Join us as we launch our new summer schedule and get into something good together! Our summer schedule starts Sunday, June 2, with adult education at 9 a.m., fellowship at 10 and a single worship service at 10:30 a.m.
Pastor Kelley will lead our first adult education class of the summer (9 a.m. on June 2), as we discuss the recent visit of Shane Claiborne, a Christian activist from Philadelphia who works for peace and non-violence in local, national and international initiatives. He demonstrated the work of the RAW Tools project during his visit on May 25, using the hammer and anvil in the photograph above to show how lethal weapons can be transformed into useful tools.
God does transformative work in us, too, as we connect for study, prayer, worship and service.
We also have plans to get together at community events this summer, using those opportunities to get to know each other better and get to know our neighbors better, too.
We hope you’ll join us as this new summer journey begins!
Our Sunday service schedule moves into summer mode on Sunday, June 2, when we will shift to one worship service that starts at 10:30 a.m. Adult Christian education classes will be held before the service, starting at 9 a.m. in the Seminary Room. Watch upcoming announcements for details on the class schedule.
Holy Week is a precious and momentous time for the St. Mark’s family and all of our siblings in Christ. It is the week we commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus, our Lord.
Our schedule is below. If you cannot join us in-person, most services will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel. Links are included below for each service.
We start with Palm Sunday, which recalls a day of public acclaim for Jesus. On this day, we will gather for our traditional service at 8:45 a.m. and our contemporary service at 11:15 a.m.
On Maundy Thursday, we recall the last supper, the betrayal of Jesus and his arrest. On this night, we will gather with our siblings in Christ at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, just across the street at 503 Duncan Rd. The service begins at 7 p.m. and will be live-streamed.
Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus. On this night, we will gather at St. Mark’s. The service begins at 7 p.m. and will be live-streamed.
On Holy Saturday, we hold vigil, reflecting on the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Our sanctuary will be open from 9 a.m. to noon for all who wish to join us for prayer and meditation.
Easter Sunday is the most glorious day in the Christian calendar, a celebration of Jesus’s resurrection. We will rejoice together at our 8:45 a.m. traditional service and our 11:15 a.m. contemporary service.
If you have encountered the transformative love of Jesus, you have a great story to tell and we want to hear it. In fact, we need to hear it!
Jesus’ love gives us hope for the future and hope for each other. All of us are strengthened when we share that good news.
So please join us for “What’s Your Story?” — our Adult Forum summer series, starting at 10 a.m. July 9 in the Great Room, as we share our faith stories and real-life experiences of God’s work in our lives.
Margie Dodson, who has been at St. Mark’s since 2007, leads us off this Sunday.
Here are a few things to know about Margie:
Margie Dodson
She is the youngest of five girls, has been married to Ollie Dodson for 30 years and is blessed with a “big, blended family” that includes two stepdaughters, five grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Margie has worked as a dental hygienist for more than 40 years and continues to work three days a week.
Margie loves music. Her favoriate hymn is “Be Thou My Vision.”
There’s so much more to her story! Join us, bring your questions and see what God has been up to with one of our dear family members.
We have a growing list of folks willing to share their stories and we’d love to add your name. If you’re interested, please contact Margie Dodson or Beth Miller and we’ll be glad to help you do it!
“Worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.” 1 Peter 3:15 (NLT)
“Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7)
Have you experienced the welcome of Jesus? Do you remember what it meant to you when you realized that He loved you immeasurably?
Learning more about Jesus’ welcome and how to share that with others is the focus of St. Mark’s 2023 Winter Forum, which we’re calling “Come Unto Me”: Jesus’ Radical Welcome.
The series is held at 10 a.m. in the Great Room.
In our first session, we heard from Ashlei Buhrow of Reconciling Works, who shared a comprehensive approach to that ministry’s work toward full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people and racial equity. Last week, Michael Farthing of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Wilmington shared his story and the value of becoming a “Reconciling in Christ” congregation.
On Sunday, January 22, we will explore the practical and comprehensive approach to “Radical Welcome” as presented in Stephanie Spellers’ book of the same title. This will be an open discussion, facilitated by Beth Miller and Cliff Smith. Handouts will be provided.
On Sunday, January 29, St. Mark’s will hold its annual meeting (details below). The Winter Forum will not meet this week.
On Sunday, February 5, Dr. Natalia Marandiuc, will join us to discuss the theological and scriptural basis for “radical welcome.” Dr. Marandiuc is associate professor of systematic theology at Union Lutheran Seminary.
On Sunday, February 12, In the final session of Winter Forum 2023, Cliff Smith will guide us in a discussion of “radical welcome” and the implications for St. Mark’s. (Please note the change of date. This was previously scheduled for February 19, but has been moved up to February 12.)
