ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR CHRISTMAS TWO ANNOTATED…

This week, we will actually be reading two of the three possible gospels for this second Sunday of Christmas. We will read the first verses of Matthew 2 so we can sing “We Three Kings” and remember the story of the Eastern sages which for so many people is ESSENTIAL to the Christmas story and yet is only read on the Feast of the Epiphany itself which we do not celebrate as a congregation in most years.  And we will hear about the “Flight into Egypt”.  But we will leave out the story of the Holy Innocents which the lectionary omits…

SECURITY

The East (disabled access) Entrance and the Front Door of the church and of the parish hall will be open only 15 minutes before 10 a.m. service and 15 minutes after. If you open any of our buildings at any other time, please lock the doors.  In other words, do not assume that someone ELSE is going to close the buildings and don’t worry about locking someone in. Everyone can get OUT safely. We have had intruders and incidents where doors which have been locked by the clergy and vestry have been found open the next day because people who come to the church and parish hall open doors (for perfectly good reasons) and forget to lock them when they leave.

THANK YOU to all who donated to Episcopal City Mission, Ames Visual and Performing Arts Magnet Elementary School and the Loving Care Christmas Party. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU to all who did such a great job on the St. Mark’s Christmas Party, including Kim Jungermann who helped us all to sing and Santa’s helpers. A good time was had by all.

ENVELOPES FOR 2010 are now available. If you had previously used the envelopes, new boxes have already been made up for you and are at the back of church. Others may request envelopes by contacting Elaine Mickley or calling the office.

THANK YOU to Robert and Melissa Mullgardt, John Speller, Ken Shuler, Rachel Farnam & Katie, Beth Pearson, and Kim Jungermann for decorating the church.

THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE PLEDGED! This year we have had the highest pledges and the best participation for some years.

GROCERY CARDS

Mary Feldmeier is taking over selling grocery cards for Dierbergs and Shop n Save following the 10:00 am service. Please remember to stock up on grocery cards for the coming year. You pay the face value of the card and use it to buy groceries. St. Mark’s gets a small percentage of the value of the cards as part of our fundraising. And don’t forget to use your Schnucks card when making purchases. We receive a percentage of sales every month.

TRANSITION CAFÉ – AN UNEMPLOYMENT GROUP Do you know anyone who is looking for work or feeling discouraged about the search? Join Susan Nanny and Beth Pearson on Tuesdays from 9:00 -10:00 am. You’ll find practical help and have the chance to talk about your feelings with people who understand the struggle.

COMMUNITY GARDEN We are accepting applications for people who would like to be community gardeners. Gardeners don’t need to be affiliated with this or any church in any way. They need to be committed to tending their bed and cooperating with other gardeners in caring for common areas of the garden. If you are interested, please contact the Rev. Susan Nanny or call the parish office.

THE FRIDAY GROUP is reading The Case for God by Karen Armstrong. We  plan to resume meeting on January 8^th and to discuss the first two chapters. The last week in January we plan to participate in the Trinity Institute http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/faith/institute/

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING of St. Mark’s Church on Sunday, January 24, 2010 after the 10:00 a.m. service. The rector’s report will take the place of the sermon at both services. This is your opportunity to shape the life of the congregation by electing vestry people and convention delegates.

We will need the reports from leaders of all ministries, committees and/or groups. If anyone needs a copy of last years reports for reference please let the office know. The easiest way to submit reports is to send by email to the parish office at parishoffice@saintmarks-stl.org or drop off in the church office.

Announcements for Advent I

SHARING GOD’S LOVE AND BOUNTY

THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON

LOVING CARE CHRISTMAS PARTY

Saturday Dec. 12^th

We will gather here in the parish hall at 11:00 a.m. to prepare gift bags. We will then go to Loving Care to sing carols, have holiday treats (cookies, fruit, popcorn) and give out the gift bags. The party starts at 2:00 p.m. so we leave St. Mark’s around 1:30 p.m. Please donate small items such as pens, notepaper, stockings, Kleenex, holiday pins, etc. We are especially in need of items for men – socks, combs, etc.  Loving Care Home is a personal care facility for people on Medical Assistance.

EPISCOPAL CITY MISSION

Please help provide Christmas Gifts for the young people in the Detention Centers.

Sometimes the only gifts a child in detention receives are those distributed by the Episcopal City Mission Chaplains. You can help by taking a star from our “Star Tree” and donating the suggested dollar amount. Return “Star” gifts by Dec. 13^th (Checks should be made out to Episcopal City Mission. Put ECM Christmas on the memo line.) ECM will then purchase gifts. Also: Consider helping to wrap the gifts on Monday, December 14^th at 11:00 a.m. at Christ Church Cathedral. For more info call 314/436-3545.

