St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Celebrates 100th Anniversary

For those of you who were founding or early members of Epiphany, you remember that we entered into a covenant relationship with St. Luke’s Episcopal Church here in Anchorage on April 19, 1977. A similar covenant was established between Epiphany and Anchorage Presbyterian in the mid ‘80’s. It is our common faith in Jesus Christ through which we acknowledge each other. These three churches formally adopted a tri-church covenant on May 31, 1987 and affirmed it on June 3, 2001. Although the ecumenical movement has shifted in the past two decades, our three communities continue to pray for one another, to work together through the Eastern Area Community Ministries (EACM) to care for the poor and needy. The leadership of the three churches gathers together every other month for a light lunch and conversation.

Since we are in ecumenical relationship with one another, Anchorage Presbyterian and Epiphany wanted to gift St. Luke’s community on the occasion of their 100th anniversary of the cornerstone of their church celebrated on the feast of St. Luke, October 18th. The parish is 135 years old but, like Epiphany, their church building came later. Rev. Dee Wade, Senior Pastor of Anchorage Presbyterian and Sister Mary Gowern, Pastoral Associate at Epiphany, presented St. Luke’s community and to its pastor, Fr. Joe Smith, a $100 gift certificate each from Thieneman’s Nursery with the hope that St. Luke’s would purchase a tree as our wish for their future growth and development as a community of believers.

Our three communities participate in the EACM Thanksgiving Prayer Service, a prayer service during the Church Unity Octave  in January (Sunday, January 24, 2010) and the Good Friday Ecumenical Prayer Service which this year will be on April 2. (Our children participate in Bibletimes Marketplace each summer, too.)

I am looking forward to the possibility of working with parishioners from each of the covenant churches over the coming months so that we can celebrate together in January 2011 for the Church Unity Octave. If interested please give me a call. …So when you hear our petition each week to pray for our covenant churches, may you deepen your own prayer that “all may become one”.

Sister Mary Gowern, csj