July 16, 2020
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
This Week At St. Paul's

Our celebrant this Sunday and the following Sunday will be the Rev. Timothy P. Carr. Fr. Carr is the rector of All Souls Church, Miami Beach, where he has served since May of 2019. Prior to that he was the Priest-in-Charge of St. John’s Church, Boonton, NJ, where he was named Citizen of the Year in 2017. Father Carr has served at the altar once before at St. Paul's.
Sunday's Service

Join us Sunday for Holy Eucharist at 9:30 AM on Facebook.

Please note, we are temporarily discontinuing the Zoom stream to maximize the quality of the Facebook stream. We are exploring ways to increase our bandwidth and connectivity to offer additional streaming platforms.

To join via Facebook, go to the church Facebook page at the appropriate time and look for the window showing that "St. Paul's Key West is now live." Click on the window.

We will host a Zoom "coffee hour" so members can say "hi" and chat. Please join you fellow parishioners on Zoom at the completion of the service (approximately 10:15 AM) using this link . (Go to Zoom.com to sign up for a free account)

You can open or download the bulletin for the Sunday service here .

Junior Warden's Report
 By Greta Phillip-Ford
Projects are progressing around the property. Ken Bagge’s dedication to the metal fence painting around the property is a huge blessing! He has done an awesome job! He will start on the doors once all of the fence is completed!

JoJo's painting (a paid contractor) completed the painting of the porch and decks on the Parish Hall and will start the roof this week. The pergola in front of Holy Innocents Hall is completed as well as the cabinet protecting the water heater on the Parish Hall. 

The Volunteers have been busy! We meet each Saturday Morning from 8:30 to 12:00 noon--come join us! The projects for this next week include cleaning the porches on the church; planting flower pots, sanding and preparing the shed for painting in the church parking lot, preparing the historic Rectory for the visiting priest and cleaning out the gutters on the Parish Hall by the kitchen."
Senior Warden Notes
Ray Warren
A top goal of your senior warden in the next few months is "continuity". And, I believe this goal is shared by the entire vestry. We are facing many unknowns in the coming months. But, as much as humanly possible, we hope to keep what makes St. Paul's special and adapt to our new realities.

In their initial letter to the Bishop of New York in 1831 the founders of St. Paul's advised that "the minister would not be required in any year, that he should stay a greater portion of the months of August and September than would be entirely agreeable to himself. "

It's not August yet, but we had to scramble hard to find clergy to lead our services on short notice. It is high summer on the island, and in the midst of a pandemic at that. There isn't a lot of desire, especially among the older clergy who often provide supply minister services, to travel these days. As one told me, "I'm 74 and in light of the current situation, I'm not inclined to travel anywhere."

We are very fortunate to have lined up excellent ministers for the short term. For the next two weeks, the Reverend Timothy Carr from Miami Beach will celebrate the sacrament for us. He is able to do that because his own parish uses a pre-recorded service on Sunday. (So, thanks to the wonders of technology, he will serve two congregations at essentially the same time.)

Beginning on August 9th, the Reverend Lenworth Haughton, the priest in charge at our sister church, St. Peter's in Key West, will celebrate the Eucharist for us. (St. Peter's is not currently engaged in streaming services.) Father Haughton, who lives in Pembroke Pines on the mainland in Broward County, has graciously agreed to drive down for an series of Sundays to help us.

We do not, at this point, have a priest for Sunday, August 2nd. While we could possibly find a priest to assist us, the vestry, in consultation with the music director, has decided to conduct a service of Morning Prayer (with, we hope a sermon) that Sunday. (Morning prayer can be entirely read by lay persons.)

Our rationale is that, given the uncertainties of the times, we may unexpectedly need to have Morning Prayer because of the unexpected absence of a minister in the future. Morning Prayer is a beautiful service in itself and it seems best to utilize it purposefully the first time, so as to be better prepared for the next time (whether voluntary or otherwise).

I can guarantee you that the Morning Prayer service on August 2 will have all the uplifting music and heartfelt prayers to which our members and friends are accustomed.

