The Weekly View

Sunday, May 19, 2019

This Sunday

Dear St. Luke Community, 

This Sunday is Acoustic Sunday, bring a friend Sunday, waffles after worship with folks from Grateful Gatherings Sunday, and if that’s not enough to look forward to, we’ll also be worshipping God together. ;)

So come for worship, come for waffles, come to share with a friend, or to listen to some good music. It’s all a kind of worship at the end of the day because God is present in all of it. 

We continue in Acts. (11:1-18) We’ve been in Acts all Easter season long and it’s been quite a journey. This Sunday we hear about Peter being in all kinds of trouble for breaking all kinds of rules. Especially around the dinner table. Table manners matter. So much so, it’s the title of the sermon.

But what Peter has done goes far beyond manners and well into committing sacrilege. I spent much of my time this week experiencing compassion for the people who went through such a dramatic split in their communities. 

Mary Donovan Turner asks;
"Does including the new or different mean that we are letting go of the values that have always defined us? Or do the values that define us compel us to to be more inclusive and open?”

That question applies to all kinds of questions in our lives in all kinds of situations. Whether individually in our personal lives or collectively as a nation and world.

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, June11th, 6:00 PM

Acoustic Sunday ~ May 19th 10:00 AM

St. Luke Women’s Bridge Group ~ Mon. May 20th & Tues. May 28th, 10:30 AM

Pizza and Theology ~ 3rd Tuesday of the month, May 21st, 6:30 PM, Creekside, SA

Session ~ 4th Tuesday of the month, May 28th, 7:00 PM 

Deacon Ministry

Serving San Pedro Elementary ~
The Deacons of St Luke reached out to our neighbors, San Pedro Elementary, to inquire about needs they might have for their 600 students. Thanks to the efforts of Jan Smith who met with the Principal and the Community Liaison for the school, we learned of the following items that would help them greatly. We will collect beginning the week after Easter through the month of May. You may drop NEW or GENTLY USED items off in the church office during office hours (M, W, Th 10:00-1) or on Sundays. 

Basic stretch pants for kids to change into as needed. Size 4-8.
Underwear and socks size 4-8,
Adult size 5-8 hiking boots,
Duffle bags and sleeping bags for kids
Target Gift Cards

KIVA.ORG ~
The Women’s Association has been supporting KIVA for many years. We have made 24 loans in 22 different countries. KIVA is a San Francisco based non-profit that offers individuals or groups the opportunity to make a $25 or larger loan in many countries of the world. The loans are made to people working in retail, clothing, services, agriculture, and food.  It is determined how much the recipient needs to start or expand a business, and then people can sign up to provide the loan amount. (It takes many people to fund one loan.) The recipient pays the loan back in a pre-planned manner.

Our loans have always been paid back, and then we have loaned the money to another person or group.  Kiva does charge a small fee with each new loan to help cover their expenses.

There is an update on the website from those who take loans, usually written in English, telling how the loan was helpful.

6th Annual Pedal for Protein ~ September 22nd – 28th, Let's ride!
Please use the green envelope to donate ~ noting PEDAL4PROTEIN. A ride for a cause! Supports food bank pantries & projects to help feed hungry people in Northern California.  100% of all donations go to food projects and food justice projects, primarily for the provision of lean proteins.

The ride is organized by The Hunger Task Force of the Presbytery of the Redwoods. For details go to http://www.pedalforprotein.com and www.imathlete.com/donate/PedalforProtein5.

Sunday, May 12, 2019

This Sunday

Dear St. Luke Community, 

CS Lewis once wrote, Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. 

It’s a fitting quote for the Book of Acts. The Apostles are retelling the miracles of Jesus through acts of their own. They’re witnessing for and to the world the acts of God who empowers them through the Holy Spirit to take the miracle of the risen Christ into the world. That’s our call. In small and big ways. In ordinary and extraordinary acts, simply put, we are called to spread love. And just as those first apostles, we trust that the love we share will have a lingering and infectious affect on those we love.

There are people in our lives who nurtured our faith. There are those who just plain loved us into being who we are. Faith and love are not separate things in this way. Both bring us closer to God and closer to being who God created us to be. The people who nurture us give us mothering and fathering kind of love. The kind of love that says, no matter what, I will always love you, I will always want what’s best for you, I will always hope that whatever else you do, you trust in that love. 

