St. Luke’s Episcopal Church |
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Lifelines: News and updates for you from St. Luke's |
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Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday, March 12th. Turn your clocks forward an hour! |
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While browsing through the book Women’s Uncommon Prayers: Our Lives Revealed, Nurtured, Celebrated, I found the following poem written by Ms. Rosamond Rosenmeier. In speaking to the season with such evocative imagery, it seems the perfect thing to share in my place while I’m away. —Justin
Lent: The Mind’s Extremity
Into this late winter time
Lent erupts its Wednesday ash;
black dust darkens our sky.
Return. Return.
We follow the lightless fire
down to a place
beyond the mind’s extremity.
Lent leads us down to buried time,
down the mountain
onto fenceless plain,
a dry savanna where all demons wait.
Lent’s unwilled free-fall
plummets us through remorse
and clotted dreams,
into the scarred haunts of hurt,
blame, damage, loss.
We are released into ourselves, alone.
Lent returns us into depths
deeper than the dead are deep
where we come into openness: two crows
on the bare branch of a single tree—
black carrion birds,
guardians of a slate gray sky.
A cold lightning arcs down
into silence and dim light.
Moment by fearful moment
its sharp pulse flashes
in terror and prayer to the breath’s end—
in dust we are returned
to the place where no secrete are hid.
Here the Spirit’s slow alchemy
melts every easy expectation,
and a final expanse opens
its felt presence
to the edge of visibility.
We are returned to the rim
to look outward toward the cusp
of a new place.
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Rev. Justin on Vacation: February 28 to March 11 |
My family and I will be on vacation beginning on Tuesday, February 28. I'll be back for worship on Sunday, March 12. (Katie and I are taking Elizabeth to explore Disneyland and southern California. She is very excited to go meet the princesses.)
The Rev. Alice Mae Applequist is available for pastoral emergencies: 507-202-5230
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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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Reverend Justin Chapman and family are away on vacation, and by all reports are having decent weather and an enjoyable time. Even so he has been in contact with your Wardens as needed.
Justin will be back to preside at the Sunday, March 12th, 9:30 am service.
Many thanks to all who on Sunday, March 5th, welcomed and guided our supply priest, Gayle Marsh and welcomed her friend Kathy who accompanied her to “meet St. Luke’s”! They both commented on how very welcome they felt.
The Building & Grounds Committee + Finance Committee + Sr. Warden meeting that was originally scheduled for Thursday, March 9th has been re-scheduled to Sunday, March 12th, after morning worship, to ensure that key leadership is available to participate. We will be discussing several topics including: Roof repair from hail damage, Lease opportunities, Overall plan and budget for Building & Grounds maintenance projects, and Technology Improvements to enable more effective hybrid meetings and hybrid worship services.
The Vestry continues to review our progress on the current Transformation Experiments in our first Cycle of Innovation. Many are carrying this work forward and we look forward to sharing the progress and outcomes with you in the coming weeks and months! Small Groups started Thursday, March 2nd, and by all reports were a smashing success! Thank you, Cathy Botz & Diane O’Mara, for your work to launch Small Groups! Welcoming Work has started and is moving forward. On-going Stewardship efforts and new, innovative approaches to stewardship throughout the year are in development. Transformation Experiment Metrics and have been developed and shared with the Vestry. The Faithful Innovation Team launched it’s Lenten Project on Sunday, February 26th.
The Vestry Retreat has been scheduled for Friday evening, April 14th and Saturday, April 15th. This is an important opportunity to quickly build an effective Leadership Team. We have had two Vestry Working Sessions and one Vestry Business Meeting. Your Wardens, Vestry Members, Treasurer and Clerk, are actively engaged, and getting up to speed quickly on the work before us. Many thanks to all for their commitment and dedication to St. Luke’s!
Please continue reading through the newsletter for information about the many exciting Collaboration, Music, Outreach, Book Club, Bible Study, and other activities that are going on at St. Luke’s and Calvary. And if the Spirit moves you, consider getting involved in or trying something new!
In Christ,
Kit Muellner & Cathy Botz
Serving as your Wardens
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Sunday Eucharist: 9:30 a.m.
Please join us for worship on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. as we celebrate Eucharist on the First Sunday in Lent. Since we had to cancel worship on Ash Wednesday, we'll also be offering the imposition of ashes during the service. As always, please join us for coffee hour following worship.
If you can't make it in person, please tune in for the livestream on St. Luke's Facebook page. You don't need an account to watch the video; just click the link above and the livestream should be the first post on the page. Download the bulletin to follow along at home.
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Wednesday Evening Lenten Worship
5:30 p.m. in the Chapel
Please join us for Evening Prayer on Wednesdays at 5:30. It's about thirty minutes of prayer, scripture, and quiet reflection--the perfect mid-week Lenten reset.
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Make Music with Us!
Choir
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 also rehearse at 7:00 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month.
