St.

Luke-by-the-

Waldport, Oregon 541-563-4812

Grace to you, and peace, It is such a privilege to be welcomed into a new community, with all the flurry of activity that involves. The best part is that every day something new is shared or discovered, which keeps each day interesting for sure. I know that there will be something new coming at any given moment. I think that is the way our faith could be as well. While there is something good about a routine that many of us appreciate, too much routine quickly becomes a rut - and we are the wheel that is stuck in it. It was not accidental that Jesus spent about three years with the disciples, forming them into the ways of a new covenantal relationship with God grounded in love. Or that the ancient Israelites spent about forty years with Moses in the desert as their new identity was formed as a people of God. The regular routine of remembering ‘who’ we are and ‘whose’ we are - that is, followers of Christ as a people of God - gives us the freedom to explore and discover new things. The work of the church, at least in part, is to provide opportunity to grow and learn more about this God in Christ whom we follow, so that we can engage what we learn in our daily lives and embrace that love that exists for creation. When we are able to experience God’s love we can more easily share it. Our life today pulls us to a world that is mostly engaged in self-interest with little regard for anyone else, particularly our neighbors who are marginalized by hunger, poverty, fear and hostility. Christ pulls us to create a place where those marginalized neighbors are cared for and have the opportunity to experience God’s love in new ways. The St. Luke’s community strives to ‘walk the talk’ by helping our neighbors who need help. It is the opportunity to share that love for all creation that God has given us to experience, which we do through personal pastoral ministry, sharing meals and time, and providing resources that will help, and may even improve our neighbors lives. God bless you all for the work that you do in love. But wait, there is more!! In an address to Harvard University graduating seniors, Bill Gates offered the following: My mother, who was filled with pride the day I was admitted here, never stopped pressing me to do more for others. A few days before my wedding, she hosted a bridal event, at which she read aloud a letter about marriage that she had written to Melinda. My mother was very ill with cancer at the time, but she saw one more opportunity to deliver her message, and at the close of the letter she said: “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.” ~Harvard University, 2007.

St. Luke-by-the-Sea . Luke's-by-the-Sea . Luke's-by-the-Sea

St. Luke’s by-the-sea Vicar Peter Fones Deacon

Senitila McKinley

Bishop Michael Hanley Presiding Bishop Michael Curry Ministers

All the people of St. Luke’s

November 2015

Vicar’s Letter

of

few years. of of

A large St. Luke’s c

St. Luke’s People Larry Hanks is back among us after a stint in the Newport Hospital. He appreciates our thoughts and prayers and is feeling much better. Joan Wesley also had a trip to the Newport Hospital and is feeling better. Karin Bigler is setting records with her new knee -- it’s great to see her walking about with no equipment! Kae Bates is recovering from her second chemo treatment – still needs lots of sleep and rest. Your prayers and cards mean so much to her.

All Saints Sunday

We celebrated All Saints Day on November 1 when we were invited to bring a photo of saint(s) we were remembering. We lit candles in memory of our saints and our memory book was available to record the names of our saints. The book was taken to the altar during the offertory and a prayer offered for the saints we remembered.

This year’s All Saints Day service was even more special because we celebrated the First Communion for three of St. Luke’s Kids, Madyson Fortmeyer, and Kimber and RJ Miner. Thanks to our Joint Liturgy Guild for planning this special service.

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St. Luke’s 2013 Bishop’s Advisory Committee Dutch Fortmeyer Larry Hanks Fawn Hewitt Barbara Smith-Huggins Elizabeth Walters- Brown Curt Werner

St. Luke’s

2014 Bishop’s Advisory

Committee

Larry Hanks

Tiffany

Miner

Jeanne St.John

Barbara

Smith-Huggins

Elizabeth Walters-

Brown

Curt Werner

Holiday Bazaar December 5 Calling all you crafters, bakers, jelly makers, knitters, weavers, and ornament makers! Now is the time to be creating those extraordinary and beautiful Christmas and holiday items for the bigger-and-better-than-ever Christmas Bazaar and Tea. Sherri Fortmeyer is heading the Bazaar which will run from 9 AM to 3 PM. Please let Sherri know what you are planning to make, or if you have some Christmas items to donate—and let her know when you can be there on Friday for set-up or Saturday for the sale. With your help we can make this another successful fun and fundraising event! Part of the proceeds from this event will be a gift to the Children’s Programs at the Waldport Public Library. Thanks so much! Call Sherri at (541) 563-5356. Thanksgiving Eve Service Evensong followed by Pie Social Something new for St. Luke’s will be an Evensong Service on Wed., Nov. 25 at 5:30 pm—followed by a pie and ice cream social! Now that sounds like a great way to prepare for Thanks-giving! Invite your friends and family. Bring your favorite holiday pie to share. An offering will be accepted for the Diocese of Oregon Commission on Poverty and Homelessness.