AMES VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS

MAGNET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Donations of gloves, mittens, and stocking caps are being collected for the children. There is a box marked “AVP” at the back of church.

~ From Anne Constantinescu-Brad

TRINITY LUNCH – Sunday, December 27th

We will serve Christmas Dinner and will be presenting the offering of hats and caps. There is a sign up sheet on the parish house bulletin board to provide decorations, favors or to help cook and/or serve.

SUNDAY’S PREACHER will be the Rev. Susan Nanny.

PLEDGE SHEET

If you have not already done so, please return your pledge sheet ASAP. There are extras available at the back of church.

COOKIE BAKE & EXCHANGE

Tuesday, Dec. 8^th

6:30 p.m. in the parish hall. Bring your batter from home and bake your cookies here or bring your cookies already made. Don’t forget to bring a container to take home a sampling of everyone’s cookies. This is a great relaxing evening in the middle of a busy season and a chance to spend time together.

FREE MOVIE FRIDAY “Holiday Inn”

December 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Classic Irving Berlin Christmas comedy with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.

Please invite friends!! Popcorn and Soft Drinks available for purchase.

ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS

There are “Slow Down, Quiet, It’s Advent” posters at the back of the church to help people celebrate the season of Advent at home.

CHRISTMAS EVE

5 p.m. Holy Eucharist with sermon and carols. This year, singer-songwriter Lydia Ruffin will enhance the music at this service.

10:30 Music for Christmas for choir and organ. A chance to sing and hear some favorite carols.

11:00 Festival Choral Eucharist of Christmas.

CHRISTMAS DAY

10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (no music)

COMMUNITY GARDEN We are accepting applications for people who would like to be community gardeners. Gardeners don’t need to be affiliated with this or any church in any way. They need to be committed to tending their bed and cooperating with other gardeners in caring for common areas of the garden. If you are interested, please contact the Rev. Susan Nanny.

PREPARING FOR THE BIRTH OF JESUS:

EXPLORING MATTHEW 1 AND LUKE 1

Sponsored by the Clergy and Laity Alliance of St. Louis Hills

Date: December 3, 2009

Time: 9:30am-11:00am

Location: Hope UCC Corner of Eichelberger & Tamm

This one-session Bible study, led by Pastor Sarah McCann, will focus on the birth stories of Jesus.  Start your Advent season by learning more about the Gospel readings that are at the heart of the meaning of Christmas!

Contact Hope UCC office for further details: 353-2288

DIOCESAN LESSONS & CAROLS AT CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL

Sunday, December 6^th, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.

HANGING OF THE GREENS Sunday, December 20^th

Greening of the church follows the 10:00 a.m. service.

ST. MARK’S

CHRISTMAS

PARTY

Sunday, Dec. 20^TH at 5:30 p.m.

Dinner at 6:00 p.m.

Adults – $10.00    Children over 3 $5.00

Come join your friends here at St. Mark’s for a fun evening of Christmas cheer. There is a sign up sheet in the parish hall for people to let us know who is coming. Please list the names and ages of children under 12 who will be attending.

Questions and Answers

So in the last few weeks, I’ve started asking a question in each issue of Markings, just for fun.  On maybe not just for fun… I asked what radio programs people listen to and what newspapers they read. Predictably, most of the (rather few) respondents listen to NPR and read Sauce Magazine, the St Louis free rag about cooking. Their ads are fairly costly but might be worth it… Other comments included WIL, the Bull, KLOU, Y98, KEZK and 106.5 FM. Some people read the RFT. Few read the Post but they know people who do.

Someone who works in retail marketing pointed out how hard it is to guage what value you are getting for you dollars spent on advertizing, esp. since to be effective an ad has to be repeated and repeated.

For hymns, people like Christmas Carols, there were votes for Amazing Grace and Christ the Lord is Risen Today. One person misses beloved praise music in a former congregation, such as this favorite. Another person, a former choir member,  seemed to feel that my question was a little bit like that old potato chip commercial “Bet you can’t eat just one.”  This answer started out trying to list one hymn in each section of the hymnal and then moved on to list a whole bunch of hymns. I would have the same problem.

In case you wonder, I asked the hymn question because I once went to a workshop in which the leader tried to get the participants to articulate the “good news” of their relationship with God by  identifying their favorite hymns and extrapolating their theology.

Better Blogging?

So, if you are going to have a blog, it is good to post more frequently than every six months…

Readers (if there are any) PLEASE leave comments!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Summer “Tea in the Garden” begins Sunday June 7
We will be serving iced tea and iced water and sweet treats like cookies or cake in the Proehl Center Garden this summer after church. If it rains, we’ll shelter under the patio roof or step inside. People have been generous and helpful about signing up to host, but there are still some hosting slots available. Allen Porter is our host this Sunday.

