04.28.10
A picture worth a thousand words….
I'm probably one... are you?
04.22.10
Jazz Mass
Join us in a Jazz Mass celebration of the Feast of St. Mark–here at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church–featuring the music of Lynn Wright and the Sidemen Trio. Afterward, we’ll enjoy some down home Southern cooking! Worship starts at 5 PM, Saturday, April 24–supper starts when the Eucharistic feast has ended. All are welcome to this worship service of traditional Southern Gospel music. Join us–”Make a joyful noise!” Find us at 111 South Jefferson, across from the public library.
04.06.10
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
What a glorious Resurrection Day we celebrated at St. Mark’s.
During the Easter Vigil, we kindled new fire; recounted salvation history; baptized Colt, Josh, and Jessica–”sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever”; resurrected the alleluias (which we buried in the churchyard on Shrove Tuesday); and broke bread together at the table of our risen Lord. And that was all before 8 a.m. (We started before sunrise…)!!!
At 9:30 we flowered the cross, renewed our Baptismal vows, made music and partook of the hospitality of the table at which Christ is the host. What a grace-filled morning!
In between, we shared a delicious breakfast, and the kids (of all ages!) hunted for confetti-stuffed eggs, which we tossed at one another, thus be-decking ourselves in colored paper and confetti for the 9:30 service.
It was a glorious day–and I thank those of you who made it so as we celebrated, again, the reason we call ourselves Christians!
(Thank you, Pam, for the photo–the others of you who captured images that day, please share them-I’d love to get some of the kids up here….)
03.25.10
Join us for Holy Week and Easter Day
Holy Week Schedule
The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday, March 28, 9:30 AM
The Holy Eucharist, with The Liturgy & Procession of the Palms, and a reading of the Passion Gospel according to Luke
Holy Week
Monday: Holy Eucharist 5:30 PM
Tuesday: Holy Eucharist 5:30 PM
Wednesday:
Holy Eucharist 12:10 PM
Holy Eucharist, 5:30 PM
Music@SaintMark’s, Holy Music for Holy Week, 7:00 PM
Maundy Thursday:
Foot washing and Holy Communion, 6 PM (with choir) followed by stripping of the altar and the Vigil of Repose with Our Lord
Good Friday:
The Proper Liturgy/Holy Communion (reserved sacrament) 7 AM
Proper Liturgy/Holy Communion (reserved sacrament) 6 PM (with choir)
Holy Saturday: The Proper Liturgy with reflections, 12:10 PM
EASTER DAY
“Sunrise service”—The Great Vigil and Holy Baptism, 6:00 AM
This service, which begins in the dark, features the kindling of new fire; the first half of the liturgy is by candlelight. The choir will offer traditional Easter music. The grandest liturgy of the year includes the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. We’ll unearth the “alleluias” we buried, and when we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, we’ll decorate the church with them.
[Easter Breakfast, 8:00 AM]
[Confetti-egg-hunt-and-toss, 9:00 AM]
Festal Eucharist for the Day of Our Lord’s Resurrection, 9:30 AM
This service begins with the congregation’s “flowering of the cross.” The choir will offer traditional Easter music.
03.14.10
Social justice. Economic justice. Practiced here.
A message to Mr. Glenn Beck. We believe that social justice and economic justice are not, as you claim, “perversions” of the Gospel of Jesus, but are at the heart of that Gospel.
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church is a community of Christians serving God and serving our sisters and brothers as we grow into our baptismal promises which include our vow to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”
We believe that social justice and economic justice are not code words for communism or nazism but are at the heart of the Gospel of Jesus.
Jesus said:
Truly I tell you, as you do to the least of these, my family, you do to me. (Matthew 25:40)
And
‘The Spirit of God is upon me,
because God has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free.’ (Luke 4:18—Jesus paraphrasing from Isaiah 58:6 and 61:1-2)
And
Jesus said to Peter the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.’ (John 21:17)
This is the Jesus to whom we turn and whom we accept as our Savior—the Jesus in whose grace and love we put our whole trust—the Jesus whom we promise to follow and obey as Lord (Book of Common Prayer, page 302).
So let me say it one more time, loudly and clearly: social justice; economic justice.
As the ancient prophets of Israel challenged us:
Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:24)
And
God has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does God require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8).
Social justice, brother Glenn, economic justice.
Amen.
02.15.10
And after fire comes…ashes
On February 17, St. Mark’s offers three services of the Proper Liturgy for Ash Wednesday: the imposition of ashes and the Holy Communion at 7 a.m, 12:10 p.m., and 6 p.m. Please join us. All are welcome at God’s table.
The midday service will incorporate the Rite I (“traditional” language) Holy Communion liturgy; the other two services will be Rite II (largely in the vernacular). The evening service includes the choir, and cellist Linda Wharton. The two earlier services will include cantors on the Miserere Mei (Psalm 51) sung to a hauntingly beautiful Gregorian chant tone.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent in the Christian Calendar. A season during which Christians prepare for the celebration of the Resurrection at Easter, Lent is often observed by incorporating special disciplines into one’s spiritual life, which traditionally have been expressed in some form of fasting, giving up something, or doing without.
At St. Mark’s we’ll be considering the Lenten fast as seen through the eyes of the prophet Isaiah (58:5-7):
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them…
How are we oppressed? How do we oppress others? How are others oppressed in our name? And how–in this season of the probing self-look–do we respond to these oppressions? If Jesus came to set people free, how can we–as the hands and heart of Christ in the world–do the same in the lives of others?
