02.05.12
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:55 pm by kentonbird
My Own Home (MOH) director Tom LaPointe will speak on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 11:30 a.m., immediately after coffee hour.
LaPointe will describe the kinds of services that MOH plans to offer, and how to become a member or volunteer. Two St. Mark’s members, Nancy Lyle and Jennifer O’Laughlin, are members of the MOH board.
MOH is Moscow’s non-profit organization dedicated to making it possible for adults to continue living in their own homes as they grow older, by providing services they might need. MOH is part of a nationwide “aging in place” movement emerging in response to a growing demand for alternatives to assisted living. For more information, visit: myownhomemoscow.org.
My Own Home's board of directors (Summer 2011)
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01.28.12
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:10 pm by kentonbird
Members of St. Mark’s will gather in the Parish Hall Sunday, January 29, immediately following the 9:30 a.m. service. The annual parish meeting will include financial and program reports, election of new members of the Vestry and goal-setting for 2012.
A potluck lunch will precede the meeting. Families whose surnames begin with A-G are asked to bring a main course; those with names starting with H-N should bring a salad or side dish. Families O-Z should bring a dessert to share.
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01.08.12
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:19 am by kentonbird
Music@St. Mark’s presents “Bach’s Lunch,” with the music of Bach and his contemporaries Telemann and Hummel on Sunday, Jan 8. The 2 p.m. concert will be followed by a box lunch at which the audience can visit with the musicians.
The church’s Chamber Orchestra will accompany Grace Young in the Georg Philipp Telemann Viola Concerto and Richard Kriehn in the Johann Nepomuk Hummel Mandolin Concerto. The program concludes with Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 4” with soloists Kriehn on violin and Frieda Chan and Justin Bahrami on flutes.
Tickets are available at the door: $12 for general admission, $10 for seniors and $6 for students. No one will be turned away; free tickets will be provided by the Elsie Mann Fellowship Fund.
Kriehn is an instructor and the academic advisor for the School of Music at Washington State University. He has performed with the Washington-Idaho Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Boise Philharmonic, Nashville Chamber Orchestra and has become a regular performer or Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.
Chan performs regularly with the Walla Walla Symphony and the Spokane Symphony. She is pursuing a Ph.D in Molecular Biosciences at WSU. Bahrami is third flutist of the Spokane Symphony and a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he earned a master’s in music. He studies mechanical engineering at WSU.
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12.31.11
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:02 pm by kentonbird
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church of Moscow will observe the Feast of the Epiphany on Friday, Jan. 6, with a service of Evensong at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner.
The Rev. Robin Biffle, rector at St. Mark’s, will officiate at the service, which is open to the public. Dinner will begin at 6:30. Tickets are $15, and family rates are available. Reservations for dinner are requested by Jan. 4 at 5 p.m.; persons planning to attend should sign up in the parish hall or call the church office.
The Feast of the Epiphany — traditionally celebrated on Jan. 6, the Twelfth Day of Christmas, or Twelfth Night – was actually the first Christmas Day. Eastern Christians were celebrating the birth of Jesus on Jan. 6 in the late 4th Century some time before the Christian West began to celebrate it on Dec. 25.
Jan. 6 was the original date of their Winter Solstice and the festival of the birth of the god Aion . On this date, they celebrated Jesus’ birth according to the Spirit at his baptism as the Theophany (manifestation) of God, to which they eventually added Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem and his first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana.
When Epiphany migrated to the Christian West — where it complemented Christmas already established on Dec. 25 — it celebrated the visit of the magi (“kings”) to the child Jesus–and Western Christians continue to understand it in this way. Eastern Christians continue to celebrate only Jesus’ baptism on Jan.6, their Feast of the Theophany.
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12.22.11
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:58 pm by kentonbird
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church of Moscow plans special services for Christmas.
Saturday, Dec. 24, there will be a family Christmas Eve service starting at 5 p.m. That evening, there will be carol singing at 10:30 p.m., followed by a festal Holy Eucharist service at 11 a.m. – the traditional “midnight” mass.
Sunday, Dec. 25, at 11 a.m., the service will take the form of a Celtic Eucharist, followed by a community Christmas dinner from noon until 2 p.m. All are welcome to both the service and the meal, and no reservations are required.
“Celtic Christianity includes a somewhat broader understanding of God’s revelation and presence among us than does traditional Western Christianity,” said the Rev. Robin Biffle, rector of St. Mark’s. “The current Celtic resurgence is often broadly ecumenical—an expression of catholic (universal) Christianity which introduces traditions new to most Christians in the United States,” she said. “Celtic Christianity is grounded in a ‘creationist’ theology—God the creator made all things good, and all things good are expressions of God.”
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12.15.11
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:02 pm by kentonbird
St. Mark’s invites the community to a non-denominational “Blue Christmas” service on Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. The service will include readings, music, candle-lighting, and silence.
