News from the Red Doors - March 19, 2021

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This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

With a resounding "yes", we will reintroduce congregational singing effective Palm Sunday!  Thank you for sharing your opinions and support on this topic.  We decided at our Worship Committee meeting on Tuesday to phase singing back in quickly.  On Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday we will sing the hymns, the Psalm, and the doxology.  Beginning on Easter, we will sing everything again.  It will be so glorious.  I can't wait!

One important note on our "glorious singing", however, is that in order to optimize everyone's safety we will follow these guidelines:

  • When we sing, actually anytime we're in the building, our masks must cover both our nose and our mouth.

  • Singing softly means singing no louder than a normal speaking voice. Think of it as if you were singing a baby to sleep.

  • Our soloists will continue to add their beautiful voices to ours, both to help us get back in the swing and to remind us to sing softly.

Many of us, especially our organist, are greatly looking forward to the return of singing.  You'll also find it lovely to know he is meeting with me personally to help get me up to speed on chanting the liturgy, which is a new skill considering I've only done it twice!

This Sunday, however, on our last Sunday in Lent, we will continue with NO congregational singing - as we have throughout the pandemic.  That will make it all the more wonderful to sing again on Palm Sunday.

Be well, dear ones.  Stay vigilant and safe regarding the virus.  Draw closer to Christ in these last Lenten days.  And begin preparing yourself for crucifixion, death, and resurrection. 

Prayers and blessings to you,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 

Some Thoughts About Creation Care

I prepared these notes and links for our March 16th vestry meeting. It was suggested that I share them with the entire congregation. I plan to include 5-10 minutes of "development time" at all future vestry meetings, when possible. I'll be sure to share the good details with you as appropriate.

Dear Vestry,

This evening we will spend a few minutes discussing Creation Care, one of the three focus areas from our General Convention in 2018. (The other two are Racial Reconciliation and Evangelism.) The intention is to make you aware of offerings from the wider diocese in the event you might be interested in them or would like to support these initiatives in any way. As April is the month we celebrate Earth Day, it is appropriate to share this with you prior to then. I am scheduling this email to arrive at the start of our vestry meeting so that you have the links necessary to further explore this topic.

The Diocese organized a Creation Care Commission, which ANYONE is welcome to join, shortly after General Convention 2018. More information can be found here: https://ednin.org/creationcare.

Mission: The mission of the Commission on Creation Care is...bring resources together, focal point, creation library, foster an awareness of our connectedness to the earth, enable congregations to help steward the earth.

Vision: Our vision is that people of our faith communities of the Diocese of Northern Indiana will...increase awareness, decrease use of Styrofoam, creation audit, explore other sources of energy.

Creation Care in the Episcopal Church is based on understanding ourselves to be stewards of what belongs, not to us, but to God. Stewardship of creation therefore demands that we "seek to heal, defend, and work toward justice for all God's creation and to respect the kinship and connection of all that God created through education, advocacy, and action." The people of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana engage in Creation Care through a variety of activities, some of which are highlighted below.

We also have a diocesan Facebook group that you are welcome to join, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ednincreationcare1

And there are several components to Creation Care that are currently ongoing around the Diocese such as:

Deacon Melissa Renner is the chair of the Creation Care Commission and is planning an event on April 24th beginning at 9am to kick off the Creation Care initiative more fully. Look for details in the Diocesan eNews. Deacon Melissa serves as the deacon at St. John the Evangelist, Elkhart and can be reached at this email address: melissa.e.renner@gmail.com.

The earth is not ours to use and destroy, but must continue to shelter and nourish (hopefully) countless generations after us. We might not think that seemingly small changes will help preserve the environment but if all of us make those changes it just might.

Personally I work hard to reduce, reuse, and recycle. I am constantly looking for ways to reduce the amount of plastic I use, even though I recycle it. I use very few disposable straws and avoid Styrofoam as much as possible. I carry my own silverware so that I rarely need plastic, even from fast food places. I am experimenting with shampoo bars (vs. plastic containers of liquid) and use linen napkins in our home. I rarely use disposable plates. I try to be aware and hope that my small pieces add up to something larger.

If caring for the environment is important to you and you'd like to be more actively involved, or aware, I suggest you research some of the links above.

Thank you!

