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Reverend's Reflections
Dear People of God at St. Luke's,
This fall, out of the feedback and planning that started as Renewal Works and has been renamed for our purposes Tending Our Roots, we have been hearing about and discussing our Anglican heritage: our history, our unique spirituality, and resources, specifically the Book of Common Prayer.
Here's another piece:
All Christian faiths affirm that Jesus was the Word Incarnate (before Bethlehem he is referred to as the Word, God the Son. We believe that his crucifixion accomplished something only he could do and that our claiming his cross in our lives changes us. We affirm that he rose again from the dead three days later, the Resurrection. After that he returned to his Father and the Holy Spirit descended.
Each flavor, version of Christianity holds up different pieces of that story as more central, the prism through which the rest of the faith is understood, without taking away the importance of the other basic pieces: Incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, Pentecost.
So one of the easiest examples: Pentecostalists believe in the events of Jesus' life, but the gifts of the Holy Spirit are paramount.
Protestants of the Baptist, conservative Methodists and Presbyterians: The empty cross-no body/corpus of Jesus. The cross has a huge place in their theology, but the Resurrection takes precedence.
Roman Catholics: the crucifix-cross with Jesus on the cross-mirrors the centrality of the cross, re-enacted in each Mass. At least Protestants, will stereotype: 'we are
Easter people and Roman Catholics are Good Friday people." Not a fair or accurate summation, but touches on an underlying weighting of theological emphasis.
So what about us, Anglicans/Episcopalians? We share the emphasis of Eastern Orthodoxy on the Incarnation. God manifests in God's creation, the everyday people and things and events of life.This is behind our emphasis on the three-legged footstool of reason, scripture and tradition as our authorities. The Word of God is Jesus, not the Bible, although we affirm that the Holy Scriptures contain all needed for salvation.
The follow through to this shapes our spirituality. We celebrate the sacraments of the early Church-Baptism and Eucharist. Lex orandi, lex credenda, praying shapes believing, is foundational for us: what we do in action, in the flesh, incarnationally, is where we meet God and show flashes and signs of the Kingdom of God. In the Incarnation we believe that by taking on flesh-the material world-all of creation is raised up.
So you are holy and called to a holy life. The stuff of our lives are gifts to us. You can meet the movement of God in unforeseen ways.
Yours in Christ,
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Church School News
We are having an amazing time in church school this year! The kids have really enjoyed the gathering time with different adults from our congregation sharing a story from the Bible at 9:45, followed by games, activities, and crafts organized by our outstanding church school teachers. We are so excited and inspired by the enthusiasm and fellowship this new format has created. Please consider, if you haven't already, coming in to share a story with the children. It is truly special.
Veteran's Day is coming up soon, and we will be doing a special craft activity with all the children on November 6, which will be used at a special Remembrance Service on Veteran's Day. Please come and enjoy this time to be creative and show our veterans how much they are appreciated by our community.
Teen Meeting: Sunday, November 13 at 11:30 AM
Wish List: We are in need of a piano cover for the piano located in Dutton Hall.
Can't wait to see you all on Sunday!
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Confirmation Class
A huge thanks to Fr. Michael J. Marrone, Jr. for preparing six of our youth for Confirmation. Congratulations to Maddy Foley, Matt Foley, Emily McKerrow, Eliza McKerrow, Danny Stratton and Lucy Smith. See
Confirmation photos.
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The Gift Baskets Are Ready!
Thanks to the many generous offerings and talented hands of our St. Luke's family, we are ready for the Harvest Fair! Parishioners may select and tag baskets once they are priced and set up on Thursday. Once tagged, we consider them sold, so chose carefully! If you cannot "pre-buy", shop early on fair day! Though there be fewer in number, each is uniquely presented and will sell quickly. We hope you find just the one you are looking for!
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The Table Thanks You!
Thanks to the great team work at Main Spring, Brockton on Saturday, Oct. 29th. If you'd like to help us continue this work next year, please call Joan Powers at 781-545-9650. If we don't have enough interest, we will have to tell them, we can no longer serve Main Spring.
