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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.
Thur 24 Oct 6.30pm
Fact, fiction, faith: AI in an uncertain world – a conversation with Jocelyn Burnham, and Dr Shauna Concannon.
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 cultural 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
Directions on Google Maps
Church Warden, Trevor Lines, reflects on the story of the temptation of Christ and turns to visual art to illuminate his understanding of scripture.
Here we are in Lent again and looking forward to the joys of Easter Day. You may be thinking that we’ve got some way to go!
I have always been fascinated by the story of the temptation of Christ by the devil and, as ever, I often turn to visual art to illuminate my understanding of scripture. If we’re looking for comfort, we may be drawn to the numerous images of a serene Christ who never really looks challenged by some monstrous looking beast, snapping at his heels.
However, I doubt such depictions are very illuminating, given where we are today. I don’t want some perfect, untouchable Jesus sat up on a celestial pedestal. There lies the temptation of disbelief; pie in the sky.
For many people there are reasons not to be cheerful. The pandemic has robbed many people of their lives, their loved ones, their health. The climate crisis is a real and present danger. The human suffering in Ukraine, Afghanistan and Yemen is desperate.
Humanity can seem overwhelmed, lost, ‘in the wilderness’ (if you like). And that is where a painting ‘Forty Days in the Wilderness’ by William Hole speaks to the moment. Here is a picture of a very human Jesus who knows what suffering is. He is sitting amongst forbidding and jagged rocks. He is tired and ragged; his head is stooped forward as if the weight of the world is upon his shoulders and he looks at us, needing our help.
Forty days in the wilderness, tempted by Satan by William Brassey Hole (1846-1917) – Christ in the Wilderness or the Temptation of Christ.
Too gloomy? I don’t think so. For a start, it is always good to be reminded that God empowers us to make this world a better place and it is invigorating that Jesus was human, just like you and me.
I’m not so keen on pedestals!
