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Among Christians, Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit  upon the Disciples and other followers of Jesus. The main sign of Pentecost is the color red. It symbolizes joy and the fire of the Holy Spirit.

 St. Paul’s celebration to include:

•  It is suggested that Parishioners wear something red.
•  Members of the Social Committee are planning a Festive Coffee Hour after the 10:15AM Eucharist.
•  We won’t be speaking in many tongues but to mix things up it is suggested that if you sit every Sunday in the same place…on Pentecost Sunday change your seats…if you normally sit on the west side of the main aisle…try the east side and vice versa…those in the back pews move up…front pew people move back…and 8AM service attendees move from north to the south…we all may meet someone new.

The public is invited to join the St. Paul’s Church parish family on Sunday, June 6, in our celebration of Evensong as we conclude the day with peaceful, beautiful prayer. The evensong will begin at 4:30PM; the church is located at 914 E. Knapp Street.

The St. Paul’s Adult Choir will be joined by select voices from the Church’s youth Voices for Life Ensemble Choir as they sing music that includes Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ beautiful setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, American composer Craig Phillips’ setting of the Prayers and Responses and Holst’s rousing hymn setting Thaxted, a tune you’ll recognize from his orchestral suite The Planets.

Evensong has a long and wonderful history as a form of communal prayer in the church. Its origins date back to the monastic Liturgy of the Hours, where, several times throughout the day and night, monastic communities gathered together for communal prayer. We continue to recognize the importance of the daily rhythms of prayer in both our personal and parochial lives, and one of the most beautiful expressions of that rhythm is closing the day with Evensong.

Join us as St. Paul’s continues and enriches this wonderful tradition of worship.

Sermon
The Rev. Dr. C. Steven Teague, Rector
Seventh Sunday after Easter

You may have skipped the celebration of the Ascension this past Thursday. A lot of people did. I can understand. The story asks us to suspend our disbelief. It says that Jesus literally lifts off, ascending into the clouds leaving his disciples, well-wishers and the whole world in his wake.

Ascension is pretty difficult to wrap our minds around. Other feasts are more tangible and earthly grounded. At Christmas we have a manger, angels, shepherds, and a baby. An empty tomb, bunnies, chocolate crosses and lilies help us think Easter. Did anyone send you an Ascension card this year? Did you send any Ascension cards? Did you decorate your house for Ascension? Neither the malls nor Hallmark seem aware of Ascension. Maybe releasing a helium balloon as we sing the Fifth Dimension’s Up, Up, and Away could catch on.

Continue reading May 16, 2010: Gone, But Not Away

Sermon
The Rev. Dr. C. Steven Teague, Rector
Sixth Sunday after Easter

Some people will go to church today, because they like the people there. They feel connected. They belong. They won’t say so, but they want to know if Jesus is real and they belong to him. Other people will visit a church today as if they are test driving a new car – checking out the people, choir, sermon and building. They’re shopping. Yet deep down, they also want to know if this is a community that believes Jesus is real, and they too belong to him. Some who go to church today know Jesus intellectually – as an ancient religious figure, but that’s about it. They long for more, too. And some won’t go to church this day. Early on, they were told what to believe. So, they belonged. As they grew up, they had questions about faith, and began to ask them at church. The answer they were given – “Just believe what we tell you.” They didn’t – they couldn’t anymore. So they no longer belonged, and really didn’t care anymore. They have learned that absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder.

Continue reading May 9, 2010: Rooming with Jesus

Sermon
The Rev. Dr. C. Steven Teague, Rector
Fourth Sunday after Easter

You’d think the Temple Hospitality Committee would roll out the red carpet for Jesus. He arrives for the Festival of Dedication, to be met at the door by an interrogation committee asking him pointed, hostile questions, not giving him a welcome. A joyous, thankful festival turns into an inquisition. Sometimes even God’s chosen act suspicious and mean-spirited. Does that surprise us?

Continue reading April 25, 2010: Jesus Makes Us All – The In Crowd

St. Pauls celebrates Easter Eucharist on April 4, 2010, with a spoken 8:00 a.m. service and a 10:15 a.m. Festive Eucharist with special music.

St. Paul’s offers a 12:10 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Good Friday Liturgy on April 2, 2010.  Both services have limited music.

For a complete listing of Holy Week and Easter services at St. Paul’s visit the Apostle newsletter; just click on St. Paul’s News.

Sermon
The Rev. Dr. C. Steven Teague, Rector
Passion/Palm Sunday

Outside the Holy City a most unholy scene rises into the morning sky. From three crosses hang three men, convicted of fomenting insurrection and violence against the empire. One man is innocent, declared so by no less than Herod, Pilate, a criminal hanging beside him, and a soldier watching this grotesque scene. That innocent man of course, is Jesus, who seeks no earthly throne or power, but subversively disrupts the world by preaching a reign of love, peace, forgiveness, and the inclusion of everyone.

Continue reading March 28, 2010: Forgiven – But Who’s Listening?