Every Friday afternoon, a team of volunteers from the Feed The Kids Coalition serves a meal to the kids of the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County. Five teams rotate and each team serves a different menu.
Team # 1 of the Feed The Kids Coalition consists of First Congregational, Holy Family, and St. James members. There are 98 volunteers on the roster and approximately 45 of these are actively involved.
This past year Team # 1 offered their meal 10 times at the Boys & Girls Club. The menu consists of baked penne pasta with ground beef and a vegetable-filled sauce, vegetable crudities with Ranch dressing, and seasonal fruit. We also offer a vegetarian option. The food is prepared in the St. James kitchen, transported to B & G Club, and served.
In the past 12 months, the Team # 1 FTK volunteers
~ prepared 2,200 meals
~ served over 1,800 children
~ exceeded 604 volunteer hours
On behalf of all the kiddos and the FTK team # 1 ~ THANK YOU ~ THANK YOU ~ THANK YOU
for all the support from St. James Episcopal Church ~Holy Family ~ First Congregational Church
Gratefully, Carole Haskell & Patti Brotherton, Team #1 Co-leaders
JOINING OUR VOICES:
ADVENT SERVICE OF LESSONS AND CAROLS
WILL FEATURE CHOIR AND BAGPIPES
The soul-stirring sounds of the St. James Choir and Montreat Scottish Pipes and Drums will once again fill the nave at St. James Episcopal Church for our annual Advent Service of Lessons and Carols, one of the parish’s signature choral services that draws attendees from across the area. The service will be held Saturday, December 2nd and Sunday, December 3rd at 5:00 p.m., with doors opening at 4:00 p.m.
Once again this year, following the earliest traditions of the service that originated in Cambridge, England over a century ago, local officials representing areas of community life will read lessons at the Sunday service.
“This service is one of extraordinary beauty and transcendence, and it’s a real gift to the community offered by our choir and music director Brad Gee,” said The Rev. David Henson, rector of the parish. “By inviting leaders to participate in this extraordinary service, we hope to share this gift more broadly and for it to be a true celebration of the goodness of our community here in Hendersonville. We pray this symbolic joining of hands can serve as a shining example of unity in our deeply divided world.”
The St. James Choir, led by Gee, will be singing carols and anthems of the Advent season, and they will be joined by instrumentalists on trumpet and flute as well as bagpipes and drums.
“There is something special about this service, each and every year,” Gee said. “Our beautiful neo-Gothic church is decorated with greens, candles twinkle in the widows, and the church fills up and the beautiful sound of choral music moves people deeply, some even to tears.”
So definitely come early, maybe bring a Kleenex, and prepare to be dazzled.
Carols and anthems to be featured this year include the beautiful Matin Responsory by David Ashley White, June Nixon’s frolicking arrangement of The Holly and the Ivy, Bruce Neswick’s setting of Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming, and other music by George Guest, Barry Ferguson, and Paul Manz. Pre-service music will include the first movement of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Trumpets featuring Bryan and Michelle Kraak, and Paul Doebler playing Three Carols for Flute and Organ by Michael Barker. Howard Bakken will be the organist for the pre-service music, and Timothy Wissler will be the organist for the service.
While no tickets are required, contributions of any amount are welcomed and appreciated in support of the music ministry of St. James. A donation of $10 per person is suggested.
Plan now to attend these glorious services which are welcome to all. Doors will open at 4:00 p.m. for the 5:00 p.m. services. The church address is 766 North Main Street, Hendersonville, North Carolina.
--Brad Gee, Director of Music
St. James Episcopal Church
828-694-6925
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Calling all goblins and ghouls, princesses and superheroes... St. James Episcopal Church in Downtown Hendersonville is hosting a Trunk or Treat! All are welcome to join us for lots of FUN and CANDY!
