THE MUSTARD SEED. Schedule of Services. The Parish of St. Luke. Who We Are. (the physician) T h e R e v. N e i l A. T a d k e n

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T h e R e v. N e i l A. T a d k e n P r i e s t - in- C h a r g e r e v n t a d k e n @ s a i n t l u k e s m o n r o v i a.

c o m THE MUSTARD SEED The Parish of St. Luke (the physician) H e a l i n g t h e w o r l d, o n e w e l c o m e a t a t i m e. F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 Holy Eucharist: Sundays Rite I: 8 a.m. Rite II: 10 a.

FEBRUARY 9 Sunday Holy Eucharist & LOH 5th Sunday after the Epiphany (A) FEBRUARY 12 NO SERVICE** FEBRUARY 16 Sunday Holy Eucharist & LOH 6th Sunday after the FEBRUARY 19 Holy Eucharist & LOH 12:10 p.

Who We Are St. Luke s is an inclusive church that welcomes all to its community a safe place for skeptics and doubters as well as firm believers.

1 T h e R e v. N e i l A. T a d k e n P r i e s t - in- C h a r g e r e v n t a d k e s a i n t l u k e s m o n r o v i a. o r g S o u t h C a l i f o r n i a A v e n u e M o n r o v i a, C A s a i n t l u k e s m o n r o v i a. o r g s t l u k e s m o n r o v i g m a i l. c o m THE MUSTARD SEED The Parish of St. Luke (the physician) H e a l i n g t h e w o r l d, o n e w e l c o m e a t a t i m e. F e b r u a r y Holy Eucharist: Sundays Rite I: 8 a.m. Rite II: 10 a.m. Schedule of Services DATE DAY SERVICE TIME COMMENTS FEBRUARY 2 Sunday Holy Eucharist & LOH* 4th Sunday after the Epiphany (A) s Rite II: 12:10 p.m. FEBRUARY 5 Holy Eucharist & LOH 12:10 p.m. FEBRUARY 9 Sunday Holy Eucharist & LOH 5th Sunday after the Epiphany (A) FEBRUARY 12 NO SERVICE** FEBRUARY 16 Sunday Holy Eucharist & LOH 6th Sunday after the FEBRUARY 19 Holy Eucharist & LOH 12:10 p.m. FEBRUARY 23 Sunday Holy Eucharist & LOH 7th Sunday after the Epiphany (A) FEBRUARY 26 Holy Eucharist & LOH 12:10 p.m. *LOH = Laying on of Hands Please note that Orkin will be tenting the church, Swan Hall, and parish hall on February 11-14, so there will be no mass that week. Who We Are St. Luke s is an inclusive church that welcomes all to its community a safe place for skeptics and doubters as well as firm believers. The Communion Meal of God s presence among us is offered to anyone who comes with a sincere heart to receive it. Printed copies of The Mustard Seed are available in the Church Narthex. If you have access to , send us your address, and you will receive your copy on the web. If you have no and can t get to church, please call the church office, and we ll mail you a copy.

Many of you should have already r e c e i v e d m y l e t t e r announcing that our long awaited termite remediation is on the docket.

