E-pistle of October 20th, 2022 | |
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Ministries and Events at St. Luke's | |
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St. Luke's Community Blood Drive
to Benefit the Red Cross
October 28th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Lower Parish Hall.
Please find out more information at the link here
Please note that when using the Red Cross website, our zip code is 04101 and the date is October 28th.
We encourage all St. Luke's Parishioners to sign-up to give blood and help this deeply important cause!
Any questions please email Jamie Cough or call at 207-415-4300
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Stewardship Campaign 2023
Greetings from your Stewardship Committee!
It’s fall, St. Luke’s has had its Start Up Sunday, and a new school year has begun. That means we look ahead to the beginning of a new annual Stewardship Campaign for St. Luke’s Cathedral for 2023. This Campaign is an essential part of maintaining St. Luke’s financial health and enables it to carry out its worship, missions and ministries.
The Campaign will get underway by mailing stewardship packages to each St. Luke’s member around the middle of October. The packages will contain a letter, pledge card and information about Stewardship at St. Luke’s 2023. It will be easier than ever to make your pledge, on paper or online.
Due to rising costs, our goal for 2023 is $490,000, about a 5% increase from our goal for 2022. We ask that after you carefully consider what St. Luke’s means to you and the wider community, you complete your pledge cards and return them to St. Luke’s on or before All Saints Day, Sunday November 6. More information will follow.
Faithfully,
Dan McDonald, Stewardship Chair
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Looking Ahead to All Saints Sunday
Remembering the Faithful Departed: On November 6, we will pray for all those who have died since All Saints Day last year. If you have a name that you would like printed in the Sunday bulletin, please send it to [email protected] by Monday, October 31.
November 6 is a traditional day for Baptisms. If you are interested, please see one of the clergy.
Following the 10:00 service we will have a congregational photo taken in the Nave.
Please note that this photo will be used on our website and social media.
The choir will also have a group photo taken.
Choral Evensong will be held on November 6 at 4:00pm in the Nave. This service will include the dedication of the Living Stones Plaque honoring donors to our most recent Capital Campaign.
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November Community Supper
Nov. 17th, 2022
Our Thanksgiving Community Supper will take place on the third Thursday of the month (not the usual second Thursday) from 5:30 - 8:00 PM in the Lower Hall.
Tickets are $5.00 per adult.
Please join in by contacting Dawn Brennan Daly.
If you would like to help prepare turkeys, desserts or side dishes. Any help and your food donations help so much.
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Please Visit Our Updated Webpage
We have been hard at work revising our website, however more changes are still to come!
Our website is a tool to let the community know about the ministries, work, and life of the church. If you have constructive feedback you wish to provide, please contact [email protected]
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Youth Group: Service Corps
The Portland area youth group (with St. Luke’s, Trinity, State Street, Woodford’s, Immanuel Baptist and Hope Gateway churches) is up and running using a Service Corps model, with youth involved in a community service/outreach project each month.
The next Service Corp event is scheduled for this Sunday, October 23rd at 11:30 am. We will gather at Trinity Church on Forest Ave. We will then head out to carpool to Mardens to purchase winter hats, socks, and gloves to help stock the shelves at Maine Needs. We will then head to Maine Needs on Forest Ave to stock these items, pack up a few orders under the guidance of Maine Needs board member Kaleigh Anderson, and have lunch together. We will wrap up our time together by 1:30pm.
St. Luke’s is a proud sponsor of this group, and we encourage all of St. Luke’s youth and their friends to join us. Trinity needs numbers in advance. We need adults to drive and help with transporting not only youth but the supplies we will be purchasing. If St. Luke’s kids participate, we need St Luke’s adults to participate as well. Please RSVP to Dean Shambaugh 772-5434.
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Try on the Cathedral Choir!
We would like to thank all who have joined our Cathedral choir in the last few weeks. We are still looking for new singers!
Rehearsals are held on Thursdays from 7-9 PM, in the choir room in the undercroft.
Enter through the doors off the parking lot (from Park St.). Fear not: Your showing up does NOT oblige you to commit to a life of choral singing here! Come and see if this is a community and a ministry you'd like to engage with. No audition required. Christian Clough, our new Canon for Music & Liturgy, would be happy to discuss the program with you, as would many returning choir members. For more information, contact Christian Clough.
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St. Elizabeth's Toothpaste Collection Drive
Please help us to collect toothpaste for our communities in collaboration with other parishes throughout the Diocese! We need your help in order to be good stewards of health and wellness for our neighbors in need!
Every tube of toothpaste can make a difference in the total that we are able to raise as a congregation. Let us join together and raise the total amount of toothpaste contributed by St. Luke's
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Trunk Or Treating Saturday, October 29th!
Our annual Trunk or Treating will be on Saturday, October 29 at 2 pm in the St. Luke’s parking lot. Kids are invited to wear costumes and move from car trunk to car trunk to snag treats. We will have treat bags for candy collecting as well as a picture area, pumpkins to decorate, and a corn hole game. We are looking for members of the congregation to come with treats. It’s easy…just have a basket, bucket or bag of treats in your car trunk to hand out! Some folks like to decorate their cars which is fun but not necessary. The adults have just as much fun as the kids! If you are unable to come, please consider donating some treats for the kids. For more information or to donate, please contact Sarah Dowling at or 207.653.1017
Read about this event on the St. Luke's Website
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St. Elizabeth's Jubilee Center Winter Coat & Boot Drive
Coats! Coats! Coats! We will be collecting adult winter coats for the next four weeks to give to anyone that needs a warm coat for the winter ahead. Coats should be suitable for the coldest months, clean, and readily usable - no missing buttons or broken zippers, please! You may drop off coats during pantry hours on Tuesday mornings between 8:30 and 11 am at the Park Street entrance ... or coats can be left in the blue box next to the stairs, at the Park Street entrance to the Cathedral. If you have questions please contact Martha Parshley.
