St. Luke’s Episcopal Church |
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Lifelines: News and updates for you from St. Luke's |
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Lots of new stuff this week:
- This weekend St. Luke's Sunday - wear red!
- Our faith formation book study begins on Sunday
- The Pledge Drive has begun
- A bunch of new opportunities to give and learn and get involved
- And much more. . .
Read on!
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I’m deeply grateful for everyone who attended the State of St. Luke’s presentation last Sunday. Thanks to everyone who helped prepare it and especially to Kit and Gary for presenting. We’re facing some big challenges—are all churches are these days—and I found it really uplifting to see how our community came together as we begin to discern how we’ll navigate these rough waters. Thank you.
Our work in navigating these challenges continues on the evening of Tuesday, November 1, for a listening session (more details soon). I hope you’ll join the vestry, wardens, and me that evening for conversation in groups, both small and large, about our reactions to the challenges we’re facing and ideas for how to move forward. The vestry has been working overtime on this and I’m excited to bring the whole congregation in. I can’t wait to hear what you all have to say!
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In an interview on his recent book, Subversive Witness,* pastor and professor Dominique DuBois Gilliard said something that caught me up short:
“The Western Church is enamored with a vision of reconciliation that says we can be beneficiaries of the resurrection without having to endure crucifixion. But the reality of the gospel is that death is necessary for new life to emerge. There are things that we have to die to, if we’re really going to ever become the interconnected Body of Christ that scripture calls us to be. Part of what we have to die to is this notion of comfort within our congregational spaces.”
Gilliard was speaking about the church’s complicity in racism and our desire to be comfortable instead of confronting the ugly truths that continue to affect our lives, interactions, and discipleship. God calls us unearth our own racist complicity—to pick up our crosses—in order that we might die to it and then to look to God for resurrection and reconciliation.
This is a specific and urgent incarnation of the work God is always calling us to: To disconnect from and die to our own comfort in order to reconnect to God’s resurrection life.
As I preached on Sunday, the changes unfolding in the American religious landscape, and also right here at St. Luke’s, demonstrate that God is in the midst of doing a new thing. That’s what caught me up short: God is inviting us—kicking us in the pants, really—to step out of our comfort and move into something new.
That work is hard as rock. It’s hard because moving away from the comfortable “way we’ve always done it” feels an awful lot like death. And it feels like death because it is death. God is calling us to die to what was in order that we might move forward into the light of God’s new creation. We pass through death—real death—knowing that waiting for us on the other side is renewed, transformed, abundant life.
Change isn’t ever easy, my friends. Letting go of our beloved, long-established habits and patterns is painful. Thanks be to God for giving us the example of Jesus, the grace to follow, and the promise of renewed life to come.
I’m really excited to be undertaking this work with all of you.
With love and hope,
Justin
* Gilliard was interviewed on the podcast “A Pastor and a Philosopher Walk into a Bar,” released on January 14, 2022. Audio and transcript available here. The quote begins at 1:00:30 and I edited it for clarity. Perhaps Subversive Witness would be a good book for us to read and reflect on together when we're finished with Do I Stay Christian?
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A new season of Sunday Morning Faith Formation |
Beginning this Sunday, October 16, our new faith formation series begins: Conversations on Do I Stay Christian? A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned. I found it to be an incredibly honest, thought-provoking, and hopeful read and I'm excited to read and discuss it with all of you.
Here's the schedule for our discussion:
___Oct 16 - Introduction through Chapter 5
___Oct 23 - Chs. 6 through 10
___Oct 30 - Chs. 11 through 15
___Nov 6 - All Saints Sunday (no book discussion)
___Nov 13 - Congregational conversation: Advent worship (no book discussion)
___Nov 20 - Chs. 16 through 20
___Nov 27 - Thanksgiving weekend (no book discussion)
___Dec 4 - Chs. 21 through 24
___Dec 11 - Chs. 25 through Afterward
Don't let the chapter counts scare you off---the whole volume is 228 pages, so each discussion covers about 35 pages. I spent two weeks reading it because I paused frequently to stop, think, and fill the margins with notes. If you don't have a copy yet, I'm happy to help you get one.
