Mission and Vision | Stewardship | Millennium Fund | Administration | History
The Epistle
March 2004 | Volume 17, No. 3
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April 2003
From the Rector
Mission and Ministry in
Lent
My dear parishioners and friends of St. Paul's,
The whole of March falls within Lent this year, and its end brings us to the very brink of Holy Week. Please take note of my comments and other notices regarding Lent in the special insert in this Epistle. I remain very grateful indeed to Alistair and Christine Nevius, Allison Freeman, David McGaw, and John Walker for their steadfast and ongoing efforts to produce the Epistle in fine form and on time, as well as to the office and volunteers who get it to you all. [Web note: contents of the Lent insert are available here online.]
Events in Lent
I shall be away from the parish once
during Lent, when I shall lead a Lenten program and preach at St. Michael's
Church in Carlsbad, California, the weekend of March 6 and 7. I always seem to
get asked to do things elsewhere in Lent and have limited myself to this, since
any further absences, however justifiable, seem to me to detract from our
communal, corporate experience of Lent. This aspect I see increasingly as being
important, as you have read in previous years and as you will elsewhere in this
issue! This is supremely true of our observance of Holy Week, but more of that
next month when the Epistle will be mailed to you First Class along with
my Easter letter and Easter envelopes to reach you the week before Holy Week.
Two feast days in March give us a
break from the Lenten regime. The first is the Feast of St. Joseph on Friday,
March 19 poor Joseph always seems to me to get overlooked in his pivotal role
in the story of salvation, and I always try to mention him whenever I can in
the listing of saints! Low Masses that day are at 7 AM, noon, and 6 PM as
usual.
Challenges ahead
I want you to know that all the
clergy are working with me at this time in preparing some offerings on the
issues that I raised in my pastoral letter of last fall, following the actions
of General Convention and relating to sexuality. We are gathering materials and
resources human and written and plan to offer a good selection to you,
probably over the summer. The Christian-formation plate is quite full during
the week, and I think that a summer series will get us off to a good start. If
you have come across useful materials in your own enquiries please let me know.
I have been reading a very
challenging (literally) book by a Roman Catholic Dominican, Gareth Moore, A Question of Truth. It is interesting in that
it outlines the traditional teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, accurately,
I presume, and succinctly, and then challenges on a number of levels some the
presuppositions from within. While there is, of course, room for debate with
his conclusions, it makes an interesting read and provides food for discussion
and teaching on precisely the issues I raised in my letter. We have not been
idle, and we are not "sitting on it," just trying to do it well and
not lose focus of our ongoing life, missions, and ministry.
I am on a "mission" theme
roll perhaps because it's Epiphany tide! and you
will be hearing more about this from the pulpit, in this newsletter, and at our
annual meeting. As I enter my seventh ("sabbatical") year, I am more
and more aware of God's further call to us to look out and beyond of ourselves
to our wider community and to the Church and world at large. We have had six
good years of inward and inner building and building up, figuratively and
literally. Now the time has come having "built and maintained" to
grow in our sense of mission and ministry beyond ourselves.
Building projects
Speaking of buildings, you will have read that we are now back
on track with our narthex/elevator project, and the work of our new architects,
Swanke Hayden Connell, has been exemplary and encouraging, as has been our
picking up the ball again with our general contractor, Sigel. I am grateful to
Fr. Barnett, Larry Cook, and Larry Toombs, who have carried the ball on this
and will continue to do so until completion. We are looking at construction
beginning this summer, with final completion next spring.
As that project gets under way, I
shall be asking the Vestry to look seriously and concretely at our plans for
the townhouses on K Street, including the recently acquired 2422. As you know,
we are in the process of selling the three properties other than the rectory on
25th Street, and the proceeds from these sales will be used to pay for the
acquisition of 2422 and for renovations to make that building conform to our
desired uses for now and for the future. When the three sales are complete (and
they nearly are), please watch here in the Epistle and in parish notices
for the details. We all owe Jerry de Michaelis a great debt of gratitude for the
hard and long work he has put into the successful and mutually beneficial
completion of these sales.
I am aware that we need to do a much
better job of communicating the actions of the Vestry, and indeed their
deliberations, as well as the needs and resources for our mission and ministry.
