The Weekly View

Sunday, June 27, 2021

Dear St. Luke family:   

We’ve been easing our way back into the sanctuary since May 16, and now more people are worshiping in person than on Zoom.  We’ll continue both Zoom and in person worship, what we call “hybrid worship,” for the foreseeable future.  The Session has approved a plan to have in person worship only (i.e., no Zoom) on one Sunday a month.  That allows our Zoom/Communications Coordinator, Beth Potillo-Miller, and Erich Miller who has been instrumental in getting cameras and sound up and running, to have one Sunday off a month.  It looks as though second Sundays might work, so we’ll try that beginning on August 8.  

Everyone has missed the casual connection of coffee hour after worship.  Now that we’re confident about safety, it’s time to get coffee hour going again.  Look for coffee hour after worship on July 11.  We’re trying something new: Our sexton Carlos Aruara will set up and make the coffee for us, but we’ll take signups for snacks for the Sundays going forward.  People may sign up to bring whatever their favorite coffee hour treats might be: sweet or savory, homemade or store bought, already on serving plates.  Watch for the signup poster in the narthex. 

Another shift we’re making is in response to Music Director Becky Viebrock’s suggestion that perhaps the choir could prepare for two Sundays a month instead of every Sunday.  Beginning in September, the choir will perform in worship on first and third Sundays, and we will have alternative music second, fourth, and fifth Sundays.  Plans are still being made, but given the popularity of Acoustic Sundays, we expect something similar.

Looking ahead, I’m planning a special Labor Day service for the Sunday before Labor Day.  For the sermon that day, I’ll be asking three of you to talk for five minutes each about how you live out your Christian faith in the workplace.  

Then the following week, we’ll celebrate that we made it through the pandemic and kick off the school year with an all-church Homecoming Celebration on Sunday, September 12.  We’re still making plans, but we’ll have special music in worship (including the choir, even though it’s their Sunday off), and we may follow worship with a picnic or barbecue.    

Finally, plan now for our October fundraiser dinner, which will be on Saturday this year: Saturday, October 9.  Details to follow, but save the date!

Things are opening up, and St. Luke is getting back in gear!  See you this Sunday, when we’ll look at the healing powers of grief.

Grace and peace,
Joanne Whitt
Interim Pastor

Sunday, June 20, 2021

Dear St. Luke family:   

This Sunday we’ll jump back into the Old Testament with one of the most famous stories in the Bible: David and Goliath.  Even if you never went to Sunday school, you’ve heard of David and Goliath, because it’s become synonymous with an underdog victory over a bigger, stronger opponent.  In just the last two weeks, I’ve heard “David and Goliath” referenced in two separate news stories, one having to do with the soaring prices of GameStop stocks last January, and the other having to do with a softball pitcher from a small Oklahoma college who took her team farther in the playoffs than anyone expected.  We all love an underdog story: Rocky, The Rookie, Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, The Karate Kid, Remember the Titans, Moneyball, Pretty in Pink, The Mighty Ducks, even Cinderella – I could go on and on, and I’m sure you could, too.  We’ll take a look at the dangers of a story like this, as well as the hope it gives us.

Don’t forget Eric Beene’s challenge to us last Sunday.  Eric preached about Jesus’ parables describing the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God was Jesus’ primary metaphor for what God wants for God’s world, what this world would look like if we allowed God to be the ruler of our hearts and minds.  Jesus used agricultural metaphors because he spoke to an agrarian culture.  He compared the Kingdom of God to seeds scattered on various types of ground, where some seeds take root and others don’t.  He compared it to a mustard seed, the smallest of seeds that spreads like, well, a weed.  He used household metaphors as well, comparing it to a tiny bit of yeast that leavens a whole loaf, to coins that were lost and then found, to a pearl of great price, to a treasure buried in a field, to a son returned home to a welcoming father.  Eric challenged us to look at our ordinary lives, and to come up with contemporary metaphors.  My midweek video on Facebook expands on this, and you can find it here. 

This Sunday, masks and social distancing are optional in worship in the sanctuary.  If you are not vaccinated or just feel more comfortable doing so, please feel free to wear a mask.  We will respect everyone’s needs for space and safety; we’ll continue to provide worship on Zoom; and we won’t start coffee hour for a few weeks.  We’ll plan a celebratory welcome back when we do – stay tuned.

Please keep our Pastor Nominating Committee in your prayers as they begin their search.

Grace and peace,
Joanne Whitt
Interim Pastor

Church Reopening Practices

Dear St. Luke family:

This coming Tuesday, June 15, is the date of California’s “Grand Reopening,” when most restrictions imposed during the pandemic will be lifted.  Fifteen months ago, we followed science (and Jesus) into the pandemic, and now we will follow science (and Jesus) out.  Science says that if people are vaccinated, they have minimal risk in participating in normal activities.

So, it is with both gratitude and caution that your reopening team announces the practices we’ll put in place at St. Luke going forward:

• We will not ask for proof of vaccination to attend worship or other church functions, but we ask that people decide for themselves, based on their vaccination status, whether they feel safe and/or comfortable participating in worship in the sanctuary or other activities at church.
• We ask that people self-assess their physical condition, and stay home if they are not feeling well.
• We will no longer require masks, but we recommend that people continue to wear masks if they have not been vaccinated or if they are more comfortable doing so.
• We will not require worshipers to sit 6 feet apart, but we invite people to decide for themselves how much physical distancing they need, and we all respect those choices.
• We will continue to pass the peace without touching for now.
• We will permit singing in worship.
• The full choir will not perform in worship until fall, but small ensembles will perform this summer, and they will remain at least 12 feet from worshipers.
• We will not take temperatures or prepare for contact tracing.
• We will continue to worship both in the sanctuary and on Zoom for now.
• We will celebrate communion at least one more time with the pre-packaged kits, and then make a determination about safe communion practices going forward.

It’s been a long, strange trip.  None of us has experienced anything like this.  May our joy that we are nearly at the end of the pandemic inspire us to act on behalf of the people and places in the world still struggling with COVID19, and to address the inequality the pandemic exposed. 

Grace and peace,
Joanne Whitt
Interim Pastor