2013 St. Luke’s Summer Arts Program

Application

1605 Main Street

Newberry, SC 29108

June 17-20 9:00 AM—12 Noon

Please return this application with the $10 fee to the above address by June 10.

Name_________________________________________________________________________

Parent or Guardian’s Name_______________________________________________________

Address_______________________________________________________________________

Phone_________________________________________________________________________

E-Mail address_________________________________________________________________

Age of Student________

Comments (List any allergies or other medical concerns that the staff may need to know about)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There will be only ONE on Sunday, April 7th.

Many thanks to Ginger and Randy for their work preparing for the Easter Brunch and to all who brought food and will stay to clean up.

We welcome everyone who will come to our service! Thank you for celebrating the Sunday of Our Lord’s Resurrection with us. If you are visiting, let us know if we can do anything to make you more at home. Know that all are welcome in this place. Please join us again!

 Parish Breakfast on March 24th hosted by the Steffens. The Adult Forum will NOT meet but eat instead.

 Holy Week Services: March 28th-Maundy Thursday 6:30, March 29th-Good Friday 6:30.

 Single Service Sundays: March 24 (Palm Sunday), March 31 (Easter), April 7 (Low Sunday. The Adult Forum will not meet on Single Service Sundays.

 Easter Lilies are available for purchase for $12.00 each. Lily forms are due THIS Sunday!! Please make checks payable to the ECW.

 The History Channel Series on The Bible continues on Sunday nights at 8:00 with the series repeated on Wednesday nights at 8:00.

 The Diocese is sponsoring a 10 day trip to Israel in leaving from Greenville-Spartanburg on January 13. Cost will be $3,500.00. See Elizabeth for details.

 Holy Week Services: March 28th-Maundy Thursday 6:30, March 29th-Good Friday 6:30.

Single Service Sundays: March 24 (Palm Sunday), March 31 (Easter), April 7 (Low Sunday.

Easter Lilies are available for purchase for $12.00 each. Lily forms are due NEXT Sunday!! Please make checks payable to the ECW.

Bishop Waldo visits this Sunday 2/24/13. Bring a side dish to share for the Parish Luncheon.

All designated offerings collected today will be contributed to the Bishop’s Discretionary Fund for support of emergencies and non budgeted ministries.

Volunteers are needed for participation in the Maundy Thursday service on March 28. Please see the rector for details.

The second Lenten supper is Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30. A sign up sheet is posted downstairs. 

Holy Week Services: March 28th-Maundy Thursday 6:30, March 29th-Good Friday 6:30.

Single Service Sundays: March 24 (Palm Sunday), March 31 (Easter), April 7 (Low Sunday.

The Vestry will meet Monday at 6:30.

Easter Lilies are available for purchase for $12.00 each. Please make checks payable to the ECW.

Announcing the date for the next After School Arts....February 13,2013. We will meet in the St. Luke's Parish House and make Valentine's Day themed crafts for you and your sweetie.

Ash Wednesday is February 13. You will have the following opportunities to worship that day: Ash Wednesday Liturgy will be celebrated at 6:30 PM. Also, between 10 AM and noon, Elizabeth will be in the church to impose ashes on those wishing to receive the rite earlier in the day or unable to attend the evening service. You are invited to visit any time between 10 and noon for a prayer, blessing and ashes. I guess you could say this is the "ashes to go" option. If you have questions about either service contact the rector.—Elizabeth

 St. Luke’s Annual Meeting will be held on January 13th after the 10:30 service. Mark your calendars and please attend this important meeting. All vestry members who present reports: Senior and Junior Wardens, Treasurer, etc. PLEASE get reports to Susan by Thursday afternoon in order to have them printed for the annual meeting.

 We will have a “bring your own dish” luncheon after the Annual Meeting on January 13th. Please bring a dish to share, we will need meat dishes, casseroles, side dishes and desserts.

 Only the 10:30 service will be conducted on January 6th. The Adult Forum WILL meet on that January 6th.

 St. Luke’s Annual Meeting will be held on January 13 after the 10:30 service. Mark your calendars and please attend this important meeting. All vestry members who present reports: Senior and Junior Wardens, Treasurer, etc. PLEASE get reports to Susan by January 10th in order to have them printed for the annual meeting.

Brass choir and caroling at 10:30 p.m.
Holy Communion at 11:00 p.m.
Candle lighting at midnight
Fellowship and refreshments following the service
All Are Welcome!

A community of faith committed to living and sharing
the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The Rev. Elizabeth Morgan, Rector

Make plans to attend the Christmas Eve Services and fellowship afterward. All are asked to bring finger food items to go with our Christmas fellowship.

Only the 10:30 service will be conducted on December 30th and January 6th. The Adult Forum will meet on January 6th.

