A Message from the Associate Rector |
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As we inch closer to winter and spooky decorations begin to appear on our front lawns, we move into a season of remembering the dead. Normally, we locate such a collective remembrance as a society to October, with a climax during the Halloween season. Not surprisingly, this season originates, like most of our modern secular “holy days”, in the Church. Our liturgical calendar celebrates the Allhallowtide Triduum of All Saints’ Eve (Halloween), All Saints’ Day (All Hallows’), and All Souls’ Day, as well as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (normally observed on the first Sunday of November).
This year, however, Halloween season feels very different. We are living in Walt Disney’s animated classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas. What is normally a self-contained remembrance (and even celebration) of death has jumped outside of Halloween Town and impacted what will be a very different Christmas. COVID-19 will impact our upcoming holiday season, but has also reached backwards in time from Halloween, too. Halloween has moved from a single day in 2020 to a many month (or year) ordeal. Perhaps we are looking forward to October 31st because it gives us some sense of normalcy. Our scary rituals seem to simultaneously resonate with the times we are living in and offer an escape from the dark side of the reality of all of this change. Or maybe we wish we could skip over all of the trick-or-treating this year because we are sick of living in the land of the dead. We want to be left alone and wake up on the other side.
Regardless of how we celebrate Allhallowstide, the Church is still here. Having survived many plagues and many times of trouble, we are reminded especially this year of our calling as a people and an institution on the frontiers of life itself. We are the spiritual telephone operator between the land of the living and the land of the dead, directing prayers for the departed upwards and communicating prayers from the saints of the past downwards. We are Charon, ferrying departed souls down the River Styx to the celestial city, through last rites at hospital bedsides and funerals over Zoom. This should not surprise us, for the Church is the body of Christ. Like Christ, we stand between heaven and earth, between death and life, on the cross.
It is not an easy time to be doing ministry, as clergy or laypeople. And yet here we are, called with Christ to continue on the borders between the spiritual and the physical. Most of our ministry is in the purgatory between the physical and the spiritual - the digital no man’s land of Zoom. When we do happen to gather in-person, we have masks that stand as the only thing between life and death, right on the edge of those two places. They separate our very breath (the same word is used for spirit in the Holy Scriptures) from each other when we gather in our building. We have experienced the separation of death in many other ways as a community. But in this place of utter darkness, in the otherworldly wood between the worlds, so thick that we can barely see the night sky above, we are able to shine brighter and smile wider than a Jack-O-Lantern. We offer the light and comfort of Christ in dimly lit times, even when our smiles cannot be seen. In this place, we are, perhaps more than ever, the image of Christ in the world. Amen.
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The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
*Note: the 8 AM Saturday service has been changed to 8 AM on Sundays.
Sunday, October 18th
8 AM: Spoken Eucharist in the sanctuary - registration required for first 25 people. The Rev. Dan Kline is preaching and celebrating.
9 AM: Family Holy Eucharist on the Labyrinth with The Rev. Dan Kline as preacher and celebrant. Pre-registration required for 25 people.
10-11 AM: Adult Education Forum: The Treasures of Darkness - What I Learned From Thinking I Was Going To Die with Scott Robinson - click here to join.
11 AM: Holy Eucharist in the sanctuary with organ and choir. The Rev. Dan Kline is preaching and celebrating. Music is led by Dr. Andrew Kotylo, Emily Amos, and four staff singers.
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This service will be broadcast live at 11 AM. Bulletin and video link will come in a Saturday evening email and will be posted on Facebook on Sunday morning.
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Thomas Tallis Dorian Service
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Edward Bairstow Save Us, O Lord
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Martin Neary Preces & Responses
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Submit the names you wish to hold in remembrance
for All Saints' and All Souls' Day services here:
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There is still time to register for this weekend's services! |
Your safety is our primary concern. |
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Our Website, Redesigned!
Over the past several months, a Website Committee has worked with Fred Shequine, a phenomenal web developer and a friend of Albert+, to reimagine our current website.
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As we make the new site live, our parish website will not be available from Sunday evening through Monday. We apologize for this inconvenience, but look forward to a more modern, more functional website! |
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Photos in Parish Profile
There is growing excitement about completing the Parish Profile and submitting it for Diocesan review, and we’re really close to reaching that goal. Most recently we went into our photographic archives and selected dozens of images which bring St. Paul’s to life, and should help Rector candidates understand better who we are. Even though we used previously published photos, the visual impact is inspiring. One final step before releasing the Profile is to ask if anyone in the Parish would prefer their picture NOT to be included. We will not associate names and images, but many of us will be recognizable.