News from the Red Doors - March 12, 2021

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This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

On Wednesday, during a Diocesan/Parish leadership call, we heard some wonderful news about singing.  We learned that medical experts now believe singing can return to church, observing the following guidelines:

  • Masking and social distancing must be maintained (as we are already doing).

  • Singers must sing at a quiet or soft level (like a normal speaking voice).

As long as these guidelines are met, we are welcome to begin singing again! Isn't this the most joyful news we've heard in a long time? I have included the document Bishop Doug prepared in conjunction with Dr. Poland here in case you'd like to read the full details.

Now, before we reinstate this fully we would like to check-in regarding how YOU feel about this. Please share your opinions regarding singing in this short survey, by Monday end of day. I will tally the results in time for our Tuesday afternoon Worship Committee meeting where we will determine our plan. Thank you for taking the time to offer your opinion.

We also heard from the CDC this week that fully-immunized people may now gather without wearing masks. We will NOT be implementing this guideline at this time, for many reasons. We all look forward to the day when masks are no longer required. It's not quite yet though. (As a side note, I received my second Pfizer vaccination on 3/3. I am considered "fully immunized" by 3/17.)

In other exciting news, we have decided to offer TWO services on Easter Morning:  a 7:30am Spoken Word Eucharist and a 9am Holy Eucharist with music.  We recognized our current seating capacity doesn't allow for everyone to attend on Easter and we want to ensure each of you are able to attend.  Please consider the earlier service, as you are able, since 9am is more hospitable to visitors.  (Wouldn't it be nice to have a few?!?)

Lastly, mark your calendars for Thursday evening, May 6th, for a Renewal of Ministry with the Welcoming of New Pastor service, often referred to as an Installation Service.  Bishop Doug presides over this beautiful service that welcomes a new pastor/priest to a faith community.  Although it's typically done in the first months of a new call, due to the pandemic we have sent May 6th as a date shortly after our one year anniversary together.  I pray you will attend.  More information will be shared in future newsletters.

As we continue to journey through Lent, please know that your leadership team is busily working to ensure we have the most lovely Holy Week and Easter celebrations possible in these times.  We are praying for YOU and we appreciate your prayers for US.   

Prayers and blessings to you,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 

News from the Red Doors - March 5, 2021

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This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

Many of you know that I was recently accepted into a rather prestigious program called the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program.  It is funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc. and has a competitive acceptance process (meaning more pastors applied than were welcomed into the program).  I feel truly blessed to be a part of this learning cohort.  If you'd like to learn more about the particulars of the program, visit here  www.pastor.wabash.edu/about/.  

There are 14 pastors from many Christian denominations in this program, which meets 5 times/year over two years with two study tours yearly in October.  This week on Tuesday and Wednesday we met for our second session (via Zoom).  As with all Lilly funded initiatives, this one is exceptionally well done.  So far we began our studies with a leadership approach based on the book The Practice Of Adaptive Leadership: Tools And Tactics For Changing Your Organization And The World by Ronald Heifetz.  The book suggests that the best changes made in an organization are the RIGHT 1-2% shifts that will drastically encourage the desired outcome.  The trick is finding that 1-2%, and conducting experiments until it IS found.  The good news is that if this is correct, we don't need to reinvent ourselves, we simply need to shift {something}.  The bad news is that we don't know what the {something} is!

To this end, this week we studied Community and Well-being.  I've been charged, as part of my homework, to have coffee (or whatever is socially acceptable during this time of pandemic) with community leaders, with people who have the pulse of what is going on in LaPorte, with anyone that might help St. Paul's see and hear more fully how we can continue to grow deep roots in this place we call home.  I am pleased to say that my participation in Rotary is already opening my eyes and ears to some of this.  And part of my homework is to reach out to The Unity Foundation of LaPorte County President, Maggi Spartz.  Maybe you have other ideas and suggestions.  Maybe you are one of these people yourself.  If so, please don't hesitate to share your thoughts and ideas with me, as crazy or conventional as they might seem.

I always want to keep you in the loop with what I'm up to, of course.  However, I also share this with you primarily because I remember a specific question from my interview process with the vestry that asked "Where do you see yourself and/or St. Paul's in five years?".  I shared then, and I remain committed to this answer now, that I really have no idea.  Predicting the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives is an impossible task.  Our goal as Christians, always, is to listen for the soft whisperings of the Holy Spirit and then DARE to do what we believe she told us.  Talking to these community leaders, hearing from each of you, is part of that listening.

