| This Week at St. Luke’s |
| Public Health Indicators: here Event risk assessment: here. Free COVID test from Durham County here. Click here and scroll down for Online Worship Bulletin THERE WILL BE NO IN-PERSON WORSHIP THIS WEEK. Sunday 9:30 VIRTUAL WORSHIP ON FACEBOOK (Facebook events can be accessed here. ) The Rev. James B. Craven, III Preacher and Celebrant Tuesday 7pm Bible Study on Zoom Wednesday 11:30 Prayer and Share on Zoom 7 Handbell Rehearsal Friday 1:00 Connections and Support Group by Zoom Saturday 9:30 Girl Scouts – Johnson Hall |
| New This Week |
| Interim Rector Rhonda Lee will be away for continuing education from Friday the 28th of January through Thursday the 3rd of February. If you have a pastoral need during this time, please contact The Rev. Jim Craven. If you have a question or concern, please be in touch with Parish Administrator Kathy Barnes, Senior Warden Lisa D’Amico, or Junior Warden June Santa. They will keep Rhonda informed as needed. Rhonda will be using this time to attend a (digital) conference required as a condition of a Pastoral Study Project grant she has received from the Louisville Institute. Read about the project here: https://louisville-institute.org/our-impact/awards/pastoral-study-project/16148/ The Rector’s Blog has been updated with a post from the interim rector, and posts will continue every couple of weeks or so. Check it out! https://stlukesdurham.org/2022/01/24/blessings-in-spite-of-it-all/ Bishop Sam Rodman will visit St. Luke’s on Sunday the 6th of February. We plan (and pray!) to gather in person for the Eucharist that day, with Bishop Sam presiding and preaching. Please note that all offerings not marked “pledge” that day will be contributed to Bishop Sam’s discretionary fund, through which he does important pastoral work throughout the diocese. The Eucharist will be livestreamed. Following the Eucharist, Bishop Sam will engage the congregation in conversation about the various transitions we are experiencing. Please plan to attend as you are able! Bishop Sam will also meet with the vestry that afternoon. Children and Youth programs will resume in-person on Feb 6. Masks are required, and social distancing will be observed as we follow the guidelines from the diocese. Godly Play for children 4yrs old-5th grade will meet at 9:30am in Johnson Hall. Youth group will meet following worship at 10:30 in the Gray Building. If you have questions or concerns or would like to volunteer, please contact Laura Thornton. Please save Saturday the 2nd of April, 1 to 4 p.m. for a parish Lenten mini-retreat led by Interim Rector Rhonda Lee. This quiet time will offer space and prompts to reflect on the season and its resonance with our current lives. More details to come. Update on Afghan Resettlement Project Thanks to many hands at St. Luke’s, St. Joe’s, St. Titus, and St. Stephen’s, this week we furnished a two bedroom, two bath apartment for our Afghan family. They moved in on Thursday. The refrigerator was filled with halal foods, (and two loaves of amazing unleavened bread), the cabinets stocked with food and dishes, the bathrooms down to cleaning supplies, and the beds were made. We are grateful to the many hands and hard work that went into the effort. Thank you everyone. The work of settling them in will now be done by our frontline team made up of parishioners of the three original churches. They have loaded language apps on their phones and are vetted and trained by CWS to help the family get their feet on the ground. Bob and Mary Etta King are the leaders of the frontline, so if you have questions or want to know more, please be in touch with them. DERC (Durham Episcopal Resettlement Coalition) will now turn to thinking about a second team as St. Stephen’s has allocated $7,000 toward the effort. If you are interested in volunteering or know of a place we can rent, please be in touch with Babs or Jim Wise, Joan Hodges, or Bob King. Mulching Day The grounds crew of volunteers led by the Emory family is having a mulching day on Saturday 2/12 from 8 am until hopefully 10:30. We have a large task ahead of us; we plan to spread 32 yards of mulch! All are welcome to attend. We recommend bringing water, gloves, and any yard tools that would be helpful for the job (Wheelbarrows!) Come join us for some fellowship and gratifying work together! |
| Announcements |
| Bishops’ Ball is Back – In Person! For the first time in more than two years, Bishops’ Ball, one of the most beloved diocesan gatherings for youth, is back in person February 12, 2022. As we have since the start of the pandemic, the event has been adapted from its usual multi-day gathering to a one-day celebration at Holy Comforter, Burlington, in the hope it will help those attending feel safer and ready to enjoy being together. The cost is reduced, and the registration deadline extended to February 7. What is not changing is that Bishops’ Ball provides youth from across the Diocese an opportunity to engage with the bishops, attend workshops, and have fun and fellowship with their peers. This year’s event will include all the favorite activities: music, workshops, building community, worship and the dinner and dance. Learn all about this beloved event (and its extensive COVID safety protocols), and register the youth in your life today! Invite Welcome Connect Gathering We’re looking for a few people to attend the next online gathering of Invite Welcome Connect on February 9. Their 2020 gathering gave us the idea for the You Are Loved signs that many of you enjoyed seeing in your yards. This time, the focus is on how to welcome people we’ve met only online, as well as on how to reengage with our own members whom we haven’t seen in person since COVID changed so much in 2020. These gatherings involve parallel breakout sessions on Zoom, so it’s really useful to have multiple people attending from St. Luke’s. This gathering will be from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 9. More information and a registration link are available on the Invite Welcome Connect website. The Vestry has approved reimbursement of the $20 registration fee for up to three St. Luke’s attendees; send a copy of your registration receipt to Kathy in the office to reimburse you. Please let me know you’ll be attending as well, so we’ll know to get your report on what you learned at the gathering. On behalf of the Evangelism/Communications Committee, please consider spending 90 minutes in this way helping us to “up our welcome game” at St. Luke’s. Bob Moore March Newsletter We will resume a monthly newsletter starting in March. The deadline will be the third Sunday of February – February 20. Please send any articles or announcements to Kathy by that date. Annual Meeting rescheduled. St. Luke’s Annual meeting will be held in person on March 20th, immediately following the service. CONTACT UPDATESUp-to date contact information can be found online at ACS, or the ChurchLife App for your phone or tablet. Contact Kathy if you have any problems logging onto ACS. You can also ask Kathy to send you a paper directory if needed. |
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