Welcome to St. Luke’s! We invite visitors and guests to come and explore this community at worship, at work caring for God’s world, and in fellowship together as we seek to create a community of faith in the city.
There is a visitor card in the pew rack; if you’d like a call this week, please fill out the card and give it to the pastor or place it in the collection plate. Please join the congregation for refreshments after worship in the Wesley Room.
Welcome, children! Our nursery is located upstairs. Just follow the signs. Mrs. Fatu Colley is in charge of the nursery. The nursery is available from 10:45 until 12:15. Parents can take their infants, toddlers, and younger preschoolers to the nursery at any time during the service.
Older children worship with the rest of the congregation, leaving during our final hymn for twenty minutes of worship arts with Amy Catania and Deke Polifka, then rejoining their families during coffee hour.
Holy Communion in the United Methodist tradition is open to all who desire to receive the bread and cup. Children are welcome to participate in Holy Communion. For more information, please take the brochure, United Methodists and Communion, on the information table in the Wesley Room.
Summer Music Camp Registration beginning! The dates for children’s summer music camp will be July 11-15. This program filled up very fast last year, and there will be a limit of 25 children. This year Deke and Joyce are writing a musical for the children! For more information please talk to Deke (deke@saintlukesmethodist.org)
Today - The Rev. Mark Schaefer is guest preacher. Mark is chaplain at American University, and has led the service at St. Luke’s several times before. He is always a joy to hear! St. Luke’s supports the chaplaincy program at AU as a ministry partner, so hearing Mark preach is a great way to connect with that program.
The Rev. Faith Lewis is providing emergency pastoral care during Anne’s vacation, April 4-11th. Faith can be reached at 202-363- 4200 (Greater Metropolitan Parish UMC).
Today -Second Sunday Concert. Second Sunday Concerts offer an opportunity to hear excellent young area performers of classical music. The concerts are about a half hour in length, free and open to all, and are followed by a small reception to meet the artist.
Kate McCann is the new Executive Director of St. Luke’s Shelter. It’s with great pleasure that the St. Luke’s Shelter Board announces the selection of Kate McCann as the new executive director. Kate brings strong administrative, public relations, and collaborative skills, a great deal of experience in identifying and reinforcing effective organizational behavior, and concern for the vulnerable members of our society. Prior to joining the Shelter team, she helped the global poverty reduction group NetAid raise money for their new youth programs. For Global Rights, an international human rights law group, she fundraised for programs in Central Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East while serving as art and editorial director of marketing and publication efforts. She holds masters degrees from Trinity College (Dublin) and Garrett Theological Seminary. Kate is also an active theatre and music buff. She can be reached at info@stlukesshelter.org, or at 202-337-4275
Tuesday Night Study Group Starts Over April 19th
The Tuesday night study group will meet on April 19th to choose a new book for study. This is a great time to join the group. We meet 7:30-8:30 in Anne’s office (enter by the church office door in the back of the church).
Narthex Gallery. We are looking for fresh ways to communicate the creative love of God through art in the narthex. We have exhibited photographs and poetry from South Africa and Zambia; watercolors inspired by Indian mandalas; the paintings of an Indian member of St. Luke’s; and photographs of exploration into Central America. The Narthex Gallery seeks local artists of all media who would like to share their art. If you’d like to share yours, or know of someone who would, please contact Shalom Mulkey, at 202-333-4949, or at shalom@saintlukesmethodist.org.
St. Luke’s Shelter is a ministry of St. Luke’s Church. The Shelter, which is located in the church, provides a small group of homeless men with a secure residence for up to six months. The Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place refers residents to the Shelter. The Shelter operates every night of the year. The dinner meal is provided 365 nights of the year by neighbors, members of nearby churches and synagogues, and several Wisconsin Avenue restaurants and grocers.
St. Luke’s Shelter Next Step Kitchen is a program of St. Luke’s Shelter and St. Luke’s Church, providing job training in restaurant skills for homeless men and women. The program is located downstairs in the St. Luke’s kitchen. For more information, go to www.saintlukesmethodist.org.
Many thanks to the most recent donors of St. Luke’s Shelter: the Escheated Estates Fund of the District of Columbia; The Workers of St. Alban’s; Fannie Mae Help the Homeless Walkathon; and many, many neighbors and friends.
