I will never forget a sermon illustration Dr. James W. Moore preached from the St. Luke’s pulpit. He reported a true event that occurred in his sister’s church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The pastor arrived at the church early on a weekday for a meeting. As he entered the office area from the parking lot, he was confronted with a young child sitting in the hall near the entry door. Lost and alone, the crying child was befriended by the pastor. The pastor took the child to the Day School Director certain that a child had wandered from the preschool area, which was a breach of the Safe Sanctuary policies of the congregation.

The pastor expressed concern about the unsupervised child in the church building. The Day School Director agreed and explained that she did not know this little boy. She suggested he check with the child care staff, supervising children of Bible Study participants, in another hallway of the children’s area. The child care team reported that the child had not been left in their care. The pastor then visited the meetings being held in the church that morning. The child was not the child of any of those attending meetings that day.
The pastor was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that this little boy and been abandoned. He returned to the Day School and told the Director what he had discovered. She knew what to do. She contacted Children’s Protective Services (CPS) and members of the Day School staff fed the little boy breakfast. Word spread rapidly through the congregation about the child abandoned in the church. While police and CPS officials were interviewing the child and those caring for him, church members, a couple recently completing foster care; came to the church and asked if they could take the child into their care.

Before noon that day, the couple had the child in their home, and members of the church began arriving with gifts, showering this little boy and his foster parents with food, clothing, bedding, and toys. The front-page headline of the evening edition of the Winston-Salem newspaper read,” Someone Trusted the Church Last Night and the Church Did Not Fail”.

For seventy-five years St. Luke’s has been committed to doing as much for others as we do for ourselves. Following Tropical Storm Allision, our congregation managed 10,000 cases for families that were being supported by FEMA. Following Hurricane Katrina St. Luke’s volunteers joined Red Cross Volunteers at the Astrodome and welcomed 28,000 evacuees from the Superdome in New Orleans. Following Hurricane Rita, we operated a shelter in our facilities for those evacuated from Beaumont and Orange, Texas. Following Hurricanes Ike and Harvey, St. Luke’s again took leadership in the ministry of presence, being there with hands and supplies, encouragement and sustenance (physical and mental) for those coping with devastation.
Christian Community Service Center, Amazing Place, the St. Luke’s Day School, Houston Revision, just to name a few, are ministries persons turn to for guidance comfort, and strength for the living of these and every day.

Someone trusts the church, and uniquely, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, on a daily basis.

Happy Anniversary, St. Luke’s. Continue to be faithful to the best you know and trust God to bring it outright. If we do that, we will not fail.