Welcome Home! Grab a Seat and Come to the Table

by Reverend Jennifer Creswell

We’re seeing visitors at St. Luke’s these days. I can’t account for why anybody walks through the red doors of this church, but I do sense that we live in a world of seekers (myself included). We are all seeking something: love, community, safety, security, beauty, belonging, meaning, God. And I believe that God nudges us in the direction of the things we seek. For some of us, those things can be found inside the sanctuary of a little white church with red doors. Or outside in a garden under the shadow of Mt. Hood. Thanks be to God.

It’s with these visitors in mind that some slight shifts are being made in the way we do things at St. Luke’s. Far from weakening our identity, preparing for visitors actually strengthens it. For instance, Lynda Glander and I have been working on a new bulletin design that has more guidance and explanation than our current bulletin. As Maureen, our deacon, says, there’s nothing worse than walking into a new place where everyone knows what to say, and when—and you have no idea what they’re saying. Besides, some of the things we do every week in worship—listen to passages from scripture, share peace with each other, carry bread and wine from the back of the church to the altar—have become so much a part of our routine that we can forget why we do them.

Soon, you’ll see more people wearing nametags at St. Luke’s—you’ll probably be asked if you want to wear one, too. Knowing each other’s names is the first step in building community! And that’s what we do at St. Luke’s: build a community with its center in Christ.

When visitors come to St. Luke’s, we want them to feel like they’ve come home. Because God may just be calling them to stay in this community and make it their home. So, now is the time for a little house cleaning, a little preparation, to make our home ready for them. You’ll hear more in the next few months about plans for “cleaning house” and inviting the guests. The Church is more than a building—it is the people God has called together to be “home” for each other.

Your cook and cleaner,

Rev. Jennifer

Sacred Storytelling

by Reverend Jennifer Creswell

“What’s your amazing story?” I wish this question were an original of mine, but I suspect it’s not. Still, it’s a good question to ask in community. It’s a question that opens doors into people’s experience,and invites them to share pieces of their life. And that’s a gift. I’ve been at St. Luke’s a year now (and been a priest for three and a half). When people ask me what I like most about my work, I tell them it’s hearing people’s stories, and, even more, being invited into the stories. Stories about birth, stories about death, stories about illness and healing, stories about love, stories about conflict, stories about community.

In a family-size church like St. Luke’s, it only takes a few Sundays of worship services to recognize the people who make up this community. A few more Sundays, and you’ll know most of their names. But stories, stories take longer to learn. We don’t all wear our stories on our sleeves. For some of us, sharing our story is an act of generosity. It’s something we offer, in faith, to people we love.

As people of a Book, people who understand God, in one form, as Word, stories are an important part of our faith tradition. We read the stories in the Bible and we look for the places where the stories intersect with our stories. We look for places where we can read ourselves into the sacred text, and places where the text interprets our own lives.

In weekly lectionary groups, and in occasional interactive sermons (like the one we had last week), we are encouraged, as a community, to share stories with each other. Nothing invites us into someone else’s life and reality like hearing a piece of their story. How can we judge another person’s life when we hear it as part of their sacred story? How can we not love the person who lays herself bare in telling us her experiences? Sharing stories builds community. Sharing stories also heals.

Be on the lookout for more ways to share your story, and listen to other stories, at St. Luke’s: in vestry spiritual time, in lectionary groups (Mondays 9:15, Wednesdays 5:30), in interactive sermons, in Lenten dinner groups.

Here’s to the story: the story we are telling, and living, together.

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.