Dear St. Lukers,
Welcome to a new year and a new vision for you, us, and St. Luke’s. Every new year starts with trying to make decisions about how we will do things differently, new, or even solidify the best part of our lives. What if instead of making those decisions based on external factors, we arranged our living based on God’s calling and vision for how we can be engaged disciples who in our daily life have opportunities to show others who God is, how much God loves, and what God’s Kingdom around us is all about? Sounds like a huge task, and many times we get overwhelmed because we wonder if we actually have a calling from God, or how to discern what God’s vision is for our lives.
That’s where our rhythm of Learn, Live, Love, and Lead comes in to help you discern your “23 & Me” vision. Throughout these next few months we are going to help you discern those rumblings, those clues God is giving you to understand your unique calling, and how it works with St. Luke’s calling in the world.
It starts as we Learn together as a church the biblical theme of the week. You can do this by tuning into our podcast “Your Week with St. Luke’s” for a Scripture study with the pastors, with new episodes on Monday mornings. Then starting January 22, we will be bringing back our live online Sunday Night Bible Study with the pastors, where you will hear a lecture on the Scripture passage and theme for the week and have time to Live that Scripture together in discussion. Click here to register for this interactive class, and we look forward to “seeing” you on Zoom later this month.
Wednesday nights are a mid-week opportunity for children, youth, and adults to not just Learn, but Live the Scripture together in fellowship and discussion. Watch the video message below from members of our Grow Team to learn more about Wednesdays at St. Luke’s programs kicking off on January 11, and how we can Connect and Grow in Discipleship together in this new year:
As Liz Vasquez, our Director of Adult Discipleship and Evangelism, mentioned we will have a 6-week large intergenerational group study starting January 11 at 6:30 p.m. in Founder’s Hall called “Discovering your Faith DNA” led by your pastors. This class will help us all discern our unique calling, gifts, and vision we have created just for St. Lukers. Whether you are 16 or 65+ we want to really dig into what it means to understand the clues God has given you to do God’s work. Click here to register for this special learning experience, or just come by, no registration required!
Then on Sundays we Love God and put God and God’s story first in our lives through worship. This Sunday is our annual baptism renewal service, where we will gather at the water’s edge with Jesus to reaffirm the promise God makes through water and Spirit. For those of you who look forward to this week, we promise we have something memorable for you to take from the water to think about 23 & Me all year long! Read Jesus’ baptism story from Matthew 3:13-17 as you ready your hearts, and consider what calling the water and the Spirit is stirring up in you to help Lead your life with God’s story this year.
See you Sunday at the water’s edge!
Jenn.