What‘s happening at Saint Paul’s: April 22, 2022
Thank you, dear people of St. Paul’s and guests in-person and on-line for joining our celebration of Easter! Your presence was truly a gift. Thank you all volunteers and staff for the many hours of work you accomplished so joyfully in order for us all to sing praise to God for Christ’s resurrection. Alleluia!
Nancy Whitehouse, Rev. Katie Holicky and I stayed after the service on Sunday; Nancy to water the gorgeous flowers and Katie to put away the digital devices and microphones. The three of us remembered Easter worship two years ago, that first year of being closed down. We had been closed down only for a month by Easter Sunday. I remember using my own iPhone 8 cellphone poised on a tripod using Facebook Live to say Sunday Morning Prayer from the “chapel” I had set up in my dining room. I strung white lights over two antique leaded glass doors framed in oak that I inherited from my great-grandfather. That served as the backdrop.
I used patio furniture and other crates to drape linen table cloths and create an altar-like setting. Nancy Whitehouse, Abigail Manny Patterson, the late Caroline Russell, Charla Spann and Tobey Lee took turns delivering flowers to my doorstep to decorate the backdrop. I used candles to create some sense of reverence in addition to my Pantocrator and Good Shepherd icons. Randy Day and his spouse, Eugene Smith delivered the electronic piano to my house and Randy played and sang through his mask in the other room.
From March 15, the Sunday we closed the church as mandated by the State of Maine, our bishop, and embraced by our own leadership, the people of St. Paul’s have been adapting worship to be of the best we could offer, under the circumstances: music, preaching, visual, audio, and we’ve been involving as many people as possible. Not always perfect and often with variables outside our control, we achieved these goals. And you have stayed faithful, joyful and ready to experiment with us. Thank you.
Now that we are worshiping indoors and in-person, we have not abandoned our goal to offer good quality visual and audio worship online. People continue to tune-in from out of town for Sunday worship and for funerals. But we’ve reached a point in which the modifications we’ve made are preventing us from moving forward. While we have had great visuals with our iPhone 12 Facebook Live videos, there are factors out of our control that interfere with our goals to give us a consistent picture and good sound.
Many of you have received an email this week that describes a proposed installation in the nave that includes upgrades for sound and installation of two cameras that will provide high quality hard-wired streaming for consistency that WiFi and Facebook Live can’t give. Thanks be to God for our friend, the late Jo Belknap who remembered St. Paul’s generously in her estate. Her bequest will provide about two-thirds of the full proposed installation. We are now inviting you to join us to make a contribution to help us cover the remaining funding of the project which is $46,000. I thank God for those of you who have already made a gift. Click here to view a plan for the Camera/Sound System.
This Sunday is the Second Sunday in Easter. Be sure to be present for the 10:30 service when we remember the resurrection appearance of Jesus to the eleven, including Thomas in John’s gospel. At the Announcements, I’ll walk us briefly through the elements of the project and will describe “Reaching Beyond Our Bounds,” the campaign to fund the digital and sound system project in the nave. Thank you all who have given so generously to date.
Christ is risen, Alleluia!
Your friend in Christ,
Carolyn H. Eklund+
FAMILY MINISTRIES
Sunday Worship
Join Us For
Sunday Worship
Family Ministries
Palm Sunday
Schedule
9 a.m. Modified Eucharist
in Garden and on Zoom. Meet in the garden to make a procession with palms.
Followed by Family Group.
Worship Booklet Here.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 966 1711 1762
Passcode: church
Family Group following worship.
12-1pm, 2nd & 4th Sundays Middle & High School Youth Group.
Join us May 8th for the Bishop’s visitation!
Bishop Brown will be with us for both Family Worship at 9am
in the Great Hall and on Zoom, and at 10:30am worship in the Nave and on Facebook Live.
Summer Schedule Coming Soon!
We will carry on this summer with 9am Family Worship. We will not have a formal Family Group lesson, though the outside toys will be available for you to stay and enjoy playing in the Garden. While we will not be having Family Group, we WILL BE enjoying some fun outdoor activities together over the course of the summer. Keep an eye out for the summer schedule that will be shared soon!
Please fill out this updated
registration form for children
participating in Family Ministry offerings.
9:30 am Sundays
Family Group follows 9 am
worship on Sundays.
Join as we pray, play, and spend time in the story! This is an intergenerational space to learn and grow together. All are welcome!
Please note: Wear a mask
and practice physical distance
Hello St. Paul’s Middle &
High School Youth
Please wear a mask!
2nd & 4th Sundays, 12-1pm.
Next Sunday, May 1st is First Sunday Life Together Service at 10:30 am.
