1. Music Sunday – 8:30 and 10 AM Worship
Thank you to St. Luke’s Music Teams – Choir, Jubilee, and Bells! St. Luke’s is blessed with amazingly gifted members who help us praise God. Much thanks to the Music Staff:
St. Luke’s Choir Director: Bernie Asher
Bells of Praise Director: Alanna Teragawa
Jubilee Praise Team Leader: Greg Anderson
Come and enjoy a morning of Praise and Worship.

2. Promise Tree Planting – Following the 10 AM Worship (~11 AM)
What a way to kick off our 100th Anniversary! Long before St. Luke’s was planted here at 1701 West Old Shakopee Road; the first Lutheran Church in Bloomington, the Old Oak Tree in front of the Education Wing stood and still stands, with hopefully many years ahead. Following God’s planting of both that tree and St. Luke’s our first act for the 100th Anniversary is planting another tree in our backyard near the corner of Irving Ave. S. and 100th Street.

Join in helping plant the tree.
3. Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon – Following the Tree Planting (~11:15 AM)

Like the story of the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) we celebrate all the workers. Whether you have been a member for decades and participate in a dozen ministries or are new to St. Luke’s and are still considering when and where to serve, come and enjoy a meal in your honor. We are the Body of Christ and each individually members of it. Everyone is welcome. All contributions no matter how small or insignificant you may think it is, makes all the difference.

There is still room for you! Thank you to all who RSVPed through the Evite.
​Sign up by Noon, Thursday, May 26: Evite, email office@stlukesbloomington.org or call 952-881-5801.
Plus One! St. Luke’s Holy Hoops Basketball Tournament – 1 PM at Augsburg College

St. Luke’s High School Basketball Team finished in third place out of six teams. They will be playing in the first round at 1 PM. With a win they play in the Semi-Finals at 2:15 PM. With another win they play in the finals at 3:45 PM. We will update the St. Luke’s Facebook Page after each game played.
From one member a full team was gathered. May a child lead us. Who will you invite to join in St. Luke’s ministries?

Friday, May 20, 2022
Do you come to Church to pray? Do you come to Church to engage socially? Do you come to Church to dress up and sing? Do you come to Church because you have skills?
My children come to church for the yummy treats after worship and for Children’s Church.
There is something special about gathering with others for the same purpose. I believe that events to bring people together for a common purpose is a gift that God has given us. Getting together with Community and learning about each other is vital to living out the word.
When’s the last time that you came to Church for Game Night????
GAME NIGHT!!!!! All welcome!!!
The Faith Formation Team invites you to come and play games, meet your neighbors, share a snack, and win some prizes.
When: Friday, May 20, 2022                     
Where: Fellowship Hall
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
***We will have several games ready to play for ALL AGES, as well as a special Scavenger Hunt and Word Find to celebrate St. Luke’s 100 year Anniversary. Feel free to bring your favorite game and/or favorite store bought snack to share.
For questions or more info, please contact: emilys@stlukesbloomington.org or Kebens3@gmail.com
Hope to see you there!

​

They say April showers bring May flowers, so I am hoping to see Minnesota come back to life soon, as I am sure the rest of you are as well. This winter has been brutal, what winter in Minnesota isn’t? Now that spring finally seems to be on its way, we have some fun things happening this month in May working toward community outreach. Five opportunities…
First, we will be packing meals with Feed My Starving Children again this month, on May 14 at 9:00 AM. Last time was a great success and we hope to get more hands-on deck to pack even more meals.
If you’ve never joined in on a Feed My Starving Children journey, you work in an assembly line with your team to pack as much food as you can for a few hours. It is a great place to not only help children around the world facing food insecurity, but you can also get to know your neighbors with great conversations.
Last month, we successfully packed 63 boxes, which equaled to a total of 13,308 meals which will feed 37 children for an entire year!
Second, thank you Andy Hayden for your years of service with Loaves & Fishes. We are grateful that Jan Pankratz has answered the call to replace Andy as the coordinator.If you are interested in joining St. Luke’s crew (we serve the 3rd Wednesday of each month) at Loaves & Fishes, contact the office.
Third, Oasis for Youth is having an Open House on Thursday, May 19 th from 5:30 – 7:30 PM. Come visit their newly remodeled space and join for a community celebration.
Fourth, going back to the last blog I wrote, planting even just one tree back out in nature helps our ecosystem tremendously. It will help filter our air with all the other trees, it will provide shade to humans and animals alike, and will provide a safe home for birds, squirrels, chipmunks, etc. Thank you for helping the planet! We invite you to help plant the “Promise Tree” on Sunday, May 22 nd . More information coming.
Fifth, I would like to bring your attention to what used to be called “the Sandwich Project.” It is now called Sandwich 363 (they serve all but two days out of the 365 days in the year – Hence the name). Did you know that in Minneapolis alone around 18% of people live under the poverty line? It is a number that, unfortunately, keeps growing every year everywhere throughout the Twin Cities. Many children depend on food in the school system for them to even have one full meal. The more sandwiches we can make, the more food security we can provide to people in need. This is a great way to directly assist our neighbors here in the Twin Cities who face food insecurity.
So please join us for the Spring Celebration, Wednesday, May 25 th at 5:30 PM as we fulfill the goal of making 300 sandwiches. After serving others, please stay for a cook out and games for all ages. More info will be coming out. Please sign up.

