7 from Kevin - Nov 2021
Kevin Jeske-Polyak • November 1, 2021
- The Emancipators featuring Ralph Hutchison (Vocal Guitar), Mitzi Wood-Von Mizener (Vocal, Guitar), Guy Larry Osborn (Vocal, Guitar), and Kevin Collins (Bass, Banjo) provided an eclectic range of acoustic music with a social conscience, while Knoxville Poet Laureate Rhea Carmon, (RheaSunshine), and Alicia Brewer weaved passion, purpose, and power into their motivational and inspiring poetry during the 2021 Neighbor Day Concert in the Park(ing lot).
- More than 75 neighbors including 55 business operators and more than 20 private individuals donated auction items and cash to the 2021 Neighbor Day online auction. Find out who they were by visiting the CONTRIBUTOR page at sjNeighborday.com. While you are there, watch the Business Partner slideshow on the front page.
- Fifty-four different registered bidders cast over 580 bids during the 2021 Neighbor Day online auction which showcased nearly 150 wonderful, donated gifts.
- Thirty-two individuals and business operators made direct cash contributions that exceeded $16,000 to support the 2021 Neighbor Day Celebration.
- Several individual neighbors and families made cash donations more than $200, including one very loving neighbor who generously provided a matching donation equal to the total amount raised during the event, but who wishes to remain anonymous.
- The success of the 2021 Neighbor Day Celebration was made possible with great assistance provided by: Drew J-P, John Mark W, RJ P, Ashley B, Marilyn & Hoyt C, Carol & Butch Y, Linda G, Rick B, Patricia H, Charles L, Bill Y, and Bob C during the 2021 Neighbor Day Celebration.
- An eight-page leaflet highlighting the work of the 39 active ministry groups featured in the 2021 St. James Annual Report can be found in the wooden literature rack mounted on the wall near the kitchen.
Thanks to everyone for becoming engaged in our mission at St. James at whatever level they are able, including all effort that is noticed and so much more that may be less noticed. Rest assured, nothing is unnoticed by God and St. James is stronger because of everyone's combined effort.
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.