Rachel Fisher, Children’s Ministries Communications Specialist 1 Peter 4:8-10 (NIV) 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. Reflection: Who was your ultimate celebrity crush growing up? My best friends and I recently discussed this very critical information and immediately spouted off precisely who we claim and why we are still so infatuated with them after all these years. (Our [...]

Linda Burch, St. Luke’s UMC Member since 1972  2 Corinthians 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Numbers 6:24-26 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.  2 Corinthians 13:11-13 NRSV 11 Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 [...]

Louise McEvoy, Adult Ministries Coordinator 2 Chronicles 29:1-11 (MSG) 1-2 Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old and was king in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. In God’s opinion he was a good king; he kept to the standards of his ancestor David. 3-9 In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah, having first repaired the doors of The Temple of God, threw them open to the public. He assembled the priests and Levites in the court on the east side and said, “Levites, listen! Consecrate yourselves [...]

Shelby Olive   1 Corinthians 9:24-27 24 Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. 25 Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but an imperishable one. 26 So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; 27 but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.   Reflection: Back in my sports reporting days, [...]

Laura Althaus 1 John 4:18-19 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.  Reflection: Like all of you, my 2020 was a doozy. Half of my senior year of high school disappeared, next went my summer, and my hope in a normal freshman year of college. Amidst it all, I graduated out of Pure Sound and student ministries at St. Luke’s, my tight-knit small group disbanded from our weekly Wednesday night [...]

Suzi Pitts Nehemiah 8:5-9 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. The Levites instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what [...]

Kaitlynn Carroll 2 Samuel 6: 14-22 (NIV) 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. 16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart. 17 They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent [...]

Dr. Tom Pace Genesis 1:31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.   Romans 7:19-20   For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.    My wife loves to watch HGTV.  The network is a series of television shows about people buying old houses and hiring clever and creative [...]

Tim Helwege 1 Samuel 16:17-19, 23 (ESV) So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David [...]

Vicki Keiser, Church Council and Stephen’s Ministry Psalm 40:1-3 (ESV) I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Reflection: Patience is defined as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. I think back [...]