I'm really excited to talk about this book and I hope you are, too!
Justin
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Call or text: 612-618-3826
Email: revjustinc@gmail.com
Drop in Office Hours: Wednesdays, 12:30 to 3:00.
If you'd like a visit, communion, prayer, or just time to talk, please call, text, email, or drop by office hours. I'd love to connect with you!
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Sunday Eucharist: 9:30 a.m.
Celebrating the Feast of St. Luke
Please join us for worship on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. This week we celebrate our patronal feast. The liturgical color is red, so dress accordingly!
As always, please plan to stay for coffee hour following worship.
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The choir is back!
Calling everyone who wishes to sing in joyful praise and fellowship! If you'd like to sing, please meet in the worship space at 8:30 to rehearse the hymns and service music. Let's make music together!
Handbell Choir
The St. Luke's Handbell choir practices weekly on Wednesday night from 7:30 to 8:30 PM downstairs in the St. Luke's church building. Anyone interested in having fun while making a joyful noise is welcome.
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Birthdays
- Mark Pagnano
- Polly Klampe
- Howard Monnet
- Tami Walker
- Marilyn Stewart
- Angelique Thompson
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Jan Pritchard
Jan was in the hospital earlier this week with a gastric bleed. After being stabilized, she's back at home and recovering well.
Have news to share with the congregation? Please get in touch with Rev. Justin (612-618-3826, revjustinc@gmail.com) or Karen (507-288-2469, gouldk@stlukesepiscopal.org).
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St. Luke's 2023 Pledge Drive started on Oct 10 and will conclude Dec 4. St Luke's has grown stronger and more active in 2022. Sharing your Giving Intention for 2023 as soon as you are able will help us develop an effective plan to accelerate that trend. Even if you are not certain of the exact amount you will be able to give or whether you will be able to give at all in 2023, please let us know. The link for sharing your Giving Intention was emailed to you on Oct 10 or you can contact Karen Gould and let her know your plans. If you have selected to auto renew your pledge, please confirm your ongoing intention in one of these ways. Thank you so much for your continued support of St Luke's through financial, spiritual and service contributions.
Cathy Manduca, Stewardship Committee Chair
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You may have noticed some sheets titled ‘Welcome to St. Luke’s' on the tables in the Narthex and in the Fellowship Hall.
As part of our renewed congregational effort to welcome visitors, if you notice someone new, or who you don’t know, please introduce yourself, hand them a welcome sheet and most importantly, invite them to sit with you for coffee and fellowship after the service. Do you remember the feeling of not knowing anyone the first time you stepped into a new place? Some of us kept coming back because we felt so warmly invited. Also, if you have suggestions for additions to the welcome sheet, please send them to Diane at dianeomara@charter.net or call 507-261-3773.
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In case you missed it, Shanna and Justin were featured in the Post Bulletin's reporting on last Sunday's Love Your Neighbor rally. Check it out here!
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Please check out Calvary's weekly newsletter, The Visitor, published on Wednesdays. Current and archived editions are available here.
In addition to a variety of worship services, Calvary regularly has other public events that are sure to be of interest to folks like us.
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Calvary/St. Luke's Salvation Army Bellringing Campaign |
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Calvary and St. Luke’s will be ringing bells on behalf of the Salvation Army and their social service efforts for those in need in the Rochester area.
The selected location is Hy-Vee Crossroads, inside, the few days before Thanksgiving.
Here is the link to sign up:
If there are questions, comments or need for additional slots, please feel free to contact Martha Mangan at any time: mart188@charter.net or 507-261-3286.
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Rochester Public Schools started on Tuesday, September 6
and St. Luke’s is fired up to help families in our neighborhood continue to get ready and learn all year long.
Each month during the 22/23 school year, “Operation Backpack” will list in the Lifelines five of the most needed school supplies at Sunset Terrace Elementary and John Marshall High School. These can be dropped off at St. Luke’s , Monday through Friday, 8-5 and of course on Sunday. Drop in the bins marked ‘Snacks’, ‘Sunset Terrace’ or ‘John Marshall’ located in the downstairs foyer. Our Operation Backpack Team will deliver them to the schools.
