Please bring new or gently used books for elementary-age children — or cash to purchase them — to St. Paul’s between April 22 and 29. These will be given to MacGregor elementary students to help them keep up with their reading over the summer.

Students lose three months of reading progress when they don’t read over the summer. Many MacGregor students don’t have books at home. Those we collect will help them keep up with their reading over the summer.

According to the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, reading below expected third grade levels is highly correlated to future academic challenges as well as dropout, incarceration, and poverty rates.

St. Paul's Primetimers will tour St. Martin’s Episcopal Church on Wednesday, April 25, also partaking of an organ recital and lunch at Cafe St. Martin. Located in near-Memorial, St. Martin’s current sanctuary was constructed in 2004 and is the largest Episcopal church in the United States.

For more about St. Martin’s: www.stmartins episcopal.org

RSVP required by April 23 to nina@stpaulshouston.org or 713-528-0527 x 113. Bus leaves church at 10 am, returning at approximately 2:30 pm.

Our popular Friday-night program for children 4 months to 5th grade includes a full schedule of games, crafts, play, snacks and supervised activities from 6 to 10:30 p.m. while parents enjoy an evening on their own. The cost is $25/child/night ($5/each additional sibling).  A light supper is served around 6:30. During December, this activity becomes Kids Day Out.

Kids Night/Day Out is available only for families of St. Paul’s Church and School. Reservations, which are required due to limited space and staff, are accepted for each date up to two weeks in advance. To reserve your child’s place, please use this link.

For questions or special needs, please contact Ellen Edwards via eedwards@stpaulshouston.org.

 Pulitzer-prize winning author Lawrence Wright presents his latest book, God Save Texas. Monday, April 30, at 7 pm in the Sanctuary.

This Brazos Bookstore event is in partnership with Texas Monthly. Wright will be in conversation with Mimi Swartz, Executive Editor.

To purchase tickets, please go to Brazos Bookstore at 2421  Bissonnet or on line.

On May 3, women of The Sisterhood of Salaam/Shalom will discuss with the Ordinary Life Women (OLW) the practice of fasting in the Muslim and Jewish faiths. 

“We will think about the values that fasting can offer our spiritual life — more than just ‘following the rules’ of faith,” said Barbara Buckner, who planned the program. “You will be enriched by those who find themselves closer to God during Ramadan and the holy days of the Jewish faith.”

OLW meets first Thursdays at noon, this month in Fondren Lounge. All women of all faiths are welcome. Bring a salad large enough for sharing.
 

A Day of Peace and Play
Saturday, May 5, 10 am–4 pm

Multigenerational event with sessions for adults and children ages 5+. Sessions on spiritual practices utilizing creative writing, art, and dance. Through a variety of practices, we will address our much overlooked needs for discovery, curiosity, creativity, and play.

10 am-1 pm
Communication, Longing, Creativity - Participants discover their longings and how they can be expressed

1-1:45 pm
Lunch

1:45-2:30 pm
Communication, Community, Interdependence - Participants share their discoveries and create something together

2:30-4 pm
Creative Movement - embodying grace, being in the flow, receiving grace, led by Lydia Hance of Frame Dance

Open for individuals and families of all ages. Cost: $25/person or $40/family. Enriched programming for childcare for ages 4 and under provided.

> RSVP online

Many a family has been shattered during the journey of a loved one’s death. Some of the hurt will never go away, but parts of the journey can be made much easier to bear. 
The St. Paul’s Foundation and Congregational Care team will co-sponsor a workshop on Sunday, May 6, about how to start a family conversation about the many crucial decisions surrounding death, a conversation that invites each family member to voice personal wishes concerning these decisions. 

A panel of individuals qualified through professional expertise and/ or personal experience will provide guidance to spiritual, medical, legal, and housing questions that arise out of these conversations. The panelists, moderated by Rev. Rick Goodrich, Executive Director of St. Paul’s Foundation, will include:

• Dr. Charles Millikan. Director of Spiritual Care and Education Houston Methodist Hospital
• Richard Spaw. Chair, St. Paul’s Congregational Care Team 
• Rev. Andrew Wolfe. Pastor for Congregational Care

Each family attending will receive a Planning Guide for End of Life Issues. It provides material designed to continue the conversation begun during this workshop. Appendices include:

• Living Will: Directive to Physicians and Family
• Medical Power of Attorney 
• Statutory Durable Power of Attorney
• HIPPA Authorization Form.

The workshop will be Sunday, May 6, from 12:15 to 3 p.m. in the Fellers Room (S-312). Lunch will be provided, and childcare will be available.

For more information about the workshop or End of Life concerns, stop by the Plaza on Sunday mornings, starting April 8, or contact Rev. Goodrich via rgoodrich@stpaulshouston.org, or the Foundation via foundation@stpaulshouston.org, or the church at 713-528-0527.

Rev. Dr. Jaime Clark-Soles, St. Paul’s Spring 2018 Theologian-in-Residence, will present a free public lecture — Ars Moriendi: The Art of Dying — on Monday, May 7.

The lecture begins at noon; lunch will be provided at 11:30. Donations accepted.

Clark-Soles is a professor of New Testament and an Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.

> RSVP online

The book for discussion May 15 is My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.

Chapter One Book Group is open to anyone who enjoys reading and discussing a wide variety of books. The group meets the third Tuesday of the month at 7 pm in J-202.

The book for discussion at the next meeting, June 19, will be Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill.

To be added to the email list for group notifications, please contact Linda Harmes at hblinda@hibit.com.

National Book Award winning and best-selling author Jesmyn Ward presents her latest book --  Sing, Unburied, Sing -- now available in paperback. Wednesday, May 16, at 7  pm in the Sanctuary.

To purchase tickets, please go to Brazos Book Store online or at 2421 Bissonnet.

Booker-award-wining author Michael Ondjaate for The English Patient presents  his latest book, Warlight, at St. Paul's in the Sanctuary on Wednesday, May 23.

To purchase tickets, please go to Brazos Book Store on line or at 2421 Bissonnet.

More details and sign up here.