April 1, 2021
St. Paul's Episcopal Church

This Week's News Highlights
Join us for Stations of the Cross

Tomorrow (Good Friday) parishioners will gather to recite the Stations of the Cross at the church at 5:30PM. This ancient devotion recalls the passion and death of Jesus and is particularly appropriate this time of year.

To join, please come to the church a few minutes before 5:30. Be prepared to provide contact information (email and phone number) as required by our reopening protocols.
Easter Services at St. Paul's

Good Friday, April 2, 7:00PM Bulletin and Passion Readers Text

Easter Sunrise (in the Memorial Garden) 7:00AM Bulletin

Easter Day 8:30AM Bulletin

Be sure to sign up in advance for each of the services you plan to attend. All three services will be streamed live on Facebook.
Exciting Search Committee News

The Search Process has entered a new and exciting phase. In the next two weeks at least two candidates will travel to Key West, meet with parish leaders, and be further evaluated by Search Committee members. Each candidate will spend two nights in our historic rectory and have ample opportunity to explore our hometown.

The Search Committee has worked diligently for months reviewing resumes and interviewing candidates online. This final stage represents the fruit of their prior efforts.

Keep in mind that the search process is a two way communication. Not only do we have to love the candidate, the candidate also needs to love us back. This is a true period of discernment. Please keep the candidates and the search committee in prayer as this next phase of the process begins.
New Bricks Installed!

A new set of bricks, representing love, remembrances and faith as expressed by parishioners, was recently set in the Memorial Garden. (The latest grouping is pictured.) Please consider joining in this project. You can order your brick(s) here. Proceeds help preserve our iconic church and grounds for future generations.
Holy Week Services

See the schedule of Holy Week services above. All services will be broadcast live on Facebook. Sign up in advance to attend in person (see above) or join us on Facebook.

To join via Facebook, go to the church Facebook page at the appropriate time and look for the window showing that "St. Paul's Key West is now live". Click on the window. (You may need to refresh the page a few times if the "live" window does not appear promptly at the appointed time.)

Did you know you DO NOT need to have a Facebook account to view the service or visit our Facebook page? Simply use the Facebook page link to go directly to our Facebook page (even if you don't have your own Facebook account). Follow the directions above.

To attend a Holy Week service please send an email to info@stpaulskeywest.org indicating the following information:

  • Your name and the names of any family or household members who will attend with you.
  • Your email address
  • Your cell phone number

Email is greatly preferred, but reservations can also be made by calling the church office at 305-296-5142. If nobody answers please leave a message with the information.

(Walk-ins will be accommodated if space allows but please pre-register whenever possible.)
Junior Warden's Report
By Greta Philips-Ford
Please join us this Saturday at 9:00AM to help get the church ready for the upcoming weekend of services. We will be working in the gardens, setting chairs in the sanctuary overflow area, cleaning outdoor chairs and staging for sunrise services and similar projects.
A big shout out to Ken Bagge and Larry Myers for all the painting and carpentry work this week to have everything looking great on Sunday.

And, I am happy to report, the wall on the Eaton Street side, which had experienced so much spalling, is looking fantastic as that phase of the work has been completed.
Senior Warden's Report
By Ray Warren

More than One Chance to Worship this Holy Week

We have three more services this week and each is special.

Friday’s Good Friday service is both solemn and moving. As no Eucharist will now be celebrated until Easter, communion will be from the reserve sacrament.

Everyone loves the principal service on Easter, but the Sunday at 8:30AM will likely push us against our Covid-19 capacity limit. Please let us know in advance if you plan to attend. And, please, if you have signed up but find you cannot attend, let us know to open a space for another person. Walk-ins who have not provided information in advance will slow the process and create unnecessary stress on Sunday morning.

As a very meaningful alternative, I highly recommend the 7:00AM sunrise service. It is the first Eucharist of the Easter season and special in its own right.
The Maundy Thursday service was very moving, as always, concluding with the stripping of the altar of all candles, the cross and even the fair linen. The main sanctuary light was extinguished.

No Eucharist will now be celebrated until the day of Resurrection on Sunday.
For the moment consecrated wine and hosts reside on the side altar in the Mary Chapel to remind us of our Lord's constant presence. (Many heartfelt thanks to Dave and Irene Eyer for decorating the side altar so beautifully for this moment. )

That sanctuary candle on the side altar will burn until the last of the reserved sacrament is consumed on Good Friday. Then there will be no light until the kindling of the Easter light on Sunday morning.

