 Dear Friends of Saints James and Andrew,
We tell the world who we are, and who we believe God is calling us to be, in our mission statement. This is included in the footer of all our correspondence, worship leaflets, website, and even on a banner outside the church. We have incorporated these values into our common life, and we strive to embody them in our ministry and outreach efforts. It’s a journey; one we make joyfully together in faith. Mission and Vision: We believe God is calling us to cultivate a community of love, joy, hope, and healing. Jesus is our model for a life of faith, compassion, hospitality, and service. We strive to be affirming and accessible, welcoming and inclusive; we seek to promote reconciliation, exercise responsible stewardship, and embrace ancient traditions for modern lives. Here are some of the ways we lived into this mission in 2024. We created beautiful worship together and welcomed new members into our community. We blessed chalk; gardeners and their tools; bicycles; backpacks; and animals. We featured Stations of the Cross focused on overcoming racism, and offered a variety of teaching sermons. We introduced Pentecost and Advent services of Lessons & Carols. We launched a new regular bible study to support our Lay Preachers Guild in their sermon preparation. We continue to cherish our monthly Coffee and Conversation. We lived into the sacraments and sacramental rites of our tradition. We baptized Max Barbato, Wendy Herzig, and Emmalina Jones-Burke into the body of Christ. We bid farewell to members Audrey Arms; Ced Bannister; John and Betts Bednarski; Quentin and Mary Murrell Faulkner; Felicia Finck; Rick Gwosch, and Lorraine Penick - entrusting them to God and the saints in light. We successfully launched a new midweek eucharist led by our Missioner, Rev. Jimmy Pickett. Our Pastoral Care Team brought eucharist to those on our visitation list (27 visits) and many more pastoral check-ins. We witnessed the fruit of our two year holy experiment with Missioner Rev. Jimmy Pickett, whose work focuses on spiritual formation and will conclude in November 2025. There were opportunities for dinner church and book studies. Of particular note is our growing ministry to children and families. We began with monthly dinners and in Advent launched a new children’s chapel program. We welcomed Preciosa Pagan on staff as a paid childcare assistant, and Cara Hins, as the volunteer coordinator. We launched a successful new outreach ministry, Bach’s Lunch, funded by a one time diocesan grant. These free midweek concerts feature many of the professional musicians within our parish, and some beyond. People are invited to bring a bag lunch and enjoy the beauty of the music and the church. Each concert averaged about 50 people, and they have been well received by the wider community. With full hearts we have continued to offer two weekly feeding ministries, an essentials pantry, a fiber arts ministry, creation care programming, a companioning ministry, a community labyrinth, cheering at the Pride Parade, and we raised nearly $3,000 for St. Matthew’s School in Haiti. At times the need around us was so great, we nearly overwhelmed our own capacity. We will need to continue discerning how to adapt our outreach efforts to better reflect our current realities, as it relates to our human and financial resources. We navigated a variety of staffing changes with intention and care. We began a culture shift around how staffing supports our buildings, which house our mission and ministries. Some of these changes include: the retirement of longtime Sexton, Steve Hussey, and Interim Sexton, Deb Parker; expanding the scope of Parish Administrator Aaron McMurray’s role to meet current facility and property use needs; and onboarding Collective Cleaners to manage twice weekly cleanings of our entire facility. We had a successful year of sharing our space with the wider community through our property use program, where we welcomed Marietta Skeen into Upper Room 1 and Pioneer Valley Symphony music lessons into the Lower Level. We cared for our facility, as Property tended to both long term deferred maintenance and routine maintenance. There were sinkholes to fill, basements to seal, a courtyard to refinish, kitchen equipment that required replacing; and trim to replace (with a new material that will last 100 years!). A taskforce began exploring the future of the Strong House. The generosity of this community never ceases to amaze, as people share their time, talent, and treasure to help us embrace and embody our mission and ministry. Whether your work is visible or behind the scenes - thank you. Let us continue to walk in love. With peace and gratitude, Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector
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Dear Friends of Saints James and Andrew,
This past spring, we hired Deb Parker as our Facilities staff to address our cleaning, event, security, on call, and other facility needs. She has done great work for us, including making several efficiencies. This fall Deb’s schedule changed, and we came to the mutual decision that her time with us would conclude on November 23, following the Mistletoe Mart & Craft Faire. Please join me in thanking Deb for a job well done. We’ve spent the last two years experimenting, analyzing and learning about our staffing needs. As the Vestry looked to the future, we decided to go in a new direction. We have hired our current Office Administrator, Aaron McMurray, as our new Parish Administrator, effective November 1. Aaron has a background in supporting churches administratively, as well as, in a facilities management role. Aaron will continue to be responsible for all of their current tasks around parish administration and communication, property use, plus event set up/take down, property on call, security, minor repairs, liaising with the Property Committee around meeting contractors and keeping up certifications. Moving forward, Aaron will have the overall responsibility, being the point person, for the day to day operation of our spaces. We believe this change:
