Dear People of St. James’,
Many of you have already voted early. Well done. You have started talking with friends and family members and maybe even strangers to make sure that they have gotten out to the polls. Well done. You have been listening to and worrying for your friends and loved ones who feel that they have something fundamental and hard-won to lose if things shake out a certain way – or maybe you feel that way for yourself. You have struggled to put your hopes for the world into inadequate words that cannot capture and hold them. You have been taking walks and reading and breathing deep breaths to dispel the anxiety that lingers at the edges of your mind about November 5, 2024.
St. James’ is here to provide a space of sanctuary during this time: sanctuary space that gives voice to hope, sanctuary that connects us to the faithful presence and promises of God. Over the next two weekends, we will gather to pray the prayers and sing songs of hope. We will approach God and each other with boldness. Through the building of our Altar for Día de los Muertos, we will recall the courage and faithfulness of those who have gone before us, who in their own lives faced times of tremendous struggle with faith, hope, and love. Our community will be transformed by the baptisms of Caetano Francisco Amorim and Edgar Campa, and we will renew our own baptismal vows and we will ask God to strengthen us to walk in those vows. We will turn in our pledge cards to make a commitment to being faithful community together in the coming year. We will do silly things like have a Chili Cook-off when it’s 90 degrees outside and pile youth into a van for a weekend at Camp Allen. None of these things are meant to be an escape from the anxieties of the present moment; we cannot escape from the challenges ahead. We can only do those things that help us walk together through them, knowing that in Christ, we really are brothers and sisters, siblings, to one another.
On November 5 and 6, the sanctuary will be open for prayer during office hours (9 am – 2 pm). The Wednesday morning Bible Study group will meet online at 8 am on November 6.
On Wednesday, November 6 at 7 pm, anyone who wants to join us will gather in the sanctuary for a time of prayer, conversation, and song. We will start at 7 pm by tuning into a live streamed short service of prayer with Bishop C. Andrew Doyle, Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. Then, we will have some time for words together, silence together, and song together. Consider bringing a friend or a family member who needs this space. And of course, from there, we will heed the words of the late Bertha Sadler Means and “keep it up!”
May you find spaces of peace and fortitude in the uncertain times to come. May you remember to vote and remember those members of your church family who cannot vote.
We pray with the Rev. Pauli Murray, “Lord, increase our faith. Grant us to know in life the faith that removes mountains; the faith that overcomes the world; the faith that works through love; the faith that makes all things possible. Grant that relying on thee as thy children, we may trust where we cannot see, and hope when all seems doubtful, that we may go out with courage, not knowing whither we go, but only that thy hand is leading us, and thy love supporting us; to the glory of thy name. Amen.”
Rev. Eileen
