Issue 43, Spring 2007

Lent / Easter 2007

      Those of us lucky enough to be present on March 19 had a wonderful visit with Lady Patricia, Countess Mountbatten of Burma. She was here for a change of command of Colonels-in-Chief of the Princess Patricia's Light Infantry, but, as she said, she also came to visit St Paul's. The Countess is Patron of the Burma Star Association and of the Legion of Frontiersmen. Representatives of all were at a lunch held in Lady Patricia's honour and here at St Paul's. It was a wonderful day, she heard our story, we gave her some "St Paul's" tea, made her an honorary member of the Friends of St Paul's, and representatives from our Sunday School gave her some flowers. As a result of her visit we may very well see the Colours of the first Battalion of the Princess Patricia Light Infantry returned to our church. We are so blessed.
      Just before the Countess' visit we received the report of the Diocesan Ministry Review Implementation Team (DMRiT). As anticipated they congratulated us on our accomplishments of last year, and agreed that although our plan was ambitious it was attainable. The only warning they shared was that crises giving does not necessarily carry forward when the pressure is off. We were aware of the latter and modified our budget planning accordingly. They flagged that I am reaching pensionable age and were concerned that the leadership would continue to see the completion of our plan. What they did not know, before presenting our original plan I was asked by the writing cell if I would commit to remain at St Paul's to see the plan through. I indicated that with the Bishop's consent I fully intended to do so.
      So where are we? The Treasurer is away on a well deserved holiday but before he left he prepared a financial report for the Parish Council that clearly indicated that our giving is meeting our Budget. We are regularly paying our Diocesan Assessment, and have paid our insurance in full. We are running into our overdraft because we have not yet received our insurance claim for the flood damage in the church furnace room, and we had to pay $1500 to repair the flood damage in the hall basement.
      We are using the “new” Anglican Hymn Book, and will in the next little while begin to repair some of our Prayer Books. Today I had a visit from the project engineer who is preparing a plan for the restoration of our church. Spiritually we are being well fed by our Monday evening Bible Study and our Lenten Series. After Easter we will conduct an adult Confirmation / Enquirer’s Class, and will look to see if the Anglican Bishop Ordinary to the Forces is able to come here for that Confirmation. Please look elsewhere in our journal for the listing of our Easter services. .       Andrew

VISION TO SEE, FAITH TO BELIEVE, COURAGE TO DO!
WEB SITE: www.stpaulsesquimalt.com

    NOTES FROM THE ORGAN BENCH

    'Here I am Lord’ was our anthem on Feb. 25, presented as a special send off to Stephanie Gates who has transferred to Calgary with Westjet. We have advised Stephanie that she is on brief loan and that we will uphold her in our prayers.
    Our new anthems are coming along well for the latter part of Lent and the coming Easter Services.
    Our Worship committee has spent a good deal of time and energy planning the Lenten Sunday noon studies “Fanning the Flames”. This choice of topic follows through from our studies of last year, entitled “From Ashes to Easter”. Also our Patronal Festival / Mediterranean lunch was developed by the Worship Committee.
    Grant Smalley and his staff spent a full day a few weeks ago, repairing the casework on the organ on the left side. It is good to have the section well braced and secured. And we are grateful for the fine work Grant has done once again.
     Recitals are well into the planning stage. The Chief and Petty Officers’ Band will present a concert in the Church Hall, April 29th at 2:00pm. Warren Carrie is our contact with this group; we are honoured to have them perform for us.
     Our 2007 August Organ Recital Series will feature Geoffrey Thornburn of St. Matthias Aug. 12th. Aug. 19th, Paul Tegels of Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma and Dana Robinson of Bangor, Maine will perform together. These gentlemen demonstrated our instrument during the prestigious Westfield Organ Conference held in Victoria July 1st. At that time, they said they would be glad to do a benefit for our instrument. The third Sunday , August 26th is still open.
     Our Organ Recitalists play for a small honorarium. We take advantage of as much advertising as we can that is offered free by various media outlets. Most other essentials for these programmes, including food, are donated. Therefore, the funds realized are in the range of 85-90% toward the Organ Maintenance Fund.
     This latest Concert Series will be our 7th annual Series. To-date, we have mounted 20 concerts in seven years. .       Jean Pearce