2 P a g e 2 From Father Neil s Desk Mass Please remember that we celebrate a simple Low Mass with Laying on of Hands in the Chapel every at 12:10 p.m., except on Feb. 12. February may be our shortest month, but we will have an eventful one. Many of you should have already r e c e i v e d m y l e t t e r announcing that our long awaited termite remediation is on the docket. The parish facilities will be completely shut down and tented from February Consider it a long overdue valentine to our Of course there are preparations that must be made. Most importantly, Snowflake, our parish cat needs a new home and must be off premises by the time fumigation begins. So now s the time to step up and help find him a home, even a temporary one. Secondly, we will celebrate our termite-free status with a Sunday of special guests on February 16. Gary Toops, longtime friend, supporter and member of the parish will be our guest organist and choirmaster, as Kent Jones takes a welldeserved and long-timecoming Sunday off. In addition, The Rev. Colville Frank as he pulls together some design community events in association with the annual Modernism Week in Palm Springs and the other desert cities. Finally, it is not too early to address our upcoming Lenten offerings. Lent begins March 5, and we have two special offerings in store that you will want to put on your calendars. The first is a special evening series, EXPLORING SACRED ART: Christian theology and beliefs through the ages as depicted in fine art. There will be five discussion sessions looking at important works of sacred art in the context of art appreciation and the spiritual significance for our lives. This class will be facilitated by Gary Toops, Emeritus Professor Humanities, Mt. San Antonio College and me on evenings in the St. Luke s parish library from 6:45-8:15 p.m., preceded by a simple soup supper at 6:15 p.m. The dates of this class are March 12 - April 9, 2014, culminating with with other special guests, a series of Wilderness Wa/onderings. We will explore God s beauty in our own backyard, hiking the various local wilderness trails, stopping for moments of reflection and meditation on a variety of themes and exploring how we might live our lives in solidarity with the Jesus who entered the thin space of the wilderness for 40 days in preparation for his life of ministry. If you are a hiker and have a favorite trail you would like to share, please contact me in the next few weeks so that we can work it into our program agenda. This program is especially geared to help us integrate body, mind and spirit. So the rubber is finally hitting the road my friends. I can t tell you how pleased I am that we re on this journey together. There is definitely more on the horizon, but that will all unfold in due time. Peace, blessings and health to you all my friends. Fr. Neil + Smythe will return as guest celebrant. Many of you will remember him fondly as your first short-term interim after Fr. Gary s retirement. Deacon Ann preaches. I will be attending to family matters that weekend and supporting a visit to the Getty Art Museum on Saturday, April 12, Our other Lenten offering is sure to appeal to our more physically active members. Every Saturday morning in Lent, I will be leading, along T H E M U S T A R D S E E D

P a g e 3 From the Deacon s Desk While I was at Foothill Unity Center with our m o s t r e c e n t contributions, I learned the greatest need for the food bank is the following: Items for the

3 P a g e 3 From the Deacon s Desk While I was at Foothill Unity Center with our m o s t r e c e n t contributions, I learned the greatest need for the food bank is the following: Items for the Homeless Hygiene packs and food items: samples of toothpaste, mouth wash, dental floss, hand soap, skin lotion, shampoo/conditioner, liquid body wash, deodorant for men and women, Kleenex, and Wet Ones. Also needed are toothbrushes, combs, and razors. Finally, small (individual size) containers of Cup of Soup, Vienna Sausages, Spam, juices, chips, and granola bars or NutriGrain Bars. For families, there is a great need for disposable diapers and infant formula (powdered is best.) I know the economy is tight, but whatever you may contribute is appreciated. Please remember to donate items in regular grocery store size. Also, Foothill Unity Center cannot accept food items 3 months past the expiration date or opened packages. Your donations are greatly appreciated. - Deacon Ann Notes on the Sound System If you ve suffered through months of fluctuating sound in the pews, you might like to know why. St. Luke s is a very resonant environment that is wonderful for music but problematic for voice. By the time a sermon has traveled from the pulpit to the back of the Church, the resonance mas muddied the sound to the point where it s hard to understand. The finest orator would find her or his sermon muddied by the Church s echo. An early attempt to correct this was placing a speaker on each of the columns, to help clear sound reach every part of the Church. But now the microphones come into play. Priests often dislike being anchored to a lectern, and mobility means wireless microphones, which have traditionally been omnidirectional (they pick up sound from anywhere including the Church s resonance). So a balance must be struck. Set the mike level too low, and we can t hear the priest. Set it too high and we get feedback (that howl that s so jarring). Often the difference is just a couple degrees on the volume control. Now consider the organ. Magnificently played, it can easily overwhelm the sound system. But would you want it played more quietly? The lector s mike obviously needs to be on the lectern, but in St. Luke s this is right under the organ! Turn the mike s sound down for the organ, and you lose the lector; turn it up for the lector, and the organ distorts. Well, to save the congregation pain, why not go into the Church when it s empty and make your adjustments? Well, because of its resonance, an empty St. Luke s has completely different acoustic characteristics than when it s mostly (or even partially) filled with soundabsorbing parishioners. So you really have only one chance to make adjustments: during the Sunday Eucharist itself. So you make your adjustments not too radically, because you don t want to disrupt the Eucharist and hope for the best and repeat the process the next week (and the next week, and the next ) And the congregation plays the role of unwilling guinea pig. Many churches, acoustically nonresonant, aren t faced with our p r o b l e m. ( C h u r c h o f t h e Transfiguration in Arcadia is an example; it s small, and the lack of an echo makes a single speaker completely intelligible.) But the acoustics at St. Luke s, while sometimes difficult, are often a blessing. Just ask any of our singers. Today, we have more flexible microphones and a partial answer. But we are still facing a set of compromise adjustments. So please be patient I think we re close to a solution. - David Bowen

