A Word From Deacon Chip About Storms

There are people in the world, and in our community, who are very different from what we might expect. Different foods, language, social expectations, or even different ethics. But it wasn’t until recently that I found out this difference between myself and others.

Some people don’t stop what they are doing to go and watch a thunderstorm.

Prayer and Discernment: How to Tell the Weeds From the Wheat

The parable of the weeds sown among the wheat is often used as a way to talk about discernment. Our world is filled with situations like the one Jesus describes, where a person sows a field with grain and “the evil one” comes and sows weeds among the wheat. Both grow up and are indistinguishable until they are ready for harvest. Jesus tells his disciples that it is better to leave the two together until it is clear which is which.

Parables and Discernment: Where do you find yourself on the curve?

One of the most interesting things about discernment, or the process of knowing God's Spirit, is that it is rarely linear. As one walks with Jesus, praying, reading Scripture and working in community, the path forward bends, sometimes so much that we can't see the end. It is like this with parables as well. The stories Jesus tells in the synoptic Gospels about seeds, wheat, bread and other ordinary things are indeed about those things, but the deeper meanings of them are often obscure.

A Word From Deacon Chip About Perfection

Nobody's perfect,” the saying goes. If you’re in a church context you might have someone come back with, “Except Jesus!”

Both of those sentiments are true. The limits of all human skill and striving is perfection. We can never reach perfection of our arts, profession, hobby, or even our relationships. There is always more to learn and a better way to go about it.

June 26: A Word From Deacon Chip About Summer

Spiritual rest gives our hearts and our souls time to recoup and grow stronger so that when we bend our skill to the work of God’s kingdom again it will be with renewed energy, and maybe with more strength than we know we have.

I hope that even as you seek physical rest this summer you will find the time to join us for worship on what we call our Sabbath, that is rest in God.

June 19: A Word From Deacon Chip About Worship

For the next few weeks the service will be recorded ahead of time and then offered online at our usual 9 A.M. on Sunday. You will still be able to watch the service on our Facebook page. In addition, we will be hosting our video on the St. Luke’s Youtube channel. That same youtube video will be featured at the top of our website www.SaintLukesChurch.net on Sunday morning.

June 12: A Note from the Vestry

The members of the Re-Gathering St. Luke’s Committee, the Discernment Committee, the St. Luke’s Day School leadership and staff, the church clergy and staff and the vestry are all working hard in unsettled and uncertain circumstances to support St. Lukes’ many ministries. We welcome and appreciate your concerns, comments and suggestions, and we ask for your patience and prayers as we move forward together.

Living Stones that Find a Place in God's House

The practices of the Christian life give us the order and structure to deal with the anxiety and fear that come from shifts as dramatic as we are going through now. Like structures built to withstand earthquakes, we will need to have a good foundation and the flexibility to move with the trembling around us.

A reflection on St. Philip and Christian Service

Today (May 1) we celebrate the feast of the apostles Phillip and James. These saints are often mistaken for two others: Phillip the Deacon and Evangelist and James the brother of Jesus. We know more about Phillip than we do about James, but together they are an example of facilitating others’ coming to know Jesus. Their witness is sometimes obscured by associations with other people, but they are important companions of Jesus who show us discernment and the ability to seize the right moment to bring others to Christ.

The Road to Emmaus, the Slough of Despond: how to keep going on your pilgrim journey.

In this video, Veronika asks St. Luker's to reflect on ways to get out of the Slough of Despond ( an image from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress), which is an allegory for the disillusionment one may feel at certain early points in a long difficult journey, like a pilgrimage or a response to a long-lasting crisis. Bunyan's character gets out of the Slough only after accepting help from another person (usefully named "Help" in the story).

Unruly Wills, Belief, and Resurrection

I’ve always had a bit of an unruly will, and it has been more difficult than usual to obey needed restrictions these past couple of weeks. During a period of self-isolation because of my brief lunch with a colleague who tested positive for Covid-19, and now due to the governor’s orders, I have been mostly in my house for seventeen days. We’ve been worshiping online each week, but I long to see all of you in person. I’ve been praying to receive “my daily bread” from God, but fasting from the “Bread of Life” as we have not been able to share the Eucharist on three Sundays. I am doing what the public health authorities say I must to help slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes covid-19, but I don’t have to like it. You don’t have to like it either. What we are going through this Lent is hard, but it is not unprecedented in our Christian history.