News from the Red Doors - December 31, 2021

A Word about Weather

With predictions of wintery weather that may affect Sunday morning, I want to remind you to use caution in determining whether the roads are safe for your travel. I will always do my best to be there to lead service AND I will appreciate knowing you are home and safe in the event you don't make it to service.

IF there is a cancellation, I will send an email, post to Facebook, and initiate our Vestry calling tree. Sometimes the conditions in my subdivision, especially related to freezing rain, make it impossible for me to get out to the main roads. If that is the case, I'll let you know immediately. I typically leave the house by 7:45am so you can expect notification around 8am. Thank you.

Save the Date - Annual Meeting on 1/16

This is a friendly reminder that our Annual Meeting is scheduled for 1/16 immediately after the dismissal. We will remain seated and move directly into our business meeting, keeping it as brief as possible. Please plan to attend. We must have quorum in order to conduct our business, which primarily includes passing a budget and electing leadership for 2022.

Speaking of leadership, we are still looking for a Junior Warden!

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

Greetings! Can you believe it's New Year's Eve? It's challenging to think the year 2022 is only hours away at this point As we look into 2022 I pray that we can be filled with hope and expectation. I know Advent is OVER, but hope and expectation do not belong exclusively to Advent, to the birth of our Savior. Hope and expectation is also a great way to begin a new year.

For all of us, a new year is a new beginning. It is a time to look at what 2021 provided us as we hope and expect better for 2022. As believers, that hope and expectation resides in our love for and faith in an all-loving God. What do you desire from your relationship with God? With your fellow believers? How do you intend to be more present to the Holy in this coming year?

I choose to begin 2022 believing God has wonderful surprises in store for our St. Paul's family. There are many details and statistics I will share with you in my Pastoral Address at the annual meeting. Until then please know God is present with us here and now, in the past, and in the future.

So however you choose to celebrate this New Year's Eve and Day, remember to whom you belong. Set God first and watch for the surprise and delight that is yet to come!

Happy (almost) New Year!

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

Announcements & Requests

Join us Thursdays at 9am for an offering of Morning Prayer (side altar of church) followed by a book study of Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter (parish hall). All are welcome. (We resume on 1/6 after the Eucharist.)

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

December is upon us. It hardly seems possible to me that Christmas is only three weeks away. What a whirlwind of a year this has been.

As I mentioned in my sermon last Sunday, Advent is a season of waiting and expectation not only for Christ's first coming as a babe in the manger but also for his second coming in all glory. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations we are also listening for prophetic voices, like that of John the Baptist. This Sunday and next we will hear from John, whose voice cries out from the wilderness reminding us to be ready for the Christ - ALWAYS. How are you preparing yourself this Advent? How are you readying yourself for his birth?

I hope you are praying the Advent prayers of the Anglican Rosary. I hope you are finding time to be still and be with God. I hope you are reading one chapter of the Gospel of Luke a day (Luke is the Gospel most used in Year C). But above all I hope you are noticing the Holy in the many daily moments of your life.

Be well my friends. Take time for God. And see you Sunday.

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

Announcements & Requests

Are you a saver of old Christmas cards? If so, please consider donating them to our Christmas at Sea program. The front of the cards are torn off and used to hand write notes to the mariners (to send along with their knit or crochet items).
Also, if you've made any items for donation, please bring those to church on Sunday 12/5. We will bless them for shipment early next week. Thank you.

Join us Thursdays at 9am for an offering of Morning Prayer (side altar of church) followed by a book study of Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter (parish hall). All are welcome.

LIVE from St. Paul's - December 5, 2021

Renewal of Ministry and Installation of Mother Michelle - May 6, 20201

Welcome to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church as we joyously welcome Mother Michelle Walker as our priest, officially, and renew ourselves for ministry.  We hope you enjoy the service. 

Worship guide:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/10fUL-wh9i0tbhCHisbnAMciuOW-ZAa5c/view?usp=sharing

Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, License #A-735470. All rights reserved.

News from the Red Doors - December 3, 2021

Vestry and Warden Opportunities

Greetings all! It's the time of year when we start planning for 2022 leadership changes. We have been blessed with wonderful leaders and are looking for a few more. If you would be interested and willing to serve on vestry, we will welcome two new vestry members for 2022. We are also looking for a Junior Warden for next year, with the promise of lots of assistance should you step into this role.

Please prayerfully consider whether you're ready to help St. Paul's in this next year of ministry in LaPorte. Contact Jean Burns, Tom Konieczny, or Mother Michelle with questions or to volunteer. Thank you!

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

December is upon us. It hardly seems possible to me that Christmas is only three weeks away. What a whirlwind of a year this has been.

As I mentioned in my sermon last Sunday, Advent is a season of waiting and expectation not only for Christ's first coming as a babe in the manger but also for his second coming in all glory. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations we are also listening for prophetic voices, like that of John the Baptist. This Sunday and next we will hear from John, whose voice cries out from the wilderness reminding us to be ready for the Christ - ALWAYS. How are you preparing yourself this Advent? How are you readying yourself for his birth?

