The Compline Group invites us to 24 hours of Prayer and Fasting for Our World from sunset in Jerusalem on Sat 2nd Oct to sunset on Sun 3rd.

Will you join us in fasting and prayer for 24 hours, beginning with a Zoom Compline prayer at 5pm on Saturday 2nd October and ending on Zoom at 5pm on Sunday 3rd October? 

Why?

• As part of St James’s ‘Triumph of Delights’ Festival in  preparation for the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021.
• To pray for all in need at this time: the victims of climate change, the peoples of Afghanistan and the Middle East, refugees, asylum seekers, those living in fear, those suffering because of COVID 19. 
• To pray for our political and spiritual leaders that they might work for the good of all and the good of our planet.

 What?  
Fasting is a spiritual practice shared by many religions and central to Christian practice, especially in Lent, Advent and for specific intentions and prayers.  Removing distractions and simplifying our lives for a period of time helps to focus our minds, spirits and bodies on God. 

• You could fast from food and/or drink for 24 hours,
• Or fast from social media,
• Or fast from negative thoughts,
• Or fast from TV
• Or fast for just one meal, or two ….

​When? 
Begin on Saturday 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi who tried to live simply so that others can simply live, with an open invitation to begin with  Zoom Compline together at 5.00pm.
End on Sunday 3 October, the eve of the feast of St Francis of Assisi, with Zoom Compline at 5.00pm. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3042273592?pwd=d3NOZFBLaDd4OFRHVm82eVg1NTZydz09

Important note! 
Fasting from food or drink is not for everyone. The invitation is to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you and for you to join the Spirit in being gentle with yourself.  Please speak to any of the clergy or Debbie O'Brien or Hazel Bradley if you would like to talk this through. 

A booklet of Resources for reflection and prayer is downloadable here.
​
Breaking the fast could be in small groups (of your choosing) eating together, with the opportunity to pray Compline together in person or online.

We are in partnership with an Anglican Church in Melbourne, Australia praying and fasting at the same time, organized through the Compline Group.

'A Triumph of Delights' is how 17th century mystic Thomas Traherne describes creation. We are borrowing his expression to describe our festival in the run-up to COP26, the international conference on global climate change in Glasgow in November.

We hear daily bad news about the climate crisis, but how can we respond and still celebrate life in its fullness?

There will be many events and opportunities to engage throughout October, including;
​

• Prayer and Fasting for Our World 2-3 Oct
  
• Harvest journey to COP26 - throughout Oct
  
• Harvest festival - 10 Oct
  
• Gala Event - 26 Oct
  

Then on 31st Oct, the eve of the COP, we will spend the a day learning, creating, making music and more, followed by an all-night vigil in the courtyard.

We need LOTS of volunteer help - please email ecochurch@sjp.org.uk to get involved.

And every Thing is truly Infinite
In its Relation deep and exquisite

Join us on Sat 2nd October for an 8.9 mile walk from Chessington to Cheam, through nature reserves, open grassland, and Nonsuch Park. The route is mostly flat, with a few stepping stones over a stream to negotiate.
 
Lunch will be at a pub in Ewell (hopefully outside), but for anyone who would prefer, there is an option for a picnic lunch in a park. If anyone would like to do a shorter walk, it is possible to get a train back to London at the lunch stop (from Ewell West station, half-way through the walk).
​Travel will be by train from Waterloo to Chessington South, returning from Cheam to Victoria (both journeys approx. 35 mins). These are different train lines, but all stations are in London Boroughs so use Contactless, Oyster or TfL Travelcard (to zone 6).
 
Meet at Waterloo Station, near platform 4, at 9.30am for the 9.47 train to Chessington South.
 
We will need to reserve space at the pub for lunch, so it is essential that you let us know if you’re coming. Please email Jen at jenveallpix@gmail.com

Harvest journey to COP26 3 OCTOBER – 31 OCTOBER
​Wherever you are in London or the UK, join us as we travel from harvest to the climate change conference by going on a fundraising journey. You could be walking, rolling, or doing whatever appeals to you, for the month of October. 

We'd love for you to ask your family, friends, colleagues to consider sponsoring your journeys from 50p to any amount, it all counts. It would be brilliant if as many of you as possible could walk, run, sew, knit, leap and share this journey from Harvest towards COP26 and help us raise donations towards FEAST and Sunday Breakfast. We will finish by having a celebratory lunch together on 31st October with Eco Church and Aftermath and the whole community. 

For more information and the sponsorship form please click here. 

Next month, we're running a 4-week course to prepare adults for baptism and confirmation.
 
We will meet on Sundays 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th October at 1pm for 1-hour.
 
Candidates will then be baptised at St James’s in the 11am Eucharist on Sunday 31st October, The Feast of All Saints.
 
And on Saturday 6th November at 5pm, we will present candidates at St Paul’s Cathedral to be confirmed by the Bishop.
 
