Click here to read our Weekly Update, including a new series of Eco Church events and two sessions of theological reflection on the Eucharist during lockdown.
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Epiphany lockdown study and reflection Sun 31st Jan and Sun 7th Feb at 4pm on Zoom During the Epiphany lockdown, Lucy Winkett and Sarah Howard-Jones are leading two sessions of theological reflection on the Eucharist, not just as a service on a Sunday morning but as a pattern for life. The sessions will include some practical theology, some input, and also learning from one another how to connect with the Eucharist online, culminating in a reflective Eucharist, thinking about each element of the liturgy as it is prayed. Please email David at secretary@sjp.org.uk for the Zoom invitation to both sessions.  Click here to read our Weekly Update including two sessions of theological reflection on the Eucharist during lockdown, and recruitment for a part time Food Hospitality Outreach Coordinator.
 A message from our friends at The Iona Community.
The Iona Community is currently recruiting for staff at Iona Abbey and Camas outdoor centre in Mull. We want to be ready to reopen as soon as restrictions ease in the summer and currently anticipate roles beginning around 1st May. Applications must be received by 9.00am on Monday 1st February. Current Vacancies: Iona Administrator ● Deputy Housekeeper ● Programme Manager ● Sacristan Camas Activities Worker. For more information please click here. Volunteering at Iona and Camas Our volunteer programme in 2021 is running as usual. In addition, through our Unlocked programme, we particularly welcome applications from people whose lives and plans have been knocked off course by lockdown restrictions. For more information and how to apply please click here.  Our Contemplative Liturgy this month will be held on Sunday 24th January at 3.00pm on Zoom.
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. The session will be open from 2.50pm. 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. We are especially interested in more sustainable ways of living that you have adopted. Please email ecochurch@sjp.org.uk in order to get the Zoom link and liturgy sheet. Those attending regularly will receive an email with the details.  Our good friends at the Companions of Malta run our local 'donations hubs' that coordinate the distribution of donations to people experiencing homelessness. At this time, they are in particular need of men's and women’s clothes and shoes (not children’s clothes), toiletries (new please) and entertainment items (e.g. books/crosswords/puzzles/art and craft items). The donations are sorted, packed and delivered to hotels and hostels housing the homeless during the pandemic. You can deliver items to St Joseph's Hall, Brompton Oratory, 5 Thurloe Place, Knightsbridge, London SW7 2RR. Current opening hours: Wed 2–5.30pm and 6.30–7.30pm; Sat 10.30am–2pm. Or please contact Kate MacKenzie on london.companionsofmalta@gmail.com to enquire about other potential delivery times.  Click here to read our Weekly Update, including a letter from our PCC and Clergy regarding the suspension of public worship during the lockdown.
On Thursday 7th Jan, we announced that we strongly affirmed the government guidance to please stay at home during the national lockdown and to instead join us for online worship. Nevertheless, we would keep a very limited number of places at the Sunday Eucharist for people for whom it is really important to attend church in-person and they cannot attend a more local church.
Today on the 8th Jan, the London mayor has declared a ‘major incident’ and specifically called upon places of worship to close. Consequently, we've now taken the decision to suspend public worship until further notice. You can read a longer letter from our Rector and Churchwardens here.
 SJP Eco Church for 2021
Please join us for a community meeting on Sunday 17th January at 3.00pm on Zoom. 2021 is a hugely significant year for the planet. The decade in which we must halve carbon emissions as a worldwide community has begun. Three major UN conferences on Oceans, Biodiversity and Climate are scheduled. The climate conference will be in Glasgow in November. In the UK, a Green Recovery Plan from the Covid pandemic is proposed, and the second reading of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill is coming up in March. The Church of England has committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2030, and faith communities across the world are joining together and taking action. At St James's Church we will launch a new vision and mission for the church in radically changed circumstances. And each of us has personal decisions to make about how we live our own lives. What action should we take as a church community? Education? Campaigns? Liturgy? Creative projects? Partnerships? Please come and add your voice to this discernment of what is ours to do in the middle of a pandemic in the middle of London. The format will include small breakout groups to enable everyone's voices to be heard. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81786574841?pwd=Qm5STVZxSndPdVBVVGlTRU95bGRxQT09 Meeting ID: 817 8657 4841 Passcode: 681020 One tap mobile +442039017895,,81786574841#,,,,*681020# United Kingdom +441314601196,,81786574841#,,,,*681020# United Kingdom If you are unable to come but would like to contribute, please email ecochurch@sjp.org.uk  Click here to read our Weekly News Update
A message from the Parochial Church Council at St James's Piccadilly:
It’s with great sadness that the Church Council announces the Piccadilly Market at St James’s will not re open in the New Year. In common with the experience of many retailers and businesses in central London, low footfall and repeated closures have made it impossible to continue. The number of tourists to Westminster, on which the market depends for customers, is not expected to recover for some time. This was a difficult decision as the church courtyard has been host to many different market stalls since the 1980s and some of our current traders have been here for 10 years or more. We thank you for all your custom over the years and the council wishes all the traders well as they look for new outlets in the future. The Piccadilly Market is now closed.  Click here for our Weekly News Update.
