Dear People of God at St. Lukes,

  

I invite you to a holy season: Holy Week and the Great 50 Days of Easter. As you receive this newsletter we will be observing Palm Sunday on March 29th, Maundy Thursday Upper Room-a Commemoration of the Institution of the Lord's Supper-at 6:30 p.m. in the Gordon Room, Good Friday meditations from noon until 3, and Good Friday liturgy at 7 p.m.

 

THEN Easter morning: 8 a.m., without music; 9 a.m. family/child oriented service; and 11 a.m. Choral Eucharist. Pot luck brunch in between the 9 and 11 (bring food to share regardless of which service you plan on attending!). Easter egg hunt for the kids after the 9 (please bring your own bag/basket).

 

Do you go on an exciting trip without planning, packing and paying ahead? Do you do a marathon without getting in shape first (ideally)? A baby takes 9 months; graduation from high school 4 years, not counting the earlier education...you get the idea. Attending Holy Week services prepares you for Easter; if you can't make services, set aside some extra time for prayer and reflection.

 

See you in church,

 

Grant 

Bring kids of all ages to St Luke's on Saturday evening, March 28th from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. for a variety of fun activities with a focus on the upcoming Holy Week.

This beautiful St. Luke's tradition continues....envelopes are in the pews. If you would like to contribute to the Easter Flower offering in memory of a loved one or in thanksgiving for blessings, please return envelopes with your tribute and donation by Sunday, March 29th. Thank you!

Our celebratory Easter Brunch/Coffee Hour will take place from 10AM-11AM on Easter Sunday, between the 9AM and 11AM church services. It is a potluck so if you are able, please bring some sort of brunch food, there are sign up sheets in the Narthex. Help with set up on Saturday morning 4/4 at 9:30AM, in the kitchen during the brunch, and with clean up would be greatly appreciated.  Please see the sign up sheets. Any questions please contact Joyce Barthold 781-378-1272 or [email protected]. Come join in this wonderful celebration in our church community!

With the library renovation imminent St. Luke's has been in conversation with the Town about use of Dutton Hall and other spaces during the week by the Library, Rec Department, and Senior Center for displaced programs (book stacks moving down to Community Center/Pier 44, so everything that has been happening needs a new home). In addition to receiving a modest rent we will have many, many of our neighbors and friends in town coming in and out of St Luke's during the next 16 months.

 

A monthly calendar will be posted online by both the Town and St. Luke's. The use will not be continuous, but rather something like 30 hours a week spread out from Mon-Sat, 8 to 8:30 p.m. (with Thursday night still used by AA, and time carved out for Fair preparation, and so forth....we've done this before with tenants).

 

I know we will want a welcoming face to give to all who enter our building. We are preparing material for anyone who might be curious about what we do here on Sundays as well. You might even have one of those serendipitous moments when a friend or co-worker may remark to you about a class or program s/he is attending at St. Luke's, and you can say "well, I go to church there...what do you want to know?"

 What started off as a routine trip to the grocery store took an odd twist last week. As I parked the car, I noticed three homeless people in a group by the back of the store by the
dumpster.  One was a woman and she appeared to sobbing and was being consoled by one of the men in the group. She was pounding her fists on the wall of the store, the group looked concerned.  Homeless people are a common sight in this area since there is a shelter nearby.After shopping, I put my bundles in the trunk of my car and returned the cart to the front of the store since the cart drop off areas were still snowed in.  As I turned to go back to the car , the young homeless woman turned the corner and headed for the store entrance.  When she was next to me our eyes met and became fixated on each other for what seemed like a long time but was probably just a few seconds.  I asked her if she was OK , she nodded yes and entered the store.

 On the way back to my car, I stopped by the consoling homeless man and asked him what was going on with the young woman.  He said that she hadn't had anything but alcohol, no food, in her system for four days.  He said she is 43 years old, has a child living with family and was sleeping at night outside behind a small local market.  He also said that he hadn't seen her around for awhile but she was in the worst shape he had ever seen her and he was trying to get her to go to the shelter for food and a warm place to sleep at night.  He said that she told him they would not let her into the shelter and he said it was because she would not sober up long enough to get in.
 

  I said that I was sorry and got in my car.  I just could not bring myself to leave.  I couldn't get her face out of my mind and felt compelled to go I to the store and find her.   She was exiting
the ladies room when I approached her, I told her my name and that I was a nurse and that I was concerned about her and wanted to buy her some soup.  She refused saying that she had
laryngitis and couldn't swallow.  After suggesting nice, warm, soothing Chicken Noodle, which is usually one of the hot soup offerings in this store, she relented and when we arrived at the soup station, of course they only had Hot Chili Soup or cream based soups which were not to her liking. We were standing in front of the deli and she said that she would really like
some pickles, dill pickles.  I explained to her that you needed to have a sandwich with pickles so she thought about and said  maybe the ham and cheese on marble rye would be OK as long as it had a lot of mustard.  The counter boy found 3 little packages of mustard in the back.  The pickle at the deli was not dill but half-sour and she wasn't sure about if she would like it but after I sternly urged the "we don't cut the pickles up" deli woman that this was important to me, she sliced it for me and off we went.

  On the way to the check out one of her group from outside came in and thanked me for caring for his friend and we got in line.  She refused water or a beverage but as we reached the cashier, she did look longingly at the packages of M&M's, so we got one.   After leaving the cashier, she turned and hugged me and thanked me.  I brought her and her friend, to whom she had already promised half of her sandwich,  over to the benches in the store and when they looked frightened and unwelcome I told them they had the right to sit there since their food was purchased in the store. As I headed for the door, she came after me and asked me if she could hug me again.  This last hug was unlike any hug I have had before.  It was a long one, making me think that it may have been awhile since someone showed her that she was worthy of the attention and warmth of a stranger who saw her as a member of the human race and cared about her.  She also told me that upon my urging she would try to go to the shelter and I can only hope that if she takes that
step perhaps she will seek help for her demons.

  I know that many of you serve the poor, the needy, the homeless and the mentally ill in your daily lives which is why I actually hesitated to tell my story.  I, too have been of service to people in these unfortunate situations during my lifetime.
There was, however, something different about this encounter.  I will always believe that I was directed to help and comfort this young woman, was it the Holy Spirit that guided me, maybe,
but if I am called upon, I will do it again, it isn't much, just one person at a time.

 

"For the needy shall not always be forgotten
 and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever"
                                                                           Psalm 9:18