Donations to St. Luke’s Shelter can be made through the Sunday offering (by designating St. Luke’s Shelter) or by mail to St. Luke’s Shelter, 3655 Calvert Street, NW Washington, DC 20007.
About St. Luke’s Choir. The St. Luke’s choir rehearses every Sunday morning at 9:30 am. The St. Luke’s choir seeks to strengthen our worship by encouraging congregational singing, by honoring the varieties of the congregation’s faith heritages and traditions, and by embracing new ways of discovering God’s presence in our lives, through worship that is vibrant and alive. You don’t have to be able to read music to be a part of St. Luke’s choir. We keep it simple. For more information, contact Director of Music Ministry Deke Polifka, deke@saintlukesmethodist.org.
Jazz in the Garden … Coming Soon! Summer is right around the corner, and with summer comes Jazz in the Garden, a Thursday evening concert series for the whole neighborhood. Bring your picnic supper and friends and enjoy a delightful evening in the St. Luke’s garden. Jazz in the Garden will celebrate its fourth summer in 2005! All concerts are free and all are welcome.
Coming Soon … St. Luke’s Guest House! We are developing a new ministry of hospitality for student and church groups visiting DC for experiential learning and advocacy. For more information, check out the web site at www.saintlukesmethodist.org
Shelter Dinner every third Sunday. Once a month a group of St. Luke’s members and friends prepares and shares dinner with the residents of St. Luke’s Shelter. Our next Shelter dinner evening is April 17th. For more information, contact Cory Scott, scottc@urbanretail.com.
St. Luke’s web site is always current! Check it out at www.saintlukesmethodist.org. Thanks to Derek Willis for making this happen.
Put yourself on the map. We have a map on the wall in the Wesley Room so that we can see where everyone is from and also the places we all keep in our hearts. Please add your places during coffee hour today.
Sermon copies for the hard of hearing can be picked up every Sunday in the narthex. Each week’s sermon is also available on the web.
Joys and Concerns…
The joy of Shawn’s parents’ thirtieth anniversary
The Wagner’s joy of visiting with Matthew, that he isn’t being deployed to Iraq for now, and the continued recovery of Joyce’s mother
For Kirsty and John Klobucar on their wedding
For Kim’s grandfather Howard and for his wife Edna
The joy of being with family for Easter
For Andrea’s father
The joy of Inne’s return
For Penny who has completed chemotherapy
For Martha Wagner, who fell recently
The joy of Julie’s new job
For the continuing recovery of Susan’s friend Vera after surgery
The joy of a new job for Charles
The joy of Reese’s recovery from a kidney infection
For our jury system, and for justice
The joy of Jen’s mother being here
The joy of Curt’s being back
For Susanne and Brad, who celebrated their wedding on March 19th
For the Cox family -- Karen, Kojo and Emma -- on the death of Emma’s sister
For Inne and her mother and brother on the death of her father in Kuwait
For our congregation as we explore the process of becoming a reconciling congregation
For St. Luke’s future pastor, Dave Myers, and for his wife Deb, in this time of transition
Continued prayers for Betty Lawrence at Knollwood
For peace
For the Pyle’s young friend Eric
For our military in Iraq and for the people of Iraq, and for our leaders that they may lead with wisdom
For the children and staff of Wings of Hope Orphanage, in Haiti.
For Prince of Peace Methodist Church in Holguin, Cuba
For the community of St. Luke’s Shelter.
For those living with HIV/AIDS
For our members who are unable to attend because of their health: Emma Cox, Jeanne Goss, Lucille Dade, and Margaret Roberts.
Our Mission Statement
St. Luke’s United Methodist Church seeks to serve the community’s spiritual and physical needs. We are a small congregation dedicated to creating an atmosphere of inclusiveness in which all feel welcome to worship. At St. Luke’s, we try to follow the example of Christ’s ministry and teaching by sharing our building, our time and our prayers in many community partnerships. We embrace new ways of giving thanks and work to teach the joy of God’s grace to all whom we can reach.
We follow in the Wesleyan tradition in our belief that “scriptural holiness entails more than personal piety; love of God is always linked with love of neighbor, a passion for justice and renewal in the life of the world.”