Good day St. Paul's,

Services and Live Streams continue to be available on our YouTube Channel (found HERE). The bulletin for this Sunday will be available on the website Sunday morning on the Sermon page. Visit the Event page to find links to our Sunday morning Zoom coffee time and anything else you might need for the Sunday service.

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

New Items

Office/Church Hours May 17-23
The office/ church will be closed on Monday, May 18 due to Victoria Day. Additionally, the office/church will be closed on Thursday, May 21 though RJ will still check the office email from home that morning.

Thank You Parish Clean-Uppers
Thank you to the many of you who have come over the last couple of weeks to clean up the grounds of the church!! Big thanks to Andrew for bringing his leaf pick-up machine!

Fabric Masks
We now have fabric masks available in the church foyer. Suggested donation is $10.00 cash/ mask if you have the financial means to pay. A number of masks are being gifted to the All Nations Centre for Newcomers. Donations will be used to purchase supplies for more masks and to support our Food Pantry. Thanks to Barb D., Carol R., Laura R., Terry B., and Kjeryn A. who have done the finishing works on the masks. Please contact Margot or the church office if you would like to be part of the (physically distanced!) mask-making work-bees in the future. We also appreciate ongoing donations of clean, large T-shirts that we cut up and use for mask ties, and good quality cotton or cotton/polyester fabric with a tight weave. Masks can be picked up and supplies dropped off during hours that the church building is open.

Building Work/Activity
Even though gatherings are not happening, we are taking this time to do some much needed projects around the building. Over the last week and the coming weeks, hard floors are being cleaned and re-sealed and we will start carpet cleaning in the weeks to come. We are doing our best to make the building as clean as possible once we are able to open our doors again. We have also been replacing light bulbs around the building (thanks Gene and Peter!) and doing some other random projects here and there. We also have some basement painting to get done. If you have some free time and like to paint or do prep work (tape corners, lay down drop cloths, organize painting materials), please email the church office as RJ will schedule people to come and go to ensure we maintain proper physical distancing. If you have any other skills that you think would be useful to donate your time and would like to serve in that way, please contact the office as we are sure we can come up with something for you to help with :-)

Repeated Items (from Previous Notices)    

Wedding Shower for Lauren Rudat
St. Paul's ladies: please help us celebrate Lauren Rudat's Bridal Shower! We will be hosting a virtual shower on Saturday, May 23 with the opportunity for you to drop gifts off for Lauren. If you would like to take part in this event, please email the office for more information.

Missionary of the Month for May - Diocese of the Arctic
The Diocese of the Arctic is the St. Paul's May Missionary of the Month. Led by Bishop David Parsons, the Diocese of the Arctic is a group of Anglican parishes and clergy serving in Northern Canada. This area represented by this diocese is one of the largest in the world and covers Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavik.

St. Paul's "Stories of Hope"
There are now three videos available in the St. Paul's Stories of Hope series. You can find the videos on our website by clicking HERE and looking for any blogs titled "Fellowship". Thank you to Jodi Penner for taking on this initiative. If you would like to submit a video, please email it to Jodi or send it to the office and we will forward it to Jodi.

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.

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.

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.

Puzzle Exchange at St. Paul'sThank 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.  

Services and Public Gatherings Suspended - Services Live Streamed in the Interim
As many of you have already heard, all public gatherings and services of Anglican parishes, including services at St. Paul's, have been suspended for the time being. To Live Stream our services, please visit our YouTube channel (found HERE). 

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 also call ahead before you come to be sure someone is onsite. Please hand sanitize upon entry and keep a distance of at least two metres from other individuals. 

Financial Offerings
We will still be accepting financial offerings during this suspension period. For those who give by cash and cheque on Sundays, you are welcome to drop off your envelopes anytime the Sanctuary is open for prayer (as listed above). Cheques may also be mailed to the office during this time. Direct Debit and Credit offerings will be processed as they normally are. If you are unable to bring an offering during this time and would still like to support St. Paul's throughout this period, you always have the option of giving a one-time gift by credit. To do so, please contact RJ at the office to arrange a time for a phone call (as credit card details should not be emailed for security reasons).

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.