The Wednesday evening adult formation will begin September 15. Come join us for Evening Prayer at 6 PM, followed by a meal at 6:30 PM (donations accepted), with the study beginning at 7 PM.

During September and October, we will be reading and studying the book Why Go to Church?: The Drama of the Eucharist by T. Radcliffe.

Then on November 3, the marriage course will begin.

We’ll take a break for Advent and Christmas and then resume during Epiphany (notice the change in dates on this). Many of you have already advised Mother Susan that you will be participating, but if you have not, it is not too late.

This course is open to all married couples and is designed for marriage enrichment. There will be some advance preparation and Mother Susan will advise participating couples of that in October. Additionally, please let Mother Susan know if you would like to have child care during these meetings.

The food pantry donations are good, considering it’s summer, when people go away. Look- ing ahead to Fall, which will be here sooner than we think, I would like people to think about Thanksgiving baskets and Christmas shoeboxes. I will soon be assembling a committee for the Thanksgiving baskets, using the ministry forms. -Pam Jentz

Thank you to all those who have signed up to teach Sunday School or to act as substitute Sunday School teachers! Jen Fulton will be holding a brief meeting immediately following coffee hour on August 29. For those who cannot be there, Jen will hold a makeup meeting on September 5 immediately following coffee hour. She will be introducing teachers to the curriculum, discussing what to do if you cannot teach your assigned weekend, and answering questions so that we are prepared to launch our official Sunday School program on September 12. The children are so excited to begin!

Well, not really. But as most of you know, we lost a large patch of plaster from our sanctuary ceiling in August. It chose a moment to fall when both our rector and our junior warden, Lisette Bolduc (who is responsible for building maintenance) were out of town! However, all is well, damage was minor, and repairs are scheduled. Senior warden Jon Adamson coped splendidly until Lisette returned, beginning the solicitation of bids. The company which submitted the low bid also inspected the entire ceiling, and found one other weak area, fortunately in the same section as the original problem. The repairs are expected to begin shortly after Labor Day, and although we have been assured that the ceiling is safe, we will continue to worship in the undercroft until repairs have been completed. The damaged pews will be repaired by Lee Bontrager, who refinished them originally—and the new lighting in the church should be completed at the same time.

A big vote of thanks is due to Lisette and Jon, and to all who worked so hard to make the transition to the undercroft so smooth, and who created a reverent, worshipful space for us to use while we need it. St. Paul’s is truly blest in its parishioners.

The Children's Instructed Eucharist, originally scheduled for September 11, will be rescheduled when the repairs are accomplished in the church. Stay tuned!

This Fall, from 9-9:50am on Sundays, we will be holding a bible study on Genesis 1-11 led by Fr. Michael Cover and Joel Dodsen. All are welcome, and no advance preparation is necessary.

You can find a more detailed explanation of this study as well as a schedule here.

Our seminarian Greg Wilde was ordained to the priesthood on August 20th at Trinity Church in Columbus, GA.
He will be serving as an assistant in that parish.

Congratulations to Greg and the Wilde family!

During July, both Mother Susan and Sarah Haynes vol- unteered to be on the staff at Camp New Happenings, the Diocesan-sponsored camp for children who have a parent who is incarcerated.

Sarah, who had signed up to help with Arts and Crafts, was invited by the directors to spend her week doing a portrait sketch of each of the 24 campers. At the end of the week, the sketches were placed in decoupage frames that the children had made and were presented to them on the last day of camp.

On the following page are some photos of Sarah and her work and one photo of Mother Susan with a very special camper friend.

Both Sarah and Mother Susan would like to report that this camp is a phe- nomenal ministry; and when the day comes next winter to donate money to it (Camp New Happenings Day in February), we encourage the members of St. Paul’s to give generously.

The Outreach Committee met in July to evaluate the Homework Help project and to explore other avenues whereby St. Paul's can address immediate community needs. The committee concluded that Homework Help, while providing a safe place and positive adult contact for the students, did not fulfill the needs that were originally anticipated. With an abiding interest in improving quality of life through education, the committee chose to partner with the Literacy Council of St. Joseph County by providing tutors for adult learners who seek to improve literacy skills...

