The Weekly View

Sunday, May 26, 2019

This Sunday

Dear St. Luke Community, 

God’s been quite hospitable, placing in front of me an endless wealth of illustrations for this Sunday’s sermon. That word hospitable has many synonyms, my favorite being the word gracious. That’s probably because the word gracious carries with it a bit of the divine which eludes us.

Many of us think of hospitality as welcoming others into our homes or churches and making them feel welcomed with food and gifts, like a St Luke mug filled with goodies. And St Luke is most definitely a hospitable place filled with hospitable people. But this Sunday, I’d like to think of hospitality as a state of the heart, more like grace and less like making a casserole, although God knows I can think of a few lasagnas that were an act of saving grace. 

This Sunday, we meet Lydia, (Acts 16:9-15) a worshipper of God and a dealer of fine purple cloth. God opened her heart and her response was to invite everyone over to her place. Her immediate response to having an open heart was to share her home. That’s it. I don’t thank we have to invite everyone into our homes, although that’s a gift too, but what about the way we approach the rest of our life? Do we walk around vulnerable with open hearts or do we put on protective armor as we move through the day? Like Lydia before us, we show up on the Sabbath in the community to have God open our hearts. What good is that if it doesn’t affect the way we live in the rest of our week? 

This week someone asked me if the food he provides for the hungry is an act of grace. You bet it is. And so is a smile, a kindness, a warmth, a tone of voice. All of it is the very definition of what it means to be gracious and it always begins with what God does. We give thanks to God by extending it to others.

See you Sunday, you gracious people,
Nicole

 P.S. - Please see this very special invitation from Dan Christian below.

Dear Friends,
You are cordially invited to the installation service of the Rev. Daniel Christian as the pastor of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Novato.
Sunday, June 9th at 3 PM.
1180 Lynwood Drive, Novato 94947
Reception to follow. 

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

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

Deacons Meeting ~ 2nd Tuesday or the month, June 11th, 6:00 PM

Acoustic Sunday ~ June 16th 10:00 AM

St. Luke Women’s Bridge Group ~ Mon. June 17th & Tues. June 25th, 10:30 AM

Pizza and Theology ~ 3rd Tuesday of the month, June 18th, 6:30 PM, Creekside, SA

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.

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