St. Paul's is Ready for a New Year

St. Paul’s is Ready for a New Year

St. Paul’s has improved and fixed many things in the past year. The final “upgrade” is making the bathrooms brighter and a little more accessible. Bob White was the Project coordinator. Jennie Burgess was given the honor of doing the ribbon cutting since she was one of the first to suggest the upgrades. Olivia Christensen and Harper Scarpelli had a close-up view of the ribbon cutting.

The bathroom and a recent necessary re-roofing of the bell tower were possible due to our five year “Planting for Tomorrow” Campaign and with the aid of companies such as https://planetroof.com.

 

In addition, an anonymous donor provided St. Paul’s with a complete kitchen makeover earlier in 2018. We think this is the best the property has looked in many years. The first big church dinner took place in December with a delicious meal cooked by Chef Baca. The parish invited all our members and those who support the congregation in so many ways. There will be another dinner in January for the congregation and their guests.

 

Chalking up the Doors is a tradition form the Church of England that has come to the United States through the Episcopal Church. Each year the clergy of the congregation visits the homes of the parishioners and offers a blessing while “chalking the door” on Epiphany (January 6th.) Sign-up to participate by contacting St. Paul’s.

 

Thank You Donors

The food pantry at St, Paul’s received a number of generous donations this fall. 1st National Bank dropped off several bags of food, The Library’s food donations for fines brought in a number of bags in addition to the cans delivered by Karen Wilhelm and the Honor Society at the PIB school organized all the grades for a food collection. Thanks to all of these groups and a financial donation from Brown’s Backers, we will be well stocked this winter.

 

On New Year’s Eve St. Paul’s hosted a celebration for all ages in the early evening so we could watch midnight arrive in both London (7 p.m. EST) and the Azores (8 p.m. EST). Our celebration boarded an imaginary flight across the Atlantic so we could celebrate in these two time zones. The community was invited to kick off their evening celebrations at St. Paul’s before moving on to their other activities.

 

Our adult “Conversations in Faith” will resume in 2019. From January until Shrove Tuesday we will focus on Paul’s letter to the Romans. We will gather on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. to discuss the daily readings from the Book of Romans. All are welcome participate. You can get the list of daily readings from St. Paul’s Office. This year, participants form churches across the US are invited to read, reflect, and pray upon a few verses of Romans. Even if you are in Florida, Vegas or Colorado, you can join in this daily reading.

 

The youth are very active in our Bible Explorers, Bell Choir, Teen youth activities and Sunday School. We are thankful to Jessie Greene for organizing and leading Sunday School along with other volunteers. There are so many people St. Paul’s would like to thank for their support in 2018. Thank you Billy Market for removing leaves from the front lawn. Thank you Pinky and Sue for setting up the outdoor creche. Thank you Melinda for preparing Christmas greens for the church. Thank you Yardworks for grounds keeping. Thank you Bob White for cleaning all the gutters this week, and so many other jobs you do. Thank you Sandy Funtal for the wonderful Advent cake for the parish dinner.

 

As Seen in the January 2019 edition of the Put-in-Bay Gazette