Pastor Cliff's Notes

​As we celebrate the 50 Day Season of Easter here at St. Luke, we look ahead to our summer worship schedule that will be begin on May 28. As you may recall, last summer I was on sabbatical and the summer worship schedule was reduced to one 10 am worship service. We received lots of positive feedback from last year. So this year we will be going back to one summer service. The worship committee and church council have agreed to have worship at 10 am from May 28 - August 6.
 
It is our hope that the one summer service will help us all come together as a congregation. As we approach the summer date of May 28, please remind one another about the time change. We will not have regular Sunday School during this summer period.
 
During these summer months our goal is to provide weekly communion. So every service that I am able to preside and lead worship will be a communion service. We will be using a new worship setting this summer, setting eight in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW). This setting was written for the keyboard, and David Potter will be instructing us on the liturgical congregational singing parts. The overall style of our summer worship will be “blended worship.” By this we mean it will have hymns and praise songs each service. It is our hope that we can all worship our one Lord in a variety of expressions.
 
I also want to invite you to join us for Music Sunday at 11:00 am on May 7, and our Mother’s Day and First Communion celebration on May 14. May 21 is a busy day with a bible presentation for High School seniors, a congregational meeting, receiving new members and a church picnic.
 
I look forward to worshiping with you in May, we are grateful that God has called us to come together on the first day of the week to break bread and hear God’s word of love and grace.
 
See you in worship,
 
 
Pastor Cliff

Dear St. Luke Saints,

The season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday Services on March 1. Services of Holy Communion and imposition of Ashes will be held at 12 noon and 7:00 pm. This year is the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation and our theme will be Luther's Small Catechism. The catechism was written to communicate the basics of the Christian faith to the new evangelical congregations in Germany. We will have a theme from Luther's Catechism each Sunday and Wednesday in Lent. In addition we will have a social ministry Lenten project with Lutheran World Relief. We will ask you to bring in one item per week to be assembled into personal care kits.

                                Theme                      Lenten Project
Sunday, March 5      10 commandments      towels
Sunday, March 12     Apostle's Creed           soap
Sunday, March 1       Lord's Prayer              toothbrush
Sunday, March 26     Baptism                     comb
Sunday, April 2         Holy Communion        nail clipper

A weekly Lenten devotional, free indeed, Devotions for Lent 2017 will also be available for you to use in your home devotions. These devotions will also take you through Luther's Small Catechism.  Copies of Luther's Catechism will also be available in the narthex, or a digital copy can be downloaded to your smart phone, tablet or kindle at the App Store or Google Play. (Search for Luther's Small Catechism and download to your device.)

This year we will be joining with other ELCA Lutheran Congregations in our study of Luther's Small Catechism. Your participation and re-discovery this Lent of Luther's Catechism will be a comfort to you. A careful review of the catechism will inspire, comfort and guide you on your Lenten journey. Please join me as we study Luther's Small Catechism for Lent in 2017.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Cliff

​God does not help those who help themselves. God helps those who abide with him, those who walk with him in faith. Our efforts were never the impetus for God's transforming grace. They will not be the impetus for our changed hearts either.
Mike Ashcraft, My One Word
 
 
Do you have a desire to change in 2017? I sure hope so, changing and growing is part of living. God is a living God, who calls us to a life of change and vitality. Of course change comes in many forms and not all change is good change. Most of us resist change as the familiar becomes comfortable. Unfortunately some of the things we have become comfortable with are not Christ like habits. Some of our ways are not God's ways. So how do we change?
 
All change takes Vision, Intensity and Means (VIM). For any change we need a vision of the benefits of the change, we need a desire and heart to change, and of course we need the means to change. 
 
I encourage you to seek one area of change for 2017. Choose one word, one trait God is seeking to instill in you. Create a vision of how your life would benefit from this change. See the change in you, see the benefits, pray about how this one attribute would positively affect your life. Next, get serious about this one word change. Pray about it, set your heart to following through, and create reminders so the word is before you each and every day. 
 
The means of change for people of faith is in fact God. We use the vision and intensity to put us in a position to change, but God does the actual changing. As we ask God to change us, God gives us the grace to change what we cannot change on our own. God gives us the means of grace. For Lutherans we see the means of grace revealed in God's word and in the holy sacraments. As our faith life grows and is nourished by God's word and sacraments, we experience grace and change. 
 
