News from the Red Doors - December 4, 2020

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

It is an amazing blessing to St. Paul's that our annual stewardship campaign yielded results comparable to and a bit higher than last year. Even amidst the pandemic, the faithful saints at St. Paul's are committed to supporting our Episcopal presence here in the city of LaPorte. Thank you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart and with the appreciation of everyone who is able to worship here because of your generosity.

Our pledge commitments for the current year of 2020 are $91,608. The pledge commitments for next year, 2021, are $93,476. This includes two new pledging households and five households that still have an opportunity to be included. (Please feel free to drop off your pledge at any time!)

Our next steps include our dedicated treasurer, Sue, putting together a draft budget for 2021 based on the known expenses we expect to incur. This year's spending, year to date, indicates our known expenses will be higher than our pledge amount. We have experienced this before. We are blessed with investments that can be used, ONLY when necessary, to balance the difference. We will project that amount and be thankful for those monies when we need to use them. Your leadership team is frugal and careful with all of the time, talent, and treasure for which we are stewards!

One last wonderful note, which I can share now, is the rectory will have a tenant beginning January 15th. While we are still in the final stages of signing the lease agreement, the new pastor of The Presbyterian Church and her family will be moving in! The lease is for 6 months only at this point as they hope to buy a home in the area, but it's a start. Please pray for Pastor Jane's safe arrival to LaPorte and for her family to feel welcome in our beloved rectory.

Some newsletters are full of practical ideas while some are more heavily spiritually focused. So I leave you with these two notes:

  • I am on vacation Monday-Saturday of this week. If you have a pastoral emergency, you may still call me. I'm not going out of town.

  • As you reflect up this unique Advent season, keep these words from our Epistle reading from 2nd Peter this Sunday in mind ... Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.

Be well friends. Wear your masks. Say your prayers. And be blessed.

Blessings!
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226

News from the Red Doors - November 27, 2020

From Your Senior Warden, Sandra Provan

What a difference a few days make! Not only in the weather, which was nice enough for me to play golf on November 19, but also in the Covid situation. Because of a possible Covid exposure, Mother Michelle is isolating at home and could not celebrate Holy Communion on Christ the King Sunday, November 22. But, she quickly put together the bulletin for Morning Prayer for that day, and Mike Konieczny printed them despite having to work; thank you Mike. Our organist, John Gouvens, did double duty as organist and AV (Audio Visual Tech), Margie Bender was the reader and Susie Richter was our soloist. We had a small congregation to celebrate the end of our Stewardship Campaign and to anticipate Thanksgiving Day.

Thank you to Joe Walker, who spent many hours blowing the leaves on church property to the side of the road, it looks very tidy, Joe, thank you!

We can now start working on the budget for 2021, thanks to the pledges we have received for next year. Thank you for your steadfast contributions, even if you cannot be in church. Who knows what the next few days or weeks may bring? I ask you to pray that this Covid pandemic will end soon and that we all stay safe.

God bless,
Sandra J. Provan
Senior warden

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

I begin my message to you with the continued good news that Elizabeth still has no COVID symptoms. She and I will be going for a test either today or Monday and anxiously await more good news. If she remains in the clear, I will excitedly return to the altar next Sunday. Thank you for your prayers.

On this day after Thanksgiving, I pray that you had a blessed, happy, and restful day - however you may have celebrated. Our family opted for a different sort of Thanksgiving with lasagna and a favorite movie marathon. It was treasured time, in a new way. And we stayed in our pajamas all day long!

I would be remiss in not taking an opportunity to offer my utmost appreciation to Sandra, Margie, Susie, and John - who brilliantly stepped in last Sunday with an offering of Morning Prayer. I'm thankful for their ability, their flexibility, and their willingness to do so again this Sunday.
Dear ones, it's hard to believe that Advent is upon us already. In some ways the year has flown by in the blink of an eye. In other ways it feels a decade long. I remind you as we step into the four Sundays of Advent of their traditional themes of: Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy. These themes are ones we urgently need in our lives in these days. I look forward to unfolding these themes with you in our Scripture readings over the next four Sundays.

This Sunday the first candle of the Advent wreath will be lit and a short prayer offered. The Advent wreath is a long standing tradition of the HOME and gradually was incorporated into church services as well. An Advent wreath can be a simple, meaningful way for you to pause and anticipate the birth of the Savior. All you need is 4-5 candles and a wreath of any sort. The simple act of lighting a candle and pausing to be with God can be powerful, especially on these days where the darkness of the night continues to grow longer with each day. If you'd like to include the simplest liturgy I suggest you print this one page insert that offers a short Scripture reading and a prayer. Advent is a wonderful time to pause, to expect, to reconnect with hope. I pray for that for all of us.

