Summer 2013

S
Non-profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Des Moines, Iowa
Permit No. 1440
t.
Luke’s
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Address Service Requested
S
S
SPRING 2013
t.
Luke’s
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Take Heart
By Martha Kester
Alleluia Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia! I love the Easter acclimation and in some ways wish we would use it year round since it is true year
round. Though I imagine like many things if we said it all the time it would
become rote and lose some of its meaning.
THIS ISSUE
Parish Grounds
Clean-Up Day!
Sunday, May 19
Following the
10a.m. Service
Supply Needs List
From the Senior Warden
45 Bags of Mulch (light cypress color)
Announcements3
10 Bags of Dirt
Peaches Fundraiser
3
10 Hosta Plants (smaller varieties)
Clean-Up Day
4
12 Day Lilies (Bright Yellow)
1 Flat Red Geraniums
1 Flat Orange Marigolds
1-2 Flats White Alyssum
8 Purple Sage Plants
25-50 Compost Bags for Leaves
We will kick things off by grilling out for lunch at 12p.m.
with work beginning at 12:30p.m. Come to church
dressed to work or bring a change of clothes. Bring your
favorite work tools, too (rake, spade, gloves, etc). We will
be raking leaves, preparing flower beds in the front and
back, planting flowers, mulching, etc. Plan now to join
in—many hands make light work! Please RSVP for lunch
on the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board so we make
sure to have enough food for everyone!
Cash donations will be accepted if you do
not wish to do the shopping--place your
donation in the offering or the parish mail
slot marked Clean-Up Day.
So we do not have duplicates, please mark off what you will be purchasing on the
list on the Guild Room bulletin board or call the parish office and Angela will mark
it off for you. Please do not bring live plants to the church more than a few days in
advance--we want them to stay alive and be healthy at the time of the work day.
2
New Artist’s Rendering2
Yet as I write this we are
still in the Easter season,
which doesn’t end till the
day of Pentecost May 19th
and we’ve also just experienced more terrorism on
our own soil. Listening
to the radio today, the day after the bombs
exploded at the finish line of the Boston
Marathon, I heard the song by Aaron Shust
“My Hope Is In You”. It was said that a
secular music station played this song in light
of the tragedy of bombings.
The chorus of the song goes: “My hope
is in You Lord; All the day long; I won’t be
shaken by drought or storm; A peace that
passes understanding is my song; And I sing;
My hope is in You alone”
How often do we allow the drought or
storm to shake us to the core – when faced
with the reality of evil, when faced with situations that seem like there is no way out, when
faced with trouble which seems insurmountable; we want to turn and run, to throw up
our hands in defeat – where is our trust?
Where is our hope?
Jesus told us in the Gospel of John, not
long before he was going to face that first Easter season, “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed
it has come, when you will be scattered, each to
his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet
I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I
have said these things to you, that in me you
may have peace. In the world you will have
tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome
the world.” (ESV John 16:32-33)
I pray that you might know the reality
of the risen Lord that we proclaim so that
you will know the hope and peace that Jesus
promises. Evil is real and we need to face
it. We need to face it in a way that helps
others come to also know the reality of the
one who has ultimately defeated evil.
Edmund Burke an 18th century Irish
orator, philosopher, & politician is quoted as
saying “All that is necessary for the triumph
of evil is that good men do nothing.” What
reminded me of the hope I have was while
watching the carnage from Boston I saw
numerous civilians, service personnel, and
police running into danger to assist and
help in any way possible. There is evil, true
but we know that God is alive and stronger
than any evil.
So may we continue to proclaim the
truth that Christ is risen, The Lord is risen
indeed! May we proclaim it every day in
the face of all things so that we will echo
Aaron Shust declaring “My hope is in you
Lord, all the day long!!”
ST. LUKE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH | 3424 FOREST AVENUE | DES MOINES, IOWA 50311 | WWW.STLUKES-DSM.ORG
2
ANNOUNCEMENTS
From the Senior Warden
by Hollie Hart
“This is the day The Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!” In my
undergraduate days at a Methodist college, our college president always
began his addresses with those words. It always seems right to keep them
in mind, and no more so than at the start of a glorious Midwest summer. We want to rejoice in warm weather and outdoor activities and all the
other things we missed during the cold half of the year. We want to be
active again. Those of us on the Vestry are also
considering the things we rejoice in here at
St. Luke’s and how we can be more active,
both by continuing to do the things we
already do well and by adding more. We
are trying to keep always in mind the
mission statement of St. Luke’s, which is
“to enlarge the kingdom of God through
our common witness and to teach the truth
of Christ.” One of the ways we want to enlarge
the kingdom is to address the decline
in membership here at St. Luke’s and
determine ways to reverse that trend. We
have been discussing an action plan since
the vestry retreat, and we want to invite
your participation in the process. Briefly,
our analysis of the strengths and
weaknesses we see here at St. Luke’s have
led us to initiate a four-part effort, from
which we hope to develop a specific “bigpicture” plan for our church: First, to continue all the activities and
outreach programs we are already doing
while encouraging wider participation
throughout the parish.
Second, to encourage wider
membership with “indirect” methods of
attracting attendance, such as updating the
church’s website, outreach efforts to Drake
students and the neighborhood, etc. Third, to try some more “direct”
methods such as targeted mailings, phone
campaigns, etc.
