St. Luke's Episcopal Church |
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Lifelines: News and updates for you from St. Luke's |
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New this week:
- Announcing St. Luke's new Director of Music: Dr John Schultz
- Updates on the recent vestry meetings from the wardens
- Updated book discussion schedule
Please remember to mark your calendar for the bishop's visit: Tuesday, October 4. Events begin at 5:00 p.m. at St. Luke's.
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A few notes of interest to the parish from the September Vestry meeting…
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TRANSFORMATIONAL WORSHIP & FAITH FORMATION/MUSIC: Doctor John Schultz has accepted the part-time Director of Music/Music Consultant position at St. Luke’s beginning immediately. His first Sunday “in residence” will be St. Luke’s Day, Oct 16. Our first choir rehearsal (in preparation for St. Luke’s Day) will be Wednesday, October 12th, 7:30 - 8:30 pm (in lieu of handbell rehearsal that Wednesday). Thanks to the music Committee of Barb McLeod, Jane Reiman, Gary Wicker, and Kit Muellner for this great news. We are all excited to have John’s wonderful musical ability and energy back at St. Luke’s!
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BUILDING AND GROUNDS: We have 4 dead trees on our property that need to be removed, and 2 windows/sliding glass doors in our administrative area needing repair. Doug Butler and Andrew Altrichter of the Building and Grounds committee along with Karen Gould will contract out that work this fall. I hope we will plant a couple new trees later this fall or next spring to keep our parkland beautiful. Diane O’Mara continues her investigation, with various professionals, of the cause & possible solutions for the water leaks in the conference room…long time problem we would like to fix.
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CARING COMMUNITY: We have a new Coffee Hour leader! Harold Solbrig has volunteered to take charge as the “primary” organizer. All those who enjoy coffee hour, please take a turn bringing treats and serving on a Sunday. There is a sign-up calendar behind the coffee table, and training on the coffee pots is available 😊
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BISHOP’S VISIT TO ST. LUKE’S: As you have heard before, our Bishop is visiting us at St. Luke’s Oct 4th, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. Here is the schedule: 5PM Weenie Roast, outside at our fire pit, led by Doug Butler; 6PM Eucharist in the church led by the Bishop; 7PM Coffee and Bars and conversation (a Minnesota tradition) organized by Amy Caucutt. You can volunteer to help, or simply show up and participate at any or all of these times.
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VESTRY/STRATEGIC PLANNING UPDATE: Your Vestry has begun meeting every 2 weeks instead of monthly so we can move forward more quickly with developing and implementing a new strategic plan to address the challenges and new opportunities the St. Luke’s community is facing. Monday, October 19th, Kit Muellner led us in discussing how we are going to work toward being a viable congregation. All of your vestry members are committed to this process and the time and effort it will take. We fleshed out what we are already doing in 5 strategy areas: Transformational Worship & Faith Formation, Building a Caring Community, Outreach, Strategic Planning with the Congregation, and Management. It was wonderful to see how much we are already doing (we have come a long way during this covid period, after all), and we recognize that there is more to do.
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STRATEGIC PLANNING: Please mark Sunday, Oct 9th (immediately after church) on your calendar to join a congregational meeting and give your input on the St. Luke’s Strategic Plan. We will be ready to share a solid presentation on the “State of St. Luke’s” and our Strategic Plan at our Annual meeting in January or February of 2023. Your vestry has been working hard to build a framework for and get this process started. Now we want input from all of you!
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TRANSFORMATIONAL WORSHIP & FAITH FORMATION: Justin’s Faith Formation offering of book discussion Do I Stay Christian? is being moved to a later date due to the Congregational Strategic Planning meeting. There will be 3 copies of Do I Stay Christian? available at the church this Sunday for those who want to borrow one rather than pick up their own at the Rochester Public Library or purchase one on-line.
Your Vestry and Wardens welcome your input, your ideas, and your participation.
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A new season of Sunday Morning Faith Formation |
While on summer vacation, I read Brian McLaren's newest book 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. Well before I finished reading it, I knew I wanted to read and discuss it together with all of you.
So, starting Sunday, October 9 October 16, we'll begin a series of conversations focused on sections of Do I Stay Christian? There are copies 's only one copy at the library, but several copies are at church for you to borrow. It's also in stock at Barnes & Noble and on Amazon. If you'd like to read the book but need help affording or obtaining a copy, just let me know.
I've planned the our conversations around the various celebrations queued up for the end of the year. Here's the updated plan 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.
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.
Please join us for worship on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and 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! We're doing a soft restart of the choir this summer, meeting in the worship space at 8:45 to rehearse the hymns and service music. We're not wearing robes right now and there's no commitment. 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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Anniversaries
- Tom & Linda Moskalik
- Ted & Cara Schmidt
- Bob & Julie Phyliky
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It's been a quiet week, so far as we know. 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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Bishop's Visit to St. Luke's - October 4 |
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Bishop Loya with be visiting St. Luke's on Tuesday, October 4th.
- 5:00 PM - Outdoor weenie roast...bring your own lawn chair and visit with the Bishop.
- 6:00 PM - Eucharist with the Bishop.
- 7:00 PM - Minnesota coffee and bars with the Bishop.
If you would like to help cook hot dogs with Doug Butler, bake bars, or serve coffee with Amy Caucutt, please inform Karen. See you at St. Luke's 'date night' with Bishop Loya.
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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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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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Operation Backpack Coordinator Needed |
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‘A big thank you to St. Luke’s new Operation Backpack team for volunteering to this important neighborhood ministry. The new team is Barbara McLeod, Suzy Fitzsimmons and Diane O’Mara.
Monthly opportunities for giving to help our students succeed will be published in the next few weeks. Thank you all for your contributions!’
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From the Episcopal Church in Minnesota |
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This year's annual ECMN Convention will be held in Rochester, Thursday, October 27, through Saturday the 29th. More information here.
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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 Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich (novel)
Tuesday, September 27th, 6:30 pm
Discussion through Zoom.
Enjoy the book; then join us for a discussion led by Julie Phyliky.
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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