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We offer daily services and a creative programme of talks, events and concerts. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
Come and celebrate the hope and light that Christmas brings each winter
St James’s hosts inclusive services and a cultural programme. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
St James’s is a place to explore, reflect, pray, and support all who are in need. We are a Church of England parish in the Anglican Communion. This is a place for everyone who’s wondering about life’s big questions and striving for a better world.
We host a year-round creative programme encompassing music, visual art and spoken word, drawing on St James’s rich cultural history including artists, writers and musicians Mary Beale, Mary Delany, William Blake, Ottobah Cugoano and Leopold Stokowski.
We try to put our faith into action by educating ourselves and speaking out on issues of injustice, especially concerning refugees, asylum, earth and racial justice, and LGBTQ+ issues.
We aspire to be a home where everyone can belong. We’re known locally and globally for our unique history and beauty, as well as faith in action, creativity and the arts, and a commitment to social and environmental justice.
We strive to be a Eucharist-centred, diverse and inclusive Christian community promoting life in abundance, wellbeing and dignity for all.
St James’s Piccadilly has been at the heart of its community since 1684. We invite you to play your part in securing this historic place for generations to come.
It costs us £3,500 per day to enable us to keep our doors open to all who need us
Your donation will help us restore our garden in Piccadilly as part of The Wren Project, making it possible for us to welcome over 300,000 people from all faiths and walks of life seeking tranquillity and inspiration each year.
St James's Church 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL
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Hear from Daniel Norris as he reflects on an ancient Celtic hymn as we celebrate the feast day of Saint Patrick.
This week we celebrate the feast day of Saint Patrick.
The ancient Celtic hymn known as Saint Patrick’s Breastplate, attributed to Saint Patrick himself, begins, ‘I bind unto myself today, the Strong Name of the Trinity’. This hymn is a morning celebration, a chorus of confidence as we get ready to meet the challenges of each new day and seeks to remind us of the protection and defence that is afforded to us by Christ incarnate who is with, behind, before, besides, above, below and within us.
Today is never just a repetition of yesterday. Each new morning is a fresh beginning as we embark once again upon an unknown path with its opportunities, possibilities, challenges and dangers. Whether we greet the new day with enthusiastic excitement, anxiety and fear or ambivalence, the Christian pilgrim is reminded that we do not travel alone and we do not travel unequipped. We are encircled and caught up in the everlasting love of God the Trinity who dances in creation.
Paul writing to the Ephesians encouraged pilgrims to ‘put on the full amour of God’. With a belt of truth, a breastplate of righteousness, shoes ready to proclaim peace, a shield of faith, a helmet of salvation and the word of God as a sword, the Christian pilgrim has everything that they need to feel secure in meeting the challenges of the day – a vast range of resources that are ready for our use as we set out on our daily pilgrimage.
How do you prepare for each day? Are you able to take some time, however short, to invoke the Strong Name of the Trinity? To dedicate the day ahead to God, creator of the universe and to be present to God’s presence with you and in creation?
As we journey through the season of Lent and we face the current reality of war in Europe, perhaps this ancient hymn of St Patrick can remind us of the eternal truth of the width, depth and breadth of the love that God has for the whole of creation, a love that binds itself to creation and invites us to be held. Whether the coming day requires us to be alone or together, to work or to rest, to fight or defend, to travel or flee, to welcome or host, to live or to die, we can do so in the strength, love and peace of God who is Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit.
May the prayer of St Patrick be ours today.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen.
