Sunday, May 14, 2023

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel is quoted as saying that “Faith is not the clinging to a shrine, but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.” In the scripture passage we will explore this Sunday (based on Acts 17:22-31), the apostle Paul is preaching, in front of the Areopagus, to the Athenians and some foreigners who are gathered. There are differences among them in terms of philosophy, background, age, practices and beliefs.

This passage not only speaks to these, but also invites us to reflect upon how we interact with one another, while recognizing our differences. Will we respond in a way that is over and against one another, or seek common ground and engage in respectful dialogue with each other? The sermon is titled “Place to Place & Generation to Generation”.

In our time of worship, we will pray and reflect, sing hymns, and share a Children’s Moment. The Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs, will lead us in music. If you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for a long time, a short time, or will be joining us for the first time, we look forward to connecting with those of you here in-person or joining on the livestream.

If you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for a long time, a short time, or will be joining us for the first time, we look forward to connecting with those of you here in-person or joining on the livestream.

Sunday, May 7, 2023

Have you ever had an unexpected conversation, perhaps on a shared journey, with someone who opened you up to a new perspective or understanding? It may not have been an epiphany in the moment, but a seed was planted and grew within you, perhaps subtlety over time.

This Sunday we spend some time with the story of two individuals, who were followers of Jesus, walking on a road towards the village of Emmaus. They are overwhelmed with grief and confusion, having just experienced Jesus’ death. As the two try to make sense of this, they joined by someone else on the road. He asks them questions, and opens them up to a deeper understanding of the scriptures. They implore him to come stay with them in Emmaus and to share a meal. It is in the breaking of the bread, they recognize it is Jesus.

In our time of worship, we will explore how this scripture passage (based on Luke 24: 13-35) might be speaking to us. We will also share a Children’s Moment and Craig Stewart will lead us in our time of prayer. The Bell Choir will share a Prelude, and Ella Torres will offer a solo. We will sing hymns led by our Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs. We will also share in the sacrament of Communion. The sermon is titled “Sharing a Journey, Sharing a Meal & Unexpected Grace”.

If you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for a long time, a short time, or will be joining us for the first time, we look forward to connecting with those of you here in-person or joining on the livestream.

Sunday, April 30, 2023

In all of life, there are many comings and goings. On June 17 in 2012, Greensburg United Methodist Church held a lovely service in which they said goodbye to Jimmy as their pastor. They had a loving and productive connection for the three years of that appointment, and that day, they said some kind things, offered him some meaningful gifts, and enacted several farewell rituals. In one of them, they had helped the children learn a song to sing to him. Knowing he was a diehard Cubs fan, the song was a playful rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, with alternate lyrics. It was all very clever, but the ending was especially fun. The children sang, “…and it’s one, two, three years, you’re out, at Greensburg Methodist Church.” When they sang, “You’re out”, they all raised their thumbs, mimicking an umpire calling someone out at home plate. Everyone laughed out loud, including Jimmy. He found it delightful that the leaders who worked with the children allowed them to be “Bishop” for a day, sending him merrily and lovingly on his way to the next appointment.

Psalm 121 is one of the “psalms of ascent”, which pilgrims sang on their way to Jerusalem for one of their three festivals. The psalm declares the guidance and protection for the pilgrims on the way. “The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night.” And it concludes with these lines: “The LORD will bless your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

We are at heart a pilgrim people, and in life and faith, we are always on journey. We are always, as it were, coming and going. Part of the way we enrich the life of our community is to bless these entries and departures. And we will honor that in the service on Sunday. Mary Beth and Jimmy will co-preach a sermon titled, “Meeting Ourselves Coming and Going,” arising from Psalm 121 and Luke 10: 1-9, 17-20. During the service, we’ll honor the “coming” of several new members. We’ll also welcome the return of our Appalachia Service Project (ASP) team who spent the week in Jonesville, Virginia. We’ll also include a blessing for Jimmy and the church as he commences his Clergy Renewal Leave, which is being funded by the Lilly Endowment. We’ll sing hymns, pray and have a moment for children. We will be led musically by the Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs.

If you have been a part of the St. Mark’s community for years, or if you are just discovering us, we look forward to connecting with you on Sunday. To join the 10:30 service online, visit www.smumc.church, and click on the Live Stream banner.