Halloween Trunk-or-Treat needs trunks and volunteers! We will hand out candy to trick-or-treaters on Tuesday, October 31 from 5 – 6:30 p.m. in the Thrift Store Parking Lot. Bring your friends and fill your candy bucket. Volunteers are needed! This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call her at (828) 674-1461 to volunteer or to decorate your trunk and hand out treats. (We can provide trunk decoration for a few cars.)
St. James presents Four Hands at the Piano Recital with pianists Lee Burkett and Leonidas Lagrimas
Pianists Lee Burkett and Leonidas Lagrimas will perform a recital of piano duet works by composers including Schubert, Husa, and Kapustin on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 5 p.m. Plan now to attend this unique and unusual musical offering! They will be playing the beautiful Kawai baby grand piano in the Church.
Lyn Ellen Burkett is Assistant Professor of Music at Western Carolina University, where she has taught since 2014. She holds a Ph.D. in music theory from Indiana University. Her scholarly work has appeared in the Journal of the Society for American Music, Popular Music and Society, and College Music Symposium; she has presented research at regional and national conferences including Society for Music Theory, Society for American Music, and the EMP Pop Conference. An accomplished pianist and harpsichordist, she enjoys performing 20th- and 21st-century repertoire. In her spare time Lyn enjoys working in traditional fiber arts, spinning and dyeing wool.
Leonidas Lagrimas serves as Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at Western Carolina University. Recent performances include guest artist recitals at UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Charlotte, Elon University, and numerous faculty recitals at WCU. Collaborative highlights include performances with Grammy-winning soprano Hila Plitmann, country superstar Lorrie Morgan, and numerous Carnegie Hall appearances. He is a regularly featured performer with the Asheville Area Piano Forum and current pianist with Christ Anglican Church in Cashiers. Leonidas holds a Ph.D. in Piano Pedagogy from Florida State University. Prior to his doctoral studies, he was a K-12 public school teacher in New York for ten years.
The concert is open to the public; no tickets are required. An offering will be received.
--Brad Gee, Director of Music/Organist
When I walk up to our beautiful church there is a sense of being, of belonging. I hear the bells and my heart is being called. When I enter the sanctuary I am transformed to the connection of the spirit. St. James is mine and I am one with St. James. Every church I've attended has been home and yet St. James is more. Can many people say going to church is exciting? The parishioners are alive with the spirit and match the sense of place. Sometimes I sit in my pew and not even study the themes of the stained glass windows but instead the beauty of the windows, the colors, the light behind them. Our windows were dedicated by former members of the church to beautify a place to worship and to glorify the Lord though beauty and art. I guess the windows are grand to a newcomer. After the grandeur fades, the beauty speaks to each person who enters this space.
As a 22 year member of St. James I have been spiritually fed, nurtured, and then cared for by our community in the death of my husband. Maybe my view of heaven is here at St. James.....we seek this place to receive all of God’s gifts. WE are abundantly reminded or CALLED to take our spirituality and share our gifts with others.
As I cherish St. James in my life I realize I am also called to share my treasure. I not only get great joy supporting the church but also our outreach ministries, the World Relief and Development and ministries in other countries. I am called to help Jenny McConnachie because she is our footprint in missions and she is doing God’s work for each of us. I get Joy in helping the orphaned girls at Our Little Roses in Honduras, to be part of rescuing children starving in the gutters and out of the sex slave trades. In visiting our sister churches in Cuba I saw the faith and joy amongst the abject poverty. I left Cuba knowing these Christians had the WEALTH of spirit. I felt a huge sense of joy AND I was the receiver of the spirit of our Christian sisters and brothers.
I look for the many places where I could give more financially. I find I am not lacking in my own comfort but banking much joy and satisfaction in serving the Lord and others.
I have extreme gratitude for this extraordinary life on earth. I know by choosing this historic church, it requires a great deal of financial stewardship. When individual projects or needs come up I look to see how much I can help. I have the mindset like I approach tipping...am I tipping 20 percent because it's the standard or giving to show appreciation of someone's service to me and sharing my bounty?
–Shirley Walsh