To that end, David McGaw has kindly agreed to provide us, beginning this month,
with a prιcis (not approved minutes) of the Vestry meetings. There obviously
will be a time lag here, with deadline schedules and Vestry meetings
inconveniently not overlapping always. Please remember that Vestry minutes,
once approved, are always posted immediately for your perusal on the Vestry
bulletin board in the hall of the first floor of Pillsbury House. I am also
going to ask Lynne Walker to give us regular updates in the Epistle with
regard to our finances, including the day-to-day operations.
Thanks to Phil Schlatter, you will,
probably in the spring, be hearing of a new approach to our budget process for
2005, which will center around mission and ministry, respond to what we believe
God's call is to us in the coming year, and give opportunities for the whole
congregation not only to see how the process works, but also to hear and see
about the various components of that mission and ministry and indeed to help shape it.
Even as the Vestry at the time of
writing is working toward meeting the challenges of the 2004 in a positive way
I hope a final budget will be passed at the February meeting, and it may mean
cuts or deficits, but it will reflect mission and ministry we are looking at
the process for 2005 and subsequent years. Key to those deliberations is, of
course, the long-range plan, which I urge all of us to revisit it is
available on the parish website at
http://www.StPauls-KSt.com/mission.htm, and
printed copies are available from the office.
Andrew L. Sloane+
Jean Litwin Named Diocesan Health Liaison
Jean Litwin, St. Paul's ,
believes that when healing a broken leg, you should address more than just the
bones. Jean is an advocate of looking at the whole wellness of a person--physical, mental, and spiritual.
So when someone has a broken leg,
Jean makes sure he is getting good medical care, but she also looks at the
person attached to that leg how will he get around in a cast, how will he get
to church, how it will affect his life, his head, his heart?
Jean says it will boil down to slowly
visiting the area's 95 churches about one church a month and finding out
what they are doing in the faith-health realm. She'll try to help churches
without faith-health ministries get some started.
"I think it is exciting,"
Jean says. "It's going to be great." Jean says she would like to not
only ensure that each parish has a health ministry which can range from
offering unction to counseling centers but would love to see each parish bring
on its own . "I love doing what I am doing," Jean reports.
"I would like to see this in every church. I want to share my experiences
and let them get going in their own church."
Faith-health ministries at St. Paul's
-
The clergy offer the Sacrament of Holy Unction and laying-on of hands Thursdays at noon and the first Sunday of each month following the 9:00 AM and 11:15 AM Masses.
-
The parish's homeless ministries are also part of the faith-health concept. Grate Patrol volunteers deliver breakfast to homeless people in the area on weekends at 5:30 AM. And volunteers are urgently needed to prepare Grate Patrol sandwiches at the more reasonable hour of 4 PM on Fridays.
-
There is also Red Sea, the Tuesday evening dinner program for homeless and formerly homeless friends of the church.
-
Care teams and lay visitation care teams are intended to offer Christian response to persons in need ranging from plant delivery to phone calls.
-
Jean also desperately needs a band of volunteers to assist her in caring for some of the parishioners she has met as . In particular, Jean says there are about 25 elderly parishioners who live 20-60 miles away from the church and cannot get to Mass unless someone can give them a ride. Some of these people came to St. Paul's for 30 or 40 years before their health made it impossible to drive, and they desperately miss worshipping with the St. Paul's parish body.
-
[AF]
Reflections on Diocesan Convention
It was my privilege to serve as one of the parish delegates to
the Diocesan Convention held at the Cathedral on January 30-31, 2004. Although
details of the Convention's work will be described in the diocesan newspaper
and website, I would like to share a few observations with the parish.
The Convention clearly reflected the
wide diversity of a large diocese. One aspect of diversity that should have
been obvious (but previously wasn't to me) is that most members of the Diocese
live in the state of Maryland and many have deep roots there. (I live in D.C.,
and, I suspect, the majority of the members of our parish live in either the
District or Virginia.) Church members
who attend colonial parishes in rural St. Mary's County or those looking to
build new edifices in burgeoning Montgomery County suburbs inevitably have a
somewhat different perspective than those of us who both live and worship near
downtown Washington.
