A Reading from the "Life Together" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  

"Confess your faults one to another." He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal their sin from themselves and from each other. We date not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners!

But it is the grace of the gospel, which is so hard for the pious to understand, that it confronts us with the truth and says: You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come as the sinner that you are, to God who loves you, a sacrifice, a work: he want you alone. As Scripture says: "My child, give me your heart." God has come to you to save the sinner. Be glad! This message is liberation through truth. You can hide nothing from God. The mask you wear before others will do you no food before him. He wants to see you as you are, he wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to go on lying to yourself and your brothers and sisters, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner. Thank God for that: he loves the sinner but hates the sin.

In confession the breakthrough to community takes place. Sin demands to have a person by himself. It withdraws us from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person. In confession the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart.

Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of a Christian sister or brother, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders: he gives up all his evil. He gives his heart to God, and he finds the forgiveness of all his sin in the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his sister and brother. The expressed, acknowledged sin has lost all its power. This sin confessed has helped the person find true fellowship with his brothers and sisters in Christ. If a Christian is in the fellowship of confession with a sister or brother, he will never be alone again, anywhere.

Spiritual Direction

This is a scene from the grand porch at Kanuga. At times our spiritual life, our relationship to God, is as hard to see as the cross across the lake in this picture. As many of you know I am taking a two-year course in spiritual direction from the Haden Institute at Kanuga Conference Center near Ashville, North Carolina. The course consists of ways of finding a deeper spiritual life myself as well as assisting others in finding that life in themselves. A spiritual director is like a midwife helping a person see the presence of God in his or her life. My hope is that as a spiritual director I will become a better deacon, bringing the church to world and the world to the church in helping others and myself see the presence of God in each other.  

In March, I will be half way through the course. There are three four-day weekend intensives per year at Kanuga. The remainder is distance learning with reading assignments and invitations to go deeper in different spiritual practices.

We study the use of dreams, Jungian psychology, poetry, fairy tales, and enneagrams in spiritual direction. We study the mystical traditions, Celtic, Desert, Nature and Creation spirituality as well traditional Lectio Divina, labyrinth walk, Centering Prayer, Guided Meditation, the Jesus Breath Prayer, and group spirituality. I am in a group of 10 people (one man) who work together at the weekends and stay in touch between times on a Facebook page sharing what we are reading and what is becoming meaningful to us. Another physician from Little Rock, Reed Thompson, is also taking the course. I would love to talk to any of you who are interested in joining me or Reed on this journey of spiritual direction. It is a humbling, life-giving experience.

Joanna

• Adult Formation: Christianity's Family Tree: What Other Christians Believe and Why with Adam Hamilton. January 12 to March 2, 8 sessions

• Anglicanism, Deacon Joanna, February 9   

• Baptists: Dickey Mayland February 16 

• Pentecostalism: Fr. Carey February 23  

• Methodism: Maribeth Murray March    

• Come and Celebrate 25 Years of Marriage with the Martinkas!: Jerry and Pat Martinka will be celebrating their 25 years of marriage with a renewal of their vows on Sunday, February 9th during the 8 a.m. service. All are invited to attend the 8 a.m. service and you may stay after and share cake and refreshments. Congratulations Pat and Jerry!

• Diocesan Convention: St. Luke's delegates for convention are Valerie Smith and Dickey Mayland. The alternates are John Rhodes and Caryl Hicks. Convention begins Fri. Feb. 14 at Christ Church and continues on Sat Feb 15 at Episcopal Collegiate. More information can be found at episcopalarkansas.org.

• The Diocesan Youth Event, Winterstar is coming up this month and it is not too late to register. Winterstar is a weekend retreat at Camp Mitchell. It is three days filled with games, music, exploring the outdoors, worship, and seeing friends from around the state. The dates this year are: Jr. High (6-8 grade): Feb 7-9, Sr. High (9-12 grade): Feb 28-Mar 2. St. Luke's ECW is helping to pay the way for any of our youth attending. For more information about cost, contact the St. Luke's office. You can register online at: http://eycarkansas.org/register-for-winterstar-2014/ . The ECW will cover $75 of the $110 costs.  

• How to Beat Winter BOREDom? Bring a Friend and Attend St. Luke's BOARD game night! When: 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 16, Where: Parish Hall, What: We'll play games like Monopoly, Charades and Uno and have a few prizes (including best display of sportsmanship and best comeback) and definitely award some bragging rights.

• Rules:

  1. Bring both a game to play and a snack to share.

  2. Bring a friend or two if possible.

  3. This is a family friendly free event! Parents are encouraged to stay and play, but we know you are busy. Parents of elementary-school age and older may drop them off, but please be on time for pick up. Bonus hour: By special request of the fourth and fifth graders, we will offer a bonus Nerf hour from 7 to 8. Bring your favorite gun and we'll have a target-shooting contest with awards for the best sharpshooting in different age brackets (including 65 and older and it's impolite to ask).

• Downton Abbey Comes to St. Luke's! That's right on Sunday evening, 23 February at 7pm we will be gathering in the parish hall to share deserts/apertifs and wine and sherry as we watch the season finale of Downton Abbey on the wall screen! You may dress as your favorite character from Downton or simply come as you are.  Can you guess who will come as "Mr. Travis"  and the "Dowager?" Please call or email Caroline at the church (put phone number and email address) to reserve your place and what libation or sweet you can bring.

• Calling for pancake cook-off teams: Announcing St. Luke's First Annual Pancake Cook-Off! Do you have a special pancake recipe that you think is the very best there is? Perhaps you are famous for your Red Velvet, Sour Cream, Chocolate Chip, or  Pumpkin Pancakes? Well this is your chance to show off your Pancake prowess! Enter our first Annual Shrove Tuesday Mardi Gras Pancake Cook-Off! Each team will have the chance to win a gift card to the mecca of pancake lovers everywhere IHOP, the title of  2014 St. Luke's Pancake Champions the very coveted Golden Spatula trophy! Contact Joanna to sign up. Bring griddles or pancakes already made to warm up
  We will also be having pancake races between teams so start limbering up!  

• Sign up for Time for J.O.Y.:

  Time for J.O.Y retreat is April 25th-27th at Camp Mitchell. This retreat is specifically for women ages 20ish to 40ish and it is a time for them to reconnect and have a brief hiatus from their busy lives. If you are interested in signing up or sponsoring someone, please contact Elanka Jayaysundera at elankaj@yahoo.com or Wanda Dunwoody at wandadunwoody@gmail.com. More information can be found here. 

   

   

    

On-Going Events