Our Sacred Ground Program coordinator, Andrea Lauerman, will be joining us for worship and fellowship on Sunday, May 1st. She is eager to better get to know the St. Paul’s community and to provide more information about the Sacred Ground program. Please take a moment after the service to introduce yourself!
Safe Church Training
https://episcopalmaine.org/
The Diocese of Maine (“the Diocese”) is committed to the prevention of child abuse of all forms. The purpose of this policy is to help the church to be a safe place for all who worship, or minister, or come in any sort of need, including children, youth, and those who work with them. We believe that this policy is one aspect of honoring our baptismal vows to “respect the dignity of every human being.”
SUNDAY WORSHIP
10:30 a.m. Modified Festival Eucharist
in the Nave and on Facebook
Click on the link below to view from home:
To watch on Facebook
for the Worship Booklet
for the St. Paul‘s Announcements
Readings
Newcomers and Adults Who Wish to be Confirmed into the
Episcopal Church:
Meet this Sunday, April 10 in person
(Palm Sunday), April 24, May 1.
in the St. Paul’s library after 10:30 a.m. worship.
You are invited to attend sessions entitled “Questions and Conversations About Our Faith”. The rector will be leading the discussion and will encourage questions. Together we will explore the many delights and challenges being a faithful Episcopalian and our current relevance in rapidly changing times. These conversations promise to be energetic! For more information please email, carolyneklund@stpaulsmaine.org
A Sacred Ground Affinity Group meets on the 2nd Monday of the month at 1:30 p.m. in the Great Hall to further discuss the lessons learned in the Sacred Ground study. Those attending will explore Stephanie Speller’s most recent book The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline, and New Hope for Beloved Community. Contact the parish office to pick up your copy. Those wishing to offset the purchase of a book and shipping cost are invited to make a donation of $16.
St. Paul’s Truth-telling Initiative
Have you finished the Sacred Ground program and wonder what is next? Are you interested in being a “citizen historian”? Join me and other members of St Paul’s as we look to discover more about our history as a parish and our roots in the broader context of our country’s history of racism. Contact Andree Appel at andreeappel@gmail.com.
Reaching Beyond Our Bounds:
Help Us Expand Our Connection to People with New Systems for Sound
and Online Streaming.
Two years ago, when the pandemic’s onset forced us to close our beautiful Nave and worship only online, we had no way to know how long it would be until we could again worship side-by-side. Thanks be to God, we have managed to do that for most of the past year. We are not yet finished with the pandemic, or it with us. But we have reached a more hopeful point.
What have we learned? How have we excelled—or fallen short? Most importantly, what lessons and practices do we want to hold on to from this time of challenges and learning? Thanks to a bequest from the late Jo Belknap, we have the opportunity to expand our online worship capacity with a new live streaming system that will be accessed easily and reliably through the St. Paul’s website. To make a contribution send a check designated to St. Paul’s with “digital upgrade” in the memo or donated through Breeze or at https://stpaulsmaine.org/
Baptism: If you, a friend or loved one desires to receive the Sacrament of Baptism (a once in a lifetime sacrament of initiation into the Christian faith), there is a date coming up at St. Paul’s for this celebration: Sunday, May 8 at 10:30 a.m. Eucharist during the Bishop’s visitation. Please pray about this important in your life and contact the Rev. Carolyn Eklundto tell her of your interest.
Article Deadline is April 22nd.
It’s almost that time again! Please send in your articles for the May 2022 issue of the Messenger to stpauls@stpaulsmaine.org or to me karentucker@stpaulsmaine.org by Friday, April 22nd.
Craft Workshop, Tuesday morning, April 26
St. Paul’s crafters are already busy making things for St. Paul’s Christmas fair 2022. Please join us for a fun workshop on Tuesday morning, April 26th from 10 – noon in the Great Hall to make beautiful no sew quilted ornaments. All materials and instruction will be provided. Just let us know you will be coming by calling Pat Wiggett at 406-2232 or emailing her at pwiggett@comcast.net so we’ll be sure to have enough supplies. Hope to see you on the 26th!
Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program
MCHPP has been providing food for food insecure students for ten years. In 2021, they served twenty-five schools, serving an average of 575 students, In 2021, they provided 17,390 meals. With the current economic situation, the need will probably increase. They are able to provide fresh vegetables and fruit along with non-perishable staples. When you are hungry, it is difficult to learn. Students cannot reach their full potential on an empty stomach. Please donate whatever you can to help MCHPP in this important part of their mission. Send your contribution to MCHPP, 12 Tenney Way, Brunswick, ME 04011.
HELP UKRAINIAN FAMILIES
Your urgent support will help Episcopal Relief & Development provide humanitarian assistance to people fleeing the violence in Ukraine, working with ACT Alliance and our Anglican partners in Europe.
