St. Luke's Church has a very active prayer ministry. Our prayer partners pray daily for people with special needs. If you would like to add yourself, or a loved one to our prayer list, please click this email link: mestme@aol.com

"Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel." Philippians 4:6-7

On Mondays from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., you are invited to join our small group. We pray in the church, silently or aloud. We pray for ourselves or someone else or for events or for the Christian church in the world. If you cannot join us in person, you may want to pray at that time wherever you are. If you have a request for specific prayer, please click on the e-mail link at the top of this page and share your concern with us. We will pray. May you have a blessed day!

Do you receive The Lutheran? It is the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church In America (ELCA). An article shows families having regular devotion time. The candle seems to be an effective way to bring the family together eagerly. If you wish to subscribe to The Lutheran you are welcome to take a copy permanently from our library to use as information to order a subscription. It is very well written and does lead us on the path of strengthening our faith in our living God.

Candle Time
 - by Lyle Griner of
   the Youth and Family Institute of Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota;
   used by permission from the newsletter Express

I hope you try this.

We shut off the TV.

Shut off the computer.

Shut off the telephones.

Shut off the lights.

And ...

We light a candle.

Our candle sits on our coffee table. Under it is a bandana that just happens to match the same color as "those cloth things that hang in the front of the church." (We've noticed that they keep changing the colors, so we have to change ours at home, too!) It is around the candle we gather. In my family, two teenage boys, mom, and I gather. The dog and the two cats come, too! We gather around the flame that seems to bring back the magic of a campfire.

Some nights it is a quick prayer and off to bed. Other nights it is a story or a discussion we didn't expect to get into. Some nights it is an activity that our church suggested.

One of my favorite nights, (I hope you try this) we had a bag of tea candles. We decided that for anything we prayed about this evening we got to light a candle. Boys and fire? Did this work? We prayed about everybody, everybody's aunt, and everybody's dog and were thankful for just about everything we could possibly be thankful for that night. Over 50 candles all burning on our coffee table.

In all our busy-ness, it is the candle time that continues to glue us together as a family. I hope you try this.