St. Mark's Episcopal Church
SAINT'S ALIVE
From the desk of Fr. Jim
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I pray that your summer is going well and that each and every one of you are taking some time to relax, reflect, and enjoy the beautiful weather we have been having and that your yards and gardens have been flourishing with all of the much needed rain we have been receiving. My family and I have been enjoying our summer and enjoyed our vacation even with my brief trip to Flagler Hospital to have my appendix removed. Having had two surgeries within a year has been difficult; however, it has shown to me exactly how wonderfully God cares for his children through the people in the church.
As many of you have noticed, St. Mark’s Church is continuing to grow as evidenced by new people coming for worship, old parishioners joining us once again, and new faces at breakfast on Sunday mornings. This is a wonderful situation for us to be in; however, with growth comes growing pains especially for a downtown parish such as St. Mark’s Church as we try to make everyone welcome in Christ’s name and minister to those who are less fortunate.
In making sure that our newcomers are welcomed and the homeless and poor are ministered to, I need your help, assistance, and input as to the best way we can achieve both ministries in a positive way for the benefit of everyone. I have many ideas on how to proceed and all will fair without your support; therefore, please contact me with your input on ministering to newcomers and to the homeless and poor either by phone, by e-mail, or by making an appointment. Once I have some input, I will have a meeting of all interested people in August to discuss both ministries. The basis for your input and prayers should begin with the scripture verse, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27)” And it should include, “Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:30-36)”
This congregation is very blessed and we should share our blessings so that everyone can know the love of Christ and the blessings that come from walking with God our heavenly Father every day. I look forward to receiving your input on these ministries, which are an important part of our life as a community of faithful Christians who love and serve the Lord.
The prayer for us for the next two months as we discern what direction Christ is leading us comes from page 826 of The Book of Common Prayer:
Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons who it would be easy for us to forget; the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Fr. Jim†
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL Jeanette Barber
We are looking forward to another year of Vacation Bible School at St. Mark’s. Please mark August 3 – 7, 2008 on your calendar. The times will be from 5:00 – 8:00 PM with dinner being served at 5:00. Our theme is “Veggie Tales – The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything”. I am very excited about this VBS and the enthusiasm that it will bring to these children.
The age groups are 3 – 12, so if you have a child that falls into this age group, please sign up. If you have children 13 and older, we are in need of helpers plus any adults that would like to help. You will be so blessed by this experience. Below is the list of team leaders that have graciously accepted the task and I am so very grateful and appreciative for each one of them. If you would like to help in one of these areas, please contact the team leader:
Teachers: Mary Beth Hedstrom, Christi Meyer
Arts and Crafts: Nancy Phelps
Games: Julie Sloan, Laura France
Spyglass Theatre: Janette Dorn
Music: Christina Dorn
Dinners: Shirley Dorsey
We are also in need of drinks (water, Kool-Aid, non-carbonated drinks) plus if anyone would like to donate money to help pay for the material for arts and crafts, games and other activities, please see me.
We want this to be a week that the kids will not forget and have fun learning about the Lord. There will be a meeting on Sunday, July 20th immediately following breakfast (about 9:30) to discuss VBS. Please join us if you are interested in helping.
Guild News Mary Gale
St. Mark’s Guild met for a luncheon in May at the City Café, but will stop meeting during the summer until September. All ladies are automatically members and we hope many will join us in the fall. We gather in the Parish Hall on the second Tuesday of the month, details later.
Our purpose is prayer, study, service and fellowship. Fr. Jim stops by occasionally to see that we are behaving.
HISTORY ROOM
If you have any new ideas or, would like to help in the History Room, please let Mary Gale know (325-7377). We can always use dusters too!
Also, if you stumble across any old treasures about St. Mark’s, please bring them in.
BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS Mike Watley
The dust has settled on the latest project of our church and plans are in the making for more work to be done to our great church.
New carpet has been installed in the new chapel area of the church and our altar that was sent out to be refurbished should be back soon.
As always, our MOB Squad is doing a great job maintaining our buildings. If you have any questions or thoughts, please see me. God Bless!
CHOIR NOTES Christine Townsend
The choir will be taking a well deserved summer break. Sing out with joy and fill the void – let us continue to fill God’s house with praise!!
If anyone would like to request a song, please call the church office or me at 328-5475.
JULY BIRTHDAYS
1st – Ella Lindsay, Steve Decubellis; 9th – Erwin Tyson; 11th – Martha Preston; 13th – Kath-erine Taylor, Janette Dorn; 17th – Ann Bartley, Tracy Taylor; 23rd – Amelia Sloan; 27th – Audrey Phinney; 29th – Sam Lemmond; 31st – Luke Crossley, Erika Meyer, Brownyn Porch
JULY ANNIVERSARIES
8th – Bill and Gertie Heath; 14th – Walt and Cherry Kraus; 17th – Art and Teddy Nichols;
19th – Mike and Dawn Akers; 27th – Steve and Janice Steele
AUGUST BIRTHDAYS
3rd – Sandy Ford; 5th – Corry Taylor; 8th – Ray Wilkes; 9th – Anthony Giardina, Mike Phelps; 10th – Bert Stoddard; 11th – Art Nichols; Jean Huntley, Brandon Wilkinson; 12th – Fr. Frank Chilton; 14th – Juanita Brisbin, Erik Clark; 15th – Lorraine Smith, Robert Smock, Jr.; 16th –
Ralph Willis; 20th – Richie Morris; 22 – Martha Chilton; 25th – Tim Smith; 26th – Betty Tyson, Sara Pines; 29th – Gini McClellan
AUGUST ANNIVERSARIES
3rd – Jared and Kim Dollar; 8th – Steve and Debby Decubellis; 15th – Anthony and Tiffany Campagna
We’re on the Web! www.stmarkspalatka.net
Fr. Jim’s Summer Reading Choices: “The Shack” by William P. Young and The Religious Faith of our 43 Presidents “God and the Oval Office” by John C. McCollister, Ph.D.
MISSION STATEMENT:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Clean Joke
Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering. Finally fed up, God said, “THAT’S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job.”
So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away. They moused. They faxed. They e-mailed. They e-mailed with attachments. They downloaded. They did spreadsheets. They wrote reports. They created labels and cards. They created charts and graphs. They did some genealogy reports. They did every job know to man. Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell. Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder roiled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off.
Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word know in the underworld.
Jesus just signed.
Finally the electricity came back on and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming: “It’s gone! It’s all GONE! I lost everything when the power went out!”
Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two house of work. Satan observed this and became irate. “Wait!” he screamed. “That’s not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don’t have any?”
God just shrugged and said, “JESUS SAVES!”
Holy Eucharist with healing is held each Wednesday at 12:15 p.m.
