The Day of Pentecost

John 14:8-17, (25-27)
     
Friday, June 7, 2019
In This Issue
Weekly Services

Sunday - 4 Services

8:00 & 10:30 a.m.
Holy Eucharist

1:00 p.m.
South Sudanese Service
Dinka Language

5:30 p.m. Holy Eucharist
Spanish Language

Tuesday

12:05 p.m. Holy Eucharist

Wednesday

6:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist

Saturday
5:00 p.m.  Holy Eucharist 
 
More St. Paul's Here!
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Alleluia!
The elevator
is
risen!
Alleluia!
This Weekend at St. Paul's
Bring that casserole dish you bought at the garage sale Saturday, full of your favorite picnic treats to share, and join us Sunday for the Parish Picnic Celebration of the Feast of Pentecost following the 10:30 service.  In the last days of Easter - Father Stan is happy to report that the elevator is also risen! Please see other important information about this weekend below, and thank you in advance for grabbing your name-tag at the south entrance so we can get to know each other better.  
Rector's Notes:   Pentecost
is here!  Time to celebrate, time to have fun, time to rejoice in the spirit of being God's people.  Join us on Sunday for worship and then join us for the picnic (see more info below).

There are many things happening at St. Paul's.  Read the information in this ePistle and consider coming to some of the special event upcoming.  

Update  on the Luther/Bonhoeffer 2020 trip.  Because of my retirement, Dr. Kurt Knecht, St. Paul's organist, will be taking my place as the group leader for this amazing trip.  Kurt is very knowledgeable of both Luther and Bonhoeffer.  He will bring great insight into their contributions to our western Christian tradition.  Moreover, with his musical talent, you may even get to hear him play a few tunes on various keyboards as you travel around Germany.  I promise this is a trip you do not want to miss.  Check the box lower down for more information about registering for this trip.
 
This Friday, June 7th, and for the whole weekend  join Deacon Bryan England and our
"Bishops United Against Gun Violence" in remembering the fifth National Gun Violence Awareness Day - the day we honor all victims and survivors of gun violence. On June 7th, we renew our commitment to end gun violence in America by wearing orange and participating in Wear Orange events. 
 
In 2013, 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed in Chicago. After her death, her friends and family wore orange to raise awareness about gun violence in their community. Then, Hadiya's friends asked everyone to wear orange to honor her and the hundreds of Americans killed and wounded by gun violence every day. Hadiya's friends and the long, proud history of the color orange carried on by advocates in the gun violence prevention movement have inspired Wear Orange - which now includes a broad coalition of nonprofits, cultural influencers, and elected officials working to end gun violence.
 
Join Deacon Bryan and thousands of others wearing orange this weekend.
On The Row: A Staged Reading of Stories From Arkansas' Death Row
 
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
11 E. 40th Street, Kansas City, MO
Thursday, June 13, 2019
7:30pm
 


" The state cannot execute the man who committed this crime. I executed him years ago. The only thing the State can do is take me out of this cage."
 
 
The Prison Story Project is a storytelling project that benefits the incarcerated. Inmates explore their truths through poetry, storytelling, and creative writing.
 
From May through October of 2016 The Prison Story Project was given unprecedented access to the men on Arkansas' Death Row at Varner Prison. There were 34 men on the row at the time and 11 of those men chose to participate in the project.
 
The inmates met with the volunteer team once a month in person on death row to explore writing and storytelling concepts, and followed up by US Mail in between visits.
 
A staged reading of their work - On The Row - was developed and performed for the men on death row on October 8, 2016 and has been touring the US since.
 
In February, 2017, the Governor of Arkansas announced that the state would execute eight men over ten days just after Easter. Four of the men that the Prison Story Project served were on that list. Two of the men were given last minutes stays and two were executed.
 
On The Row is touring to Kansas City thanks to a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Whiting Foundation for the Humanities, and Episcopal Evangelism Society.
Parish Calendar 
More information about all of these events can be found in the "more information" section below.

May/June: The House that Abraham Builds
Work Continues  

June 7: Wear Orange weekend

June 8:   Garage Sale
(benefit our pantry and Holy Cross School)

June 9: Pentecost Parish Picnic

June 13: On the Row, Stories from Death Row

June 16: New Summer Worship Schedule Begins

June 21: KC Baroque presents Women of Note
 
  

Sunday School
"Godly Play" 

This is our last class get together before the new summer schedule begins! Please join us at 10:20 am on the third floor.  Everyone aged 4-11 is welcome to come and bring a friend. Children join the worship service in time for communion. Nursery care provid ed for younger children on the 2nd floor.