God seeks to transform us, to make us more Christ like, to invite us to live in the bountiful Kingdom of God; today, tomorrow and for eternity. Start with one word. Lose the long list of resolutions, and do something about one thing this year instead of nothing about everything.
 
My one word for 2017 is drink. Folks tend to laugh when they hear this, but I am drawn to the image of Jesus as the living water.  Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink (John 7:37). I choose this one word because it reminds me to receive what God is already offering to me, the living water. God provides what I need, I just need to slow down and drink. 
 
I invite you to share your One Word with me for 2017, we will have a large One Word bulletin board in the Narthex. Take a moment and add your One Word for 2017 to the board. It will be inspiring to see all the ways God is leading and guiding us here at St. Luke. 

On a personal note, I want to add my heartfelt thanks for the very generous Christmas gift that was given to me on Christmas Eve. I am very blessed to serve as your pastor and I look forward to working with you in the coming year. Thank you for your generosity to me and my family.
 
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Cliff

    As a child Advent was a special time in the church. Advent meant that Christmas was coming soon. Advent Wreaths and Calendars were visual reminders to count the days until Christmas. My favorite Advent Calendars had a door to open each day with a gift or chocolate inside.

      This year at St. Luke, we will be providing every person or family with an Advent Calendar. The Advent Calendar will consist of a card for each day numbered one to twenty-eight, for the full twenty-eight days of Advent, ending on Christmas Eve. Each card will have a Bible verse or activity for you to complete for that day. Some of the activities are fun and light and others more serious, but all point us towards Emmanuel, God with us. 

      After reading and completing the day's activity, you can display the cards around a home Advent Wreath or pin them to a fabric-covered canvas for all to see. The art on each card for each day is unique and inviting. We will have extra Advent Calendars for you to give to friends as you invite them to Advent activities at St. Luke. You may also share the new Advent Video made for St. Luke on Facebook, or invite your friends to watch it on our website, www.StLukeMemphis.org.

      It is our hope that this unique and beautiful Advent Calendar can inspire your family to take a deeper walk of faith this Advent Season. The season need not be just shopping and traffic; spend a moment each day meditating on the Advent Calendar and give thanks for your blessings and prepare your hearts for Christ.

​Blessings, 
Pastor Cliff

This quote is a one of the many reasons it is good to be back with you at St. Luke. I was blessed to have time away during my sabbatical, but faith is lived with other Christians and St. Luke is where I live my faith with each of you. The first three Sundays I have been back have reinforced the importance of this. We fellow-shipped for Jersey Day/Labor Day, then we worked together for God's Work, Our Hands Sunday and dedicated the new pavilion. This past Sunday we shared in the Affirmation of Faith service as six young adults were confirmed. This service was a time for all of us to respond to God's great love to us.

In October we will celebrate an Oktoberfest on Saturday, October 15. We will gather under the new pavilion for food, games and libations. The feast day of St. Luke the Evangelist follows on Sunday, October 16 with a healing service. Luke was a physician, and it is customary to have a healing service on this feast day. These two events are opportunities to invite friends. We all have friends who would be willing to join in ourOktoberfest festivities if they were invited. Likewise, we know otherswho may be struggling with health issues and would be comforted by a healing service. Be a friend and invite them to join you at St. Luke.  

Faith is personal, but faith is not private. Invite others to join us at St. Luke. God is active here, and God is working in and with us, as we worship, serve and fellowship.

Your partner in ministry,
Pastor Cliff

Here is a link to an article I feel you might appreciate:
Fall Equinox

​I began my sabbatical time in June by examining the age old question of doing vs. being; is it what I do that makes me “me?” Or it who I am, regardless of what I choose to do?
 
With this question in mind, I began my three month sabbatical by taking a five day silent retreat at the Jesuit Center for Spirituality in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. The center is located in an old boarding school for boys, surrounded by beautiful live oak trees and green pastures. Each day was extremely simple. I went to a daily meeting with my spiritual director. That was it. It was suggested that I spend the rest of each day in silence and prayer. Even meal times were silent.  My spiritual director asked me not to take on extra reading or self examination, but to sit in silence with the verse “be still and know that I am God.” By the fourth day this waiting paid spiritual dividends. Old hurts, losses, and doubts surfaced only to have God’s gentle Spirit assure me that I am God’s beloved child not because of what I do, but because of who I am, a baptized child of God. Just being is enough, just understanding who I am, who I belong to, gave me deep peace and a feeling of renewal. God’s grace was fully present in each moment.
 
