News from the Red Doors - September 25, 2020

A Message from Senior Warden, Sandra Provan

As a Daughter of the King, I pray, daily, the motto of the order,

"For His sake,
I am but one, but I am one,
I cannot do everything, but I can do something.
What I can do, I ought to do,
What I ought to do, by the grace of God, I will do.
Lord, what will you have me do?"

I became a Daughter in 2006, when Mother Michelle (long before she was ordained) asked a few women at St. Paul's, St. Andrew's by the Lake and Trinity in Michigan City to form a chapter called The Joyful Women. As Daughters our only purpose is to pray for people and many from St. Paul's have made requests for prayers over the years.

In these months of restrictions, many of us have felt helpless, perhaps even useless, but we can all do something, especially pray. We will have the food pantry basket at the Harrison Street entrance to the church on Sundays and on the office porch Tuesdays and Thursdays, when Mother Michelle is in the office. I encourage you to bring food donations and we'll get them to the Salvation Army.

Another thing we can now do is come to church! We can accommodate 32 people, all socially distanced and it is wonderful to be back at St. Paul's, ask anyone who has attended. If you can't come, you can watch the service online. And, we can continue to make our pledge payments

Please ask yourself, Lord, what will you have me do?

God bless,
Sandra Provan
Senior Warden

PS.  A note from Mtr. Michelle ... when Sandra put the basket out on Tuesday morning (pictured left) I said "but no one even knows".  Her response was "a few people know". Boy was I surprised when I went to leave on Tuesday afternoon and discovered this generous gift (pictured right).  Good job St. Paul's.  Let's keep up the good work!

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

In my endeavors to become increasingly aware of the ways I benefit from my white privilege, I have been engaging in several different activities.  One of those is a series of webinars called Learn to Lead: Race to Justice, sponsored by the Center for Congregations. (This is the same organization that gave us the Technology Grant.)

The first session was entitled Race is Fake: Racism is Real and was led by Michael R. Twyman, Ph.D.  I found his presentation fascinating as he focused specifically on the LACK OF RACE in the Bible, citing several examples.  If you'd like to review the materials:

One thing I have learned over and over again on this journey is that racism is not limited to people who intentionally try to harm or ridicule people of other races.  When defined in this way, most of us couldn't even conceive of our racism.

However, when we recognize racism in the subtle ways that our white skin opens doors for us, makes being pulled over by a policeman a scary but NOT life threatening event, or leaves us more nervous when walking down the street alone with a person of color - then we can bear witness to the ways in which we are unintentionally benefitting from our whiteness.

Please know I recognize each of us are at different places in our perspectives of racism in and around our lives.  I am simply sharing the resource with you in the event you might enjoy it.  Please also know I am always here to listen, debate, and pray with you on this topic and others.  

In other educational opportunities, the Commission on Evangelism hosted the second of six Embracing Evangelism workshops.  If you missed it, but would like to see what it's all about, you can watch the video here.  And if you're brave enough to join the Zoom group, our next gathering is Wednesday 10/7 at 5pm and you may register here.
 Lastly, on another topic close to my heart these days, I'd like to offer a prayer for us all.  As the political tensions escalate seemingly each hour of each day, we must remember our faith is in the Lord!  We must be urgently in prayer for the healing of our nation.  And we must remember that if we aren't showing the light of Christ, WHO WILL? 

I leave you with this prayer, from our BCP Morning Prayer Rite One worship.

A Collect for Guidance

O heavenly Father, in whom we live and move and have our
being: We humbly pray thee so to guide and govern us by thy
Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life
we may not forget thee, but may remember that we are ever
walking in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessings!Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226