Greetings in God’s Name!
We invite you to explore our Web Site and to learn more about us!
Tonight’s Labyrinth Event
Due to the predicted weather for tonight, the Labyrinth Event has been postponed. A new date will be announced soon.
Monthly Newsletter: Click here to download the latest Epistle…
Announcements
- May 2, 2013 : Celebration of New Ministry
The Wardens and Vestry of Saint James Episcopal Church in Greenfield, Massachusetts invite you to join us for
The Renewal of Ministry with
The Welcoming of a new Priest;
The Reverend Heather J. Blais
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 at 7:00 PM
Presider: The Rt. Rev. Douglas Fisher, the Bishop of Western Massachusetts
Preacher: The Reverend [More...]
- May 2, 2013 : The Property Committee (TPC) Report
Old Business: The Sunday School Classrooms in the Parish Hall have been painted; walls and woodwork. The floor has been repaired and sealed. Openings in the walls have been created for Safe Church compliance. A request for funding for new flooring has been submitted to the ECW. The Vestry approved [More...]
- May 2, 2013 : Organ Concert
On Monday, May 6 at 7 p.m., Quentin & Mary Murrell Faulkner will play a concert of music composed by organists who have served the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France.
On that date, the Cathedral is organizing 850 organ recitals around the world, celebrating its 850th anniversary. St. James [More...]
- May 2, 2013 : A Message from the Senior Warden
This is our Bicentennial Year, and we are about to celebrate in style with events planned for each day of the week from Sunday, May 6, through Thursday, May 9. They offer a variety of entertainment, so pick those of interest to you and bring your friends along to help [More...]
- November 7, 2012 : New Priest-In-Charge at Saint James Episcopal Church
We are pleased to announce that Rev. Heather J. Blais has accepted our offer to become the priest-in-charge of St. James.
As you all know, the Search Committee interviewed several candidates and we unanimously agreed that Rev. Blais is the person God has selected to lead St. James as we begin [More...]
|
|
St. James Journal
- May 2, 2013 : Responding to the Boston Marathon Attack
In trying to “come to terms” with the horror of the Boston Marathon bombings over just a couple of days, again, we have become acutely aware that nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people – broken open physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main concern then is not [More...]
- May 2, 2013 : Climate Revival, an Ecumenical Festival
On Saturday, April 27th, a Climate Revival, an Ecumenical Festival to Embolden the Renewal of Creation, was held in Boston. Several folks from Saint James, gathered with others at the Old South Church in the morning and at Trinity Church in the afternoon. It was deeply moving.
Put on by the [More...]
- May 2, 2013 : Pentecoast or Whitsunday?
When I was a young boy growing up here at St. James, we had a Sunday every year that was referred to as Whitsunday. When Marie and I returned here in 1988, we had an annual celebration known as Pentecost. On Pentecost we all wore red, usually had red balloons [More...]
- November 7, 2012 : Bishop Elect Douglas Fisher Celebrates Holy Eucharist at Saint James
Bishop elect Douglas Fisher celebrated the Holy Eucharist and preach Sunday, October 21st at 10:00 a.m. at the Saint James Episcopal Church. There was only one service at 10 a.m. for the weekend. A light luncheon reception for Bishop Elect Fisher took place in the parish hall after the service.
Photos of [More...]
- September 8, 2012 : Saint James Episcopal Church and the 2012 Franklin County Fair
GREENFIELD – September 7, 2012: Three thousand marchers cast a spell on Franklin County Thursday night as they treaded through the streets of Greenfield for the opening of the 164th Franklin County Fair.
St. James Episcopal Church in Greenfield took parade watchers back 200 years ago when the church held its [More...]
|
Heather’s Blog
- May 13, 2013 : Mother’s Day
At our house, today is a joyful day. A day filled with laughter and playing. I do my very best to stop time, so that I might capture these moments, bottle them up, and tuck them away for years ahead.
