Rev. Mary James

The Rev. Mary James is the Pastor of the First Congregational Church of Wakefield.

 Reverend James was ordained into ministry in the United Church of Christ early in 1998 after graduating with honors from Andover Newton Theological School. Most recently serving as the Director of Spiritual Care at Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Mary has also served as a parish minister at the Salisbury Congregational Community Church. Over the years, she has worked with people of all ages and many circumstances, in settings from Head Start to Hospice, in addition to her church experience.

Mary and her family reside in Durham. Her husband Bob serves as Executive Director of Community Development Services in Portsmouth. Mary has three children: Dan, 27, Chris, 21, and Molly, 17.

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"The Pastor's Page" for January 2008 

 

Inevitably New!

            Happy New Year to all!  It is a joy to speak those words, because they contain such a sense of freshness.  We all tend to be very aware of the inevitability of endings, but one gift of the new year is that it reminds us that new beginnings are just as inevitable as endings.  New starts are everywhere: the sun will rise tomorrow!  The blossoms and the greening will come in springtime!  And when the human heart knows something new is needed, restlessness blooms.  We have the glorious ability to change, to begin anew, to start again, any time we desire to do so.  As a people who love the God who promises to make all things new, we can trust that freshness and renewal are a promised part of the faith journey.  Having just traveled through the season of celebration of the birth of Jesus, in this season of new possibility we are now invited to ask ourselves and one another:  have we allowed the Christ child to take hold in our hearts?  What new and good things can arise from following his light on our path of discipleship?  Walking together the road from Christmas to Epiphany, proclaiming that Jesus is the light of our world, let us be open to discovery of new, fresh, welcome possibilities.  Newness is a biblical claim, a promise of our God.  We can allow the light of that promise to shine in every corner of our shared life as a church, even when it comes to those topics and tasks that can seem burdensome and mundane.  From the most hushed and sacred moments of prayer that we share as a church family, to the collective pouring over our deficit budget, we can trust that the God who is present in the midst of our lives can bring light and life and renewal to each and every place and circumstance.  It is said that death and taxes are inevitable, but no more so than new beginnings!   May the walk you experience in the movement from Christmas to Epiphany be a new kind of blessing in your life, and may our shared walk as a church be a source of renewal and freshness.

Blessings and peace,

Mary

See, I am making all things new.

Revelation 21: 5

           

           

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