News from the Red Doors - July 23, 2021

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker


Dear St. Paul’s Family,

THANK YOU for your prayers and support as my family vacationed last week. We had a lovely time including; swims in the pool, diving for the girls, snorkeling for Joe and I, nightly family meals, and many hours (for me) of reading books just for fun. It is SO good to go on vacation and it is just as wonderful to return home. Thank you for welcoming me back to church on Sunday!

In case you haven't heard, our Mutual Ministry Review (MMR) with Susan Czolgosz was a wonderful time spent together as clergy and vestry. She listened to us intently and offered a few good suggestions. The first one we are diving into is a vestry book study on Part-Time is Plenty: Thriving without Full-Time Clergy. The priest's discretionary account was used to purchase copies of this book for each of our vestry members. Beginning in August we will study together one chapter per month, for six months. We hope to learn some exciting tips about thriving with part-time clergy. Stay tuned for updates!

By now I imagine you've heard about our Celebration Sunday on September 12th. We hope you will invite your friends and family so that we can fill the church in a way it hasn't been filled since before the pandemic. Start thinking now about who you might want to be with you to this special service. Suggestions are welcomed by Jean Burns, who is organizing the various aspects of the day.

I pray you are all doing well and hope to see you soon. Be blessed on this summer days my friends. Be blessed.

Blessings,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 (c)

News from the Red Doors - July 9, 2021

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

Stewardship. All too often that word causes people to grasp their wallets reflexively as they are certain the next thing coming is a request for money. Admittedly, that does happen. Stewardship, however, doesn't always require money. Some times, it requires a person's time and their knowledge or talent of how to care for the item, organization, or property entrusted to them.

As life would have it, our rectory needed a good deal of stewardship this Spring. After about 2 years of being empty and untended, it required some TLC (tender loving care). From the sewer line exploration, digging, and repair to the cleaning of the inside to the replacement of the garbage disposal to the "spiffing up" of the rectory grounds - a good deal of time and talent has gone into caring for this property we've cherished for so many decades. We are wonderfully blessed with tenants January-June '21 and then more tenants June '21 - March '22 that allow us a little extra income to care for some of these needs. And as you read previously, we were also blessed to discover our insurance covered all but about $200 of the excavation related to the sewer. Blessed, we are blessed indeed.

The pictures I've included in this edition of our News from the Red Doors show before and after pictures of the rectory back and side yards. Thanks to our parishioner Jessica Crass, her son Carson, and my dear clergy spouse Joe, the rectory grounds are looking infinitely better than before. Thank you to Jessica and Joe for their many volunteer hours. Thank you to Carson for his hard and excellent work at a reasonable rate. Thank you to Sue Cummings for digging and donating hostas and for Sally Glynn for offering plantings of her beautiful irises. As stewards of this property we can be proud of the improvements made, as frugally and sustainably as possible. On a related note, our new tenants are thrilled with their rectory home (while their fire damaged home is being repaired) and are even helping with keeping the grass seed watered so it will grow beautifully.

By the time you receive this email I will be officially on vacation, although we don't fly until Sunday. I can't help but think about stewardship of ourselves ... our minds, souls, and bodies as well. Time for work, prayer, exercise, fun, and relaxation are all part of how we are also good stewards of ourselves. And this coming week my stewardship will include sitting by either the pool or the beach, in the shade and covered in sunscreen, with a cold beverage and an entertaining book. My stewardship for this next week is rest, enjoyment, and rejuvenation ... all of which are important aspects of a well-rounded life. I'm thankful for the time away and for the prayers for our safe travels. I'm thankful to Fr. Rob for supplying on Sunday, and to everyone who has to do a little more in my absence. Thank you!

Should any pastoral emergencies arise in the next week, please reach out to Senior Warden Jean Burns or Junior Warden Tom Konieczny. And until next Sunday (7/18), stay safe, pray regularly, and consider what good stewardship in ALL aspects of your life means to you.

