St. Luke's United Methodist Church(35)
- Jonathan Elmore
- Jul 31
- 3 min read
Believe it or not, I used to be a youth minister in the UMC. It was short lived because I wasn't very good at it. And I wasn't much older than the kids I was ministering to. I had vast amounts of empathy but I didn't have the life experience to deal with some things. It reminded me of the farming job I had when I was 14. The farmer said, "Some people arent' cut out to do farming." The minister pretty much said the same thing about youth ministry. Ah well. What can you do? So when I walked into the Education wing of St. Luke's United Methodist Church, all those feelings of inadequacy came rushing back. The people inside were going to judge me. I just knew it. But I went in anyway.
I walked into a beautiful lobby area and scanned my surroundings looking for some direction to the gallery that the Oklahoma Museum Association said was here. I saw arrows pointing to every spot anyone could ask for, except the gallery. I kept walking forward as I've been taught and found the sign with my target GALLERY -->. As I rounded the corner I saw a wall filled with the history of St. Luke's. As I'm snapping photos of the panel displays, people began appearing from all parts of the church and passed me by without so much as a glance. I must have looked like I was supposed to be there! Since no one wasn't telling me I couldn't, I decided to explore the rest of the church. I passed a sign that read "St. Luke's Stands Up To All Hate". That's a sentiment I can agree with so I snapped a pic of it. I went into the chapel where an absolutely gorgeous stained glass wall was backlit by the early afternoon sun. I marvelled for a moment, took my picture, and move into the main sanctuary. The stain glass in there was equally impressive, but the way the balconey was designed I couldn't get good pictures from where I was. I'm sure I could have wandered upstairs, but I didn't want to alarm anyone. Remember that empathy I mentioned earlier? Frightening a person in an upstairs hallway would make me feel terrible.
I wandered through the main reception area for the sanctuary and made my way into the gift/coffee shop where there was a young lady having lunch. She smiled. I smiled. I walked on into the hallway where the offices were. By this time, I had been in the building for about twenty minutes, seen a dozen people, and I didn't bother to ask any of them where the gallery was. So I poked my head into the first office that was occupied. I interrupted a young woman's lunch and asked if the gallery was the History Wall or if there was an actual gallery somewhere in the church. She guessed that it was probably the Wall and not a room with art in it. So, upon hearing that, I knew I had completed my main mission. I thanked her and headed out the way I came in.
Even though I had hesitation at first because of my past experiences, I was glad I sucked it up and went in to see their history and the wonderful stained glass that some artisans worked so diligently on. I hope that members of the church are as thrilled by the beauty in their building as I was.
222 NW 15th St, OKC
405-232-1371
Jonathan Elmore ©2025
