Dennis Douglas
Dennis Douglas, our music director, organist and choir director is from Madison, Wisconsin. He was born in Tampa and graduated from Wartburg College, an ELCA college in Waverly, Iowa. He introduces many wonderful hymns in our ELW hymnal, uses our musical talents, and sings with the children during Sunday School hour. He hopes to begin a handbell choir in the near future.

Dennis works to keep our services new and fresh, while keeping our rich Lutheran traditions alive and strong.
Sunday Worship Service at 10:30 a.m.
Adult Forum at 9:15 a.m.

Music Note

March 2017

Join us Sunday March 26 at 4 pm for Hymn Singing. Find out more here: https://stpaultampa.org/hymn-singing-universal-catalyst-racial-healing-sunday-march-26-4-pm-free-event/

 

 

https://stpaultampa.org/hymn-singing-universal-catalyst-racial-healing-sunday-march-26-4-pm-free-event/

Bless now, O God, the journey that all your people make, the path through noise and silence, the way of give and take. The trail is found in desert, and winds the mountain round, then leads beside still waters, the road where faith is found. (ELW326, st. 1)
As we begin our forty day journey this season of lent, it is time to reflect. It is time to create new and clean hearts. Time to grow in our faith. Time to remember the poor. So, take time to pray and reflect. As we sing every Sunday during Lent, it is time to “return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love”. May your Lenten journey be a holy and blessed one.

Many thanks to our musicians for their participation and sharing their time and talents with us: Miles Cameron, Gabriel Morgan, Hilde Reno, Michael Brannan, Jeanine Romano, and Adrian Snow (cantors); Miles Cameron (piano & flute); Curt Fritz (guitar). Special thanks to our choir for their dedication and gifts of time and talent.
Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone be the glory),
Dennis

October 2016

We are honored to host a concert that will feature a brass quintet from the United States Air Force Brass Band! The concert will be on Friday, October 21st at 7:00 pm. If you were here for the USAF Brass con-cert in early 2015, you know what we mean when we say you don’t want to miss this one! The concert is FREE and open to the public. Invite your friends, family and neighbors to what will be an awesome evening of wonderful music!

The following comes from the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM), a professional organization that I belong to. This particular paragraph that I’m sharing with you speaks clearly about what Lutheran church musicians are called to do. Lutheran church musicians proclaim.

We proclaim God’s Word, Jesus Christ, in worship, through music. We are shaped by the Lutheran tradition as a confessing movement in the church catholic, and are rooted and guided by the western catholic musical and liturgical tradition. We are also responsive to our local contexts and cultures. We simultaneously care for our congregations’ local musical heritage and tradition while being bridge builders to the ever-emerging songs of the church. We delight in the riches from our past, as well as the gems in our new songs. We incorporate global music, the music of many nations and cultures, into worship. In short, we have a love of the past, a passion for the present, and excitement for the future.

Choir rehearsals are in full swing, and we need YOUR voice. It’s not too late to join us! Rehearsals are Wednesday evenings from 7pm – 8:30pm in the sanctuary. We would love to have you join us. Want more information? Speak to any
choir member or to me. Everyone is welcome!

Many thanks to our musicians for their participation and sharing their time and talents with us: Gabriel Morgan, Hilde Reno, Michael Brannan, Jeanine Romano, and Adrian Snow (cantors).
Soli Deo Gloria
Dennis

May

Psalms are for singing! While their meaning can certainly be conveyed by speaking them, this ancient poetry is inherently musical. The song of the Christian assembly has its roots in the psalms of the Hebrew people. Jesus’ own prayer relied on the psalms, and Martin Luther considered the psalms a summary of all scripture. The psalms proclaim hope and faith, yet they also make room for deep distress and questioning. On any given Sunday, take a close look at the psalm for the day in your bulletin before the start of the service. The poetry of the psalms is beautiful, made even more lovely by our singing them. In our hymnal, the numbering of the hymns actually starts with Psalm 1, so the first 150 hymns are actually psalms. We sing the psalms with using a variety of different settings. Often times, we sing them using psalm tones. Sometimes, the choir will sing them using a choral setting. Once in a while, we’ll use a paraphrase of the psalm set to a hymn or other song.

Pentecost Sunday is the 50th day of Easter, and falls on May 15th this year. Be sure to wear something red! Plan on attending a festive service (it is considered the birthday of the Church, after all!) and as is our custom, we will use a the festival setting of the liturgy.

Many thanks to our musicians for their participation and sharing their time and talents with us: Hilde Reno, Michael Brannan, Jeanine Romano, and Adrian Snow (cantors); and our Choir for their dedication, wonderful spirit, and music.

Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone be the glory),

Dennis

Worship/Altar Guild

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

As you read this we have already celebrated our joyous Easter

Sunday service! And what a celebration it was! Communion was done by Intinction in consideration for our visitors who may have physical limitations and are unable to climb the stairs.

Our Lenten Wednesday night supper and services were well attended. It was wonderful to Journey with Jesus. Thank you to all who participated and as always to Pastor for his inspiring messages.

Palm Sunday we gathered under the beautiful oak tree to start service and then processed in carrying palm fronds big and small and placed them at the altar. What a beautiful sight it was!

Maundy Thursday was at St. Paul this year and we reserved the first row of pews on each side for members to come up and receive the Absolution as well as communion.

