Today St. James’ was aglow with the sound of children’s voices. Today’s choir at the 9:10 a.m. service was made up of St. James’ children’s choirs along with children’s choirs from St. Paul’s Chestnut Hill and St. Thomas Church in Whitemarsh, both in Pennsylvania. No adults! And the music was wonderful. In addition, we had the pleasure of Michael Phillips, the Rector of The Church of the Holy Trinity, as our bicentennial guest preacher. Holy Trinity was a mission church of St. James’ from the late 1890s until 1951. In the late 1890s Serena Rhinelander owned a summer home on what is now E. 88th Street and decided that the immigrants who were moving north in Manhattan needed a church to remind them of their European heritage. She built a church and a community center complete with gymnasium and indoor swimming pool and then gave this complex to the Diocese of New York. The Diocese, not having the money to run this new church, asked St. James’ to take it up that work and to supply the clergy. As a result, Holy Trinity became a mission church of St. James’ until 1951 when a rector was called. In the forum, as the Rev. Phillips extolled our 200-year history, he also challenged us to look ahead and envision what St. James’ would look like in the next 100 years, keeping in mind our ever changing culture.
--Anne Anthony