While at the Jesuit Center for Spirituality, I was able to visit my Uncle Donald. My Uncle Donald just celebrated his Jubilee, which means he has served as a Jesuit priest for 70 years! He has lived an active life of both doing and being with Jesus. He has primarily served parishes in Paraguay, Guatemala, and El Salvador. In my uncle’s room, I smiled when I saw a large picture of Oscar Romero, the martyred Roman Catholic Bishop of El Salvador. Romero’s martyrdom, along with six Jesuit priests, led my Uncle Donald to leave his then comfortable post at a Houston High School to live with the poor in El Salvador. Here he learned to walk in solidarity with the poor and to live a gospel centered life.

​After the silent retreat I was able to visit more family in Lousiana, before returning home to Memphis, to prepare to embark with Lisa on our “great western trip.” Lisa and I loaded up our car and drove west to Albuquerque, New Mexico for a conference on the adult Catechumenate. The conference was located at the Basque Center, a beautiful Episcopal retreat center on the Rio Grande River. Each day began with worship services led by composer Marty Haugen whose liturgical music we are familiar with at St. Luke. The Adult Catechumenate is about discipleship and faith formation for adults seeking baptism. Lisa and I enjoyed the worship, lectures, music and making new friends at the conference.
 
After several days in Albuquerque, we traveled into Navaho land to a remote canyon of stunning beauty called Canyon De Chelly National Monument in Arizona. Here we set out for an early morning hike from the canyon rim to the floor of the canyon. We were treated to black streaked canyon walls, ancient pueblo ruins, cotton wood trees and a few Navaho hogans. The Hogan is a traditional Navajo hut built of logs and earth, used for residential and/or ceremonial purposes.
 
Our next stop was to visit my sister Mary gay, her husband Bill and their daughter Cassidy, who live in Cortez, Colorado, just outside of Mesa Verde National Park. Our nephew Benet’s children were visiting from Louisiana for the summer as well. Mary gay and Bill’s oldest son Colin lives in Cortez with his wife and their two sons, and we enjoyed sharing meals and adventures together. We were treated with private accommodations in Cassidy’s “yurt.” A yurt is a round living structure used by Mongolian people. This modern Colorado yurt consisted of a kitchen, bedroom, full bathroom, living and dining area. From the deck of the yurt and surrounding six acres, we had a view of the mesas of Mesa Verde National Park in one direction, and the Sleeping Ute Mountains in another. It was a pleasure to enjoy the flavor of fresh eggs every morning from Cassidy’s chickens, and to spend time getting to know and help care for Cassidy’s horses, chickens, duck, dogs, and cats. The 6000 ft of elevation gave us warm days and wonderfully cold nights. We really enjoyed our time with family in the mountains.

After spending the fourth of July in Cortez, we headed further west to Zion National Park in Utah. We stayed in a charming bed and breakfast in Springdale, Utah. Zion National Park was impressive with its huge reddish orange canyon walls and rock formations. I was able to hike one morning to Park Point and enjoy the majestic view from the top of the canyon.
 
Our final leg of the journey was to continue west to San Francisco, California, to stay a week with Lisa’s Uncle Cliff.  However, the drive from Zion to San Francisco would be through miles and miles of isolated desert followed by torn up Hwy 5, which runs North/South through California’s farmlands. After experiencing a flat tire late one night on Hwy 5, a few hours outside of San Francisco, we decided to drive to the nearest hotel, and to spend half of the next day on getting our car refitted by investing in four new tires. We knew we still had plenty of miles to go on this trip.
 
Once in San Francisco we were eager to experience the city on the bay. Uncle Cliff and I had made plans to cycle around the bay area, and we spend the first four days riding bikes on the Pacific Coast highway, the Marian headlands across the bay, Presidio Park, and Golden Gate Park and bridge. Riding bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge, then through redwood groves and along the pacific coast was a dream come true for me. Lisa and I enjoyed a week of cool temperatures (50 degrees at night and 60 degrees during the day), great food, and fun visiting with Uncle Cliff. It was hard to leave the beauty of San Francisco, but we were now eager to get home.
 
The ride home would be over 2,000 miles, which we covered in three full days of driving. Thankfully all went smoothly on the return trip and we returned home happy and tired to the heat of summer in Memphis.
 