Read more...

Our Sunday School program is still in need of teachers to fill our planned monthly teaching rotation. Teachers will be supplied with a flexible curriculum, Living the Good News, and may teach either the pre- school or the grade school class. A signup sheet is in the back of the church. If you have any questions, please speak with Jen Fulton, Pam Jentz, or Mother Susan Haynes.

We congratulate the Rev. Thomas Haynes who was ordained as a transitional deacon on Tuesday, June 15.

The Haynes family wishes to express their gratitude for all the St. Paul’s people who attended the service and all who baked cookies for the reception.

Mother Susan has had an essay published in the June edition of The Living Church magazine. The essay chronicles the events preceding this year's Easter Vigil in which she and several other people rescued a teenage girl from the St. Joseph River behind the church, and concludes with some beautiful reflections on the significance of this event as embodying the Easter experience itself.

Christopher Wells, erstwhile St. Paul's parishoner and now editor of The Living Church, has graciously provided St. Paul's with some free copies of this issue of the magazine, available in print by request from Mtr. Susan as well as online by clicking here.

If you like what you read, please consider becoming a subscriber to The Living Church, which offers news and commentary on affairs within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion from the perspective of "Catholic Anglicanism" (read more about that here). Those of us who have known Dr. Wells can testify to the wisdom and insight he undoubtedly brings to the leadership of this publication, and so if you are interested in thoughtful, balanced and informed perspectives on our lives as Episcopalians, a subscription to this magazine might be of great benefit.

A direct link to Mother Susan's essay can be found here.

Scott Williams' Trinity Sunday sermon from May 30 can be read or downloaded here.

No, we’re not talking about the tallit, or tallis, the shawl worn by many Jews while praying. The shawls we’re making are knitted with prayer, to give to anyone who needs warmth and comfort. They are gifts of love. They’re also lots of fun to make—and easy. You don’t have to be a knitter; we’ll teach you.

St. Paul’s Prayer Shawl Ministry meets every Thursday at 1:00 in the conference room of the Parish House. We will have prayer and engage in the contemplative action of knitting prayer shawls.

Questions? See Betty Jo Adamson, Barbara Books, Kyle Lendel or Mother Susan.

A new and exciting organization is getting ready to open its doors in the Mishawaka/Bremen area. It’s called Help With Love, and its mission is to “unite the Church to provide Help With Love to those in need, that all may know God and His Son.” Mother Susan is on the board of this organization and has been working with its leaders to get the project off the ground.

The method of Help With Love is simple. The organization will provide help with love in our community:

By connecting the resources of many churches with the people that need them.

By sharing our faith in Christ in all we do.

The goal of Help With Love is not only to provide needed resources to people who need them, but to enable them to become self-sufficient through mentoring and advocacy.

Very soon Help With Love will be looking for people to volunteer in the following capacities: 1) an- swering the phone when people call for help, 2) volunteering to mentor a family, 3) volunteering to be- come an advocate for someone, and other ministries as needed. Please consider giving yourself to this valuable ministry.

For more information, visit www.HelpWithLove.org

We’re underway with a new fundraising program in which parishoners purchase "script" (usually pre-paid cards or gift certificates) from St. Paul's that they use in place of cash or credit cards to make the purchases at local businesses that they would make anyway, and through which St. Paul's makes a percentage. (For instance, if you anticipate spending $50 at Martin's Supermarket this week, you buy $50 of script from St. Paul's, and the church keeps a percentage of that).

It’s important to remember that using scrip costs you nothing, since you are in effect simply buying money, dollar for dollar. But it can bring big benefits to St. Paul’s. We hope not only to erase a projected budget deficit for this year, but begin to fund efforts we could not otherwise afford.

In case you missed out on the information earlier, the way scrip works is simple. You fill out an order form on a Sunday and drop it, with your check, in a box at the back of the church. Next Sunday your scrip is delivered to you. When we can afford to build up a reserve, you may be able to pick up your scrip the same day, which is even more convenient.

If you haven’t taken advantage of scrip yet, try it, and help St. Paul’s to help you.

You can read all about the program here, or view the order form.