Yet even as I spend the day with my family, in [More...]
|
|
Sermons
- May 20, 2013 : Pentecost Sermon – May 19, 2013
Where would we be without language? It’s how we communicate with one another. Whether through spoken or written words, sign language, or even gestures and facial expressions. The more we are able to communicate, the better we are able to understand one another. As a result, we’re able to engage [More...]
- May 12, 2013 : Easter VII Sermon – May 12, 2013
Too often, the Bible can feel outdated and irrelevant to present day Christians. It can seem more like a history book, than a guide for everyday living. And yet, buried beneath those thin pages, are treasures waiting to be unearthed. Real answers, for real, present day problems. One such treasure, [More...]
- May 6, 2013 : Sermon Sunday May 5, 2013 – 200 Years of Saint James
Today is an exciting day here at Saint James! Not only are we going to celebrate 200 years as a faith community; we’ll also have a Rogation Procession in which we’ll bless our grounds and bury a time capsule.
Back in September of 1812, a small, but faithful group of Episcopalians [More...]
|
About Us
We are a welcoming, flourishing community of faith, hope and love, worshiping in the Anglican-Episcopal tradition in the vibrant New England town of Greenfield, nestled near the northern-most reach of the Pioneer Valley.
We offer a warm hello to visitors and guests who wish to worship with us on Sunday mornings and at other times when we gather to celebrate the liturgy of the Church. Our principal weekly service is at 10 a.m. each Sunday. Whether you walk from the neighborhood to be with us, or drive in from far afield, we welcome you to join in our celebration of life in Christ. We are glad to greet newcomers looking for a church home, as well as vacationers and out-of-towners who just happen to be passing through.
We will soon celebrate our 200th anniversary of service to Greenfield, to Franklin County, to the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, and to the world. Founded in 1812, Saint James has members whose families have been active in our parish for generations, worshiping alongside the newly baptized.
We are as diverse as the peoples of the great northeast with folks who have relocated to the Pioneer Valley from places like New York, Boston, the midwest, Canada, and the United Kingdom, to name a few. We are young and old, churched and unchurched, and hail from a variety of backgrounds both personal and professional. From Ph.D.s to preschoolers, we are a vital part of the body of Christ in this place.
We are the Episcopal Church in Greenfield. We love to gather for worship, fellowship, learning, service to others, celebrations of all kinds, and to do the work of the Church. Along with our neighboring Episcopal churches of Saint Andrew’s, Turners Falls, and Saint John’s, Ashfield, and with the many other Christian denominations in our area, it is our labor of love to hold out the light of the Gospel to our generation.
We are a Christian tradition of great cathedrals and good causes, tall spires and small shires. Our spiritual life is rooted in the Episcopal Church in the United States, with its national offices in New York City, and in the Church of England, centered in Canterbury, England. The Anglican World Communion of which we are historically a province spans from Cape Town to Edinburgh, from Japan to Cape Horn, and encompasses hundreds of parishes, missions and monastic communities in between. It can truly be said that the sun never sets on the churches of our world-wide family.
We see ourselves as pastoral in our approach to the difficult questions, inquiring when it comes to belief, and grounded in an inimitable depth of genuine Christian spirituality when it comes to worship and prayer. There are only about three to four million of us in the United States, about 23 million in England, and about 70 million globally. We are small enough to offer the resources of community and large enough to make an impact for God’s kingdom of grace.
We welcome you to navigate our Web Site for information as well as inspiration about the community of faith we call Saint James Episcopal Church. Please use the lists of topics at the top of this page, or to the right, or at the bottom, to arrive at subjects of interest. To hear more from a live human voice, use the prompt entitled “Contact Us” for telephone numbers. You can also find there an E-mail address and a Question & Comment section for this Web Site.
We hope that you will enjoy discovering what we are up to as we pursue life together by the grace of God! God’s blessings from the clergy and people of Saint James Church.
A Prayer for the Church
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred
mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were being cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
From The Book of Common Prayer
