New Beginnings and Old Lessons

by Kyle Wiseley

This has been an amazing week in both our national life and in the life of St. Luke’s.

Last Sunday was our annual meeting -- the first I’ve attended as a member of the parish. St. Luke’s is a delightful place and I am extremely happy to have found it. Since my life’s circumstances set me down literally next door to the church, I have been welcomed with open arms by the warm and loving people of this parish and it already feels like home.

I rejoice in the growth I see happening here, especially the young families and the delightful children who enrich us with their presence. Over the course of the past thirty some years, my life’s journey has taken me to many different Episcopal parishes and I’m sorry to say, not all are as welcoming and accepting as I have found St. Luke’s to be. When we gather for worship or for fellowship there is a palpable feeling of caring and affection which flows between and among the beautiful saints who make up this church family. I particularly felt it on the Sunday following Christmas, when the weather had prevented us from celebrating together on Advent IV, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As we gathered that morning there was such joy on everyone’s face and such a genuine feeling of happiness that we were all back together again as our church family. That alone is enough to keep me returning Sunday after Sunday.

I have also found that this is a place of spiritual nourishment. The homilies prepared and offered by Rev. Jennifer and the lay preachers are always well thought out and inspirational. I always take away something that I find spiritually useful during the week ahead. The lectionary study group enriches my spiritual life through my hearing the Word as it is filtered through the perceptions of my brothers and sisters. Again I always come away with some new perception of our common Story that I would have never developed on my own.

Our building and grounds are beautiful and well-maintained, and the Labyrinth is a wonderful gift to the wider community. Since I live within sight of it, I see people who are not involved with our parish, walking and meditating and I have a sense of pride to be part of a parish that offers that kind of gift to the wider community.

With the change of our national Administration, there is a sense of new beginnings all across our community and across the country itself. And yet, here at home our national day of celebration was besmirched by the revelation of scandal in the Portland City Administration. Scandal that particularly devastated the gay and lesbian community as well as the community at large. But disappointing as that development is, there is a lesson to be learned: Character counts! Integrity is important! The high road is not always easy, but it is the only truly safe way to continue on one’s journey.

So, in the freshness of this new year my hope is that we can rededicate ourselves to genuine affection and support for one another, greater efforts to reach out to those outside our parish family who need our compassion and care, and ever increasing devotion to the example set by Jesus as our moral and spiritual guide.

Blessed 2009.

Annual Meeting Thoughts

Below is the outline of Reverend Jennifer’s comments at the annual meeting today, for those of you who weren’t there or those of you who may want to revisit them.

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•We’ve come this far by faith. Like the hymn. By faith, we’ve asked what needs doing. By faith, we’ve done what needs doing. Thank you for trusting me.

•Our journey this past year makes me think of the labyrinth. We are asking the hard questions with an open mind and heart. We are walking a path together. Like the labyrinth, we don’t know when we’ll come to a turn or a straight place. We don’t know when we’ll reach the center. We can’t compare ourselves to others on the path because we don’t have any idea where they are in relation to us. We know what we’re after—what’s in the center—Christ. We don’t know how we’ll get there. We don’t try to force anything into the experience, we just go. It’s not a blind walk, but it’s a faith walk because we trust that we’ll make it where we’re bound. Along the path we’ve had our stumbles and falls. We’ve lost friends who were on the path with us. There has been hurt, there has been conflict. We’ve lost our way sometimes and gotten sidetracked by other things. But God is good. The path stretches before us with God at the center and Christ by our side. Along the way we’ve found new friends, resurrected old relationships, healed, reconciled, learned new things about ourselves, seen a new face of God. We are growing in God and in each other.

•Don’t want to talk a lot about numbers, but they are looking good. Realistically, churches need numbers to grow in ministry and outreach. We are looking at growth not as a goal and necessity, but as a side effect of our commitment to follow Christ in all we do. We trust that, by asking what God wants us to do, and by doing it as well as we can, we create—with God—the relational community that people are seeking.

