A Message from the Interim Rector:
Baptism – the Christian's Constitution
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One wonders why churches need to have by-laws and nations need constitutions, until this week.
Amendments and corrections to ancestral documents can illustrate both the wisdom of experience and the folly of human institutions. When we deify humans or our institutions with perfection and divine nature or authority, we are asking for trouble.
Older wisdom, embodied in all three monotheistic religions, keeps reminding us to refute idolatry in all its seductive forms. This is particularly of concern when we worship the state or we work to unravel what unifies us all, as divinely created, (with imagined and engineered national, racial or gender superiorities). I believe these older theological shared truths to be particularly helpful to concerned Americans and all people of faith, right now. When Islam declares Allah is ONE, Jewish law demands God’s holiness is not replaced by any man-made images that usurp divine power, (including religion) and Christianity embodies Jesus the Christ as the one who transcends all man- made barriers and invites humanity to become one global family -we are all saying the same thing, in different ways.
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The First Sunday after The Epiphany:
The Baptism of Our Lord
Sunday, January 10th, 2o21
9 AM: Live-streamed only! Holy Eucharist in the sanctuary with organ and choir. The Rev. Canon Albert Ogle is preaching and celebrating. Music is led by Dr. Andrew Kotylo, Emily Amos, and four staff singers. This service will also feature our weekly Godly Play lessons.
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This service will be available live on YouTube at 9 AM. Bulletin and service link will come in a Saturday evening email and will be posted on Facebook on Sunday morning.
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Missed last week's sermon and service?
Canon Albert Ogle introduces Epiphany with Dr. Carroll Anne Sheppard preaching. A Godly Play lesson on Epiphany is also available for our younger members.
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UPDATE FROM THE PROPERTY COMMIITTEE ON SOME EMERGENCY ISSUES ABOUT OUR BUILDINGS
Please read Mark Duckett's letter to the parish sent yesterday. More will be discussed at the first TOWN HALL MEETING on St Paul's Day, January 24th at 10 a.m, following the service. |
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An Update from the Search Committee |
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The Search Committee has nearly completed setting up the processes for our discernment - interview questions for candidates and answers to questions they may have, based on St. Paul’s Parish Profile - and we will soon begin interviews. In the meantime, we’ve received portfolios from a number of very interesting candidates, and our parishioners have suggested several more whom we may invite into our process. We all agree it will be gratifying to be able to tell the candidates how engaged and active our congregation has continued to be during the pandemic - it’s obvious how much you care about St. Paul's!
Thanks for your prayers, and keep them coming.
Louise Thompson
Chair of the Search Committee
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Many thanks to everyone who sent their pledges into the office and online these past couple of months. As of December 30th, we have received 147 pledges for a total of just over $588,891 -- about 93% of our goal! If you have not pledged to the operating budget for 2021, please do so here. Your generosity ensures that St. Paul's can continue to be a positive force in our community for many years to come. We have around 30 families and individuals missing who pledged last year and we hope can do so again so that we can meet the $100k challenge gift.
It is also very important that everyone who pledged in 2020 fulfill their commitment from this past year. We have $51k in outstanding pledge commitments to meet. Thanks to everyone who has already completed their gifts for last year.
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Mr. & Mrs. Charles Affel
Mr. & Mrs. Timothy Albert
Mr. Richard Alexander
Mr. Douglas Anderson
Mr. Henry Ballerstedt
Mr. & Mrs. Justin Baxter
Mrs. Charlotte Betancourt
Ms. Charlotte Biddle
Ms. Linda Boggs
Ms. Patricia Bonsall
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Boothby
Ms. Pamela Bracey
Ms. Elizabeth Brooks
Mr. Colin Brown & Ms. Lauren O'Garro-Moore
Mr. & Mrs. Wilson Brown, III
Mr. Martin Brueckner & Ms. Kristen Poole
Mr. & Mrs. Michael Budd
Mr. Robert Busser & Ms. Karen Richter
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Butler, Jr.
Mr. Sandy L.V. Byrd & Mrs. Bessie Jordan-Byrd
Mr. Stephen Camp-Landis
Ms. Lynn Carroll & Ms. JoAnn Puccella
Ms. Alessandra Cartelli
Mr. Kenneth Class
Ms. Margaret Class
Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Clowery
Miss. R. Jeanette Cord
Mr. Henry Crouter
Mrs. Nina Deats
Dr. Mary Anne Delaney & Ms. Helen McBride
Ms. Cheyenne DeMulder & Ms. Shana Stites
Mrs. Ruth Desiderio
Ms. Sandra Dillon
Mrs. Edith Dixon
Mr. Mark Ducket & Mr. Stan Gaddy
Ms. Suzanne Dure
Ms. Margaret Emmons
Mr. Joe Fafara & Ms. Catherine Davis
Mr. & Mrs. William Fikioris
Ms. Janice Fiore
Ms. Joan Fischer
Mr. & Mrs. Walter Foulke
Mrs. Margaret Freeman
Mr. & Mrs. W. Roderick Gagné
Ms. Lee Gast
Mrs. Sandra Glendinning
Mr. Wm. Graham
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Mrs. Jane Gray
Dr. & Mrs. John Grigger
Mr. Clark Groome
Mr. & Mrs. Mark Hanlon
Mrs. Henry F. Harris, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Bob Hayes
Mr. Charles Head & Mr. John Faggotti
Mr. Brian Henes
Mr. Jeffrey Hoeltzel
Mr. and Mrs. & Mrs. Robert Hubby
Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Hyde
Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Hyde
Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Irwin
Mr. & Mrs. Kevin Johnson
Ms. Shireatha Johnson
Mrs. Joseph L. Jones
Ms. Bernice Jones
Ms. Denise Jones
Dr. Richard Kagen & Ms. Valerie Stevens
Mrs. Kathleen Karhnak-Glasby
Mr. & Mrs. John Kimberly
Mrs. Charlotte Kleis
The Rev. Daniel Kline
Mr. Charles Klitsch
Mr. & Mrs. Michael Knudson
Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Knup, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Kolb
Miss. Kirsten Landreth & Mr. Scott Smith
Michael & Sarah Latini
Mr. & Mrs. David Leach
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Leonards, III
Mrs. Joanna Lewis
Ms. Chesley Lightsey & Ms. Sherri Hamilton
Ms. Rosaria Love
Ms. Mary Loveland
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Lower
Mr. & Mrs. Michael Mabry
Mr. Myron Manternach & Ms. Tabitha Oman
Mr. Timothy Martin & Ms. Paula Brown
Mr. Tim McLean & Mrs. Anna Marley
Mr. George McNeely
Dr. & Mrs. Kara McShane
Mrs. Evelyn H. Miller
Mr. Harvey Shipley Miller
Ms. Lisa Miller
Mrs. Lyn Montgomery
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Ms. Wendy Munyon
Mr. & Mrs. Alexander Nalle
Mr. Jonathan Nidock
Dr. & Mrs. Daniel O'Connell
Mrs. Suzanne O'Neil
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas O'Rourke
The Rev. Canon Albert Ogle & Mile Petrov
Mrs. Jeanne Omans
Mrs. Harriet Palmer
Mrs. Amy Papa
Mrs. Margaret Pearson
Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Pearson, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Robin Peirce
Mr. & Mrs. Adam Piatkowski
Mr. Michael Pongracz
Mr. & Mrs. James Pope
The Rev. & Mrs. James Proud
Mrs. Rose Randall
Mr. & Mrs. George Reath Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. John Rollins
Mrs. Trudy Roman
Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Scheid
Mr. & Mrs. Steven Schindler
Ms. Madeline Schroth
Mr. Schwarz & Mrs. Jorge-Schwarz
Mrs. Nancy Shepard
Captain & Mrs. Carl Sheppard, Jr.
Mr. Edward W. N. Smith
Mrs. Judith Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Harry Southwell
Dr. George Spaeth
Mr. & Mrs. Baird Standish
Ms. Elizabeth Starrantino
Mr. & Mrs. Michael Stockman
Mr. & Mrs. Fred Straub, III
Mr. Newbold Strong
Ms. Charlotte Sutton
Ms. Helen Swain
Mrs. Elaine Sykes
Mrs. Louise Thompson
Mr. David Toliver
Mr. & Mrs. Spencer Tullo
Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Van Sciver, III
Mrs. Patricia Voigt
Mr. & Mrs. James Walker
Mr. & Mrs. Derek Warnick
Mr. & Mrs. William Wemple
Dr. Robert Whitaker & Dr. Hillary Burdette
Mr. & Mrs. J. Randolph Williams, Jr.
Mr. Sheppard Williams & Mr. Stephen Stone
Mr. & Mrs. Hugh Williamson
Mrs. Margaret Woodruff
Mr. John Zimmermann, III
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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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Instead of giving online: if you would like offering envelopes to be mailed to you, please contact Paul Diefenbach; (215) 242-2055 ex. 25.
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Shop and Drop
Your contribution to St. Paul’s Shop and Drop has made a positive impact on so many families in our nearby communities through our weekly deliveries to St. Luke’s food pantry in Germantown. The demand continues to rise.
Consider donating:
Vegetables/rice/potatoes, other: canned vegetables, boxed mashed potatoes, and rice
Protein: Peanut butter (or any other nut butter), nuts/seeds/trail mix, canned tuna fish, canned chicken, soup/stew-hearty, shelf stable milk. Consider donating jelly or jam in unbreakable containers to accompany peanut butter.
Carbohydrates: Crackers, granola bars, cereal
Other: Red tomato sauce, fruit cups, applesauce, canned fruit, and dried fruit.
The St. Paul’s Outreach Committee thanks you for your dedication.
-Charlotte Biddle and Tom O’Rourke, Outreach Committee Chairs
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UPDATE: St. Paul's is unbelievable!!!! We at Outreach are overwhelmed and delighted by the generosity of St. Paul's parishioners -- we delivered 40 coats to Face to Face. Thanks to all. Keep scratchin'!
It’s time! It’s getting cold.
Face to Face Germantown again needs gently used winter coats - men’s and women’s - the larger the better. You all were amazingly generous last winter. Jody and I made a trip a week with your coats and they were all snapped up.
So, please check the closet and if you see a coat you won’t wear again and would like it to see new life, you can drop it off in the back of the church, near the usher's table or in the rectory during office hours.
Jody and I will see that it gets to Face to Face.
Thanks so much.
Tom O'Rourke
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Join us as we discuss themes of family, Black identity, LGBTQ+ identity, and how history shapes the present from one of the most talked about novels of 2020!
Wednesdays in January at 7PM
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Wednesdays from 10:30AM-12PM |
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Our new Nativity set, first seen during the Posada and up for the 12 days of Christmas, was a gift to the parish in honor of the 2020 Confirmation Class. Louella Whitaker was the first confirmand to sign the back of the camel, a rite of passage all in the class will undertake! We also celebrate the one year anniversary of Dan Kline's ordination to the priesthood at St. Paul's. Continued blessings Dan and thanks for your vibrant ministry here. The parish gifted Dan with a new black cassock that he wears from time to time for Evensongs. |
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Missed our Christmas services?
You can watch them (or re-watch them!) here.
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