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.
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.
New! Friday Night Dinner Group begins on March 12th! The group’s agenda: exploring a variety of DC restaurants and having a good time. The Dinner Group will meet monthly. Sign up on the Wesley Room bulletin board or call/email Carmen Rottenberg, social events coordinator, to participate in the new monthly Friday night dinner group. For more information contact Carmen, cmrottenberg@hotmail.com or 202-342-3178.
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!
Lenten Study ongoing on Sunday mornings. Our Lenten Bible Study focuses 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.
Grate Patrol Offering today. Our Grate Patrol Offering (every Communion Sunday) supports the purchase of food and supplies for 150 meals which we make and distribute (on the first Tuesday of each month) to our neighbors who live on the streets of downtown DC.
If you would like to help distribute the meals on Tuesday April 6th , please sign up on the Wesley Room bulletin board. The Grate Patrol van leaves the church at 7 pm and returns around 8:30.
March 14th during coffee hour – makeover updates. Get an update from developer Woody Bolton about the new condominium next door, browse ideas for our own renovation, and talk with our architect, Kendall Dorman.
March 21st. Volunteers in Mission Cuba trip meeting after coffee hour. We’ll meet in Anne’s office to plan our spring fundraising event for the trip. We have room for several more participants in this trip, which is scheduled for August 14-29. For more information, contact Sylvia Zulu, sylzulu@yahoo.com, or 202-686-9177
March 21st – Our Turn with Shelter Dinner
A group of church members and friends provides dinner for the Shelter residents on the third Sunday of every month. If you’d like to be a part of this enjoyable and rewarding experience, contact Nikki Parker or Cory Scott at nicoleparker555@hotmail.com and scott@urbanretail.com
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…
Joyce Wagner shared the joy of being back in church, and thanked the congregation for their support after her heart attack
For our growing congregation
Derrick Wagner shared the joy that Mike’s team came in second place in the Black Socket competition at school.
Penny Andrews shared the joy of her new job.
Dorothy Pearson thanked God for the blessing of health for her sister Eliza Wharton, after a recent health crisis.
Cherise Williams asked for prayers for the Georgetown University community dealing with recent hate mail sent to African American students; and for prayers during upcoming mid-terms and spring break.
Molly McCracken shared the joy that her brother has gotten a wonderful new job.
Dorothy Preston asked for prayers for her brother Gerald Preston; for her friends Alicia Skinner, Beverly Riley, and Rita Fields; for her son Michael Camarr II, and Michael’s father Michael, who is dying of lung cancer; for Staff Sergeant James Slaton in Iraq; and for Barbara and Curt Canada in their new endeavor.
Continued prayers for the people of Haiti, and especially for the children and staff of Wings of Hope Orphanage.
Molly McCracken asked for prayers for her aunt and mother on the death of her Great Aunt Betty.
Marian Potter asked for prayers for the daughter of
her friend Teresa, who died of brain cancer.
Sonia Kassambara asked for prayers for two friends who struggle with alcohol, and for all who struggle with addictions of any kind.
Curt Canada asked for continued prayers for Anne McAfee.
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.”