Dear People of St. James’,
As in many churches, our music ministry has been adapting to new circumstances throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. I am so grateful to Sharon Coleman and to Martha Pulkingham for their leadership and creativity throughout these changing times, and I want to express my thanks to all of our singers for their patience, flexibility and responsiveness as we begin to regather. You all have probably noticed Kent Burress and guests like Dr. Gloria Quinlan and LaMonica Lewis joining us more often during this time to support our singing. Special instrumentals have been recorded by David Pulkingham, Elaine Barber, Joe Morales, and others. Truly, we are so enriched by our music community at St. James’!
In the morning, we will continue to rely on quartets for some time yet as we respond to new COVID-related guidance and realities, but we need to prepare ourselves to rebuild our morning music program. This is too much to ask of Sharon Coleman alone, so we have decided to hire a Music Minister for Sunday morning services to work alongside Sharon Coleman. Martha Pulkingham will continue to be our Worship Leader for the evening service at 5 pm and the Children’s Choir.
Over the next couple of months, a search committee headed up by Riley Carruthers and John May (and including Sharon Coleman) will be interviewing and auditioning candidates for this position. We have released the Music Minister Job Description and the Search Committee is working on circulating it and making targeted appeals for applications. If there is someone you would really like to see apply for the position, get this job description into their hands or their inbox soon! We hope to hire someone who will help us carry the rich St. James’ legacy of music into the future.
Rev. Eileen
