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. 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 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).
Today - Grate Patrol Offering. Our monthly Grate Patrol Offering supports the purchase of groceries and supplies to make 150 bag suppers for people living on the street.
Our next Grate Patrol night is Tuesday, May 3rd. Sign up in the Wesley Room or email the church to be part of that night’s Grate Patrol team (6:45-9 pm; meet at the church).
Today - Wedding Shower. Shalom Mulkey and Nate Solloway are marrying in San Diego on May 21st. Though we won’t be with them in person when they exchange their wedding vows, we want to shower Shalom and Nate with our love and good wishes beforehand. So please plan to attend coffee hour today as we honor Shalom and Nate.
Bring a friend on Sunday May 8th
May 8th - Thomas Circle Singers at Second Sunday Concert. Come hear the Thomas Circle Singers at 2:00 pm in the sanctuary on May 8th. The concert will be followed by refreshments and an opportunity to meet the artists. Bring Mom (your own or somebody else’s)!
May 15th - All-Church Conversation -- Proposed Reconciling Statement. On May 15, St. Luke's will hold a church-wide conversation to consider formal adoption of a Reconciling Statement similar to that adopted by hundreds of other United Methodist Congregations across the United States. This statement would publicly reaffirm St. Luke's continuing welcome into our congregation persons who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. This statement would be a reflection of our welcome and inclusion of all of God's children and our continuing goal of expressing God's love and desire for justice in our world.
Narthex Decorating Task Force Sought. The narthex is the first space most of our visitors enter when they come to St. Luke’s for the first time. The church council would like to make it a more welcoming space, and seeks a few people to form a narthex decorating task force. If you think this would be fun, please contact Sonia Kassambara or Shalom Mulkey.
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…
For Susan Calloway, former staff member at Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place, with cancer
For Penny’s sister-in-law in London
For Nedi’s family
The joy of friends visiting from Saudi Arabia
Curt brings greetings from Betty Lawrence at Knollwood
For Gary, husband of Sonia’s co-worker
The joy of Sonia’s mother’s promotion
For Shalom and Nate as they prepare for their wedding
The joy that Leslye’s brother Wade was named Teacher of the Year by his school
Continued prayer for Martha
For the people of Sri Lanka
The joy of Molly ‘s parents in church
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, who celebrated their wedding on April 2nd
For Kim’s grandfather Howard and for his wife Edna
For Andrea’s father
The joy of Inne’s return
For Penny who has completed chemotherapy
The joy of Julie’s new job
The joy of a new job for Charles
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.”
Bring a friend on Sunday May 8th!