•Part of our following God into this unknown territory is listening to God’s call for radical welcome and hospitality. We know we live in a world full of spiritual hunger. We believe God is in relationship with all people (vision statement), and for some, that relationship is in the hunger and seeking phase. We are following God’s call to be God’s love in the world. We are following God’s call to make available the resources for people to nurture their relationship with God. For people who have never had a religious experience, and for some people who have hadbad religious experiences, church isn’t necessarily a place they want to go. But they still have spirits that long for God. I see part of our mission as offering tools for people to connect with God—not necessarily in the ways we do and the ways we always have, but in ways that are real and meaningful for them. The labyrinth and its programs and literature are part of this effort. The labyrinth is an outreach tool that offers a peaceful, quiet place where people can let go of burdens and connect with God in nature. Many of the things we do in our Sunday services are part of this effort. Elements of the service are aimed at making church more accessible to those who are unfamiliar with church worship. I welcome everyone to communion. I try to explain what we’re doing in the service as we go along. We are working on a bulletin that explains more of what we do, and why. We greet folks at the door to welcome them and answer questions. Our outreach is part of this effort. When we send food or money outside the walls of St. Luke’s, or go out to visit someone who is sick, we are taking our mission on the road, going into the world to share what God means to us. I believe that if it is God’s will, and if we continue to nurture our community in relationship with God, each other, and our neighbors, and we continue our efforts at radical welcome, we will continue to see growth at St. Luke’s. We’ve seen good growth this year. Growth in spiritual health and vitality. New lectionary groups, Sunday school classes—doubled. New music and liturgical resources used and embraced. Loving care for our facilities as resources for ministry. Far from crumbling, we have top-notch building and grounds in great working condition. We look to use our facilities more as a resource for ministry in future. Family worship services. New vestry members. New healing team members. New convention delegates. New music director. New people joining. Old people coming back. These are the hopeful signs I see. And when I look into the future, I see more.

•My wish for lectionary groups is that they continue and grow so more of us are reading scripture in community, more of us are a reading the living Word in each other’s lives. My wish for Sunday school is that we find new ways to nourish and support our teachers. Also, that we find the resources for a Godly Play program. My wish for liturgical and musical resources is that we try some new kinds of worship—new prayers, new ways of reading scripture, new ways of singing, resources from Iona, Taize. That we try new kinds of worship services. That we build into our communal repertoire music that is lively, simple, and God-filled. My wish for our building and grounds? Make them look welcoming. They are beautiful and functional, but I see potential for inspirational beauty in plantings around the church—this is already happening, I see iris bulbs appearing; in new paint in the sanctuary, in the use of our sacred space as the background for sacred art—banners, paintings, photographs, sculpture, art from nature. My wish for family worship is that we start to have these services more often, eventually every Sunday. Coupled with adult ed. and children’s Christian ed, this is what communal worship is about.

•We are seeing growth, and there is so much potential for further growth at St. Luke’s. As we grow, each new face in congregation expands our vision in new ways. God speaks to us as a whole in each new individual who is part of this community. Our ministry goals grow and change as we do. We read a Living Word, we worship a living God, and our relationship with God is living and changing. I thank you all, personally, for walking the path with me, for working with me in ministry and trusting me to lead St. Luke’s. You all enrich and bless me tremendously. Now we open the floor for discussion.

Waking Up to a New Year

by Judy Bevilacqua

2009 dawned just like the surprising NEW snow that greeted us on January 2nd. There it lay, spreading out in blazing white, covering over every imperfection and bit of mud and weed, a face-lift to the usual dismal, unkempt January landscape. A visual picture of a new start, a clean slate!

I always get a spark of hope this time of year. Resolutions abound, unreasonable expectations crowd through rational thought and I am giddy with the prospect of the new manageable, disciplined life before me. But like that new snow, muddy footprints, and brown slush will soon replace my pristine predictions. But still – I’m infatuated with January. I make new to-do lists, strict financial budgets, and unrealistic plans for exercise and diet. Plans to excavate the papers in my office (for the umpteenth year in a row) fill me with heady resolve! AND I am in my 2nd week on a schedule to read the Bible through in a year. Like a young lover, I am giddy, dizzy with hope and full of amnesia about my past failures! Will I never learn?

Emily Dickinson writes:

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all….

Even in the face of failure, I can’t let go of HOPE. And neither can God. Last week, as I read my selected Bible passage, I watched what God did with HIS big disappointment. There’s the Garden of Eden. It’s perfect! Not a weed, not a stinging bug, no apple maggot or peach curl! And Adam and Eve are unblemished, naked, happy as clams at low tide, enjoying Paradise like a couple of kids. And then things start to unravel…like that blanket of snow that melts to reveal the brown muddy earth beneath.

But God redeems us when we fail. In the first chapter of Isaiah, the Lord says, "Now, let's settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow.”

What relief is in those words, “I WILL.” He chooses to love and help us! And God knows our limitations! So maybe my only resolution this year will be simply to look and listen each new day to the voice that whispers: I WILL! I will help you. I will lead you. I will comfort you. I will strengthen you. I will forgive you.” Like that picture of new snow: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lam. 3:22