Handbells
The St. Luke's Handbell choir practices weekly on Wednesday night from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. We meet in at St. Luke's, downstairs in the office area. Anyone interested in having fun while making a joyful noise is welcome. For more information, contact Harold Solbrig / harold@solbrigs.us / 507-319-2628
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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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Sunday Morning Faith Formation
In the Fellowship Hall during coffee hour
Faith Formation is on hold this week because of the Annual Meeting. Here's the schedule for the next few weeks:
March 12 - Dan Miglets-Nelson, ECMN's Minister for Children & Youth
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Where do you see God in the world around you?
Everyone sees God differently, and we would like to know where you do.
Please take a little time and that phone I know you have and take some pictures to share with everyone. Email them to Jeff Decker at jadecker@ptd.net or text them to Jeff at 908-892-1220. [Call Jeff if you need any technical help]
We will use all the pictures to make a St. Luke’s Collage.
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We are thankful and blessed to now have enough individuals who have agreed to join our first small group! Our goal with these groups is to explore together a life centered on Jesus; centered together. This is a discipleship series of a guided small, gathered community exploring how to become more deeply rooted in love with God and connected with one another, so that we grow to look, act, and love more like Jesus. We are currently working with our first group to find a time for our first and ongoing gatherings. Look for periodic updates from our first small group as we engage in this important work of discipleship together.
For those who would like to participate in a future small group, please reach out to Diane O’Mara ( dianeomara@charter.net, 507-261-3773) to express your interest. As enough individuals agree to participate to form more groups, we will kick them off. |
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St. Luke's - Calvary Collaboration Corner
Episcopalians Working Together
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Message from Diane O’Mara: Members of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and Calvary Episcopal Church are invited to a Caring for Minnesota Town Hall on Saturday, April 29th from 2-4pm in Rochester (Location TBD). All Rochester legislators from Senate Districts 24 and 25 will be invited. Our goal is to gather over 200 people of faith and shared values, where personal stories about hardships and challenges will be shared. The ask to our elected officials is to support laws to address these needs, to create a caring economy, multiracial democracy, and just climate future. Topics will include paid family and medical leave, fully funded public education and childcare, democracy and voting rights, clean energy and climate funding, a MinnesotaCare healthcare buy-in, and more.
ISAIAH, a nonpartisan organization of people of faith, is convening this meeting in coordination with several parishes and mosques in Rochester. We hope to make a strong statement from the Episcopal community that these issues are what we stand for. Similar meetings are happening all over the state in April, but Rochester’s can be one of the largest and most important. ISAIAH helps us to realize that which the Holy Spirit is asking us to do, ‘to treat our neighbors as we want to be treated’. People from many Rochester congregations and beyond are getting involved and working together, as everyone realizes that alone, we can’t do very much, but that working together, we can make a huge difference.
In my volunteer work, I encounter many people experiencing economic hardships like not being able to pay for health insurance, child care, rent, or even food. Channel 1 is having a hard time keeping up. Rochester Salvation Army and Saint Vincent have so many people calling that they stop answering the phones after a limited number of calls. The Dorothy Day house is filled to capacity. So many in our community are struggling, but we know that together Minnesota can become a state where all people, regardless of race, culture, or economic status, can thrive. Many of these policy issues are possible to achieve this year but only if we show a public demand for them.
Lay leaders from Calvary and St. Luke’s will be calling parishioners and encouraging them to attend. Please say ‘yes’ when you are called and come to support this very important meeting or better yet, please call me at 507-261-3773 or email me at dianeomara@charter.net, to let me know that you can come.
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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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We are so grateful to our St. Luke’s members for their ongoing donations to the Operation Backpack program over this school year. Both Sunset Terrace Elementary School and John Marshall High School students have received needed supplies from our St. Luke’s members who are supporting this program. Thank you!
Once again we are shifting our focus on Sunset Terrace Elementary School. During the month of March, the greatest needs that have been identified for Sunset Terrace are:
· Warm waterproof gloves/mittens for elementary school sized hands
· Snow pants size 6-16--- can be gently used in good condition
· Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body Wash
· Tooth Brushes, Toothpaste, and Floss
· Healthy Snacks that do not contain peanuts and do not need to be refrigerated.
Some snack examples are Raisins, Unsweetened Apple Sauce, Keebler or Club Crackers, Nutra-grain Bars, Quaker Oats Chewy Bars, Natural Fruit Roll-ups, Fruit Leather, Apple and Banana Chips, Gold Fish, Pretzel and Cheese Packs, and Popcorn
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Gift cards for Walmart, HyVee or Target in $10 increments so teachers can buy emergency supplies for students or for parents in a difficult situation to buy paper products.
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Kwik Trip (gas only)--- these are for families in a difficult situation who need gas to get kids to school.
