St. Paul's Episcopal Church |
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From the Rector
By the Rev. Donna Mote
Dear People of St Paul’s,
Grace and peace. I’m well and truly enthused about the events of the weekend of June 5 and 6!
It is with profound gratitude and deep humility that I will be installed by Bishop Peter Eaton as the thirty-fourth rector of St Paul’s at a Eucharist celebrating our new ministry together as priest and people in the nave at 5PM on Saturday, June 5.
The bishop’s archdeacon and canon to the ordinary along with the dean of the Keys and the other Episcopal clergy and key lay leaders of the Keys will be on hand to celebrate with us. One of my dearest friends will be the installation preacher.
Saturday will be a big day for me personally, for sure, and for my family. It will also be a notable day in the life of St Paul’s, the oldest outpost of the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement in all of Florida. Please join us via Facebook livestream if you can’t do so in person.
On Sunday, June 6 at 8:30AM I will preside and preach for the first time in the nave of St Paul’s. If you can attend, please do. If you can’t, you may join that service via Facebook as well.
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I’m happy to report that my spouse, Rebecca “Becky” England, arrived safely on Tuesday evening, June 1 along with our cats.
I’m a little less happy to report that the current dearth of long-haul truck drivers in the US means that our worldly goods have not yet been delivered to the Riviera Drive rectory. We are grateful indeed to have temporary housing in the historic rectory on the St Paul’s campus.
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June 2-6 is also Pride Week 2021 in Key West. As a sign of the welcome that we as the Episcopal Church offer in Christ’s name to all God’s children, Tim, Ray, and I hung the traditional Pride banners in front of the historic rectory.
My prayer is that we as a congregation will continue to offer to everyone the kind of welcome that has been offered by the community of St Paul’s to Becky and me. We are delighted to be among you. God bless you all.
With you on the journey,
Donna+
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This Week's News Highlights
Our Services This Week
The Installation Service for The Rev. Donna S. Mote ("Padre Donna") will be Saturday, June 5th at 5:00PM. (Please note the time. There was some confusion in some prior communications. The time is 5:00PM.)
The bishop will celebrate the service and Canon Affer and Archdeacon Bazin will be in attendance. This service will be streamed on Facebook Live. You can open or download the bulletin for the Saturday installation service here.
Holy Eucharist on Facebook and for those in person will be at 8:30AM on Sunday. This Sunday will be Donna's first service as our new rector.
Masks are still required as is social distanced seating. Congregational singing is not yet permitted, but there will be beautiful music from the organ and our cantor.
Still Time to Get Cards to Father Haughton
We will continue to forward cards from parishioners to Fr. Lenworth Haughton who ended his time with us last Sunday. Those who are so moved are invited to send cards of thanks addressed directly to Fr. Haughton to the church office:
Fr. Lenworth Haughton
c/o St. Paul's Church
401 Duval Street
Key West, Florida 33040
Cards can also be physically dropped by the office or brought to Sunday's service. It would be appropriate for those wishing to do so to include a voluntary monetary gift gift card for Fr. Haughton in the card. Please do not write checks to the church, however, as St. Paul's is merely acting as a conduit for expressions of gratitude
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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.
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Sunday's Service
Join us for Holy Eucharist at 8:30AM on Sunday in person or join us on Facebook. This will be our new rector's first service as the celebrant.
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.
You no longer need to pre-register to attend a Sunday services. If we do not already have your contact information you will be asked to fill out a contact information form one time (only) to be added to the list of persons for whom we have such information.
Please remember that masks are still required, there is no congregational singing (though there will be beautiful organ music) and socially distanced seating will be in effect. We look forward to seeing you!
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Junior Warden's Report
By Greta Philips-Ford
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The volunteers will gather with week and start preparing for the stained glass window lighting project. We will need to get into the tower and take photos of the existing fixtures so the proper LED replacement may be ordered.
The group under the supervision of our sexton, Ken Bagge, will then begin to remove the old fluorescent bulb fixtures in preparation for Check Electric to complete the final installation of the lighting. This project will also include the repair/replacement of the light fixtures on the north and south entrance to the church and the security lighting on the porch of the parish hall.
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Don’t forget—this Saturday is the first Saturday of the month where you can drop off your HAZ MAT (light bulbs, old paint, etc.) with Waste Management at the Indigenous Park. We will be gathering our items from the Church in the morning, and I will make the run around 11:00AM. If you have items that need to be turned in and/or need assistance, please give me call—305-797-0284. We will send a group of volunteers to you!
This month is the beginning of Hurricane Season—are you ready!
