LOAVES & FISHES

You’ve heard the whining… perhaps you, like me, have fallen prey to it yourself: whining about the terms “happy holidays” and “winter break” having all but replaced the word “Christmas” in our culture’s vocabulary.

But isn’t the root of the word “holiday” “holy day”?

And aren’t the days, for us, from Thanksgiving through Advent, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s, and Epiphany holy days – holi-days – in that sense: days that we have an opportunity to set aside our normal routines and see God – the Holy One – at work in our lives?

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for our abundance. As a recent reflection by Br. Curtis Almquist put it,

“When we pray in the Lord's Prayer, ‘Give us today our daily bread,’ if we already have the assurance of bread at our own table, our prayer should enlarge to, ‘Give them today their daily bread’ or maybe even, for some of us, "Give them today our daily bread...’ and then to add a petition for the clarity and courage to know what that means for us personally.”

To the degree we pray that prayer, Thanksgiving can be a holi-day.

Advent – the four weeks set aside in the church calendar prior to Christmas Day – is a time of joyful preparation for, and anticipation of, Christmas. Advent is a time to count down, and get ready for Christmas.

Are you ready for Christmas?

By that, I don’t mean, “have you finished shopping?”—although the giving-and-receiving-of-gifts is a very important way to celebrate Christmas. I mean, are you ready for Christmas in the sense that you see the giving-and-receiving-of-gifts that happens on Christmas morning as a kind of reenactment of the greater story of God’s giving-and-receiving-of-gifts?

When we give a (thoughtful, and not necessarily expensive!) gift to another person, we are doing far more than exchanging material goods.

When we give a (thoughtful, and not necessarily expensive!) gift to another person, we are saying, “I have thought about you. You are dear to me. I desire your happiness, and hope this gift brings joy to you.”

Now think about it: that’s what God is up to when he gives us his gifts!

That is what God is up to in creation. In giving us his Commandments. In giving us the prophets.

And most of all that – God saying, “I have thought about you. You are dear to me. I desire your happiness, and hope this gift brings joy to you” – is what God was up to that first Christmas.

And that gift is God, himself!

That first Christmas was God giving himself, “wrapped up,” in flesh!

That first Christmas was a reminder that God will do anything – go to any length – to bridge the gap between us, so that we might finally know he loves us and desires us.

That is why Advent and Christmas are holi-days.

New Year’s Day, although a secular holiday, can also be a holy-day, because it is a reminder of the linear nature of life: there is a beginning, a middle, and an end to each year, just as there is a beginning, middle and end to each of our lives on earth. New Year’s Day can remind us that time is precious, and that our life here on earth does not last forever. That’s why New Year’s lends itself so well to the making of resolutions!

To the degree that we use New Year’s and New Year’s Resolutions to make a fresh start of daily contact with God – through a new prayer discipline or by setting aside time to read Scripture every day – New Year’s Day can be a holi-day.

And finally, Epiphany is a powerful conclusion to the holidays. Epiphany – which always falls on January 6^th – is the 12^th and final day of Christmas. Epiphany means “showing” and is the day the church sets aside to celebrate the “showing” of the newborn baby Jesus to the wider world.

On Epiphany, we observe the custom of the Burning of the Greens (once again this year at the Hatch farm, beginning at 5:00 p.m.). We gather all our Christmas trees and other greens and place them in a huge bonfire. To the degree that you see the heat and light of that fire – coming into one of the coldest and darkest nights of the year – as a powerful symbol of God’s warmth and light coming into the cold and dark spaces of your life – Epiphany will be to you a holi-day.

So – let others whine. I say,

Happy holidays!

Fr. John

Senior Warden’s Report

Dear friends,

Some very exciting news: to ensure that the people of St. James’ have the resources and support they need to further their ministries and live out the mission of the church, we are pleased to announce that Ms. Keith Nelsen Stroud will be joining us in the newly-created position of Director of Parish Operations. A resident of The Plains, she will begin her service here at St. James’ on Wednesday, January 2.

A graduate of Wilson College with a bachelor’s degree in English, Keith brings a strong background in non-profit management, as well as experience as a small-business owner.

