A Beautiful Day at St. Luke UM Bryn Mawr

Hello, Friends--

I want to introduce you to the wonderful church where I have been singing in the choir for the past two years--St. Luke United Methodist in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania at 568 Montgomery Avenue.

This blog is not official nor is it authorized--the church has an official website at http://www.stlukebrynmawr.org which is beautifully set up and where you can view photos, the church history, meet the pastor online, and read about services and events.

But if you are searching for a church family, you need more information than that, don't you? This blog is meant to provide a bit more color commentary and impressions from the point of view of just one individual involved in services. I also intend to personalize this with my own insights and moments of spiritual inspiration. It is my hope that members and friends of St. Luke may add their own commentary so that additional perspectives will be represented!

We are all aware of the growing effectiveness of web communications. This year's Stewardship campaign asked us to think of ways we could bring more members to the church. I believe that one way to reveal the essence of the church to potential members is to provide small glimpses from personal experience. I could not sustain an exhaustive commentary, so my details will likely be brief and focused. I hope to add such posts at least every week. The message here is "St. Luke is a wonderful church home for many of us and perhaps for you too! Please feel free to post comments and questions, or just show up at 10 am on Sundays."

This morning St. Luke celebrated its 129th anniversary as a congregation. Details of its dedication in 1879 are on the church website. We had a guest preacher and a lavish (as usual) potluck dinner after the service. My favorite dishes were Ginger Myers' baked beans, somebody's corn souffle, and Dorothy Shive's apple cake with cream cheese icing (yum). My husband, Paul who is also in the choir (by the way, we were married at St. Luke this past March!) sang a solo during the offertory and as is our custom whoever sings a solo gets treated to lunch by the other after church. Needless to say, he took a raincheck because of the potluck. Bertucci's can't hold a candle to lovingly prepared homemade dishes eaten with friends in the fellowship hall. A service award was given to the Vivino family (well-deserved) and Pastor David announced that the church board had approved to put up a basketball hoop in the parking lot for the youth (met with much enthusiasm). At a craft table in the corner Christmas craft items made by some of the women of the church were on sale.

I pick the title of this initial post because it's true--it is a beautiful day in Bryn Mawr and elsewhere in the Delaware Valley--but mostly because this is how Pastor David Tatgenhorst welcomes us at the start of each service. Reminiscent of Fred Rogers, though looking a bit more like David Letterman, Pastor David's greeting "It's a beautiful day in Bryn Mawr!" represents his positive, welcoming approach to worship.

I hope you're intrigued and will stay tuned for more posts!