Try me, O God, and know my heart. Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way of peace. (Psalm 139: 23, 24)
Happy is the man who finds wisdom. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. (Proverbs 3.13, 15)
Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12. 1-2)
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4.32)
“This is my resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it; I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout for joy.”
Psalm 132:13-16
St. James Church can claim these words of the Psalmist for herself. Ever since it was consecrated in 1884, its presence as a parish church has stood the test of time. Being high Anglo Catholic in tradition, all who have found this place of worship for themselves and their families have never experienced the desire to move because of the warmth this church generates. Both clergy and laypersons over the years have played great roles to ensure it remains this way. As I pen these words, I can go back at least three generations to testify to this truth in our family. Being a young person who was offered to the diocese as a prospective ordinand from this very parish only males it extra special for me to come back as it’s Vicar with the passage of time. Even my wife, Deepa, shares her roots in this parish and this makes the parish and it’s concern very special to us. We’re comforted to be are surrounded by people who share the same love and zest for the church. We’d love to see this parish church grow and flourish providing its people succor for their lives in God. The challenges are in plentitude but I’m confident that as a parish we can be over comers standing on the promises on God. On the occasion of this Patronal Festival there couldn’t have been an opportune time to revive this platform to serve the church and the community around it. May every member be marked by devotion, sacrifice and jubilation as we remember our Patron, Saint James!
With Love,
Revd. James Gomez
Presbyter-in-Charge – St. James’ Church
Saturday 03-AUG-2019 SJC Patronal Festival Pensioners’ Lunch – 11:30 AM in the St. James’ Church Meeting Room.
The Congregations of St James’ Church (SJC), Kolkata and Livingston Old Parish (LOP), Scotland, pledged to work together to promote friendship and a sharing of vision in the common purpose of witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their respective communities at large.
To achieve this SJC and LOP undertook to support each other in prayer, sharing news of how the Good News could be taken to the people and exploring ways in which communication lines could be kept open and alive between the two Parishes so that common goals as Christian congregations may grow and develop over the years ahead.
The date of our twinning, the last Sunday in February, is marked by both congregations sharing a joint order of worship at the main service time in each place on the last Sunday of February each year.
In February 2010 a team from the Livingston Old Parish, Scotland, visited St. James’ Church, Kolkata and during their visit had the opportunity of being a part of the Feeding Programme for street children of the WFCS of St. James’ Church, Kolkata. They were so inspired that when they returned to their church in Scotland, they worked on raising funds for empowering street children in the community around St. James’ Church.
Their desire to minister in this way led St. James’ Church to re-think of ways in which we, as a church, could also expand the children’s programme that we already had and this led to the St. James’ Church Child Empowerment Programme (CEP).
With the help of the generous seed money from Livingston Old Parish, Scotland, an open shed for a Child Empowerment Centre was developed.
The CEP’s mission to provide tutorial help from 04:30 PM to 06:30 PM from Monday to Friday to about 25 less privileged children from Classes I to VIII in our community to begin with and provide them with a nutritious tiffin / meal has now materialised.