| 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 Saturday 7:30 El Buen Pastor Food Distribution Sunday 9:30 In-person Worship signup here The Rev. Dr. Rhonda M. Lee, Preacher The Rev. James B. Craven, III, Celebrant 9:30 Godly Play – Johnson Hall 10:30 Youth Group WednesdayClergy Quiet Day, Greensboro 11:30 Prayer and Share on Zoom 6 Bell Rehearsal 7:30 Choir Rehearsal Thursday 7 pm Bible Study on Zoom Friday 1:00 Connections and Support Group by Zoom Saturday 10 Morning Prayer – Croasdaile 1 St. Luke’s Walks |
| New This Week |
| Congregational meetings coming up! This spring and fall, as part of her work as our interim rector, Rhonda will be facilitating two sets of congregational meetings focusing specifically on transition. Each meeting will last about an hour and a half. Each parishioner is asked to attend one meeting in the spring, and one in the fall. The spring meetings will take place on: Sunday 15 May right after church, in the nave Monday 23 May, 7 p.m., on Zoom Tuesday 24 May, 7 p.m., on Zoom Sunday 5 June right after church, in the nave. At the spring meetings, you will have the opportunity to share feelings, needs, and questions about transition at St. Luke’s. This sharing will take place in small groups and in the plenary. Everyone will be invited to speak; no one will be required to. Please plan to attend one of these meetings! Your voice matters in taking stock of who St. Luke’s is and who we want to be, as we prepare to develop a parish profile and to call a new rector next year. Vestry Minutes Availability The vestry meets the third Monday of each month. Minutes of the meetings are taken and hard copies for viewing are kept in the Kramer Room library. Because of COVID protocols and staff mostly working remotely, the church is normally kept locked. If you would like a copy of the minutes, please call or email Kathy (Parish Administrator) and request an electronic copy be sent to your email. Or, if no computer access, you may also request a hard copy be mailed to you. Thanks to all who have contributed to restocking our food pantry. What a bounty! Please continue your generosity! The need is great and we want to be able to say ‘yes’ when we get calls about food. Thanks again. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at jansweetchpa@gmail.com. Jan Freeman Dear friends, As you know, our wonderful children and youth minister, The Rev. Laura Thornton, has resigned from St. Luke’s to answer a long-discerned call to open a retreat center in Warren County. Laura’s last day with St. Luke’s will be Palm Sunday. We are sad to see Laura go, and we give thanks for her ministry with us and look forward to seeing her new venture develop. We would like to offer Laura a cash purse as a parting gift. If you would like to contribute to this gift, please contribute online at www.stlukesdurham.org, in ACS, put a check in the offering plate, or mail a check to the church. In any case, please clearly mark your contribution “Gift for Laura.” With thanks, in peace, Rhonda Attention all PayPal payers! We have a new QR payment code for St Luke’s! For now please use this link https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=XEKW3QU38GWNC until we update our website. Thank you for your patience as we update our social media platforms and for your attention regarding this matter. . The clergy and vestry have resolved that masks will be optional in worship for fully vaccinated participants. Masks will continue to be required when singing at this time. Diocesan policy requires that unvaccinated persons wear a mask at all times. In making this decision, we have taken into account the facts that Durham has lifted its mask mandate, and our bishops have left masking requirements up to local discernment (while requiring masking for unvaccinated persons). One section of distanced, pod seating is available with no kneelers. Fully vaccinated persons may still choose to mask during worship, even when not singing. When considering whether or not to mask, please take into account your own risk factors and the possible vulnerability of your neighbors. And please be kind to each other always, as we move into a phase where some of us will be masked and some of us unmasked. Please remember: No gathering can be completely safe. Unvaccinated people remain more susceptible to contracting COVID-19, and to severe disease, hospitalization, and death. Singing and removal of masks can increase transmission. We will continue Sign-Up Genius registration, for now, to facilitate contact tracing if needed. We will continue to refrain from passing of the peace for now. We will continue to offer only the host at communion for now. The offering plate will remain at the entrance, not passed, for now. We will continue virtual worship offerings (as we started before Covid.) |
| Announcements |