At this point I do not have word on when we might be allowed to open the church building. As you know, things are actually going backwards on the pandemic front. Nor do I know when the bishop will approve our parish profile to allow the search process to go forward. But I have confidence that will be soon.

We are a community and a family. A lot is unknown. But we know that as St. Paul's has weathered storms, fires and depressions, we will weather this as well.

---

The buzz about the lay leadership training program known as EFM (Education for Ministry) to be offered this fall is growing. If you are interested, Please email or call Susanne Woods a t Susanne.woods@gmail.com , 3 05-407-7003 .

You may also find out more at http://efm.sewanee.edu/about-efm/about-efm . There are fees involved in participating but some financial help may be available for those who need it. Most important is a commitment to the group for at least one year (32 weeks). This program will accommodate those who are not resident in Key West when it begins, via a virtual component.

---

We are so blessed to have good, loving people who are generous with their time and talent. Your generosity is also important, and keeping St. Paul's afloat during the storm of Covid-19 .

Pledges and contributions can be made electronically via the church  giving page . Pledges and gifts can also be mailed to the church at 401 Duval Street, Key West, Florida, 33040. God bless each of you for your support.

If you have questions or concerns or just want to reach out to me, my email address is  seniorwarden@stpaulskeywest.org

Tim Peterson "From the Organ"

Tim continues his weekly Organ recitals and informational streaming from the organ bench on Thursdays at noon.

On Thursday, July 23, 2020 at noon, Tim will be Facebook streaming live a session of just hymns. Be sure to have your 1982 hymnal handy, your voice warmed up, and ready to go. We look forward to singing a joyful noise that day!

This has become one of St. Paul's most popular offerings. Check it out this coming Thursday.

You can find prior weeks recordings of Tim’s concerts on St Paul’s Facebook page , or on YouTube .

Please Join in Morning and Evening Prayer

Daily Morning and Evening Prayer is being offered on Facebook Live at 730 AM and 5 PM on weekdays.

Thanks to Lisa Laskow, Mary Simmons, Tim Peterson and Bruce Hagemann for volunteering to officiate some of the days. And, ( this is the new part) to those of you who will volunteer in the future!

To join in the prayers via Facebook, go to the church  Facebook page  at the appropriate time and look for the window showing that "St. Paul's Key West is now live." Then click on the window.

"Like" us and turn on live notifications to get a reminder whenever we are offering prayers.
Know Your History

(From our resident church historian, Dave Eyer. Dave explores one of our beautiful windows dedicated to a member of the Bethel family.)  

The window, installed between 1920 and 1950, was placed in loving memory of St Paul’s parishioner Melvina (Mellie) Bethel (1839-1921). Because of the artistic style and death date of Miss Mellie, we are inclined to think the window was placed soon after her death date.

The window tells the story of Christ, being thirsty, sits down by Jacob’s Well and is offered a cooling drink by a woman from Samaria. The story is from the 4th Chapter of of the Gospel according to St John verses 1-38. Here Jesus bridges the gap between Jews and Samaritans.

Jesus said “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water I give them will never be thirsty”. The woman said she had no husband to tell this story. Jesus said that she was correct- she had been married five times and the man in her life now was not her husband.

The Samaritan woman is frequently portrayed as promiscuous. Recent interpretations have asked “Suppose she could not have children?” In the society of her time she would have been rejected and divorced by her husbands. She is a woman deserving of compassion. Many Samaritans from that city believed in Him because of her testimony. “WE know that He is truly the Savior of the World.”

Miss Bethel , a schoolteacher, was a highly regarded citizen of the late 19th early 20th century Key West and active St Paul’s parishioner. She was a sister of Livingston Bethel (1845-1914), Key West Mayor and Lieutenant Governor of the State of Florida.

The mystery: Why was a window portraying a woman married five times dedicated to the memory of Mellie Bethel who never married?
Reminders
Sunday school is canceled during the virus emergency.
Back issues of  The Epistle  available  here .
These communications are currently edited by Senior Warden Ray Warren. Send questions and comments to the editor   here .