Worshipping together

Sunday Morning Services  |  Wednesday Healing Service  |   Pets & People Blessing  |  About the Holy Eucharist  |  Funerals and Memorials  |  Altar Flowers |  Safe Church

Worship Services At St. James

We welcome you to worship at St. James Episcopal Church. May you know the joy and peace of God among us. All are invited to receive communion, including children, at the discretion of their parents.

If you do not have a church home, we invite you to join us at St. James.

On Sunday mornings, our 8 AM service is a Rite I service, a quiet, contemplative service with no music; it is the classic service of the church. The less-formal Rite II, at 9:15 AM, includes music (hymns and sacred music), and worshippers are guided by a program and the Book of Common Prayer. A sermon is delivered at both services. 

On Wednesday evenings, at 6 PM, we offer a Healing Service. People share prayer requests, support each other, and pray for the needs of themselves, parishioners, and loved ones who need the benefit of prayer. A laying on of hands may be offered. 

On the second Sunday of every month, at 5 PM, Father Rocky blesses community animals during the Pets & People service. Honoring St. Francis’s love and devotion for animals, the blessing is open to all community members—animals and people.

Special services during the seasons of Advent, Lent, and during Holy Week celebrate the life of Jesus and our religious life together. Click here for special services during the current season, listed on the calendar pages.

Click here for information about celebrating a wedding at St. James. 

SERVING SCHEDULE

The church maintains a three-month schedule of servers, ushers, and readers at worship services. The schedule includes altar guild assignments. For the schedule from 5 Easter to St. James 10 please click here.  For the schedule from August 1 to the end of November please click here.

The Holy Eucharist

In the Episcopal Church the Eucharist is the primary act of worship. Here at St. James, Holy Eucharist is celebrated at every Sunday worship service and at special services held seasonally.

The scriptures record that the sacrament of Holy Eucharist was instituted by Jesus at a meal with his disciples. He identified the bread with his body and the wine with his blood—a new covenant—and instructed his disciples to eat and drink in remembrance of him. In the Episcopal Church we believe that Christ is made present to us in this sacrament, and we are united with him in his sacrifice.

The Holy Eucharist is a special means of grace, and a source not only of pardon and solace, but also of strength and renewal. As Eucharistic Prayer C (Book of Common Prayer, The Holy Eucharist: Rite II, p. 372) states, we pray: “Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal. Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in his name.”

Funerals and Memorials

We celebrate the lives of all people, whether or not they are members of our parish. Please call the church office, 575-758-2790, to discuss arrangements for a service honoring a loved one.

Click here for a printable PDF file describing the St. James columbarium.

Altar Flowers

A local florist provides flowers each Sunday during the year (except during Lent). Anyone wishing to donate flowers as a memorial for a loved one or in celebration of a birth, anniversary, or birthday may do so by signing the Altar Flower Chart (located on the bulletin board in the parish hall) for the date chosen, and writing a check to St. James with a notation that it is for altar flowers. Contributors should specify the celebration or remembrance as it is to appear in the Sunday bulletin. The cost for flowers is $50.00. 

After Sunday services, the altar flowers are taken by members of the altar guild to parishioners who are sick at home or in the hospital.

Safe Church

In 2008 a committee worked to address church safety and security, as well as to develop a statement regarding the presence of concealed weapons. The following statement has been adopted:

St. James is a place of worship and peace where all can expect to be treated with respect and dignity. Please help us reserve harmony and communion by leaving weapons outside during worship.