CHRISTMAS 2020
At the time of writing, we are not sure which tier of restrictions we will be subject to. But whichever tier we are in, we will be celebrating Christmas to the full online and if we can in-person, even if we can’t sing together!

We will ask people to register online for these services and more details will be available on how to do that very soon.​​​

• Sunday 13th December at 2.00pm:​ Blue Christmas a service of comfort and hope for those who find this time of year difficult​​​
• ​Sunday 20th December (afternoon TBC): Parish Carol Service with scripture, readings and music
• Thursday 24th December at 4.00pm: Christmas Eve Carol Service
• Thursday 24th December at 11.30pm: Midnight Mass​
• Friday 25th December at 11.00am: Christmas Day Eucharist​

​If you have any ideas for how we can celebrate Christmas together online in addition to our services, please do send them to David Hamilton-Peters secretary@sjp.org.uk
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​Some have suggested a carols singalong online, or a Christmas Day online gathering in the afternoon.

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​Our dear friend Jocelyn Henry passed away peacefully at her home in the early hours of the 19th November.  Jocelyn had been coming to St James’s for many years, and was not only a member of the congregation but also a volunteer receptionist in the Rectory.
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In later years, Jocelyn would come to church every Thursday to fold the service sheets in preparation for each Sunday, and was beloved among the Rectory staff as well as among her many friends on Sundays.
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Jocelyn was also a member of her local Quaker meeting and alternated attendance between St James’s and the Quakers.

​She was a beautiful, mischievous, incisive and strong person, who had experienced many challenges and adventures growing up in Antigua, living in the UK, and also travelling extensively all over the world. Many of us will cherish memories of her playful seriousness about life and living, her curiosity and resilience when faced with ill health or frailty, and her determination to find love and positivity in any situation she was in.

​Her funeral service will be held at St James’s under government restrictions in due course, but will be streamed online for all those who will be unable to attend.

​May she rest in peace and rise in glory.

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Fundraising Manager
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Full time role: fixed-term 6 month employment contract
Salary £36,000 per annum
 
St James’s Piccadilly seeks to appoint a Fundraising Manager with a proven track record who will be responsible for securing grants from new and existing charitable trusts, statutory bodies and foundations. This is an exciting opportunity to develop the fund raising function for this much loved Grade I Wren Church in central London. The post holder will produce high quality, tailored applications, maintain excellent relationships with funders through effective and timely reporting and ensure that all sources of potential income are explored for St James’s Piccadilly.
  
Closing date for applications: midday Monday 16th November 2020.
Remote interviews: Friday 20th November 2020 between 3pm and 6pm.
 
St James’s Church Piccadilly is an equal opportunities employer. For the avoidance of doubt, we explicitly welcome applications from applicants who have Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic heritage or who identify as LGBTQ.
 
Full job description ​here
Application form here

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Join us on Sunday 1st November for the online launch of the Soul at Saint James Project, a collaboration between St James's Church and Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir.

The project launches with the premiere of Courage - Standing Up to Racism with many sections of the hour-long piece filmed at St James's Church.


The event features music and poetry, and a conversation about racial injustice between members of the choir. Songs from the event, some challenging, other inspiring, are by artists including Whitney Houston, John Legend, Billie Holiday, and Curtis Mayfield.Poet and rapper, Solomon O.B. will help to weave this musical experience together.

Courage aims to challenge us all to actively contribute to dismantling racism and inequalities within our sphere of influence. In this first event we are also partnering with LyrixOrganix.

Soul at Saint James was originally intended to be a series of monthly events, held in the courtyard on Sunday afternoons aiming to explore profound themes of human life, and of our times, including Love, Justice, Refuge and  Solace.

Please support this free event by registering for a reminder here or by visiting the Soul at Saint James Youtube Channel here on Sunday 1st November at 6.00 pm.

Join us in-person or on St James's YouTube channel for our All Souls' Eucharist with Fauré's Requiem sung by St James's Singers. If you're attending in-person please click here to book free tickets and supply track and trace details. Service sheet here.

Please send the names of those who have died that you would like to be remembered at this service to David Hamilton-Peters secretary@sjp.org.uk by Thursday 29th October.    

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A message from our Churchwardens, Deborah Colvin and Trevor Lines:
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We will all want to thank Graham Cooper for his tremendous work in organising the APCM and presiding over the various elections.  You will see below the names of those who have been elected to the PCC and the Deanery Synod, but before we just rush to focus on the election results, it is important to thank everyone who was involved.

First, can we give thanks to ALL of the candidates, particularly to those who have not been elected on this occasion.  All of them were generously offering to give their time and talents to the church.  We were blessed to have so many candidates this year and we hope that those disappointed this time know that their contributions are still cherished.  If you have a chance, you might like to thank them personally.

Secondly, a big 'thank you' to the six people who are leaving the PCC or the Deanery Synod. They are Carolyn Davies, Robert Duirs, Leah Hoskin, Evelyn Namutebi, Raks Patel and Pearl Willis. Your service and commitment to the church for the past three years (or more!) is hugely appreciated.

Thirdly, congratulations to those who are newly elected or re-elected. These are challenging times for the church but there are some exciting opportunities as well!