We’re also going to embark on an exploration of Jesus’ meals and the meal imagery in the Gospel According to Luke, and see how that new understanding may help us attune our Lenten fast to one acceptable in the eyes of our Lord. The Lenten study program, on Wednesday evenings, begins on February 24th at 6 p.m. with supper (a $5 donation is suggested, but please come even if you can’t pay) followed by a presentation and conversation beginning at 6:30. We’ll be finished by 7:30. Please call the church office for more information: 882-2022.
Pancakes, Alleluias, and FIRE!!!
That’s right–it’s that time of the year. All are welcome at our Shrove Tuesday extravaganza. The Vestry (our elected Lay Leaders) will cook up and serve the traditional pancake supper (complete with egg-bake and sausage) on Fat Tuesday, February 16 from 6 to 7 p.m. It’s a deal at $4 for adults and $1 for those 10 and under. (But come even if you can’t pay–no one will be turned away.) Come to the Parish Hall door, off the alley between First and Washington.
And what makes this an extra-special evening is that in preparation for our Lenten disciplines, we bury–literally–the “Alleluia.” The kids (and some of us…um…older kids) have made “Alleluia” banners. At the dinner we’ll roll them up and put them in a ”coffin.” Then singing as many Allelulias as we can squeeze into 5 minutes or so, we process (I use that term loosely!) into the churchyard where we’ll bury them–not to be resurrected until our “sunrise” Easter service, the Great Vigil at o’dark-thirty on the Morn of Easter Day. Until then, nary an “Alleluia” will pass our lips. This act is a physical reminder–an “outward and visible sign of an inward an spiritual grace”–the grace that is Lent.
Once the alleluias are underground, we turn to the fire pit, where–youngest to oldest–we use a candle to torch the fronds from last year’s Palm Sunday to make the ash that we’ll use to smudge foreheads the next day–Ash Wednesday. This we do in remembrance that we are made of dust and shall return to dust.
Thus, with new traditions and old, we approach the season of Lent–40 days of introspection (on the one hand) and outreach (on the other); two of the marks of Christian living. As we promise at our baptism, we continue the prayers taught by our forebears (which include those prayers that invite God into our nooks and crannies) and we strive for justice and peace right here and right now. What a good balance.
01.21.10
A Prayer for Haiti
Jesus, Savior in times of storm,
when the waters of the deep are broken up
and all the landmarks crumble before our eyes,
come to our aid and hold us up.
Support the people of Haiti at this time
lest they sink in hopelessness and despair.
Empower those who are responding to their need;
uphold the bereaved in their grief;
and let your light shine in the present darkness
to lead us all to the city securely built on your love;
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Courtesy of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation)
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01.20.10
“Lord, in your mercy, send your grace beyond bounds upon our sisters and brothers in Haiti. Enable us to do your work of relieving their misery.”
Because of its many decades of presence in Haiti, The Episcopal Church and her Episcopal Relief & Development were able to respond at once after last week’s quake. TEC continues to post updates, especially at The Episcopal Life’s site: http://www.episcopal-life.org/ and on a new page at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/haiti.php.
Please consider some of the following about the Diocese of Haiti and its people as we continue in our prayers and giving for the relief and rebuilding of this land in turmoil.
The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is part of The Episcopal Church. Its website (in French, but translatable by Google) is http://www.egliseepiscopaledhaiti.org/. It was because of the presence of the Episcopal church in places outside the U.S., that in a recent General Convention, we changed our name from the “Episcopal Church in the United States of America, to “The Episcopal Church.”
With about 100,000 members Haiti is the largest and fastest-growing Diocese in The Episcopal Church. http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/2008 Table of Statistics of the Episcopal Church.pdf.
According to The Episcopal Church Annual, there are about 115 congregations and communities of faith in the Diocese of Haiti. According to the Haiti’s Diocesan website, the church there is served by about 40 priests. By comparison, The Diocese of Spokane (in which we are located) has about 7,000 members in 41 congregations and is served by more than 70 priests (some parochial, some providing “supply” and other special services).
The Bishop of Haiti The Rt. Rev. Zache Duracin was left homeless in the quake. His wife was injured. He has been offered the opportunity to leave Haiti for respite in the U.S. but has chosen to stay. He is living in a “tent city” with others whose homes were destroyed.
In Haiti, the Episcopal Church operates more than 200 Episcopal schools with more than 6000 students. http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/2008 Table of Statistics of the Episcopal Church.pdf.
According to a news article in Episcopal Life, TEC also operates “medical clinics; a renowned philharmonic orchestra and children’s choir based at the cathedral; agricultural, reforestation and other development projects and micro-financing efforts run in part with help from ERD; peace and reconciliation work, including the Desmond Tutu Center for Reconciliation and Peace and non-violence training provided by Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF).” (Source: http://ecusa.anglican.org/79901_118410_ENG_HTM.htm)
Donations can be made by check to St. Mark’s (Memo line: Haiti), at 111 S. Jefferson, Moscow, ID 83843. We are sending a check to ERD weekly. Last week alone we send $842.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
01.11.10
Beautiful baptisms!
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- Miles after his baptism wearing his baptismal scarf.
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- Tami and daughter Katelyn
Is there any other kind!?? We baptized Katelyn Ainsley (one month old) and Miles Brendan (four years old)! Joy! Cynthia Mika knit Katelyn’s baptismal coverlet and Teresa Uhle knit Miles’ baptismal scarf and a memento for him to keep under his pillow.
If you would like to know more about baptism–”full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ’s Body the Church”–are interested in being baptized, or know someone else who might be, please talk with Mother Robin. In The Episcopal Church, baptisms are celebrated at any age! The next apt occasion for baptism will be during the Great Vigil of Easter–St. Mark’s Easter Day Sunrise Service–on April 4. Now is the time to start preparing!