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Norman Wirzba, a theology professor at Duke Divinity School, grew up on a farm in Alberta, Canada, and had hoped to become a farmer himself. But events conspired to lead him on a different path, and he found himself studying philosophy and religion at Yale University and Loyola University Chicago. A chance meeting with Wendell Berry, organic farmer and poet, convinced him that he could weave his love of agriculture with his theological work.

In his book, Making Peace with the Land: God’s Call to Reconcile with Creation, Norman describes a drive in 1986, from Canada and through the United States, on his way to enroll in Yale Divinity School. He had been acclimated to the smells of Alberta, where the air was crisp and clean, and carried with it the scent of sweet grass. As he drove, he passed through Gary, Indiana, which he experienced as having “thick gray air, an unbelievably foul smell, a greenish-orange cloud in place of the horizon and smokestacks belching putrid poison into the sky”. He knew that the way plant, animal and human life was being treated in this region was deeply wrong. He discovered that when he got to Yale, no one was discussing the theological implications of this deep challenge, and the call to faithfully steward creation. Norman’s contemporary work seeks to join with others who are addressing this need.

The celebration of creation and the call to nurture even the very “ground” of our being are deeply woven in our Scriptures. In the creation story, humanity is formed from the dust of the ground. In the guidance in Leviticus, those who tend the earth are to allow land to lie fallow for every seventh year. In the teaching of Jesus, we read that grasses of the field are clothed with glory, and the birds of the air are cared for by their Creator. In the midst of such blessedness, we ask ourselves how we are to respond when creation is in deep trouble.

The theme of Sundays’ worship service at St. Mark’s, following on the commemoration of Earth Day the day before, is the Call to Care for Creation. The sermon is titled “For God So Loved the Soil: A Call to Reconcile with Creation.” The biblical texts for the day are Leviticus 25: 1-14, which will be read by Anna Capone, and Matthew 6: 25-34, to be read by Drew Capone. The service will also include a conversation with Drew Capone, Assistant Professor in the Indiana University School of Public Health. He will tell us a little about how faith has helped shape his concern for creation and his approach to matters of sustainability. Members of the congregation will also be given an opportunity, following the service, to express their interest in working with the St. Mark’s Creation Care Team. We’ll have a moment for children, sing together, and pray for one other and our world. Musically, we will be led by the Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs.

If you have been a part of the St. Mark’s community for years, or if you are just discovering us, we look forward to connecting with you on Sunday. To join the 10:30 service online, visit www.smumc.church, and click on the Live Stream banner.

Sunday, April 16, 2023

Rachel Held Evans was an Christian author, speaker and blogger, who died at the very young age of 38. Her writings are notable, and attracted a great deal of attention, as she artfully described some of the shifting in her spiritual life. When she was fourteen, Rachel and her family moved to Dayton, Tennessee, the setting for the 1925 Scopes Monkey trial. In this trial, a high school science teacher was accused of violating state law by teaching evolution to his students.

Rachel’s own home was deeply fundamentalist, and early in her adult life, this was the theological path she followed. But a few experiences started to lead to deep questions for her. To name just one, she travelled globally, and saw firsthand intense poverty and suffering. She could not understand how a loving God could send a woman to hell, who was combing the streets of her town trying to get food for her baby. Experiences like this ushered in a time of deep questioning, and inevitably, profound doubt. But as she continued to seek, she found a faith that was much more reliable, openhearted and openminded. “In the end”, she would say, “it was doubt that saved my faith.”

Sunday’s Gospel lesson is the well known story of one disciple of Jesus who is commonly referred to as “doubting Thomas.” Thomas was not with the disciples when the risen Christ first appeared to them. When they told him their news, Thomas was incredulous, claiming that unless he saw the wounds of Jesus, and touched them, he would not believe. Stories like Rachel’s press the point: Is Thomas a warning that we should be concerned about our doubts? Or, instead, is Thomas one whose story can encourage us to explore our doubts and questions openly? Was Shakespeare’s character Lucia correct in saying, “Our doubts are traitors.”? Or is Frederick Buechner closer to the mark when he said, “Doubt is the ants in the pants of faith.”