And, finally, thanks to Revd Lucy, Revd John and Claire Wright for their smooth management of the meeting on Zoom. THANK YOU!

In the election of lay members to the PCC, the following were elected to serve until the 2023 APCM:
Monica Bashade, Alison Beck, Ben Mariam, Lia Shimada, Wilson Wong, Claire Wright.

Also on Sunday 18th October, at the Annual Meeting of Parishoners, Deborah and Trevor were elected to serve as Churchwardens until the next Annual Meeting of Parishoners in 2021. We are tremendously grateful to them  for their commitment and ongoing hard work.​

Our Eco Contemplative Liturgy this month will be held on Sunday 25th October at 3.00pm on Zoom. Please not the later start time.

​If you are in the fortunate position of having some outside space, please do Zoom from outside, or from a window/door with a view. Alternatively, you might like to collect a leaf, flower, stone or shell before the liturgy. Participants will be invited to speak about their experience in their garden, view or object if they would like to.  
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The session will be open from 2.45pm. Arriving before 3.00pm will enable any glitches with audio or video to be sorted.  You are welcome to stay a while afterwards to chat with others.  
 
Please email ecochurch@sjp.org.uk in order to get the Zoom link and liturgy sheet. Those attending regularly will get an email with the details.

For our fourth post during Black History Month, our churchwarden Trevor has been researching the story of Ottobah Cugoano, baptised here in St James’s Piccadilly on the 20th August 1773: 

Quobna Ottobah Cugoano (to give him his full name) was born around 1757 in that part of west Africa that we now call Ghana. Ottobah belonged to the Fantes (‘the leavers’) who were the section of the Akan people that left to set up a new, more northerly, settlement at Mankassim. The Fantes still thrive to this day, with one of their recent prominent figures being Khofi Annan. At the age of 13, Ottobah. was kidnapped by slave traders while playing in a field with around eighteen to twenty other children. They were all seized and then shipped to the West Indies. At the end of the arduous journey, Ottobah was sold to a plantation owner in Grenada. He became a forthright critic of slavery and his influential book, Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery (1787) is still in print today. In his book, he wrote vividly of the brutality and cruelty that was meted out to the slaves. Hard labour, beatings and lashings were commonplace all against a background of abject hunger.

​Fortunately for Ottobah, his time in the plantations was limited when he was bought by an English merchant in 1772 and brought to England. He gained his freedom that same year, as a result of the Somersett Case which some people misinterpreted as an abolition of slavery in England. He was indeed fortunate to be freed because he didn’t live long enough to see slavery actually abolished by parliament.Now in London, Ottobah learned to read and write. He adopted a Christian faith and was baptised at St James’s, taking the name John Stuart. By 1784, he had been employed as a servant by the royal artist Richard Cosway and his wife, Maria. This connection brought Ottobah into contact with prominent figures of the time, including the poet William Blake, who was himself baptised in St James’s as an infant in 1757.

​Ottobah soon became one of the leaders of London’s African community. Along with Olaudah Equiano, he was very active in the ‘Sons of Africa’ group which condemned the practice of slavery and campaigned for its abolition.  They lobbied public figures and wrote regularly to the newspapers. In 1786, Ottobah and fellow campaigner Wiiliam Green, played a key role in the rescue of Henry Demane. Demane, a kidnapped black man, was set to be shipped back to the West Indies. Ottobah and Green contacted Granville Sharp (a well-known and well-connected abolitionist). Sharp intervened and Henry Demane was removed from the ship before it sailed.

The following year, Ottobah published his book. It was the first British publication in which an African argued for the end of the slave trade and the freeing of all slaves. Ottobah steered clear of too much autobiography and instead focused on a largely religious and philosophical line of argument.  He was, of course, writing to engage a white and sceptical audience. Four years later, in 1791, Ottobah published a shortened version of his book specifically for the ‘Sons of Africa’ in which he showed some support for British attempts to help freed slaves to return to Africa and he also called for the establishment of schools in Britain specifically for African students. He travelled extensively around Britain to promote the ideas contained within the book.

Thereafter, we have no further information about Ottobah. We have no record of his death nor where he was buried. What we do know, is that he was a man of grace who spoke with passion and determination. Africans, he wrote, ‘are born free, and are brought up with as great a predilection for their country, freedom and liberty, as the sons and daughters of fair Britain’.  

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Following her ordination on 26th September and her first Sunday on the team, Mariama has sent a card to the St James's family. Welcome to St James's Mariama!

A huge range of events are taking place around the world for Black History Month during October. Each week we'll be recommending something you may wish to explore - and you can find full listings for all the UK events at ​www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk. Two weeks ago, we encouraged you to discover the work of ​visual activist Zanele Muholi (see our blog post here). Last week, Carolyn, Jo and Raks recommend some of their favourite books and films about race. This week, we offer you 3 short videos about how White people can be good allies in helping to combat systems, institutions and ideologies that negatively affect Black people and their communities. 

​St James’s is a church with a rich spiritual life and social impact, and a rich cultural life too. ​

​Celebrating our heritage is a fundamental part of being a church and we are hugely grateful to the Culture Recovery Fund for awarding us a grant that will help us:

We hope you will join us in-person and online
​for a creative explosion of activity at St James's over the coming months!

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