Join us Sunday, November 27, as we start the Advent season with a new study called “Hallelujah! The Bible and Handel’s Messiah,” led by Margie Dodson.
We’ll meet at 10 a.m. in the Great Room for this four-week study.
“Messiah” is a wonderful way into the Bible. We will listen to the voice of God through the prophet Isaiah and the genius of George Frideric Handel’s most-beloved oratorio as we study, discuss and celebrate the birth of Jesus.
These are the portions in focus throughout Advent:
Sunday, Nov. 27: “Comfort, comfort my people.”
Sunday, Dec. 4: “Who may abide the day of his coming?”
Christmas Carols + You + Me: Join us at 10 a.m. in the Great Room for this Adult Education class as we share personal stories of the role Christmas carols have played in our lives. All are invited to share a carol that has a special memory or has shaped your faith in some way. This class is designed as an opportunity to learn more about each other and to reflect upon the significance and meaning that Christmas carols have had in our lives. Cliff Smith will facilitate the discussion.
Christmas Carol sing: We’ll gather outside at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, December 5 (weather permitting), as our St. Mark’s family joins together for a Christmas carol sing.
If you could talk with your Creator — would you keep that appointment? What if you knew the Holy Spirit was interceding on your behalf? How do you talk with God anyway?
Interim Pastor David Mueller looks at prayer in his message today, discussing what it is and also what it isn’t.
Join us for our prerecorded worship service, using the link to our YouTube channel below, which goes “live” at 10 a.m. Sunday. You will also find the text of Pastor Mueller’s sermon below.
Also participating in today’s service are Barbara Sheridan, our worship assistant, and John Lasher, director of music and worship arts.
This week’s virtual choir includes: Dave Herrmann, Allen Kirk, Myrna Kirk, John Lasher, David McClure, Fred Meckley, Jan Meckley, John Nichols, Cheryl Powell, Paige Stebner and Teresa Stebner.
“How to Pray” (Romans 8:26-39)
Interim Pastor David E. Mueller
I must admit to having my spirit tested these days as much as any time in recent memory. I like to think of myself as a happy-go-lucky sort of person, who tends to be positive most of the time. I can get depressed, but usually no longer than a day or two. Generally I am happy with myself and am particularly secure as a believing Christian.
The forces attacking us all these days, however, are heavy in the extreme, far too heavy to bear with our typical resources spiritual, emotional, and physical. There is profound political division within our nation, a deadly virus and — at least for now — hotter and muggier than most of us enjoy.
Nothing that I can name then is more important, especially right now, than that we pray without ceasing — that is, regularly. What does that mean? How does it look? What might it accomplish? Please revisit that very special Christian privilege, but before we begin to talk and learn about prayer, let us pray!
Dear Lord, we are being humbled these days and that might just be the greatest benefit of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Allow us to be emptied, forgiven and relieved of all false senses of security. Fill us anew with your love and grace and teach us anew how to pray. In Jesus’ Name, we say, Amen!
Clearly Paul was writing to relatively new Christians in Rome when he shared: “… we do not know how to pray as we ought….” Prayer is such a profoundly beautiful exercise, however, that we might think of ourselves as new Christians. Romans 8 is a jam-packed chapter, but — most important — about prayer.
In Matthew 6:5, we learn what praying is not: “the heaping up of empty phrases … many words.” Also, prayer is not a public but an intimately private matter: “Go into your room and shut the door….” James the Apostle in his letter wrote: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.” (4:3)
There is another even more significant revelation about prayer in all four Gospels.
I will stick with Matthew in 26:36-46. There are several extremely revealing truths within this text.
The Last Supper was finished and Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray. In his first petition, he prayed: “My Father, ifit is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want” (26:39).
The next petition shows a subtle but real change: “My Father, if thiscannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” (26:42)
In his last petition we are told he “prayed for the third time, saying the same words.”(26:44)
We may recall that between each of these petitions, he found his disciples taking a nap.
Most significant, however, is what Jesus said following prayer: “Get up, let us be going, my betrayer is at hand.” (26:46) He was ready to face his reality!
The sign on your kitchen wall or on a bumper sticker piously proclaims: “Prayer changes things!”
The reason I am not so sure about that is that it did not work that way for Jesus. His circumstances changed not; he went to the cross.
Often our prayers ask God to change everything and everyone around us but not us, when all too often what needs to change is us. We may need to face our reality and not escape it!
The pleasures James reports we pray for are not all bad. Praying for family, friends, community, country and the like seem so benign. But praying for any of those can often require an empowerment of us so that we might become more significant agents in the family’s or country’s well-being.
