Invitation for informal Dinner with Pat Brish & Sue Brish-Arden

You are invited to have dinner with Pat Brish, Holocaust

survivor and Guest Speaker at the Holocaust Memorial

Service, and her daughter, Sue Brish-Arden, who is also

our Guest Speaker, on Wednesday evening, April 3,

2019.

The Boardroom of the Landmark Inn has been reserved at

6 p.m. for drinks and conversation and orders will be

taken from the Piedmont Restaurant menu at 6:30 p.m.

Since the Boardroom can accommodate only 20 persons

for dinner, RSVP to Aaron Scholnik at apsmd@aol.com

or 869-6543. There will

also be an opportunity

for a light dinner in the

Piedmont at 5:30 p.m.

on Thursday, April 4,

prior to the service for

those participating in the

service or who cannot

attend dinner on the

previous evening. RSVP

to apsmd@aol.com.

From Bob

Railey’s Pen:

Donation Envelopes This Sunday, April 7, will be the last time to use the Easter

Flower Donation Envelopes for Easter Season flowers.

Please make sure to indicate clearly whether your gift is

a memorial (for whom) or a thanksgiving (for whom or

what).

Ever since St. Paul’s stopped buying the books of weekly

pledge envelopes, folks have made it clear how much

those envelopes have been missed. We are finally

providing an answer for those of you who are not com-

fortable placing uncovered checks in collection plates.

We are now having envelopes available at the usher

station(s) and the gifts table for your use. The enve-

lopes are labeled simply “St. Paul’s Episcopal Church”

with a line for your name (need not be used).

Annual Holocaust Memorial Service Once again, St. Paul’s will be hosting the annual Holocaust

Memorial Service, hosted by Temple Beth Shalom and the

Marquette InterFaith Forum. The service of remembrance

begins at 7:00 pm, Thursday, April 4, and will include var-

ied music numbers and liturgical offerings from diverse

traditions. Speakers will be Pat Brish and Susan Brish-

Arden, widow and daughter of the late Marquette neurosur-

geon Adam Brish. Pat and Adam survived the Nazi Holo-

caust in Poland. Both Adam and Pat survived the Nazi

Holocaust in Poland and Susan and her brother Harry were

raised in Marquette and educated in the Marquette Public

School system. They all now live in Arizona.

The service includes prayers and readings from multiple

faith groups in the Marquette area and choral presentations

by the MSHS Chamber Singers, the Marquette Male Cho-

rus and the vocal trio of Elizabeth, Mallory and Kayla

Grugin. The service is free of charge and open to all.

Immediately following the service, all are invited to a

dessert reception across the street at Temple Beth Shalom.

We are asking St. Paul’s attendees to deliver bars and/or

cookies to the Temple before the service begins.

Published regularly by the parishioners of

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Good Friday “Cross-Walk” In witness to varied social needs and world-wide chal-

lenges, the Marquette’s Protestant Clergy Association

invites you to their fourth annual Good Friday “Cross-

Walk.” We gather at 8:00 a.m. at our host congregation

(First Presbyterian); about an hour and a half later, we

return there for a light, pot-luck breakfast. The six

intermediate stops on our liturgical journey witness to

three local, social ministries (Room at the Inn/homeless

shelter; Harbor House/Women’s Center domestic

violence shelter; and Pathways Community Mental

Health) and three world-wide challenges (St. Peter

Cathedral/as our ecumenical group itself, a sign that

God’s people are not in unity; Marquette County Court

House/a symbol of the universal quest for justice; Lower

Harbor Overlook/Lake Superior is so large and so

vulnerable).

Charlie’s thoughts -

On Stewardship

Stewardship is how we respond to God….how we respond to God’s gift of the Creation, how

we respond to God’s graceful intrusion into our world, how we respond to God’s daily pres-

ence in our lives, how we live our way into the time of God’s peace.

I have come to think of stewardship in terms of prayers, presence, gifts, and service. (Others

talk of “time, talent, and treasure” but “prayers, presence, gifts, and service” works for me.)

Last fall we invited ourselves to think about how we respond to God with our gifts – in particu-

lar, what percentage we give (in particular to the church) from what we receive. Now over

these last few months we have been thinking about how we respond to God through the differ-

ent ways we serve – serving others, serving the community, serving the church, in particular

St. Paul’s. Folks have mentioned Room at the Inn, The New Free Store, Camp New Day, and

various committees at the church. Over the past couple of months the Vestry has invited us to

think about “adopting” a part of the church building to clean and be responsible for.