October’s Top Five Greatest Needs at John Marshall High School:
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Snacks for students - healthy-ish and individually wrapped (goldfish, animal crackers, granola bars, fruit cups, beef sticks, etc.) Due to covid they must be wrapped for each student.
- Men's belts in a variety of sizes, black and brown.
- Beanie hats for winter in black and gray, adult sizes.
- Leggings, black, women's sizes M - XXL.
- Jogger pants, black or gray, men's or women's M - XXL.
Thank you for providing this wonderful help! School is so much more fun and productive when students and teachers have the supplies they need to learn.
Thank you so much for your generosity.
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If you have donations of new or gently used household items, including couches, tables with chairs, beds, bedding, towels, dishes, etc, here are many wonderful options.
Catholic Charities at 507-287-2047 will arrange pickup from your house and accepts all the above. Donations are used for refugee families.
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church Resource Room at 507-288-7313 works with St. Vincent De Paul for helping Rochester homeless families and adults or for families in crisis with relocation needs to start their new apartments. They accept non-furniture items. They will arrange a time when you can drop off your items.
St. Vincent De Paul (507-250-5715) directly accepts beds, tables dressers and household items, (not couches), but will usually ask you to hold onto the items until move in day, as they do not have a storage place. They appreciate a drop off, but will pick up if needed.
The Landing(507-884-0423) and The Warming Shelter (507-458-1223) accept new or gently used adult socks and jeans, which are given to homeless adults. Feel free to drop these off at St. Luke’s and we’ll get them delivered.
If you have any questions about any of these ministries or would like to help volunteer, please email dianeomara@charter.net.
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The Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida encompasses the majority of the geographical area hit most significantly by Hurricane Ian. As you know, the financial need is huge in the communities still without power, families without homes or workplaces, children without schools. People are missing still, with over 100 reported deceased as of October 2 in Florida.
If you would like to donate towards financial relief, you may give directly to the diocese via their web page: www.episcopalswfl.org. You may give online or send money in the mail. As always, you can give to Episcopal Relief & Development, which partners with local organizations to bring immediate relief to those who are suffering.
Please pray for everyone affected by the storm!
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Presentation on American Slavery and The Emergence of the Spirituals |
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The Congregational Church UCC is hosting a presentation on American Slavery and the Emergence of the Spirituals on Saturday, October 22nd from 3-6 pm. Our presenters are Moussa Foster- an historian who has written extensively on the spirituals and Robert L. Morris, a renowned musician and choir director. They will lead us in a musical, historical, and theological reflection on the emergence of the spirituals, their power of these songs, and their continued relevance for Christian worship and life today.
The presentation is free of charge and will include a meal towards the end of the presentation. Child care is also provided. Please RSVP to church@congoroch.org.
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From The Episcopal Church |
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The Episcopal Church Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop invites all Episcopalians to participate in a survey. The responses will help the committee develop a profile of the skills, qualities, and gifts the church seeks in its next presiding bishop, considering what the church and world may look like in the next decade.
The church’s General Convention will elect the next presiding bishop in the summer of 2024.
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Bible Study: Luke
Join us Wednesdays at 10:30 as we read and discuss Luke's gospel. It's always a wide-ranging and interesting conversation. Hope to see you there!
Meeting ID: 827 6194 5638
Passcode: 1884
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Book Group
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (fiction)
Tuesday, October 25th, 6:30 pm
Discussion through Zoom.
Enjoy the book; then join us for a discussion led by Colleen Arnold.
Watch for a St. Luke's Book Group notice to join the meeting by computer or phone.
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If you've got something to include in next week's Lifelines, get in touch with Karen (507-288-2469, gouldk@stlukesepiscopal.org). The deadline is Wednesday at noon. |
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St. Luke’s is...
Joyful community
Faithful service
Transformational worship
Growing in relationship with God in Christ.
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