More about us...

The official name of the church is The Church of St. James the Apostle, but we often call our selves St. James, or St. James Guelph if we want to distinguish ourselves from other parishes called St. James. This is sometimes abbreviated to "SJ" in newsletter articles.

We are located in the city of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, which is about 40 minutes west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Guelph has a population of about 115,000 and is home to the University of Guelph

St. James is part of the Anglican Church in Canada, and we belong to the the Diocese of Niagara.

We are a medium sized parish with about 220 families on the parish list. Our membership reflects the richness of the Christian church in all its varieties and our members come from various denominational backgrounds. We also have a good mix of young and old, and a very active Sunday School for young children. Are you missing something in your life? Come and join us: we have two services on Sundays from September through to June.  8:30 a.m. a traditional said service from the Book of Common Payer 10:30 a.m. a sung service with a full choir, nursery and Sunday School  The style of service used on Sunday at 10:30 alternates between traditional and more modern service settings. In the fall winter, and spring seasons the 10:30 service is printed out in its entirety to make following the service as easy as possible.Summer services may be different and those times are posted on our home page.

There is one weekday service on Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. The service is taken from the Book of Common Prayer. Everyone can attend, all are welcome! 

You can see the inside of the church in the picture above.  The church holds 250 comfortably, and we can add chairs to increase the seating when necessary. On the left hand side of the picture you can just see the Lady Altar, where weekday services often take place.There is comfortable seating available in the back of the church and at the Lady Altar where we can make more space for people with walkers and wheel chairs. 

What to expect:

St. James is an Anglican Church and Anglicans normally have a fairly set form of service. The earliest prayer books in the Anglican Church date back to the middle of the sixteenth century in England, but they are Roman Catholic in background and flavour. Various revisions have taken place since then. The most recent Canadian revision of this prayer book was published in 1962 and is called the Book of Common Prayer. For more information on the Book of Common Prayer click here to go to the Book of Common Prayer site.

While The Book of Common Prayer is still in use, most Anglican churches in Canada have switched to the more recent Book of Alternative Services, which was published by the General Synod of the Anglican Church in Canada in 1985. The language in this book is more modern and similar to language we all use in our daily lives. The Book of Alternative Services, like Alternative Service books used by other churches in the Anglican Communion, was only meant to be an and extension to the official Book of Common Prayer until a full revision of the Book of Common Prayer could be undertaken. This has now happened in the U.K., but not in Canada. General Synod in its meetings of 2007 hinted at the possibility of working on this - perhaps. At St. James we use a variety of services at the 10:30 service on Sunday including the Book of Alternative servces, and an adaptation of the Iona Community service.  Sometimes we throw caution to the wind and do something totally out of the ordinary.

On most Sundays at 10:30 the service is printed out and it is available as you enter the church. This way you do not have to worry about what page we are on. What to expect if you attend a service. A typical Anglican service has three parts. The first part of the service - Gathering The first section focuses on gathering the community together. We usually sing a hymn, and have an official greeting. We often pray together that God will cleanse the thoughts of our hearts so that we might come to the service of worship and sacrament ready both physically and spiritually. Children wishing to attend Sunday School follow the small cross at the end of the procession and go down to the parish hall. They will return just before the offertory hymn. Parents with infants may leave them in the nursery, but you will have to come and pick them up yourself. The second part of the service - Listening to the Word of God and offering our prayers The second section of the service involves readings from the Bible. The standard pattern is to have a reading from the Old Testament, a psalm, a reading from the New Testament, and a reading from one of the Gospels. Most Anglican churches follow a sequence of readings from the Bible known as the Revised Common Lectionary. This common lectionary (lectionary means selection of readings) is used by many congregations in the the Roman Catholic Church, The Lutheran Church, The United Church, and The Presbyterian Church. While there are slight differences, using the common lectionary means that people who go to these churches on Sunday will hear the same readings. At St. James we follow the Revised Common Lectionary as outlined in McCausland's Order Of Divine Service, which (in our opinion) is the definitive lectionary source for the Anglican Church in Canada. The second part of the service also contains a sermon or homily. The word "homily" is used to refer to a short (10 to 15 minute) talk about how the readings for the day impact our lives as Christians. It is not usually delivered from the pulpit or lecturn.  The idea is to be thought provoking and informative. It is never meant to be judgmental or condescending. If that is how you hear it, please speak to the preacher so she/he can clarify the issue. A sermon is a longer version of the same thing and in most Anglican churches this is about 15 to 25 minutes. There was a time when preachers would preach for half an hour to forty five minutes at a time, but that is rare in our "sound bite" world.

