Welcome, visitors! 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.
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.
Children ages 4 and up usually go to Sunday School after the children’s story, and meet their parents or adult relatives after Sunday School in the Wesley Room for refreshments. Cherise Williams and Heather Thomas are our Sunday School teachers.
When it snows… When it snows during the week we follow DCPS closings, or just call the church to hear a message. When it snows on Sunday we always have church for those who can be here.
The Tuesday evening study group is sharing various readings that have meaning for our individual journeys. The readings are available on Sunday before Tuesday (in the Wesley Room) or by fax. If you don’t pick up the reading today, contact the church office to get it by fax. We meet 7:30-8:30 in Anne’s office (rear office entrance).
Today – New Church Directories are available in the Wesley Room!
Today – Church Council’s regular monthly meeting is from 12:45 – 3:00.
Ash Wednesday is February 25th. Our Ash Wednesday service will begin at 7:30 pm in the sanctuary. This will be a service of scripture, music and prayer, with imposition of ashes, incorporating the meditative music and prayer of the Taize Community, an ecumenical monastic order in France.
Lenten Study begins February 29th. Our Lenten Bible Study will focus on the story of God’s grace in the Old Testament. God’s grace does run through the Old Testament as well as the New! We will study the stories of Adam and Eve, Elijah, Daniel, Ruth and Jonah. If you feel a little at sea about the Old Testament, this is a good way to get your feet wet. This group begins at 9:45 in the Wesley Room, and concludes at 10:30. The Lenten Study is a five week study beginning on February 29th and concluding on March 28th.
Baby Shower for Beth and DJ on February 29th. All are invited to stay for coffee hour on the 29th to celebrate the imminent arrival of our next new baby. For more information, contact Penny Andrews (2/338-3238) or Sonia Peters Kassambara (3/779-6709 or hesperidee@hotmail.com).
Grate Patrol Meal-Making on February 29th. Before or after the baby shower next week, we’ll also be making 150 bag dinners for our neighbors who live on the street in downtown DC. Please plan to help with the assembly line. If you would like to help distribute the meals on Tuesday March 2nd , please sign up on the Wesley Room bulletin board. The Grate Patrol van leaves the church at 7 pm and returns around 8:30.
Grate Patrol Gift update
I just wanted to give an update on the St. Luke’s donation to the Grate Patrol. The total donation (of funds collected for Grate Patrol in 2003) was $1005.76. With those funds we were able to purchase 18 dozen sets of thermal underwear and pants. As you know, with the winter we have had, the thermal underwear is a welcome gift to our folks on the street. Thank you so much for the generosity of St. Luke’s.
Thanks,
Leslye Wooley
Salvation Army Grate Patrol Director
Children’s Choir – meets after coffee hour each week for 20 minutes or so. For more information talk to Deke Polifka, Music Director.
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 deke@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 new program of St. Luke’s Shelter and St. Luke’s Church. Next Step Kitchen will provide job training in restaurant skills for 6-8 homeless men and women in a 12 week course, with the course to be offered 4 times yearly. The program will be located downstairs in the St. Luke’s kitchen. For more information, go to www.saintlukesmethodist.org, or Susan Keenan, Executive Director, susan@nextstepkitchen.org.
Yoga classes. A practice of breath and posture that helps integrate body and soul. Beth Sworobuk leads yoga Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the sanctuary balcony, 9:30-11:00 am. Classes are half-price for church members and friends. Contact bethsworobuk@aol.com for more information.
Wednesday evening prayer. A time for sharing, reflection and prayer. In the Chapel, 7:30-7:45 pm.
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 now 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.
Joys and Concerns…
Earl Williams asked for prayers for his mother who is undergoing cataract surgery this week.
Barbara Canada shared the joy that her new company, Urban Companions (working with elderly to enable them to remain in their homes), got its first client this week.
Curt Canada asked for continued prayers for Anne McAfee.
Dorothy Preston offered thanks to God for the blessings of life.
Derek Willis thanked the congregation for prayers and support with the death of Leslye’s young cousin George.
Deke shared the joy of Alanna Penza singing in the choir, asked for prayers for choir members who are traveling this week, and shared the joy of having Judy Bennett as a guest soloist this Sunday.
Inne Kim shared the joy that she has stopped smoking and it’s a whole new world.
Derrick Wagner shared the joy that Joyce is recovering well from her heart attack and their appreciation for the congregation’s prayers, notes, gifts, dinners, and calls.
Andrew Ohm asked for continued prayers for his family on the occasion of the death of his grandmother last week
Sonia Kassambara shared the continuing recovery of Sonia and Kaou’s new-born nephew, Alpha, who has been able to return to Mali from Geneva with his mother, and she asked for continued prayers.
Charles Howe asked prayers for the Glover Park ANC as it re-establishes itself under new leadership, and prayers for himself as a newly appointed ANC Commissioner.
Continued prayer for the people of Haiti and especially the children and workers at Wings of Hope Orphanage
Continued prayer for those who are homeless in a time of extreme cold
For peace and for members of the military, for contract employees, and for the people of Iraq
For Beth and DJ, whose baby is due in early March
For Carrie and Bob, whose baby is due in May
For our Volunteers in Mission team as it prepares for the trip to Cuba in August 2004
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: Margaret Roberts, Jeanne Goss, Vernon Thomas, Lucille Dade, and Dorothy Bowers.
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.
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.”