This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker
Dear St. Paul's Family,
Admittedly, I've offered many prayers this week for the efficiency of air conditioning for all of you, and myself. This hot and humid weather is not my friend. And the beautiful place we met for my Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program on Monday-Wednesday had air conditioning that struggled to keep up. I hope you've all stayed cool and safe during these heat advisories.
As I mentioned in my newsletter last week, this Sunday (8/29) we are blessed to have lay leadership willing to not only lead Morning Prayer but also offer a short reflection on the Scriptures. Thank you to Sandra Provan for leading worship; Susie Richter for preaching; Mike Konieczny for running the Audio Visual; and to each of you for supporting our lay-led ministries as fully as our clergy-led ones.
In the book we are studying as vestry, Part-Time is Plenty: Thriving without Full-Time Clergy, we are learning about and reflecting upon how the church of today must have active and involved lay people in order to survive - EVEN thrive. And this is particularly important when the clergy is part-time and the support staff is limited. In our first session of study we reflected, with pride, upon the decisions already made at St. Paul's to call a priest less than full-time. We were thrilled to realize how we had ALREADY taken many necessary steps to strengthen our faith community. And we were all eager to learn what some of the other steps might be.
One thing that I'm passionate about, and will tell you over and over, is a desire to shift our focus from one of scarcity (we don't have enough of this or that) to one of abundance (we have all we need in this moment). Yes, we all wish our church pews were full and yet how can we focus on the abundant blessings surrounding us? Our St. Paul's family is a faithful, loving, dedicated bunch and each time I see your smiling faces (or eyes!) I am filled with gratitude and amazement. We are ENOUGH and we are right where we're supposed to be in this moment.
And so our service this Sunday will be even more beautiful because it comes from you, for you. Susie is preaching her first "Words of Encouragement" (as we labeled it in the bulletin) and will be happy to share with you how challenging it is to unfold Scriptures in this way. I am proud of her, of each and every one of you, of all of us. And I am so thankful to be called to be your priest at this time, in this place.
Be well my friends. Stay cool and say your prayers.
Blessings,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 (c)