Remember: Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday! Set your clock back on Saturday night or risk being super early to church. :-o

Enjoy the extra hour of sleep!

Last weekend, St. Luke’s convention delegation spent Friday and Saturday downtown in a banquet room at the Kahler. For the first time since January 2020, Kathy Connelly, Barbara Solbrig, and I joined delegates from across Minnesota for an in-person convention. We voted on candidates for diocesan offices, passed a budget for ECMN, and approved a few resolutions. We prayed together, listened to speeches, and celebrated the milestones in our common life. It was a mix of fun, interesting, boring, funny, moving, connecting, and joyful.

One of the highlights was Bishop Craig W. Loya’s address to convention, which we also used for the sermon on Sunday. If you missed it or if you'd just like to see it again, click here for the video and text.

The bishop’s words moved me more than once. I especially appreciated his invitation to move—as churches and as a diocese—away from a primary focus on building and toward reclaiming the vocation, given to humans at creation in Genesis, of gardening. That is, not building what we design, but tending what God has planted. It feels like the church spends an incredible amount of time, energy, and money worrying about what we want to build and how to support it. And, like the bishop, I wonder what would happen if we decided to let go of all that ambition and instead focused on tending what God has planted.

 

The analogy isn’t perfect. For one, it provides no easy way to distinguish between chasing our own designs and tending what God has planted: Is that new church program as result of God’s nudging or my/our ambition? Even so, I’m deeply grateful for the invitation to approach faith and ministry in a new way. I’m enjoying ruminating on it: What would happen if we let go of the heavy things that don’t seem to build up our faith or that aren’t helping us share the good news of God in Christ with a broken and hurting world? What would happen if we let go of that and focused on discipleship, on faith, on good works for the sake of others?

And I wonder: What do you think? With all the change swirling around us, what is God calling us to do? What treasures from the past are we called to carry forward and what are we called to set down? I don't have answers to these questions. I am, instead, grateful for the wondering and conversations which they spark.

In closing, I want to extend my gratitude to Kathy and Barbara for volunteering to spend a couple of days on a beautiful fall weekend sitting in a basement banquet hall in order to represent St. Luke's and accomplish the business of the church. I'm grateful for your integrity, your prayer, your humor, and your willingness to serve. Thank you.

Yours in Christ,

Justin

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For specifics on elections, resolutions, and the like from last weekend's convention, please see this brief report on the convention. For the full ECMN budget and text of the resolutions, download the business booklet on this page.

We need your voice! If you'd like to sing, please meet in the worship space Sunday mornings at 8:45 to rehearse the hymns and service music. We're also planning monthly rehearsals for more involved pieces; watch this space for more information

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. For more information, contact Harold Solbrig / harold@solbrigs.us / 507-319-2628

The time we spend together in conversation and fellowship is as important to the life of our community as our worship. We need your help to make it happen! We particularly need coffee hour hosts: People who are willing to provide some treats, make the coffee, and get things cleaned up afterward. Take it on as a solo exercise or pair up with friends. Either way, your help is needed and appreciated. If you have questions about any of it, from setup to coffee making to clean up, Harold Solbrig is the one to talk to (harold@solbrigs.us / 507-319-2628)

A huge "Thank you!" goes out to everyone who showed up for our Learning Session on Tuesday night. Through a series of conversations, we started the work of discerning what God is calling us to focus on in order to build viability for St. Luke's. Next the vestry will review what we discussed so we can start work on a strategic plan.

Please watch this space for more information on next steps and continue to hold our community in prayer.

The selected locations are Andy's Liquor Crossroads from 9 am - 1 pm, and Hobby Lobby 1 pm - 3 pm on November 18th.

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.

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.

Tune in via The Episcopal Public Policy Network Facebook page or The Episcopal Church Facebook page. Viewers do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

The Office of Government Relations offers a 2022 Vote Faithfully Midterm Election Engagement Toolkit and other resources for parishes interested in voter advocacy.

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.