Team has been doing just that as Kevin & Drew J-P and Linda F have mastered the audio board and Margaret B and Nick S have mastered the remote controlled video camera used to provide live streaming of our Sunday morning worship services.
- St. James is extremely fortunate to have selected a highly qualified manager to coordinate every aspect of the activities related to our centennial renovation and construction project. Rick Blackburn’s resume includes an impressive list of new-build and renovation projects for many high profile hotels, restaurants, public housing projects, assisted living facilities, and other properties in Tennessee and throughout the Southeast. We continue to work with Rick and the architects at Barber-McMurray on our plans. Join us on June 19th to see details and hear about our plans for the future.
Friends and Neighbors, This Sunday is Mother's Day and also Good Shepherd Sunday. Both celebrations have been shaped and changed over the years. Good Shepherd Sunday got the name as we do read the passage from John 10 about Jesus the Good Shepherd, and Mother's Day has roots going back to Mothering Sunday in England. The establishment of Mother's Day in the United States was motivated by the recognition of the work of Ann Reeves Jarvis, Julia Ward Howe, and Anna M. Jarvis. These women worked for sanitary health care for soldiers and were advocates for peace during the Civil War. They imagined a union of mothers who would call for peace because mothers knew so deeply the loss of their children to war. Mothering and shepherding call for similar qualities of protection and care.
We continue celebrating Easter as we move into a month full of celebrations and transitions. I am looking forward to just hanging out with folks this Saturday night at our spaghetti dinner. You can find details about that in this email. Please mark your calendars for the annual Justice Knox Celebration on May 19 from 6:30 PM- 8:30 PM at First Presbyterian Church. We will have dinner and share stories about the next steps. You will also be asked to consider making an investment in the work of Justice Knox. I hope that you will consider giving to this important ministry.
Alleluia. Christ is risen. We celebrated the resurrection with so much joy this past Sunday. The Easter feast continues for 50 days. Thank you to everyone who made Holy Week and Easter Sunday so special. You helped people feel welcomed to this place where we proclaim the welcoming love of Christ in word, deed, song, Easter egg hunts, and something good to eat. We welcome others because we have known the love of Christ and want to share it.
Friends and Neighbors, As we journey through Holy Week, I encourage you to pause and consider those events that lead us to the joyful celebration of Easter. May that also be reflected in our lives. We walk through hard things and know that God is with us. We hold to the hope that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Friends and Neighbors, As the weather teases us with warm days followed by chilly ones, we enter Holy Week. You have probably heard me encouraging folks to experience the journey to the cross and the grave so we might celebrate the resurrection with that insight. God has shared this human experience and is with us in the darkness and the light. Our liturgies of Holy Week take us on that journey with Jesus and remind us that God is indeed with us on our own journeys.