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Noticing the Lazarus Outside Our Door
In early October we heard the Gospel parable of the rich man who ignored Lazarus the beggar who sat outside the rich man's house. I asked that we take the following week to see the Lazaruses of our own lives; I'd collect the needs noticed on the following Sunday, and then we'd let people of the congregation vote on which needs/projects seemed to be most important-or maybe more fittingly-where the Spirit might be drawing our attention. I did all of this with a bit of apprehension; some of our repeating, regular outreach projects depend heavily on older members of the church who are 'the regulars.' Our serving lunch at Fr. Bills in Brockton 5 times a year may have to end if we can't draw from a deeper roster of volunteers. So my prayer is that any of the following three projects which rose to the top might interest people not otherwise committed to the outreach work of the parish. In no particular order, the three areas of need:
1. Care of our seniors at St. Luke's. In general it would mean a group of parishioners who would assist those living at home but with physical challenges- changing light bulbs for example, or shoveling a walk, I'm keenly aware that such groups exist in both First Trinitarian Church and First Baptist in the form of men's groups. No reason for us to make it male-only at St. Luke's. To put this into place what is needed: one or two coordinators to approach possible members, help define what the group would be able to offer and not, and work out a way to communicate with the seniors in need and the members of the helping group. It could be as simple as arranging dump runs once a week for someone.
2. Backpacks filled with school supplies, to be distributed by a Scituate resident who has taken this on as well as rehabbing bicycles and shipping them to places such as Indian reservations or community centers throughout the US. This could be a one-time effort (or once a year effort) and tied to the Giving Tree we have each Advent. Coordinators needed.
3. The equivalent of the Appalachian Service Project for high school students, but local: Scituate Service Project. This again would join interested parishioners (high school students and adult helpers) with efforts already underway in Scituate to start the SSP. First need would be to be in contact with those already starting to plan and figure out what help is needed and what we might do to meet those needs.
Looking forward to seeing how these all might take on life in our community.
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Baptisms
Congratulations to Catherine & Andrew Boyle for the Baptism of Kennedy Catherine Boyle this past month and welcome to St. Luke's!
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Special Day of Thanksgiving
On Sunday, November 20th at St. Luke's, we will be celebrating the ministries of Ann Johnson and Alice Dana who have blessed us with their unique gifts. Ann has taught the 7-9th grade class for decades and Alice has sung in the choir since she arrived in Scituate and before that in Episcopal choirs since childhood. This will be our time to show how much we appreciate them during the service and at the reception to follow.
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Stewardship 2017
Please help us reach 100 pledges totaling $200,000!
The 2017 Stewardship drive begins in November. Soon you will see pledge sheets in the pews, in the narthex and also on our website. During the pledge drive we ask that all members make a financial commitment to St. Luke's for the next year; a commitment that is vitally important. Please fill out the pledge sheet and return it to the church office as soon as you can. We have no magical source of funds; we need financial support from all our parishioners to help us with our mission.
A Stewardship thought for your consideration:
Have you ever heard anyone say: "My church is always asking for money. I wish I could belong to a church that never needed any money."
Surely they don't mean that. Any church that is alive needs money. Only dead churches do not call on their members for support. If anyone should accuse your church of always needing and calling for money, regard it as a compliment. Invite this person to rejoice with you that you both belong to something that is living and productive for Jesus Christ rather than a dead, stagnant organization from which glory of Christ has departed.
Please pledge at your earliest convenience to support our LIVING church so we can wrap up the 2017 pledge drive quickly.
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Vestry Minutes
You can now find minutes from Vestry meetings starting with September's and going forward, on
St. Luke's webpage, under Our Community, Vestry.
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Reverse Advent Calendar Project
Not an original project but one perhaps worth adopting at St. Luke's. The idea would be to have a box or basket at home. Instead of opening up a window in a calendar each day in December, it would mean putting an item each day into the designated basket or box, starting with December 1, leading up to Christmas. In gathering of Advent collections could be at the Christmas eve services. This would take some commitment and steady attention: it would not mean going to the grocery store each Saturday, picking up 7 items and then just putting them all into the box in one fell swoop. This would mean an intentional inclusion of the household in saying basically: "here is our offering for today" 24 days in a row. Look closer to December in the Narthex for a short prayer ritual to use each day as you put in the item.
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Community Dinner- Nov. 27th
Please join us on Sunday, November 27th at 5 pm for a pork dinner with roasted potatoes. See the sign up sheets in the narthex. Thank you!
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