The St. Paul's Epistle

June 1-16, 2005

Contents

Letter from the Curate for Family Ministry
Why Stephen Ministry?
Reachout Radio
SHALOM Cookout & Picnic
Middlemarch Goes Global and Local
A Thank you to the Antiques Show Committee et al!
A Note From Your Past Treasurer
Stewardship Committee Newsletter

Dear Members and Friends of St. Paul's:

We are rapidly approaching the close of the church year. As spring pops out all around us our thoughts begin to turn to summer plans, family vacations, time at the pool or the lake, perhaps some gardening and the like. The rhythm of our lives carries us from one season to the next. In the church year we now enter the long season of Ordinary Time, those seemingly never ending days that follow the heady times of Easter, Eastertide and Pentecost.

It was during the season of Ordinary Time that I came to be one of you. It is an odd juxtaposition to think of joining this extraordinary community during that season, but that is how God ordained it to be. With what seems to be the blink of an eye we have traversed the entire season of the church year. This has been a whirlwind year for me. There has been a lot to learn, a lot to observe and a lot to do. I have been blessed by each and every one of you. You have taken me into your embrace, nurtured me when I needed nurturing, pushed me a bit when I needed pushing and laughed and cried with me when that seemed the thing to do. I greatly appreciate all that this community has done and been for me.

So, in this summer season of Ordinary Time, I hope that we all will take time to reflect on the blessings of this community. St. Paul's is anything but an "ordinary" community. We do some mighty works here for God, perhaps sometimes falling a bit short, but at the very heart of it all we remain a community of faith - faith to one another and faith to our God. I wish each of you a blessed and bountiful summer and I look forward to our second year together, knowing that it will be anything but ordinary!

Faithfully yours,
The Rev. Leslie St. Louis
Curate for Family Ministry

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Why Stephen Ministry?

Because the Bible encourages us to:

If you would like to know more about Stephen Ministry, please talk with one of our Stephen Leaders - Ann Refermat, Judy Carpenter or Thomas McCart

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Reachout Radio

In this article we will share information about a wonderful community resource - WXXI Reachout Radio.

WXXI Reachout Radio is a radio reading service that provides convenient access to printed material for people who are print handicapped. A person who is print handicapped is someone who, because of a visual impairment or physical disability, is unable to access standard print information. (For example, people who are visually impaired, or who suffer from a physically limiting condition that makes holding reading material or turning pages difficult or impossible.) Reachout Radio is also available on a temporary basis due to surgery or accident.

Reachout Radio combines the depth and detail of print reporting with the immediacy of radio. It helps people combat the isolation that so often results from a disability, and heightens the listener's potential to live an independent and productive life. Print material read ranges from newspapers to novels. Our own Elaine Good shared her lovely, expressive voice to Reachout Radio listeners for many years.

Reachout Radio broadcasts 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week on a special sub-carrier frequency of WXXI-FM 91.5 in the greater Rochester area and 90.3 in the Southern Tier. A closed-circuit receiver is loaned to qualified individuals, free of charge. The receivers are about the size of a standard table radio and no tuning is required.

If you would like more information about this vital service or to request an application, please call 585-258-0333.

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SHALOM Cookout & Picnic

If your family includes school-age or younger children, then Shalom is the parish fellowship group for you! Please join Shalom in Paul's Cross at 6 PM on Friday, June 3 for a year-end cookout, picnic, and free discussion with the Rector on topics of interest. Barbara Warner will join us to discuss church school issues as well. Games, fun, and child care will be provided for the younger members. Bring something to grill and a side dish or a dessert to pass. Shalom will provide drinks, condiments and paper goods. For more information, contact Nancy Curtis or Angie Jones, Shalom coordinators.

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Middlemarch Goes Global and Local

At over 800 pages and dealing entirely with provincial life in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, George Eliot's novel may seem an unlikely choice for a major initiative in adult community education, but it is unwise to underestimate the power of a great book to unite its readers profoundly.

The Rochester Branch of the English-Speaking Union and St. Paul's Parish Library have joined forces to sponsor a local face-to-face discussion on George Eliot's Middlemarch in conjunction with an on-line global conversation.

The twelve in-person meetings will run from 11:20 am to 12:00 noon on Sundays from June 19 through September 4, 2005, in the East Room of St. Paul's. All meetings are free and open to the public.

The on-line discussion will continue throughout the twelve weeks on the Global Conversations web site. Global Conversations is free to ESU members around the world.

For ease of reference, readers are encouraged to use the Penguin Classic edition edited by Rosemary Ashton. The first two weeks will be introductory, then we will take up each of the eight books (originally installments), and finally the last two weeks will review the work as a whole.

The English-Speaking Union of the United States is a non-profit, non-political, educational organization whose mission is to promote scholarship and the advancement of knowledge through the effective use of English in an expanding global community. The Union has seventy-six branches throughout the United States and 10,000 members, who provide financial support for educational programs and cultural and social events. Members host visiting speakers and scholars in their communities and serve as English in Action tutors. Members can benefit greatly from the personal relationships and international connections gained from ESU activities.