If you haven’t been baptised or confirmed, you’re very welcome to join this course as part of your ongoing discernment, with no obligation to be baptised or confirmed if you decide this isn’t right for you at this time. However, being the Church of England, if you do wish to be confirmed at St Paul’s Cathedral on 6th November, then there is some essential paperwork you will need to have completed by the start of October.
 
If you would like to join this course, or you have any questions about it, please contact John our Associate Rector at associate.rector@sjp.org.uk
​

Dear SJP Community,

​Rooted in God’s earth, we envision a just society and a creative, open-hearted church

At St James we are planning our vision and mission which will take us through the next 3
years and beyond as the Wren Project comes into being. In the planned giving group we have
reviewed our vision. We have renamed ourselves the Giving Team which better describes this
role.

​This is who we are:

​How do we best serve you, and the vision of St. James’s, as we partner with you in all aspects
of giving to grow and deepen our eucharistic community? What is a Christ-shaped invitation
where we help each other to discern our response to a generous God – with our time, gifts,
expertise, money? We are working alongside the new Director of Development, Brian
Willetts, as we deepen relationships between us and also with our neighbours. From the
autumn, there will be an exciting new campaign called ‘The Heart of St James’s’ which is our
way of letting our neighbours know who we are and how they could be part of the future here.
The Giving Team is a core part of this as we pray and discern together.

Come and find us – we want to hear from YOU…………

On Sunday 10th October, you will find us in the outside area of Café Nero after the 11.00
service. Please come and talk to us, tell us what you think, ask questions, bring suggestions,
comments …. we would like to get to know you better and find out what you think and feel
about money and giving as part of our life of faith.
​
…. And tell you about why we are here and what we do
​
The vision for St James’s Piccadilly is the foundation for our Church mission and action. This
defines the budget that is set each year. It includes everything from keeping the doors open
each day, to sharing the eucharist, to the development plans Lucy talked about earlier in the
year. Our role is to help each other as a community raise £161k this year and to increase our
regular giving. The need is still here.

Although our focus is on money, we are looking at all forms of giving as our collective and
individual contribution to the mission of St. James’s Church. This can’t happen without you.
We are also sensitive to the fact that many work full time; are living and giving and working in
other parts of London; that many are tired and stretched by coronavirus – so we work
together with care and compassion to explore our community life.

See further on for how we can begin to understand this as the spirituality of fundraising, an
expression of our life together and our share in the mission and action plan.

Finance updates
One of the things that many of you have said to us in the past is that you would like to be kept
regularly updated about the current financial position.
We will put regular /monthly updates about the latest financial position in the newsletters.

Have lots of fun and creativity for all 3-31 October
Through October eco church are planning a ‘Triumph of Delights’ month so we are joining in
with our own camino journey heading from harvest towards COP26. We want to raise £2k
for FEAST and Sunday Breakfast by having a sponsored four-week adventure which can be
walked, run, cycled, swum, knitted or contemplated together. No idea too crazy! Details will
follow in September’s newsletters – watch out for them! This is also a great opportunity to
reconnect, to get to know each other better and to talk to friends and family about what we
do at St James’s. Raise 50p or £50 – it all counts.

Let’s talk/think/pray about Bible, God and money -
money – how we think and feel about it is incredibly wide and varied, rooted in our
upbringing, relationships, life events, circumstance, beliefs. We are offering an invitation to
explore together about giving, why give, how much, what does it mean. And what does the
Bible say about it too?!

November – February
We are planning a series of events centred around ‘the spirituality of Fundraising’ by Henri
Nouwen. Henri was a Dutch Catholic priest and theologian who gave a number of talks
arising from the change in his experiences about asking for money, and the journey he made in
coming to understand fundraising as relationship, not transaction. We are asked to move
away from seeing money as a necessary evil that makes us feel awkward and embarrassed,
rather to view giving, whether of money, time or gifts, as an invitation to build a community
together, invited into the vision of St. James’s, and so to deepen our relationship with each
other and God.

Outline plan – more information to follow!
• 21st November: guest speaker on the spirituality of fundraising
o Lunch together – tell our stories, discuss the talk
• Advent 2021: A pilot group to study Spirituality of Fundraising workbook – it’s short,
about one session a week for 4 weeks! We need some enthusiastic companions to help
us – please join and let us know by emailing us at plannedgiving@sjp.org.uk; the
incentive is we’ll eat as we study together
• February 2021 – invitation to church wide exploring Spirituality of Fundraising in
Sunday teaching; storytelling, study the book; find out what the bible says; hear from
each other – all questions, views welcome
• End February (Sunday 27th) – just before Lent come together celebration lunch for us
as community, celebrating giving and receiving; an invitation to look at practical ways
of giving and take some actions.
​
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. We do look forward to seeing you,
hearing from you, and together being part of the future God invites us into at St James’s.