One of the years when Margie and I were at the church formerly known as Grace, part of my

stewardship pledge was to vacuum the sanctuary. With a few notable exceptions, each week I

would vacuum the chancel area around the worship table, the pulpit, the baptismal font and

choir loft, carefully leaving vacuum cleaner designs that a baseball groundskeeper would have

been proud of. And then the aisles, backing out so as to leave no footprints! Every three or

four weeks I would vacuum under the pews. Sometimes under one of the pews there would be

a child’s toy that had fallen out of sight and out of mind. Sometimes a dozen Cheerios spilled

from a half-time snack. After a few months as I vacuumed under a particular pew, I began to

think about the people who usually sat there, and if there was something going on in their

lives, maybe I’d say a short prayer. (The lady who took over the task from me often talked

about how it was like one of her devotional times!)

So, here, I just signed up to clean the choir robing area and the east entrance (the atrium?) - the

area outside the church offices. (Hey – wipe your feet when you come in here!) I don’t really

expect it will be quite as “devotional” as vacuuming the sanctuary, but still meaningful to care

for a part of God’s house, and especially a part that might make a first impression on a visitor!

For these next few weeks I encourage you to think about what kind of service (to the commu-

nity, to life, to the church) you offer to God; in particular if it might feel right to take on re-

sponsibility for some part of the church building.

God pretty clearly wants to be in conversation and communion with us, and starting in April,

we will spend a few months thinking about how we respond to God in our devotional or prayer

life. I’ll confess ahead of time that while I have some thoughts (I think Abraham got it wrong

– big time!) my own devotional life is pretty much a disaster!

Liturgical Leader

Sundays: Date Sunday Preside Preach Deacon

April 7 Lent 5 Kevin Kevin Coralie

April 14 Palm Sunday Bob Lynn Judy

April 21 Easter Day Kevin Judd Pat

April 28 Easter 2 Marcia Marcia Mary

Holy Week: April 18 Maundy Thursday – 7 p.m. Kevin

April 19 Good Friday – 12 p.m. Marcia

April 19 Good Friday – 7 p.m. Kevin

April 20 Great Vigil – 6 p.m. Kevin

BCP Communion

April 3 Wednesday – 5:30 p.m. TBD

Next Liturgy Meeting: Thursday, April 11, 6:30 p.m.

Early Spring Cleaning By Jan Edwards

On the lower level of the church -

take the back stairs from the choir

robe area, then take a left - there is a

room full of household furniture and

supplies. The items need to be

claimed and moved, preferably out of

the building, by April 15th or they

will be donated. That room has been

identified as a location for storing

church items that shouldn't go in the

under croft. If there is a unique situa-

tion, please contact Jan Edwards at

church, by phone at 249-4244 or by

email at jchex2@aol.com. You can

also leave a message in the church

office.

In July, August, and September we will think about how we respond to God by being present

in the life of the congregation. I’ll tell what Sally Preston’s being present in a particular church

on a particular Sunday has to do with my being here today. We might even try to answer the

question “How often should I be in church?” Sounds like a short essay contest to me. With a

prize?

And then obviously, we will be back ready to think once again about our gifts…

Our prayers, presence, gifts, and service - a stewardship journey through the year – can bring

us closer to God as we live our way into the time of God’s peace.

On the Dismissal -

I’ll take credit/responsibility/blame for bringing up to the Hospitality Committee that we could

end the worship service encouraging ourselves to greet the people around us. Here’s how that

helps me - Obviously there is a part of me that is as extroverted as anyone in the congregation.

(Some folks might say – occupational hazard!) But there is also a part of me that is more in-

troverted than you are. I could be perfectly content to come to church, worship, sing the final

hymn, hear the benediction, close the book and go home without talking to another person.

Really – I could be perfectly content doing exactly that - ONLY - I know that is not the way

it’s meant to be. It helps me when the liturgist, or the liturgy itself, says “OK, now it’s time.

Say ‘Hi’ to the people around you; don’t wait for them to say ‘Hi’ to you. Tell them you are

glad they are here and you hope it’s a good day for them and that their week goes well.” Just

having the liturgy give me that little nudge helps me be a better Christian and a more welcom-

ing member of St Paul’s Episcopal Church.

April Calendar

Tuesday 2 Mindfulheart Meditation 8:00 am

Wednesday 3 Holy Eucharist: Chapel; BCP 5:30 pm

Choir 7:00 pm

Thursday 4 Holocaust Memorial Service 7:00 pm

Reception at Temple Beth Shalom following service

Friday 5 Interfaith Forum at Peter White library 11:30 am

Sunday 7 Ministry Support Team meeting 9:00 am

Choir 9:45 am

Holy Eucharist: 5 Lent 10:30 am

Monday 8 LifeCycles at the West’s 6:30 pm

Tuesday 9 Mindfulheart Meditation 8:00 am

Wednesday 10 Choir 7:00 am

Friday 12 LifeCycles, Pilgrim’s group 10:00 am

Sunday 14 Third Sunday Forum 9:00 am

Choir 9:45 am

Holy Eucharist: Palm Sunday 10:30 am

Monday 15 Altar Guild 4:00 pm

Tuesday 16 Mindfulheart Meditation 8:00 am

Wednesday 17 Choir 7:00 pm

Thursday 18 Maundy Thursday service 7:00 pm

Friday 19 Good Friday

Noon Service 12:00 pm

Evening Service 7:00 pm

Saturday 20 Holy Saturday – Easter Vigil Baptism 6:00 pm

Sunday 21 Happy Easter!