A challenge for Convention-goers is
that sessions are long and the Cathedral can be chilly even with radiant
flooring. Much time is given over to congratulations of those whose
accomplishments are noteworthy and to explanations of diocesan goals. The
election process is cumbersome (as it is in our own parish meetings). Our
fellow-parishioner, Larry Toombs, made a strong showing in the election for
Standing Committee, and a happy outcome was the election of Fr. J. Carleton
Hayden, a longtime friend of St. Paul's, to Diocesan Council.
Bishop Chane, in his address to the
Convention, emphasized his commitment to youth and academic ministry, to
strengthening congregations, and to global outreach. These are estimable goals,
which the Convention supported by approving an ambitious budget that will,
unfortunately, probably have to depend on income from the Soper Trust. Bishop
Chane also described a planning process for new missions based on careful
demographic analysis.
One of the more noteworthy actions
was overwhelming passage of a Resolution on Conscience submitted by David
Bickel of All Saints, Chevy Chase, and Fr. Thomas Logan, Rector of Calvary
Church, D.C. Endorsed by a wide spectrum of delegates, the Resolution stated
the Convention's recognition that "certain actions taken by the 2003
General Convention have caused deep concern among some members of the
diocese." The Convention called "upon all of us to lovingly respect
each person as an equal member of the diocese and to seek reconciliation in
truth so full unity can be attained at a future time." These are noble,
and new, sentiments that bode well for the future if we faithfully try to live
up to them.
Highlights from the January Vestry Meeting
-
Fr. Sloane voiced his thanks for the concerted efforts of the staff, clergy, and wardens during his sabbatical, and he particularly expressed his appreciation for the ministries of Fr. Barnett and Fr. Perrin Radley.
-
The treasurer's monthly report noted that last year's books are being closed out and that, despite some areas of overspending and the failure of some pledges to come in, underspending in some budget categories more than made up the difference. If there is a modest surplus after final calculations are made, it will be applied toward the extremely tight 2004 budget.
-
The bulk of the meeting was spent discussing the challenges facing the budget in our stewardship planning for 2004. Fr. Sloane shared his perspective that we must, as a parish, continue to view our budget as an expression of our shared parish mission a matter of theology and ministry, as much as administration. The Vestry voted to proceed judiciously with some adjustments that will help support our staff, whose work is so critical in supporting and equipping us as we follow Christ. Phil Schlatter accepted the challenge of rethinking our budget process in order to keep our common mission and vision a priority, with a special view toward maximizing the appropriate use of designated funds.
-
Jerry de Michaelis reported significant progress toward finalizing the sales of the parish's investment properties on 25th Street. These investments have grown handsomely since the initial investment decades ago, and the proceeds will allow us to move forward with the financing and renovation for parish use of our K Street properties: the parish offices and 2422 K Street.
-
Larry Cook, on behalf of the Building Improvements Committee, presented a recommendation for the selection of an architectural firm to oversee the completion of our building project.
[DM]
The Continuing Sabbatical Report
I am sure that by now you are
heartily sick of my recounting sabbatical events, but every time I write
something, I realize that I have left out something important! I suppose this
underscores the importance of this time away and the ongoing beneficial, I
hope, effects of it all!
One of the joys was to have the
opportunity on most Sundays to concelebrate, or preach, or sit in a pew
(bliss!) at a different church.
A Silver Jubilee
My first Sunday, I was one of the
principal concelebrants at the Silver Jubilee Mass of my old friend, Fr. David
Houlding. Since that was taking place in the afternoon, and as I knew it would
be a Mass, I took the unusual step of going to the Guards Chapel near
Buckingham Palace for sung matins. I knew it would be an essentially
"English" experience, replete with the national anthem and the band
of the Welsh Guards all right then, a "British" event!
It was obviously quite different from the
usual fare of an Anglo-Catholic Sunday morning!
but it brought back many early memories, since my grandmother
would take me to church there when I was very young, back in the dark ages. The
place is poignant, too, since during the Second World War, a German bomb fell
on the original building on a Sunday morning during the worship, destroying
most of the building and many of the congregation. When I was little, I thought
it was strikingly modern now it seems very "'60s"! It was all
decent and in order and very Church of England!
What was lacking from a catholic
point of view in the morning was more than made up for in the afternoon's event!
With the Bishop of Edmonton on the throne, six or more bishops in choir dress
(Roman style of course!) in the choir, three principal concelebrants, a half
dozen or so other concelebrants, countless other clergy, and a full church, Fr.
