1. religion and spirituality
2. christianity
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A NEWSLETTER FOR MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF ST.
LUKE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
IN DEVON PA
NOVEMBER, 2014
Saint Luke at Sixty
Anniversary Celebration
Remembering Our History
Building God’s Future
Sunday, November 9
Forum with The Rev. Dr. David Lose,
LTSP President at 9:00 a.m.
Worship at 10:00 + Dr. Lose preaching
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FIND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR?
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Welcoming All
Saint Luke at 60
Connecting with Others
Equipping Everyone
Education for All Ages
Youth
Serving Others
Global Mission News
Telling Our Story
Around the ELCA
New Members
August Birthdays
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CHURCH OFFICES: 610 688 0122
LOOK LINE (PRAYER REQUESTS) 610 688 LOOK (5665)
ONLINE AT WWW.SAINTLUKEDEVON.ORG
Lead Pastor, The Rev. Susan Ericsson 610-644-3835
[email protected]
Pastor for Youth, Family & Service, The Rev. Matt Staniz
[email protected]
Director of Church Music, Jack Charles, AIM 610-287-9366
[email protected]
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~ WELCOME EVERYONE ~
Lucia Fest 2014
Lucia, the Festival of Lights, stems from the fourthcentury martyrdom of an Italian saint and an
incident that followed. According to Swedish legend, a ship
carrying a maiden "clothed in white and crowned with light"
appeared on the shore in Värmland during a great famine. The
maiden, widely believed to be Lucia, distributed food and clothing
to the needy, thus endearing herself to the Swedish people.
This year’s Lucia Fest will be held on Sunday, December 14 at 5:00
p.m. All children older than 3 are welcome and encouraged to
participate in a variety of ways.

Those who would like to sing and are between the ages of 4
and 12 (up to and including 6th grade) should come to
practice on Sunday mornings at 9:00 in the choir room
beginning on 11/2.

Girls in grades 7 - 12 are invited to participate in the Lucia
Court. Practices will be held before youth band (2CC)
rehearsals at 5:30 on Sunday evenings, and Sunday
mornings during the Sunday school hour. All other children
and teens are encouraged to volunteer to be acolytes or
ushers at the Lucia service, to help serve and replenish food
during the reception, or help clean up Schlack Hall and the
kitchen following the reception.
Along with the children, all interested adults are invited to help
make this year’s Lucia Fest a success by offering to bring food for
the reception, volunteering to help clean up after the reception,
or simply by planning to attend the service on December 14th.
For your convenience, we ask that you sign up on the green
connection cards in the bulletin during the month of
November. Please contact Marcia Skoglund by phone: 610-6472504 or email: [email protected] for more information.
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~ WELCOME EVERYONE ~
Community Thanksgiving Service
The Upper Main Line Ministerium, an interfaith group of religious
communities in the area, holds a Thanksgiving Service Sunday,
November 23 at the Daylesford Abbey in Paoli. Watch the weekly
bulletins and SaintLukeDevon.org for details in the next few
weeks.
~ EQUIPPING EVERYONE ~
Forum with
Sunday, December 7
In the Sanctuary
between Services
On December 7, the St Luke Endowment committee will present
Kelly Davis, executive director of the Lutheran Settlement House
for an Adult Forum during the education hour. The Lutheran
Settlement house is located on Frankford Ave in lower North
Philadelphia. LSH provides free, high-quality program and
services to individuals and families in Philadelphia in areas like
adult literacy, GED preparation, ESL, victims of domestic violence,
homelessness and senior services.
Lutheran Settlement House is the recipient of the 2014 outreach
allocation from our Endowment funds. Our Endowment
contribution of $3,000 to LSH was the third allocation made from
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our Endowment. Our Endowment now manages over $200,000
that has come in from our member’s contributions and
testamentary bequests. We make annual distributions based on 3
criteria:
• External Benevolence for Mission and Outreach
• Internal innovative programs and capital improvements
• Special operating needs.