As we celebrate that kind of love this Sunday in the witnessing of small letter miracles, we’ll hear from Mary Dill, Janet Abrahamson and myself on the ways our mothers influenced us through their own love. As we remember and witness, we renew our own commitment to do the same for those around us. And most of all, we remember together that all of this lives in the large letter miracle that brings a depth of meaning to the words, all of this we do in the name of the Risen One, Jesus the Christ.

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, May 14th, 6:00 PM

Acoustic Sunday ~ May 19th 10:00 AM

St. Luke Women’s Bridge Group ~ Mon. May 20th & Tues. May 28th, 10:30 AM

Pizza and Theology ~ 3rd Tuesday of the month, May 21st, 6:30 PM, Creekside, SA

Session ~ 4th Tuesday of the month, May 28th, 7:00 PM 

Deacon Ministry

Serving San Pedro Elementary ~
The Deacons of St Luke reached out to our neighbors, San Pedro Elementary, to inquire about needs they might have for their 600 students. Thanks to the efforts of Jan Smith who met with the Principal and the Community Liaison for the school, we learned of the following items that would help them greatly. We will collect beginning the week after Easter through the month of May. You may drop NEW or GENTLY USED items off in the church office during office hours (M, W, Th 10:00-1) or on Sundays. 

Basic stretch pants for kids to change into as needed. Size 4-8.
Underwear and socks size 4-8,
Adult size 5-8 hiking boots,
Duffle bags and sleeping bags for kids
Target Gift Cards

Sunday, May 5, 2019

This Sunday

Dear St. Luke Community, 

In this Sunday’s scripture, Saul is out doing what he felt convicted to do; breathing threats and murder against the disciples. (Acts 9:1) Jesus shows up and after quite the dramatic exchange Saul is blinded for three days without food or drink. Jesus then sends a reluctant Ananias to heal Saul. The Holy Spirit shows up in Saul and the rest is history. 

Except the history gets revised. We hear the same story two more times in the book of Acts, only in first person as Saul, who has been renamed Paul recalls the event. By the third time, there’s not even a mention of Ananias. The guy who healed him gets edited out of his story. Which got me to wondering how many of us have been profoundly changed by the faith of others, only to forget about them later. How many of those people have been instruments of God in growing our faith, opening our eyes or changing our ways, only to take them so for granted, they’re no longer mentioned in your faith story.

This is the question that came up in bible study thanks to Mary Dill and Sharon Dowson. Each Wednesday a variety of people gather in the conference room to dwell in the Word of God. Each Wednesday someone says something or asks something that contributes to my own questions and musing of what God has in-store. These people are part of my own deepening faith journey. Each one, in their own way, has had a role in bringing me closer to understanding how God works in the world.

Look back, ask yourself who in your life, in big and small ways contributed to deepening your faith. Then write about it, talk about it, thank them for it if they’re still alive, and maybe even more important if they’re not. They’re part of your story and should always be mentioned, no matter how many times you tell the story.

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, May 14th, 6:00 PM

Acoustic Sunday ~ May 19th 10:00 AM

St. Luke Women’s Bridge Group ~ Mon. May 20th & Tues. May 28th, 10:30 AM

Pizza and Theology ~ 3rd Tuesday of the month, May 21st, 6:30 PM, Creekside, SA

Session ~ 4th Tuesday of the month, May 28th, 7:00 PM 

Deacon Ministry

Serving San Pedro Elementary ~
The Deacons of St Luke reached out to our neighbors, San Pedro Elementary, to inquire about needs they might have for their 600 students. Thanks to the efforts of Jan Smith who met with the Principal and the Community Liaison for the school, we learned of the following items that would help them greatly. We will collect beginning the week after Easter through the month of May. You may drop NEW or GENTLY USED items off in the church office during office hours (M, W, Th 10:00-1) or on Sundays.

Basic stretch pants for kids to change into as needed. Size 4-8.
Underwear and socks size 4-8,
Adult size 5-8 hiking boots,
Duffle bags and sleeping bags for kids
Target Gift Cards