PRIDEFEST 2009
We are looking for St. Markans to help staff the Oasis Missouri booth on Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. June 28th.

There will be a celebration of the Holy Eucharist in Tower Grove Park “Mass in the Grass” at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday June 28th. In order to encourage maximum St. Mark’s participation, there will be no 10 a.m. service at St Mark’s on June 28th. There will be a 7:30 service at St. Mark’s.

Following the service at the Park, everyone is welcome to join the other Oasis congregations in walking the short parade route. Pridefest is a great opportunity to share the good news of St. Mark’s with people who may have never belonged to a church or been made to feel like outsiders but long for a faith community.

The Oasis Missouri is a ministry of education and intentional welcome for GLBT people.

If you are interested in GLBT issues at our upcoming General Convention, you can follow them here.

SUMMER SOLSTICE FESTIVAL
Friday June 19th from 6:00-9:30 pm at Emmanuel Church, Webster Groves, to benefit Episcopal City Mission. Live music by The House of Bishops, kids corner and activities, silent auction and raffle. Tickets are $15 adults, $5 (ages 5-12), Dinner, kids beverages and adult drinks included. To purchase tickets call 436-3545.

SUNDAY JUNE 7th at 9:00 a.m. there will be a showing of Voices of Witness Africa, a short documentary about the lives of Gay, Lesbian, BiSexual and Transgendered people in Africa, part of our commitment to “listening” to people throughout the Anglican Communion. The rector will lead a discussion and, if time is available, touch on issues coming to General Convention. You can also see and discuss this film at Christ Church Cathedral on June 12th at 7:00 p.m.

GENERAL CONVENTION LISTENING SESSIONS
This is an opportunity for our deputies to General Convention to hear from people in the diocese about their hopes and concerns about the upcoming General Convention. Unable to attend and still have a question? Please send it to GC09@diocesemo.org.
Saturday, June 13, 10:30-12:00 Columbia Hope, facilitated by the Rev. Tamsen Whistler
Saturday, June 13, 10-11:30 All Saints’, Farmington, facilitated by the Very Rev. Ronald Clingenpeel
The rector is a deputy, so you can share your thoughts with her. Indeed, you can email her during the course of convention, if you are following it in the news and have thoughts about what is going on. Also check out the blog at missourideputation.blogspot.com/.

KIDS! JOIN US THIS SUMMER FOR STORIES OF SAINTS
The Saints in the Bible to the Saints Among Us

Saint Peter
Albert Schweitzer
Saint Mark
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Saint Patrick
Mother Teresa
Saint Francis of Assisi
& Many More!

Every Sunday, from June 7 -September 6 during the 10:00 a.m. Service
PLUS, we’ll have fun with Games & Songs,Outdoor Fun, Paint & Clay, Costumes & More!

Children over 10 years old can volunteer as helpers.

Photo ops

Actually, these are photo viewing ops.

There is a link at your right to “Immediately” the ironically named blog which records a lot of the construction, at the moment.

You also might want to follow the link to the St Mark’s photo site on Flickr. If you want to become a friend of St Mark’s Album you can see even more content.

I’m eager to learn the best way to use all this technology… so if you have ideas or opinions about the way I have arranged and linked all this content, let me know. Is it good or annoying that the construction photos are separated from this blog?

Offering of Scarves Part II

Saint Mark’s shawl ministry coordinator made nice little gift cards with the words “This scarf was made with love and prayer by the people of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. As you wear this scarf, know that you are wrapped in God’s love.” The children of Scruggs School in south St. Louis made 100 wonderfully colored holiday cards in their art classes. They were just amazing.

We wrapped the scarves in bags in green tissue paper and put them in Christmas tree bags. We also put some in the bags without green paper for distribution to Trinity’s weekday pantry clients. Then we put aside a classroom or two worth of scarves (without the cards mentioning God) for Scruggs’ school.

Many of the children at Scruggs are recently arrived in St. Louis, often from climates where they don’t need to wrap up warmly in winter, sometimes they are refugees who didn’t have a lot to bring with them anyway. One of the touching things about the cards they made is that the students lavished such care and concern on people they know are having a rough time in a holiday season when many of them come from families that have probably lost homes abroad, been in refugee camps, and live in straightened circumstances in south St. Louis.

So on Sunday December 28 St. Mark’s made lunch at Trinity. We had parishioners and friends working flat out to serve ham, candied sweet potatoes and green beans, followed by cupcakes with Christmas icing. Then as people were leaving, we gave each one a bag with a scarf and a clementine and fruit snacks and wished them a Happy New Year as they left. The choir came and sang Christmas carols and songs, offering a festive background to the dinner. There were lots of children including infants. A handmade scarf is a labor of love but probably not perfect looking or useful as a machine made pair of socks or a hat. But Steve Turner reports than many clients were back last Sunday (the 4th) wearing their scarves.