Be well friends. Wear your masks. Say your prayers. And be blessed. Blessings!Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226

Stewardship Reflection - Where All are Queens and Kings

Where All are Queens and Kings
By J. Davey Gerhard

PDF for printing

The Church designates the final Sunday of the Church year as the Feast of Christ the King, a day in which the united rule of Christ over all of the universe is celebrated. In many communities, it is a high feast, with altar guilds preparing white vestments, flower guilds celebrating God’s glory in elaborate displays, and hymns filled with alleluias. What a way to end the year, to celebrate stewardship, and to prepare for Advent! 

But before we get too carried away with the grandeur of it all, today’s Gospel tells a different story about kingship and leadership: It tells of service. Typical of Jesus, he begins with what we expect — in this case power and triumph – and turns it upside down and in doing so, reminds us that it is through our ministry that we increase the role of the Church in our community. True power doesn’t come through force or wealth or conquest, it is derived from generosity, charity, and love. We change the hearts and minds of our neighbors by loving them and serving them.

Throughout this stewardship season we have heard about the mission of our own churches. You have learned about the ways that your gifts impact the life of your church and your neighbors. Perhaps this year you met the challenges of a global pandemic by adapting your worship. Maybe you responded to the needs of your community by increasing your outreach or your ministry to serve your neighbors. What is certain is that you had the opportunity to express your love and your hope for the world through your annual gift to your church.

We seek and serve Christ in all people by serving our neighbors. This is the great commandment of Jesus to his followers and it is one of the promises we make at our Baptism. When we are asked by those we meet on the street or those to whom we minister in our communities if we will offer them drink when they thirst, or visit them when they are lonely, or give them food when they hunger, our answer will be yes! Through our generosity and our faith, we are called to that same royal line as Jesus, leaders in our communities. Now that is a feast worth celebrating!

J. Davey Gerhard is the Executive Director of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship, and lives and teaches his faith in San Francisco, California.

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News from the Red Doors - November 20, 2020

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

This Sunday, with our hearts full of the blessings in our lives even amidst these peculiar days, we will offer the financial commitment of our pledges, at the altar with a Litany of Stewardship. Directly after the offertory and before we begin the Eucharistic Prayers, our Stewardship Chair will bring forward a big, beautiful basket with our pledge cards securely stored in a sealed envelope. We will pray the the following litany:

A Stewardship Litany
God of life and love: We are quick to accept the bounteous gifts from you, but slow to give thanks and express our gratitude.

We hold too tightly the things of this life,
giving them the allegiance we owe only to you.
Take my life and let it be consecrated,
Lord to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in ceaseless praise,
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Gracious God, we admit that our lives are too often out of balance; we are more willing to receive than to share, more ready to take than to give.

Create in us grateful and generous hearts,
we pray, and restore us the joy of our salvation.
Take my hands and let them move
at the impulse thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and
beautiful to thee, swift and beautiful to thee.
Merciful God, from whom comes every good and perfect gift, we praise you for your mercies:

Your goodness that has created us,
your grace that has sustained us.
Your discipline that has corrected us, your patience that has borne with us,

and your love that has redeemed us.
Take my will, and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is thine own; it shall be
thy royal throne, it shall be thy royal throne.
Help us to love you, and to be thankful for all your gifts by serving you and delighting to do your will.

Accept now, Gracious God, our offerings,
these our pledges of resources and talents for
your service, and the commitments of our lives,
through Jesus Christ, who gave his all for us.

Take my silver and my gold,
not a mite would I withhold;
take my intellect, and use every power
as thou shalt choose, every power
as thou shalt choose.

Take my love; my lord,
I pour at thy feet its treasure store,
Take myself, and I will be ever, only,
all for thee, ever, only, all for thee. Amen.

"A Stewardship Litany" by W. Alfred Tisdale, Jr., hymn stanzas by Frances Ridley Havergal from The Wilderness of God's Mercy: Litanies to Enlarge Our Prayer edited by Jeffery W. Rowthorn


My prayer for all of us is an experience of the Holy in that moment, accompanied with a reminder that we truly are blessed both individually and as a faith community. We are especially blessed in our ability to meet, both in-person and virtually, amidst this pandemic. Our health is reasonably good. We have the love of Christ. And even though our days, especially our Thanksgiving Day, may look different we know we are connected in faith and hope to a God that loves us so.


Friends, whether you will be safe at home or traveling to be with family this coming week, please know you are in my prayers with thankfulness and gratitude. Be blessed. Stay safe. Wear your masks. And remember God is ALWAYS in charge!


Blessings!
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226