I am so proud of the work that the people of St. Luke’s have done, and continue to do, around our community and the world with incredible acts of service. I am excited to see what we can do in the future to get even more accomplished to help people in our own communities and around the world who face poverty and food insecurity. Thank you for your generous hearts and hands and I ask God to continue providing us all the strength to keep helping to the best of our abilities.

The Missions Team is hard at work bringing even more community outreach opportunities, if you have any ideas, please reach out to anyone on the Missions Team and we will be sure to bring it up at our next meeting! Again, thank you so much for the work that this congregation has done over the years, let’s keep this momentum going!
​
Britt Halaas 

Every time I check the weather forecast for Sunday I get a different result! After the dry summer last year, I will not pray for sun this weekend, but instead be content with whatever we get. If it looks like dry weather, I would like to trim the shrubs, pick up branches and remove leaves from the garden areas.
If you are able to help, please bring hedge trimmers, lopping shears, pruners, gloves, wheelbarrows, rakes, your favorite shovel and Advil. And anything else you would use around your house this time of year. If you have yard waste recycling room at your home, please bring what ever type of bags you use with you and take them back home with you following the event.  We can dump the trimmings by the fenced-in area on the northeast corner of the Fellowship Hall. I will load it my pickup, strap it down and haul it away. 
Once again, I would like to put out an appeal to anyone familiar with pruning arborvitaes. There are several pyramids along the north sanctuary wall in need of TLC. Even standing on the ground and giving instructions would be great. St. Luke’s has a 6’, 8’, and 12’ step ladder available for use. If you have a green thumb and see plants that are overgrown, need to be thinned or would do better somewhere else, feel free to see if there is a better place around the building. If we have enough people, we can move them Sunday or save it for a Yard Care Group day.
For added incentive, and thanks to some very wonderful volunteers, there will be some special refreshments available!
And on a totally different subject…
There is another item that I need help with. During the change of seasons, we have a few areas around the building where the carpet bubbles up. From what a couple different carpet experts have told me, it is caused by moisture coming through the cement. The cure is to have the cement sealed prior to installing new carpet. 
Unfortunately, several of these areas already have vinyl floor tiles on them, and the carpet was installed over the top. After having the tiles and mastic tested, we have found the tiles (only) have asbestos in them. Currently, all of the tiles are firmly adhered, meaning there is no health risk. But to cure the carpet bubble issue, we need to remove the tiles and mastic to get to the cement to seal it. 
Where I need help is, is there anyone out there that enjoys navigating and searching for government grants? There is a possibility that there are grants available for non-profits to do the abatement. I enjoy researching some things, but this is not one of them. If you are interested in researching this, please email me at m.s.dunham@outlook.com.
Thank you for help!

For the past 6 years, I have happily and proudly coordinated the volunteers for our Loaves & Fishes program at Hope Presbyterian Church. In that time, we have seen no fewer than five L & F company program directors come and go, we have been through a global pandemic and have changed our monthly menu to lasagna after more than a decade of chicken and ham. Oh - and we even sport newly designed baseball-type hats for our volunteers. We've seen our share of changes, but the need for localized meal preparation and distribution is stronger than ever. We've streamlined the process, simplified the menu and now offer a takeout-style drive-through food service that people almost universally prefer to the cafeteria-style service. Our little team, though small and mighty, has even been heralded as one of the best self-driven teams according to the board of directors over at L & F headquarters in St. Paul.

Why am I posting about Loaves & Fishes? The question is two-fold: first, we love our volunteers but we're always looking for fresh faces; and 2) because of changes to my work schedule, I'm stepping down as the L & F coordinator. For those who aren't aware, coordinating and volunteering at Loaves & Fishes is easy and fun -- we've got a great team and it's highly rewarding. We always meet on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. If you'd like information about helping with this important service to the community, please call or email me or contact the church office for more details.

andyhayden@musician.org
612-437-9173