Around the Parish
March 2019
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Looking Toward Lent
We begin our Lenten observance in just a few days with Wednesday's ashes. I have learned over the years that Lent is another of the endless stream of gifts that our gracious Lord showers upon us for the welfare of our souls. The challenge for us is how best to enter in and claim the grace that our loving God offers. A good and fitting beginning is to attend one of our Ash Wednesday services - Noon and 6:00 pm.
Remember that the term, "Lent", comes from a Middle English word for springtime. It is intended as a time of renewal and reawakening for us, just like the season of spring is for the natural world.
May the love of our Lord Jesus Christ fill, renew and awaken our hearts, and give us all a good and holy Lent.
Fr. Rusty+
Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. (BCP pages 264-265)
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Dear St Luke's brothers and sisters,
I would like to thank everyone that has signed up for a committee. Also, please encourage others who might not have signed up to do so as well.
Organizing these committees is vital for us to prepare for our new rector. We are off to a great start, but we have much more work ahead of us.
May Christ be with us all as we continue our journey of stewardship and discipleship.
Yours in Christ,
Patrick Robinson
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Church Committees - Reminder: Call the church office if you would like to serve
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Buildings and Grounds - Joe Ruffer
Christian Education - Connie Jo Williams
Communications - Robin Roberts
Evangelism - Bob Will
Fellowship/Programs - Sherry Poole
Hospitality/Transition - Patrick Robinson
Outreach - Marilyn Fisher
Pastoral Care - Jennie Ori
Stewardship - David Poole
Worship - Sue Holmes
Youth - Amber Martenstein, Catriena Daniel
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Celebrate the end of the Mardi Gras season with an Episcopal Tradition
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Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner
Tuesday, March 5th
6:00 p.m.
Activities Room
$10 per adult, $5 per child, $25 per family
Includes pancakes and sausage (or a non-pancake option—red beans and rice), coffee, tea, or orange juice. Please purchase tickets in advance on Sunday, March 3rd in the Narthex or contact Wendy in the church office. All proceeds to benefit St. Luke’s Outreach projects.
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Ash Wednesday
Lent Begins
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Imposition of Ashes and Holy Eucharist
March 6th
Noon and 6:00 pm
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Healing Service and Holy Eucharist
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Every Wednesday in Lent beginning March 13th. 12 Noon in the Miles Chapel.
Lunch to follow. See below.
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Wednesdays in Lent and Holy Week
Begins March 13th, immediately following the noon Healing Service.
Soup, bread, tea, water and coffee
$10 per person, proceeds benefit Outreach projects.
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Church Fellowship Luncheon
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Sunday, March 10th
St. Luke’s Hall
Cost is FREE!
The Yummy menu:
Pecan smoked pork ribs
Pecan smoked Boston butt
Conecuh smoked sausage
Baked Beans
"As near as we can make it" Cock of the Walk coleslaw
Hawaiian sweet rolls
Bourbon bread pudding
Cheesecake cupcakes
Assorted other baked goods
Sweet and not-so-sweet tea
Thank you to Chip Conklin for putting all of this together!
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The next weekend for hosting the women of the Safe Haven program will be March 16th - 17th. We need lots of help! Please contact the church office, 666-2990, or Connie Jo Williams, 661-2476, if you are willing to serve. Thank you!
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Church Yard Sale and Kids' Bake Sale
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Saturday, March 23, 8am to 12 Noon at St. Luke's
All proceeds will go to the ministries of the parish
Start spring cleaning now and drop your items by the church. Volunteers are needed. Please call Tania Collins,704-577-1054, or Wendy in the church office, 666-2990. We will also have a kids’ bake sale that morning. Please let us know if your child would like to participate.
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Your Discernment Committee's search for a new Rector for St. Luke's continues with progress daily. Our church profile has been posted on the Diocesan website for potential candidates to see us. We expect much interest soon.
Canon Massey Gentry, the diocese's Canon of the Ordinary, who is responsible for deployment, and our guide, has provided the committee with resumes of six candidates. This past Sunday those resumes were reviewed and discussed. Three of them looked promising, and interviews are being scheduled with them to get a more in-depth understanding of their qualifications and their personalities.
We will continue to seek applicants who fit our Rector profile. Once we have determined that these candidates would be acceptable, we will visit their websites, social media sites, and church websites to get a better feel for the candidates.