On 5 September 2021, 40 walkers from across the country set off from St James’s Piccadilly on a 500-mile journey to the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow. The walk has been called ‘Camino to COP’, in reference to the famous pilgrimage way to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

​An enthusiastic group of pilgrims and supporters wrote messages on ribbons which will be displayed in Glasgow. Our very own Patricia Higgins sang ‘Will ye go, lassie go’ (approx. 12 minutes in the video below) with everyone joining in the chorus, and our Associate Rector John gave a multi-faith blessing.

​The aim of walk is to share personal stories, to talk about climate justice and inspire others to add their voices to the growing global chorus demanding that governments treat the climate crisis as the emergency that it is. The pilgrimage is also fundraising to empower activist groups in areas most impacted by climate change to join the conversation themselves.

​Led by the Extinction Rebellion interfaith alliance, people from a variety of backgrounds, faiths and beliefs are taking part. The pilgrimage welcomes day walkers or walkers with their own accommodation to join them for as short or as long a distance as they wish.

Approximately 15 people are expected to walk the entire way over the course of eight weeks, arriving in Glasgow on the eve of COP, 30th October 2021.

To find out more visit caminotocop.com/

Watch the livestream from on the day.

Our Queer Theology panel discussion from last month is now on our YouTube channel

Our PCC wishes to improve diversity and inclusion at St James’s. As part of this effort, we are launching a survey to help us understand how diverse we already are, so that we can start to identify where we need to do better and so we can measure our progress in future.
​
​Everyone who has any kind of connection with St James’s, whether that be as a member of the congregation, a concert goer, a volunteer or a guest at our Sunday Breakfast or FEAST, is invited to complete our diversity survey, either online here or on paper. Paper copies will be available in the narthex (inside the entrance of the church) along with a cardboard dropbox for completed surveys. 

How your information will be used
The information you give is completely anonymous – we don’t ask for your name. To guard against the risk of any individual person being identified from their answers, only two members of the PCC (Ali Beck and Wilson Wong), our Parish Secretary, David Hamilton-Peters, and our Rector, The Revd Lucy Winkett, will have access to the anonymous raw data. Responses will be grouped together (aggregated) before the findings are shared. The survey data will be stored securely and kept totally separate from our main ChurchSuite database. The raw data will be deleted after one year. The summarised findings will be shared with the St James's community this autumn. The findings are also likely to be shared with grant-making organisations and other funders of our church. In a year's time, we plan to run the survey again to see if things have changed.

If you have any questions about the survey, please get in touch with Ali Beck, Ros Fane, or Wilson Wong from the PCC at diversityinclusionsjp@gmail.com or have a chat with them in person.

Click here to read our Weekly News Update including the Tusk Trust Lion Trail and the launch of our Music Scholarship Programme.

​Rooted in God’s Earth
Sun 8th August at 5pm on Zoom
​
​Where Psyche meets Gaia: how can Ecopsychology contribute to the healing and wellbeing of our own selves and the planet?
​
The goal of Ecopsychology is to see the needs of the Planet and those of the person as a continuum. When people reconnect to the more-than-human world, they ‘come to their senses’ and feel at home both in their human bodies and in the natural world.

This return to 'right relationship' with ‘Source’ and nature implies a right relationship with Spirit, without which all efforts at healing the nature-human relationship will fall short. The session will be led by John Newton. Please email Petra Griffiths here for the Zoom invitation.

Click here to read our Weekly News Update including our upcoming 'Rooted in God's Earth' session on Sun 8th August, a Citizens picnic on Sun 15th August, and recruitment for a new Assistant Churchwarden. ​ ​

​Our small Citizens training group, who have been having 1-to1 conversations with many of you over
​ the past few months, want to broaden out our conversations by inviting everyone to a Citizens Bring
​ & Share Picnic on to be confirmed. Bring some lunch and join our small groups sharing
​ on trans/non-binary identity, race, faith and mental health & wellbeing, deepening relationships at church, and any other topics you’re passionate to share about.

DUE TO A NUMBER OFCOR-ORDINATORS HAVING BEEN COVID-'PINGED' OR OTHERWISE UNAVALIBLE, WE'VE HAD TO POSTPONE THIS EVENT FOR THE TIME BEING.

Please click here to read a report to the congregation on the 7th June 2021 PCC meeting including an update on operational issues, business planning, election of PCC officers and Standing Committee membership.
​

Click here to read our Weekly News Update including St James's Day celebrations on Sun 25th July, Eco Contemplative Liturgy, and recruitment for a Digital Communications Officer.

Mostly easy walking with occasional slopes and a modest risk of mud.  Wear boots or strong shoes.
 
We’ll stay outdoors, so no pub lunch:  please bring your own picnic to eat in a park.
 
Meet outside Wimbledon Park tube station (District Line) at 10am on Sat 24th July.  There are public transport options if you choose to leave the walk along the way.
 
Please let Rob know if you’re coming: rob@hullonline.org