Please email Marisa Curcio by Friday, October 23rd, if you’d like us to exclude images of you or any of your family. |
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Jim Everts, our faithful and trustworthy Sexton has announced he is leaving St. Paul's by the end of October. Jim was hired to oversee the duties of caring for the church buildings, setting up for services, different groups and meetings, as well as acting as a bridge for the renovation project. Obviously, COVID-19 changed everything and we redesigned Jim's job to oversee the landscaping and carrying out some repairs, especially painting and maintenance for the Rectory and Dixon House. Jim's background in construction and engineering was an invaluable asset during this very different year for all of us. Jim also helped with the weekly distribution of "Shop and Drop" groceries and was a friendly face welcoming people to the COVID-19 safeguards needed to attend worship. There are currently no groups meeting weekdays and with only three services planned for the foreseeable future, which means we need a different staff support response. The Interim Rector is in conversation with Mark Duckett about our short term and longer-term needs. Jim is an avid motor-cyclist and he recently told Albert he will be riding into the sunset towards California at the end of the month. Thanks Jim, for your warm hospitality and welcoming presence. You are leaving the facility better cared for and looking good! We will miss you... Godspeed! |
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Make sure to join the Zoom Coffee Hour on Sunday, October 25th at noon as we celebrate the fourteen years of work and care put in by our Parish Administrator, Virginia Emlen. Outstanding gifts for Virginia should be in the office by the end of next week.
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It is curious to look back to this same time last year, when our parish launched the “2020 Vision” pledge campaign with high hopes for the upcoming year. We were excited to huddle together on the parish self assessment and then launch a national search for our next rector, beckoning a promising next phase of St. Paul’s history. But the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Our careful planning was unexpectedly upended by the innumerable challenges of our new reality. Our entire parish was forced to pause everything in the space of a few weeks. As happened to Job, everything in our family, work and parish lives changed. Everything demanded urgent rethinking. We were all stumbling in darkness as our center did not hold. But… slowly, gradually… we started to move forward.
Each part of our parish family peeked tentatively out of our bunkers. We assessed the damage and inspected what was going on around us. We reached out to each other. Together we started to figure out what tentative next steps to take. The light of the Lord was shining down around us.
God wants us to learn from that darkness how to become better Christians. God wants us to dust ourselves off and figure out new ways to be together. God wants us to keep moving forward. Now, six months later, we are indeed moving forward.
Each of us is an essential part of the St. Paul’s community. We pray together, we sing together (or rather we hum together right now), we learn together, and we support each other through life’s trials. And together we share God’s many blessings, even in these challenging times.
Our parish is supported by each of our individual pledges so that together we have the resources to move forward. Change does not happen without those resources. So please join me and everyone in our St. Paul’s family in pledging to support the future of our parish; to build together a strong foundation for our next rector; to accept God’s love and move forward together into a bright future.
Faithful together. Thriving together. Building this church together.
Sincerely,
George McNeely
Chair, Stewardship Committee
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During this time when most of us are not attending church services in person, we are offering a Virtual Collection Plate. Please contribute what you would normally have given each Sunday and help Saint Paul's continue its important work! |
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A Prayer for An Election
"Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: Guide the people of the United States in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
From The Book of Common Prayer, p. 822
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Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
by Isabel Wilkerson
Join us for a weekly discussion based on the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson. She explores the origins of racial hierarchical systems in America, particularly through the development of laws in the life of our nation. As a part of our praxis, we plan on implementing a community project at the end of our study.
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Time: 7-8pm
Dates: Wednesdays
10/21: Part 2 (p. 39-98)
10/28: Part 3 (p. 99-130)
11/4: Part 3 (p. 131-166)
11/11: Part 4 (p. 167-207)
11/18: Part 4 (p. 208-262)
11/25: Skip!
12/2: Part 5 (p. 263-310)
12/9: Part 6 (p. 311-360)
12/16: Part 7 (p. 361-389)
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Adult Education Forum
Death & Dying
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At 10 AM this Sunday, we are excited to welcome back interfaith minister, Scott Robinson, who will give a talk entitled: "The Treasures of Darkness: What I Learned From Thinking I Was Going To Die" With so much death around us as we navigate COVID-19, this talk will help us process what we can learn through these dark times. Q & A to follow.
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Join us for a movie night under the stars! Bring a blanket and chairs, some snacks, and your mask! We will be sitting in family pods that are socially distant. |
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If you have any old Halloween decorations you can donate, please reach out to Dan+. |
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Confirmation Classes Continue This Tuesday! Check Your Email For More Details!
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Be on the lookout this week for our next Godly Play At Home drop-offs. Look for the St. Paul's bags near your door! |
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The form has been updated, and the photo release form is following soon after. |
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We were privileged to baptize Michael Anthony Papa, son of new members, Amy and Michael Papa Sr., last Saturday (our second baptism since COVID-19)! |
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Please continue to donate food!
The need has not changed.
Protein: Peanut butter (or any other nut butter), nuts/seeds/trail mix, canned tuna fish, canned chicken, soup/stew-hearty, shelf stable milk
Carbohydrates: Crackers, granola bars
Other: Red tomato sauce, fruit cups, applesauce, dried fruit
St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Germantown sends sincere thanks to St. Paul's parishioners and its neighbors for the weekly abundant delivery of food items for its food pantry. (you can add in the number of families it feeds from last issue) The continued generosity of everyone is heartwarming and much appreciated. As we all know... the need continues.
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Missed last week's live-streamed service?
You can watch it (or re-watch it!) here.
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