These supplies can be dropped off at St. Luke’s on Monday through Friday, 8-5 and, of course, on Sunday morning. Gift cards should be given directly to our Parish Administrator, Karen Gould (in the church office). Other supplies can be placed in the drop bins are located in the downstairs foyer.
Thank you for your ongoing generosity and continuing to think of the needs of these students.
Thanks so much!
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This Saturday, March 11, ISAIAH is hosting a roundtable here at St. Luke’s for small business owners and our Rochester area legislators, so that all questions about Paid Family Leave can be answered. Also, please mark your calendar to attend the ‘Caring for Minnesota’ event in Rochester on Saturday, April 29, (location TBD)with our legislators, hosted by ISAIAH and supported by Rochester faith communities and people with shared values. We are hoping the Episcopal congregations of St. Luke’s and Calvary will show up in large numbers, to show our support for these important issues as they are decided in the senate in the coming weeks.
Paid Family Leave has passed the House and is working its way through the various Senate committees. Today the Post Bulletin voiced their support in their ‘Our View’ column. This was a welcome breath of fresh air.
Another issue that ISAIAH is supporting is Paid Child Care. There is a worker shortage in MN, due to a child care crisis. The average wage of a child care worker is $13.75 yet the average cost of child care is $16,000 per year. Last week, some of us went to the capitol to visit with our legislators about the importance of Paid Child Care. Two bills to make child care more affordable passed the Minnesota House in February. A new bill to create a new department of Children, Youth and Family was also just introduced in the House, so that all child care can be housed under one roof. These bills are now in the Senate. The first bill allocates money for more early learning scholarships and to help pay child care providers a better wage. The second bill adds more dollars to the Minnesota Child Care Assistance Program, which helps low-income parents pay for child care while they are working or in school. If more people can work, the economy will thrive. These bills will be tweaked along the way, but we hope they pass.
ISAIAH is also supporting more people being able to get MinnesotaCare. Currently MinnesotaCare is only available to U.S. citizens who live at or below 200% of the federal poverty level of less than or equal to $27,000 year. The bill would allow premiums on a sliding scale for people above that cap. About 200,000 Minnesotans do not have health insurance and racial disparities have widened. Many people simply can’t afford the steep premiums.
We encourage all of you to get involved and learn how you can help. Your involvement can be as simple as attending a meeting with our legislators, getting a short lesson on how to email your legislators with pre-written text and the push of a button, or a little more fun by joining a group on a bus to the capitol and many things in between.
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St. Luke's Facebook and Website Pictures |
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Pictures, pictures and more pictures!
Diane O’Mara is requesting your help, so she can more easily update St. Luke’s Website and post to St. Luke’s Facebook page. If you took any pictures of the Candlemas Service or reception, could you please send them to Diane. If you have pictures of any other St. Luke’s events, such as blessing of the animals, Doug’s wiener roast during the Bishop’s visit, or any events at all, please send pictures via email to dianeomara@charter.net. Just label the subject line St. Luke's – event and replace the word event with whatever the event was. Most importantly , let’s all start taking pictures, since many of us carry our phones everywhere, so that our Website and Facebook page starts reflecting all the beautiful and caring activities St. Luke’s congregation is involved in, outside of St. Luke’s and inside of St. Luke’s. This type of activity will cause people to Like and Share, which will spread the word that St. Luke’s Episcopal is out in the community!
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Recognizing Volunteerism Through Pictures and Facebook Posts |
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Almost all of us volunteer in the Rochester community. The parting words of each service tell us to make a difference in our community and in our world. We want to show the Rochester community that people from St. Luke’s Episcopal use their hearts and hands for sharing and caring and helping, not just on Sunday, but every day of the week.
When you are volunteering, let us know what organization you are involved in. Have someone snap a picture so that it can be shared on our Facebook page. From Mayo Clinic, “Research also has shown that volunteering leads to lower rates of depression and anxiety. . . Volunteering reduces stress and increases positive, relaxed feelings by releasing dopamine.” This publicity will also help spark new volunteers for your favorite organization as St. Luke’s Facebook posts are liked and shared. In each post we can mention the organization you are volunteering for and link to their website. Imagine the possibilities through sharing your volunteer activities!
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Concert at B'Nai Israel Synagogue |
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“The Mind and Music of George Gershwin, A Performance by Richard Kogan, MD, Psychiatrist, Musician, and Storyteller”
Those of you who saw Dr. Kogan perform Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto #1 with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra this season will know that we’re in for a treat to hear this wonderful pianist again.
The brochure with information is posted both upstairs on the bulletin board as well as downstairs near the entrance, and here.
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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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Bible Study: John
Bible Study is on Spring Break while Rev. Justin is on vacation. We'll begin again on Wednesday, March 15.
Meeting ID: 827 6194 5638
Passcode: 1884
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Book Group
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (fiction)
Tuesday, March 28th, 6:30 pm
Discussion through Zoom.
Enjoy the book; then join us for a discussion led by Tami Walker.
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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