News from the Red Doors - February 11, 2022

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

Over the past month I have had the pleasure of reading a book entitled How to Lead When You Don't Know Where You're Going: Leading in a Liminal Season by Susan Beaumont. Along with my studies, I've been able to join in a series of webinars with the author herself. It's a delightful book that weaves together many of the concepts I've learned in other contexts, and combines them with fascinating new approaches. The book was published right before COVID, and the contents apply remarkably to this pandemic (and eventually post-COVID) world as well.

Susan quotes Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, who describes entering a liminal season as "... a sweet spot between the known and the unknown where originality happens; the key is to be able to linger there without panicking." I've thought about that quote a great deal since I first encountered it. I think it applies to our St. Paul's journey. I wonder and revel in how we are between what we have known about our faith community and where God is calling us next. I wonder if lingering without panicking, while we discern what's next, might be beneficial to us?

Another concept, presented by the author, is newer to me. That is the belief that an institution itself has a sort of soul. This soul keeps us true to who we are as a group of people and provides us resiliency. Susan describes the "Journey of Institutional Soul" in the following (non-linear) steps:

  • Divine spark

  • Founding vision

  • Institutional birth

  • Leadership transitions

  • Wounding and strengthening

  • Dark nights and glory eras

  • Liminal season(s)

These components help form, identify, and strengthen an institutional soul - which is sort of like an institutional identity. We know some of these things about ourselves from the profile generated in 2018 when we were looking for our next priest. We indicated a value in: traditional, eucharistic-centered worship with quality music; our beautiful worship space; traditions of mutual prayer and support; thought-provoking teaching which opens us to the wider church; and sharing our building and grounds as a community asset. We love God. We love each other. And we want to share that with more people.

Susan also talks about how the institutional soul emerges through the stories we tell of our faith community. And that when we are looking for God's direction in our midst we are actually discerning. Discernment might best be described by author Ruth Haley Barton as:

  • "An ever-increasing capacity to 'see' the work of God in the midst of the human situation, so that we can align ourselves with whatever God is doing." It is also "A quality of attentiveness to God that, over time, develops our sense of God's heart and purpose in the moment."

God cares about us, about our decisions as individuals and as faith community. And a discerning person, a discerning church, is looking for the ways God is already present and how we can join in that presence.

Our worship committee decided back in December that we would NOT host a meal nor a specific study during the quickly approaching Lenten season (although we will still offer Stations of the Cross). After we made that decision I've wrestled a great deal with what we might do instead and I'm sensing a deep desire for discernment ... for an awareness of where God is present right now ... for a sense of God's heart and purpose for us ... and to do that in prayer.

It might seem early to talk about Lent, but it's less than 3 weeks away. For this Lenten season, we will settle into discernment, into prayer. We will each have homework for every single day of Lent: to both pray specifically for each other and the church while also creating a quiet prayer space for ourselves where we might discern and witness God already in action. Over these last two years we have made good administrative and organizational decisions, of which we should be proud. We have tightened up our finances and delivered exceptional worship, even amidst a pandemic. We have welcomed new community partners into our spaces and strengthened existing relationships. We have welcomed new members. And now, well where might God be inviting us to join in the work he's already begun now?

Between now and Ash Wednesday we will be finalizing our Lenten homework and practices. We will build on what we have already done/experienced (Anglican Rosary) and add new components (more intentional periods of silence). We will look and listen for God in the same ways, and in new ways. We will "see" and recognize God's work already at hand. We will share those witnesses with each other.

I don't expect the heavens to open and God's voice to boom a direct command for St. Paul's to follow. I DO believe that by leaning into and listening for the Holy, we will quietly and consistently continue to make decisions and take actions that align with God's work here in LaPorte. I hope you will join us. I hope you will share YOUR experiences and learnings.

There is a chorus of a hymn goes "be still and know that I am God". (You can listen to it on YouTube here, if you'd like.) That chorus sounds in my ears as our Lenten season quickly approaches. It represents a stillness and a profound connection to the Holy that is always there ... if we are simply still enough and quiet enough to witness it. Let's get ready to do that this Lenten season my friends. Let's get ready to "be still and know that I am God" like we never have before.

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.

News from the Red Doors - January 14, 2022

A Shovel to Spare?

Thank you to whomever brought in the shovels. We have two of them AND hope to not need them much (wishful thinking right?).

Save the Date - Annual Meeting on 1/16

Our Annual Meeting is scheduled for this Sunday, 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.

If, for any reason, in-person attendance is not the best choice for you, please feel free to join us on Zoom. While it's not like being in the building, Zoom attendees do count toward quorum and are eligible to vote. The link is available below and will be opened up directly at the end of worship:

Hard copies of the report will be available at church on Sunday, and here is also an electronic copy.

Thank you for helping us tend to the business of the church.