Equally as important, she has been an active lay leader in her Episcopal church, serving as a vestry member and Lay Eucharistic Minister, leading stewardship and fellowship ministries, and teaching Sunday School. Keith also has been a leader within the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, serving as chair of the Diocesan Committee on Stewardship and a Delegate to Council.

Keith’s main role at St. James’ is to align staff, systems, business practices, policies and key leadership teams with St. James’ mission, so that pastoral care, worship, discipleship and outreach ministries will be well supported administratively. Or, to put it another way: she will be ensuring that the “9-to-5 weekday” world of St. James’ is closely aligned with the “5 p.m. to 10 p.m./Saturday-and-Sunday” world!

Reporting to the Rector, in collaboration with the Senior Warden, and working closely with the clergy team, Vestry, and ministry heads, Keith will provide direction and oversight for the effective functioning of parish support functions, including communications, information technology, hospitality, scheduling, buildings and grounds, and other essential areas.

She will be leading our talented and dedicated office staff, including Sheri Nelson, our Financial Administrator; Janine Carmichael, who will be taking on a new position as Communications Coordinator; Courtney Patterson, Administrative Assistant; Kay Gregg, our Registrar/Wedding Coordinator; Adan Cortes, Weekday Sexton, and Carlos Rodriguez, Sunday Sexton.

Keith comes to us following an extensive search; thanks to parishioners Ed Hatrick and Karen Knobloch for joining the clergy, staff and wardens throughout the interview process.

We are blessed to have a terrific team of clergy, staff, lay leaders and parishioners who make up the Christian community of St. James’. With more than 1,500 members and a $1.2 million budget, we are pleased to have our new Director of Parish Operations on board to guide our rapidly growing day-to-day organizational needs. I know you will join me in warmly welcoming Keith in January!

In faith,

Mary Frances Forcier

Senior Warden

Christmas Worship Schedule

Sunday, December 23: Fourth Sunday of Advent

Regular services at 7:45, 9:00, and 11:15 a.m.

Monday, December 24: Christmas Eve*

3:30 p.m. Children’s Liturgy and Holy Eucharist

5:30 p.m. Children’s Liturgy and Holy Eucharist

7:30 p.m. Festive Holy Eucharist

10:00 p.m. Chorale Prelude

11:00 p.m. Festive Midnight Mass

Tuesday, December 25: Christmas Day*

10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist

(Please note change in time.)

Sunday, January 6: “Twelfth Night,” or Epiphany

Our Annual Meeting with election of Vestry members will take place at 10:00 a.m. in the Nave

Our annual Burning of the Greens at 5:00 p.m. at the Hatch farm

Our normal Sunday service schedule is:

7:45 a.m. Holy Eucharist

9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Children’s Chapel

10:10 a.m. Adult Forum, Sunday Schools

11:15 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Children’s Chapel and Prayers for Healing

Christmas Offerings

St. James’ will continue a longstanding tradition of donating 100% of its Christmas offering to various outreach causes. Collections from these services have been designated to extend our outreach at local, national, and international levels. The following are summaries of the mission of each of the causes benefiting from your contributions.

International

· To fund St. James’ summer 2008 youth mission trip to Africa to bring electrification and lighting to rural villages

National/Regional

· To fund our own Pete Nunnally as a full-time volunteer in the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, providing relief and hope to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

· To fund a summer of 2008 youth mission trip to Appalachian North Carolina (Towel Ministry) providing home repairs to the working poor

Local

· To provide the highly-readable daily Bible “Message/Remix – Pause” to prisoners at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center

· To provide funding for our church’s work with Good Shepherd Alliance in easing the burden of homelessness

· To provide Loudoun Cares with funding to support their ministry in helping to link Loudoun residents in need with the social service agencies and programs that can best serve them.

St. James’ Alternative Gift Market a Huge Success!

by The Rev. Kate Bryant

Friends, the numbers are in—we raised *$14,269* at the Alternative Gift Market held at St. James’ on December 9!

*THANK YOU* to the youth who did such a fabulous job in welcoming shoppers and handing out “Shopping Lists.”

