| This Week at St. Luke’s |
| Public Health Indicators: here Free COVID test from Durham County here. Click here and scroll down for Online Worship Bulletin. We ask that if someone attends a service and then tests positive for covid, that they please contact the Interim Rector or Sr. Warden for both pastoral care needs and also to inform others that may have come in close contact. Sunday, October 23 8 and 10:30am Holy Eucharist – masks recommended, required while singing The Rev. Dr. Cathy Deats, Preacher and Presider 9:10 – 10 am Adult Learning – Kramer Room 12 – 7 pm Pumpkin Patch Monday, October 24 1 – 7 pm Pumpkin Patch Tuesday, October 25 Rector time certain’s office day – starts at 10:30 this week 11 am Holy Eucharist at Croasdaile 1 – 7 pm Pumpkin Patch 7 pm Confirmation Class – Kramer Room Wednesday, October 26 8 am Morning Prayer on Zoom 8:45 am Staff Meeting on Zoom 11:30 am Prayer and Share on Zoom 1 – 7 pm Pumpkin Patch 7 pm Adult Choir Rehearsal – Nave Thursday, October 27 11 am Music Lessons – Nave 1 – 7 pm Pumpkin Patch 7 pm Bible Study on Zoom Friday, October 28 1:00 pm Connections and Support Group by Zoom 1 – 7 pm Pumpkin Patch Saturday, October 29 9 am Altar Guild – Nave 10 am – 7 pm Pumpkin Patch |
| New This Week |
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Our current Every Member Canvass has received 67 pledges so far, for a total of $253,100. Almost half of these pledges have increased over last year! We are grateful for your generosity. Overall, we are $3,089 behind last year’s amount at this stage of the EMC. We’re sharing these numbers both to be as transparent as possible, and also in case they affect your discernment about your own pledge. Thank you for turning in your pledge as soon as you can, and increasing it if you can. Every dollar matters to our 2023 budget, and we are grateful for all your gifts. Pledges can be sent two ways: by snail mail or by emailing Kathy Barnes. Thank you! St. Luke’s Hoodies – Back by Popular Demand For the first time since 2015, you’ll have the opportunity to show your St. Luke’s pride with a new hoodie. We’ll be ordering the same hoodies you’ve seen people wearing around church, the purple ones with the embroidered St. Luke’s name and logo on the front. If you missed the chance to order a hoodie in 2015, or if your 2015 hoodie has worn out, now’s your chance to get one. While we don’t have all the details worked out with the vendor yet, we’ll be taking pre-orders for these hoodies over the next few weeks. There will be two styles available, pullover and zippered, in a full range of sizes: Youth S, M, L and Adult S to XXXL. Look for order forms in the Sprague Room. Still to be determined are the final prices and the delivery date. The best guess for the prices is $20-$23 for the adult sizes, a bit less for the youth sizes. We’re planning to turn in our order around November 15. The vendor can’t commit to a delivery date, because like so many other small businesses, staffing is an issue for them. Last Date to Order Belize Pecans is October 31 St. Luke’s is once again selling delicious South Georgia pecans to raise money for Holy Cross Anglican School in Belize. We’re selling pecans in the same two varieties as in previous years: Plain and Dark Chocolate Covered, both for $11.50 for a one-pound bag. All pecans are fresh from this year’s crop. You may fill out an order form in the Sprague Room and leave it in the box, or order online at https://forms.gle/VTAZf9k4nrSZyAzDA . Instructions for paying for your pecans are included on the forms. The deadline for placing your order and making your payment to St. Luke’s is October 31. Pecans will arrive from Georgia in time for us to distribute them before Thanksgiving. Questions? Contact Bob Moore. Attention St. Lukers on Facebook! Please lend us your eyes for a moment. If you have a Facebook account, St. Luke’s needs your help, to help our posts and events to be seen more widely. If you think for a moment, you may realize that although you have “liked” our Facebook page, you may rarely see our posts in your feed. (What, you haven’t liked and followed our page? Please remedy that: https://www.facebook.com/stlukesdurham.) Why? Facebook doesn’t automatically show you every post from places you have liked. It will show you the popular posts, that is, the ones that get a certain number of reactions and comments. The more posts you react to, the more you will see. If you “share” them (and that’s the “holy grail” here), they will become more popular and be shown to more of St. Luke’s followers and their friends. Why is this important? We have geared back up to holding major events; as you all know we are in a flurry of activity in October. Facebook is one way we publicize our events. In fact, “I saw the event on Facebook”, overheard at the Blessing of the Animals, was a statement from someone from the community. One thing you can do to help keep up interest in a month-long event like the Pumpkin Patch is to comment on our page about your experience: “What beautiful weather for the Pumpkin Patch this afternoon! I came home with the perfect soon-to-be jack-o-lantern.” Soon we’ll focus on the Christmas decorations sale in coming up in early November. If you see the event announcement (“St. Luke’s Episcopal Church added an event”), in your feed, check that you are either “interested” or “going”. Keep visiting our page and commenting on our posts throughout November and December as we head into Advent and Christmas. Thank you from the Evangelism and Communications Committee, and all the planners of our events! |
