Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
On July 24^th the calendar marks the feast of Thomas à Kempis, not a very well known man these days but in his time the author of a best seller. Thomas was a 15^th century monk who wrote a book usually translated as "The Imitation of Christ". It was extremely popular as a book for private devotions, and I still recommend it. I carry a battered old copy in the car, and dip into it on occasions. It is a very dip-into kind of book. You can open it almost anywhere and find short, pithy little sayings that make you stop and think.
Perhaps Thomas’ most famous line in the book was Homo proponit sed Deus disponit: "Man proposes, but God disposes". The line may be older than Thomas (he was perhaps borrowing), but is usually associated with him.
It raises all kinds of questions, but the bottom line is that however much we plan the outcome is always in God’s hands. This is not fatalism. It does not mean that our efforts and struggles have no point; it is simply saying that the future lies beyond our control but is never outside God’s control. At its most pointed it reminds us that when things seem darkest and most hopeless there still lies before us an unknown future in which God’s providence may yet provide healing and comfort in ways we cannot at the moment imagine. On another level it is a reminder against placing confidence in the material things of this world that pass away. Jesus warned us against placing our trust in the treasures of this world where moth and rust corrupt, and urged us to seek our treasures in heaven. Of all the things he said, that is probably the one we ignore the most.
Perhaps one of the biggest problems with "Man proposes" (actually the original Latin means human beings not males) is that when we propose we often leave God out off account. The Prayer Book contains a prayer attributed to St. John Chrysostom which includes the line, "Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us". But when we are busy planning for the future we tend to forget about asking God for only what is best for us and leaving it to him to decide what is best for us. Trouble is, we like to decide what is best for us ourselves.
Obviously we cannot stop making plans for the future. After all, we usually have responsibilities for other people in some way. However it is a salutary reminder that whatever we do we still depend on God’s loving providence, and we need to accept that when things do not go the way we planned this may have something to do with his providence at work. When we look back over our lives many of us, perhaps even most of us, can recognize that much good eventually came out of things, which at the time were unwelcome. It is all about faith and trust, faith in a loving God who never deserts us and trusts in his unfailing love. Whatever may come along, these remain constant.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Michael +

United Thank Offering -Thank you St. Luke’s Church for the great outpouring of support for our United Thank Offering Ingathering. Our outreach help to others is alive and well.  We collected $421.92, which has been sent to the state UTO chairman.  If anyone has forgotten to bring in their donations, those persons can leave their offering in the office in an envelope marked to Joan Luetzow , put it in the mailbox outside the office in the shelf for Joan Leutzow, or mail it to Joan.

Daughter: Do you remember when Jesus was a baby?
Mom: Well, I remember that he WAS a baby.
Daughter: Were you a baby when he was a baby?
Mom: No! He was a baby a long, long time ago.
Daughter: You were a baby a long, long time ago.
Mom: Not that long ago. That was 2,000 years ago.

Treasurer’s Report May 2008