Ken Getty on behalf of Adult Mission—New Orleans Recovery, Jennifer Lassiter on behalf of Aurora, Janice King on behalf of Circle of Love, John Cullinane on behalf of Good Shepherd Alliance, Susan Griner on behalf of Heifer International, Andy Johnson on behalf of Loudoun Cares, Nancy Sutton on behalf of Loudoun Volunteer Caregivers, Barbara Notar on behalf of Loudoun Literacy Council, Karen Minichino on behalf of St. James’ stained glass windows restoration, and Kimberly Haeringer on behalf of Solar Lights for Africa/Bromley Mission, *THANK YOU* for your creative displays and wonderful merchandise, and for sharing the mission of the organizations you represent.

Sheila Brooks, McLean Pumphrey, Lollie & Ivey Shankle, Kathi Margeson, Mike Carren, and Liz Dotur, *THANK YOU* for serving as cashiers.

Drs. Knobloch and Cooksey, *THANK YOU* for offering Christmas carols to inspire shoppers.

Courtney Patterson, *THANK YOU* for contacting the participating charities, making signs, crafting honor cards, and taking care of so many logistical details. Janine Carmichael, *THANK YOU* for creating the beautiful banner.

And last but definitely not least, *THANK YOU* to Mike, Jennifer and Emma Galvin, who coordinated the 2007 Alternative Gift Market, created a fantastic bulletin board in the Narthex, staffed the Loudoun Community Free Clinic table, arrived at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday to help set-up and left at 1:30 p.m. to help close, and worked so hard to make this year’s AGM a success!

If I have inadvertently left anyone out of these thanks, please do extend our thanks to them. It was a terrific event!

Christmas Blessings from Africa

By Kimberly Haeringer

In November, I traveled to Liberia in West Africa on an exploratory mission for Solar Lights for Africa and St. James’, as we look to electrify the Bromley Mission, an Episcopal school which houses and educates war orphans. Before the war, Bromley was one of the premier schools in Liberia and after the war, the Episcopal Diocese rescued many starving orphans and re-opened the school. There is an enormous amount of work to be done, but solar power is an effectual start. With the sun’s renewable resource, the school will have running water, the classrooms will have light and the children will be able to study at night. They will also have power for future computers.

On this trip, I traveled with members of St. David’s, St. Gabriel’s and St. Peter’s, participating in their annual adult mission trip, where we refurbished the school’s library and gave them hundreds of new donated books. We also donated three months of food, sports equipment for soccer and kickball, bags of yarn for crocheting, clothes, shoes and stuffed animals. In addition, we took pictures for next year’s yearbook, installed clothes lines so that clothes won’t need to be dried in the grass, and implemented a mattress replacement program for the future. As malaria is a deadly concern for the students, we also reinstated efforts to install screens for the windows and mosquito nets for the beds.

The most rewarding of all our work, however, was the most simple: the installation of two tire swings, an anomaly most of these children had never seen. Normally, when we walked the property of the school each day, the grounds were completely silent. Students on their breaks were quietly talking or reading under the shade of the enormous trees. As soon as the swing was secured, the air was filled with sounds of children screeching and laughing with delight, a sound that we take for granted on our playgrounds at home.

On our first day at Bromley, Veronica, an 18-year-old student, came over to where I was working, took my hand and pulled me to a stone ledge, sat me down and laced her arm around mine. “Sit and talk with me,” she said. From that moment on, I realized that, if for nothing else, companionship and connection were what these children craved and I absorbed the true purpose of our trip. It would not be the dust in our hair or the sweat on our backs they would remember, but our hand in theirs.

A trip like this is life-altering in so many ways, and the images of the faces of Liberia will never leave me, but our most cherished gifts were from the hearts of the children of Bromley: their strength and resolve, which strengthened us, their purest love which overflowed our hearts, their hope which feeds our hope, and their radiant smiles which still fill our days. We arrived as the “givers,” but left as the recipients of the love so freely given by these children who, in the end, gave us so much more than we gave them. I began to fully comprehend the truth that we human beings need each other, that as Margaret Rizza wrote in Mysterium Amoris, “The meaning of life is the mystery of love.”

I received many letters from children while I was there, folded up and slipped into my pocket or left in my journal whenever I laid it down, letters blessing me