Recently I realized, while reviewing the Diocesan Archives for St. Pauls, that you have welcomed a series of priests that have stayed only a few years each.  If God doesn't "laugh" at my plans (as they say), I plan to break that cycle.  And while I started my ministry far to late in life to ever match the time Fr. Eyrick was your beloved pastor, I have no intentions or desires of doing anything but settling into this community and growing this beautiful group of believers.  I also have no magic formula.  If we are ALL willing to listen for the Holy Spirit and experiment just a little, I have faith God has not and will not abandon us!

So we press on with all of the things that are necessary to continue to be a fully functioning house of worship.  We conducted background checks on the three individuals that have access to our finances.  They all passed (praise God).  We are currently educating our vestry on Safeguarding so that we all speak the same language on how to keep ourselves safe and beyond approach while conducting church business.  We are enjoying a book study on "The Heart of a Leader".  We are praying and worshiping together.  We are planning for conversations on Inclusive Marriage Policies.  We are being good stewards of our resources.  

I leave you with this thought friends.  Almost without exception, when I spoke with many of you and asked about your dreams for St. Paul's, you all wanted to see St. Paul's grow.  I second that desire.  If we all feel this way, what are we willing to do in order to make it happen?  What conversations need to occur?  As your priest, I can not and will not do this alone.  We will all do this together through listening for the Holy Spirit and stepping a little outside our comfort zone.  Maybe this season of Lent is a good time to listen more closely.  What are YOU hearing?

Prayers and blessings to you,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 

News from the Red Doors - February 26, 2021

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This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

How is Your Lent So Far?
I must admit that I am really enjoying the meditations from Episcopal Relief and Development that arrive in my inbox each morning.  I've made it a practice to grab my phone, read the meditation, spend a few moments in Lament, and set an intention for the day before I even get out of bed!  The perspectives and suggestions are valuable to me, especially as we reflect upon the REST stage of Lament. 

Maybe this is all paired with the warmer weather and a bit more sun, but I'm finding this journey nourishing to my soul right now, in this season.  I pray that whatever you are doing for your Lenten journey is achieving the same results!

Vestry Retreat Update
On Saturday February 20th Bishop Doug joined us for our Vestry Retreat (via Zoom).  We had wonderful conversation on the four questions listed below.  The answers were inspiring and challenging.  We were joyous and proud for the accomplishments St. Paul's has made, particularly in this last (almost) year of the pandemic.

  1. What have we done?

  2. What have we done well?

  3. What could we do better?

  4. What more can we do together?

We also spent some time learning and exploring areas where we might want to invest our energies in 2021.  Bishop Doug shared information on:

  • consensus formation (particularly in vestries),

  • inclusive marriage policies,

  • racial reconciliation, and

  • evangelism.

As vestry we agreed all of these topics are important. All of them are well worth investing time and energy to prepare and launch St. Paul's into our next season of ministry. With so many different programs already available across the wider church related to racial reconciliation and evangelism, we will research and consider them for later in the year. However, consensus formation and inclusive marriage policy conversations are both topics we can explore now.

Consensus formation is a process by which a group of people, or in our case a vestry, makes a decision on a topic after having earnest conversation and hearing the opinions and perspectives of all of the individuals at the table. Consensus formation strives to come to a decision where everyone may or may not agree, but where everyone feels heard regardless of their opinion. A critical component of consensus formation is that whatever is decided by the group, the vestry, is supported by each member even if they wouldn't have chosen that direction personally. It is a slow and deliberate process of building trust and relationship. It's an important component in leadership.

An inclusive marriage policy, is equally important work.  Having a marriage policy gives the priest and church leadership a guideline to follow when, unexpectedly, someone asks to have their wedding in the church because it's so beautiful or because they've heard the Episcopal Church allows same gender marriages.  Written guidelines help us all know how to respond to these requests in a consistent and fair manner.  I wonder if you are aware of the following:

  • Did you know the canons of the Episcopal church have guidelines on who can/cannot be married by Episcopal clergy in an Episcopal church?

  • Did you know at least one member must be baptized?