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Senior Warden's Report
By Ray Warren
Just a reminder that the funeral service for John Lyon, the longtime partner of former St Paul's music director Joe Lowe, will be held at the Key West Methodist Church at 2:00 p.m. on June 8th.
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Kudos to Dean Warden for handling the musical duties while Tim was away. Not only was Dean wonderful at the organ, he also managed all the Sunday morning preparation (from opening the church to setting up the video stream and moving the camera.) We are fortunate to have Dean (and I think we’ll all be happy to hear his solos return during upcoming services).
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We are so grateful to the benefactor who made the “May Challenge” possible. Not only did we raise the matching funds, the work on fulfilling the promised structural improvements will happen almost immediately.
Most of our stained glass windows were installed in the 1920’s when families sacrificed to give them to the parish. The two windows in the back of the Nave (at the entrances) actually open to the towers (the one with the restroom, and the bell tower on the other side.) So, they never receive natural sunlight.
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On one side is a window dedicated to the Lumley family. On the other side is one that reads “Margaret Mora” and “Fred Howard Matthews.” I am very happy that these family gifts to St. Paul’s will soon again glow like the other windows of the church.
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A couple of “subscription” notes. If you are not receiving the Epistle each week, please check your “spam” or “junk” folders, (or, in some programs, like Gmail, folders for “updates” or “promotions”). Email programs often decide for themselves what is “spam”.
I think we’ve also solved a nagging problem of “mystery un-subscriptions”. Several people who were not getting the newsletter were found, upon examination of our records, to have “unsubscribed” from the mailing list. The persons were adamant that they had not.
It turns out that the Southernmost Chamber Music Society uses the our email list (plus some names of their own.) If a person unsubscribes from the Southernmost Chamber list they also, inadvertently unsubscribe from the list for this newsletter.
I’m looking at how to separate the two lists so one can unsubscribe from one, but not the other. In the interim, the Southernmost Chamber only publishes about once a month. So, even if you want to unsubscribe from their emails, you may want to hold off until we can accomplish the separation.
If you continue to have problems or want to be sure you are signed up, please contact the editor.
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We are still looking for one or more individuals to serve as editors for this newsletter. This involves not only entering (and editing) text, but putting together the graphics, colors, etc. using the Constant Contact interface. If you have patience, a good eye for copy editing and the ability to learn a new program, please let me know if you want to volunteer.
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Contacts:
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.
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Monthly Organ Recitals
By Tim Peterson
“From the Organ” returned on Thursday, June 3rd. If you missed the live stream or seeing it in person, remember that you can also find prior recordings of that and many past concerts and musical offerings on St Paul’s Facebook page, or on YouTube.
Mark your calendars for a wonderful start to the July 4th holiday weekend, as the next concert will be on Thursday, July 1 at noon.
Many thanks to Tom Scheck, Tom Bond and John Penkoske, for sharing their talent with us this month.
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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 Roberts’ partner), Peter Nanos, Joseph Lyles, David Sweeting, Cari Varela, Carolyn Sangston, Ed Hinkle, Monica (Kitty Roberts’ daughter), Gina, Sandy Highsmith, Carla Harper (sister of Joseph Lyles), Fran Lepine (friend of Joseph), Shirley Sweeting, Judy Denton Ping
We pray for the departed and their loved ones
John Lyon (partner of Joe Lowe, long-time organist at St Paul’s), Gina Delisio (friend of Joseph Lyles) and Dottie Clifford
"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 June Birthdays
Holle Campbell 06/02
Miles Mungall 06/07
Ray Warren 06/07
Irene Eyer 06/08
Erin Kracht 06/08
Sylvia Halldorson 06/10
Millicent Mario 06/13
Rachel Sweeting 06/14
Stephen Graniela 06/17
Anne Shaver 06/19
John Benson 06/25
David Eyer 06/26
Carole Fauth 06/26
Charles Percy Curry 06/27
Barry Hitch 06/30
Julia Pischke 06/30
(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 June Anniversaries:
William & Carol Wilusz McBride 06/04
Juan & Joan Sammy Mayancela 06/08
Bill & MaryCarlin Porter 06/08
Stephen & Jackie Gahan 06/12
David & Phyllis Sweeting 06/17
Susan & Damon Byrd 06/23
Ivan & Sheri Sampson Stanke 06/27
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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.
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Tel. (305) 296-5142
Pastoral Emergencies (305) 735-1867
The nave of the church, the grounds and gardens are open for prayer and meditation daily.
The church office is located in Holy Innocents Hall
Office Hours 10AM - 2PM M- F
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