Friends,

It is that time of year, when everyone in my family takes turns having a cold, and it is my turn. From about November through mid-March at least one of the boys, Leandra or I are down for some sort of crud. Even when they are well, the boys constantly have runny noses, and our whole world is fairly gross until the weather gets better. I’m sure that I will be fine by Sunday, but while I write this my brain is foggy, so do not expect anything profound. The good news is that I have a lot of non-found things that are mostly unrelated to one another that I’ve been wanting to tell you, so did you know:

· An easy thing you could do to help our ministry is to give St. Luke’s a good rating on Google, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram. This sounds kind of silly, but a lot of people have found us through social media or simple searches, and we have a disproportionately small footprint compared to similar sized congregations around us. Right now, there are only seven reviews for St. Luke’s on google. If I were new to the neighborhood and I was trying to find a Church home, I’d err on the side of going to the Church with thirty good reviews versus seven. If you love St. Luke’s, let the world know it! In a similar way, if you watch our services on Facebook or YouTube, then take the time to hit “like” or “follow”!

· We have an ever-evolving Church directory that is super helpful! It is a cell phone app called “Church Life”, and it automatically updates when our records are updated. It would be soooo much more helpful if more people used it, updated their information, and uploaded a picture of themselves! Only members of our Church have access to it, it’s totally free, and it is available through whatever app store you use. The Church software must recognize your e-mail when you login, so contact the Church office if you run into issues.

· Cara Omohundro grew at St. Luke’s and is currently in college. She recently finished painting murals on the third floor, and they look amazing!! Each mural is from a bible passage, and they strike a balance between sincere and whimsical, and they are beautifully done. When I asked the Sunday School teachers what passages they would want to be reflected in the hallways, our funniest teacher suggested 2 Kings 2:23-24, which you all know is when Elisha sent she-bears to attack children who were making fun of him for being bald. This side-narrative is completely unnecessary to the rest of the 2 Kings, and is a bit weird. Cara discreetly and tastefully added the passage to the murals, and I think it is hilarious.

· We have four cell towers in our steeple. It was designed so the antennas would be in the cross itself, but as cell companies updated their equipment it would no long fit, so the antennas now live behind the louvers on the side of the steeple. We get a lot of money for renting out this space, but none of the funds can be used for operating expenses. Currently most of the income from the cell towers is going to paying off the loan that was taken to offset the cost of the new parish hall and exterior lighting.

· We belong to the largest Episcopal Diocese in the Country, which is the Diocese of Virginia. Despite being huge, the diocese had a long tradition of voluntary giving, meaning churches give the diocese whatever they want. This is extremely uncommon and led to a very underfunded Diocese when I arrived. About two years ago, the Diocese voted to get in line with the rest of Episcopal Church and do proportional giving, which all parishes required to give ten percent of their operating income to the Diocese, and there was a plan where Church would incrementally increase to ten percent, and I am happy to say that St. Luke’s in on target with this plan.

· The Rt. Rev. Mark Stevenson was elected our new Bishop about a year ago, and has brought on Bishops Gayle Harris and Bud Shand to help assist with the duties of the Episcopate. So far, his time has been marked by getting the diocese running better, getting the clergy working together, and creating very detailed worship guidelines. For the most part, his leadership has been a breath of fresh air. When you don’t need the Diocese, it’s hard to see why you need them, but when you do need them, they show up and are wonderful. They have offered amazing help this year, and I am very grateful.

· Did you know we don’t call ourselves Anglican, because of that war we fought with England? Episcopal just means, “Bishop” in Greek, so we are named after our system of Bishops. So, in the last bulleted item above, when I said “Episcopate”, I just mean the office of the Bishop.

· I hired Cecil Allan as our sexton about two years ago and he is amazing. You will likely never meet him, because he works a 9-5, then after work he comes and fixes stuff around the Church. He is incredibly skilled, and saves us money because we no longer need to call plumbers or electricians. As a General Contractor he knows how to do just about anything. If you see something broken, don’t assume someone is already on it! Shoot us an e-mail and we’ll add it to Cecil’s list.

· I strongly prefer Rite I, but we will likely only ever use it on occasion. That’s the type of worship that uses all of the fancy language with the “ thees and thous”. I thought I would find that type of worship too stuffy, but it is beautiful and has prayers that you won’t find elsewhere. The one service we do use this Rite is at the Wednesday noon service in the narthex. You should join us. A lot of clergy can’t wait to get rid of this rite. I like to frustrate them by responding to their well thought out logic, with, “but Rite I is the Right One!”

· Did you know we have four worship services every week? In addition to 8:00 am and 10:00 am, we have the 5:00 pm family service in the soft space, which is beyond cute. We also have a healing service on Wednesday at noon that follows the lectionary about the saints.

Well, this is about the best I can do this week. In a weird way, I am glad I had a chance to unload all of the little un-profound things that have been bouncing around my head. I hope to see you all on Sunday with a clearer head!

Blessings,

Nick