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.
Welcome, new members! Welcome to Priscilla Alexander and Susan Drake Swift who joined St. Luke’s on May 22nd.
The sacrament of baptism. We rejoice in the baptism of Katherine Xavia Rynes of May 29th, and in the baptism of Christopher Wright today.
On becoming a Reconciling Congregation. As a result of the congregational meeting on May 15th, there’s a basket in the Wesley Room to receive thoughts from the congregation about St. Luke’s becoming a Reconciling Congregation (which means that we would specifically and explicitly state our welcome – in this weekly newsletter, in our monthly newsletter, and our our web site -- of all who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender). Please offer your thoughts and reflections for the council to include in their process as we continue to think through what it means to be a place of Christian hospitality.
Summer Music Camp Registration. 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)
Music Camp Wish List. Do you want to help with this year’s music camp, but can’t take time off from work to volunteer on-site? Consider donating a few items from the wish list below.
Snacks
Goldfish crackers (4 bags)
Pretzels (2 bags)
Fruit Snacks (4 boxes)
Graham Crackers (4 boxes)
Countrytime Lemonade Mix (2 large cans)
Grate Patrol Items
Travel size toothpaste (100)
Toothbrushes (100)
Travel size soap (100)
Travel size lotion (100)
Please place all donations in the box marked “music camp”, located in the Wesley Room. We will be accepting donations from June 12th through July 3rd. For more information or to volunteer the week of the camp, please contact Shalom Mulkey, shalom@saintlukesmethodist.org.
Tuesday Night Study Group. The Tuesday night study group, inspired by the election of a new pope, will be spending the next few weeks reading and discussing articles we find to share on the Catholic Church today, with the hope that we can compare our own United Methodist experience and tradition with the Catholic. If you want to participate, we’ll be sharing internet links each week, so please email the church office to be on the group list. We meet 7:30-8:30 in Anne’s office (enter by the church office door in the back of the church).
June 19 – Our turn with Shelter dinner. 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 June 19th. For more information, contact Cory Scott, scottc@urbanretail.com
Thursday, June 23 the 4th Annual Jazz in the Garden Concert Series at St. Luke's continues. Hear the Halley Schoenberg Trio from 6:30 to 8:30 in the garden. Bring a picnic dinner and blanket to sit on (no alcohol, please; children and dogs welcome ). Free and open to all. Cancelled in the event of rain
June 26th- Anne’s Farewell Potluck. After church on Sunday we will say goodbye and thank you to Anne for her time at St. Luke’s. Please sign-up on the sheet in the Wesley Room to let us know what you are able to bring. We are requesting that people with last names starting with an A-F to bring salads, G-M to bring main dishes, N-S to bring side dishes and T-Z to bring desserts. If you have any questions, please contact Shalom Mulkey, 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.
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
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 the birth of Matthew Wilshire’s nephew, Lucius Jackson Wilshire
For Charles as he prepares for surgery this week
The joy of Inne’s mother here with her
For Susan’s son Carl, who graduated from St. Alban’s yesterday
For Marian’s friend and her friend’s father, recovering from triple by-pass surgery
For Jen’s uncle, recovering from triple-bypass surgery
For the people of Zimbabwe during this difficult time
For Matthew Scruggs, in the final weeks of drill-sergeant training
Thanks from Joyce to all those who came by her booth at Glover Park Day!
For the joy of a beautiful Glover Park Day
The joy of Dorothy Pearson’s being back and recovered
For Don’s mother, in a time of transition
For Jen’s friend Kirsten, for guidance
For those facing unemployment
The joy of family gathered from across the country for Katie’s baptism
The joy of having Clint’s sister and brother-in-law here
For those who have died in war
The joy of being with family over the holiday
For Rosalynn Zulu, graduating from Montgomery College
For Susan Calloway’s continuing recovery
For Priscilla’s family in Cape Town, S.A. on the death of her uncle
Theo and Eliot shared the joy of neighbors who had moved away coming back for a visit
Lisa and Jon back at St. Luke’s from Denmark
Inne’s mother safely here from Saudi Arabia
Beth’s parents here from Michigan
Kate and Mark back at St. Luke’s from Australia
Farai received approval of her asylum status, and brought her friend to church
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
For peace
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, Betty Lawrence, 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.”