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The Rector will be in the Garden Room at 9:30 for his last episode of "Stump the Rector."  Come and enjoy an open format of Q&A on matters religious, metaphysical, or nonsensical.  There is coffee brewed to fuel visiting around the tables, and cold water available for anyone willing and able to come help set up for the picnic. Many hands make light work!

Education for Ministry Registration Ends July 2019
If you'd like to know more about this four-year Episcopal program, please contact EfM Mentors Marie Thompson or Linda Voigts.


Upcoming Events ~ More Information

Wear Orange weekend
Friday, June 7th, marks the fifth National Gun Violence Awareness Day - the day we honor all victims and survivors of gun violence. On June 7th, we renew our commitment to end gun violence in America by wearing orange and participating in Wear Orange events. 


In 2013, 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed in Chicago. After her death, her friends and family wore orange to raise awareness about gun violence in their community. Then, Hadiya's friends asked everyone to wear orange to honor her and the hundreds of Americans killed and wounded by gun violence every day. Hadiya's friends and the long, proud history of the color orange carried on by advocates in the gun violence prevention movement have inspired Wear Orange - which now includes a broad coalition of nonprofits, cultural influencers, and elected officials working to end gun violence.

Join Deacon Bryan and thousands of others wearing orange this weekend. Local events around the observance of  Wear Orange Weekend can be found at https://tinyurl.com/y6r9scxn  or by texting ORANGE to 644-33.   

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Plan on coming Sunday  to the 2019 
St. Paul's Pentecost
Parish Picnic!
                This Sunday, June 9 th  following the 10:30 service.
     Come for fellowship, fried chicken-n-biscuits and a glorious buffet of parishioner-provided side dishes and desserts.
     Stay to enjoy fellow parishioners and their guests at-play in our beautiful school-field across Walnut Street (just SE of the church) including a giant slide and games for kids.
     Bring your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and come have a glorious time helping us celebrate Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church, and the beginning of summer.
      
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  Garage Sale June 8th
Turn unwanted stuff into food for our pantry customers and money for Holy Cross School in Ravine a l'Anse, Haiti.  If you can help with set up on Friday June 7 th , or help sell for a couple of hours on Saturday, June 8 th , please call Catherine at 816-523-3380.

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 What is this New Summer Schedule? As one member of the Communications Ministry Team put it - "Can we paraphrase the Prophet Marley who said 'One love, one heart, ONE SERVICE-- let's get together and feel all right!' ?" 

Benefits of one service:
* get to see everyone.
* better table at brunch
* more uninterrupted time for the rest of the day
* earlier tee/tea time? :-) 
* gives the faithful Sunday morning ministry teams (acolytes, greeters, altar guild, preachers, ushers, lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, presiders, musicians) a bit of a breather for the season. 
 
It's a great time to be a part of this family of faith. 

Bring your friends. Worship God. Spread the Gospel. 

A Prayer For the Good Use of Leisure

O God, in the course of this busy life, give us times of
refreshment and peace; and grant that we may so use our
leisure to rebuild our bodies and renew our minds, that our
spirits may be opened to the goodness of your creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. BCP 825

Help Wanted 

TEFAP & Backstage Hands Needed
at Pantry

TEFAP: The Emergency Food Assistance Program has experienced a large increase in quality and quantity of food coming into our pantry. As a result, more clients are coming, bringing friends, and we are able to help them all. We served over 120 households last month (last year we averaged 80 per month). While we are happy to be able to help more, we really need more able bodied folks to help with moving, setting up, and distributing all of this heavy food. If you are able to help, it's only once a month, on the 3rd Saturday of the month, from 8am - noon. If you work with a youth group, scouting group, or know of youth or young adults needing service hours, we would welcome the connection. Please contact Melissa Hill via St. Paul's at [email protected]. Thank you!

Backstage: Many of us have seen, and been a part of, the food distribution at  our Pantry. It is humbling, hard and holy work.  But there is a very important part of our Pantry ministry that goes mostly unseen, and it's there that we can use your help.  To save money , where possible and practicable , o ur Pantry acquires bulk supplies of essential items for our pantry clients. It takes time and care to divide-up these supplies for distribution. It includes things like  rice, pasta, dry beans , laundry   and dish detergent, hair care supplies, frozen foods, etc. If you are able to come and help us sort these into shareable sizes, please let us know . Thanks so much. Richard Scarritt , Easom Bond and Sterling Roath .