Along with lots of reading, my final educational component of the sabbatical was to attend by video conferencing “The Global Leadership Summit,” hosted by Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis. This was two days packed full of lectures and seminars on leadership. My favorite speakers were Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation, author John Maxwell, and Chris McChesney author of The Four Disciplines of Execution.
 
I have been blessed to have extended time for reading and contemplative prayer this summer. Sitting still to listen for God is not reserved for time spent away at retreat centers. I have grown in this spiritual discipline while on sabbatical and I hope to continue to grow in this spiritual practice. As I know and experience my place with and in God, I pray God will lead me to deeper ministry in my daily life. I pray to see each day as a gift full of opportunity to live as a child of God and to live in the present moment in the bountiful Kingdom of God.
 
I am grateful to all the St. Luke Saints, and to the Southeastern Synod grant that helped to make this sabbatical possible. This time of study and recreation is a treasured gift. I am also most grateful for Pastor White’s pastoral care in my absence. I thank God for Pastor White and all of the supply pastors, the worship committee, congregational council, President Gary Conway, and of course our wonderful St. Luke church staff; Jennifer Wright for taking our St. Luke youth on two youth trips, Patti Calvert for managing the church office, David Potter for leading music, and Mac McKinney for maintaining the property. Speaking of property, the new pavilion was completed while I was away and it is so good to see it finished. This new pavilion will be an anchor for outdoor activities at St. Luke for generations to come. Many thanks once again for all of the generous gifts that made this possible.
 
It is not possible to express all of my thanks and gratitude for the gift of this sabbatical. I am privileged to serve at such a loving and supportive congregation. Fourteen years have come and gone so quickly that I imagine the next fourteen will come and go just as fast. The time we have before us to continue to love and serve God together is also a gift.
 
I look forward to seeing all of you Sunday, September 4th, for worship. Remember this will be Jersey Sunday, so wear your favorite sports jersey and we will share tailgate food and fellowship after the service.
 
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Cliff
 

Dear St. Luke Saints;

 
"There is no other form for the Christian life except a common one."
Richard Rohr

             May is a month of with plenty of opportunities for us to share our common faithand celebrate sacred and secular holidays.
May 1,   We will gather to finish our Sermon Series, Embracing a Life of Meaning. We will finish with a firm reminder that "we matter." That same day at 11:00 we will have plenty of music as we celebrate Music Sunday at St. Luke. David Potter has a wonderful selection ofmusic planned for the occasion.
May 8, This is the Seventh and final Sunday of Easter, and a day for us to remember our Mothers. While I miss my mother so much on Mother's Day, I do get joy by remembering her and seeing all the moms and children at St. Luke. The 11:00 service will also be very special for our first and second grade students receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion for the first time.
May 15, is a church festival day as we celebrate the Day of Pentecost. Remember to wear Red as a sign of the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles and giving birth to the church. This is also the Sunday we honor High School graduates in our congregation.
May 22, is the second feast day this month, Holy Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost. On this day in the church we remember that God is one God, in three persons. This will be our final Sunday School class of the year and all of our Sunday School teachers will be honored as a part of the services.
May 29 The final Sunday of May falls on Memorial Day weekend. This will also be the final Sunday before the start of my three month sabbatical. This will be a bitter sweet Sunday for me. I look forward to the rest, renewal and study of sabbatical, but I will miss being with you at St. Luke. We will have one service at 10 am followed by a Church Picnic. 
From May 29-August 7, we will continue to have one service at 10 am. A complete summer worship schedule can be found in the June newsletter.

Your partner in ministry,
Pastor Cliff

As we begin the Easter Season, we think of new life and the hope of the resurrection. However, the last couple of books that I have read have been on death and dying. These include When Breath Becomes Air, a memoir written by Paul Kalanithi, a promising young neurosurgeon who learned he was dying of cancer, and Being Mortal, an exploration by author Atul Gawande of what is most meaningful to people as they face their own deaths. Both of these books, in confronting death, ask important questions about life. Which, in turn, has caused me to examine what is most important in my life.

One of the dangers of life is that we fall into the trap of living our life on auto pilot. We can go through days, weeks, even years without making real decisions about and commitments to what is important to us, such as our family or our faith. Our goal in life can simply become providing financial security. Such a limited goal can rob us of a meaningful life.

