NEWS
Proposed Plans for Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park
At St. Paul’s, we have a vested interest in what goes on in our community. As many locals may know, Anne Arundel County is working on developing the abandoned grounds of Crownsville Hospital into a park and other buildings. If you click on the button below, you can see some of what they are planning to do with that area:
Raynaldo Brown’s “Back to School” Supplies Collect Begins Sunday!
Raynaldo Brown’s “Oxford Landing’s Back-to-School Supplies Giveaway” is scheduled forWednesday, August 21, 2024 FROM 1 TO 5. The giveaway and will be held in person and there will be activities and food for the children and their families! This has been a favorite Missions Outreach event for several years, and we are once again asking for donations to this effort. As in years past, both cash donations and school supply donations are welcome. If you are attending services at the church, envelopes marked for school supply donations are in the pews and at the back of the church. If you are not attending church in person and would like to donate to this effort, please send your donations to the church to Johnson Waite’s attention and please mark your check that it is to be used for the school supply effort. Last year, our wonderful congregation gave over $2,800 to this event. Thank you in advance for your continued generosity to help less fortunate children to be ready for the new school year.
Updates to the Annex and Parking Lot
One of the issues we’ve run into at St. Paul’s over the past six months or so has been a lack of space. Parking is getting tight on Sundays and we have an uptick in activities and not much space in which to do them! As a result, the vestry has been researching and discussing a variety of proposals for maximizing the space we have in an affordable way. To that end, there are two updates that I’m excited to share with you:
The Sunday School Building, AKA the Annex
As many of you know, we have a Sunday School building in our back parking lot. Lance Smith did a lot of work clearing out the stuff that had been stowed in that space. The loft was removed. John Schulte did some sealing treatments and put in hard flooring. If you see Lance or John this Sunday, please thank them for all their hard work on this project! Moving forward, this gives us a second space to use when the Fellowship Hall is occupied, allowing us more flexibility in scheduling various events. Here’s what it looks like inside now:
The Parking Lot
The other issue we’ve had recently is that our parking lot gets crowded, especially during the transition between the 9:30a and 11a services. After considering a few proposals, the Vestry voted to accept a bid that involved expanding our parking area by 6,930 feet. On Wednesday, they started and finished the job. Here are the pictures:
Because of this addition, we would like people to stop parking parallel to the cemetery. When people park there, it’s very hard for others cars to get in and out. Further, we’ve had an incident where someone hit the fence around the cemetery. This extended parking area will hopefully prevent these difficulties in the future.
As always, we should think our Vestry for their work in ensuring the well being of St. Paul’s! And, of course, it’s important to say thank you to all our parishioners for making St. Paul’s such a wonderful place.
Blessings,
Fr. Wesley
The Scholarship Fund is Accepting Donations
Greetings, members of St Paul’s.
It’s that time of year again. One of my favorite programs here at St Paul’s is our presentation of scholarships to aspiring students. And once again, the Scholarship Committee is making a special plea for donations to the Scholarship Fund. Our first presentations were for $800 per student and, each year, your generosity has allowed us to increase that amount, up to $1500 last year. Our coffers are low right now and we would very much like to award at least that amount again this year. All applicants who meet the qualifications will receive an award. The amount will be the total in the fund divided by the number of qualified applicants. We do not try to carry over any large amount in the fund from year to year. Your generosity in the past has been amazing and the committee thanks you for that. Donation envelopes are in the pews and the back of the church as well as in the administrative office.
This year, applications are due on July 21st and presentations will be made on Sunday, August 4th. Applicants must be a member of the congregation or immediate family member, have a “B” average for their last completed semester, be actively involved in volunteer work for their community, and have a letter of recommendation from their pastor at whatever church they regularly attend. Again I remind you that application forms are available in the back of the church and in the administrative office.
Please feel free to contact me or Fr Wes if you have any questions. Thanks again for your support and may God bless us all.
-Henry Riser, Chair of the Scholarship Committee
George Herbert Poetry Night: June 13 at 7p
George Herbert (1593-1633) was a Welsh-born English poet, orator, and Anglican priest. He is best known for his collection of religious poems, "The Temple," which was published posthumously in 1633. Herbert's poetry is characterized by its deep spiritual devotion, intricate metaphors, and innovative use of form. He is considered one of the major metaphysical poets, a group that includes John Donne and Andrew Marvell, known for their intellectual exploration of religious and philosophical themes. Herbert's poems often grapple with questions of faith, doubt, and the relationship between the individual and the divine. His work has had a profound influence on subsequent generations of poets, and he is widely regarded as one of the most important devotional poets in the English language. We will be hosting an event to honor his poetry. This event will be held Thursday, June 13 at 7p. Weather permitting, it will be in the garden, but if we need to move it inside, we will be in the Annex.Those who come are welcome to bring their favorite Herbert poem with them and we will read it out loud. If you would like to bring a poem, click the button below and you’ll find a Google Sheet where you can sign up to bring a poem.
For a taste of his poetry, check out his poem “The Altar”:
A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,
Made of a heart and cemented with tears:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workman's tool hath touch'd the same.
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow'r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy name:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.