Moving Day
As this newsletter goes to press we are moving the pews back
into the church, in time for Saturday evening mass on September 24th.
We have been working feverishly to get to this point. Bob
Harrison, our plasterer/painter, has completed the plaster repair in the nave
(if you count the wall at the front as part of the chancel: this will be
completed at a later date), and all the painting and gold striping has been
completed in the places which required the pews to be removed, so they can be
returned to the church.
The project has come to a milestone, the finishing touches
on what we are now referring to as
Phase
I: the Nave.
The nave is the section of the church where the people sit;
it is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the sanctuary. Actually the
sanctuary is that part of the church at and above the front steps, where the
chancel is, including the altar and its attending furniture. The nave is the
name for the largest part of the church, the place to which the pews have been
returned, where we have been painting, over the last few months.
The term ‘nave’ is related to the term ‘navy’ and pertains
to ships. The church is thereby likened, by a traditional and venerable
illustration, to a ship crossing the sea, at which Jesus is at the helm.
Our volunteers and members have been working tirelessly and
have given sacrificially not only in terms of offerings, but of time: cleaning,
dusting, vacuuming, mopping, buffing; moving scaffolding, painting, cleaning up
after our hired plasterer; and now on moving day, loading the pews back onto
flatbed trailers to move them around to the front doors of the church and carry
them back into their places, which have been carefully marked.
The willingness of volunteers who have come forward in large
numbers, has paid off in spades, and is a mighty contribution that is keeping
our costs down. Most importantly, we are back! The progress made thus far is
nothing short of remarkable, especially considering the size of this
congregation.
RE-DEDICATION OCTOBER
9TH
As Phase I comes to
its conclusion, we will be planning a re-dedication ceremony as part of our
Sunday morning worship, on October 9th.
-
Pastor Eckardt
For more on our
project, see "Project Phases Defined," below.
Twenty-first Oktoberfest!
Oktoberfest:
October 9-11, 2016
(Sunday, Monday, Tuesday)
The Twenty-first Annual
Oktoberfest! and Gottesdienst Central will be hosting the Rev. Benjamin Mayes, PhD, Assistant Professor of Historical
Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His topic
will be
“The Call and the Ministry according to Johann Gerhard”
Johann Gerhard has been called the “Arch-theologian of Lutheranism,” and was the most influential of seventeenth-century Lutheran theologians. He decisively influenced Protestant theologians to study the evangelical (i.e., Gospel-centered) character of pre-Reformation Christianity. Gerhard has been an area of particular interest for Dr. Mayes, who served until this fall as an editor of professional and academic books at Concordia Publishing House (CPH) in St. Louis. In particular he served as general editor for Gerhard’s Theological Commonplaces. Dr. Mayes still serves CPH as managing editor and co-general editor of Luther’s Works: American Edition.
The event begins Sunday the 9th with Vespers at 5 p.m. Following the service is our annual bratwurst banquet. When everyone has had their fill of brats and beer, Dr. Mayes will give a synopsis of his Monday seminar. Following the banquet is the after-the-party party, at Pastor Eckardt’s home.
On Monday, October 10th, Mass is at 9:00 a.m., with Rev. Fr. Michael Frese from Redeemer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as our special guest preacher. Following Mass and a continental breakfast, Dr. Mayes will hold forth for the rest of the day, in two sessions running until about 2:45, followed by Vespers.
On Tuesday, the conference will continue in the same format, with discussion of liturgical and theological ramifications of decisions made at this summer’s triannual convention of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, with Fr. Eckardt.
REGISTRATION: MEMBERS OF ST. PAUL’S GO FREE. For others, $50 per person, $70 per couple, students $25 — includes Sunday banquet and Monday continental; no charge for children with parents.
Oktoberfest
Desserts Needed
Can you provide
a dessert for Oktoberfest? Pleae let Judy know, and be prepared to bring it on
Saturday or Sunday (the 8th or 9th).
October
Ushers:
Steve Peart, Grant Andresen,
Larry Campbell
October
Anniversaries
10/4 Linda and Larry Rowe
10/23 Otis and Deanne Anderson
October
Birthdays
10/1 Richard Melchin
10/1 Sue Murphy
10/2 Diana Shreck
10/3 Matthew Fisher
10/9 Mary Hamilton
10/20 Ed Woller
10/24 Robert Jones
10/24 Corey Peart
10/28 Carmen Sovanski
10/30 Sharon Hartz
In Our Prayers
Our current list of prayer intentions at mass
includes the names on the lists here following.
To update the list please inform the pastor.
in our parish:
Denny Schoen
Sandra Verplaetse
Emilie Ricknell
Linda Rowe
Don Murphy
Sue Murphy
Steve Harris
Kris Harden
Joyce Long
Mary Hamilton
Emmy Wear
and also:
Anna Rutowicz [granddaughter
of Harrises]
Julie Ross [Svetlana Meaker’s
daughter]
Jill Matchett [at request of
Diana Shreck]
Lorene Foglesong [at request
of the Kraklows]
Maria Thorndike [at request
of the Murphys]
Annie Eastman [at request of
Svetlana Meaker]
Emily Corzine [Sarah’s
sister]
Nancy Popejoy [relative of
Sharon Hartz]
Dave Colgron [friend of Tom
Wells]
Shannon Watson [Jim’s
daughter]
Maxine Bitting [relative of
Thompsons]
Noah Muske [relative of
Kraklows]
Jonna Dougherty [friend of
Chris Erickson, stroke]
Steve Draminski [friend of
Jim Watson]
Kathy Nussear [Joyce Long’s
daughter, cancer]
Ray Zarvell [friend of Steve
Harris and Fr Eckardt]
Theresa Lewis [niece of Carol
Eckardt]
in the milistary
John Eckardt
Donny Appleman [at request of
the Ricknells]
Thomas Kim [at request of the
Shrecks]
Michael Creech [at request of
the Murphys]
Katherine Creech [at request
of the Murphys]
Richard Heiden [at request of
the Eckardts]
Carter Wills [grandson of the
Thompsons]
Luke Van Landigan [grandson
of Dick Melchin]
Jaclyn Alvarez [daughter of
Kris Harden]
in trouble:
any unborn children in danger
of abortion
those suffering from unrest,
persecution, and imprisonment in Pakistan, Algeria, Iran, North Korea, and
elsewhere.
