Worship Services
Services
Eucharist:
2nd Sundays 10:30 am with Pastor Steve Quist
Morning Prayer:
1st,3rd, 4th, and if a 5th Sunday 10:30 am with Licensed Lay Worship Leaders
Vestry - Lay Leadership
Sue Fritz, Administrator, Altar Guild
Mike Martin, Evangelist & Licensed Lay Worship Leader
Bruce Louwagie, Sr. Warden & Licensed Lay Worship Leader
BC Franson, Jr. Warden & Licensed Lay Worship Leader
Gary Fritz, Treasurer, Vestry & Eucharistic Minister
Charlotte Wendel, Vestry & ECMN Delegate
Episcopal News Service:
Calendar - Click on link
If you have church activities to post on the calendar email info to mmleach@me.com
Gatherings
Vestry- 4th Sundays after church
Episcopal Church Women (ECW)
Dinner Bunch - Food and Fellowship monthly hosted and cohosted in people's homes
Men of St James (MOSJ)
Youth Group - Activities scheduled regularly. Charlotte Wendel and BC Franson Co-Leadership.
Contact Charlotte Wendel, cwendel37@gmail.com or BC
Franson, bc.franson@smu.edu, Youth Fellowship Leaders, for Youth Group Information
Bp's Post July 4, 2025
"Tonight, on a day when when it’s hard to feel much more than shame and despair about what America has become, the day after a few hundred legislators whose job it is to represent the people passed a bill that perfectly captures the petty cruelty of the current government, a bill that almost no one of any political persuasion supports and that will benefit only a tiny elite, a vote that is nothing more than an oath of loyalty to the mad despot in the White House, I drove my two kids to our small town fireworks display while we listened to Woody Guthrie’s old, beautiful, protest song “This Land is Your Land.”
The founders of our nation were flawed humans full of hypocrisy and contradictions who founded a deeply flawed nation full of contradictions. But at the heart of it was a vision for government by the governed, and at least in theory, space for a multi-racial, ethnic, and religious community united across diversity. Guthrie’s song was a call to pick up the torch of that vision in his day.
Sitting in my truck with my kids watching them watch the fireworks, I cried angry tears over how far we have fallen from what we could be. And listening to Woody’s song was a reminder that authoritarianism always collapses under its own weight, and the current version will, too. There may be unspeakable damage along the way, but it will collapse. So the song helped turn my despair into a firmer resolve to resist while I can, and to keep reminding my kids of what we could still one day be, so they can not succumb to cynical despair, but keep shining the light of hope defiantly into the darkness.
In the first two and a half years of his episcopate, Bishop Loya oversaw a diocese in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, pastored Minnesotans in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the attendant uprising, unrest, and trauma, joined people of all faiths from all over the country to bear witness to the damage to God’s creation caused by the installation of Line 3 at the headwaters of the Mississippi River, has spoken out against the unjust treatment of refugees and migrants held in the Bishop Whipple federal building, has affirmed that diversity of all kinds, including gender diversity, is a reflection of a humanity created in God’s image, and has inspired many with his deeply faithful call to join God’s project of healing the whole world with love.
2015 Accessible Entrance Groundbreaking
May 5th, 2015 we had church in the afternoon at 3:30 pm instead of our usual 10 am
We welcomed The Rt Rev Brian N. Prior, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota who led us in worship. We gathered outside the church for the Groundbreaking for St. James’ Sidewalk/Ramp for Accessibility.
The Bishop posted his blog about that day:
"Last week, after a great morning gathering at Holy Communion in St Peter’s, I made the two-hour dash to St. James in Marshall. As I was getting out of my car into a light rain, I received a photo on my phone from a long-time friend.
My emotional reaction to the photo almost stopped me in my tracks. The picture showed an endless blue sky, deep green water and a boat filled with dear friends smiling at me. How I longed to be with them.
As I crossed the street toward the church, a voice from behind me yelled out: “Hey Bishop! Thanks for being here!”
This comment quickly shifted my mind from the place I longed to be to my present reality.
Over the next two hours, I had the privilege (and I choose that word intentionally) to be with a group of people who have worked hard to create a plan to make the historic building that houses their faith community more accessible. Their vision and drive to make their church home truly welcoming to everyone is nothing short of inspiring.
Sure, it would have been great to be on a beautiful lake on a warm sunny day with dear friends. Yet, standing in the rain with incredibly faithful folks who want to share their church home with others was, in fact, exactly where I wanted to be."
Sure, it would have been great to be on a beautiful lake on a warm sunny day with dear friends. Yet, standing in the rain with incredibly faithful folks who want to share their church home with others was, in fact, exactly where I wanted to be."
And in 2017 Bishop Prior returned to St. James to bless and enter St. James on our new sidewalk ramp to our accessible entrance.