Our Easter Sermon Series is inspired by these questions: What is a good life? What makes death a good death? The series is entitled Embracing A Life of Meaning. The five week sermon series will examine topics on what matters to many people in living lives of meaning: Belief, The Scriptures, Community, Place, and Ourselves, and how we choose to live with the time we have been given. This series is based on material from award-winning poet and writer Kathleen Norris.

As we well know, none of us is guaranteed a long life, but each of us can live a meaningful life. How one person describes a meaningful life may not be the same for someone else, but I think as people of faith, there will be some common characteristics. The rich young ruler asked Jesus what was the most important law, and Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and body, and your neighbor as yourself.”  How does this verse translate into living our lives in the twenty first century?

I invite you to join me and the rest of the St. Luke community as we ask important questions and examine the lives we live.

Father, you are good.
I need help. Heal me and forgive me.
They need help.
Thank you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

This simple prayer will be our Lenten companion. For the five weeks of Lent I invite you to pray this prayer daily. It is my hope that this prayer will become our familiar friend this Lent.

Often we fail at prayer by forgetting to pray, or getting too busy to pray. What if this year for Lent, all of us at St. Luke make prayer a daily priority? I invite you to begin with the prayer above. Though it is short, it expands as you allow the parts of the prayer to unfold within you. I invite you to join me, a fellow disciple of Jesus, as we study this discipline, and enter into a season of making prayer our focus.

In addition to encouraging personal daily prayer time, we will offer opportunities for each of us to grow in community this Lent by joining a five week small group in homes or at church during Sunday School. The small groups will be using the book, Before Amen, the Power of a Simple Prayer, by Max Lucado. We will use the simple prayer printed above as our starting point. Each small group will have a DVD with weekly lessons and a study guide.

Do you remember when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray? The first followers of Jesus needed help with prayer. In fact, the only lesson they ever requested from Jesus was on prayer! Is our position any different from the disciples? I believe we all have much to learn when it comes to the subject and practice of prayer.

​Here is a wonderful opportunity for each of us to grow spiritually with our St. Luke family. Please prayerfully consider hosting or joining a Lenten small group at St Luke.

​Our Advent theme this year comes from James Moore’s book, Finding Bethlehem in the Midst of Bedlam. Several Sunday School classes are using this book for discussion and daily devotions during Advent. The author asks us to consider ways Christ is found in the “bedlam” of our lives. 

This takes me back to a memory long ago. Lisa and I were recently married and serving with A Christian Ministry in the National Parks. During this time in our lives, we worked in National Parks and led Sunday worship services in the campgrounds or indoor meeting places. At this time we were living in Stove Pipe Wells, Death Valley, CA. We were living in an employee dorm in the park, and our housing was one room and a bath, which we shared with our cat. A very dark and dusty room as I remember! We had a hot plate, and our refrigerator was an ice chest. The nearest grocery store was more than an hour away.  
 
As Christmas approached, a dear friend of Lisa's sent us a wonderful gift; a box with a tiny artificial tree, ornaments, and strings of lights far too long for the tree! We stung lights and placed the 12 inch Christmas tree in the window. I don’t remember any shopping or presents that year, any special favorite treats or comfort foods. It felt to us that we were without a home, nomads wandering in the desert.
 
Like most of the park employees, we were scheduled to work on all of the holidays, Christmas included. So Lisa and I organized a Christmas Eve Service after the work day for all the park employees and guests. To our great surprise the entire park staff came out for the Christmas Eve Service. From the hotel manager to the District Park Ranger, those who worked as maids in the hotel to the bus boy in the restaurant.  The room was full as we began, without musical accompaniment, to sing Christmas carols that night. Though it was a Christmas Eve Service stripped clean of glitter, candles, banners or stars, Christ’s Spirit was very much evident. A simple service, for simple people of faith, longing for God's presence.  Christ came and met us where we were. 
 
I learned that Christmas does not need to be a fancy production. But then we knew that, didn't we, from the first Christmas, when a poor couple took refuge in a stable because there was no room for them in the inn. They nestled their newborn son in a manger. Christ found his home on earth among us. 

And so, as we prepare this Advent, I am reminded to simply open my heart to the true gift of Christmas. God coming as a child, innocent and defenseless into the bedlam of our world. Whether we celebrate Christmas grandly or simply is not the point. Our focus is directed to Christ, who comes to us where we are, as suburban or city dwellers, as nomads or kings. That Christmas in the desert was special, not for the gifts or celebration, but because Christ was present.