And fourth, to gather data from
successful larger churches on ways that
have worked (or not) for them in attracting
S
t. Luke’s
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
new members and keeping the ones they
have. From all this fact-finding and idea
generation we hope to put together a
master plan for enlarging the kingdom
here at St. Luke’s, sharing our common
witness, and continuing to teach the
truth of Christ. We invite all of you to
share with the vestry any ideas you have
that would contribute to this vision. Tell
us your passions! What do you feel
called to do to help St. Luke’s? Contact
me, junior warden Mike Schoville, or
any vestry member with your ideas. This is not something the vestry
can do by ourselves. We need you. We
want to hear from you and we need your
help. That’s what sharing our common
witness is all about. Together we can
hope to enlarge the kingdom of God
here at St. Luke’s. Let’s be active this
summer! This is the day The Lord has
made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
In fellowship, Hollie
ECW NEWS
The ECW recently voted in new
officers for the 2013-14 year. They are:
Polly Flug, Pres., Ronda Montgomery,
VP, Suzanne Elfvin, Treasurer, Kristine
Crisman, Secretary. If you have ideas
for meeting topics or events, please
let any of the ECW officers know.
We are looking for opportunities to
better serve the women of St. Luke’s.
Larry Castek
Larry Castek Larry
Castek
Latest Artistic
Rendering of
St. Luke’s
Recently a watercolor of St. Luke’s
was commissioned. This work was
shown around Easter and was most
well received. Both the art work and
the note cards will again be shown
and made available in the month
of October. Signed and numbered
prints, both framed and unframed,
along with the cards will be available
for purchase during the Sundays in
October.
Proceeds of the sales will benefit
the Rector’s discretionary fund to
a certain amount and then to the
general fund.
Signed unframed prints
($52 goes to St. Luke’s)
Signed framed prints
($63 goes to St. Luke’s)
$95
$135
*Package of 10 note cards
($11 goes to St. Luke’s)
$15
*Note, additional note cards were
printed in April and are available now
for purchase at the office.
Please take time in the fall to see this
work by local artist Larry Castek.
MAY
May 16 – St. Martha’s Guild meets at
12:30p.m. at Chicago Speakeasy. This is
the last meeting for St. Martha’s until
September. This event will be Dutch treat.
America’s president struggles with
continuing carnage on the battlefield and
as he fights with many inside his own
cabinet on the decision to emancipate
the slaves.
May 18 – Backpack Buddies
Sack packing for King and Monroe
Elementary Schools in Orvis Hall at 10am.
June 25 – Prepare & Serve Homeless
Shelter Meal Volunteers are needed to
help cook and serve the shelter meal on
Tuesday, June 25. Donations are needed
either by signing up to bring or pay for
meal ingredients. Contact Mark Johnson
(277-3052) for more info.
May 19 – Parish Grounds Clean-up Day!
We will kick things off by grilling out for
lunch at 12p.m. with work beginning at
12:30p.m. Come to church dressed to work
or bring a change of clothes. Bring your
favorite work tools too (rake, spade, gloves,
etc) We will be raking leaves, preparing
flower beds in the front and back, planting
flowers, mulching, etc. Plan now to join
in—many hands make light work! Please
RSVP for lunch on the sign-up sheet on
the bulletin board so we make sure to have
enough food for everyone! Also, check out
the Guild Room bulletin board for a list of
donations needed!
May 20 – Vestry Meeting 6:30p.m.
(Finance Committee meets at 5:30p.m.)
May 26 – Movie Night Potluck 4pm,
Movie 5pm “Contact” (Rated PG ) Dr.
Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds
conclusive radio proof of intelligent aliens,
who send plans for a mysterious machine.
JUNE
June 17 – Vestry Meeting 6:30p.m.
(Finance Committee meets at 5:30p.m.)
June 23 – Movie Night Potluck 4pm,
Movie 5pm “Lincoln” (Rated PG13 )
As the Civil War continues to rage,
SAVE THE DATE
JULY
July 14 – I-CUBS Group Outing
Join a group from St. Luke’s for summer
fun and fellowship as we go to see the
I-Cubs play Albuquerque on Sunday
afternoon, July 14. Game begins at
1:05p.m and tickets for groups of 25 are
only $6! Please RSVP and pay Pastor
Martha or the parish office by Tuesday,
July 9th.
July 15 – Vestry Meeting 6:30p.m.
(Finance Committee meets at 5:30p.m.)
July 28 – Movie Night Potluck 4pm,
Movie 5pm “Avatar” (Rated PG13 )
A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the
moon Pandora on a unique mission
becomes torn between following his
orders and protecting the world he feels
is his home.
AUGUST
August 23 & 24 – Women of Faith in
Des Moines If you are interested in
attending this year’s Women of Faith
event, contact Polly Flug, parflug@aol.
com, or 515.975.8266.
Parish Picnic Sunday | September 15th
Combined service at 9:30a.m. in the
park with picnic and games to follow!
Youth for Christ
Peach Fundraiser
Summer is
approaching
and so are
tree-ripened
fresh peaches
YFC staff member Kristi Wicks from Missouri
with students at a recent
and Colorado! Middle School Club meeting.
Again this
year, Youth for Christ is selling
peaches to help raise funds to
reach more youth here in Central
Iowa. Missouri peaches usually
arrive middle of July and Colorado
peaches middle of August. Order
forms will be available in June
either on the Youth for Christ Web
site, www.centraliowayfc.org or
check the St. Luke’s bulletin board.
Youth for Christ currently has
ministries at Hoover High, East
High, Meredith Middle, Urbandale
Middle and Johnston Middle, along
with an inner city neighborhood
focus ministry in the King Irving and
Riverbend neighborhoods for both
middle and high school students.
Order forms will be
available in June!
www.centraliowayfc.org
or check the St. Luke’s bulletin board.