 Candles & Stars - A Christmas Celebration
A message from The Revd Lindsay Meader, Senior Chaplain to Theatre Chaplaincy UK, and former Associate Rector of St James's Church, Piccadilly. Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters, At the end of a challenging year and an intensely difficult one for the theatre industry, I’m delighted to share with you Theatre Chaplaincy UK’s online Christmas celebration. Featuring a wealth of West End talent, Candles & Stars is now available to watch on our new Theatre Chaplaincy UK YouTube here. Usually around this time we would gather in the Actors’ Church to sing carols together, but this year is obviously different in so many ways and we are very grateful to our guest performers who have shared recordings from their homes, or for those lucky enough to to have been working, the dressing and rehearsal rooms that have become their second homes. So I very much hope that you will tune in from your homes to enjoy a carefully chosen selection of songs and readings to reflect and celebrate the hope at the heart of the Christmas story. With best wishes and prayers for a peaceful Christmas and every blessing for the New Year, Lindsay
 Contemplative Liturgy this month will be held on Sunday 27th December at 3.00pm on Zoom.
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. The session will be open from 2.50pm. 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.  Click here to view our Weekly News Update
Bethlehem Big Give Event A message from our friends at the Amos Trust At this time of year, Amos Trust would normally be getting ready to hold a Christmas Service at St James's Piccadilly. This is one of our favourite events of the year as we feel really at home at St James's and have so appreciated your support over the years. However, everything looks very different this year, so instead we would like to invite you to our Bethlehem Big Give Event online on the 7th December - Amos Trust’s Chris Rose and Katie Hagley will be presenting alongside Sami Awad from Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem, Sami will be a familiar face for many of you, having spoken at St James's a number of times. We'll also be hearing poetry from Zena Kazeme and Harry Baker, music from Beth Rowley and thought-provoking contributions from our friends around the world. We hope you can join us for an evening of poetry, music, film and reflection. Please visit www.amostrust.org/diary for more details and to register. Images: Sami Awad, Zena Kazeme, Harry Baker.
In the meantime, we are really excited as our 2020 Christmas Appeal is part of the Big Give, which means that any donations made before midday on the 8th December will be doubled. This year our appeal is for Amos' partner NECC in Gaza who work tirelessly to create hope for children and young people. It is estimated that 25,000 children & young people have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from living through 3 major conflicts and having seen friends & family shot or injured & need therapeutic support. Our local partner in Gaza, NECC, runs play therapy sessions bringing a sense of hope and joy to 1,200 children each year and support for young mothers from some of the worst affected parts of Gaza. They also train young people with employment skills & provide individual & group therapy. Boys unable to stay in school are trained in metalwork and carpentry; over 18s learn electrical engineering & solar power installation. Young women learn secretarial skills or attend Gaza‘s first graphic design course. They receive extensive work experience, mentoring into employment and can apply for microloans for business start-ups. If you would like to donate please visit https://www.amostrust.org/give/christmas-appeal-2020/ Thank you to everyone at St James's for all your support and encouragement over the years and Happy Christmas from all of us at Amos Trust.  Mission (2020) artworks by Victoria Burgher
Mission (2020) is a series of three sculptures that use African hardwood, copper, opium poppy heads, rubber and sugar to consider the colonial exploitation of people and resources. They reference the links between missionary activity and imperial expansion – the "civilising mission" that was used as a justification for colonisation. St James's Piccadilly is an apt location for the works due to its proximity to the East India Club, which was founded for officers of the East India Company, as well as army, navy and legal officers who served in India. The church has a number of memorials to people who served in colonial territories. Victoria Burgher is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice ranges from sculptural installations and site-specific interventions to collaborative community projects. She is interested in art’s ability to challenge histories and a fascination with materials and process inform her approach to making. Current work uses colonial commodities to visually re-examine narratives of empire. She has a background in ceramics, but has used sugar, bread, rubber, copper, indigo, salt and bagasse, among other materials, in her installations. She has an MA from Goldsmiths College, University of London and lives and works in East London. Image: Mission (Rubber) 2020, rubber, sugar, African hardwood, silver wire, plaster (10x10x60cm) Photo credit: Gigi Giannella  The Covid-19 pandemic abruptly plunged St James's into the online world of live-streaming. We're delighted to be sharing our creative worship, adventurous events and beautiful church building with a new global audience but it quickly became apparent that we did not have the audio-visual technology that we needed to broadcast our services and concerts at the quality they deserved.