The Rt. Rev. W. Andrew Waldo

PASTORAL LETTER

FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2012

2 December 2012

Dear People of God, Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

“Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light,” we have prayed this day, this First Sunday in Advent and beginning of a new church year.

Every year we pray this prayer and every time it reminds us of the tensions within our own hearts between choices that tempt us and yet may do us or others harm, and choices that seem too hard and yet may do us or others good.

It reminds us of the One to whom we must in the end give an account for all our choices.

Our scriptures call us to righteousness, fullness of faith, to love for one another and just behavior toward the poor, the needy and the oppressed.

They call us to watch for signs of the kingdom of God, keeping our hearts free from the weight of “dissipation, and drunkenness and the worries of this life” so that we will be alert and ready to stand before the Son of Man.

So we yearn for our lives to reflect the image of God implanted within us.

And we strive to put on this “armor of light.”

This Advent finds South Carolina Episcopalians with an open wound, our armor pierced by our inability across diocesan boundaries to navigate the challenge of living and staying together in disagreement.

The disassociation of the Diocese of South Carolina from The Episcopal Church has formalized a long‐developing schism over matters of both theology and governance.

The questions about whether they can legally do what they have done are not ours to answer.

The questions of who is the more to blame are not ours to answer.

As I said earlier, temptations to choose those things which may do us or others harm are ever with us and these temptations have been freely engaged across the church from both sides in this tragic fracture.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that not a single one of us is ever free from these temptations and guilt for succumbing to them.

The questions we are called to answer address whether we will choose a better way, a way that is neither dismissive of our own theological diversity nor of the challenge Jesus has laid literally at the feet of his disciples: to love and serve him in one another. —Together.

We live in a time that freely indulges itself in thinking that being “right” is better than being in relationship—in families, in politics, and in church.

But we delude ourselves when we embrace the notion that true principles exist only at the extremes.

We further delude ourselves when we imagine that faithful disciples will, by definition, agree with each other.

When, as a teenager, I left faith and Christian community for some ten years, I did so out of my perception of the church’s hypocrisy in proclaiming one thing and doing another, and doing it boldly.

For me, this was during the disruptions and disagreements on race and civil rights, tensions so profoundly visible to a young person who lived in Montgomery, Alabama, throughout the 1960’s.

I left because I thought I was right and others were wrong.

The tensions were real and “works of darkness” were committed countless times in the name of Christianity.

But I was wrong to leave the church over them.

My return to the church as a young adult in my twenties came about only when, in my own brokenness, I realized how broken we all are.

I realized how little control I actually have and ultimately how utterly dependent I am on the grace, love and mercy of God.

I have heard it said many times that the only way to grow is to stop doing things that aren’t working.

Pretending I was in control wasn’t working.

St. Paul tells us how dimly we see.

He tells us how we will neither see nor know fully until we stand face to face with the One who already sees and knows everything about us.

And yet, we cannot lean too heavily on the dimness of our sight.

We cannot let that become a way of trying to see more clearly, love more dearly and follow Christ more nearly.

Our blindness offers us humility.

Our relationship with God in Christ Jesus gives us the grace to love one another even in the face of the most radical disagreements.

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,” Jesus said. (Luke 6:27)

To love one another as Christ loved us, to be willing even to die for one another, is the deepest principle of Christian discipleship.

It is above all other principles.

It is patient and kind.

“It does not insist on its own way; it is not

irritable or resentful; it … rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

There is no need for patience unless one disagrees.

Why resist insisting on one’s own way, as this passage in 1 Corinthians 13 continues, unless someone has said there is another way?

Why bear all things unless there are things that are heavy to carry?

Why endure all things unless there are many hardships?

And yet, as disciples of Jesus Christ, love

expects these things of us.

To do this is to put on the armor of light.

Over the past several weeks, I’ve spoken to people in both dioceses.

More than a few of them on both sides of the issues have spoken of a paradoxical sense of relief that the tension has finally been broken and of a sense that something new is emerging.

That sense of relief is both undeniable and understandable in many ways, but we do not yet know what its hidden and presently unknowable effects will be.

In the end, I believe that disciples, who truly and regularly wash one another’s feet, whether in spirit or in fact, will find more enduring and persistent joy in love when is gained at cost to oneself through servant ministry to one another.

So this must be the principle by which we in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina will choose to live.

We will not always agree.

We will do things to hurt one another.

And yet we will also have cause to celebrate, to rejoice in the life that has been given to us.

We will seek to “walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us,” not merely to “get along,” but in deep appreciation and even gratitude for the cost to each of us, personally, of the obedient sacrifice expected of us.

Looking to the future, we do not know how things will unfold across the state.

We do not know what individuals and congregations within the Diocese of South

Carolina will do.

We do not know how the leadership of The Episcopal Church will proceed.

We do know that friendships and relationships across the state will persist.