David and Linda White are parish librarians at St. Paul's and directors of the Rochester Branch of the ESU. For more information on this or other programs call (585) 482-2616 or write David White.

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A Thank you to the Antiques Show Committee et al!

As Chair of the Antiques Show, I wish to express my thanks to the wonderful men and women of St Paul's who made this year's event another successful one. Despite the school holiday conflict, many parishioners stepped up to help the chairs with food, baked goods, decorating and volunteering for the many little tasks that make the show work. Also, thanks are due to the St. Paul's staff, who make sure everything that needs to get done finds a way of getting done in both the preparation and the shut down. My thanks to you all.

A special thank you to the chairs of the event as listed below:

The results were once again positive, tracking closely with prior years as well. Our charitable contributions to the ECW (25%) and the Lost Boys of Sudan (37.5%) will be well received and the remaining undeclared monies will be allocated amongst a list of groups including the Youth retreat and other in-reach projects of the church. This allocation will be decided by the Committee at our debrief celebration which is scheduled for June 12. Arrangements are being finalized.

Thank you also to the St Paul's parishioners who support the event with both their buying and their presence. We did hear from the dealers that a large majority of the buying does include our parishioners.

Thanks to all!
Jerry DeLuccio

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A Note From Your Past Treasurer

During the Annual Meeting this past January, I presented a written financial report that contained several factual errors. My verbal report was accurate, however. Now that the Audit is complete I am presenting this data in written summary form for you to review. I apologize for the errors in the Annual Meeting report. Note that complete audited financial reports are available in the Church office. Simply stop by and request one if you would like.

Christopher Moore, Junior Warden

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Stewardship Committee
Newsletter

"By Grace we live, by Love we give"

Stewardship Review: Increase in Pledge Dollars and New Pledgers

The Stewardship Committee completed an incredible campaign with the help of 60 parishioners in our personal calling campaign. For 2005, St. Paul’s added 34 new pledgers for a total of 358. We are ecstatic to have these new parishioners commit to St. Paul’s Ministries. The total dollars pledged was $484,299, plus an anonymous gift of $8,000. Although this is slightly short of our $495,000 goal, we did exceed last year’s total dollars pledged by $1,680. We achieved this increase even though the number of pledgers slightly declined. The average pledge was $1,353, up $38 from 2004.

Total Dollars Pledged

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St. Paul’s budgeted income for 2005 is $1,126,840 of which $535,500 is contributions from parishioners (pledges and plate offerings), $521,140 from investments and $70,200 from other sources.

2005 Budgeted Income

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The Stewardship Committee enlisted 60 parishioners to be part of a new personal calling program. These 60 people attended training sessions with Pam Klainer, founder of Power and Money LLC. During the training, we explored the literal and symbolic concepts of money. Small sub-groups discussed how these concepts affect our personal lives and also how it relates to St. Paul’s. At St. Paul’s, the Church has bills to pay such as utilities, salaries and various missions. These bills are tangible (literal) and the parishioners need to give to pay the bills or the Church cannot sustain itself. Conversely, the symbolic money concept deals with intangibles like emotions and spirituality. Each one of us is called through Christ to give willingly from the blessings that have been bestowed upon us. All people have literal and symbolic history with money in how we were raised, our life experiences and education. The training brought together the literal and symbolic approaches to stewardship. As a group, we decided how the callers would discuss stewardship with all of the parishioners.

Each caller reached out to about ten parishioners with a personal message and open dialogue on stewardship, how St. Paul’s impacts their life, St. Paul’s numerous ministries and (of course) getting the pledge card in. The final consensus from the callers illustrated the impact of a personal touch. The caller’s experience was positive from the training discussion through reaching out to their brothers and sisters within St. Paul’s. The parishioners responded with an increase in new pledgers and total dollars pledged.

The Stewardship Committee is continuing this program next year and hopes to add more parishioners to the calling base. If you are interested please see the co-chairs Barry Brown and Angie Jones or contact the church office.

Within Stewardship another sub-committee established an action plan to help guide us to our goals. They derived the Five Pillars of Stewardship: Education, Communication, Participation, Celebration and Assessment. These five pillars will guide us through our approach and goals for the upcoming years.

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Stewardship Satire

As Johnny left to go to Sunday School, his Mother gave him two quarters. She said, “Put one quarter in the Sunday School plate and use the other to buy a piece of candy on the way home.” As Johnny marched to the neighborhood Church, he started to play with the quarters. Flipping and catching, flipping and catching, as he hurried down the sidewalk. Johnny turned the corner and dropped one of the quarters, watching it roll down the storm drain. “Shucks,” he thought, “there goes God’s quarter.”

STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE

Barry Brown & Angie Jones
Co-Chairs

Henry Couch, Chris Curtis, Griffin Jones, Bill McCoy,
Donna Suchy, Duane Swanson, Mary Ellen West, John Wilson

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