Using expertise from within our congregation and advice from AV production suppliers, we formulated a plan to enable high-quality live-streaming and recording, and to improve the restricted sightlines of the gallery seating and the sound for outdoor services. Being granted permission to carry out this work in a church building with such significant heritage value as St James's is a lengthy process. We're extremely grateful for everyone's patience during this period, and we're delighted to report that our application to install this new audio-visual equipment has now reached the stage of posting a public notice of our intentions for 28 days, which you can read here.  Living in Love and Faith
The Church of England has published a set of resources for parishes and communities to discuss together over the coming months as a result of a working group looking at identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. We are all invited to engage with this process of conversation and discernment and our deanery of Westminster is considering how to engage with it more widely too. There is a 5 week course, a set of films, a book. Please do go to the website here and take a look for yourself. In the coming months, the PCC will talk about how St James’s can take part in these conversations and together as a congregation we will discuss this too. In the light of all the feedback, in 2022, the Church of England General Synod will decide if changes should be made to the church’s current teaching and practice.  CHRISTMAS 2020
Despite the restrictions on public worship, we are celebrating Christmas to the full both online and in-person, even if we can’t sing together inside the church. Indoor services will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel here. Congregational singing is permitted outside, and so some elements of our carol services will move out into the courtyard to make the most of this opportunity. Do wrap up warm! ATTENDANCE IN-PERSON IS BY REGISTRATION ONLY Please click on the eventbrite.co.uk links below to register for your free tickets. You must book separately for each event you wish to attend.
CAROL SERVICES IN TIER 4 The two carol services, 3.00pm on Sunday 20th December and 4.00pm on Christmas Eve are booked out on Eventbrite. We held our first ‘Carols in the Courtyard’ on Tuesday 15th December and reviewed how it went to learn from our experience. We were able to hold a safe socially distanced carol service within the courtyard, but we learned that despite the best efforts of our staff, it was a challenge to control the crowds on Piccadilly, who were in danger from time to time of not being socially distanced themselves. Therefore on Sunday 20th December and on Christmas Eve, we will begin both of these services in the church building, to listen to the professional choir sing, take part in the prayers and hear the sermon. At the end of the service, we will move safely into the courtyard for a shorter time of congregational carol singing, accompanied by the brass band, not allowing any time for any unsafe crowding at the gates. Our central London location means that we must take care of this aspect of public worship. We expect to live stream these services from the church building. We have made a film of the first Carols in the Courtyard which will be uploaded to our YouTube channel this week. COVID-19 INFORMATION: Pre-Registration You need to register in advance for all services. Face coverings You must wear face coverings in places of worship, unless you have a valid exemption. Tier 4 / Rule of Six You are welcome to attend our services in individual groups of up to six people from the same household or support bubble. Contact details You must provide a contact phone number either when you book or when you arrive, as this is a legal requirement. Seating We are operating a socially-distanced seating plan, with reduced overall capacity for all our services. Pews are cleaned between each event.  Click here to view our Weekly News Update
Jocelyn Henry 12th July 1931 - 19th November 2020  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. 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. 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. Jocelyn's funeral service will be live-streamed from St James's on Zoom at 1.30pm on Tuesday 8th December. To receive a Zoom invitation, please email David at secretary@sjp.org.uk May she rest in peace and rise in glory. It was Jocelyn’s wish that donations be made in her memory to The Urostomy Association here. |
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