April 22, 2021
St. Paul's Episcopal Church

This Week's News Highlights

Our Service This Week

Holy Eucharist on Facebook and for those in person will be at 8:30AM on Sunday. See below for how to attend by either mode of participation.
Charles "Chuck" Hammond Memorial Service to be Sunday, May 16

The Memorial Service for longtime member and volunteer Charles "Chuck" Hammond will be at 2:00PM on Sunday, May 16. If you would like to attend, please mark your calendar. As with other services, masks will be required and social distancing guidelines will be in force.

Search Committee Update

The Search Committee is working diligently and we hope to have news to share with the congregation soon. At the moment discussions are taking place with diocesan authorities in Miami about details. When these are finalized, an announcement can be made.

Restoring and Preserving St. Paul's One Brick At A Time

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.
Sunday's Service

Join us Sunday for Holy Eucharist at 8:30AM. Sign up in advance to attend in person 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.

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

To attend a Sunday 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
The volunteers (hopefully including you) will gather this weekend and prepare the Garden for upcoming services/interments. (We have an interment of ashes on Sunday and several others scheduled in the next month.) The group also continues to work on touch-up painting around the campus, Holy Innocents Hall and the Riviera Rectory. Please join us Saturday at 9:00AM at the church for two hours of light socially distanced activities.

Now, our next big project – matching funds! We received a challenge from one of our parishioners to raise $8,000.00! If we can raise $4,000.00 by the end of May—they will match the amount! These funds will go towards the “re-lighting” of the windows in the Sanctuary. The plan is to replace all of the florescent lights backing the stained glass windows with LED fixtures, replacing the light fixtures at the entrance to the Church on Duval Street; finishing the lighting/sprinkler system in the Garden and erecting the new Flag Pole (mostly paid for with the last challenge).
Please mark your checks as "May Challenge" to support this effort. It is going to indeed be a challenge, since many of our seasonal members are heading north for the summer. But the work is vital and will pay dividends for many years.

As you know, LED lighting is much more reliable and energy efficient than fluorescent lighting. Your investment now will help us maintain financial strength in the coming years.
Senior Warden's Report
By Ray Warren

A Time of Waiting, Expectation and Seasonal Change

Unfortunately, so much of what is happening regarding our rector search must remain confidential at the moment. This makes for a thin newsletter, but I want to assure you that your Search Committee and the Vestry are working very hard to bring this to fruition. Hopefully we will have an announcement soon.

- - -
One of the fruits of having a full time rector will be, I hope, the restoration of an opportunity for Rite I services and the resumption of the small group healing services. I receive requests for both regularly and I know that these opportunities are missed.

The decision on when to have services and what to offer will rest with the new Rector. But I certainly hope she or he will consider reviving these worship opportunities. Stay tuned and please be patient. Your voice is definitely being heard.

- - - 
I am sad to inform you that John Lyon, the longtime partner of Joe Lowe, a former music director here, recently passed away after a long illness. Please keep Joe and John's family in your prayers this week.

- - - 
We are reaching the point soon where many of our seasonal members will head back up north for the summer. If you will be leaving us soon, please keep us in your prayers and thoughts all year.
 
When I first came here, I thought in terms of locals, visitors and seasonal residents. Having lived here full-time for a while now, I understand that our community is a large continuum spanning more than a few categories. It is the dedication, love and support of St Paul's that extends across all groups which makes us a living institution instead of a museum.
 
Some parts of our community are here virtually year-round, leaving only for short vacations. Some are here most of the year, leaving only for the hottest months of the summer. Some are here most of the time, but leave for a good part of the warm weather up north. Others are here for a few months each year. Then there are those who are only be here for a few weeks (or even a few days) each year, but nonetheless come back faithfully and think of Saint Paul's as a church home.
 
With a 100 year old church, an even older historic rectory, and the constant issues of weather, insects and insurance rates, St Paul's always faces many challenges and depends upon every person who considers us a spiritual home. 
 
We certainly know that our seasonal members support churches and causes in their other homes.

Although we live here full-time, our family still financially supports two churches in Virginia whose mission and vision inspire us. So, I can appreciate having loyalty to more than one place.
 
We cannot survive in the summer with the support of only our summer population. The contributions we receive from people up north each year are what get us through those lean times. They are what assures that the buildings and essential personnel will be here each fall when our congregation swells again.
 
Please be safe as you travel up north, and please be generous to your other church home(s) while there. But to the extent you can send a lifeline back to Key West from time to time, it will be most deeply appreciated and will fill a huge need.

I personally will scan the birthday list, the anniversary list (and, sadly, sometimes the “pray for” list) for each of you throughout the summer. You might be away for a while, but you are always a part of St. Paul’s.

- - -
If you need assistance setting up an appointment for a Covid-19 vaccine, please contact the office (info@stpaulskeywest.org or 305-296-5142). The sooner we can reduce the range for variants to arise, and strive toward herd immunity, the sooner we can return to more normal activities as a community.
Help Make a Difference!

Thank you to those who sent in their pledge last week! You are indeed inducing confidence in our future and allowing us to quote our number of pledge families with pride.

We want to retire this appeal soon. Your help in getting rid of this particular box in the newsletter is greatly appreciated. Please fill out your pledge form today. And deepest thanks to the families who are already on board.

You can find more information and enter your pledge here. Please help us get to our goal and put an end to these pesky reminders.
Contacts:

Sr. Warden Ray Warrenseniorwarden@stpaulskeywest.org

Jr. Warden Greta Philips-Fordjuniorwarden@stpaulskeywest.org

Epistle Editoreditor@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

Our next organ recital "From the Organ", will be on Thursday, May 6, 2021 at noon. We will be streaming live on Facebook, and for the first time in more than a year, will also have a live audience.

Just as we do on Sunday mornings, we will be limited in the number of people in the nave. Masks will be required of attendees and social distanced seating will be utilized. If you are interested, please send me an email at tim@stpaulskeywest.org for more details.

This concert will feature organists John Penkoske, Tom Scheck, Linda Sparks, and Dean Warden. We are excited about allowing a small number of people to join us in person, with masks and social distancing guidelines.

Remember that you can also 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, Kathryn Heldt (mother of Lisa McCarthy) and John Lyon

"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
Alona Marius4/25
Damon Byrd 4/26
Laurence Marius 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

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.