A Series of Blessings…
God blessed Abram so that he would be a blessing to all nations. (Genesis 12:1-3).
Paul went so far as to say, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” (Romans 12:14)
Imagine what the world would be like if we truly lived out this calling …

Blessed to be a Blessing!
In the weeks ahead we will be reminded of the gift of blessing.

August 30 – Blessing Vicar Stephanie Luedtke

Stephanie joined the St. Luke’s Staff as our Director of Faith Formation. Through the years her responsibilities have changed, often meeting the needs of the congregation. This year is another change as she transitions from Deacon to Vicar. Vicar is a title for a candidate doing an internship for ordained pastoral ministry. While serving as Deacon here at St. Luke’s Stephanie felt a calling and returned to seminary. In completing her internship she will be ready to be called Pastor Stephanie Luedtke.

September 6 – Blessing of the Animals

Many of us have been blessed by our pets. Have your pet join you online or at Drive In Worship.

September 13 – Being a Blessing as we celebrate God’s Work our hands

There will be a variety of opportunities during and after worship. For some believe the best way to celebrate is cleaning up our grounds. Bring a rake, lawn bags, and work gloves. More info coming.

September 20 – Blessings handed down generation to generation

Table graces, bedtime prayers, gratitude journals, and daily devotions are just a few ways to share God’s blessings.

September 27 – Help bless the St. Luke’s Students preparing to affirm their baptism

The Service of the Cross is another step in faith to follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24)

So at the end of worship when you receive the Benediction…

The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord’s face shine on you with grace and mercy.
The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.

…your mission begins for the week using your words and acts of service to share the blessings of God through Christ. Amen.
​Pastor Rob Norris-Weber

​​A few years back the church had an engineering company take a look at our facility and grounds, from the roofs to building infrastructure. They gave St. Luke’s a report detailing what they thought needed attention.  One immediate need was to have the parking lot resurfaced and in the near future our heating and cooling systems would need attention. The parking lot was resurfaced and we also had the parking lot lighting upgraded to LEDs, as directed by Bloomington City Hall.  
 
A year ago, an energy audit of the building was conducted by a non-profit that works with Xcel Energy. This report identified areas for energy savings. One area is LED lighting, which St. Luke’s has done having replaced lighting in the Parking Lot, Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall with LED lights. Other areas included more energy efficient heating and cooling systems, building automation of the heating/cooling system controls. Simple things like weather stripping and energy savers on the A/C units that saves St. Luke’s $300 per month in the summer on our cooling costs. From these reports a long term plan was developed regarding building infrastructure.
 
A building/energy committee was formed early this year with Mark Hagelin, Jean Lingen, David Carpenter, Larry Nelson, and me. The committee was charged with identifying, prioritizing and pricing infrastructure needs. We also took on investigating the practicality of solar for St. Luke’s. The committee gathered data, reviewed numerous proposals and pricing for all major infrastructure projects as well as for a solar option. 
 
The end result of their work is two proposals (boiler upgrade and solar panels) approved by the Council to be presented to the Congregation at an August 30th Congregational meeting after the 10:00 drive in service. Three informational meetings were scheduled with a final Zoom Meeting at 7:00 August 26th.
           
This past Sunday was the first informational meeting regarding the two council approved proposals. Fourteen people attended the after-service meeting. The two proposals are quite different and excellent questions were brought up and discussed.

The boiler proposal is related to the first of potential infrastructure updates needed to keep our building functional for the next 100 years. The current 52-year-old boiler is inefficient (60% efficient) and takes a lot of care to keep working. It was installed as a backup to the primary boiler that died years ago (so currently there is no backup).

We have been very fortunate that Mark Hagelin joined our church a number of years ago and has been willing to invest his time and knowledge of boiler heating systems (he is a licensed boiler maker) to babysit the system all these years.
During the heating season, it’s not uncommon for Mark to visit the boiler and tweak it three or four times a week. In the past, this was hired out at a cost of $2,500 to $3,000 a year. By the way, a boilermaker is billed at $139/hour. There is also some “grandfathering” of repairs by inspectors that causes some concern for the longevity of the current system.

Discussion and questions focused on the proposed approximately $90,000 replacement. We reviewed the system redundancy, a system with 4 redundant heat exchanges that operate independently, but together as needed to heat the church. Installation process from removing asbestos, cutting up old boiler and installing the new system and piping to the existing hot water circulation system. Estimated energy savings for the 96% efficient system is $3,000 to $4,000 a year. The committee also visited sites using the recommended boiler system to get a firsthand look at installations.  

The solar proposal is not an infrastructure project. This proposal focuses on offsetting carbon-producing electricity with “free” energy from the sun. There was agreement that solar is “good”, joining other faith communities to become Green, being good stewards of God’s creation. Questions focused on how the system is installed, maintenance, longevity of panels and financing, as well as timing of the project. 

Installation would be on the newer church roofs and the roofing contractor has been engaged in making sure the roof warranty is not compromised. Other solar users interviewed indicated there was no ongoing maintenance. The panels are warranted for 25 years and we have data that suggests a much longer system life. Timing is related to incentives and grants available for projects this year that diminish or change in the future.

The proposed 75,000 kwh system will produce approximately 94,000 kwh per year to offset the 151,000 kwh St. Luke’s uses annually (62%). This will reduce our current $18,500 annual electric bill by approximately $11,100 per year. As electric rates rise savings grow. The solar project is self-funded in the respect that financing (loan) of the panels is paid for by the savings in electric costs.

Moving forward with solar is dependent on congregational approval, arranging financing (financing cost offset by electric bill savings), engineering review, and Xcel Energy approval. If all is approved this year, installation could start in April or May next year.

There was also discussion regarding any spending at this time due to uncertainties related to COVID and impact on long term church finances. There will be an update regarding that at the Congregational Meeting. There was good discussion and very appropriate. 

For more information regarding property projects contact:
 
Kevin Schulz
kcschulz@comcast.net or phone 952-250-2222 

For my whole life, I've had tight muscles, especially leg muscles. I had a weird hip issue where I had to have surgery a few times. I believe two different times in my life, my surgery had to be postponed while I had physical therapy to stretch out hip flexors and adductors.

This year has been a year of learning new skills, stretching in ways we didn't think was possible. Many of you are proficient at video chats, even if you hadn't used them before. Some of you have either new jobs, or new roles in your company that weren't conceived of 6 months ago. And I'm sure there are some that have retired in the last 6 months, either voluntarily, involuntarily, or something in between. That's a lot of stretching.

When I was a kid, my church choir director was a St. Olaf alumnus. Therefore, we did a lot of St. Olaf things, like using the "Sing Legato" warmups written by the former Ole Choir Director, Kenneth Jennings. The St. Luke's Choir is familiar with this one.