Like the often overlooked Maundy Thursday service, the lighting of the Easter flame on Sunday morning at sunrise is a moving experience.

Remember that all three services will be streamed live on Facebook.
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Kudos:

  • To Greta Phillips-Ford and her daughter for “flowering the cross”. This is a tradition here where a bare wire cross is decorated by hand with local flowering plants for Easter. It will be beautiful.

  • To the clergy and staff for whom Holy Week is a work-a-thon. Lisa, the administrator, has been fielding calls about services, and will be compiling and editing attendance lists until the end of the week. Father Haughton will preside over four services for us (Thursday, Friday and two on Sunday) in addition to similar Holy Week services at St. Peter’s. As for Dean and Tim, this is definitely a stressful time of year. Tim, in addition to planning and playing for each service, prepared the bulletin (an arduous process itself) for all four.

  • To Wendy Niven and her helpers (Phyllis Pita, Lisa Laskow and Dean Warden) on the Altar Guild for polishing brass, preparing fresh linens and having everything in shape for the services.

We are blessed.
Contacts:

Sr. Warden Ray Warren: seniorwarden@stpaulskeywest.org

Jr. Warden Greta Philips-Ford: juniorwarden@stpaulskeywest.org

Epistle Editor: editor@stpaulskeywest.org

Church office (and administrator Lisa McCarthy): info@stpaulskeywest.org

Church office phone: 305-296-5142

Church mailing address: 401 Duval Street, Key West FL 33040. Pledges and offerings can be mailed here or made electronically at the church giving page.
Music During the Pandemic

The next "From the Organ" organ concert will be the first Thursday in May. Until then you can find prior recordings of many past concerts and musical offerings on St Paul’s Facebook page, or on YouTube.
We Pray Each Day

Daily Morning and Evening Prayer is being offered on Facebook Live at 7:30AM and 500PM on weekdays.

Thanks to Bruce Hagemann, Lisa Laskow, Mary Simmons, Samantha Hall, Sarah Hall and Tim Peterson for volunteering to officiate at these sacred moments.

To join in the prayers via Facebook, go to the church Facebook page at the appropriate time and look for the window showing that "St. Paul's Key West is now live." Then click on the window.

"Like" us and turn on live notifications to get a reminder whenever we are offering prayers.

Please pray this week for healing for

Brittany (Sherri Hodies’ daughter), Beth and Jon Peterson (sister-in-law and brother of Tim), Al (Kitty Robert’s partner), Peter Nanos, Joseph Lyles, Danny Sweeting, Carolyn Sangston, Ed Hinkle and Cari Varela.

We pray for the departed and their loved ones

Charles "Chuck" Hammond

"Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant"

(Send your prayer requests to Tim@stpaulskeywest.org for future publication and to be included in the Sunday service. By default requests will be listed for four (4) weeks. But if the need continues, please let us know.)

We celebrate these April Birthdays

Jerry Poole, 4/2
Grace Highsmith 4/3
Ivan Stanke 4/4
Brad Hahn 4/5
Ashley Cook 4/8
Carol Wilusz 4/9
Kay Holfinger 4/11
Derek Nelson 4/11
Mitch Paternaud 4/12
Thomas Reeder 4/12
Joyce Seeney 4/13
Richard Griffith 4/14
Glenda Hoffman 4/17
Diane King 4/17
Sheila Barker 4/19
Chasity Wynter Cyrillien 4/19
Walter Schmida 4/19
Monica McLaughlin 4/22
Roger Sweeting 4/24
Marius Alona 4/25
Damon Byrd 4/26
Marius Laurence 4/27
Stephanie Ford 4/28
Angie Mendez 4/30
Jim Schufreider 4/30

(If your name is missing from this month's birthday list please send a note to info@stpaulskeywest.org so we can add it.)

We Celebrate April Anniversaries: 

Noe & Derek Nelson 3/6
Sheila and Ron Barker 4/1
Bryant Jones and Jennifer Bardy 4/11
Carol and Jeffrey Burnham 4/21
Bill and Jan Malpass 4/22
Bo and Sylvia Hicks 4/23
Chimo and Linda Acevedo 4/30
Tom Ford and Greta Philips-Ford 4/30
Reminders
Sunday school is canceled during the virus emergency.
Back issues of The Epistle are available here.

Send questions and comments to the editor of this newsletter here.