Our Journey Together

I am grateful for the faith and growth of our community as we have traveled through this pandemic time together. Gracefully, we moved much of our parish life into other forms, and we also have continued to be bound and knit together as one body in Christ. I have been using the metaphor of “legs of the pandemic journey,” and shortly will begin another one as the pandemic recedes and we can continue to grow in our ability to gather in person.

Pentecost Celebration

The Feast of Pentecost marks the Holy Spirit descending on the disciples and sending them out with God’s power to serve the entire world. On Sunday, May 23 at 10:45 the entire parish is invited to gather together at the Amphitheater at Peterswood Park in Peter’s Township for a Pentecost Worship and Celebration. This is a “bring your own chair or blanket” event (though we will have some chairs, and also an accessible seating area). We will be masked and distanced, and we will be able to sing and be together. There will be a “St. Paul’s Playdate” starting at 10:00AM at the playground at the Amphitheater, and coffee and donuts after the service. The service will include our multi-lingual Pentecost reading, honoring our graduating Seniors, a prayerful joint art project, a “pull-out” Children’s Chapel and a release of doves. We will not be livestreaming worship that Sunday, and there will be no services in the Church building. This is a Sunday not to be missed!

Memorial Day through Labor Day service schedule

From Memorial Day Weekend (May 29-30) until Labor Day (September 4-5) we will maintain a four-service schedule. We will continue to require CDC recommended masking and 6-foot social distancing. Each indoor service will have a capacity limit of 40 households. With capacity limits, it is not feasible to have Combined Worship this summer, as in years past. There will be no pre-registration; if we have issues with turning people away due to capacity limits, we will go back to having a pre-registration system. As the public health climate changes, we will continue to adjust these practices.

In-Person Services will be:

Saturday, 6PM, outside at the Old Saint Luke’s Burial Ground (bring your own chair), no music

• Sunday, 8AM, Sanctuary, no music
• Sunday, 9:15AM, Sanctuary, with music led by Christin Cooper and band (includes a “pull out” Children’s Chapel during the service)
• Sunday, 10:45AM, Sanctuary, with music led by Doug Starr and small choirs. The 10:45 service will also be Livestreamed.
• Wednesday, 11:00AM, Sanctuary, with music. This service will also be Livestreamed.

Please continue to enter through the Washington Road entrance to the church, unless you need elevator access, then use the middle parking lot door. Fellowship hour will follow the Sunday services in the St. Margaret’s Garden tent and in the Undercroft. We will not be serving food and beverages during fellowship hour until mask requirements are lifted.

Parish Administrative Staff Transitions

We have been so blessed to have Kara Viggiano serving with us as the Interim Parish Administrator for the last few weeks. Kara has accepted and started a job as the Director of the Boys and Girls Club at Scott School in Shaler. This is an amazing opportunity for her, and I am so grateful for all the work she has done at St. Paul’s in the last year. She will continue serving in a small staff role of coordinating our Cotillion programs next year.

I am pleased to announce that Rebecca Oreto began this week as our Director of Administration and Communications. Rebecca comes to St. Paul’s with over 20 years of administrative experience at CMU, most recently as the Associate Director of the Intercultural Communication Center. She has three kids and lives in Dormont, and her parents, Paul and Diana Rebholz are members of St. Paul’s. Please join me in welcoming Rebecca to our parish staff!

Office Hours, Building Access, and Scheduling Events

Regular parish office hours will be Monday through Friday 8:30-4:30. The Mayfair entrance to the building will continue to be the main entrance to the church offices. During these hours, the door will generally be left unlocked; if it is locked, please ring the bell. Rooms may be scheduled through the office for groups and meetings. There will be no absolute capacity limits for events, though we ask that you maintain masking and 6-foot distancing requirements. We ask you to continue to sanitize your hands and sign in when you enter the building.

Christin Cooper

For almost four years, we have been blessed with Christin Cooper as our Assistant Music Director for Children. She has shared her talent with us and inspired many to sing and express our musical gifts. It has been amazing to see her grow as a musician, teacher, and sacred musician. Christin has been offered an expanded role at her other job starting this fall and will be leaving the St. Paul’s staff at the end of August. We will have more opportunities to celebrate Christin’s time with us later in the summer. St. Paul’s will continue to be Christin’s home parish. In the next few months, we will take some time to discern how to cast and frame this important ¼ time position on our musical staff team.

Deacon Paul Barker to New Ministry

The Vestry has commissioned Deacon Paul Barker to lead a team to discern a new ministry of connection between St. Paul’s, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and Southern West Virginia. This grows out of our years of relationship with the Episcopal Church in that region through mission trips and Paul’s service there last summer. Paul and his team will spend six months exploring what this deepening relationship may look like, and then will report to the Vestry in January their results. Please contact Paul to learn more about this, or join him and others on a Zoom webinar on Wednesday, May 12 at 7PM (access it here).

The life of our parish community continues to be dynamic and fruitful and following the spirit that blows through our lives. My prayer is that we continue to feel this spirit wind as we more and more gather together in person.

Peace,

Noah
The Reverend Noah H. Evans, Rector
noah@stpaulspgh.org, 412-531-7153 x11