A Community gathered in Love - Inside and Out

The Church of Saint Luke & The Epiphany is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania and The Episcopal Church. Our parish life is as diverse as the makeup of our parish membership. We are both young and old. We are transgender, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual and straight. We are single, partnered, and married. We come from a variety of ethnic, racial, religious, and social backgrounds. Although many of us were raised in the Anglican tradition, many more of us are relative newcomers to The Episcopal Church. We are tall and short, conservative and liberal and just about everything in between. Saint Luke’s parish life strives to be a loving, living, hope-filled expression of our communion with God.

Founded in 1839 and 1834 respectively, the churches of Saint Luke and The Epiphany were merged as a unified congregation in 1898. Whether distributing fresh fruit and ice to our neighbors who had none in the days before electric refrigeration, or reaching out to a community that was reeling from the AIDS pandemic in the late 1980s and early 1990s, The Church of Saint Luke & The Epiphany has been striving for more than a century to be a living expression of our understanding of God’s call to be a place of healing and hope. (See a complete history of the parish at our Wikipedia entry.)

Today Saint Luke’s offers a varied and caring expression of that call through activities and services. You can find friendship in the many parish activities such as weekly Bible study, seasonal book and discussion groups, topical presentations, the activities of Saint Luke’s Volunteers, Seniors at Saint Luke’s, the Pastoral Care Team, and more. Special events include the Blessing of the Animals on Saint Francis’s Day, the annual weekend parish retreat at the Memorial House conference and retreat center in Rehoboth Beach, and the Christmas Comfort and Joy benefit jazz concert.

We strive to support those in need in our community, by involvement with the Pastoral Care Team and by providing space for support groups in Philadelphia who find a safe haven within the walls of Saint Luke’s. Many of our parishioners choose to express their commitment to God and the world created by God through participation in activities of service to the larger community such as the Saint Luke’s Volunteers, the annual AIDS Walk of Philadelphia, or by making donations of food and clothing to those in need. It may be as simple a thing as offering one’s time to sew a button back on a piece of clothing for someone whose fingers are not so nimble anymore.

Whether we choose participation in the many parish activities, offer our talents and time in service to the world around us, find peace in one of the support groups, or take part in corporate worship and communion, our parish life is a conscious and heartfelt attempt to make real the love that God gives to us through Jesus Christ.