Here is what is wonderful about this story. Scarves came from all over the Diocese of Missouri. From congregations large and small. From congregations in the St Louis area and congregations far from the city like Mexico and Kirksville and DeSoto. Knitters and crocheters, many in Prayer Shawl Ministries in their own churches but many working on their own and getting their friends, family and neighbors involved produced over three times as many scarves as we thought we would need. Each scarf represents 3 to 10 hours of labor, depending on the scarf and the needleworker’s skill level. It probably represents a financial outlay of between $2 and $12 dollars, depending on the yarn.

The Offering of Scarves turns out to be a huge offering of generosity, compassion, time and prayer, just waiting to be unleashed. What would help to unleash that energy in non-needleworkers? What more do the needleworkers have to offer?

Offering of Scarves Part I

This week, Marylen and Lynn and Vinita and John and Sue worked on the Offering of Scarves. This was a project which began simply. December 28 is St Mark’s turn to serve at the Trinity Soup Kitchen. We try to have a nicer than usual meal. This year it will probably be glazed ham with sweet potatoes and beans and a special dessert of some kind. And we try to have some small Christmas gift for the guests. One year it was those stretchy gloves which look tiny and but grow to fit any hand. Another year it was socks. I am not sure how it happened but this year someone said “How about knitting them scarves?” Like many congregations, we have a “Shawl Ministry” which knits shawls for people who are sick or in trouble or distress or in transition and we pray while we knit. So we thought the knitting the scarves would be like knitting the shawls only smaller. (I knitted a prayer scarf last year for a friend because I thought he’d appreciate the thought but get more use out of a scarf than a shawl which might make him feel like Whistler’s mother.)

But we realized that even if we did nothing else but knit all autumn, St Mark’s would never be able to make scarves for 90, which is the average number of guests at Trinity on Sundays, even though in the end we produced about 30. So we decided to propose at diocesan project, an “Offering of Scarves.” We asked everyone to knit scarves 7 inches wide and 60 inches long indark solid colors. No lace, to send them to convention with their delegates and to offer them at the convention eucharist. Marylen was coordinating the whole project. She heard from various congregations with shawl ministries that they were working on this. Various other knitters reported in. But we had no idea how many scarves were coming until we got to the moment at convention when people were invited to bring their scarves forward. Representatives of participating congregations came up carrying their scarves. Or in some cases festooned with scarves. An astonishing number of people brought scarves. They came from big churches like St Martin’s and small churches like Trinity, De Soto. They came from all over the diocese, not just the St Louis Metro area. During the week after convention another sixty or so came by mail. The final count was almost three hundred!

Here is a picture of people at the altar at our diocesan convention, presenting the scarves.

Here is a scarf mountain.

Here are some pictures of the scarves all sorted and then placed in gift bags.

Welcome to New St Mark’s Blog

This is the first post of a new St Mark’s Blog. What? Another one?
Well, this one is all church all the time and I’m going to make “Things Seen and Unseen” be Lydia’s blog. It will still be pretty churchy but perhaps also more personal. The wonderful picture of spring at St Mark’s is by Amiya. It represents my learning how to edit the theme Emptiness. It may not look like much, but I am pretty proud of it.

Blessing of the Animals

Last Sunday following 10 a.m. church we blessed animals on the plaza. A couple of animals worshipped with their owners in church (because they lived quite far away) without incident. Sometimes animals sing along with the pipe organ but these were quiet and almost invisible. We gathered, sang a hymn and blessed several dogs and cats. My own dog Sophie was pretty well behaved. Some dogs and cats were terrified by all the others. It is always a bit like the vet’s waiting room, in this respect. We did not bring our new cat Wurlitzer, although you can see her here. We are adopting a cat which is apparently her daughter from the same owner tomorrow evening. Here are some pix from the blessing of the animals:

From Blessing of the Animals

And here is the slideshow.

MDG’s

I promised to blog about the MDG’s as part of this day of prayer and fasting for the MDG’s while the UN confers about them at the General Assembly. I spent most of the day at the Lutheran School of Theology’s workshop on communion between the Methodists and the Lutherans and our interim eucharistic sharing with the UMC. We focused on the document This Holy Mystery, a kind of guide to UMC understanding of th eucharist. The document speaks about how the eucharist should drive us to care of the needs of the poor and to be missional in some other ways. It is distressing that the General Assembly is being overshadowed by the meltdown in the US economy and its threat to the global economy. The poorer we all feel iln the “first world” the less likely we are to be generous to those in other parts of the world.