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

On Monday - Wednesday of this week I was in Crawfordsville attending the January session of my Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program training. I don't talk about the program much as there always seem to be many other things demanding our attention. Since last January we have learned about the following topics:

  • Adaptive Pastoral Leadership (making small shifts that yield large returns, over time)

  • Community and Pastoral Well-Being

  • Demography and Immigration

  • Indiana's Changing Economy

  • Education in Indiana

  • Hunger and Poverty.

By the end of 2022 we will also cover:

  • Administering Justice

  • Healthcare

  • Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation

  • Your (my) Leadership.

At every reasonable opportunity we are provided information for both the state as a whole and for LaPorte County specifically. I've learned a great deal about both. I've learned a great deal about myself, and the other faith traditions present at the table. This program encourages pastors to live into the relationships within the community as a necessary extension of our ministry and to partner with other local organizations to provide help.

It is a significant commitment of my time and energy and is well-funded by the Lilly Endowment, whose mission is to care passionately for the people and communities of Indiana. I'm immensely thankful for the chance to ground myself in the city and county of LaPorte. The information I'm learning is forming me as a preacher, pastor, and priest. I pray that this all reflects well on the success and longevity of St. Paul's.

This Sunday we will hold our annual meeting, looking at our successes in 2021, electing our leaders for 2022, approving a budget that outlines how we spend our money, and above all looking to the future. While there is no specific 5-year plan for growing St. Paul's, I am increasingly confident it will happen through the community connections we are fostering. I expect to continue loving and caring for each of you, to the best of my ability, while we all strive to more tightly integrate the faith community of St. Paul's with the community outside our walls. I hope you will join us on this journey, and bring along a few friends! See you on Sunday!
Blessings,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 (c)

News from the Red Doors - January 7, 2022

A Shovel to Spare?

Do you have an extra snow shovel or two laying around your garage that you can spare? If so, please bring one in! We don't mind if it's used (or well-loved, as I like to call it). We're looking for one for the Michigan Avenue entrance and one for the parish hall (Harrison Street) entrance. There's often a little extra snow lying around there waiting for the shovel that we can never find! (* If none show up by the 16th, we'll purchase two for the purpose.)

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!

Community Dinners - Main Dish

Will you donate a main dish for one of our Community Dinners? There are 12 dinners a year and we are currently planning for approximately 30 people per meal. If providing one on your own is a challenge, but you would still like to help out, we can make arrangements to share a month or find someone who would be willing to cook the ingredients you provide. Our next dinner is Tuesday January 25th.

The Sign-up sheet is on the Harrison Street bulletin board and questions can be directed to Mike Konieczny (theeleventhofnowhere@gmail.com) or Margie Bender (mabender3@gmail.com).

Collecting Christmas Card (fronts)

As you reset your home from the holidays, if you're not a keeper of Christmas cards you received, would you consider donating them for our Christmas at Sea program? The Seamen's Church Institute collects Christmas card fronts (simply tear them at the bend) and uses them to write notes of appreciation to be sent to the mariners with their knit/crocheted items. Please bring them to church and leave them at the usher stations. I will collect them from there.
Thank you, Mother Michelle.

Our New Community Partners!

Did you know that we have two new community partners here at St. Paul's?

In November we offered our parish hall, and some storage space in the freshly cleaned former choir room in the basement, to The Service League. They meet the first Thursdays of the month and are excited to call St. Paul's their home. Most of you know The Service League is a wonderful women's organization dedicated to community service here in LaPorte. We are thrilled to have them call St. Paul's their home!

In December we offered our unused former counters' room in the church office to Arts in the Park. They will be renting that room, and occasionally using the front office meeting space, for all of their Arts in the Park needs. We are thrilled to welcome this wonderful community program to our St. Paul's space. And for those of you who remember Fr. Kanestrom, his daughter Julia Kanestrom is the Executive Director.

God continues to do great things, right here at St. Paul's! It's wonderful to stop and notice them.

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

On Thursday morning we celebrated a spoken Eucharist for the Feast of the Epiphany. The wise men, who have been traveling along the interior of our church building, made it to the baby Jesus in our creche. During the sermon I shared with the congregation thoughts about light. An Epiphany is a revelation, in this case the revelation of the birth of the Savior of the world, and this one was discovered because the wise men were brave enough to follow the light of a star that led them to Jesus. (The Gospel for Epiphany is Matthew 2:1-12.)

The light of the star that led the wise men, the light of the world revealed to us in that manger, the light of the day that signals the morning - light is a vital aspect of our lives. As the light of the morning sun dawns on this frigid and white morning, after a long dark night, I am reminded that the promise of light sustains our faith. We seek it; expect it; long for it; miss it; and revel in it. May this season of Epiphany be a constant reminder of the light ... the sUn, the sOn, and our reflection of both in the world.

Many years ago I was introduced to the poet Mary Oliver. I leave you with this poem from her 2004 Collection entitled "Why I Wake Early".

Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety -

best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-dakrness,
to ease us with warm toughing,
to hold us in the great hands of light -
good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.

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