July 30, 2020
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
This Week At St. Paul's

The service Sunday will be a little different and we hope everyone will join together on Facebook to experience it.

Older Episcopalians will remember when the service for many Sundays of the year consisted of "Morning Prayer with sermon." The Holy Eucharist was celebrated, perhaps every other Sunday, or one Sunday a month. Back then Morning Prayer was usually read by ordained clergy.

With the adoption of the revised Prayer Book in 1979 the Holy Eucharist became the customary service on Sunday mornings and Morning Prayer, as the principal Sunday service, fell generally out of us. But it is still authorized, still beautiful and, importantly, can be (as has always been the case) read by lay readers without clergy.

We were very blessed to have Fr. Tim Carr journey down from Miami Beach the last two Sundays to celebrate Holy Eucharist. We are equally blessed that Fr. Lenworth Haughton will be with us for the month of August (and probably beyond) starting on August 9th. That leaves this Sunday, August 2.

We may have been able to persuade a clergy member to journey to Key West this week, but the decision was made to utilize Morning Prayer this Sunday without clergy on purpose.

With the gracious assistance of Fr. Haughton, it isn't expected that this will happen often. (We'll have a priest.) But we all know the vagaries of US 1 and the possibility of tropical weather keeping our minister from traveling. In that case, the service might unexpectedly become Morning Prayer. Much better for all concerned if we've done it once on purpose.

So, please join in one of the most beautiful services from the Prayer Book. Tim Peterson and Mary Simmons will lead the service. Tim's music selections will still be featured. Cantor Dean Warden, who is off on a well deserved vacation in Wyoming, left us some beautiful solos that will be played. And, we are hoping to have a short recorded message from Fr. Carr.

Be sure to click on the bulletin link below, as it will be different than that to which you may be accustomed.
Sunday's Service

Join us Sunday for Morning Prayer (with music and sermon) at 9:30 AM on Facebook.

Please note, we are temporarily discontinuing the Zoom stream to maximize the quality of the Facebook stream. We are exploring ways to increase our bandwidth and connectivity to offer additional streaming platforms.

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.

We will host a Zoom "coffee hour" so members can say "hi" and chat. Please join you fellow parishioners on Zoom at the completion of the service (approximately 10:15 AM) using this link . (Go to Zoom.com to sign up for a free account)

You can open or download the bulletin for the Sunday service here .

Church Campus Update
Due to the unknown effects of the coming Tropical system, volunteers WILL NOT gather this Saturday to work on church projects. Please join in next Saturday (August 8th) from 8:30 - Noon to help improve our physical campus.
While it looks like Key West will miss the worst of Tropical Storm (maybe soon to be Hurricane) Isaias, under the leadership of Junior Warden Greta Philips-Ford, the hurricane shutters are up for the season on all our buildings. In an abundance of caution they will stay up (or closed) until at least November.

Hurricane Irma was also an "I" storm, and she arrived in mid September. So, dodging the "I" storm at the first of August does not bode well for a calm season.
Also, thank the Lord, our members who utilize the ramp for access will be pleased to know that progress is being made. Stay tuned for a true "after" photo. (Sanding and painting to follow.)
Senior Warden Notes
Ray Warren
Almost all of you know Tim Peterson , our music director. But I doubt many know just how hard Tim has been working to bring content and experiences to all of us while the shutdown continues.

You see Tim in our Sunday morning services on Facebook and many see him in his popular Thursday afternoon music program at noon. But I see him spending day after day experimenting, testing and researching ways to improve our online experience given the limited resources we have. When you return to church, please tell Tim in person how much you appreciate his efforts on our behalf. Nobody signs up for the job of music director to find that he is also suddenly expected to be a sound, Internet and broadcasting engineer.

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Two of our cameras that monitor the property are down, victims of Key West's unrelenting hot, humid and salty air. We'll have them up again soon and the remaining ones give us good coverage. But this illustrates the reality in which we live. A harsh climate and an aging building mean we face challenges that newer churches do not. Your continued support, even when many of you are away for the season, is so crucial.

Pledges and contributions can be made electronically via the church  giving page . Pledges and gifts can also be mailed to the church at 401 Duval Street, Key West, Florida, 33040. God bless each of you for your support.

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We are awaiting word from the diocese about both our pending parish profile (which must be approved before our Search Committee can receive resumes for our new rector) and about whether we can re-open after this week. I wish I had more news to share... and promise I will when I do. But we trust our leaders, and I am told that there will be more news as early as the next week.

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A reminder that we hope to have an Education for (lay) Ministry program starting in late September via Zoom. Sewanee Theology Seminary sponsors the fascinating content, but the interaction of the group makes it work. Interested, or even just curious, contact Susanne Woods at  susanne.woods@gmail.com   or 305-407-7003.

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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

Tim Peterson "From the Organ"

Tim continues his weekly Organ recitals and informational streaming from the organ bench on Thursdays at noon.

This has become one of St. Paul's most popular offerings. Check it out this coming Thursday by checking the church Facebook page at noon and clicking on the live icon when the stream appears.

You can find prior weeks recordings of Tim’s concerts on St Paul’s Facebook page , or on YouTube .

Please Join in Morning and Evening Prayer

Daily Morning and Evening Prayer is being offered on Facebook Live at 730 AM and 5 PM on weekdays.

Thanks to Lisa Laskow, Mary Simmons and Bruce Hagemann for volunteering to officiate.

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.
Windows and History

(Resident parish historian Dave Eyer continues his exploration of the history of St. Paul's church windows.)

Window 7- Moses Smiting the Rock

The origin of this window, located immediately to the right of the Duval St entrance closer to the La Concha Hotel, is unknown. But it was likely by Phipps, Ball and Burnham and it was likely installed in 1921 or soon thereafter.

Dedication: “In Loving Memory of Rosana M Myers  March 7, 1884- December 27, 1920”

The story in the window refers to The Israelites, encamped in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, experience a drought. They began to quarrel among themselves and blamed Moses for leading them to such a barren place. Moses struck the rock in anger and water came forth. As a consequence, the Israelites wandered for forty years before coming to the promised land.

The Mystery: Who was Rosana M Myers? She died at age 36 less than a year after the current church building was dedicated in 1920. Longtime Church historian and archivist, Ms Winifred Fryzel, looked in vain for Rosana in the US decennial censuses for Key West, city cemetery records and St Paul’s church records.

With the on-line availability of US Census records, we think Rosana has been found. In the 1920 US Census, Rosana M Myers, housewife, age 35 is found in Tampa with her 36 year old husband Everett W Myers, Pilot/Master Mariner and their son, Everett F Myers age 7. This is the only 35 or 36 year old Rosana Myers in the entire state that fights her birth date. She died nearly 9 years before the 1930 census and by that time Everett had apparently re-married.

We still do not know why she was memorialized in a window at St Paul’s. Since he was a Pilot, perhaps he had an association with the Bar Pilots Association here in Key West. That is speculation. At least we feel confident we have found Rosana. There is no evidence anything other than her name was brought to St Paul’s and Key West.

(Ms Winifred was very excited when I showed her what I had found about Rosana . )
Reminders
Sunday school is canceled during the virus emergency.
Back issues of  The Epistle  available  here .
These communications are currently edited by Senior Warden Ray Warren. Send questions and comments to the editor   here .