After we have heard God's word read to us, and then thought about the message in a sermon or homily, we enter a time of prayer. We pray for God's help and thank God for the blessings we receive. This part of the service often includes prayers for members of our community and others who have asked for our prayers. There is often a place during this time of prayer to add your own names or prayers. You may do so out loud or in the silence of your heart, either or both are appropriate. Then we say a general confession together to acknowledge that we do not always live up to our calling as Christians and that we need both God's forgiveness and God's guidance to reach our fullest potential.

The third part of the service - Offering and Sacrament. The third part of the service begins with an offering of our resources. This includes both money to support the ministry of the church and an offering of bread and wine for the Eucharist. The word "Eucharist" means thanksgiving and this part of the service is like the Mass in a Roman Catholic Church, or The Lord's Supper in one of the Protestant Churches. The priest who is the celebrant says a prayer which reminds us of how God has created all that we know and has worked through the prophets, matriarchs, and patriarchs to help us find God and God's purpose in our lives. . The prayer also reminds us that the pivotal point of salvation history was when God sent Jesus Christ into the world. Through the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross, we are freed from the bondage of our sin. We are offered a new opportunity to be "one" with God. In the resurrection Jesus proved that death is not the end of life. What we are inside, in our souls matters. What lies beyond this life is not and end, but simply "another transition in all of those transitions which God has ordained to happen since the beginning of time." (Fr. Kevin often says this at the opening of a funeral.) During the Eucharistic prayer (also known as the Great Canon) the priest says the words that Jesus said at the Last Supper, and then calls the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine so that they might become for us become the body and blood of Christ. Through this prayer and the action of the priest, the elements of bread and wine, although still appearing to be bread and wine, become Jesus presence with us. The "how" of the transformation has been hotly debated and was once a great dividing point between Christians. Jesus calls us together in the Eucharist just as He did his disciples at the Last Supper. The how of His presence can be left for theologians to debate. The reality is that for generations of Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Protestants the Eucharist has continued to draw us together in Christ.  Once blessed and consecrated the bread and wine become the presence of Jeus Christ and are known as the Blessed Sacrament.  After saying the Lord's Prayer together we share in receiving Christ's presence in the Blessed Sacrament by coming forward, either to the Lady Altar or to the main altar. However, most Anglicans would say that they are going to receive Communion rather than say they are going to receive the Blessed Sacrament.  Since the mid 16th century Anglicans have received Communion both in bead (either in a wafer or a piece of bread) and by drinking from a common cup of wine. The bread is received either on the palm of your hand or on the tongue. There are many people today who prefer not to drink from a common cup and we encourage them to receive the bread only. The reality is that Christ is fully present both in the bread and the wine and just as fully in either. That principle has held for Anglicans and Roman Catholics since before the Reformation. It is also one of the statements of the famous Council of Trent.  By receiving the bread only you are still receiving the full presence of Christ. To receive the Blessed Sacrament in the form of bread only is also the most usual practice for our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters and many RCs who come to Saint James maintain that tradition. If you are gluten sensitive you may wish to receive only wine. The point is not what you receive, the point is to receive what you can as one in Christ and one with each other. All baptised Christians are welcome to receive Communion and we often invite everyone who is with us to receive. If you are uncertain about receiving Communion, or you do not want to receive Communion, you may wish to come to the altar for a blessing. Simply fold your arms across your chest to indicate you do not wish to receive Communion and you will receive a blessing from the priest.

You should not receive Communion if you are certain that your are not in a state of grace, that is if you know that there is something serious separating you from God. Most times people over estimate their sin, but if you are troubled about this please speak to one of the clergy. However, God never turns people away even though in our actions, we may turn away from God. After we have all received Communion there is a short prayer and the celebrant blesses those present. We then have community announcements and the deacon for the day charges those present to go back into the world to live out their individual ministries. The response to the deacon's words, regardless of what they say is always: "Thanks be to God."

There are many responses that Anglicans make automatically. They are sometimes in the bulletin, but after years of practice many Anglicans no longer need the bulletin to say the right thing at the right time. For example: when the priest says "The Lord be with you." The response is always "And also with you." If you are thinking about joining us we hope that this outline has helped you know what to expect. If you are lost or not sure what to do in a service you can either ask someone, or just watch what everyone else is doing. It will feel more familiar after a couple of Sunday's. And... Please bring your questions to coffee after the service. The clergy are always willing to answer questions.