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St. James Episcopal Church

All are Welcome.

No Exceptions.

Our mission is to be a faith family which seeks God, loves all unconditionally, and serves our greater community.

Holy Week & Easter 2024

The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the pinnacle of the Christian faith. Join us as we pray through Christ's last physical days on earth and his resurrection.

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Welcome to St. James

A Welcoming Community of Open Hearts and Discerning Minds

Welcome to St. James! We are glad you found us. If you are looking for a spiritual home, we are especially happy that you have found this site.

Parish Life


Join Us!

  • Holy Week & Easter (3/24-31)

    Join us for Holy Week and Easter: 

    Maundy Thursday,

    Good Friday,

    Holy Saturday,

    and Resurrection Sunday!

    Full Schedule
  • Sun. April 7th - Easter II, 10 AM Holy Eucharist

    Join us at 10 am in the sanctuary for Holy Eucharist. The  service will also be available via  Zoom.  All are welcome!

  • Sun. April 14th - Easter III, 10 AM Morning Prayer

    Please join us at 10 AM for Morning Prayer.  The service will also be available on Zoom.  All are welcome!

  • Sun. April 21st-Easter IV, 10 AM, Holy Eucharist

    Please join us at 10 AM  for Holy Eucharist.  The service will also be available via zoom.  All are welcome!

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Finding Yourself

Jesus calls all of us into deeper relationship with God, each other, and ourselves.

Stewardship of God's Creation

Based in small-town Vermont, we have a firm desire to give back and be part of the communities in which we live.

All Welcome

Based on scriptural warrant
1 John 4:16, loving others for who they are is part of God's call on all our lives.

Doing Church Together

Spiritual fulfillment and a relationship with Jesus is a powerful expression of Life, and we also believe that Jesus calls us to do such powerful works together in community with one another.