| It’s time to restart our StL Walks. Our next hike will be on Saturday, April 9, at 1:00 p.m. Weather makeup day is the 23rd . We will be hiking in the Seven Mile Creek Natural Area. The trail is only about two miles long. Karen says it’s “a wonderful, easy, wide, well-maintained trail.” Here’s the site description – http://www.orangecountync.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Seven-Mile-Creek-Nature-Preserve-20 . It’s three miles south of Occoneechee Mountain and part of the Orange County system. If you wish to join us, please let us know by April 6th . Of course, if you just happen to be free the afternoon of the 9th, please join us. We hope to see you on the 9th . Fall Fling scheduled!! Mark your calendars and hold on to your donations for the Fall Fling (huge yard sale) October 15th! Drop off scheduled for Oct 9-14 to Johnson Hall. The committee can use your help in planning for a safe, long-awaited, community sale! Please contact Joan Hodges, Lisa D’Amico, or Beth Bonner to help. All proceeds go to Outreach. Calling All Surveys! As we strive to re-engage all the programs and missions of St. Luke’s, please return your green survey (included in your newsletter and available in the narthex) by mail or in-person offering plate. The first 25 will receive a Mary Berry Shortbread cookie courtesy of the Stewardship Team. Rector’s Discretionary Fund. This fund has traditionally been used by St. Luke’s Rectors to help local folks who reach out to us with basic needs in every day life. This includes homeless individuals who come to the church, families we know needing food and other essentials, and various other needs of those in poverty in our community. Most recently we’ve made use of modest Visa gift cards, allowing recipients to apply funds where they’re most needed to remain capable of “normal” living. The RDF (and Interim Rector) has the advantage of not only being “discretionary,” but also able to be used quickly in emergency situations, something that has benefited many individuals. The Fund has been replenished by “loose change” in Plate offerings and by individuals donating directly to the Fund by check, ACS, or other means. At this time the “pot” is low and any help would be much appreciated. “In the in-between times” Parish Lenten Quiet Day Saturday April 2nd, 1-4 p.m. Interim rector Rhonda Lee will lead a time of prayer and reflection in the nave on Saturday April 2nd from 1 to 4 p.m. Together, we will read and reflect on brief Scriptures on the theme of “In the in-between times.” The afternoon will include some group conversation as well as time for individual or small group prayer and discussion. Please register at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c4daeaa28a4fcc52-inperson or call the church office. And please tell a friend! There are many offerings around the Diocese. To keep up with the latest news about these and other events in our diocese, sign up for Please Note, the diocesan weekly e-newsletter. The link is here: https://www.episdionc.org/please-note/ Here you will find information about the following and much more: Lenten Offerings beginning March 9. Register for the seriesThe Color of Compromise Book and Video Study. Register at https://tinyurl.com/2p86jrmh The Diocese of North Carolina is offering diocesan-wide adult confirmation preparation in Lent and Easter this year. For more information and to register: https://bit.ly/DioNC-ConfirmationClass2022 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. |
| Full Article – Rector Search Update 1 April 2022 Timing and Expectations As mentioned previously, there are many steps to the search process. We are in the very early stages and the vestry looks to form a Search Committee to walk through all the steps with us by late summer or early fall. St. Luke’s, as with any church in transition, needs time to understand what being in transition means and looks like and to evaluate and discern our path forward. Our interim rector will be holding church wide and small group meetings for folks to begin that understanding and discernment. Please plan on attending. We need all of your voices. If you have any suggestions of who might best serve on the Search Committee, please send me or June Santa (Junior Warden) an email. We are hoping for candidates from a broad spectrum of ages, interests and experience. Please note that the search committee will be composed of about 6-9 people, including some vestry members, so, although suggestions for members are welcome, not everyone who is mentioned will be asked to serve. We will continue to update you as we go through this process in the newsletters and on the website section,” Rector Search”. Please feel free to speak with anyone on vestry about the search process at any time. Please join with me in praying for God to guide us throughout this process. Faithfully, Lisa D’Amico Sr. Warden, St. Luke’s vestry |
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