The Weekly View

Sunday, March 31, 2019

This Sunday

Dear St. Luke Community, 

At the beginning of every worship service, after announcements, I invite us to take a deep breath; a moment to exhale as a way to prepare our hearts for worship. But there’s so much more going on in that request that I don’t say. My hope in that moment is that by taking a deep breath, you also exhale all the to do’s of the week; that all the worries and concerns weighing down your body and soul may be released over to the God who wants so badly to carry them for you. It takes at least a breath to accomplish all of that. But without a breath, I wonder if we would even begin to scratch the surface. 

The psalmist who sang this Sunday’s psalm knew this all too well. In Psalm 32, like so many other psalms, comes this word; selah. It’s an untranslatable word but the rabbis believe it to mean stop and listen. That’s what we do at the beginning of worship, but it’s also something we could be doing all days, and maybe especially as a Lenten practice. To listen for what’s going on, inside of ourselves, in our bodies, minds, and souls, is to listen for God. To stop and listen for what’s going on around us, in the world and the people who surround us is to listen for God. We cannot escape the presence of God. But we can turn a deaf ear as we convince ourselves we don’t have the time or the energy. Stop and listen. Stop and pause on this journey with Christ and with your whole self, whole body and whole life, listen for God. Selah.

See you Sunday,
Nicole

Bible Study ~ Wednesdays, 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

St Luke Choir Rehearsal ~ Wednesdays 7:00-8:30 PM in the Sanctuary  

Morning Women's Spirituality Group ~ Thursdays, 9:00 - 10:00 AM

Deacons Meeting ~ 2nd Tuesday or the month, April 9th, 6:00 PM

St. Luke Women’s Bridge Group ~ April 15th and April 23rd, 10:30 AM

Session ~ 4th Tuesday of the month, April 23rd 7:00 PM 

Pizza and Theology ~ 3rd Tuesday of the month, Apr. 16th, 6:30 PM, Creekside, SA

Acoustic Sunday ~ April 28th 10:00 AM

Sunday, March 24, 2019

This Sunday

Dear St. Luke Community, 

Last Saturday’s Fundraiser-A huge, heartfelt thank you to our hosts who so graciously gave of their time to make the St Luke Progressive Dinner such a success;

Carolee and Terry Mech,  Ada and Clive Endress and Babette and Larry Gettler. Your time and hospitality is greatly appreciated by everyone. Everything was beautiful and delicious. And thank you to all who attended. We sure know how to have fun together.

This Sunday ~ 

I will be in worship with you but we have the honor or welcoming the Rev Dr Janie Spahr into the pulpit. Janie is an icon in the Presbyterian Church. Highly regarded for her conviction and strength to stand up for the rights of the LGBTQ community at a time when it was so unpopular to do she was forced to fight for her ordination title as minister. Since then Janie continues to trail blaze in other ways. And even more so, her warmth and expression of love is so infectious, you will be convinced there is no one in the room more loved than the person on the receiving end of her smile. And it’s genuine.

Janie will be preaching on two passages. One from the Book of Esther (1:15-24) where it is written that all men shall be rulers over their own households! Yikes. And the other is from Luke (15:8-10) The Parable of the Lost Coin, where a woman with broom in hand goes tirelessly searching. Janie emailed that she would be taking a feminist/womanist approach to preaching this scripture. I’m not entirely sure how she will carry us in that direction, but whatever she does, I imagine it will call on us to reimagine the ways we’ve related to God so predominantly in the church as a male figure. If we’ve learned anything at all about God, beginning with Moses, it’s that we’re not meant to box God into anyone name. God is beyond us and within us. The images for God are plentiful and include both male and female throughout our Bible. God is beyond our understanding and within our knowing. As distant as the stars and as close as our breath. Let us move into the collective wholeness of one humanity, called upon to love our God with all that we are created to be. 

After Worship ~ 

We gather in the Bayview room for an Educational Opportunity on Transgender Awareness given by Jordan Decker and Janie Spahr. 

