Dear Friends,
While the world burdens itself with a hurried and pre-emptive Christmas, we at All Saints' are waiting in quiet expectation for the coming of a Savior during this holy season of Advent. Please take a look at all the ways to refresh your soul in the next few weeks in our parish home. Also, the parish-wide Christmas mailing should hit your mailboxes in the next few days. If you don't receive a Christmas envelope for whatever reason and would like to make a gift of Christmas flowers in honor of a loved one, please pick up an envelope at the back of the church or email the parish office and make an online donation at allsaintsparkslope.org/giving. Names must be received by December 18 to be included in the Christmas bulletins. May God continue to bless you in this Advent season! The Rev. Steven D. Paulikas Rector Click here for more information about our Christmas Pageant, Advent Lessons and Carols and Cookie Swap and more!
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All Saints' Church will join our friends and neighbors tonight for an interfaith service of remembrance, one month after the mass shooting at Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, PA. The event will be from 7:30-9pm at Union Temple (17 Eastern Parkway). All are welcome. More information available here. For more information about upcoming events - including the annual meeting, Christmas concerts, and TWO cookie swaps, click here. Dear Friends,
Gratitude is the foundation of Christian spiritual life. Jesus gave thanks in good times and bad, and he inspires us to do the same in our own time. In this season of thanksgiving, may you find the time and space to offer thanks for the blessings in your life. God is always working in our lives in ways large and small, and to give thanks for these things puts us in right relationship with God and the people in our lives. It is also difficult for me not to give thanks for our beloved parish community, which touches and lives of so many people. I am grateful for your generosity, faith, and above all, your love for this place and for one another. Let us give thanks for All Saints' Church and pray for continued blessings on our ministry! May you and those you love have a very blessed Thanksgiving. In Christ, The Rev. Steven D. Paulikas Rector Click here to read more about upcoming events, the Diocesan Convention, and our Stewardship campaign. Dear Friends in Christ,
Harvest Sunday is just a few days away, and with it comes our chance to offer our pledge for the ministry of All Saints' Church in 2019. After a season of prayerful reflection, this Sunday is the time for you to return your completed pledge cards--either at the 10am Holy Eucharist followed by a festive harvest brunch, or at the beautiful 5pm Choral Evensong. Pledging is our offering to God out of the abundance in which we live. In this Sunday's liturgy we will hear these words from Hebrews 10: "let us consider how to provoke one another to love and to good deeds." We live in a time and place that desperately needs this holy provocation. Our generosity toward one another and the wider community is a fundamental part of living out this word from Scripture and a chance to be Christ's people in the world. Filling out and returning your pledge card allows the Vestry to plan our scope of ministry in the coming year. It is only by reaching our 2019 pledging goal of $200,000that we will be able to maintain and expand the good we do in God's name. Our parish depends on your participation to reach this goal and ensure the many life-giving ministries of All Saints' Church in the coming year. For more information on pledging including a printable version of this year's pledge card and online giving instructions, please visit allsaintsparkslope.org/giving. If you can't be in church on Sunday, please mail your completed card to the office or return by other means as soon as possible. God bless you for your generosity, and God bless All Saints' Church. In Christ, The Rev. Steven D. Paulikas Rector Click here to read more about Harvest Sunday, Evensong, and other coming events. A solemn Eucharist commemorating the faithful departed will take place on the Feast of All Souls, tomorrow, Friday, November 2, at 7pm. Please join us as we remember family, friends, and members of the community through this special worship service.
We celebrate the Feast of All Saints on Sunday, November 4 with a Festival Eucharist at 10am followed by the annual Stewardship Cafe, where you can learn about ways to get more involved in the life of All Saints' Church. Click here to read more, including an update on the 2019 Stewardship Campaign, the Episcopal Church's response to the shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and some pictures from the 7th Ave Halloween Parade. The entire congregation is invited to join Family Ministries for pumpkin carving (plus cookies and cider) on Sunday, October 28 from 3:30 to 5pm in the undercroft. Bring your pumpkins and carving tools, and we will have some extra tools and patterns to share. Can't wait to see everyone's jack o' lanterns!
