The bishop is considered the “Chief Pastor” of the diocese (a geographical area).  In the Diocese of California (that’s us!) we will be electing a new bishop to serve as our leader. On December 2, our diocesan convention will gather to elect the next bishop.  All canonically resident clergy and delegates elected by each congregation can vote.  We have four delegates representing us. On November 4, you will have a chance to meet the three candidates that are running to be our next bishop.  This “meet and greet” event will be held at St. James’ from 6:00-8:00pm.  It will ..read more

Dear Community of Saint James’, We have traveled a long road from March 2020 to today. The road has taken many turns and iterations. We have gone from a complete lockdown with video-taped services, to going “live” in an empty sanctuary with all of you worshipping at home, to registration-based in-person services, to proof of vaccination, to today, praising God together as One Body. We rejoice in the ability to be together as well as the unexpected blessing of virtual worship realized as a result of the pandemic. At my request, the Regathering Team met late in April to discuss changing a few of ..read more

Dear St. James’ Family, We are blessed to have effective vaccines and booster shots to combat and minimize the results of the COVID19 virus. We give thanks for the science and scientists who have worked diligently to find an adequate response to what would otherwise continue to be a deadly illness. We have come a long way from where we began in March of 2020. Your Regathering Task Force met recently to discuss our protocols. We acknowledge that the infection rate is significantly lower than ever before, and the number of people of vaccinated is high. As of this writing, the California infectio ..read more

Dear Members of St. James’, I write to you in the name of Jesus Christ, the one who shows deep and abiding love and compassion for all.   This time last year we were all sure we’d be back to “normal”.  However, we all know that is not the case.  In fact, the Delta variant is more potent and more contagious than the original Covid-19 virus.  Our saving grace, however, is the development of a vaccine that can prevent us from becoming severely ill or dying from the virus.  That said, we cannot ignore the fact that our children are still not able to get a vaccine ..read more

Disaster Preparedness Team’s AED (Automated External Defibrillator) Fundraiser What is an AED? Well, AED, a portable medical device, is designed to be used by non-medical personnel, such as firefighters, police, lifeguards, teachers, and bystanders. That includes YOU! Anyone, who is trained, can use and should use an AED to help a victim in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest who is collapsed and non-breathing. St. James’ DPT’s mottos is ‘Let us Be Prepared”. Since we are a Red Cross-managed shelter for small emergency incidents, it is an added asset for our neighbors and us. Please consider ..read more

Our 2021 Annual Meeting will take place on Sunday, January 24 at 9:15.  We will begin with a coffee hour at 8:30.  Following the Annual Meeting will be our regular Sunday service at 10:30 with the Rector’s address and video slideshow.  The zoom link to join is HERE. The Service can be joined either via Zoom, or from the saintj.com homepage 8:30am Coffee Hour on Zoom 9:15am Annual Meeting 10:30am Live-Streamed Worship Service Submitted reports can be found on our ‘Reports’ page. The written Annual Report for 2020 can be found here. The financials and budget for 2020/20 ..read more

We realize there has been a lot of wondering as to when we might regather or how our church lives might look in the near future. We have established a Regathering Task Force that is made up of the the Rector, the Children & Youth Minister, the Music Director, the Senior Warden, Dave N. to assist with facilities and Mike S. to work on technology. The Task Force has come up with a document to answer many of your questions that you can reach here. Please do not hesitate to reach out to any member of the Task Force with your concerns, further questions, or comments ..read more

“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” C.S. Lewis I have always been a firm believer that when things have gotten tough in my life, that I will be a stronger person for having gotten through the struggle. I have seen this many times; from my broken marriage, to my layoffs at my work, to my dad’s passing. I am in a rough spot right now, as I wrestle with what church music will look like for the months ahead. Leading scientists and singing experts have let us know that singing in groups (like at church services) is dangerous right now, because more air is us ..read more

Gospel: John 1:29-42. Sermon by Rev Lori Walton ..read more

Back in the Sixth Row, Right Side – McCutcheon, Red Tail Ring Review – Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday, 2020 John McCutcheon 2020 From where I sat the show surprised me. From the opening “Rank Stranger” by Ralph Stanley to the closing “Come on People” by the Youngbloods, every song felt like something new. John had fun playing on his new hammered dulcimer and showed us how it could sing. Accompanied by his new autoharp, John, Red Tail Ring, and the whole audience sang out on Bob Franke’s “The Great Storm Is Over.” How about when Laurel and John accompanied themselves on fiddle and Jew’s Harp ..read more