I do know that I will stay in contact with my brother, Mark Lawrence, and those within

this diocese who have appreciated and agreed with his theological perspective.

I will also stay in contact and dialogue with those who have felt that The Episcopal Church has moved courageously in its theological developments.

And, I offer my support to those within the Diocese of South Carolina who wish to remain within The Episcopal Church.

Both Bishop Mark Lawrence and Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori are aware of my offer.

My deepest hope is that in the long term, we, in our brokenness, will steadfastly hold on to the possibility of reconciliation and restoration, even if it takes us a generation.

This is precisely the kind of dialogue to which our strategic visioning process calls us.

So I will continue to foster such dialogue and to be the bishop of all in this diocese, regardless of where members are on the theological or political continuum.

Therefore, we must continue to pray for those whom we love and for those whom we struggle to love, whether they live within or beyond this diocese.

Advent announces the reign of Jesus and his sovereignty in our lives, a reign that will bring resolution to all our earthly questions in God’s own time.

This Advent, may we, as brother and sisters in his holy Name, bear witness with the clarity, purpose and, above all, the love to which his kingdom bears witness, in this world and in the next.

In the name of Jesus, I remain your brother, friend and fellow‐laborer in the vineyard,

The Rt. Rev. W. Andrew Waldo, VIIIth Bishop

The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina

The St. Luke’s After School Arts program begins Wednesday, December 12 at 3:00. All children are welcome. Bridgett needs clean aluminum cans—soup cans or larger. The program will be held in the Parish House.

The Angel Tree gifts need to be turned in by December 16th. Please see procedure posted on the bulletin board in the undercroft. Remember to select a child or adult from the three families on the Angel tree. Please write down your name beside the person and gift. Wrap your gift, put the tag with the Family # and child/adult on the outside of your package, and bring it to the church by Dec. 16. Thank you for making this Christmas special for so many.

Manna House: We are in need of canned meats, vegetables, and fruits--non-perishables. Please check that the expiration date is far enough ahead because Manna House is not allowed to distribute foods that are very near the expiration dates. Frozen meat--like deer meat--and frozen bread can be taken directly to DSS to Sara Smith during the week.

Christmas Eve is coming! Make plans to attend the Christmas Eve Services and fellowship afterward. More information about sign up sheets for holiday food and spirits will be forthcoming.

The MADD of Newberry County invites you to the 2012 Red Ribbon Service and Candlelight Vigil of Remembrance and Hope to be held at St. Luke’s on Friday evening November 16th at 7:00.

The Community Thanksgiving Service will be held on Monday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m. at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.

Frank needs to know the names of all who are willing to usher before he makes out the 2012-2013 Usher List.

The Vestry will meet Monday, November 12th at 6:30.

There will be one service November 25th.

Third Quarter contribution statements are available in the narthex. Please see Sandy or Susan if you have any questions.

The ECW Bazaar will be held on Saturday, November 3 from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The ECW is asking all members to contribute baked goods; cakes, pies, cookies, casseroles, etc. 

St. Luke’s will be participating in the US Congregational Life Survey on October 21. Only those present for either service will participate.

The Parish Breakfasts will commence on October 28th. The Adult Class will not meet on Parish Breakfast Sundays.

Bishop Waldo will visit on February 24.

The Blessing of the Animals service will be held on October 21st at 3:30 here at the church.

 St. Luke’s two service fall schedule begins on September 16. The Adult Forum will meet on that Sunday and for every two service Sunday except Men’s Breakfast Sundays. Single service Sundays are Nov. 25, Dec. 23 & 30 and Jan 6.

The Darby Family (Leila Caldwell) donated a generous amount to the Building Fund as well as 10 glass vases to St. Luke’s.

We will celebrate the Baptism of Ian Schumpert next Sunday.

The ECW will meet September 9th and the DOK will meet September 16th after the 10:30 service.

 Thanks to all who contributed to the York Place school supply drive. Many supplies were given and $179.00 in cash was donated to the students.

The Bible Challenge (reading the Bible with Bishop Waldo) will begin October 1. Consider signing up for this challenge. A sheet will be available in the narthex.

St. Luke’s will be participating in the US Congregational Life Survey. Information on the process and survey can be found at uscongregations.org.

Last week’s Parish Meeting was well attended and productive. Wayne Steffen gave a wonderful presentation of the Building Committee’s work to date. Thanks to all who participated. There will be a follow up meeting to discuss where we go from here.

Many thanks to those who provided the Parish Breakfast this morning and to those who provided strawberries, cream and champagne for our Pentecost celebration after the service.

The summer schedule begins today with single Sunday services at 10:30. The Adult Forum will not meet during the summer.

Please see Application Link on News Page. Click "Printable Version" to print out application. We look forward to another wonderful Arts Program!