We are collecting donations of wrapped Halloween Candy to give out during the Seventh Avenue Halloween Parade on Wednesday, October 31. Greet guests in the church from 3-7pm and help share hospitality as thousands make their way down 7th Ave in their costumes. Drop off candy in the All Saints' office, and come join us on Halloween to greet Trick-or-Treaters! Click here for more information about All Souls Eucharist and our Stewardship Kickoff! Dear Friends in Christ,
It is with no small amount of relief that I’m happy to say the period of “holy uncertainty” in our parish has come to an end. This morning, I withdrew my name from consideration following the second ballot of voting in the bishop election of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, which means I will continue as rector of All Saints’ Church. While I was hoping to be able to report the name of the new bishop-elect, the Convocation’s convention will continue voting with a sixth ballot tomorrow morning. The two remaining candidates, the Rev. Canon Paul-Gordon Chandler and the Rev. Mark Edington, are gifted priests who have become good friends to Jesse and me. Please keep them, their families, and the delegates to convention in your prayers. I am deeply aware that your prayers and words of encouragement for me have been offered, at times, through mixed emotions. It is no small thing to wonder about the future of this beloved community in which we encounter God’s love and grace. I have shared your anxieties about our parish at the same time that I offered myself for ministry elsewhere. Yet I have also, in moments of clarity, sensed God’s grace at work among us, a feeling made all the more real to me by the sacrifice of your loving support. While it has seemed to us at times that the stakes of this process have been high, moments like these help put our ministry in context. In his Letter to the Romans, Paul writes, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (8:38-39). God has been loving All Saints’ Church for over 150 years, and there is nothing that can break that bond. As we step boldly into this new chapter of ministry together, I do so with a heart overflowing with gratitude and a sense of excitement about the future. I hope to see you in worship this Sunday or in the near future. Until then, may God bless All Saints’ Church. In Christ’s love, The Rev. Steven D. Paulikas Rector Everyone is welcome at a free movie night at All Saints' tonight from 7-9pm. We will watch the critically acclaimed documentary I AmNot Your Negro about the life and work of author James Baldwin. Screening begins at 7pm; the evening concludes with a brief conversation.
Click here for more Halloween happenings and other upcoming events Evensong - Sunday, October 14 at 5pmThe All Saints' Evensong Choir sings music by Thomas Tallis and Orlando Gibbons in this beautiful and meditative traditional Anglican liturgy. A brief reception will follow the service--bring a friend! All are welcome and invited! Movie Night @ All Saints'Everyone is welcome at a free movie night at All Saints' on Wednesday, October 17 from 7-9pm. We will watch the critically acclaimed documentary I Am Not Your Negro about the life and work of author James Baldwin. Screening begins at 7pm; the evening concludes with a brief conversation.
Click here to read the full newsletter. Dear Friends,
I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you how grateful Jesse and I am for all your prayers and support over the past months, and especially while we were in Europe last week. As many of you are aware, my candidacy for Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe required us to travel to three different churches in the Convocation to speak and answer questions with the other candidates and to meet members of the various Episcopal churches in Europe. It was a remarkable experience: inspiring, fascinating, exhausting, and above all, Spirit-filled. I am so privileged to be counted in a group of such talented candidates, and their spouses surrounded us all with love and support. It gave me great delight to speak about the wonderful things God has done at All Saints' Church, and wherever we went, we took you with us. Our tour began at the American Cathedral in Paris, a fascinating community that embraces Parisian expatriates as well as locals in search of a spiritual home. We were treated to dinner at the home of cathedral parishioners hours after arriving. The following day was a busy one; the candidates met with retiring Bishop Pierre Whalon and other diocesan officials while the spouses took a walking tour of the neighborhood. We recorded videos and then sat for our first town hall meeting of the tour, where we answered questions about our perspectives on ministry in the Convocation. Video from all three town halls can be found here. The next morning we flew to Munich to meet the people of the Church of the Ascension and hold another town hall followed by a warm reception. There is a solid and historic Episcopal presence in Germany, and it was a pleasure to meet so many committed and talented clergy and laypeople there. Coincidentally, it was Oktoberfest; alas, both Jesse and I forgot to bring our lederhosen... Our final stop was hosted by historic St. Paul's within the Walls in Rome, where the town hall coincided with the 26th anniversary of the parish's Spanish-speaking congregation. A highlight of the entire trip was an introduction to the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center, which serves 250 refugees in Rome daily and operates in the crypt of St. Paul's. The conclusion of the walkabout means that our parish is entering the final stage of what I've come to understand as a period of "holy uncertainty." The bishop election will take place on Friday, October 19 during the Convocation's annual convention, held this year in Waterloo, Belgium. A new bishop will be elected when one of the candidates secures a majority of both the clergy resident in the Convocation and lay delegates elected by each of the parishes. The first ballot will take place at 3:45am our time...but if you're not planning to be awake just then, I will be sure to communicate the results to you as quickly as possible, or you can follow along on the Convocation's bishop search web site. In the meantime, I'd ask that you continue to keep the Convocation, All Saints', and my fellow candidates and their spouses in your prayers. I will speak about the walkabout and answer any questions you might have at this week's Sunday Forum--and as always, please feel free to contact me. It is one of the great blessings of my life to be rector of All Saints' Church. May God continue to guide and nurture us. In Christ’s love, The Rev. Steven D. Paulikas Rector Click here to read the rest of the newsletter and to see more pictures from Father Paulikas' trip |
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