P a g e 4 From Our Director of Music The St. Luke s Choir, 2013 I am writing this after the Evensong in Epiphany, which was sung on January 19. It seemed to me that we had more people from outside St.

*I* finally departed in peace after having been at church for ten hours, but as is generally the case with our receptions, there were people who showed no signs of wanting to leave.

4 P a g e 4 From Our Director of Music The St. Luke s Choir, 2013 I am writing this after the Evensong in Epiphany, which was sung on January 19. It seemed to me that we had more people from outside St. Luke s than we did from our own congregation. I have a mailing list that is always growing, and you can t beat word of mouth, but it really does look as though featured wonderful food and wine. *I* finally departed in peace after having been at church for ten hours, but as is generally the case with our receptions, there were people who showed no signs of wanting to leave. I was especially proud of the choir for their exceptional singing. Our goal is to have see me directing the choir. I hope you will all be there to make them feel welcome. Easter is very late this year, which means that Lent doesn t start until March. Most of our music in February will be on Epiphany themes. We re not going to sing about the Three Kings week after week, but the bulletin board in the Parish many people consider Evensong an event not to be missed. Even better, I got an offer of help for publicizing future events. And it seemed that most of our visitors from outside the parish walked in and felt quite at home; at least, that s my impression from the incredible congregational singing and the festivity afterwards. Thanks to all who sang and all who put together the reception, which extraordinary music in a smallchurch setting, and the choir proved beyond a doubt that, yes, it can be done. Two people who were happy to return to St. Luke s for Evensong were Gary and Marjorie Toops, who have a long history with the parish. Gary will be substituting for me on February 16, in one of the rare cases where you will not House will help you understand what we re doing. Kent B. Jones, Director of Music Lunch Bunch The Lunch Bunch will be meeting on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, at 11:30 a.m. in Guild Hall. As we had to postpone our January program as we said our goodbyes to Erika Eisel, Lyn Walsh will now be doing a program on her trip to Washington, D.C. and her adventures with a VIP tour of the Capitol, where she saw our government in action. She was also able to visit the Air & Space Museum, which had long been on her bucket list. So please bring a tasty dish to share with this caring group. All are welcome! Facilities Usage View of the Rose Window The Burmese Christian Fellowship uses our chapel and Swan Hall every Sunday afternoon, both for worship and fellowship. An English Country Dance Group uses Guild Hall on Sunday afternoons and Friday evenings for rehearsals. A Highland Dance Group uses Guild Hall on Tuesday evenings. The following Twelve Step Recovery Groups use our parish facilities on a regular basis: N. A., s at 5:30 p.m., Guild Hall; A. A. (women only), s at, Guild Hall; A. A. (men and women), Thursdays at Swan Hall. The Monrovia League uses Guild Hall once per month on Tuesday mornings for its regular meetings. A Classical Conversations tutoring group uses our parish facilities on Mondays. T H E M U S T A R D S E E D

P a g e 5 Celebrations Birthdays: Catherine Fugitt February 17 Lyn Walsh February 23 Destiny King February 24 Jack Savage February 25 Anniversaries: Corky & Nancy Wilds February 12 Note: If you are