Thoughts from Fr. Jeremy


By Fr. Jeremy 21 Mar, 2024
Dear Friends and Family of Saint James, Perhaps it’s just me, but the world has seemed dark lately, more antagonistic than I remember it being even just ten years ago. Angst feels like the new normal. As Episcopalians, we are blessed with a liturgy to help us. This Lenten season on eucharist Sundays we’ve begun services without song, then intently prayed the Great Litany for ourselves, our church, and our world. But do not despair! Our tradition and our faith teach us something we can never forget; after each Good Friday there is a Resurrection Sunday. God can take brokenness, death, and darkness and give it new meaning through miracle. In the gospel of Mark we are told of a father begging Jesus to heal his son. The father declares, “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” Even when we feel there is no hope, we believe there is. Believing in a God of the impossible is core to the Christian faith. Even when all feels foreign to our hearts, we trust that God is by our side, performing miracles so that we can accomplish what we never could on our own. I invite you, your family, your neighbors, and your friends to join us during Holy Week and on Easter morning for services to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. It is my hope, and God’s will, for the jubilation of the disciples encountering miracle to stir your heart to the same and that all may find hope in God’s abilities which surpass our own. Brendan, Charlie, and I wish you and yours: Blessed Easter and Happy Spring! The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you,  The Rev’d Jeremy Means-Koss Priest-in-Charge, the Parishes of St. Peter and St. James
By Fr. Jeremy 17 Mar, 2024
I think at one point or another, each of us feels like we live on a NASCAR racetrack. I live near a Stewart's and can hear cars peeling down 7A. I’m sure the same can be said for those who live on the border of Shaftsbury and Bennington, or on Main St. in Bennington, or on routes 30 and 11 up north. It’s so bothersome that I wish I could just go out there and build my own speed bump out of gravel and tar and whatever else you build a speed bump out of. Sadly, I remember that snowplows would destroy them, and my Select Board would have a heart attack. A deep frustration with the world’s current issues—whether they be neighborhood focused or globally focused can get under our skin and eat away at the one thing prevalent in all human psyches: the need to feel like we are in control. Note, I didn’t say the need to be in control only to feel like we are in control. It’s hard not to think about how much we wish things would change and wonder if we could just fix them on our own or if they’ll ever change at all. Therapists and spiritual counselors alike will attest that one of the biggest challenges to emotional well-being is an instinctive fear that the big hungry animal is going to jump out of the forest and eat us alive—in other words that we will not be able to control and thus stop harm from coming towards us. While humans have evolved beyond that specific fear, that need to control the circumstances that surround us shows up in all our lives. When we feel out of control it raises our blood pressure, our anxieties, and our defense mechanisms. Sure, I totally wish I could build a speed bump and stop those speed-racers peeling down my street but what I wish more is that I knew how best to handle such challenges without trying to control everything. I’m not advocating acceptance of the circumstances life gives us. A car careening down the road is a danger and needs to be addressed. Particularly as we live in a world plagued by struggles and uncertainties both local and global, how do you find the strength to approach them with hope, courage, and resolve? Whether you’re spiritual but not religious, tied to a specific faith tradition, or religiously tied to secular life we all need to feel like we can trust the world around us to not jump out of the forest and eat us alive. The reality is that I don’t even have the skills to build a speed bump if I wanted to, but in an age of news cycles that won’t stop and relentless internet opinions, I need my body to normalize a confidence to handle whatever life may throw my way. For me, that’s my faith and God. For you it may be something else. Whatever it is, may it allow you to practice trusting in and giving control over because when you can do that, then you really are in control of your life.
By Fr. Jeremy 10 Jan, 2024
Christmas is a holiday celebrated by more than just the average churchgoer. From music to decorations, the desire to participate in the festive spirit inspired by Christmas is palpable. For some of us, it’s a deeply religious time; for others, it still signifies a time of great joy and festive affection even without the more religious ideology. But as I gazed around post-New Years Day, admiring all the decorations still up I began to wonder: if Christmas isn’t fully connected to the Christian holiday for everyone then how do you know when to take down all those decorations? The tentative rule is that once the three kings/wise men visit the baby Jesus on the festival of Epiphany, then Christmas is officially over and the decorations come down. But over the years I’ve seen houses take them down immediately after Christmas and I’ve seen houses wait almost until Easter. One former neighbor of mine still had their roof lights up all through summer – I think they just didn’t want to bring them down. That doesn’t even begin to factor in when all the municipalities decide the holiday décor has lost its appeal and they need to make way for the next banners and festive decorations. My point is that even though there may be a logic to the deconstruction, it seems functionally disconnected from a spiritual practice. Or is it? All of us, spiritual and secular alike, are bound by the same realities of the universe: creation and mortality, birth and death. Even if you believe in the assumptions of Elijah and Mary, no one has the brazen arrogance to think they will escape the cycle of life like they did. Although it may not be something we always talk about, want to talk about, or want to even consider, the realities of our human existence always exist beneath the surface of our conscious mind. And yet, even when the conscious mind evades such realities, we can find nudges even in the most mundane tasks, reminders that creation and destruction, birth and death, are all around us. I’ve read a number of poems and articles that talk about Spring and Winter as metaphoric times of mortal contemplation but as I take down my own decorations I began to see birth and death play out in the most cyclical and normative way. I began to notice that even the act of decorating and un-decorating is a way that we experience birth to and death to an entire visage of the season. The acts are both wondrous and mundane in what they are and what they unconsciously symbolize. Beyond their aesthetic properties, we often forget how psychological it is to control the forces of life and death in our own lives – even in such small ways as putting up lights and taking them back down again. Birth and death are things we encounter over and over again, sometimes within our control and other times without. Whether you’re spiritual but not religious, tied to a specific faith tradition, or religiously tied to secular life, we all participate in acts that figuratively play out the notions of creation and destruction in our lives. They help reinforce for us how limited our human experiences are on earth. As we finish taking down all the decorations this season, I wonder if we might begin to recognize the enumerable ways we all encounter birth and loss, and if that might fill us with more empathy for each other. This article was originally published on Jan 10, 2024 in the Bennington Banner
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