Jordan Decker is a nationally and internationally known speaker and educator on TransYouth Suicide prevention and responsible for developing Trans HeartLine, a non-profit organization that educates and advocates for transgender humans in faith communities. Rev Dr. Janie Spahr created the Spahr Project to continue educating the church on the intersectionality of racism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism, as we move forward to advocate for justice and love.

Creating safe and caring places for transgender people and their families in both church and society is one of the most pressing challenges and opportunities for the Christian faith, community life and church growth today. What does it mean to be transgender, cisgender, or gender fluid? What might it be like to have the experience of feeling as though God doesn’t love you because you feel you were born “wrong.” Come gain insights, language and understandings. Invite neighbors, family and friends.

Bible Study ~ Wednesdays, 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

St Luke Choir Rehearsal ~ Wednesdays 7:00-8:30 PM in the Sanctuary  

Morning Women's Spirituality Group ~ Thursdays, 9:00 - 10:00 AM

St. Luke Women’s Bridge Group ~ 4th Tuesday, Mar. 26th, 10:30 AM

Session ~ 4th Tuesday of the month, March 26th 7:00 PM 

Deacons Meeting ~ 2nd Tuesday or the month, April 9th, 6:00 PM

Pizza and Theology ~ 3rd Tuesday of the month, Apr. 16th, 6:30 PM, Creekside, SA

Acoustic Sunday ~ April date to be determined.

Sunday, March 17, 2019

This Sunday - Acoustic Sunday

Dear St. Luke Community, 

As we move into our second Sunday of Lent, I invite you to continue following the Lenten devotions through SFTS. Today’s, written by Rev Scott Clark, describes so well the Celtic approach to life with God. 

In her book The Celtic Way of Prayer, Esther de Waal describes the prayers that she and others have gleaned from the written and (mostly) oral traditions of the Celtic world.  Those prayers reflect a world where folk “feel God before them and by their side, and at their back, throughout the day, and throughout the night.” With God that close, the prayers ask God to bless the work at hand, God present in it, with trust that each part of life, “however humble, however mundane, can be handed over to God, or performed in partnership and with the cooperation of God.”  De Waal sums it up this way:  “[These blessings and prayers] do not beg or ask God to give this or that. Instead, they recognize what is already there, already given, waiting to be seen, to be taken up, enjoyed.”

Let this be an invitation for all of us to practice more of this way of living. It is life changing. It may not be life changing in one grand moment of epiphany or transfiguration, but rather in a moment by moment holiness, where the presence of God infuses God’s self into the very core of our being because the life we live is no longer separate from the God we worship. And my best understanding of this way of life begins by listening with our whole self all the ways God speaks through every sense. 

This Sunday, we listen to Jesus speak in a kind of lament; How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Luke 13:31-35) 

Can we will ourselves to live under the loving protection, guidance, and mothering that Jesus is offering? You bet we can. And like everything worth doing, it takes practice and a great deal of listening for all the ways God is calling for us in love. 

See You Sunday,
Nicole

P.S. - Next Sunday we will be holding a Transgender Education for Faith Community event after worship. But really it’s an education for anyone who is curious about what it means to be transgender and other gender identities we hear about. Invite your neighbors. You also won’t want to miss the Rev Janie Spahr preach. I will be in worship with you and look forward to Jamie's wisdom and warmth.

Please click here for more information.

Bible Study ~ Wednesdays, 9:30 AM 

St Luke Choir Rehearsal ~ Wednesdays 7:00-8:30 PM in the Sanctuary  

Morning Women's Spirituality Group ~ Thursdays, 9:00 - 10:00 AM

St. Luke Women’s Bridge Group ~ Monday, Mar. 18th & Tuesday, Mar. 26th, 10:30 AM

Pizza and Theology ~ 3rd Tuesday of the month, Mar. 19th, 6:30 PM, Creekside, SA

Session ~ 4th Tuesday of the month, March 26th 7:00 PM 

Deacons Meeting ~ 2nd Tuesday or the month, April 9th, 6:00 PM

Acoustic Sunday ~ Note change to 4th Sunday, April 28th, 10:00 AM