Persecution details:
PAKISTAN: Swift Response Saves Community from Bomb
Attack. Source(s): Morning Star News
15 September 2016
Christians in northwest
Pakistan narrowly escaped with their lives after security forces foiled a
suicide bomb plot against them. Security guard Samuel Masih opened his
community's main gate to four Taliban bombers -- and died in a hail of bullets.
Two other guards were injured, as were two soldiers and a policeman.
However, the swift response
of Samuel's colleagues meant that a greater tragedy was averted. One of the
suicide bombers was killed after igniting his bomb, but thankfully there were
no other casualties as a result of the blast. Security officials intervened by
killing the three other suicide bombers.
IRAN: Update on Christian Convert Seeking Asylum
Source(s): Stundin (Icelandic news outlet)
15 September 2016
As mentioned in a previous
report, Morteza Songolzadeh, an Iranian Christian who could face execution if
he returns to Iran, has been living in Iceland in hopes of obtaining asylum.
According to European Union law, he may soon be sent to France (the country to
which he initially fled), then from there to Iran, unless immediate
intervention takes place.
ALGERIA: Court Reduces Length of Prison Term
Source(s): Middle East Concern
15 September 2016
We have received some
encouraging news regarding our Algerian brother, Slimane Bouhafs, whose case
was featured in a previous Persecution & Prayer Alert report. Slimane's
original five-year jail sentence was recently reduced to three years in a
verdict announced on September 6th. However, as the appeal court has still
upheld his conviction for "blasphemy," he would very much appreciate
our continued prayers.
Slimane was arrested after
posting a Facebook comment about Jesus overcoming "the darkness of
Islam." (More details on his case may be found here.) His legal team is
now planning to appeal to the supreme court. Pray that Slimane and his family,
as well as his church, will experience God's peace and compassion in new ways
during the appeal process.
Project
Phases Defined
Moving Day (see headline) brings the first part of our
renovation project near to its close. As the finishing touches are completed,
we look forward to a re-dedication ceremony for our nave during Sunday morning
worship, on October 9th.
The entire project has been evolving as it has progressed.
We embarked on this project early in 2016, not quite knowing how it would
proceed, but making adjustments as we went along, until now we have, quite remarkably,
come to the conclusion of the first phase of the project: the Nave.
Here is a possible scenario for the future, and it is really
very tentative and certainly not necessarily in this order:
Phase One: the Nave. COMPLETED
Phase Two: the Balcony.
Phase Three: the Chancel.
Phase Four: flooring.
Phase Five: air conditioning.
Phase Six: extras (new baptismal font, statue of St. Paul,
other?)
We are in the midst of discussions concerning what will come
next, but as this newsletter goes to press we are leaning toward moving next to
the next area of greatest need, which would be the Balcony. This part will
involve taking special care to protect our organ as we repair plaster in places
almost directly over its console, and in near to the delicate pipes.
Indeed at press time the pipes are already badly out of
tune, made so by our necessity of covering them with plastic to protect them.
Had we not done that, we could have had a more serious problem on our hands.
Communications with our regular organ tuner are underway right now, and we are
hopeful of getting the organ ready at the latest in time for Oktoberfest.
The repairs to the balcony will require some careful
scaffold building to allow access to the ceiling above the organ console and
exposed pipes.
Meanwhile there is a twofold benefit to proceeding slowly at
this point.
In the first place we need to raise more funds. Currently we
have come very close to spending everything we have taken in, but due to our
tremendous savings that step has been a large one.
In the second place making the chancel phase three (rather
than phase two) gives us additional time to consider how it will look. One
possibility is finding an available altarpiece such as the one that used to be
in St. Paul’s. Perhaps there is one somewhere that is sitting unused, available
for the asking. If so, once again our able volunteers might be able to get it.
It is really quite difficult to tell just how things may proceed, but one thing
is certain: the project is an exciting thing to see, and worthy of our
continual prayers. As the Lord blesses, so we shall be blessed.
GoFundMe Campaign Continues
An online fund raising campaign for our
renovation effort began in August. Here is a recent update:
Major cleaning day. I
counted 16 volunteers who worked hard mopping, dusting, vacuuming, picking up.
Also taking down and moving scaffolding. Great turnout, great job, everyone.
Next week some more painting, and one week from today is moving day; the pews
go back! So exciting to be part of this mighty little parish!
Altar
Guild News
Notes for October:
There are five Sundays this month. The first four are green, and the fifth (Oct.
30th) is Reformation Sunday, so the color is red.
There are four Wednesdays in October:
(Wednesday September 30 we will observe the
Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, so the color is white.)
Wednesday October 5 is green.
Wednesday October 12 is green
Wednesday October 19 is red, observing St.
Luke the Evangelist
Wednesday October 26 is red, observing SS
Simon and Jude.
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