The Pastor’s Corner:

St. Pauls is a wonderful community of people. We had a fellowship meal last Sunday and many people from the church and the neighborhood came to enjoy each others’ company, great food and some music by St. Paul’s people. We will be having fellowship meals on the 2nd Sunday of each month from now on.

Many people around St. Paul’s are talented and generous. I want to thank John Wakeman and his son who came in to repair the men’s room toilet a few weeks ago. We’d like to thank the Retirees from Eaton Company who came and took care of Jack Taylor’s long list of items. Thanks to Jack and his group who come in every Wednesday to knock off some maintenance needs. Lately though, Jack’s aching back has been keeping him away, so we wish him a speedy and thorough recovery.

At the Drop-In Center, thanks to Angie Saunders and Tom Wolf who have been very devoted to making the coffee, keeping things clean and providing hospitality to the many people that come each day. And of course, Martha Scheer deserves a special thank you for coming all the way from Berlin to be the main outreach coordinator. Martha has quickly adapted to American culture, filling an important niche after relieving Rip Noble of his duties as outreach coordinator. Rip stayed on to help both Martha and myself (as interim pastor) adjust here. Thanks for all you do here, Rip, and I know you will continue to add your compassion and organizational skills; but we want to empower you to be a truly retired person.

Thanks to Lalita Pereira for all she does in the Thrift Shop, along with all the other volunteers. Thanks to all those who participate in worship, and I love how we share prayer and worship on Sundays. Thanks to the Officers of the Church who have been guiding St. Paul’s through these times of uncertainty. There is still much to do to increase our income, to pay the bills. But with God all things are possible.

More to come next month in the Pastor’s Corner as we are limited by space now, but we have a few great ideas brewing: the making of a mural and renovation of the courtyard area, more fellowship opportunities for the church community, the November 1 Fall Festival, and many more. God’s peace be with you, Doug

Other things happening at St. Paul’s:

We want to welcome to St. Paul’s Martha Scheer, 19 years old from Berlin, Germany. She is coming on board this week as the new St Paul’s Outreach Worker. She is the youngest of four children. She completed high school and, before heading into college where she still has an undecided major, decided to take a year off to do some soul searching. Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, Martha’s sponsoring agency, sent her to the Ohio, USA (other possibilities were Netherlands or Russia) to a sense of the Cleveland culture and language. We are delighted to have her.

She has been speaking English for nine years, learning and practicing it at school. She has traveled to London, England and she lived in Israel for a year. Before coming to Cleveland she spent ten days in Philadelphia, where she had some helpful conversations with Judith, the previous worker, and was given a pretty intense orientation to inner city work.

She will be spending the year at St. Paul’s Community Church, serving as the Outreach Coordinator, providing hospitality to all who drop in for coffee, food, clothing and conversation.

I want to thank Rev. Rip Noble for his volunteer work as interim pastor, outreach worker and overall coordinator of operations at St. Paul’s during the last year. His constant calm and joyful presence, his experience and knowledge in pastoral relations, his dedication to details in daily office work, his spiritual depth, and commitment to the gospel message have been a valuable asset to me, to the church and surrounding community. He has taught me so much in the short time we have been together. It has been a great transition because of his presence. He and Charlotte will continue to be a part of this community.