And there is more. Paul in Romans 8 makes a definite connection between the Holy Spirit and prayer. As I have shared several times previously, the Greek word “pneuma” can mean spirit, breath, wind. This time around, the “breath” helps us in our weakness … with “sighs too deep for words.” The “breath,” writes Paul: “… intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
If we allow this biblical truth to set with us and sink deeply into our hearts and minds, what we get is that prayer is spiritual breathing, that is, inhaling the word and will of God and exhaling his praise. When that happens, we are fully alive; when it does not, we are not spiritually alive. So breathe, folks, that beautiful and powerful fresh and clean air of the “Holy Breath.”
So far then we are to admit that when it comes to prayer we do not know what we are doing. We offer many words and so many of those words are about changing everything and everyone around us but not ourselves.
When we pray appropriately, we are breathing the breath of God. The promise which flows from this living exercise is that “… all things work together for good for those who love God.” (8:28)
The primary problem I have and share with many if not most of you is timing. God’s promises are seldom fulfilled immediately. We may have to wait a while or a whale of a long time.
What happens in this at times painful meantime is that we are promised that nothing … NOTHING … NOTHING we can name “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The significance of this in a practical way cannot be overstated. I belong to God in Jesus Christ. I have been called by name, made his own and have God’s promise never to leave nor to forsake me!
So, I or a loved one having a significant medical issue is among all other things an opportunity for me to remember joyfully that I belong to Christ Jesus. That can never mean that I sit back and lend no support to the medical professionals. It never means that in any way I fail to be supportive of the loved one. I still do everything reasonable and potentially helpful that I can, but first and foremost I believe that whatever “this” is cannot separate me from the love of God.
If one loses a job, secular and spiritual resources will tell you that whining and complaining and being dragged down won’t help, but remembering who you are in Christ Jesus can never hurt you in your pursuit of another job!
Given the current shape of things political, the current attack of things viral, whatever else is happening or not in your personal life, breathe easy, breathe in the word, will and wonder of God and breathe out his praise and your faith in his promises. That is exactly what prayer is and if it changes anything for sure, it will change you and you will love the change because it will place you in the best possible position and condition to be an agent of positive change in others.
Where’s the joy when we’ve got storm troopers in Oregon?
Where’s the joy when we have such animus between various peoples in our own country?
Where’s the joy when we have economic concerns about how we’re going to manage economically and financially?
Where’s the joy?
Interim Pastor David Mueller attends to that subject in today’s Midweek Extra, an informal video discussion of questions sent to him and his thoughts on assorted issues of the day.
He also discusses making reparations for slavery and other injustices.
Have your own questions for Pastor Mueller? Send them to the church office for future consideration.
Thanks to John Lasher, director of music and worship arts, for producing these videos.
Please note the new 10 a.m. Sunday service start time!
Editor’s Note: This is the 14th Sunday since we worshiped together in our sanctuary! But worship continues — every day in so many different ways. Today, John Lasher, director of music and worship arts, is taking a small, virtual step toward regaining that togetherness, setting 10 a.m. as the time he will make our prerecorded worship service “live” on the St. Mark’s YouTube Channel. As he noted in a message published earlier this week, this is an effort to move us all back to a common time of worship, which — you may recall — we shared either at our 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. service. Now, at 10 a.m. on Sundays, we can “gather” again at a common time. Of course, if you can’t make it at 10, you can tune in later and join in the prerecorded worship.
The goal in the not-so-distant future, when the church has reopened, is to broadcast the service live on the Internet — “livestreaming” it — so that those who cannot be present can join in worship with those who are present in real-time.
For a little while longer, we savor these prerecorded connection points, provided by John Lasher and his team. In addition to John, this week’s leaders include Interim Pastor David Mueller and worship assistant Jeannine Herrmann. Also participating are this week’s Virtual Choir: Dave Herrmann, Allen Kirk, John Lasher, David McClure, John Nichols and Cheryl Powell. Additional voices on “The Lord’s Prayer” include: Fred Meckley, Jan Meckley and Teresa Stebner.
You can see the pre-recorded service, starting at 10 a.m. Sunday, on the St. Mark’s YouTube channel at the link below. If you subscribe, you’ll also get weekly notices of the upcoming broadcast.
Also below is the text of Pastor’s sermon, if you’d like to read along.
“Rejoice Anyway” (Romans 5:1-8)
Interim Pastor David E. Mueller
My strong hunch is that none of us would desire or accept a joyless Christianity.
Most of us fully realize that Christmas and Easter are more joyful than Lent. We are aware that there are circumstances in our environment which can, and, in some cases, should mitigate our joy. There is nothing joyful about a deadly virus. While we may support protests of certain kinds, they are seldom joyful.
Clearly, in the midst of such conditions, there are experiences of a positive kind about which we can be joyful, as when neighbors care for the family of a patient with COVID-19 or one sees video of a policeman and a protester kneeling together. Most people want to be happy. We live in a country which celebrates the “pursuit of happiness.” As human beings we need some joy anyway!