Our 2014 outreach allocation to LSH was specifically spent on two
programs:
•
•
Teens4Good - Intergenerational Urban Farming Program
STAR (Students Talking About Relationships)
Teens4Good Intergenerational Urban Faming program involved
four disadvantaged young people drawn from LSH’s shelter
program and local neighborhoods. Their job was to create garden
beds, plant and care for them. Older adults in LSH’s Senior Center
harvested the produce, and manage a small farm stand business
at the settlement house.
The Students Talking about Relationships Summer Service
Learning Program gave 25 young people to the opportunity to
learn about causes, and dynamics of dating and family violence
and resources to help victims. The teens learned 21st learning
skills – project management, research, peer counseling,
communication and presentation skills, as they develop domestic
violence-focused community and peer service projects and earn a
summer income.
LSH’s overall work is based on the most fundamental concept of
service to the most vulnerable in their community, viewing them
as neighbors worthy of help, friendship and respectful caring.
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Kelly has appeared on shows like Comcast’s Newsmakers to talk
about these programs. We will be privileged to have her here on
December 7, to talk about how their programs went this summer
and share what else is going on at LSH.
Thursday Bible Studies
Bible Study at Saint Luke is for everyone. No experience, training
or special knowledge required!
A new Bible Study begins Thursday evenings at St Luke. The
Thursday Evening Bible Study starts with the book of Acts, the
story of the early church, sometimes called "the gospel of the
Holy Spirit.” Each lesson is self-contained, so it’s an opportunity
for anyone to try it out as their schedule allows. Class meets at
7:00 in the conference room. Contact David York or Steve Ross
for more information or to check on the lessons coming up for a
particular Thursday.
The Thursday Morning Bible Study meets at 11:00 in the
conference room. The morning class is looking at the lessons from
the Hebrew Scriptures for the season of Advent.
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Bill Mallonee Concert
Bill Mallonee returns to the Philadelphia
area with the 2014 Winnowing Tour
featuring Muriah Rose. With over 50
albums worth of excellent material, Bill
Mallonee (Vigilantes of Love) is heading to
the road bringing an evening of excellent stories and songs.
His troubadour show is made complete by the piano and
vocal accompaniment of his wife, Muriah Rose.
Saturday, November 15 - Doors at 7 p.m., Show begins 7:30
p.m.
Tickets $15 ($18 at the door.) See the article at
SaintLukeDevon.org to purchase tickets. Food and beverages
will be provided. All donations will benefit 2015 youth
service trips to Appalachia and Detroit. Thank you for your
support!
ASP 2015
Attention St. Luke
Youth – those 14
years or older by
June 1, 2015. Next
summer is closer
than you think!
Commit now for our Appalachian Service Project trip June
28- July 4, 2015.
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Please email John & Elizabeth Muir ~ [email protected] with a
commitment or questions.
In case you haven’t heard, which is hard to believe, this is an
extremely rewarding experience.
Spaces are limited, we are trying to form teams by November 1 participate if you can, in making homes warmer, safer, drier this
year!
~ SERVING OTHERS ~
Fall Hunger challenge
Radical Generosity---- is running rampant
through the St Luke community.
Representatives from PhilAbundance, a food collection and distribution
charity, were at St Luke on October 5, discussing hunger and especially
hunger in Chester County. After that presentation, a family from the St
Luke congregation was moved to offer the Social Ministry Team a
challenge. The challenge is to raise $2500 for the Great Valley Food
Cupboard that would be matched by the family donor. Wow!
This is an outstanding opportunity to help the Great Valley Food
Cupboard, which does not receive donations from PhilAbundance. The
Food Cupboard will greatly appreciate a monetary gift of this
magnitude. Although St Luke provides plenteous bags of food staples to
the Food Cupboard throughout the year, a monetary gift will enable the
Food Cupboard to augment the food it can offer to its recipients specifically fresh produce and meats and frozen turkeys during the
holidays. As the Social Ministry team learned from St Luke’s “God’s
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~ SERVING OTHERS ~
Work. Our Hands” Sunday, the fresh produce and vegetables are a
blessed and healthy change to the recipients’ usual diet.
