Good day St. Paul's,

Services and Live Streams continue to be available on our YouTube Channel (found HERE). The bulletin for each Sunday will be available on the website Sunday morning.

Starting next week, I will be working mostly from home. Luckily, almost all of my current work can be done from home but that does mean I can only be reached by email. I will still be checking email on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. On that topic, Myron will try to maintain the current open-church prayer hours but it would be best to call ahead if you plan on stopping by as he sometimes has pastoral emergencies that take him away from the office.

As always, please read on for new announcements as well as reminders from previous announcements.

Sincerely,
RJ Chambers
Office Administrator, St. Paul's Anglican Church - Edmonton

New Items

St. Paul's Open Hours - Please Call Ahead
If you plan to come into St. Paul's for prayer or to drop off food or other items, please call ahead before you come. Myron will try to be onsite during the open prayer hours but sometimes has pastoral emergencies that take him offsite and, starting in May, RJ will be working from home until gathering restrictions are lifted.

St. Paul's Spring Garden Clean-Up
Spring has (finally) arrived! Please consider helping with our annual church grounds clean-up. A checklist of gardening duties will be posted on the front door and you can come on whatever day/time works best for you. You will need to bring your own rake, pruning shears, and gardening tools. Garbage bags are available if you come when the church doors are open – otherwise, we appreciate you providing your own. Also, don’t forget to maintain physical distancing guidelines if you are working alongside others outside of your household. 

Financial Update
St. Paul's, so far, is surviving the Covid crisis when it comes to finances. Our weekly envelope giving is down (as we expected) but our expenditures are also below budget. Our external booking income (daycare and other churches) is no longer coming in but we expect the water bill to decrease a fair bit since the daycare is not running. Overall, we are in a stable financial position. With that said, if you would like to give to St. Paul's and have found it difficult to do so, please consider direct debit or credit donations. If you would like to set up pre-authorized credit or direct debit giving, please contact the office.

Video Submissions Requested
Attn: St. Paul’s congregation! As our quarantine draws on into the foreseeable future, we would like to invite you to send in a 3-5 minute video of encouragement that we can share with each other! Ephesians 5:19: Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Since it’s been over a month now that we haven’t been able to fellowship together, it would be so nice to see faces and hear from each of you! The video clips will be compiled together and shared on our social media site. If you would prefer to have your submission remain “private” please indicate that when you send in your video and we will make sure that it is only shared via email to the church list. You can share a small reflection, a quarantine story, a scripture, a song, or whatever inspires you that you think would edify others in our worship community. Let those creative juices flow! Please send your short video clips to the office email by Monday, May 4th and they will be posted later in the week! (May the fourth be with you!)

Hands To Hearts Cards Available
Parishioners may drop in to pick up a handmade card during the hours that the church is open. The cards are available on a table across from the main washrooms. Please sanitize your hands prior to handling the cards.

Repeated Items (from Previous Email Notices)    

St. Paul’s Food Pantry - Donations Needed
We are starting a basic food Pantry that will be available to families at St. Paul’s. To start, we are looking to stock our pantry with some basic non-perishable items. Please consider donating what you can. Pantry items can be dropped off on the table in the foyer of the church (across from the main washrooms) any day the building is open for prayer (Mon-Thurs and Sat from 10-noon). Attached, you will find a list of items we are looking for. In the coming days, we will have a process in place for parishioners to make pantry requests. 

Puzzle Exchange at St. Paul's
Thank you to all who dropped off puzzles over the last week!! A number of you picked up puzzles this week but we still have a few more available. Puzzles can be dropped off at St. Paul's on Tuesdays, Thursdays, or Saturdays from 10:00AM-noon. All dropped off puzzles will be sanitized over the weekend and available for pickup on the following Tuesday. If you would like to contribute to this initiative but are unable to come into the office to drop off/pick up, please contact the office and we will arrange for a no-contact pick up/drop off. 

Prayer Space Available Monday-Thursday and Saturdays from 10AM-Noon
The Sanctuary and Chapel will be open for prayer from 10:00AM-Noon Monday-Thursday and Saturday (NOT OPEN Fridays and Sundays). Entry will only be available through the Alley Door. If the door is locked, please ring the bell. Please hand sanitize upon entry and keep a distance of at least two metres from other individuals. 

Care and Concern
Though services have been suspended, we are still the church and our Care and Concern Team is ready to help. If you need groceries delivered, errands run, or other services at this time, please let us know. The church is still operating even if we cannot meet closely together at this time. The Vestry of St. Paul's will be contacting all members of the parish every week during this time. If you do not receive a call from a member of the Vestry in the next week, please respond to this email with your phone number as we may have outdated information for you. 

Prayer
Please continue to be in prayer for all of those who may be immuno-compromised or otherwise vulnerable.