Dear Good People of St. Paul's, This is the sixth of our monthly updates about important transitions at St. Paul’s in worship, the Search Committee work, and progress on the reconstruction. We hope you will find them encouraging and that they prompt many questions. Sincerely, Susan N. Eaves , Interim Rector Jane Nelson , Senior Warden Lee Switz , Junior Warden 

Worship News Joseph S. Schmidt writes, “The greatest gift we are asked to accept is the gift of living our lives reverently. We are assured that Jesus came not that we might have more “prayers,” or more reading of the scriptures, or more pious devotions, or more of anything, but only “that (we) may love life and have it more abundantly.” He reminds us of the many comments we have heard over these past months concerning pleasure in being able to see the faces of fellow worshippers. As we continue to share our mutual spiritual journey, consider how the presence and participation of others impacts your own faith and life, so that we may live our lives reverently and abundantly.

Renovation News After thoughtful consideration, the vestry has decided to remove all plaques from the church at this time. The walls will be restored and painted and the plaques carefully stored. No irrevocable decisions have been made, and the vestry remains open to all possibilities, including future vestries restoring all or some of the plaques to their original locations. Doing this now, when the church will be repainted due to the reconstruction, will provide us the opportunity to see how the worship space looks and feels without what some people see as clutter, others as being inhospitable, and still others as offensive. Our history will be preserved by making the plaques available in a number of ways. Be assured that the work will be done skillfully and overseen lovingly by members involved with the VMFA, the Civil War Center and the Smithsonian. Meanwhile, the concrete under-floor for the chancel has been poured. The wood under the new chancel steps and universal access ramp has been completed. The wood under-floor where pews have been removed has been placed. Rough in-work for the electrical and audio/video systems is in progress. In addition, preparations are in hand to replace the air handlers in the undercroft; shoring in the chapel for the chancel columns has been dismantled, and scaffolding has been erected in the chancel to facilitate installation of the new HVAC diffusers and lighting fixtures. The progress of the project is being recorded on a photo blog at www.stpaulsrenovation.org . You can sign up on that site to receive a notice when new information is posted and you can post comments too! Search Committee News The Holy Cow! Survey closed at the beginning of this month. Thank you to everyone for their prayerful and thoughtful responses. Members of the search committee and the vestry met with a representative from Holy Cow! on October 28 th to discuss the results. The search committee plans to use the results of the survey and the responses to the Word Cloud to further shape the search for our new rector. The search committee has embarked on a “listening tour” of different committees and groups within the church. If you are able to make one of the committee meetings please feel free to attend, even if you are not on that particular committee. On November 4 th the search committee plans to hold a parish-wide meeting for parishioners to have an opportunity to discuss their desired qualities for a new rector.

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