We are also entertaining the notion and weighing the pros and cons of hiring a staff person v. hiring a cleaning service. We have learned from other churches with large, active facilities how helpful it was to make such a shift. We are currently collecting the information from cleaning services, but we believe it is worth the Vestry’s serious consideration. We hope to make a decision within the next couple of weeks. Another staffing change relates to our Missioner, the Rev. Jimmy Pickett. We hired Rev. Jimmy to serve as our Missioner for Formation, Community, and Mission as part of a two year holy experiment with our diocese and St. John’s, Athol. The position was ⅔ time, with ⅓ time in each parish, and Rev. Jimmy supplemented this work with agricultural work. He has done excellent work building a community on Wednesday mornings with those who gather for Holy Eucharist, as well as his work with our young families ministry. As we looked back on the first year together, we realized his work was heavily under the umbrella of formation. We’ve changed his title to Missioner for Formation and his work for the second year will be focused primarily on continuing the great work he has already begun. This is a time specific job, and Rev. Jimmy will conclude his time with us in late 2025. Meanwhile, St. John’s, Athol, have increased his time to ½ time, allowing him to focus more fully on parish ministry and take a step back from agricultural work. As the young families ministry has experimented and grown this last year, we made the decision to shift to some Sunday morning programming a couple of times a month starting in Advent. This ministry will be run by parents, caregivers, and other parishioners excited with engaging our young parishioners. Rev. Jimmy is currently overseeing the hiring process so we might pay for a second adult to help manage childcare (kids who need to be brought to the restrooms or require a bit of support in listening or engaging with the programming). If you know anyone who would be a good fit for this role who is over 18, please contact Rev. Jimmy at [email protected]. Likewise, if you are excited to potentially work with our young kids on a rota of other volunteers, please speak to Rev. Jimmy or myself. Thank you for your ongoing love, care, and support for the James and Andrew community, and your faithfulness to the mission and ministry God has called our parish into during this chapter. May God continue to bless the work happening here, and may all we do be to the glory of God. Peace, Rev. Heather J. Blais, on behalf of Clergy & Vestry  Dear Friends of Saints James and Andrew,
The Vestry recently met to discuss our remaining local Covid-19 era protocols; all diocesan protocols having previously been rescinded. It was concluded that we will rescind such protocols, but we want to invite the community to reflect on the practice of communion. We will no longer require windows and doors to be open for worship. When the weather allows, we will open them for fresh air to circulate. Ushers will collaborate with the Rector on Sunday mornings, or the Wardens, in her absence. We will continue to use a Flexible Masking Policy as a way to reduce respiratory virus transmission. While the policy was created as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic, we’ve learned it's a healthy practice in general. With regard to masks, the Celebrant and Lay Eucharistic Ministers will no longer be required to mask for distribution of communion and healing prayers. Moving forward it will be a personal decision for each person. With regard to communion: The Church has long held that if you take only one form of Communion (either the bread or the wine) you are fully communed; thus no one should ever feel pressured to receive the wine. For those who would like to receive the wine, there have historically been two ways: drinking from the common cup and intinction (the dipping of the bread into the common cup). When we resumed communion in 2022, drinking from the common cup was permitted, but intinction was not. Effective immediately, we will permit intinction, though the practice is discouraged for two reasons. First, intinction has a complex social and theological history. Here is a brief history of intinction, largely gathered from Daniel Sack’s Whitebread Protestants: Food and Religion in American Culture:
Second, science has much to tell us about the common cup and the practice of intinction. The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts summarized this science well in a letter from Bishop Gates, found here:
We would like to invite each of us to reflect on our own practice of receiving communion. Why do we abstain, intinct, or drink from the common cup? Is it because a caregiver or priest once told us ‘this is the way’? What practice draws us closer to God and the community we worship alongside? What helps us to grow in faith? There is no ‘wrong’ answer, particularly if we are making our decision with intention and care. We welcome your reflections and thoughts. Please do not hesitate to be in touch with our clergy and vestry leaders. Peace, Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector On behalf of Saints James and Andrew Vestry |
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