  • Did you know if it's a remarriage for one or both parties, the bishop must first provide consent?

  • Did you know that same gender marriages are authorized by Canons of The Episcopal Church?

  • Did you know the pre-marital work, or counseling, is required before hand?

  • And then there's the whole conversation about fees (musicians, church cleaning, officiant) and whether we desire to conduct marriages for couples that are not currently members of our faith community.

As I mentioned to the vestry on Saturday, it might seem like these are not regularly addressed topics so why invest our time now?  My response is because we WANT to have these questions asked!  We want to be a church full of people desiring to be married and bringing us children.  And doesn't it make sense to prepare ourselves for that ... to better know who we are as a community ... so that when we get to those evangelism bullets we are ready to answer both the easy and the hard questions?

So mark your calendars for two socially distanced in-person meetings with Bishop Doug on Tuesdays April 20th and April 27th at 6pm to learn more about Inclusive Marriage Policies.  We will learn together.  Discuss together.  Show kindness and compassion toward each other.  And prepare ourselves for the next season of St. Paul's, together!

Prayers and blessings to you,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 

News from the Red Doors - February 19, 2021

The books are ordered and I hope to have them for distribution and/or delivery on Sunday. For our first session on 2/25, please read the Prologue and Part I (~30 pages). You are welcome to join us even if you don't have a book. The more, the merrie…

The books are ordered and I hope to have them for distribution and/or delivery on Sunday. For our first session on 2/25, please read the Prologue and Part I (~30 pages). You are welcome to join us even if you don't have a book. The more, the merrier!

This Week at St. Paul's
Mother Michelle Walker

Dear St. Paul's Family,

As you enjoy this newsletter we are already on our third day of Lent. Our Ash Wednesday services were blessed. And on Sunday we will observe the first Sunday in Lent with The Great Litany. Like so many other gatherings in the last 11+ months, it will be slightly different. It will not be sung, rather it will be said alternately between myself and the reader of the day - with your responses of course. We will not be processing as social distancing is difficult to observe while walking up and down the aisles. The words, the intentions, the prayers will all be the same though! We will pray for mercy, deliverance, intercession for various aspects of the world, and for forgiveness for our many sins. We will be reminded of our sinfulness and encouraged to repent and draw near to God. It is an appropriate beginning to our Lenten season.

As I mentioned in my Ash Wednesday sermon, our Lenten journey this year, after nearly a year in isolation amidst a pandemic, may look different. That's ok. Remember that each of us must find our own path through this Lenten season, eliminating the things that draw us away from God, and incorporating the things that draw us nearer. However you choose to honor this holy season please know that I am here to support and pray for you.


Prayers and blessings to you,
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226 

The Way of Love in Lent (with the Diocese)
Another Study Opportunity

Life Transformed - The Way of Love in Lent (revised for 2021)
Date: Saturdays - February 27, March 6, 13, & 20
Time: 10/9 a.m. (EST/CST) on Zoom
Facilitator: Bishop Doug Sparks
Register here!

The journey through Lent into Easter is a journey with Jesus. We are baptized into his life, self- giving, and death; then, we rise in hope to life transformed. This Lent, communities are invited to walk with Jesus in his Way of Love and into the experience of transformed life. Together, we will reflect anew on the loving actions of God as recounted in the Easter Vigil readings. Together, we will walk through the depths of salvation history into the fullness of redemption. This Quiet Day for Lent ties the Easter Vigil readings to the seven practices of the Way of Love. Drawing on the ancient practice of setting aside Lent as a period of study and preparation for living as a Christian disciple (known as the catechumenate), this curriculum encourages participants to reflect on salvation history; walk toward the empty tomb; and embrace the transforming reality of love, life, and liberation. As we stand with the three women at the empty tomb, we hear his call to go and live that transformed reality.

  • Session I: Introduction to the Way of Love and a Rule of Life; TURN: Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ (Romans 6:3-11)

  • Session II: PRAY: Israel’s Deliverance at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:10-15:1); LEARN: Learn Wisdom and Live (Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6)

  • Session III: BLESS: A New Heart and a New Spirit (Ezekiel 36:24-28); REST: The Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14)

  • Session IV: WORSHIP: The Gathering of God’s People (Zephaniah 3:12-20); GO: The Empty Tomb (Luke 24:1-12)