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Meet the Rector & Staff
Our Rector, The Rev. Canon Ed Zelley
Our Music Minister and Administrative Assistant, Mr. Nik Brown
Our Music Minister and Administrative Assistant, Mr. Nik Brown
Our Music Minister and Administrative Assistant, Mr. Nik Brown
Our Music Minister and Administrative Assistant, Mr. Nik Brown
Our Music Minister and Administrative Assistant, Mr. Nik Brown
Greetings from Father Ed!
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I hope our website offers all the information you need to learn more about the many offerings we have to deepen your faith.
St. Luke’s strives to be an open and affirming parish to all God’s people, regardless of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or political affiliation. We seek to serve Christ in others, loving our neighbors as ourselves.
I hope you will consider joining us for worship at one of our 3 services-- Saturday 5:30 pm and Sunday at 8 and 10 am. Or if you prefer you may join us virtually on our St. Luke’s Metuchen YouTube Channel and St. Luke’s, Metuchen Facebook page.
If you’d like to learn more about the Christian faith, the Episcopal Church or St. Luke’s specifically, I would love to speak with you. Please feel free to email me at the link on this page.
May God bless you as you look for your church home.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Ed Zelley+
Meet Fr. Ed, Our Rector
So what do people call you?
People call me Father Ed, Father Zelley or Ed. (By the way, “Fr. Is an abbreviation for “Father.”) The Reverend Canon Edmund W. Zelley would be my official title as a priest in the Episcopal Church and honorary Canon of the Cathedral in Trenton.
How did you end up in Metuchen?
Well, coming to St. Luke’s is really coming full circle! I grew up in Metuchen and attended Metuchen Public Schools. At Metuchen HS, I was a member of the Marching Band, the Soccer Team, the Wrestling Team and was active in the Theater program. I was also an Eagle Scout - a member of Troop 74. I then went to college at Grinnell in Iowa where I graduated with a BA, majoring in History. After graduating from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, I went on to serve at my first post as Curate of Grace Church in Haddonfield, NJ. I was then called to be the Rector of Holy Trinity Church in Wenonah where I remained till I answered the call to come to St. Luke’s in August of 2015. And so I am “back home.”
What about family?
I met the lovely Gail after college, and we recently celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary. We have two grown sons Michael and Peter. Michael is currently serving in the Navy as a recruiter in Maryland and is married to Asharra. They have recently blessed us with our grandson, Owen George. Peter is currently a firefighter in Prince George’s County Maryland. He and his wife Hannah were married at St. Luke's in October of 2021. We also have two fuzzy children living at home, Cora (aka, The Wonder Dog) and Milo our cat.
What do you like to do in your free time?
In my free time I enjoy reading, watching baseball & high school wrestling, listening to music (especially classic rock and–maybe a surprise to some– heavy metal), traveling and discovering new points of interest with the help of Atlas Obscura, and exercising. I also like to cook and explore healthier versions of recipes (pictures of which often make their way to my FB page) but I think I’m better known for making a ritual of Saturday morning waffles!
Meet Nik, Our Music Minister
Nikolaos G. Brown (Nik) [he/him/his] is our Music Minister and Administrative Assistant at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Metuchen, and hails from the great city of Edison, New Jersey. He comes from a very musical family including his great-grandmother, Ada Cole Hampton, who was a church organist and choir director for over 60 years in New Jersey and to whom he attributes most of his church music knowledge. A student of hymns and a self-professed hymnologist, and a gifted, self-taught organist and pianist, Nik is often called upon in various circles for expertise in music and liturgy.
He has been blessed to serve in various denominations of churches including Episcopal, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, United Methodist, Christian and most recently Roman Catholic. His approach to liturgy and music is a marriage between the simplicity of music and the beauty that it adds to the liturgy that we approach our services with.
Currently, he is a student at Dominion Theological Seminary in Brooklyn, New York, matriculating a double masters in theology and Christian Education. In addition to serving here at St. Luke's, he serves as the Pastor/Bishop of Ignite: Church (Cathedral), a convergent church in Edison, NJ. When he is not studying or playing, he is found cooking a wonderful meal or spending time with his three children, Malachi, Jalayah, and Hazel, and showing them the world while traveling.
As is familiar to some in the community, he is an avid worker for justice, believing the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that "Justice does not mean just us." Nik has had a dream of playing here at St. Luke's since he was a child and would attend the Ecumenical Good Friday services, and now his dream has become a reality.
Nik looks forward to working with the choir, clergy, and the great people of St. Luke's during his time as music minister.