Saturday, December 1, 2007

The Advent of our new Parish Blog

Hello, and welcome to the St. Paul's Parish Blog! I am honored to be writing the first of many entries here by parishioners and others who are close to St. Paul's. Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to comment!

Why a Blog?
The internet is becoming more and more a part of the daily lives of those of us who attend St. Paul's, and of the people who visit us looking for a new parish home. This blog is intended for both. For parishioners it is my hope that this will be a place for conversation and expression for us. I will be asking St. Paul's folks to speak up here - from posting updates and reviews on important developments and happenings in the parish to personal reflections about spirituality, worship, and our life together.

The other purpose of this blog is to more fully express the voices of our parishioners on the web. This is linked to our homepage, and visitors to our website and our parish will be able to click their way here to experience in more detail what is important to us, what issues we're thinking and writing about, and hopefully get a better idea of who we are.

But this is just the beginning! I think there's room for this forum to go in many directions, and I'm really curious to see what happens!

Advent on the Internet
All during Advent I'll be posting reflections on the season by St. Paul's folks, and links to other Advent related posts or tools that I find in my wanderings around the internet. I'll start with this:

Diocese of Washington Online Advent Calendar: I found this via the Episcopal Cafe, which is a great starting place for those of you who are curious about what's out there for Episcopalians in terms of blogs and other internet resources related to Episcopal Spirituality and life. The Advent calendar is quite wonderful, with a new page becoming available every day that has links to meditations, an Advent Podcast, giving opportunities, and a picture of pieces from the creché exhibit at the National Cathedral.

I think I'm going to sign off on this inaugural post! Welcome to our blog, and please check back soon for more!

-Alissa Newton, Junior Warden.

3 comments:

suefox said...

Congrats on the new webpage and this blog.
On this 1st Sunday in Advent I sit in Iowa, 2 hours ahead of you looking out my window and ground covered with frozen snow and ice!
Since moving here in June I have church hopped and shopped, knowing I would not find another St. Paul's here. I have experienced God's presence, but never in the consistent way I did with you all.
Thanks for the webpage, the sermons...ways to stay connected.

As I read the webpage I am warmed and commend the community that is St. Paul's. During this advent time I pray you continue to do what you do so well---embrace the mystery as you feel, listen, smell, taste and see the presence of God.

Blessings,sue

Catherine said...

A truly inviting website and presence for St Paul's. The visuals are moving and inspiring as well as the new layout. St Paul's will continue to know blessing by living the Gospel and reaching all in your community as well as on the Web.

Peace to all in this season of waiting...

The Rev Catherine Windsor
Episcopal chaplain in Oregon

Anonymous said...

I am so grateful we have this forum for all of us to know one another better. Thanks to all who made this happen. I'm looking forward to journeying futher up and further in with all of you.
Shelly H.