Leaning In to the Unknown

This past Sunday's annual meeting was St. Luke's at its best. Many people spent many hours preparing for that meeting -- writing reports, preparing budgets, soliciting nominations, hosting open forums, ordering food, printing ballots, researching constitutional requirements, praying, listening, sharing hard truths, speaking from the heart. Though our decision to authorize the council to list our church property for sale was heartbreaking for some and exciting for others, as a congregation we each treated the other with dignity and respect.We will need all of the skills and habits we have practiced over the course of the last year as we now begin the work of imagining what our ministry together will look like in Logan Square if or when we leave this space. As Katie Baxter referenced in her remarks to the congregation, there are gifts to be gained from entering into the unknown. Whatever is ahead of us, we know that God goes with us and before us. In order to help us all attend to the spiritual as well as the practical and logistical aspects of our transition, I'd like to offer the following two opportunities to the whole congregation:

One Book, One Church

Just as the Chicago Public Library selects a book each year and invites the city to read it together, I'd like to recommend a book to the congregation that might give us a shared point of reference and a common vocabulary for talking about the experience of walking together into an unknown future. The book is Barbara Brown Taylor's "Learning to Walk in the Dark." A highly acclaimed preacher and teacher, Barbara Brown Taylor has written this book as an exploration of our literal and metaphorical experience of "the dark" and suggests that there is much to be learned and gained from an appreciation of what waits for us in the dark places and unknown spaces of our lives.You're can pick up a copy of "Learning to Walk in the Dark" at the public library, at your favorite bookstore, or through your eReader.  As we each begin reading on our own, we'll create opportunities after worship and throughout the week for you to gather and discuss your thoughts on the book and what it might suggest for the months and years awaiting us.

A New Place to Be: 8 Films on Spiritual Birth & Renewal

Beginning this Sunday and continuing through the season of Lent the Adult Forum will be using a series of short films organized around the idea of "A New Place" as both a relational and a geographical reality featuring noted authors and theologians like Parker Palmer, Richard Rohr, and Jean Vanier.  We'll be using these short films as the launching point for quiet reflection and journaling on our own lives, conversation in groups of two and three, and group discernment about the relationship between our core values and our "new place."This series is perfect for those who can only come once or twice, but will also emphasize intentional discernment between sessions each week. You're encouraged to bring a diary or journal for writing and reflection exercises.

• Feb. 1: A New Place as Choosing Life, w/ Parker Palmer
• Feb. 8: A New Place as Living Loved, w/ Sarah Bessey
• Feb. 15: A New Place as Being Unashamed, w/ Erwin McManus
• Feb. 22: A New Place as Rebirth, w/ Glennon Doyle
• Mar. 1: A New Place as Dying to Self, w/ Richard Rohr
• Mar. 8: A New Place as a Life of Grace, w/ Brennan Manning
• Mar. 15: A New Place as Seeing, w/ Richard Rohr
• Mar. 22: A New Place as Finding Goodness, w/ Jean Vanier

Adult Forum -- "A New Place to Be: 8 Films on Spiritual Birth & Renewal" // Sundays at 9am in the Lesher Lounge // childcare provided