From the Rector
By the Rev. Donna S. Mote, PhD
Dear People of St Paul’s,
Grace and peace.
As you are reading this, I am with my extended family in Henry County, GA. After services on Sunday, July 18, I flew to Atlanta, where Becky picked me up and drove me to Shingleroof Methodist Campground - one of my spiritual homeplaces since before I was born. I’ll return to Key West on Saturday evening, July 24. And, thankfully, Becky will at last return to Key West to stay a day or two later, having completed an amazing amount of labor of varying kinds to get our house in Decatur, GA on the market.
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2020 was the first year in more than a century that we were unable to keep camp meeting at Shingleroof, where my family has participated for ten generations now. The first documented camp meeting there was in 1827. There were two discontinuations of the meetings of nine years’ duration each (1864-1872 and 1893-1901). Except for those two “abandonments,” as the records call them, (and last year) people in my home county, and people with roots there - dispersed across the country and around the world, have made their way to Shingleroof for nearly 200 years.
In the midst of much faster-paced change in so many domains of life, the relative constancy of the culture of our camp meeting is comforting and grounding. Things change slowly at the campground, but they do change. Things don’t move quickly, but they do move.
Starting with the July 2 edition of The Epistle I’ve been writing about the terms hybrid, distributed, and agile as attributes of our common life as St Paul’s moving forward.
Two weeks ago I discussed what I mean by hybrid. Last week I held forth on distributed. This week I’m focusing on the term agile.
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The totem animal for the “agile” attribute is the cheetah. It’s the animal that can accelerate faster than any other. It’s also the animal that can decelerate faster than any other. Without both capacities, that of slowing down as well as speeding up, we aren’t really agile.
The pace of change in our world and in US culture broadly speaking has been accelerating for decades. It will not likely slow down much if at all. We, however, exercising discernment with cheetah-like agility, do not have to only go faster and faster as individuals or as a congregation. We can speed up to enact and embrace changes when needed. And we can slow down to assess and reiterate more quickly or more slowly as the circumstances indicate.
We can run well-thought-out experiments for shorter or longer periods. We can quickly tweak small things that are obviously not working or are ineffective, and we can, when necessary, slow down and give further consideration even to big projects and initiatives.
All this is to say, when we embark on a particular course of action, it isn’t necessarily “full steam ahead” without any alteration until Jesus comes. We know that varying rhythms of both action and rest are part of the cycles of life on this earth. They also are and should be part of our collective work.
Agility allows us to shift gears and change course when needed so that our movement forward into God’s future is faithful. What an adventure it is. Thanks be to God.
With you on the journey,
Donna+
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Padre Donna with her Uncle Si, "patriarch" of the camp meeting |
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Padre Donna with her Aunt Betty, "matriarch" of the camp meeting |
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This Week's News Highlights
Our Service This Week
Holy Eucharist, Rite II will be at 7:30AM. This is a quiet, intimate spoken service.
Holy Eucharist, Rite II will also be celebrated at 10:00AM with music and incense. This service will also be live streamed on Facebook Live.
As most Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted, socially distanced seating, checking in with contact information, and a mask requirement will no longer be in effect. (Those who are not vaccinated, or who feel comfortable doing so, are certainly encouraged to wear masks if desired.)
The prior ban on congregational singing will no longer be in effect. Communion has returned to the altar rail (and will be brought to those unable to approach the altar).
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Death of a Beloved Friend - Mark Simcox
We are sad to report the passing of Mark Simcox, who many knew from his musical contributions to St. Paul’s.
Before retiring to Key West in 2013, Mark played for 40 years in the Boston Lyric Opera orchestra. He was principal cellist of the Boston Classical Orchestra and a new music ensemble called Alea III. He performed with the Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet Orchestra, and national tours with the New York City Opera.
After moving to Key West, for several years he commuted between Boston and the island, while continuing performances in Boston's major symphony, operatic and chamber ensembles.
In Key West, Mark performed early with Linda Sparks and Music in Paradise, and continued playing regularly at St Paul's, including Sunday services, Christmas and Southernmost Chamber performances with Music Director Tim Peterson.
Mark was a founding member of the Southernmost Chamber Music Society.
As related by Linda Sparks, “Mark loved listening to opera and ballet, reading, gardening, kayaking and long talks with his friends. Mark's smile was always as indicative of his gracious spirit as his intimate and exquisite playing.”
He will be missed by all who love music at St. Paul’s, and by his many friends on the island. His funeral will be in Ohio
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Restoring and Preserving St. Paul's One Brick At A Time
Please consider joining in our ongoing brick 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
Holy Eucharist will be celebrated at 7:30AM and 10:00AM on Sunday. The 10:00AM service will also be streamed on Facebook. There is definitely room for all. Please join us if you can.
To join via Facebook (at 10:00AM), 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.)
You can open or download the bulletin for the 10:00AM Sunday service here.
