Upcoming Events
St. Luke’s has reopened for Worship outdoors (weather permitting) or indoors
Worship will also be held on Zoom Sunday mornings at 10AM
For the Zoom links, please email stluke654@aol.com
The worship service will continue to be recorded and posted here
Sunday School lessons and activities are emailed to all registered families
To register for Sunday School and receive the weekly lessons email mmcevoy33@aol.com
Weekly Prayer Group is held on Wednesday mornings at 10AM
for information contact elizabeth.lizzieb718@gmail.com
CHRISTMAS IN JULY worship service – July 25, 2021 at 10:00am
Time for Re-Creation
Three short weeks into June and it is already Summer! Can you believe
it?
While we are hopefully recovering from the pandemic, summer could
not come any sooner. Most of us missed the freedom and joy of life last year that
summers usually bring. Now you can feel it in the air – a growing positive spirit,
travel plans, connecting with family and friends. In fact, it has already begun!
It is a season for recreation, recouping, regrouping, repentance and
renewal.
As people of faith and people of the Word, we carry within
us the first words of scripture, “In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) God took delight in creation.
“It was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) The heart of this season is not
only recreation but “re-creation”.
Enjoy this time. Take delight in nature. Ever notice how
people come back from vacation smiling and relaxed? It is because
we get in touch with simpler things. Our childhood is renewed in
delight, more time, freedom to roam and discover, to see things with
new eyes and awaken our curiosity and open our hearts to beauty,
joy, gratitude and praise of all God’s creation including life itself.
“Thank you God, for this day”, is a prayer of praise. Take this time
for re-creation to connect with God, “the Creator of heaven and earth”! In it all God takes delight. We
can too!
When the children of Abraham crossed the Red Sea into the wilderness for forty years, it is
not hard to imagine that they dreamt of what a new life in the Promised Land might feel like. In part
they imagined how it once was and in part had no idea what new possibilities and challenges awaited
them. All of our lives have been disrupted in one way or another. Now we face the future with faith in
God.
As a church community and individually we need to re-coup our losses this past year and
regain a way of life. I believe that by the fall we will fully re-coup that sense of togetherness, larger
community, and greater openness to events of fellowship, education, helping others and music than we
have. At least this is the direction we look forward to in the unveiling of a return.
Even more, as we make ready planning this summer for the fall, we will need to re-group.
Every church’s attendance has been affected. According to a Barna study, whether in-person or online,
still 32% of practicing Christians have dropped out of church for the time being.
We need to re-group. I love the example of “re-grouping” in the dictionary: “The general regrouped his forces after the retreat.” Our general of course is Christ.
Finally, we seek renewal. We need renewal in the spirit, renewal in Christ Jesus. Anytime we
seek renewal – renewed wedding vows, renewed baptismal vows, renewed living – it is always preceded by some form of repentance -how we sometimes lost our way along the journey and seek God’s
forgiveness (and other’s forgiveness as well as our own) in order to begin with afresh. Our nature’s
have been tested and now a door to re-creating living in freedom, joy and love is opening.
I pray we will have the faith to walk through that door together through re-creation, recouping, and re-grouping as the people of God in Christ and His community of St. Luke’s.
As you know, Summer is the best time for living things to grow and flourish and blossom!
Faithfully,
Reverend Dr. William J. Damrow
Pastor