| Announcements |
| Preowned Christmas Decorations Sale, Saturday, November 5th, 8 am – 12 noon. We will receive donations on Wednesday – Friday, Nov 2-4. Volunteers are needed to help set up Johnson Hall, help with pre-pricing items Wednesday through Friday, Nov 2-4. Cashiers and sales persons are needed for the sale Saturday, Nov 5. Check with Beth Bonner with any questions. Voting at St. Luke’s too! There will be a preliminary meeting of the parish on October 30th to report on vestry nominations, take nominations from the floor, and inform regarding amendments to 2 sections in the bylaws. Our election for the vestry, as well as bylaws amendment approval, will be on November 13th after both services. Peace, Lisa D’Amico, Ted Triebel, Julia Hoyle; St. Luke’s 2022 Vestry Nomination Committee Fall 2022 Adult Learning Offerings, Sunday mornings, 9:10-10:00, Kramer Room(opposite the narthex/vestibule as you enter the church from the north side visitor parking) Please note: on Sundays when no adult learning is offered, we will enjoy extended fellowship time. October: Diocesan Intern Kate Rademacher will lead a four-part series, “Finding Rest in a Weary World”· October 23: What Does Mindfulness Mean to Christians?· October 30: Protecting the Right to Rest for All Copies of Kate’s most recent book, Reclaiming Rest, are available free of charge in the Sprague Room (next to the Kramer Room), courtesy of the Adult Learning Budget. First come, first served. November: Rector Rhonda Lee will lead a discussion of the communion of saints.· November 6: What is the communion of saints?· November 13: How good does a saint have to be?· November 20: Making friends with the saints December: Diocesan Intern Kate Rademacher will lead a discussion of evangelism, adapted from the curriculum, Embracing Evangelism—The Episcopal Church.· December 4: Embracing Evangelism by Sharing Our Stories· December 11: Embracing Evangelism in the Age of Social Media Confirmation/Reception/Reaffirmation/Inquirers’ Class Starting This WeekA Joint Venture Between St. Luke’s and St. Joseph’sIf you’re new to St. Luke’s or the Episcopal Church and want to learn more;if it’s time for you to be confirmed, or to be received into the Episcopal Church if you’ve already been confirmed in another Christian tradition;if you’re feeling called to reaffirm your Christian faith:Please participate in an adult formation opportunity jointly offered by The Rev. Dr. Lauren F. Winner of St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church and our own Rector Time Certain Rhonda M. Lee. We expect that the group will include members of both congregations.Dates: Tuesdays the 25th of October and the 8th, 15th, and 29th of November, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Topics: 25 October: Our common life: Episcopal church governance 8 November: Reading the Bible as Episcopalians 15 November: Prayer 29 November: Sacraments Location: St. Luke’s, Kramer Room (next to the narthex/vestibule as you enter from the north side visitor parking)The date of confirmation/reception/reaffirmation is still to be determined and will depend on the date of a bishop’s visit or a convocation-wide confirmation service. Need more information? Ask Rhonda. “Cast your vote, not on a partisan basis, not based on your biases, but vote your values. Vote the values of human dignity and equality. Vote the values of the rock on which this country was built. Vote.” -The Most Rev. Michael CurryFall is voting season! Early voting begins October 20- Nonpartisan voter resources are available here. And here’s an appeal from The Rev. Sally Johnston and Ms. Aleta Payne of the Bishops’ Council of Advice on Public Policy: “We call on all churches to encourage members to get out to vote. This is not to say who to vote for, but to encourage informed, active, activated voters. You all are trusted narrators in time when there is such mistrust and doubt. The Episcopal Church does not take positions on any political candidates or parties, and clergy are not allowed to tell others how to vote.” Just vote! And encourage your friends and neighbors to vote, too. St. Luke’s Needlework Ministry (formerly Prayer Shawl Ministry) – Do you knit or crochet? Do you want to learn? Do you have yarn that you would like to donate? St. Luke’s Prayer Shawl Ministry could use your help. Prayer Shawls are given to people who are ill, recovering from an illness, or grieving the loss of a loved one. In addition to prayer shawls, we also make chemo caps for the Duke Blood Cancer Center and are hoping to start making scarves for homeless neighbors. We do our knitting at home and meet once a month in the