Blessings,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 (c)

News from the Red Doors - July 2, 2021

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

On Wednesday night, as a handful of us gathered (between raindrops) for our Chair and Church event at Fox Park, I reflected upon how much I appreciated Mike Konieczny's initiative to put together these gatherings. While I will never diminish the power and importance of gathering for the Eucharist, I also realize that what makes us community is the conversations we have while enjoying a concert, serving a community meal, or cleaning up the church property during Spring clean-up. It is in the joking, the praying, the crying, and the working together that we learn about each other and become more faithful followers of Christ.

I've heard people who don't attend church remark that "they wouldn't mind going to church if it weren't for the people". If I'm honest, I've felt that way myself at different times in my life (definitely not NOW though!). What I've realized in this sentiment is that people find their own peaceful solitude comfortable. I find no blame there. And yet, I know that some of the most important lessons I've learned about myself and my faith have happened when my personality bumps up against that of the people around me. I've seen the light of Christ in the eyes of people that have hurt me ... as well as in the eyes of those people I have hurt. I've learned lessons in forgiveness given and received, and forgiveness of myself for the many ways I am imperfect. I've been enlightened to perspectives I might not have considered. I've learned life lessons from others that inform my daily actions. I have been formed by the people around me. We are all formed, to some extent, by the people around us.

And so I'm thankful for our Chair and Church events. It affords me an opportunity to sit with people that I might not have opportunity to converse with otherwise. It pulls me out of my regular Wednesday evening routine. And with our red shirts, it demonstrates our commitment to each other and to Christ in a subtle but inescapable way to the people around us in the larger community. We have fun together. It is precious time, for sure

This week we have a second chance for Chair and Church - Saturday at 6pm at the corner of Michigan and Indiana. If you want to learn about old cars, come and sit near to Steve Armstrong. (I think maybe he knows every car ever made!) If you simply want to be around people who love the Lord, love each other, and want to share with and learn from each other - then bring a chair and just hang out. It's wonderful to be faith community together!

Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July weekend, no matter how you may choose to celebrate.

Blessings,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 (c)

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News from the Red Doors - June 25, 2021

A Note from Your Senior Warden
Jean Burns

How busy the last weeks have been and how blessed we are that Mother Michelle very capably rose to the challenge, despite being a part time priest. A funeral, grave side services, a quick turnover on rectory renters, a backed up and blocked sewer, all of this and more required attention and, in some cases, prompted anxiety and stress. Regardless, all is well. I found our church insurance company adjuster extremely accommodating and rejoiced to learn that under our policy we are eligible for up to $2,500 toward our sewer excavation expenses, which left us with an outstanding balance of $162, surely a reason to rejoice.

How wonderful that we were able to find new residents for the rectory so quickly. Thanks to Joe, Mother Michelle, Abi, and Elizabeth Walker and Gloria Armstrong, the house was thoroughly cleaned for a quick turnover and in the process saved St. Paul’s a $350 professional cleaning fee. The entire faith family is grateful.

I continue to attend, via Zoom, the Diocesan Leadership meetings in order to stay current with both COVID policies and the activities, policies, programs, and issues of the Diocese of Northern Indiana and those of individual parishes. On June 7 I joined a Zoom meeting of Church Buildings for Collaborative Partnership, a groundbreaking partnership of our diocese with that of the Diocese of Indianapolis. In this introductory meeting we learned the value each of our churches brings to the community and the potential we have for making better use of our space. As the program continues, I anticipate learning more about how we, at St. Paul’s, can make additional use of a building that has so much potential and how it might become an even more effective asset to our community.

As we emerge from the accommodations we made during the COVID crisis, we have much to anticipate, among them our participation in the Sunflower Festival and the special events of our September 12 Celebration Sunday. Susie Richter, chair of the former, and I, of the latter, look forward to your sharing of  suggestions, as well as your volunteering and participation. We are all eager to return to the best of the past and to incorporate the best of the changes of the past months. To succeed, we need you.

On Tuesday evening, June 22, the vestry and priest met with facilitator, Susan Czolgosz, to conduct a Mutual Ministry Review (MMR). Both vestry members and the priest, through carefully designed questions, were encouraged to assess the roles they play, their strengths and/or weaknesses, and the challenges ahead. Through her guidance we were able to have an open, honest discussion of our successes during the past year, ways in which we fell short, and our goals for the coming year and how they might be attained. I left the meeting filled with hope and optimism for our future, one that asks each of you to contribute your individual gifts.  With God’s guidance, we can do this together.