St. Luke’s

2015

Bishop’s

Advisory

Committee

Dutch

Fortmeyer

Brian

Hanna

Tiffany

Miner

Barbara

Smith-Huggins

Jeanne

St.John

Ruth

Werner

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Sunshine Committee Please call the members listed below about any needs for cards. Birthdays Sue Wagner 563-5677 Get Well Karin Bigler 563-7642 Hospitalization Allie Moran 563-5591 Moving Kempton Hewitt 563-6649 Thinking of You Fawn Hewitt 563-6649 Special Occasions Bunny Wright 528-3271 Deaths & Memorial Gifts Julie Pearce 563-4881

Diocesan Convention

November 12-14 is the annual convention of the Diocese of Oregon, held this year in Eugene. Larry Hanks and Marcia Newberry will represent St. Luke’s as delegates. Please keep them and all attending in your prayers as they grapple with issues significant in the life of our diocese.

Prayer List Michele Hogan has volunteered to take over this important task from Bunny Wright. She asks that if you have added someone’s name to the prayer list, please help us keep this important list current. We typically pray for those on our prayer list every Sunday for three months. If the name of someone you placed on the prayer list is removed but prayers need to continue, please resubmit that person’s name. If you have placed someone’s name on the prayer list please let us know if we can praise God for their healing and remove their name from the list. To make changes in the prayer list, please call the church office at 541-563-4812 or send an email to midwaymichele@ hotmail.com and to StLuke@peak.org.

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October BAC Meeting Highlights

Stewardship Update included great appreciation for the Ministry Minutes which are telling the St. Luke’s story from the hearts of our members. Our goal is $55,000 and 40 pledges, a small increase over 2015. Thanks to Ruth Werner and team for the hard work! Fall into Winter Fundraising Dinner is scheduled for Sat., Nov. 14 at 5 pm and will be prepared by the chefs from Ona Restaurant in Yachats. Dutch Fortmeyer reported on the progress and encouraged the BAC and all members to help with ticket sales for this major fundraiser. Finance Committee was established to oversee the process of getting St. Luke’s financial records in better order, preparing a budget for adoption by the BAC, and supporting Ryan with his duties as our new treasurer. Peter+, Ruth, John, and Doug will be members of this committee. Office Assistant duties are being covered by Marcia Newberry as she takes over more of Bunny Wright’s many volunteer duties. She plans to be at St. Luke’s on Tues. and Wed. after 10 AM until mid-afternoon. Thanks to both women! Change of Jr. Warden happened when Elizabeth Walters-Brown resigned and Dutch Fortmeyer was appointed to complete her term. Great thanks to Elizabeth & welcome back to Dutch!

Sunshine Committee Please call the members listed below about any needs for cards. Birthdays Barbara Smith-Huggins 563-5677 Get Well Karin Bigler 563-7642 Moving Kempton Hewitt 563-6649 Thinking of You Fawn Hewitt 563-6649 Special Occasions Bunny Wright 528-3271 Deaths & Memorial Gifts Julie Pearce 563-4881

Please God, bless all those who have been so hurt by their community of faith that they feel they can never return; bless those who have been so steadfast in their faith that we would call them saints; bless the doubters who are not sure they can commit to a belief; bless the activists who are so motivated by what they believe that they take risks in your holy name; bless those who have just stepped over the threshold of faith for the first time; bless the wise elders of our communities who keep wisdom alive; bless the musicians and the singers who grace our worship. Please God, bless all your people, wherever they may be along the Way. The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Retired Episcopal Bishop & Choctaw Elder

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What’s Happening at St. Luke’s in November

