| This Week at St. Luke’s |
| In-person worship is suspended until AT LEAST MID-OCTOBER. Public Health Indicators can be found here and an event risk assessment tool is here. Click here for this week’s compete bulletin for our Sunday 10am worship. Saturday Rector Reflection on Facebook Sunday 10am Spiritual Communion on Facebook Sermon and Godly Play Story posts on Facebook 11am Coffee Hour on NEW Zoom link 8pm Youth Group on Zoom Monday 6:30pm Extra Vestry meeting: COVID tasks Tuesday 7:00 Storytime on Facebook Wednesday Noon Prayer and Share NEW Zoom link Thursday 3pm Worship Recording (sign up to help here) Friday 1pm Connections & Support Group NEW Zoom link 5pm Watch Organ recording here |
| New This Week |
| USHERS NEEDED: COVID PROTOCOLS Our next step in preparing for small, in-person worship is to train a team of Usher/Greeter who understand all the COVID-era precautions we must have in place and are willing to ensure best practices are followed by all. Please let Helen know if you are willing to be a part of this team. When we have enough responses, we will hold a training. Thanks! COLLEGE CARE PACKAGES Let’s send some love to our St. Luke’s college students! You are invited to contribute cards, letters, gift cards, funny items, inspirations, shelf-stable snacks & more to care packages that we will send to our members who are away at college this semester including. If you know of someone who should be included, e-mail Laura. Please drop off your items on Wed, Sept 8th between 5:00-6:30 in the breezeway at St. Luke’s. If you have questions or need more information, please contact Laura. To receive donations and pack our boxes, sign up here. LISTEN TO OUR ORGAN If you have been missing the sounds of our Moller pipe organ, here’s an opportunity for you. Kaye will be in the church recording some organ music for upcoming services and will broadcast her recording session over Zoom next Friday Sept 4 at 5pm. This will be a casual affair and not like a recital — there will probably be some stops and starts and a redo or two! But if you’d like to listen, you are welcome to join her. Just click on this link at 5pm on Sept 4. WORSHIP/MUSIC YOUTUBE PAGE We are working to make our worship and music more easily accessible, which includes creating a YouTube page. It only has a few items at the moment, but later this fall we plan to post our weekly worship as well as special music on this site. Thanks to Music Director Kaye Saunders for coordinating this effort. ST. LUKE’S CONNECTIONS & SUPPORT GROUP Members of the former St. Luke’s Grief Group are opening the weekly group Zoom meeting to anyone in the St. Luke’s community who would benefit from regular support for any reason (eg grief, loneliness, illness, anxiety or any stressful situation etc). Join us every week, or drop in anytime you need a little extra support in a loving, faith-filled support group. We meet every Friday on Zoom from 1pm – 2pm. We start the meeting with a short devotion, we share our “cheers, tears, fears, tender moments” and often share a children’s book that, in the tradition of Jesus’ parables, gives us strength for our journey. We share any prayer concerns (personal, community) and close the meeting with prayer. In order to make this a safe and welcoming group, we observe the following group covenants: 1–Confidentiality (what is shared here stays here) 2–No apologies for any feelings or circumstances 3–It’s ok to laugh, it’s ok to cry (feelings are ok) 4–You can share or NOT share your “story” 5–Grief is grief (or any need for support is an acceptable need for support) 6–Do not give advice unless asked |
| Announcements |
| SIGN UP TO READ We are looking for many more readers for worship. If you are able to use Zoom and available some Thursday(s) from 3:00-4:30, please sign up to read for worship using our new iVolunteer. FRIDAY NIGHT SILENT PRAYER We are offering silent prayer and meditation in our outdoor worship space from 6:30-7:00 Fridays in August. You must sign up in advance here. Contact coordinator Rebecca Porter (919-237-2101) with any questions or needs. FORWARD DAY BY DAY We still have many Forward Day by Day devotionals. If you would like one, please let Kathy know and she’ll send it to you. |
| How Can I Help? |
| SUPPORT STUDENTS The DPS Foundation is soliciting funds to help ensure every student has the digital support they need for learning this fall. Contributions are accepted here. And if you are interested in helping provide students outside the DPS system with tools to continue learning, click here. HELP FARMWORKERS In Person: The Episcopal Farmworker Ministry continues to provide vital support to farmworkers. They need more distribution helpers. If you are able and willing to spend the day outside of Wilson on the 2nd or 4th Saturday of the month, contact Juan. By Donating: Last year, EFWM helped 170 children with school supplies. This year, 400 children have asked for help. If you are able to donate funds for supplies, click here. BELOVED NEIGHBORS The Episcopal Farmworker Ministry is offering a 6-session online program about History, Race and Immigration at 10am on Saturday mornings beginning August 22. For more information or to register, click here. VOTE FAITHFULLY Presiding Bishop Curry says, “It is a Christian obligation to vote, and more than that, it is the church’s responsibility to get the souls to the polls.” (more info here) Due to COVID-19, many of us may want to avoid in-person voting this year. You can download the request form for an absentee ballot here. Deadline for submitting the request form is 5pm Tue Oct 27, but we encourage you to do it now to compensate for any delays. The ballot will be mailed to you and must be returned to the county board of elections by Nov 3, 2020. Again, due to possible postal delays, it is advisable to mail your ballot by mid-October. GOOD NEWS COMMUNITY GARDEN Mary Beth Berkley is coordinating discussions between St. Luke’s, St. Titus, and El Buen Pastor about creating a Good News community garden to grow food and deepen relationships among the congregations. We’re looking for folks interested in vegetable gardening and/or building community! Want to know more or get involved? Contact Mary Beth. TEMPORARY VESTRY CLERK NEEDED Please contact Helen if you would be willing to be Clerk of the Vestry for the second half of 2020. Duties include taking minutes at all vestry meetings, Parish Council, and Parish-wide meetings; edit and distribute minutes, and work with the Parish Administrator to file appropriately. Ability to take notes quickly, comfort with Word, Google Docs and Zoom required. “FED UP” FOOD DISTRIBUTION The local Poor People’s Campaign is doing a twice-monthly food distribution called “Fed Up!” If you would like to donate or participate, click here and sign up for their mailing list. KEEP CLERGY IN THE LOOP Please make sure to keep the clergy in the loop if there are any needs or concerns you have or you know about. You can e-mail Helen at any time. REMEMBER, Your clergy will not send you e-mail or texts messages asking for gift cards or financial help. Be suspicious of anything that comes outside of these announcements. Do not respond to the request, but call the clergy person or create a separate e-mail to rector@stlukesdurham.org to verify. |
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