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

This week has been full of many wonderful activities related to parish ministry and I feel so blessed to be your priest amongst them all. From prayers and anointing, to calls and cards, to graveside committal services, to helping a volunteer scamper onto our roof to try to figure out why the ceiling is wet in the hallway by the sacristy, and to our first meal together as vestry before our Mutual Ministry Review on Tuesday - it has been a blessed week.

Please know that you each are in my regular prayers, as are fervent prayers that our ministry to share Jesus with the community of LaPorte will be blessed. Thank you for your love, support, prayers, and commitment to our precious faith community.

Have a blessed day.

Blessings,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 (c)

News from the Red Doors - June 18, 2021

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

This Tuesday evening our St. Paul's vestry will meet in the parish hall to participate in a Mutual Ministry Review (MMR) process. Every congregation in our diocese is expected and encouraged to conduct an annual ministry review. The purpose of this review is to:

  1. Provide clergy and vestry with the opportunity to assess how well they are fulfilling their responsibilities to each other and to the ministries that they share;

  2. Evaluate the relationship shared between the clergy and vestry; clergy and congregation, and vestry and congregation; in particular, the relationship with the mission of the congregation;

  3. Evaluate goals set at the previous mutual ministry review;

  4. Establish goals for the work of the congregation for the coming year;

  5. Isolate areas of conflict or disappointment that have not been resolved and may be adversely affecting mutual ministry; address/mediate/reconcile areas of conflict; and

  6. Clarify expectations of all so that goals can be attained through mutual work and that any future conflicts may be diminished or avoided.

Mutual Ministry Review (MMR) is a way for every parish to ask, “How are we doing?” It is a time to celebrate what has been done well and to understand what might be done better. As Christians we must continually ask: “What is God calling us to do and to accomplish here in this place?” And then, “How can we best practice this ministry?”

This is a first time experience for our vestry and for me. We are blessed to have Susan Czolgosz, who has 20+ years of consulting experience including work with the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, as our facilitator. I trust her to do a wonderful job. And she knows very little about us, which means she'll ask the questions we might not think to ask of ourselves. I am looking forward to the evening.

The vestry has been asked to be prepared to discuss the following questions:

  1. How would you describe your role on the Vestry? Would you like your role to change in the coming year? If so, in what ways?

  2. In what ways have you been able use your gifts, strengths, and experience in your work on the Vestry? Are there ways you would like to use them differently in the future? What might help you to do this?

  3. Reflect on your experience of serving on the Vestry of this church. Please describe a specific time when you felt most alive, most involved, spiritually touched, or most excited about your work on the Vestry and with the congregation.

  4. What do you see as the gifts and strengths of this Vestry - in the ways you work together and with your clergy-leader to serve the congregation?

  5. What do you see as the challenges facing this Vestry in working together and serving the congregation?

  6. If you could change one thing about how this Vestry and clergy work together in service to this congregation, what would it be?

  7. At the end of your term on the Vestry, what do you hope you will be able to say about your service to the congregation?

  8. What would make your and other Vestry members’ work on the Vestry more fulfilling and valuable?

  9. When you think about the various ministries of the congregation, what do you see as the strongest areas of ministry? What is valuable or appreciated about these ministries?

  10. What areas of ministry do you think need to be developed or strengthened? Reduced or eliminated?

  11. Please name several key goals you believe are most important for the coming year for this Vestry and for your congregation?

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them with any vestry member or myself. As we look at ways of remaining and increasing our faithfulness in the town of LaPorte, we welcome your input AND your prayers. As I've said before, I believe God still has plans for us here in LaPorte. It's our job to listen diligently for those plans and then ACT!

On another note, let us celebrate the new tenants in the rectory. Dan and Lynn, along with their children Mary and Henry, moved in on the the 15th. Their lease is for 9 months while their home is being rebuilt after a fire. (Yes, of course we'd like a longer lease. We are making the best of the opportunities available!) We are so blessed to have them and appreciate their wonderful care of our property while they live here. So far they are thrilled!

Have a wonderful day and be sure enjoy this summery weather, with or without the rainshowers!

Blessings,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 (c)