News from Saint Paul's Church

The Parish Letter - Advent 2009

Advent 2009

Dear parishioners and friends of St Paul’s Church:

This December is an exceptionally exciting and busy month at St Paul’s. At the top of the list are the celebration of Advent and the coming celebration of Christmas. For the second year, and now qualifying as an annual tradition, we welcomed members of the community to an Advent Service of Lessons and Carols. The service participants included clergy, readers, and singers from all of the churches of Salem Village and West Hebron. Bill Briggs, with an assist from Ben Van Wye, did an excellent job with the music. The ecumenical choir was anchored by St Paul’s talented vocalists. Everyone chipped in to put on a first class reception in the rectory afterwards. There has been much positive feedback from the community. There was also an ad hoc offering to benefit the Salem Food Pantry, amounting to nearly $300.

The month culminates in the great Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. This will be the 150^th time that the faithful have gathered at St Paul’s for this feast. The brand new church opened in 1860 just a few weeks before Christmas and we are the fortunate heirs of a goodly heritage of people who have worshiped God in this place in the beauty of holiness. As we gather this year, let us especially give thanks for the devotion and generosity of the generations before us who built this church and have made St Paul’s holy with their prayers. Our principal celebration of the feast will be at 7:30 PM on Christmas Eve. There will be special music, of course, and there is also a new crèche. If you are going to be bringing children to the service, please let me know ahead of time. I would like to include them in the service. Also, if you would like to contribute to the cost of the flowers and greens that add so much to the festive atmosphere of the church at Christmas, an envelope is enclosed for you to mail your gift or place it in the offering plate. As usual, there will also be a celebration of the Holy Eucharist on Christmas morning at 10:30 AM.

I am planning to go away on the day after Christmas. An old friend will be celebrating his 100^th birthday and I am going to help him celebrate. While I am away, Fr. Gary Strubel will be the celebrant and preacher at Sunday services. I will return in time for the Epiphany. This great feast falls on January 6^th and we will celebrate the Eucharist at 7:30 PM. This will be the last service in the church for the winter. Beginning on the following Sunday, January 10^th, services will be held in the chapel on the second floor of the rectory, at the usual time, 10:30 AM. 

In addition to these major events in our life as a parish, something else of great importance is happening at St Paul’s. A little over a week ago, the vestry authorized work to begin on major repairs to the church roof. We have engaged Slate Valley Enterprise, LLC, to do the work, and they started last Friday. For too many years, the roof, much of which is the original roof—150 years old!—has been patched with what amounted to band-aids, and it has continued to leak, causing damage to the ceiling and walls of the church. Happily, the original roof is of such good quality that it does not need to be replaced entirely, but it does need a major overhaul. When the job is done, there will be brand new copper valleys, ridge caps, and crickets. The tower roof will be entirely replaced with copper. Broken, out-of-line, and missing slates will be replaced and repaired. Once the roof is restored, the mold on the church ceiling will be removed and we hope to add insulation and install a new ceiling. Repair and painting of the walls will be the final phase. Our plan is to have the ceiling work done while the church is closed for the winter so the church will be cleaned up and ready for its reopening on Palm Sunday. 

This work is going to cost a good deal of money. Once again, we are indebted to those who have gone before us. More than 40 years ago, two sisters by the name of Blanche and Mabel Smart died and left somewhat complicated estates. The use of their house and the income from their stock holdings were left in trust for a friend and his son as long as they lived. One of the sisters also left her half-interest in the house to this friend. When the friend and his son died, St Paul’s was to receive the stock and the other half-interest in the house. It has taken two years to resolve these estates, and there is still a little bit to be done, but St Paul’s now has stock which generates an income of about $4,000 per year. The house has been sold and we have our half of the proceeds. There are still legal expenses to be paid, but we should end up with at least $30,000 in cash. We have applied for a loan from the Diocese of Albany for $35,000 which we plan to repay with the income from the stock. If the loan is approved, that will give us a total of about $65,000 to accomplish the roof work and related repairs. Roof repairs are hard to plan as you never know what you might find underneath when the damaged sections are removed. We expect the roof to cost about $25,000, but we are prepared if additional problems are found and we will proceed with the rest of the work as funds allow. At the very least, we have sufficient funds to justify starting the roof work now. 

Finally, in view of the coming anniversary of the church, I proposed several weeks ago that we do something to renew the appearance of the interior of the church. The burgundy curtain (or dossal) that hangs behind the altar is probably fifty years old and is definitely showing its age. If it were to be dry cleaned, it would probably disintegrate. With the agreement of the vestry, I acquired several fabric samples from the monastery where I have most of my personal vestments made. After several weeks’ consideration, a majority of the parish chose a deep blue velvet foundation fabric with blue and gold damask side panels. The new curtain will be ready to hang when we return to the church at the end of winter. The idea is that this will be a gift from the whole parish to the glory of God in St Paul’s Church. The cost will be $1,700.00 and everyone is invited to contribute. We have already had one gift of $500, as a memorial. This is an excellent way to honor a departed loved one or friend. Please be generous and be sure to include a note with your check indicating who is being memorialized.

Being a part of this parish continues to be a source of blessing to me. I am grateful for the friendship and fellowship of every one of you. This letter comes with my prayers and wishes for a holy and happy Christmas. As Tiny Tim says, May God bless us, every one.

Yours faithfully in Christ,

Gary W. Kriss, Parish Priest

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