Kramer room to knit/crochet and enjoy each other’s company (date and time to be determined.) However, it is not necessary to attend the meetings to participate. If you are interested, please contact Grams Gutknecht for more information. Rector time certain’s office day Rector Rhonda Lee is normally in the church office on Tuesdays, approximately 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feel free to stop by or make an appointment to see her then. Before dropping by, you might want to call to make sure she hasn’t stepped out for lunch, or stepped into another meeting. Exceptions to this “office day” will be announced ahead of time whenever possible. If Tuesdays don’t work for you, please call or email Rhonda to make an appointment for another day. Celebrating Bishop Anne! A series of farewell celebrations have been planned in honor of Bishop Anne Hodges-Copple’s upcoming retirement. Hosted at four sites throughout the Diocese, each drop-in event will feature hors d’oeuvres, music and lots of local flavor. We hope you’ll join us to say goodbye to Bishop Anne and to thank her for all of her work on behalf of the Diocese! Dates and locations have been set, and registration links are becoming available. Please save the date and register! Saturday, Oct. 29, 2-4 p.m., at Good Shepherd, Rocky Mount Sunday, Oct. 30, time TBD, at St. Andrew’s, Greensboro If you’d like to make a gift to Bishop Anne’s discretionary fund in honor of her retirement, you can do so here. St. Luke’s Pumpkin Patch and Pumpkin sale October 1st-October 31st. Please consider helping with our Pumpkin Patch and Pumpkin sale this year. We have many needs:cashiers, sales and general “patch” help. Sign-up sheet available at St. Luke’s south door entry or here. Contact Beth Bonner for any questions. Join us online for Morning Prayer – Wednesdays at 8am – Join our diocesan intern, Kate Rademacher, for Morning Prayer on Zoom on Wednesday mornings at 8am. As part of her discernment to potential ordination, Kate is strongly encouraged to pray the Daily Office, and she is eager to do this in community with people at St. Luke’s who may want to participate. Whether you have a long-standing practice of praying the Daily Office or whether it’s brand new to you, everyone is welcome! Join us online using this Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3dsRusD . For questions, please contact Kate. |
| Full Article – A New Chapter at LEAP! An important step for any nonprofit is to grow beyond its founding and continue to evolve. LEAP has taken an exciting step in that direction with a change in leadership. On October 3rd, Megan McCurley will begin working with LEAP as the new Executive Director. Megan is ideally suited to assume the role of Executive Director. She is the parent of two children who attended Nuestra Escuelita. She has worked with Durham Public Schools as a parent liason. She is an experienced fundraiser and has led other organizations. She is proud of her Columbian heritage, has a track record of supporting Latino families and is excited about empowering our parents and children. Meanwhile, our students at Nuestra Escuelita are rolling right along. Almost fifty children are enrolled and quickly adjusting to the routines of the school day. We are always looking for an extra pair of hands to help in our classrooms. We are wearing masks inside but spending most of our time un-masked and outside – where there there’s plenty of fresh air. To apply to be a Volunteer Teaching Assistant, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/mr239za3. Our tutoring program is continuing to operate remotely. The advantage of this mode is that the time and day are flexible for each tutoring pair. We are accepting applications for new tutors. No teaching experience or Spanish is required. It is important for tutors to be comfortable with zoom and using an (easy-to-follow) online curriculum. To apply to be a tutor, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/tedd2szs. Our 11th Annual Jingle Bell LEAP is coming up on Saturday December 3rd. Details about registration will be posted on our website soon. Mark your calendar to come out and run, walk or stroll with us! Fall is the perfect time to link, or re-link, your Harris Teeter VIC card with LEAP, naming us as the school you’d like to support- for free! You can link your card online at: https://tinyurl.com/45cmm5ezor at the service counter at Durham Harris Teeter stores (ask them to link you with LEAP, Nuestra Escuelita or #2840). Every time you buy a HT product this school year, they will send us a donation. (If you’ve linked with us before, that link has expired; you have to re-up each fall.) Thank you for keeping LEAP in your prayers. To keep up with what’s happening at LEAP, please follow us on social media (durhamleap). |
| Please be advised that neither the clergy nor your vestry will ever ask for help, gift cards, etc. through emails or text messages. There have been more bogus texts being received. CONTACT UPDATES – Up-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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