  Rogers' Chocolates Store kindly donated 'Chocolate Bunnies' for the Easter basket the committee will be making for Grafton Lodge.
Our baby shower day will be April 22. All the baby food we receive will be donated to the Mustard Seed.
LYC church service will be coming to St Paul's June 15 and on June 16 we will be doing our 'Acts of Kindness' giving out chocolates, buggy return and car wash. 250 chocolate hearts have been ordered.
We are awaiting names of children who would like to have a bursary to Camp Columbia this year.  Bunny Pool

  42 boxes were packed in February and 38 in March – these were delivered to Shoe Box House. Many thanks to all who contributed food and supplies and the dedicated packers.  Bunny Pool

  Here at St. Paul’s, Lay Pastoral Care is about communicating to all our parishioners that they are valued, that they are missed when they are absent and that they are being intentionally thought about. Pastoral care involves being with people where they are, it is about offering prayer, presence, friendship and practical assistance when necessary. It is also about following up when people are ill, in hospital, or when they are widowed, bereaved, or in other difficult circumstances and linking them to other community resources should the need arise.
   Most importantly, Pastoral Care is about reflecting God's unconditional love for each and every one of us to all those in our midst. This includes newcomers to our church who may feel excluded from that sense of family we enjoy together. Pastoral Care, in essence, is the living out of our Christian faith and it is integral to building a deeper sense of community as well as to helping our parish grow. .  Margaret Anderson (co-ordinator)

  The Annual General Meeting of St Paul's Housing Society was held March 15, 2007. Beside the Directors Bunny Pool, Sue Williams, Doug Henderson, Don Lambton and Andrew Gates, the meeting was attended by Parish Council/Society members: Betty Ann Townsend, Dian Hanna, Kenn Munro, Michael Wainwright. Many thanks to the extra society members who attended as this made the quorum to conduct the business of the AGM. At the Board meeting the officers for the Board were elected by acclimation.

  President: Bunny Pool
  Vice President: Drew Brazier
  Secretary/Treasurer: Sue Willams

  The Sunday School teachers and children have been collecting money every Sunday at chapel, since September, and we all decided that we wanted to use the money for The Shoe Box Hampers. On Sunday, March 11, the teachers and students walked to Country Grocer to buy the food and juice for the hampers. We have also donated items of socks and other things on the 'needed' list. So far, we have spent $153.92. We will now decorate the boxes, write a note, or colour a picture to put inside and, along with Bunny Pool, deliver them to St. John's Church on Sunday, April 15. We are all having a lot of fun doing this and learning a great lesson by helping the homeless youths in Victoria. Thank you all for your support!

  Jill Schwartz, Barbara Hooper, Enid Brazier, Joanne Kimm, Monty Lock, Glen Perry

The Craft Group have been working since January preparing for the Holly Bazaar.The date has been set !
NOVEMBER 17TH

Spring is here so Rhubarb can’t be far behind. If you have a prolific patch, please, save some for our Fall pie making. If you put it in freezer bags we have plenty of space in the church freezers to hold for fall.
Remember when you are making jams, etc.. Put aside a few for the Bazaar.
Join us at 10:00 every Tuesday morning. No special talents required.

  THE FRIENDS OF ST. PAUL'S ESQUIMALT

The application for Charitable status has been received and is under active consideration.
We have met with Richard Collier, Restoration Consultant regarding necessary renovations to the church. There will be a meeting with Grant Smalley, in the near future, regarding the organ. .  Peter

 

NATURAL CHURCH DEVELOPMENT

In our efforts to identify and facilitate the path that will help us continue the rebuilding of our parish the Parish Council has elected to use Natural Church Development. The philosophy behind this program is quite simple, ‘its goal is to let God’s growth initiatives flourish instead of wasting energy on man-made programs’. It evaluates eight aspects our parish life, including: leadership, ministry, spirituality, structures, worship, small groups, evangelism and relationships. The results of this evaluation are measured against an internationally based tool which will then give us a clear indicator of where prayerfully we need to make some progress. As the program says, all of us naturally strive to do well in the things we enjoy and excel in, that’s easy, but few, without some prompting, tackle things that we do not enjoy, or feel inadequate in. We have asked the Rev Wayne Stretch to come along side us as our coach. He will be meeting shortly with the Parish Council to get us started. It is recommended that we continue every other year to use Natural Church Development (NCD) as an evaluation tool. We haven’t got that far yet but the principal is a good one. Our prayer / plan is to use whatever tool God gives us to achieve the aims and objectives we, and He, has for St Paul’s.

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Ron (Bearman) Mason, Bearman's Entertainment Services.
Copyright © 2007 [St. Paul's Esquimalt]. All rights reserved.
Revised: June 19, 2007 .