Partner church leaders please note: Our adult winter coat and boot drive is in full swing! We'd like to increase our supply of coats in the next 3 weeks in order to start distribution on October 11th. Our greatest need is for men & women's Large and Extra-large coats and boots of all sizes.
Similar to last year, we hope to offer coats multiple times over the cold winter months and boots at least twice. All will be dependent on our supplies.
Extra help will be needed on an on-going basis to sort, size and hang coats as they come in. Please be in touch if this is a project for you!
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Public Policy and Environmental Action Team and Maine Leage of Women Voters
Are you concerned about our state, our country, the world today? November 8th, Election Day, is your opportunity to make a difference by making your voice heard.
Find non-partisan information about voting (supplied by the League of Women Voters) in the church entrance near the upper hall. Learn how you can find out about your local candidates and their positions on issues on your ballot on vote411.org
Pick up a bookmark or postcard or a booklet entitled "Making Your Vote Count." Please vote on November 8th!
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From the Food Pantry: Thank you for your Generosity!
Many of you have given bottles of cooking oil and flour to Luke's Food Pantry. Please help us continue to meet this critical need. Many of our Cathedral neighbors depend on us. Donations can be dropped off Sundays or left inside lower entrance.
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Our Haiti Partnership is Doing Incredible Work!
Our Haiti Partnership recently held a meetting regarding
- Updates from the school director in Duny
- Kitchen and Solar Campaign Updates
- International Poverty Grant Opportunity
- Financial Reports
The picture shows the construction of the new kitchen being built in Duny!
To learn how you can get involved in future work please contact Meredith Cough
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A Christian Life of Faith:
Signs and Thresholds Along the Way
So much of what we do at St. Luke’s is designed to help others. What about nurturing and exploring our own spiritual lives? What about our questions and struggles of faith, our relationship (or not) with God?
Dean Shambaugh is leading a Sunday morning class called “A Christian Life of Faith: Signs and Thresholds Along the Way.”
Gather with us at 9 am in the chapter room, all are welcome.
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Reintroduction of the Common Communion Cup
Barring another coronavirus outbreak, St. Luke’s Cathedral is offering the common cup again at Communion. We ask that you follow a few guidelines if you wish to drink from the cup: We understand that not everyone is comfortable sharing the cup; please feel free to refuse. You may walk away from the communion rail after receiving the host or cross your arms across your chest if you do not want to share the cup at this time.
1)You may not “dip” (intinct) your host as this practice is actually more likely than drinking from the cup to spread germs to other parishioners. For this reason, our clergy and Eucharistic ministers will be instructed to refuse to allow anyone to intinct.
2)If you are not feeling well or if you are recovering from an illness that may be contagious to others please do not drink from the common communion cup.
3) If the CDC declares Cumberland County to be in the yellow or red Covid transmission zones, we will suspend the use of the cup until we return to the green zone.
Questions? Contact the Rev. Dr. Suzanne Roberts.
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The Healing Team
The following members of the Healing Team will serve on the following dates during the 10 am services following communion.
10/23/22 Peter Carleton and Elise Magnuson
10/30/22 John Leddy and Ruth Roemer
11/6/22 Mary Strnad and Elise Magnuson
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Altar Guild Polishing Party
Please join the Altar Guild's upcoming polishing party on Saturday, November 19th, between 9am to 12pm.
It has been over two years since we have been able to invite the parish to join us in making the church sparkle at Christmas! There is much work to do and it will be a wonderful opportunity to gather as a community. No prior experience is needed. All are invited!
Light refreshments will be provided so just bring yourself and a little elbow grease. RSVP to Rita Siavelis or just show up the day of the event. We look forward to seeing you!
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Greater Portland Family Promise Seeking Volunteers
St. Luke's is proud to be part of Greater Portland Family Promise and we need your help!
In 2017, COVID necessitated a change from the Family Promise rotational shelter model to a system of family sponsorship within our interfaith community. Since that time, St. Luke's has sponsored two families, assisting them with a variety of needs as they acclimate to life in their new homes.
GPFP is planning to move more than a dozen families into Avesta housing next month and has asked each congregation to partner with a family as they move into their new home. This entails collecting and storing specific furniture items and household goods such as dining room sets, couches, chairs, end tables, linens, pots and pans etc., as well as help on moving day. Before we commit, we would like to know if we have adequate volunteers to collect these items as well as storage space to utilize until moving day.
If you can help or have specific questions, please contact one of St Luke's Family Promise coordinators below. Thank you!
-Lynne England
-Connie Bingham
-Mary Linneman
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Dr. Catherine Meeks to Speak on Nov. 3rd
Mark your calendars for Thursday, Nov 3 for an online day with Dr. Catherine Meeks and the Diocese of Maine. The morning zoom session from 10-12 will be open to all the people of the diocese. The afternoon session will be for diocesan clergy. Dr. Meeks will come to Maine in person next spring to lead the annual clergy retreat.
Catherine Meeks is Executive Director of the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing. Prior to the center's opening she chaired its precursor, Beloved Community: Commission for Dismantling Racism for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. A sought-after teacher and workshop leader, Catherine brings four decades of experience to the work of transforming the dismantling racism work in Atlanta. The core of her work has been with people who have been marginalized because of economic status, race, gender or physical ability as they pursue liberation, justice and access to resources that can help lead them to health, wellness and a more abundant life. This work grows out of her understanding of her call to the vocation of teacher as well as her realization that all of humanity is one family which God desires to unite.
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To read about other events at the Cathedral please visit our events page on the St. Luke's website. | | | | | |
