This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker
Dear St. Paul's Family,
As our nation prepares for one of the most controversial elections we've likely seen in our lifetimes, regardless of the outcome, we must be deeply in prayer. The election process will continue to be foremost in the news and social media through election day and beyond. Again, regardless of who is elected, it will be contentious. There will be winners and losers. How we handle our reaction to "winning" or "losing" is critical. As believers, we must be prepared to shine the light of Christ in our words and deeds. We must be deeply in prayer.
As your priest, you are loved regardless of how you vote. I respect that you have opinions and perspectives either similar to or different than mine. It is my desire for you to feel loved and accepted regardless of your personal voting preference. St. Paul's has room for a wide variety of beliefs. We all love and worship the same God!
To that end, I would like to offer the following items:
Beginning October 27th, I urge you to join me in a novena of prayer for the election called "A Season of Prayer: For An Election". The novena (9 days of prayer) we will use has been gathered from the Book of Common Prayer and shared in conjunction with The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations and Forward Movement. These will be posted to our Facebook page daily. Handouts from this website will be available for you to pick up over the next two Sundays at church.
On election day, Tuesday November 3rd, the church will be open for prayer from 9am-4:30pm. At 9:15am, 12:15pm, 4:15pm we will offer a said Morning, Noonday, and Evening prayer. Stop by for those offerings, or slip in for your own time of private prayer. (Masks are required. Please maintain social distancing.)
The Presiding Bishop's Office recently shared a resource entitled “With Malice Toward None”. It is a program designed for churches and groups to provide a way for understanding and healing for all sides of our political divisions, both before and after the November election - https://braverangels.org/what-we-do/with-malice-toward-none/.
While I don't intend to implement the whole group study aspect of this, please visit the website and review their intention and pledge and consider how you will also love _even_ the neighbor who voted differently from you and wants to argue about it with you!
Friends, this is a time for us to be in prayer and to shine Christ's light. We are uniquely positioned to do so in our faith tradition. Let us lead by example and share Christ's light brightly over these next few weeks!
Blessings!
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226
A Sermon Not to Miss …
Please take 15 minutes and enjoy last Sunday's sermon which discussed tithing, pledging, and has an entertaining twist of lots of dead batteries for the speaker system! (With special thanks to our organist John for always being prepared and ready to help!)