David's Jubilee Mass was extraordinary! Each time one thought it was over the
top, it got more so egged on by timpani and trumpets in the stunning building
of All Hallows, Gospel Oak, with its equally stunning acoustics. It even all
got written up in The Church Times, much to Fr. Houlding's delight!
I even ran into a friend from Oxford
days who is now a bishop in Papua New Guinea, of all places, and likely
destined to be the Archbishop of that Province down the line. I expect you may
be seeing Bishop Roger Jupp at St. Paul's one of these days. It was a wonderful
occasion of fine worship, thanksgiving, and lots of fun. I was and AM struck
with how privileged we clergy are to have such celebrations. There are few who
have Silver Jubilees of their time as band teachers, factory workers, federal
workers, etc. I hope I/we don't take such privilege for granted.
Walsingham and Norwich
I have already written of the
importance of Walsingham to me personally and indeed, I believe, to the Church
at large, so no need to repeat that again. I shall be leading another parish
pilgrimage there in the spring of 2005, this time via the North Country speak
to David Eld for general information at this stage.
While at Walsingham, I was able to
spend a weekend as the guest of the precentor of Norwich Cathedral, Canon
Jeremy Haselock a wonderful host and a member of the C of E and international
Anglican Liturgical Commissions. Thus, I was not surprised to be part of a
fantastic liturgy in Norwich Cathedral on the Sunday morning, where I was
privileged to be a concelebrant. In fact, the day began with the canons of the
cathedral reciting Morning Prayer together in the choir, and the day ended at a
perfectly lovely choral Evensong.
Liturgical observations
In visiting so many churches while
away, I realized how very limited our space is: The sanctuary is tiny and
inflexible; the choir crowded and obscuring; the space between the front pews
and the choir steps small. These "givens" are mostly just that, and
the challenges to creative use of space are great, but not insurmountable.
I had already introduced a few
changes before leaving in September, and I continue to evaluate those and to
consider with care improvements. An example: I think everywhere I attended the
"presider" of the liturgy was quite clear. At St. Paul's, the
celebrant in fact is invisible to half the congregation for at least half the
time, thus a disembodied voice from somewhere near the altar.
Another challenge is our acoustics,
wonderful for the music, but challenging, to say the least, for the spoken
word, however distinctly one tries to speak. There are two limitations here, at
least: One is that I am restricted in the choice of those who preach and speak
here (on quiet days and the like) to those who are not softly spoken! It also
means that those clergy who are used to celebrating and preaching in this
church are always not softly spoken, and that
must mean a certain perception of us! You cannot be softly spoken and gentle
and be heard! The other obvious limitation is that those among us who have
difficulty hearing anyway miss much of what is said and are thus excluded from
the proceedings. Against the wishes of some of you, I do propose to investigate
the possibilities and costs of a public address system.
Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, was, as
you know, my weekday base, and, in addition to Nadim Nassar's ordination to the
diaconate, I was also there on All Saints' Sunday, when I was pleased to preach
to a large and vital congregation. When Bishop Michael Marshall first went to
Holy Trinity there were 13 people in the congregation. There are now 150 to 200.
He and I compare notes often about the challenges of being in an urban setting,
even, in his case, in one of the most affluent parts of London. Good liturgy,
good music, and good preaching are some of his rules of thumb, as they are
ours.
Sometimes it is good to dream about
what a place could look like! Even as we struggle with this year's budget more
of that elsewhere I imagine what it might be like to have the church open all
day, every day, beckoning through evidently open doors to those who pass by. John
Klein and Bill Gettys responded to such a comment of mine in a sermon recently,
and they suggested finding pairs of volunteers to be in the church during the
day to welcome as well as to protect. Are there any such people reading this
who might volunteer in such a way? If
so, could you be in touch with me or with Bill or John?
Let's continue to fantasize: Another
dream is a full time cook/housekeeper who would prepare simple meals to
accompany programs and even services, such as breakfast after the early Mass,
or supper before a class, or a sandwich lunch for the noon hour, to help create
a welcoming space in the church itself and in our other buildings. And, of
course, better signage and advertising outside the buildings themselves, which
we have been talking about but done nothing for six years. Dream on, you'll say!
We can't even afford the staff we have! But that shouldn't stop us dreaming!