The Social Ministry Team wants to get everybody involved in this
opportunity --- Sunday School classes, youth, and adults.
Be on the lookout for globe offerings on November 9 and December 16.
Since these are the months in which Thanksgiving and Christmas are
celebrated, the Social Ministry Team suggests that donations be made
in an amount up to 10% of the costs of your Thanksgiving meal and in
December up to the costs of gifts purchased for the Holidays. If not a
monetary gift, then please place any food staples in the bin in Schlack
Hallway. The value of these food donations will be counted towards the
challenge.
Harvest Food Drive
for the Great Valley Food Cupboard:
During the month of November, we will collect non-perishable
food and cleaning items for our local food pantry. Laundry Soap,
Dish soap, Mayonnaise, Honey, Cereal, Oatmeal, Granola bars are
the kinds of items in short supply right now. If you’re able to
provide these for one of the 200 individuals served each month by
the Food Cupboard, please drop them off in the box outside
Schlack Hall. The GVFC is based in the Baptist Church of the Great
Valley, just up the road.
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~ TELLING OUR STORY ~
GLOBAL MISSION NEWS
THANKSGIVING FOR HUNGER AWARENESS SUNDAY
Many thanks to members of St. Luke for attending the Hunger
Awareness adult forum on Sunday, Oct. 5 and for giving
generously to alleviate hunger. Thank you to Meredith Moore for
arranging the forum.
St. Luke presented a check for $500 to Philabundance at the
forum where we hosted two guests from Philabundance.
In addition, St. Lukans gave $600 in our globe collection that day.
Combined with Social Ministry funds and gifts from our Sunday
School children, we were able to send over $1,300 to support the
work of ELCA World Hunger.
MACPHERSONS’ HOMECOMING
SEPA Lay Missionaries Susan and Tom
MacPherson are back in the US after serving
nearly 3 years at the Irente Children’s Home in
Tanzania. Their home congregation provided a
welcome home potluck for them.
They can connect you to sponsorship opportunities if you would
like to support schooling for an orphaned child or training for the
young women who work at the Irente Children’s Home and hope
to enter medical school in Tanzania.
Any questions about the Global Mission team or being in touch
with the MacPhersons, please contact Nancy Shaw,
[email protected], or 610-331-3994.
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Global Connections
On Sunday, November 16, St. Luke will be honored to host Bishop
Claire Burkat, of our Southeastern PA Synod and The Rev. Dr.
Stephen Munga, Bishop of the North Eastern Diocese of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. Bishop Munga will
preach at both services that Sunday. The North Eastern Diocese
includes Mikanjuni Lutheran parish, our sister congregation.
Bishop Munga earned a Doctor of Theology
(PhD) in Systematic Theology/Political Ethics
from Lund University in Sweden. In his role as
bishop he also serves as Chancellor of
Sebastian Kolowa Memorial University, a
diocesan institution of higher education. Both
within Tanzania and in global arenas, Bishop
Munga is an outspoken advocate for
economic and social justice. As such, he has been asked to give
input to various international entities, including the European
Parliament and the G-8, being recognized as a spokesperson for
the concerns of sub-Saharan Africa.
~ THANK-YOUS ~
An Appreciation from Bob and Pastor Rinda Rogers
Our warmest thank you and blessings to the many in our St. Luke
family who have sustained us during this long year. Your
encouraging cards and messages, as well as offers of help, mean
more than we can put into words. Most importantly, you kept us
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feeling connected to the St.Luke community. Truly, St. Luke is the
local chapter of the Body of Christ!
Sustained by prayer, Rinda is growing accustomed to a new way
of living. Bob continues to do a marvelous job of facilitating her
days. Pray that his strength continues.
The Great Valley Food Cupboard wrote
after the first collection of the fall.
Dear Friends:
This will acknowledge, with many, many thanks, all of the
generous donations you collected for us during the months of
August and September for your Rally Day Event. The cleaning
supplies, paper goods, toothpaste, dish soaps, etc. are wonderful!