11/1 9 AM All Saints Day Service 11/7 9 AM First Saturday Breakfast—Seashore 11/4 5:30 PM First Tuesday Healing Service 11/14 5 PM Fall into Winter Dinner & Silent Auction 11/17 3:30 PM BAC Meeting All are Welcome 11/21 10:00 PM Deadline for November Newsletter

11/24 6:15 PM Fourth Tuesday Community Dinner 11/25 5:30 PM Evensong followed by Pie Social 12/5 9 AM – 3 PM Holiday Bazaar at St. Luke’s

Coffee Hour Schedule

1 Martha Wenger, Sue & Dorothy Niddrie 8 Tiffany Miner & Sherri Fortmeyer 15 Michele Hogan & Mary Montanye 22 Dawn Pavitt & Marcia Casey 29 Betty Richard & Barbara Smith-Huggins

Regular Weekly Schedule

Sunday 9 AM Holy Communion

Sunday School Tuesday 1:30 PM Tuesday Writer’s Group

5:30 PM Holy Communion Thursday 9:00 AM God Talk at Alder Bistro

1:30 PM Thursday Writer’s Group

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November Celebrations Birthdays 5 Carol Strauss 11 Elizabeth Walters-Brown 14 Fawn Hewitt 15 Melaia Kilduff Doug Yunker Marcia Newberry 29 Lou Mensing Anniversaries 2 Elizabeth & Steve Brown

Brian’s Musings Last month started badly with the murders at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg. Almost unimaginably, the situation deteriorated further when President Obama flew in to console the families who had lost loved ones. He was welcomed with a braying internet chorus of racial slurs, and by 2nd Amendment demonstrators fearing, no doubt, that this latest killing spree would ramp up public demands for an increased level of gun control. “It’s not guns who kill people but people who kill people,” the protestors proclaimed. But it took the two together to accomplish the Roseburg Massacre. Surely this sort of simplistic demented belief in the disconnect between tool and tool-user justifies SOME test of mental stability for those who demand the privilege of gun ownership. But apparently not. At least, not yet. When the toxic tide of dysfunction reaches knee level, I make for St. Luke’s to restore some order in my soul. The antidote to fear and anger is Love after all. Last month, as if to compensate for the brutality of loss, Love appeared at St. Luke’s in many forms. There was Dutch and Sherri’s anniversary, complete with a discrete display of how and why it all works for them. Then Ruth Werner, during her spot-on stewardship “Ministry Minute,” paid giddy tribute to the charms and integrity of her serenely understated Curt. I particularly loved her comment that she decided St. Luke’s was the place for her when she was welcomed by two little old married church ladies: married to each other that is. Jeanne and Kae, of course. I was privileged to share another lesson in Love when Senitila told me that on his deathbed, David said to their son-in-law, Eric Dunham, “Now about money… When I’m gone, I don’t want any bullshit about poverty. Just make sure you always have enough in the bank to bail Senitila out of jail.” Practical to the end, Dave knew that even saints need “bailing out” now and then. I ran into Karin Bigler, our resident mezzo, with husband Eric at Freddie’s. He was grinning ear to ear about her increased mobility after recent knee surgery. I am a huge fan of Karin’s singing, so was delighted to hear she is already auditioning for upcoming productions. Normally I’d tell her to “break a leg” when she treads the boards, but I think not now. There has been enough breakage already. I also stopped in to see Joan Wesley, who had what she feared might have been a stroke. She looked wonderful. “My blood pressure was too high but I’m OK,” she assured me. Herc was out kayaking for part of my visit. Their delight in being back together after a few hours apart, and in being spared some bad medical news, touched my heart, and made them seem oddly like two joyriding teenagers who were stopped by the cops, and let off with a warning. May we all be so fortunate in our encounters with forces greater than ourselves. So, what is the moral of all this? It’s about the power of community to sustain you when bad things happen to good people like you and me and the students in Roseburg. How do we survive the hard times? Linnea Harper quotes Hillary Clinton: “It takes a village.” We are all a part of each others’ village. Incidentally, do pray for Linnea. Her son is coming here to be with her and Dan after a serious medical situation. Also requested, prayers for Larry Hanks in the hospital in Newport. When the village faithful join together in offering voices, hearts, and healing prayers, surely, we will be heard.

