ELCA World Hunger invites us to study, pray, reflect, and give during Lent – for our families, our neighbors, and communities around the world. We’ll post daily messages on our St. Luke’s Instagram from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.
Follow @stlukespr on Instagram to join the conversation!
Dear St. Luke’s partners,
The Lord be with you in these holy days. “Ash Wednesday” is known as the poet T.S.Eliot’s “conversion” poem, written after he joined the Anglican church in 1927. It goes deeply into the tension between spiritual barrenness and his hope for salvation of all things. We live in that tension, and on Ash Wednesday bare on our foreheads both brokenness and death, yet cruciform baptismal hope.
Ash Wednesday on February 22nd marks the beginning of Lent, which is a season of preparation to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Several opportunities for worship and fellowship are offered. All are welcome.
Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain.” So begins the account of the Transfiguration of our Lord according to Matthew. What follows is the amazing vision of Jesus, bathed in light and glory, accompanied by Moses and Elijah. For a brief, shining moment, the identity of Jesus as God’s beloved Son is confirmed. It was a strengthening of faith for both Jesus and the disciples. We are meant to see ourselves on this mountain, to have our own faith made stronger, to see that our confidence in Jesus is confirmed.
Gun violence in our country is a public health crisis. This year (as of February 4) there have been 4,297 gun violence deaths, including 2,442 suicides. There have been 107 gun deaths resulting from the defensive use of a weapon. There have been 60 mass shootings. (Source: Gun Violence Archive)
I think Judy and I have decided that 2023 is the year we will return to New Orleans. We visited the city many years ago and it has remained on my “bucket list” as a city I want to see again. It is a remarkable city. A resilient community. Despite crime, poverty, corruption, and devastating storms, it is a city with spirit. It is a welcoming city that has a lot to celebrate and knows how to party.
Three powerful lessons await us this coming Sunday from the Epiphany Four lectionary.
Our Epistle for Sunday invites us to focus on the cross and consider the many surprising and unlikely ways that God is with us. “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians: 18-31)
Come on Tuesday March 7 at 8:30 a.m. This month we welcome James Hanlon from the Park Ridge Zoning Commission as our speaker. Please join us for a delicious pancake breakfast, fellowship, and lively conversation. Please join us for a delicious pancake breakfast, fellowship, and lively conversation.
All children of all ages and stages like to be read to, for good reasons – the closeness of being with a person they love, enjoying pictures together, engaging with a story by listening or reading for someone else! Long ago, before there were books, people devoted hours telling each other stories of all kinds. Today, children develop their morals, good character, problem solving and an understanding of faith and the needs of others through books. William Kirkpatrick, author of Books that Build Character, says reading aloud may well be “one of the most important contributions parents can make toward developing good character in their children.”
You can call it: Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Paczki Day, Festivale, Carnivale, Fastnacht Day or Mardi Gras (which is a week-long celebration leading up to Ash Wednesday). In many cultures, this day marks a time of indulgence and celebration before moving into the solemn season of Lent at Ash Wednesday.