May 11th, 2008 – Pentecost Sunday
The Natural Church Development Committee has observed, analyzed, and researched the happenings at St. Luke’s for months. Is the Church dying? Does anyone care? Is there hope for us?
Our answers are: NO…the Church is not dying, it is very much alive! And, YES, everyone cares in their own special way with the gifts they have to share. Is there hope for our Church? A resounding YES!! We’ve been in a cocoon…unfortunately that leaves us looking kind of unsightly, dried up, and like we should have been thrown out last fall. Lucky for us, the Property Committee overlooked us, and not only did we survive, but we now have a chance to thrive!
The Natural Church Development Committee has seen a lot of movement in that cocoon, lots of activity and excitement! There is so much life in there, that on Pentecost Sunday, the Butterflies of St. Luke’s are going to be set free!! Everyone is invited to put their name on a butterfly mobile that will be hung from the rafters in the Church to celebrate a rebirth of excitement, commitment, and enthusiasm for St. Luke’s! Come spread your wings and soar with all your family and friends as wonderful new things come to life at our Church!
Maybe if all of us flap our wings just a little, we can start an air current of positive energy that takes over our Church! Let’s see if the breeze we create can reach out to our congregation and neighbors by increasing the participation of young people in our Church, focus on prayer, and welcoming new members.
And, just in case you think your Natural Church Development Committee goals are “too lofty” for our little Church…just think back to Easter Sunday and the beautiful music that our members made for us! St. Luke’s is Alive, and capable of Great things!!
So on Pentecost Sunday, much to our amazement, 190 St. Luke’s butterflies were flying on our mobile! We would soon learn how far our butterflies could reach…out to past members we didn’t forget, and never would, into our community and outreach programs and also in healing relationships and losses that might have gone unnoticed or overlooked.
Well…that was the start of the future for St. Luke’s!
On Girl Scout Sunday in March of 2009 we welcomed 20 Girl Scouts as St. Luke’s butterflies. Liza Herbig, Mary Deegan, Cindy Ford & Lynn Brennan are Troop Leaders of 3 Girl Scout Troops that meet at our Church. Dawn Mostowski and Liz Nemeth are Leaders of a Boy Scout Troop that also meets at our Church.
In April of 2009 St. Luke’s was very happy to welcome Pastor John Larson as our part time Pastor! He added a new energy and excitement to our Church as he jumped in with both feet into the VBS swamp of Crocodile Dock. We invited the VBS kids and teachers to join us as members or friends of St. Luke’s on our Butterfly Mobile. On Sunday, August 8th, 70 new butterflies were added…68 were our VBS kids and members and our very own Miss Vivian! Miss Vivian is a friend of St. Luke’s that volunteers as our VBS Music Leader and is an important member of our VBS Crew Leaders every year. Also, that day, Pastor Larson joined our mobile as a butterfly also! We were all very excited to have him with us where he belongs, as he has become such an important member of our church in such a short time. We also want to thank Pastor Larson for the beautiful Blessing of the Butterflies that you did for St. Luke’s on that day. As members of the Church and representing the Natural Church Development Committee, that long awaited blessing lifted the butterflies to a whole new spiritual level, and lifted our hopes also.
Along with these big events we had a few new visitors, friends and family join us on the mobile, so by the end of August 2009 we had a total of 282 butterflies on our mobile! Every butterfly has the name of the person on it who wanted to become a butterfly. All we ask of our butterflies is that
1. You re-commit to your religion and,
2. You will continue participating with life here at St. Luke’s.
On this happy note, and many happy butterflies, we decided to cocoon for what was left of August, until Rally Day Kick-Off in September.
Your Natural Church Development
Ellen Lindemann, Dawn Mostowski, John Smack, & Sue Vokral
Our butterflies returned in September, and we are all happy to see each other again! We were very excited when Footprints Sunday rolled around and we had the opportunity to welcome our Footprints Christian Preschool and Aftercare Program to our mobile! On October 4th, 2009 we put up 102 new butterflies to represent Footprints! At the time we had 90 kids in the program, but I had extra butterflies…and am the eternal optimist even in the worst of economic times. We are all very proud of Footprints when at the end of November, Michelle Bennett, Director of Footprints told me that we are now up to 101 kids enrolled in the programs! Great work!! Looks like we’ll be needing more butterflies! With the addition of our St. Luke’s kids and friends at Footprints we now have 387 butterflies in the rafters of our Church.
I have a feeling there will be more butterflies on the way…