Choir 9:45 am

Holy Eucharist: Easter Day 10:30 am

Monday 22 LifeCycles at the West’s 6:30 pm

Tuesday 23 Mindfulheart Meditation 8:00 am

Wednesday 24 Community Meal, Altar Guild hosts 6:00 pm

Choir 7:00 pm

Thursday 25 Scottish Dancing 7:00 pm

Friday 26 LifeCycles, Pilgrim’s group 10:00 am

Sunday 28 Room at the Inn, set up, help needed 8:00 am (?)

Choir 9:45 am

Holy Eucharist: 2 Easter 10:30 am

Finance Committee meeting 11:45 am

Room at the Inn begins, check in, all week 5:30 pm

Tuesday 30 Mindfulheart Meditation 8:00 am

April Birthdays

Rebecca Patterson 1

Karl Benstrom 6

Rise Thew Forrester 6

Peggy Frazier 9

Andrew Goodrich 12

Sonja Soderberg-Wagstaff 12

Jack Bullock 14

Bill Sheehan 15

Joan Petersen 27

Ann Smith 27

Jan Brodersen 29

Jim Sorenson 29

March 17 Vestry Highlights by Jan Edwards

Discussion re: RATI. Decision made to restrict

our guests to the chapel except for the group meal.

Treasurer/finance committee report. Meeting

monthly. Pursuing ways to reduce spending. Send

ideas!

Review of different church group activi-

ties. Sandra and Jan will evaluate the number of

groups and see if there is overlap.

Decision to implement yearly evaluation of St.

Paul's staff with personnel committee. Anticipating

that it will occur in the fall with congregational

input.

Building issues center around snow. Copper

facing has come off the west roof. It is currently

buried in the snowbank. As it becomes accessible it

needs to be dug out so it doesn't get stolen. Anyone

noticing that it is accessible, please call the office

or Vestry members.

Complete and more comprehensive Vestry Minutes

can be found in the back hall.

PRE-PAID PLEDGE

STRATEGY RENEWED!

Last month, St. Paul's Financial Management team

requested that parishioners consider pre-paying their

pledges, or even a portion of their pledges, if possible.

The purpose of this request was to forestall dipping

into our trust funds for as long as possible, allowing

these funds to remain invested and earning value.

This strategy has been very successful! We have met

our financial obligations for the 1st quarter of 2019

(January, February, and March) without using any

trust funds! Because of this success, the Financial

team is renewing this request so we may delay spend-

ing trust funds longer.

We thank all of you who have been able to help us

with this initiative. It's not a long-term solution to our

financial woes but will help us stretch our limited re-

sources a little further.

Co-Treasurers Pat Micklow & Geoff Smith

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Please have your articles

e-mailed to

jane.ryan@charter.net

for the MAY/JUNE edition of

The Messenger

by Monday,

April 23rd

Messenger in the News by Meg Goodrich and Geoff Smith

As part of a congregation-wide effort to reduce our dependence on St. Paul's Trust,

we are considering alternatives to our monthly Messenger distribution. The first step

to save costs is an easy one: we will use regular-sized paper instead of the more

expensive double-wide pages currently used. Our loyal mailing team will have the

added step of stapling the sheets, as we see done in our weekly church bulletins.

The second step is also easy: we will change to regular-sized envelopes. While these

envelopes are less expensive, the postage is more expensive; The bar-coded larger

envelopes offer a bulk mail postage rate of half that of First Class, so the fewer

copies mailed First Class, the better.

This brings us to the final significant cost saver--we will offer parishioners the option

of receiving the Messenger by electronic distribution, via their email, or continuing

to receive the mailed copy. The Messenger will appear exactly the same as the print

version (as it does on our Website.) This change to electronic version will be an

"opt out of mailed copy" option for parishioners; over the coming months, house-

holds will be contacted on their choice of snail mail or email newsletter. Newsletter

recipients "out of network" will need to "opt in" by contacting the office by

September 1, either by phone, email, or a note. Thank you, all.

The Messenger Team

Editor Meg Goodrich

Copy Editor Jane Ryan Lay-out Jim Edwards

Reporter Bob Railey Copier Kathy Binoniemi

Mailers Geoff Smith, Arlene Gordanier,

Janeen Rastall, John Wilson

Visit St. Paul’s on–line:

Our web site is stpauls.dioup.org

Are you on our e–mail mailing list for This Week at St. Paul’s?

Call Kathy at (906) 226-2912