I hope you are praying the Advent prayers of the Anglican Rosary. I hope you are finding time to be still and be with God. I hope you are reading one chapter of the Gospel of Luke a day (Luke is the Gospel most used in Year C). But above all I hope you are noticing the Holy in the many daily moments of your life.

Be well my friends. Take time for God. And see you Sunday.

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

Announcements & Requests

Are you a saver of old Christmas cards? If so, please consider donating them to our Christmas at Sea program. The front of the cards are torn off and used to hand write notes to the mariners (to send along with their knit or crochet items).
Also, if you've made any items for donation, please bring those to church on Sunday 12/5. We will bless them for shipment early next week. Thank you.

Our first gathering was lovely and succinct. The prayers last about 10 minutes and then the church is open for private prayer afterwards. Please look for a new Facebook video Tuesday with our prayers for Advent 2.

Join us Thursdays at 9am for an offering of Morning Prayer (side altar of church) followed by a book study of Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter (parish hall). All are welcome.

News from the Red Doors - November 26, 2021

Vestry and Warden Opportunities

Greetings all! It's the time of year when we start planning for 2022 leadership changes. We have been blessed with wonderful leaders and are looking for a few more. If you would be interested and willing to serve on vestry, we will welcome two new vestry members for 2022. We are also looking for a Junior Warden for next year, with the promise of lots of assistance should you step into this role.

Please prayerfully consider whether you're ready to help St. Paul's in this next year of ministry in LaPorte. Contact Jean Burns, Tom Konieczny, or Mother Michelle with questions or to volunteer. Thank you!

An Update on our Church Buildings for Collaborative Partnerships (CBCP) Gathering

On the afternoon of November 17, four members of CBCP met with Mother Michelle, Jean and Tom for one of the culminating activities of the project, the onsite visit. For the first hour we seven toured, measured, discussed and evaluated our spaces. How could they be shared in partnership with others in our community? In the second hour we discussed what we had observed on the tour, specifically in relation to both our strengths and our limitations. A parish profile, developed by CBCP based on interviews with our committee, helped us focus on the many opportunities for a historical church, in a downtown setting, even with our small numbers. If we had doubts, they abated in the third hour.

For that final, third, hour we invited community leaders to join us: Mayor Tom Dermody; Maria Fruth, Healthcare Foundation; Shannon Walker, Unity Foundation; Jaunda Kneller, Service League, and Mike Drayton and Tim King, La Porte County Symphony. We began with a tour of the facilities for the six of them and then sat down with Bob Jaeger, Karen DiLossi, Sarah Jones, and David Frederick of CBCP, and our three for a lively, productive discussion of ways we might share our space with groups or individuals in the community. The enthusiasm from our guests was amazing and gratifying. The day could not have ended on a more positive note. We all agreed: this was not the end; it was just the beginning. We are so excited that we now have a
request from the Service League that St. Paul’s become their official meeting site—just the beginning.

- Jean Burns, Sr. Warden

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

I hope you each had a lovely celebration of Thanksgiving.

This Sunday marks the beginning of Advent (and Year C in the Revised Common Lectionary). Advent is a season of waiting and expectation, a time of anticipating the birth of the Christ child, and if we're honest it's also a time filled with many activities and expectations. I pray for you, for all of us, to step into this season with intention and with hearts full of gratitude for the many blessings we've received in this year. May we ever remember to take time to pray and be thankful for all that we have.

Enjoy this beautiful, cold, snowy Black Friday whether you shop or not. (I'm in the NOT shop category, unless I make any online purchases!)

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

Announcements & Requests

Please note updated time is now 12:30pm on Tuesdays!

Join us, Tuesdays in Advent, for an exploration of the Anglican Rosary. Beginning on Tuesday, November 30th, for four Tuesdays, we will gather in the church at 12:30pm for an introduction to and prayer with the Anglican Rosary. Praying with beads is an ancient and cherished practice that predates Christianity, especially by individuals who appreciate movement or tactile contact to help focus their mind.

The mother of a priest colleague has graciously and lovingly made us 30 rosaries for our prayerful journey. They are beautiful, simple, and a wonderful tool for prayer. An interesting aspect of the Anglican Rosary is that the prayers can easily be changed for the season or circumstance. For our exploration we will be using Praying with Beads: Daily Prayers for the Christian Year by Nan Lewis Doerr and Virginia Stem Owens (Amazon link here). We will be praying evening prayers specific to each week of Advent. There is no need to purchase the book to join us as we will have a printed handout for your use. You might love it so much you will be excited to have the prayers for the whole year though.

I hope you will join us for this prayerful exploration. Each gathering will last less than 30 minutes and will be broadcast on our St. Paul's Zoom and via Facebook. Rosary beads and prayer handouts will be available the first evening, Tuesday November 30th (or Sunday November 28th if requested). As we step into Advent, that season of waiting and expectation, may we do so prayerfully and with intention.