We need more caring
hands on-deck in the
St. Paul's Parish Nursery.
Each Sunday we have two paid staff persons caring for our youngest (and cutest!) members. All are required to take the "Safeguarding God's Children" training, pass a background check, and love our kids and their families. We also occasionally need nursery caregivers during the week for special meetings, worship services, or events. Please speak with Catie Brouse if you are ready to join the team. Service hours for high school students are available, but the training requirements remain. Thank you!


Coffee Hour Hosts
       

June 9 - Pentecost Parish Picnic 
June 16 - ?you?
June 23 - Rebecca Forsyth & Ellen Haden
June 30 - ?you?

Hosting Coffee Hour is a fun and easy way to get to know other St. Paul's members! The host brings the food and the church provides the drinks. An example of what a host might bring would be: two large pans of brownies (cut very small), maybe a bowl of fruit (oftentimes grapes cut into small clusters), and a bowl or two of pretzels or popcorn. If you have questions or wish to co-host with another member, please contact Alison.  Dates are available.

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verse for the week
Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your  possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.  - Matthew 19:21-22 

voice for the week
We have a sacred choice. We can remain addicted to certainty because it seems to serve as an anchor in our often-troubling world. Or we can begin to discover the plenty that lies within the mystery as we loosen our grip on certainty. - Christena Cleveland

prayer for the week
All in All, help us to discern and identify that which we cling to with unhealthy certainty, and prompt us instead to be open to the beautiful messiness and mystery of Christ-
Amen. 

thought for the week
If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.--
Thomas Merton

Other News & Thanksgivings




The Name Tags are Here! The Name Tags are Here!
  
Please pick up your name-tag from the display in the reception lobby at the South Entrance, and wear it.  If you don't see yours, leave us a note and we'll get one up there asap. Remember, wearing a name tag is something you do for everyone else... it's not about you.  
Thanks in advanc e for being kind and supportive as we continue to make adjustments.
We hope to get lanyards soon, for those Sundays when the clips don't work on your clothing.  It's fine if you take yours home or keep it in the glove compartment of your car. Just remember to wear it next time. Or you can replace it on the display neatly and somewhat in order. That helps others find theirs more easily. There will be baskets (soon) at the exits to remind you to leave it if that is your preference, and a volunteer will replace it on the display.  If you want to help with this ministry, let us know. Thanks again. 
Your Name Tag Ministry Team ~ Betsy Parker & Ann Ready 

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Curious to know how you can save $350 on
St Paul's Reformation Tour
through Germany
in Sept 2020?
Dr. Kurt Knecht will be the group leader for this event.  Kurt is well read in both Luther and Bonhoeffer and will bring great insight into these two important periods in Germany as well as the impact of these two theologians on Christianity more broadly.
  
for information or a brochure and reserve your spot before June 1, 2019.

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 Prayer Request Forms from the St. Paul's Pastoral Care Ministry Team are available from the box on the wall in the tower room near the pulpit, on the Usher's Desk at the 40th street door, and the Receptionist Desk at the South/School side door. If you are interested in becoming a part of this ministry, please contact Heidi Carter, Associate for Ministry.
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 2019 Stewardship

     Every year, in response to the many and great gifts God freely bestows upon us, we are all invited to make a pledgeto the financial support of St. Paul's Parish.
     Our gifts become a witness in the world of this parish's response to God's call to us to be a faithful community serving all God's creation.  You can use the link below to make your pledge or contact the  Church Office  for a paper pledge form.
     Thank you for your support financially, for your participation, and by remembering our efforts in your prayers.

 
B eyond the Walls of St. Paul's
Opportunities to Stay Connected and Involved

Please Visit Our Website at www.stpaulskcmo.org for information about The Diocese of West Missouri's  Youth Ministries , The Episcopal Church, Outreach opportunities and Advocacy and Community Engagement. Scroll down the welcoming page to find a series of interesting links and information. Thank You.

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click for:

July 8-16:   Pilgrimage 2019 
(Register by  April 30 )

"WISE" Women in Science

 
by 6:00 p.m. Wednesdays.  Please help out the Epistle editor and submit your items in a timely way. Thanks!

St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Day School

11 E 40th St.

Kansas City, Mo.   64111

(816) 931-2850