Miles Cameron will hold a piano recital on May 1st at 4:00 pm at St. Paul as a fundraiser as well as a re-dedication of our church building. Proceeds will go to The Well! Plan on staying after for a Garden Party!!

Some may have noticed that the communion trays have not been on the Altar. They will be placed on a table behind the Altar leaving the Chalice as the focal point in the center.

Happily we have had three baptisms in the last few weeks. We welcome them into our family. However it brought up the question of picture taking during the baptism. It was decided that it is acceptable with a few exceptions: Please No Flash, No Shutter Sound, and Limited Movement.

I look forward to sharing the Easter season with all of you!

Patty Tolzman

Music Notes

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Easter joy to each of you. The season of Easter lasts 50 days, ending on the Pentecost Sunday. We sing joyful “alleluias” again. You’ll notice a change in liturgical settings, as well as some of the spoken parts of the liturgy.

One of the things that makes our worship so vibrant is good congregational participation. This community of faith sings with gusto, and speaks the responses in the liturgy with enthusiasm and conviction, as we should.

Liturgy means “work of the people.” Your participation is important. It is something we do well.

Many thanks to our musicians for their participation and sharing their time and talents with us: Hilde Reno, Michael Brannan, Jeanine Romano, Adrian Snow, and Tina Fritz (cantors); Brad and Arlynn Haarer, Kerrenton Snow, and Ricky Crespo (bells); Sharrie Heibl and Pam Irwin (flute); and our Choir for their dedication, wonderful spirit, and music.

Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone be the glory),

Dennis

February

What an incredible night we had on Monday, January 25. We were privileged to host the Pacific Lutheran University Chorale in concert that evening, and if you were there, you know what a remarkable evening it was, in every way, for our church. The music was amazing – this group was on fire that night! Take a look at the church’s Facebook page for pictures and video clips.

Everyone that I spoke with who hosted students told me what a wonderful experience it was to have these gifted and ambitious young people stay with them. Getting this group here took a tremendous amount of work and planning, and without a lot of you stepping up and saying “yes,” it would not have happened. Special thanks to Pastor Meyer for encouragement to move forward, to Julie Williams and Hilde Reno for their work in planning the meal, to Thrivent for paying for the meal, to Curt Fritz, Harold Dolphin, Dave Stroupe, Liz Wilson and Lynn Bowman for set up and clean up, to Jeanine Romano for social media publicity, and to the Witness Ministry team for print media publicity.

Many thanks to EVERYONE who hosted students – some of you hosted 4 and 5 students (we had to house 42 students)! And thanks to all of you who came to hear this extraordinary group! I’m sure that somewhere along the way I’ve missed a few names since many of you just jump in where needed. Know how much it was appreciated.

Our choir will be singing at Faith Lutheran on Transfiguration Sunday, February 7, and then at St. Paul for a festival service on this last Sunday before Lent. We will also be singing for the Vets at the James A. Haley VA Hospital later in February. We will announce which Sunday a week or two prior. Know that you are always welcome to join the choir. We rehearse Wednesday evenings, September through May at 7:30pm, though the start time may be a bit later during Lent since we have services both at Faith and St. Paul.

Many thanks to the musicians of St. Paul Lutheran Church for sharing their time and talents with us: Hilde Reno, Michael Brannan, Jeanine Romano, Adrian Snow, and Tina Fritz (cantors), and our Choir for their dedication, wonderful spirit, and music.

Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone be the glory),
Dennis

St. Paul Lutheran is a traditional liturgical church with an upbeat, energetic, exciting music program. The Psalm is sung with a cantor or choir and the congregation. Organ and piano music with the choir, along with flute, violin, and keyboard lead the worship service.

The word liturgy means “work of the people” – actively participating and responding in both prayer and music. And, that’s what St. Paul does well! Sunday worship includes a children’s sermon. The children participate by singing and playing the handbells.

Our Adult Choir rehearses on Wednesday 7:00 – 8:30pm. The summer is reserved for special music and monthly summer choir.

Healing Services are held the fifth Sunday of the month and include special prayers for the individual needs of the people.

Thanks to all who participate and assist with our St. Paul worship services: Assisting Ministers, acolytes, communion assistants, choir members, special musicians, cantors, ushers, greeters, Altar Guild, Worship Ministry, and those who bring refreshments.

Dennis Douglas, our organist and music director is asking for your favorite hymns.

You can email him at d.douglas2067@gmail.com or speak to him after church.

St. Paul Choir
Children’s Sermon

January 2016
Worship
Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a great holiday season! December was busy for sure…we had great Wednesday Advent services with wonderful dinners, beautiful messages of The Gifts of Advent, along with the Holden Evening Prayer and Christmas carol sing-a-longs at the end of each service.

Our Sundays in Advent were just as special. Christmas Eve was a beautiful candlelight service that began with the congregation singing Carols. It was wonderful to see the church full and all the candles lit while we sang Silent Night! Joy to the World was our final hymn and what a Joy it was to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

We will be removing the Christmas decorations on Saturday, January 9th, at 9:00 am — come join us!

Altar Guild
I am pleased to announce we have three teams once again for Altar Guild. Of course there’s always room for more — so please, if you’re interested contact one of us.

One of the first items of the Agenda for the new year is to have a wine tasting demonstration to determine a white wine we can agree on. More information to follow so keep an eye out for it.

Before we have time to catch our breath it will be Ash Wednesday (February 10th). The schedule of services will be printed in the February Epistle. I look forward to seeing everyone soon.

– Patty Tolzman