I thoroughly relished the opportunity
to do lots of reading, theological and not! From time to time, I'll throw out
some passages that struck me particularly. Here is one from a book that I
actually did not much enjoy, but it was worth reading for this passage alone!
It is from Arthur Philips' Prague, which is actually a book about
ex-pats living in Budapest:
John understood that some things
mattered and some things did not and that happy people in this world were those
who could easily and rapidly distinguish between the two. The term unhappiness
referred to the feeling of taking the wrong things seriously.
Enough
of Sabbatical ramblings for this month. I am sure there will be more, but I'll
give you a break for the next month at least! [ALS+]
War, Terrorism, and the Church
With the coming of Constantine, the
Church acknowledged the legitimacy of warfare, not only for the protection of
the empire but for the maintenance of international order. St. Benedict, on the
other hand, insisted on non-violence as the core of monastic life.
The March forum in the series, "Living
a Christlike Life in Today's Society," should be of great interest to
everyone especially in this time of national debate over our war in Iraq. We
will discuss terrorism, passivism, non-violence, and the notion of a "just
war." We will also look at what the
Church has to say about these topics.
Come join us in the Guild Room
Thursday evening, March 4, at 6:30 PM and share your views with other
Christians. [JL]
Updating Parish Records
Do you find that your birthday or anniversary of marriage,
baptism, confirmation, or reception go unnoticed in the lists in the Epistle
or read at Mass? Is your mail from the
parish being forwarded? Do you fail to
receive any of our important e-mails?
Perhaps the records in our office database have not been updated (or heaven
forbid! never entered).
There is a handy form to advise the
parish office of all pertinent information on yourself and your family members.
Please pick up one of these forms on the tract rack and return it to the office
with all of this vital information. [Web editor's note: this form is also
available online here.] [MW]
March Birthdays
4--Mary Jo Clark; Betty Eckart; Michael Hendron; Megan Fitzpatrick; David Miller
5--Inaita Lindsay
8--Robert Jones; Nancy Bush
9--Josephine Stelzig
10--Jeremiah de Michaelis
11--Tanya Betsy
12--John Klein
13--Peter Martin; James Barnett; Alfred Toombs; Robert Groves, Jr.
18--Eugene Stone; Fredrick Williford; Charles Toftoy; Kenton Brown; Douglas Wood; Laura Mixter
21
22--James Van Story
25--J. Suzanne Cox
26--Bronwen Okwesa; Catherine Little
27--Frederick Grill; Omotunde Johnson; Shawn Mullins
28
29
30
31
If you have a March birthday that
Parish
Statistics
Transfer in: Gay Hanna, from St. John's,
Tallahassee, Florida
Transfer out: Regina Loughran,
to Holy Trinity, New York
Deaths: Robert John Troy (January 21,
2004); William R. Carwithen (January 27, 2004)
The Epistle
Editors Christine Nevius, Alistair Nevius
Assistant Editor Allison Freeman
Desktop Publisher John Walker
Designer David McGaw
Contributors
Richard Best, Jr., Elisabeth
Submissions Invited
We welcome the submission of articles, comments, and suggestions. Manuscripts and correspondence can be dropped off at the church office or e-mailed to the editors at nevius@erols.com. Electronic manuscripts are preferred. Articles accepted for the Epistle are subject to editorial revision.
SAINT PAUL'S PARISH
2430 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20037-1797
phone 202-337-2020
fax 202-337-7418
e-mail info@StPauls-Kst.com
Web www.StPauls-Kst.com
Parish Staff
The Rev'd Andrew Sloane, Rector
The Rev'd Edwin Barnett, Curate
Dr. Jeffrey Smith, Music Director
Charles Burks, Assistant Music Director
Melva Willis, Parish Administrator
Frederick Murdock, III, Maintenance Manager
The Vestry
The Rev'd Andrew Sloane, Rector
Larry Toombs, Senior Warden
Pat Byrd, Junior Warden
Gregory Capaldini, Secretary
Lynne Walker, Treasurer
Peter Agnew, Ed Loucks; Kenwin Benn, Larry Cook, David McGaw, Marcia Stanford; David Chase, Jeremiah deMichaelis, Cynthia Efird, Phil Schlatter.
Our Mission
St. Paul's Parish seeks to restore all people to God and to each other,
through Sacramental Worship and Christlike lives.
© 2004 St. Paul's Parish, K Street