Click the play button below to hear Anne Lucas’ Stewardship Talk or download it now.

It is time to nominate and elect new vestry members. At our Annual Parish Meeting on Sunday, January 29, 2012, we will be electing four new vestry members. The Nominating Committee consists of the three outgoing vestry members:  Larry Browndyke, John Kalb, and Chris Wilt.  To nominate someone, please download the following attachment, read the instructions carefully, and submit your form to a Nominating Committee Member or to Fr. Robert Odom.  Click below to download the form.

Vestry Selection

To view the Stewardship Video from the Staff, please click the image below.

The ladies of the St. Clare’s Guild and the Shawl Ministry made over 600 scarves and shawls!   450 scarves went to the Austin Street Shelter and 170 scarves went to The Bridge in Dallas. They made a beautiful display when they were blessed on October 9th.

From left to right: Mary (Elliott's grandmother), Hannah, Jenna, Elliott, Alexis, Emily, Cecelia (Kay's cousin).

A BIG congratulations to Elliott Back on receiving the Boy Scouts of America’s highest honor, the Eagle Scout Award. His Eagle Scout Court of Honor was held on October 8, 2011.

Elliott after the ECOH.

Nick and Kay, proud parents, with Elliott.

Jenna and Emily (Elliott's cousins) with Elliott on their way to the Eagle Court of Honor.

We had so much fun in VBS this week, we just had to share it with you! Click the square in the right hand corner to make the slideshow full screen. Then click “play” in the left hand corner and enjoy!

Good times, good cause – all the fun you see here benefitted Jonathan’s Place. Click on a picture to see the whole thing!

Saturday, May 21, 2011
Indian Creek Golf Club

English- and Spanish-speaking congregations and Boy Scout Troop 577 come together to spruce up our common space.

By the time our St. Luke’s parish family is reading this, your mission team, joined by parishioners from Good Shepherd/Dallas and St. Phillip’s/Palestine, Texas, as well as several missioners from Children’s Hospital in Dallas, will have just returned from Siguatepeque, Honduras.

As this is being written, the mission team is enjoying its time with the beautiful people of Siguatepeque. Each working day, the medical clinic sees an average of 130 patients and dispatches medicines to each family.  The dental clinic sees an average of 26 patients – and does many, necessary extractions!  The eye glass clinic averages 65 “customers” each day and the construction team has really been working to advance the completion of the new Rectory.  By the end of the trip, the builders will have taken a complete load of sand from the bottom of the hill up 50 large steps where the rectory and church are… one bag of sand at a time – in addition to helping finish out the interior of the house construction itself!  Also, Christian education workers are seeing about 50 children participate in the afternoon programs each day!

Several exciting pieces of news:  the building team had 2 encounters with tarantulas on 2 different days!  Our bus driver is excellent, and shares the tendency of other drivers to get so close to the car or truck in front as to be able to use them as a “hood ornament” – no 2 second rule here!  The sunsets are fabulously gorgeous!

The team celebrated a beautiful Eucharist on Sunday, led by Fr. Robert, the Reverend Suyapa and Fr. Oscar.  Many of the locals who visit the clinic and live nearby were there!  The service was very spirit-filled and the children’s choir led us delightfully in singing.  We have a lot of fun learning new praise songs in Spanish!

We are very much looking forward to our return and to sharing stories with our St. Luke’s family!

With muchos saludos de Honduras:  Anne Lucas and Sue Moore!

I was recently contacted by neighborsgo/Dallas Morning News and asked to contribute to their Looking Ahead edition that will be published on January 7.  Here’s how I answered their questions.

What challenges and opportunities do you anticipate for congregations of all faiths in 2011?

The rising popularity of virtual (as opposed to actual) community will continue to present both an opportunity and a challenge for congregations.  Online communities such as Facebook and Twitter replicate many aspects of actual community quite convincingly – so much so that an entire generation could end up mistaking virtual community for the real thing.  This is a serious challenge for a sacramental congregation such as St. Luke’s because actually being present to and for each other is essential to how we know, love, and serve God, and vice versa.  I can’t anoint and lay hands on someone for healing via the internet.  My community can’t celebrate a virtual Eucharist.  We can’t baptize someone online.  Just as God in Jesus Christ has become present to humankind as a human, so we, Jesus’ followers, can’t fully minister to each other and the world from afar.  The localized congregation of disciples is foundational to who we are as Christians.  We could no more do without it than we could do without the Bible.  The opportunity with social media is that we can use them to proclaim the Good News to people who would otherwise never come into contact with St. Luke’s, just as St. Paul used the latest technology (Roman roads) to spread the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire.  Commenting on the introduction of popular music into worship services, Martin Luther supposedly said, “Why let the devil have all the good tunes?”  The same could be said of the internet.  Why turn over such an effective medium to amoral (and in some cases immoral) commercial interests?

What kind of change – if any – do you foresee for your congregation in 2011?

St. Luke’s is redoubling its efforts to reach the un-churched in 2011.  We will change the lives of people whose names we don’t even know yet.  That is exciting to think about.

How do you think your congregation is most likely to make a difference this year?

I assume by “make a difference” you mean “difference in the broader community.” I foresee St. Luke’s relationship with Pershing Elementary coming to full bloom in 2011.  It has been germinating so far, but we are going to impact the lives of students, faculty, staff and their families in appropriate and meaningful ways.

What are your hopes for the community in 2011?

Again, I assume that you are asking about my hopes for the broader community, not my congregation.  Dallas is a place of restless striving.  My hope is that this city will come to understand that it can and should strive for greatness while being at peace with self and neighbor.  Balancing zealous mission with inner peace results in a compelling confidence, and it begins with a right relationship with God, whom we know as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.