Welcome
St. Luke’s is a downtown church worshiping in the oldest church building in the city. We are a diverse parish economically. We have congregants of several ethnicities, varied backgrounds and political views.
We have a growing outreach ministry that includes making meals and sandwiches for the Montana Rescue Mission, letting our building to be used by community groups, and projects such as Dress a Child at Christmas.
See events for a month calendar and opportunities for fellowship.
St. Luke’s has an active church school (Godly Play) and a youth group. We house a popular preschool for which we renovated part of our building.
St. Luke’s has four worship services each week and a music program. There are many fellowship and educational opportunities for all ages.
We pride ourselves on being accepting and open-minded. Come worship with us and see.
Fr. Waddingham's
Past E-Newsletters:
Sept. - Dec, 2012
September 4, 2012
Sept. 10, 2012
Sept. 17, 2012
Sept. 24, 2012
October 1, 2012
October 8, 2012
October 15 2012
October 23 2012
October 29 2012
November 12, 2012
November 19 2012
November 26 2012
December 3 2012
December 10, 2012
December 17, 2012
December 31, 2012
2013
January 6, 2013
January 14, 2013
January 21, 2013
January 28, 2013
February 4, 2013
February 11 2013
February 18 2013
February 25 2013
March 4 2013
March 11 2013
March 18 2013
March 26 2013
April 8 2013
April 15 2013
April 22 2012
April 29 2013
May 6 2013
May 13 2013
May 20 2012
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Weekly Musings ~ May 20, 2013 ~
John (Jean) Calvin was a Frenchman who seemed destined for the church from a young age. He received tonsure at age 12 and a benefice (a living) from the Bishop of Noyon. This seems odd to us but promising young men started their journey in the church at an early age. Churches were endowed and one received the fruits of that endowment if you were the clergy person. In return, one provided the normal services to the parish or had them provided, at least in theory. Calvin eventually discovered a taste for civil law and humanism. He became enamored of the reformation, then starting in Europe, especially in Germany but eventually spreading other places.
Calvin eventually made his way to Geneva, a city-state with which his name is inexorably connected. He faced periodic and heavy opposition in Geneva and for three years went to Germany to minister to a protestant congregation. Eventually returning to Geneva, he began to exert much influence not only over ecclesiastical matters, but civil as well. He was a prolific writer and his “Institutes of the Christian Religion” is a well ordered treatise on what the church should be. It is so well written that it is said to have influenced the French language itself. Nonetheless, I suspect the modern mind finds it somewhat dull and for years I hid my safety deposit box key in it thinking no person would ever open one of the tomes.
Followers may follow many of ones principles but invariably they are carried further. Thus Lutheranism went further than Luther. Calvinism in many cases went further than Calvin. Calvinism is one of the main wings of the protestant reformation, the other being Lutheranism and another being the Anabaptist movement which gave rise to many other more extreme and often communal sorts of Christianity such as the Hutterites.
Calvinism is more systematic (at least in its purer forms) than Lutheranism. By its very nature it is concise and logical. The churches that were and are Calvinistic are the Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, and other smaller groups. It has about it an air of severity, for better or worse, that was repellent to some but very attractive to the hard working, rising middle classes of parts of Europe. Calvinism has always influenced the Anglican Church, some would say more than Lutheranism did. For a while under Oliver Cromwell (a time known as the Protectorate) Calvinistic principles held sway in England. The Calvinistic disdain for many things, Christmas among them, did not help its chances for permanent success and Calvinists made up a large group of the American colonists. Of course it was Calvinists who executed putative witches in Salem.
One of the enduring notions of Calvinism, one which I admit myself to finding appealing is its rather dark anthropology. Calvinism truly believes us to be heinous sinners. To put it bluntly, we are no damn good. The reading of history of many people leads them inexorably to this conclusion and certainly did many of the great Anglican thinkers. Of course this means that our only hope is the person of Jesus Christ.
News from St. Luke’s
The Retirement party for the rector is Saturday, May 25, from 2 pm to 4:30 pm. This coming weekend will have only one service, confirmation with the bishop at 10am on Sunday.
Our summer schedule begins the following weekend. There will be a Eucharist on Saturday at 5 pm and a Sunday Eucharist at 10 am.
The last Confirmation class meets this Wednesday at 5 pm.
Camp Marshall is normally applied for through the internet. The Memorial Foundation still pays for our young people to go. That should be noted on the form.
The youth group will meet at usual at 6 pm and then take off for Geyser Park for our last youth group meeting of the year.
The Rev. Canon Gary Waddingham
Rector, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
Regional Canon, Diocese of Montana
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