PRAY WITH ME PLEASE:
O Lord God, Heavenly and loving Father, we believe in You; we have our Savior in the person of Jesus, Your son, and in Him we know grace and forgiveness; we believe that we need and have Spiritual power to live in the world. Sometimes, Lord, the world can be an ugly and dangerous place to live. Other times, we appreciate the beauty around us and the people in our lives close to us. We rejoice in the beauty of the earth and most of the people inhabiting it. Please Lord, allow us to know joy these days, for we know that no matter how dark the night, joy comes in the morning. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
To be a Christian living in Rome was for the better part of three centuries, a potentially difficult and, at times, dangerous place to be. At one point, the citizens believed that Christians were cannibals because they heard that they were eating body and drinking blood. There was one Emperor who felt that the Christians were making the Roman government look bad because of how much the Christians cared for the poor. There were periods of persecution toward Christians, especially when a scapegoat was needed for government impotence or incompetence. Interestingly, persecuting a religious minority tends to assure their growth.
I personally believe that a person could get along fine in the faith if the only resources they had were one of the Gospels and the Roman letter. Paul’s letter to the Roman congregation is jam-packed with theological and practical significance.
In our second lesson appointed for today from Romans 5:1-8, Paul starts by reiterating how we are made right with God, that is, through faith in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ we have peace with God. In a similar reading from Philippians 4:4-7, Paul reminded the Philippian Church to “rejoice in the Lord, always … do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Interestingly, they and we are not promised answers to the prayers on our terms and timetable, but rather: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This is Paul’s way of saying that being at peace with God is primary and essential and that whatever else is going on cannot violate, victimize or in any way damage that peace.
In Romans 5:2, 3, Paul invites us to boast (other translations: “rejoice”) not only in our hope of sharing the glory of God, but also in our sufferings. The Christian faith, in this case, as in some other circumstances, could not be any bolder.
Always pay close attention to the prepositions. We are told to boast or rejoice IN our sufferings and not because of them. In the midst of whatever sort of difficulties, dangers or disasters one might be in, boast, rejoice!
Paul goes on to delineate the process: “suffering produces endurance, enduranceproduces character, character produces hope.” If then we desire hope in the midst of suffering, boast, rejoice!
“Hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” It is all here: Holy Spirit and love. The love, like the cup in Psalm 23, is poured and running over. We are filled up with and spilling over with God’s love even and especially if we also are dripping with blood due to persecution and pain.
All this, by the way, is love shown us “while we still were sinners” for whom Christ had to die! Perfection or near perfection is not a prerequisite for mercy and forgiving love. It is called grace!
I have found in my pastoral ministry that I could never run into a suffering situation and cry out “Rejoice! Rejoice!” or “Boast! Boast!” We hear a great deal these days about empathy, which is to enter a painful situation close enough emotionally to feel at least some of the pain being experienced by someone else. Sympathy stays at a distance and says “Isn’t it awful!” Empathy moves into the awfulness. Obviously, this is not easy and involves some risks.
While on staff at the University of Virginia Medical Center back in 1976, I was beeped in the middle of the night to come to the Pediatric Clinic. When I got there, everyone, including two physicians, was hysterical. I first insisted that the physicians leave. I learned quickly that a grandmother was in a room with her deceased 18-month-old granddaughter and would simply not give the child up.
I went into the room, introduced myself, and got down and leaned with her against the wall. We talked for a half hour, during which I learned that this was the second grandchild she had lost within a year. She brought tears to my eyes and an ache to my heart. She finally calmed down some, gave the baby over to me, the family crowd calmed and the physicians came back with this look on their faces as if to say: “It’s a miracle!” No! It was just a little genuine empathy.
We live in complex and troubling times for a host of reasons, but also divided times. Perhaps our greatest temptation is not so much to learn to rejoice or boast in our own sufferings, but not to rejoice in the suffering of others!
There is a Jewish “Midrash” — not a biblical but later interpretive imperative — that the Hebrews were not to relish or rejoice in the deaths of Pharaoh’s army when the Red Sea came on them after the Hebrews got through on dry land. It teaches as if to say: “Who do you think you are to relish the tragic deaths of others, even enemies?”
There have been people, some for decent reasons, others for silly ones, who have not worn masks in the face of COVID-19. There will most likely be consequences, but please, do not boast that you were smart and caring enough to wear yours and now those others get what is coming to them. Never boast of yourself or rejoice when others suffer even if they brought suffering upon themselves. Always be glad when justice is served, but not when the one it is served on suffers the consequences of their own acts. Four Minneapolis Police officers are in a whole lot of trouble. Let justice prevail but do not rejoice.
All of this falls into a very different place than we tend to think. What we are to boast about, usually quietly I suspect, is our hope of sharing the glory of God who know that Christ died for us not because we deserved it, but because He loves us.
Might we be so bold as to love even those who would persecute us?