Since preaching is an important part of their role at St. Luke's, we will also request recorded sermons from each of them .
After these tasks are completed, we will schedule visits to those priests' parishes to observe them in action in a Sunday service.
More to come.
Ray Thompson
Discernment Committee
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Daylight Saving Time Begins
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On Sunday, March 10th "Spring" your clocks forward one hour!
(Or, do it Saturday night before bed, so you do not miss church!)
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Outreach
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
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What is Outreach?
What some denominations call “mission work”, we Episcopalians call outreach. To paraphrase our Bishop, outreach means taking church outside the walls and into the world. It is food for the hungry, clean water for the thirsty, shelter for the homeless, freedom for the oppressed, dignity for the downtrodden, and so much more. It is a way of living and transforming lives—our own lives as well as the lives of others. Outreach is also a way of sharing the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, by loving others as Christ has loved us. When we commit to outreach, we are literally God’s heart and hands in the world. St. Luke’s has a few ongoing outreach projects, but we can, and should, do more. The possibilities are endless. As Rev. Wallace Davis says in his Volunteers of American radio spots, “There are no limits to caring.”
Upcoming outreach events.
The Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner on Tuesday, March 5 is a fundraiser for outreach. Enjoy dinner and fellowship while contributing to a good cause. On Sunday March 10 Pratt Patterson, Executive Director of Wilmer Hall, will be at St. Luke’s to tell us about Wilmer Hall, its mission and the many services it provides for children and adults in our community. On March 16 and 17, St. Luke’s will host a Safe Haven weekend for the women of McKemie Place, Mobile’s homeless shelter for single women.
More to come.
The newly-revived Outreach Committee will work to identify needs and adopt projects to improve the lives of our brothers and sisters in the neighborhood, the city, the nation and the world. In addition to the events coming up in March, be on the lookout for opportunities for you to transform and to be transformed. Please contact Marilyn Fisher for more information,
marifish@me.com.
Marilyn Fisher, Chair, Outreach Committee
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This Lent we will be highlighting outreach opportunities on Sundays.
Pratt Paterson, Director of Wilmer Hall Children's Home, will be with us at the 10:00 am service on March 10th.
Mr. Eugene Johnston, Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), will be with us Sunday, March 31st at both services.
It is particularly appropriate during the season of Lent to reach out into the world as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. Please plan to hear both of these presentations and to consider these ministries as your own.
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Wilmer Hall Children's Home
Pratt Paterson, Director
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Wilmer Hall Mission
: The mission of Wilmer Hall Children’s Home is to provide a safe home and educational resources for children and young adults in need due to poverty, abuse, neglect, and homelessness. We serve all children and young adults without regard to race, ethnicity, or religion.
Wilmer Hall extends warm and nurturing care to every child and young adult in its care, ensuring they are surrounded by people who love and support them. Our goal is to help young people succeed in four areas: physical health, emotional stability, academic achievement, and spiritual maturity.
Wilmer Hall serves children and young adults through five programs: the Residential Living Program, the Transitional Living Program, the Transitional Family Program, the on-campus Education Program, and the Community-Based Education Program.
Wilmer Hall Prayer
: Almighty God, our heavenly Father, whose Son Jesus welcomed and blessed children with love: We give you thanks and praise for this Children’s Home, for the founders, for all who have served and supported this Home through the years, and for all who have found love and family in this Home. In the faith of our founders, we spread before you our prayers for all who live within the care of Wilmer Hall and for those who will do so in years beyond us. Raise up, we pray, in every generation, faithful people to support and sustain this Home following the way of our Savior Jesus Christ with whom we are bound in the best of bonds. Amen.
Pratt Paterson:
Pratt Paterson serves as the Executive Director of Wilmer Hall. He has worked through and with organizations of the Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Sewanee, Tennessee, and Mobile since 1999. He also worked with Father Rusty at St. Mary’s on the Highlands in Birmingham from 1999-2002 as youth minister. Pratt, a graduate of the University of Alabama, lives on the Wilmer Hall campus with his wife Allison, a teacher, and their twin 13 year old children.
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Diocesan Convention Recap
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Diocesan Convention #48, Graciously hosted by St. James, Fairhope
(February 14-16, 2019)
The emphasis of the Convention was inclusiveness. There were several homilies throughout the three days that gave witness to this in the lives of individuals within our diocese. It was pleasing to know that the abbreviated mission statement of St. Luke’s dovetails with the diocesan message - (“Whoever you are, wherever you are on your journey of faith, there’s a place for you at St. Luke’s”).