“This service will focus on the hope and healing God offers to each one of us—right where we are,” said the Rev. Robin Biffle, rector of St. Mark’s. For many people, Christmas can be difficult—a painful reminder of the losses in our lives, Biffle said. For those dealing with financial stress, depression, grief, or illness, the holidays can be a season of hurt.
“St. Mark’s congregation strives to minister unconditionally in the community in the name of Christ through shared worship, teaching, and service,” Biffle said. The “Blue Christmas” service is a way to acknowledge our sadness and loneliness and remind ourselves that we are not alone.
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12.11.11
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:41 pm by kentonbird
The Administration Building Auditorium at the University of Idaho will be the setting for a sing-along performance of Handel’s “Messiah” at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 18.
Community singers will be conducted by David Erb, choral director at New St. Andrew’s College of Moscow. Soloists will be Allie Bradley (soprano), Laura Whear (alto), Jonathan Erber (bass) and Craig Allen (tenor). Harry Wells, organist at Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Moscow, will accompany the soloists and massed-voice choir.
The program is part of the Music@St. Mark’s series. A $5 donation will be requested at the door. Proceeds over expenses will be shared by the Moscow Food Bank and St. Mark’s.
Singers are asked to bring their own copies of the score or to download the choruses at: www.IMSLP.org or www.PDL.org For more information, please call the church office at 208-882-2022.
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12.07.11
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:07 am by kentonbird
A blue hanging on the pulpit at St. Mark's includes the Greek letters for Alpha and Omega, representing beginning and ending.
The season name’s derives from the Latin adventus or “coming.” In Western Christendom, the First Sunday of Advent is the Sunday nearest St. Andrew’s Day (November 30); thus four Sundays always precede Christmas Day.
In the 4th century, a church council urged the presence of the faithful in worship for 21 continuous days from mid-December until the Epiphany, when the Nativity was celebrated, urging them not to stay at home—or go to pagan festivals. This season with its themes of vigilance and faithfulness was instituted as a Christian counter-observance to the Saturnalia and other year-end festivals.
Because fasting among monastics in these winter weeks put people in mind of the fasting of Lent, the winter season became known as St. Martin’s Lent, from the feast of St. Martin on November 11, after which the fast begin. As is Lent, Advent came to be observed for approximately 40 days. Some places observed six Sundays, while others only five.
Expressly with the introduction of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, the character of Advent became markedly different from that of Lent in order to focus attention on the singularity of the Lenten liturgical season beginning with Ash Wednesday and continuing through Holy Saturday. So rather than being a similarly penitential season,
Advent is marked by its character of preparation: preparation for the coming of Jesus as an infant—the Incarnation; for the coming of Jesus into our own lives now; and for the return or second coming of Jesus in Glory—the Eschaton. In this season, the beginning and end-times meet. It is a season noteworthy for the many references in the Sunday readings to themes of alertness, awakening, watchfulness, and so on.
It was with 1979 Prayer Book revision, too, that many congregations switched from purple (Lenten) vestments and paraments (color-coded cloth “hangings”), to blue, as a means of further denoting that Advent is not a penitential season, but is an anticipatory one.
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11.23.11
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:48 pm by kentonbird
The Episcopal churches of Pullman and Moscow are joining together for a worship service and Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, Nov. 24. The congregations of St. James’ Episcopal Church of Pullman and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church of Moscow will gather at St. Mark’s for a service of Holy Eucharist at 11 a.m.
It will be followed at noon by the third annual Community Welcome Table. All are invited to the meal, and reservations are not required.
“The traditional Thanksgiving feast will be provided by St. Mark’s, but we invite all to bring a side dish, dessert or salad to share – whatever makes the day special,” said the Rev. Robin Biffle, rector of St. Mark’s. For more information, please call the church office at 208-882-2022.
St. Mark's will provide turkey and fixings for the Welcome Table dinner on Nov. 24.
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10.04.11
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:14 pm by kentonbird
St. Mark’s will celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi with a Blessing of the Animals during its service at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 9. The choir will perform a bluegrass anthem, “All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir.”
“The service celebrates of the whole of God’s creation, as we honor Francis, the patron saint of animals, nature and the environment,” said the Rev. Robin Biffle, Rector of St. Mark’s. “We’re joining other churches who invite families to bring well-behaved companion animals for blessing to symbolize how we value all God’s creatures, and how we cherish the web of creation.”
All who attend are invited to bring a donation of pet food, cat litter, etc., for donation to the Moscow Food Bank or Latah County Humane Society. The loose plate offering will be used to purchase pet food for the two organizations. Over the past few years, several hundred dollars in cash and pet food have been donated.
Please bring small animals in carriers or cages; dogs and larger animals on leash. Arrangements for home blessing of animals that would not do well in an animal-rich environment may be made by contacting the church office at 208-882-2022.
Below: Scout, canine companion to the McIlroy family, received a blessing in 2010.
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