5 P a g e 5 Celebrations Birthdays: Catherine Fugitt February 17 Lyn Walsh February 23 Destiny King February 24 Jack Savage February 25 Anniversaries: Corky & Nancy Wilds February 12 Note: If you are new to our parish or have never submitted your birthday or anniversary (or we ve simply missed yours in the past), p l e a s e e m a i l stlukesmonrovia@gmail.com, and we ll add you to our celebrations list. Notes from the Vestry We on the Vestry were very pleased at the fantastic turnout and participation at our recent Annual Meeting of the Parish. Thank you all for engaging in this crucial piece of parish governance. As you heard in the meeting, there are a number of exciting projects going on around the parish. The air conditioning installation is proceeding apace. The electrical contractor is working to complete its phase of the work, including the installation of a custom-built electrical panel to receive our new 400- amp service from Edison. The Air Conditioning units have been purchased, and Air Tro is ready for its phase of the project to begin. Dan Thomas is busily coordinating the last little piece of the puzzle: the concrete work that will secure the condenser units and allow the coolant lines to be run into the furnace room. In the next few months, we will begin requesting bids from glass companies and contractors to replace the broken windows in Swan Hall. If you can recommend a company, please let us know. As you ve seen elsewhere in this newsletter, Orkin will be tenting and fumigating the church property on February Finally, we are pleased to announce that the 6-month Mutual Ministry Review with Suffragan Bishop Mary Glasspool has been scheduled. The Vestry will meet with Bishop Glasspool on March 15. This review is an important step in our mutual discernment process, and we hope that you will hold each of us Fr. Neil, Bishop Glasspool, and every member of Vestry in your prayers as we work to discern the ministry and mission of The Parish of St. Luke. St. Luke s Episcopal Church 122 South California Avenue, Monrovia, CA stlukesmonrovia@gmail.com Please check your bulletin insert for current prayers. Deadline for February Mustard Seed: Friday, January 24. Please notify Kelly Lauer at (626) or the information to her at darjeeling44@gmail.com.

6 P a g e 6 FEBRUARY 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat The FOURTH SUNDAY after the Epiphany H.D., Guild Hall, Eucharist 12:10 p.m. N.A., Guild Hall, 5:30 p.m.; A.A., Guild Hall, 7 p.m. A.A., Swan Hall, The FIFTH SUNDAY after the Epiphany Lunch Bunch, Guild Hall, 11:30 a.m The SIXTH SUNDAY after the Epiphany E.C.D., Guild Hall, 2 p.m. Catherine Fugitt M.L., Guild Hall, 9 a.m; H.D., Guild Hall, Eucharist 12:10 p.m. N.A., Guild Hall, 5:30 p.m.; A.A., Guild Hall, 7 p.m. A.A., Swan Hall, The SEVENTH SUNDAY after the Epiphany Vestry meeting to follow. Lyn Walsh Destiny King Jack Savage H.D., Guild Hall, Eucharist 12:10 p.m. N.A., Guild Hall, 5:30 p.m.; A.A., Guild Hall, 7 p.m. A.A., Swan Hall, E.C.D., Guild Hall, C.C. Classical Conversations; H.D. Highland Dance Group; N.A. Narcotics Anonymous; A.A. Alcoholics Anonymous; E.C.D. English Country Dancers; M.L. Monrovia League

JUNE 4 Wed. Holy Eucharist & LOH 12:10 p.m. Wednesdays Rite II: 12:10 p.m. JUNE 11 Wed. Holy Eucharist & LOH 12:10 p.m.

JUNE 4 Wed. Holy Eucharist & LOH 12:10 p.m. Wednesdays Rite II: 12:10 p.m. JUNE 11 Wed. Holy Eucharist & LOH 12:10 p.m. T h e R e v. N e i l A. T a d k e n P r i e s t - in- C h a r g e r e v n t a d k e n @ s a i n t l u k e s m o n r o v i a. o r g 1 2 2 S o u t h C a l i f o r n i a A v e n u e M o n r o v i a, C A 9