These are items that our clients always need. It is wonderful that
you deliver the items to us, too. Thanks to Paige Skelly, Susan
Saxer, Thelma Jacks and others for their dedication and hard work
in bringing these items to us.
A special thank you, too, for the apples and oranges you collected
for us on Rally Day. What a treat that was for our families!
Everyone was thrilled to see the fresh produce on our distribution
table.
I want you all to know how very much your support means to us.
We greatly appreciate everything St. Luke’s Church has done in
working with the Food Cupboard. The Great Valley Food
Cupboard would not exist without you. Your Congregation is such
a kind and caring group of individuals. We thank God for all of
you.
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At the present time, we are serving over 200 individuals every
month. What a wonderful feeling to help these families through
their trying times and to give them hope that there are brighter
days ahead. St. Luke’s generous gifts have assisted all of these
families and together, we are helping to change lives! Throughout
the year, may we continue to provide encouragement, friendship,
compassion, respect and nourishment to all of our families. With
God’s help, may it be so. Blessings to you all.
Most sincerely,
Carol Lynn Claypoole
Great Valley Food Cupboard Coordinator
~ AROUND THE ELCA ~
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia will celebrate
the inauguration of the Rev. Dr. David J. Lose as president at a
service of installation on Sunday, December 7, 2014.
The Inauguration of President David J. Lose
Date:
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Time:
4:00 pm
Location: The Lutheran Church of the
Holy Communion
2110 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
A reception for all will be held at the church immediately
following the service.
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November Birthdays
1 Brooke Skelly, Caleb Reed
3 Evelyn Goodchild
4 Jane Hagerty, Grace Lewis
5 Terry Jenkins, Christine McClay
6 Bryce DiPrinzio, Francesca Green, Heather Wilson
7 Laura Kostenbauder, Meredith Webb, Katherine Moir, Jeb
Keiper
8 Paul Seaton, Samantha Menapace, Hailey Rittenhouse
9 Sara Williams, Elaine Loose, Lillian Guy
10 James Arvan, Caitlin Kupp, Chris Kupp
11 James Connors, Tracy Burns
12 Diane DiGiovanni, John Hammerschmidt, Robert Squitieri,
Jillian Stevens
13 Allison Troutman, Asa Hartman
15 Jessica Cunningham, Bill Milby, Suzanne Lalle, Ronald Harmon
16 Joni King, Scott Scheirer, Jennifer Roessler
17 Mary Jane Verrei, Peter Roithmayr
18 Sean Moir, Bo Bergqvist
19 Jennie Warren, Keely McClay, Jenna McClay, Erin McClay
20 Nicole Dillon, Ted Dorsz, Nicholas Marziani, Anna Huebner,
Kate Forester, Lydon MacClay
21 Andrew Loose, Jeannie Bowman
24 Robert Pogyor
26 Lyn Ann Mueller, Liam McLaughlin
27 Jessica Long, Conor Whitehead
28 Sally Clifton, Nancy Worst, Keira Maloskey
30 Jayne Dillon, Edward Ezekian
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CHRISTMAS
FLOWER FUND
After expenses, funds received for Christmas Flowers
this year will be donated to Lutheran Disaster Response
to assist in its work with communities and people affected
by the Ebola outbreak in western Africa.
Because our benevolent giving to the ELCA supports the
administration of ministries like LDR, ALL of the funds we
send go straight to relief.
Please return this form, with your check attached, made
payable to St. Luke and marked for the Christmas Flower
Fund. All information must be in the church office by
Wednesday, December 15, in order to be included in the
bulletins for the Christmas Eve Services.
____I/We would like to give ________ poinsettia(s) at $15
each, with the understanding that all money received beyond
that desired to decorate the church will be used for this year’s
project.
I/We would like to provide _______ poinsettia(s) and will be
taking ________ home following the Christmas Day service.
Name(s) of Donor(s)
________________________________________________
Given in Honor of
________________________________________________
Given in Memory of
________________________________________________
Amount enclosed __________________________________
Please detach this form and return it, along with your
payment, to the Church Office by Monday, December 16.
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