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Junior Warden's Report
By Greta Philips-Ford
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Greta Philips-Ford is taking a well deserved break from her weekly column. It will return soon!
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Instead, here is a building and grounds update from Treasurer David Eyer:
In June there was a concerning article in the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper. An FBI investigation revealed that since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, 670 churches in 30 Florida counties had lost more than $760,000 by having mail stolen from their mailboxes. Checks were fraudulently deposited into bank accounts. The funds were then immediately wired to a foreign bank.
In many instances the churches did not yet know about the loss. This was the situation for two Baptist churches in the Tallahassee area who were out about $10,000. It seems since the pandemic started there have been fewer parishioners and people in general around churches and their mailboxes.
While this is not the case for St Paul’s, our mailbox being in a very public location, out of an abundance of caution it was decided to install a locking mailbox.
(We have not used the Post Office box associated with St Paul’s Church for many years. That required someone to walk from the church office to the post office daily. You can imagine how this became a problem over the years as volunteers in the office became more scarce or were physically unable to walk this distance.)
[Editor's Note. Many thanks to Dave, who spearheaded the acquisition and installation of the new secure mailbox.]
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Senior Warden's Report
By Ray Warren
Envelope Reminder
Remember, if you want giving envelopes for the year 2022 please contact the office right away via email or phone (305-735-1867). We will be submitting our order soon. Given the changing nature of accounting for contributions, we will only order envelopes for those who specifically request them.
Help!
We desperately need volunteers to help with office type tasks during weekdays of the work week. This is a serious problem in the summer when so many of our retired members and members with flexible schedules are out of town.
One of our star volunteers, who works for the school system, will be unavailable after this coming week due to the early start of school in Key West. I, and Clare and Tom Keller, who usually work on weekly projects, have out of town trips planned in August and September. Another star volunteer has been called back to Texas to deal with a family emergency.
So, our small summer congregation contains a number of people who work during the day and few who can lend a hand during normal work hours. But if you can step forward, even only on occasion, please let me know or email the office. We are seriously "short staffed" with volunteers now.
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EfM Starting Soon
Please consider being part of the incredible learning and growth opportunity known as EfM. These weekly classes will start in the fall. You can work full-time and participate. (One current member does.) You need not be local full time to Key West (only two - out of seven - were full timers this past year). If you are traveling on class night you can join via Zoom.
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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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Next Organ Concert is August 4th
By Tim Peterson
The August edition of “From the Organ” will be on Thursday, August 5, at noon in the sanctuary at St Paul’s. We will have a live audience as well as streaming live on Facebook. This month we will feature Tom Scheck, Tom Bond, and Tim Peterson.
I started streaming weekly concerts beginning back at the end of March 2020 in response to the pandemic, when there were few other opportunities to share music with parishioners and friends.
Other local organists joined me last October and, since live services had resumed, we switched to monthly concerts. We hope to see you on the 5th, in person or online for the August edition.
Remember that you can also find prior recordings of many past concerts and musical offerings on St Paul’s Facebook page, or on YouTube.
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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 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, Monica (Kitty Roberts’ daughter), Gina, Sandy Highsmith, Carla Harper (sister of Joseph Lyles), Fran Lepine (friend of Joseph), Judy Denton Ping, Ken Reed, Mickey Malgrat, Mark Simcox, John Shaver Joe Wittreich and Zane Wruble (daughter of Kathleen Bratton), Sarah, Steve Sika
We pray for the departed and their loved ones
Mark Simcox
"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
Brian Wagstaff 07/01
Jim Kracht 07/03
Pamela McLaughlin 07/03
Dexter Simmons 07/04
Deborah Hindsley 07/05
Tina Johnson 07/05
Susan Byrd 07/07
William E. Malpass 07/08
Wendy Tucker 07/08
Greta Ford 07/09
Josefina Reif 07/09
Kyle Campbell 07/10
Kerstin Griffith 07/10
Gary Hernandez 07/10
Mary Taylor 07/10
Pam McCloud 07/11
Michelle Valdova 07/12
Darren Horan 07/13
Chelsea Wells 07/13
Judy Sandground 07/13
Ron Barker 07/14
Lynese Mariscal 07/14
Tom Ford 07/15
Anne McKee 07/16
Akailah Cyrillien 07/17
Nicole Reeder 07/17
Jeff Carr 07/19
Jack Zimmerman 07/19
Sherri Hodies 07/20
AnthonyMarcussen 07/21
Glynn R. Archer IV 07/24
Michael Kindinger 07/25
Sharon Ward 07/25
Troy Thomas 07/26
Lyle Harris 07/28
(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:
Edward & Diane King 07/01
David & Pamela McLaughlin 07/28
Kenneth & Marilyn Helgeson 07/29
Daniel & Lynese Mariscal 07/29
Wally & Joyce Senney 07/29
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Reminders
Sunday School will resume when possible.
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
Rector's Drop In Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1 - 5PM
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