There were numerous booths that pointed to ways we can get involved in diocesan outreach as well as community outreach. Raise the Roof, which helps make intercity homes in Mobile habitable; Kairos, a ministry to the region’s imprisoned people; Freedom schools that offer mentoring to children and school sessions in the summer so they don’t relapse in their learning; the Commission on Affirmative Aging which will have a workshop on 21 September – with an emphasis on those who live with dementia; racial reconciliation – with several events planned to enhance and encourage positive dialogue on the issue; youth ministry – highlighting activities like the acolyte gathering earlier this year and the lock - in that took place during the Convention along with a mission trip (21-27 July) to Houston to help with the ongoing recovery of the area (the Panhandle is not yet ready to support projects that are suitable to 14-18 year-olds). This will come soon.
The most interesting business meetings included a frank discussion of the diocesan budget on the first day, and a lively discussion of inclusion of 16 to 19 year old parishioners in the “adult” life of the Diocese. The Diocese is now required to give 15% of it's revenues to the National Church. Churches within the Diocese have been increasing their giving to the Diocese, but that giving, while still going up, is flattening out and risks plateauing. As a result, instead of 3 or 4 new ventures, the Diocese will only have one new initiative. The Diocese is considering requiring churches to give 10% instead of requesting that amount. Right now, the average giving to the Diocese is 8.1%. (St. Luke's for 2019 has pledged not quite 6%). On the third day, it was disclosed that work is well underway to develop programs of core competencies for confirmands (both youth and adult). A resolution was passed that will allow one youth from each of the 5 Convocations within the Diocese to be sent to Convention with full voting rights. This contingency of youth will be the equivalent of the number of delegates from a very large church (five). During the discussion, however, it was pointed out that churches need to work on getting their youth (16 – 19 years) involved in the lay administration of the parish.
Stuart Richeson, St. James, Monroeville and June Linke, Christ Church, Pensacola were elected as lay members of the Bishop’s Standing Committee. The Rev. Molly Payne-Hardin, Grace and St. Thomas, Panama City Beach was elected to be the new clergy representative.
St. Luke's delegates were: Jennie Ori, Patrick Robinson, Connie Jo Williams, Ray Thompson. Diane Engels, alternate.
Submitted By: Jennie Ori, Delegate at the Convention
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Would you like to receive the Diocesan newsletter? If so, send an email to:
communications@diocgc.org
, and ask to be added to their email list.
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This postcard is being distributed to the Neighborhoods around the church over the next couple of weeks. Thank you to the Hardy family for distributing them. This is part of what the new Evangelism committee is doing.
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It's time to register for Summer camp at Beckwith!
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Join us as we begin our 47th year of offering a tradition of recreation, spiritual growth, and memory-filled summers through Summer Camp. Early registration discount applies through March 31st. Please go to www.beckwithal.com to register.
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"Why wouldn't you want to go to Cursillo."
Cursillo is a beautiful spiritual weekend filled with all the best things in life: love, joy, peace, healing, and so much fun.” (
https://www.coastalpilgrims.com
). You will meet people from all over the diocese and receive inspiration for your journey in evangelism.
The next opportunity is Cursillo #164 - May 9 - 12, 2019, at beautiful Camp Beckwith! Take a look at the Cursillo website or the brochures on the table near the back doors. Call Patricia Ramage with questions (251-654-1217).
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March 3
Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-43
March 10
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2,9-16
Romans 10:8-13
Luke 4:1-13
March 17
Genesis 15:1-12,17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35
March 24
Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9
March 31
Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3,11-32
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Have you seen these troublemakers around the church?
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March Birthdays and Anniversaries
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Birthdays
2 Stan Daniel
5 Cecil Byrd
6 Kacy Conklin
6 Abigail Krause
9 Claude Buerger
9 Sarah Leonard
9 Claude Buerger, IV
11 Monetta Noland
11 Chance Cooper
12 Addison Brewer
14 Betty Watts
16 Becky Schulte
18 Kristi Kadel
19 Sherry Poole
21 Kathy Thompson
24 Alison Akridge
25 Jim Easter
26 Glenn Darst
27 Virginia Midgette
Anniversaries
9 Sherman and Sandy Cherry
21 Michael and Joyce Ori
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