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Brian Hanna

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Changing Times

Jeanne St.John, Senior Warden We are fully into this interim time between permanent vicars—and we have accomplished a great deal already. We celebrated Susan’s+ long service with us and sent her off with a grand concert attended by both the Presiding Bishop and Retired Bishop Ladehoff, a final Beach Eucharist, and a gorgeous Bookcase Quilt, thanks to the artistry and talent of Ruth Werner. We have welcomed our interim vicar, the Rev. Peter Fones and his wife, Leah, into our church family. We are experiencing new and different variations in our liturgy and making adjustments as we go along. Who knew the Senior Warden would be proclaiming the Dismissal Prayer? We began the process of finding a new vicar with an orientation for the Joint BACs by Neysa Ellgren+ of the Diocesan Office, and the appointment of a Profile Committee led by Dutch Fortmeyer. They are developing a thorough survey which will soon be available for each member to complete after prayerful and thoughtful consideration. This interim or liminal (doorway or threshold) time between stable and known periods is filled with both fear and hope. For some of us it feels scary and unsettled, and represents loss and grief for what we have loved in the past. When you love something as much as we love St. Luke's, it may be hard to think about changes that could be really wonderful and positive. For others this threshold time seems filled with opportunity and challenge to find new ways and to create a new stability based on current needs and hope for the future. And many of us flow between fear and hope! As we work through the process of developing a profile that will accurately describe St. Luke’s in the present moment, we will learn a great deal about ourselves and each other. We’ll find out how we are the same or different in our feelings about St. Luke’s and the ways we worship and work together. We’ll learn what makes us unique as a congregation and how we can best describe that so we appeal to the right candidates to be our next vicar. We won’t be searching for the pastor or the shepherd who will rescue us --perhaps from ourselves or from our past -- because we already have that shepherd in Jesus. So the question we will be asking ourselves in the months ahead – these months of transition, is “Where is Jesus leading us?” As we listen, carefully and prayerfully, for the answers, I believe we will see that God is working, through and among us, to call a new vicar to lead us and to serve with us.

Jeanne St.John

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You’re Welcome

at St. Luke’s! St. Luke’s expects guests—people of all faiths, races, nationalities, urban, suburban, rich, poor, gay and straight, families and singles; young, old, & in-between. Hospitality is an important part of our ministry, and we hope you will feel welcomed here.

Medicine Bottles for Malawi

St. Luke’s BAC selected this project as our focus for international missions this fall. It’s part of the much larger Malawi Project which serves this small country in sub-Saharan Africa, about the size of Pennsylvania and nestled between Zambia, Mozambique, and Tan-zania. Their people take great pride in warm hospitality, and they welcome guests with two arms extended. The people refer to their nation as, “The Warm Heart of Africa.” Although Malawi has a government based on British & US models, it is a very poor nation with 90% of its population surviving on subsistence farming. Healthcare and education suffer from a lack of adequate funds, resources, and trained personnel. Approximately 82% of the people refer to themselves as Christians, with 13% claiming Muslim background. Medicine Wrapped in Paper While first world nations throw away perfectly good medicine bottles, medical pharmacies and hospital facilities in Malawi often find themselves with nothing except torn pieces of paper in which to wrap medicine for their patients. We can help to change this. Please Remove the Labels Save up a group of your empty medicine-type containers, place them in boiling water until you are able to easily remove the labels and glue. Then bring to St. Luke’s where we will box them to send to the Malawi Project for shipment to Malawi. Read more at http://malawiproject.org

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others.

By Marianne Williamson

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Want to Make a Difference? Help with Literacy Center Breakfasts on 1st Saturdays—

Sign up for at least one Saturday a year

Join the team of rotating Sunday School teachers/helpers Help with Community Dinners on 4th Tuesdays Bring food and personal need items for the Food Pantry

To volunteer, call and leave a message on the church phone 541-563-4812

St. Luke’s-by-the-Sea Christ is the center of this community which welcomes all

to worship, to serve, and to share.

St. Luke’s Church PO Box 422 1353 Hwy 101 So. Waldport, OR 97394 Phone: 541-563-4812 E-Mail Addresses:

St. Luke’s Church: StLuke@peak.org

Newsletter: jstjohn1@charter.net Website: http://centralcoastepiscopal.org/

ST. LUKE’S CHURCH PO Box 422 Waldport, OR 97394

November 2015