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.
It’s not too late to buy a 2005 calendar to support seven children orphaned by AIDS, being cared for by the congregation of St. Dorcas United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (Farai Chigumbura’s home church). The calendars are $20 each, or $25 including mailing.
Today – New Member Sunday. Today we receive new members into the life of St. Luke’s.
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)
Tuesday evening study group Lenten study. We are using the classic text, Mere Christianity, by C.S.Lewis (available widely in many editions). We meet each Tuesday during Lent, 7:30-8:30 in Anne’s office. Enter by the church office door in the back of the building.
New Director for St. Luke’s Shelter to be Sought. Susan Keenan, St. Luke’s Shelter director, resigned from that position at the end of December, returning to New Hope Housing in Northern Virginia. We wish Susan all the best in her new position and thank her for her leadership and contributions to the development of the Shelter and Next Step Kitchen.
The Shelter board will be posting the ED position and the position of instructor for Next Step Kitchen early this month. Congregation members are encouraged to pass on information about the position opening to their own networks. For more information, contact June Kress at kressman@erols.com.
Tsunami Relief Fund -- United Methodists top $1 million in online giving. The United Methodist Church has surpassed $1 million in online gifts in response to the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami. A special Web site, www.methodistrelief.org, was activated Dec. 27 and is available for online credit card donations. One hundred percent of every penny you give to UMCOR goes directly for relief and recovery efforts (administrative and other costs come out of different funding areas).
You may also donate by placing a check in the offering plate. Please mark "South Asia Emergency" on the check.
Hypothermia Shelter in Place at St. Luke’s. Responding to a request from Friendship Place for hypothermia shelter in Ward 3, St. Luke’s offered to open its doors to up to ten men on nights when the temperature drops below freezing. The hypothermia shelter is managed by Catholic Charities, who provide a counselor and beds for our cold weather guests. The hypothermia shelter is housed in the Next Step Kitchen classroom (which is returned to classroom space in time for each morning class).
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.
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.
Thanks to St. Luke’s 2005 leadership!
Church Council: Adam Briddell, Mary Day, Allen Hengst, Sonia Kassambara, Inne Kim, Marian Potter, Richard Pyle, Clint Riley, Jenn Runyon, Darryl Smith, Kelly Vogel
Staff Parish Relations Committee: Leslye Wooley, Penny Andrews, Mary Day, Inne Kim, Marian Potter
Finance Committee: Clint Riley, Allen Hengst, Richard Pyle, Jen Runyon
Good Samaritan Committee: Mary Day,Dorothy Pearson, Leslye Wooley
Trustees & Renovation: Sandi Stroud, Penny Andrews, Karen Cox, Bob Kolasky, June Kress, Dennis Soiberman, Derrick Wagner
Guest House Committee: Mary Day, Allen Hengst, Charles Howe, Sonia Kassambara, Derrick Wagner
Coordinators:
Shelter Dinners: Cory Scott and Nikki Parker
Liturgists: Allen Hengst
Jazz in the Garden Concerts: Curt Canada
Grate Patrol Shoppers: Adam Briddell, Julie James, Janelle & Joel Rynes, Leslye Wooley & Derek Willis
Greeter/coffee hour coordinator: Nancy Smyrnas
Partner reps:
Georgetown Ministry Center: Dorothy Preston
Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place: Joel Rynes
St. Luke’s Shelter Board: Jen Runyon, Shalom Mulkey & Derek Willis
Web: Derek Willis
Joys and Concerns…
For the people of Iraq realizing the hope of a free society, and for those who have died and been wounded in the war
For Naomi’s family in Ethiopia, and for the people of Ethiopia during a time of celebration and remembrance
For Andrew’s niece Sarah recovering from successful ear surgery
For Joyce’s parents adjusting to their new home
For friends and co-workers in health crises, and for family members in joyful circumstances
For Shawn’s friend Kim, in Niger
For Betty Lawrence, at Georgetown University Hospital
For the family and friends of Helen Rogers
For Shalom’s mother Candy, with pneumonia
For Deke’s grandmother, recovering from surgery
For Penny, recovering from surgery and beginning chemotherapy
For peace
For Matthew Scruggs, son of Joyce and Derrick Wagner, being redeployed to Iraq, and for the end of the war
For the Pyle’s young friend Eric
For Earl Williams’ cousin Eric, in Iraq
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.”