We’ll work with this in the service this week, the second Sunday of Easter. The sermon is titled, “Doubt Will Save the World: Heresy or Saving Grace.” The sermon flows from John 20: 19-31, to be read by Laura Baich and Bill Matthews. We’ll be led musically by the Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs. We’ll sing, pray and have a moment for children. We hope you join us.

If you have been a part of the St. Mark’s community for years, or if you are just discovering us, we look forward to connecting with you on Sunday. To join the 10:30 service online, visit www.smumc.church, and click on the Live Stream banner.

Sunday, April 9, 2023

I get a truly odd feeling when I remember the first Easter Sunday of the pandemic. As you recall, the world had pretty much shut down, and communities of faith searched for alternative ways of doing worship. So, that morning, in a service that typically draws the largest attendance of the year, the only ones present in the sanctuary were the pastors, singers, an instrumentalist, and those managing the live stream. I remember thinking to myself, though I knew the answer, “This is not Easter. Where are all the people?” Indeed, part of the Easter experience is asking ourselves where we are in the story.

A few years back, theologian John Dominic Crossan made an interesting observation about the iconography (devotional art) of the resurrection of Christ. The Western Churches, those in the Roman Catholic orb, tend to show Jesus rising alone. In the Eastern churches, those in the Orthodox communities, are more likely to show others with Christ, often with their arms being grasped by Jesus as he pulls them up from the grave. Here, for example, is one image of the Resurrection, called Anastasis (Greek, meaning “up/rising”), which is found on the outside south wall of the Church of St. George, at the Voronet Monastery in Bucovina, Romania. In it, we see Jesus lifting Adam, with Eve beside him, from the place of burial. The “people” were part of the resurrection story. Theologically, it is significant that in some of the most ancient imaging of the resurrection, the Risen Christ is reaching out to bring humanity to risen life as well. Rather than seeing the resurrection as simply a demonstration of divine power, this tradition sees the resurrection as God’s graceful determination to welcome us all into the goodness of abundant life. We are, in the language of the Apostle Paul, risen with Christ.

On Sunday morning, we will gather to sing our faith, to proclaim resurrection, and to hear the story of Christ’s triumph over death. At the conclusion of the service, we will sing the Hallelujah Chorus together. The sermon is titled “What We Love Knows How to Find Us,”, language taken from a poem by Jan Richardson. The sermon flows from Matthew 28: 1-10 read by Tina Irvine and Colossians 3: 1-4 which will be read by Kathy Scheid. We will have a children’s moment, sing and pray. We will be led musically by the Chancel Choir, accompanied by organist Ilze Akerbergs, orchestral musicians, and the bell choir as well.

If you have been a part of the St. Mark’s community for years, or if you are just discovering us, we look forward to connecting with you on Sunday. To join the 10:30 service online, visit www.smumc.church, and click on the Live Stream banner.

Sunday, April 2, 2023

On multiple media platforms, there have been video images of a woman, standing alone, as part of a larger protest, in the small country of Georgia. She is waving a European Union flag, as part of a growing pro-Western opposition to pieces of legislation, by the governing party, that they view as siding with the Kremlin in Russia. As police use water cannons to disperse the crowd, it appears that this woman will have no chance to remain standing and wave the EU flag. Then, a few other protesters come and stand with her, and help support her against the water that would knock her down. Others join them, then more and more. And, the police turn off the water cannons.

In this Palm Sunday’s scripture passage (based on Matthew 21:1-11), Jesus rides into Jerusalem not on a majestic horse but on a simple donkey. A crowd forms, and many spread their cloaks and cut branches on the road on which Jesus travels. Roman authorities took note of the attention Jesus was getting. The scripture says, “When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” Those in the crowd said, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” Some might think that a group led by prophet from Nazareth, with a small number of disciples and few financial resources would not last long. Yet, here we are. What do we see as our role in the crowd today?

Early in the worship service, children, youth, and the young at heart (of all ages) are invited to be part of the Parade of Palms. Also, in our time of worship, we will pray and reflect, sing hymns, and share a Children’s Moment. Our Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs, will lead us in music. We will also celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion. The scripture passage, based on Matthew 21:1-11, will be read by the Thomas family. The sermon title is “Then a Glimpse of Hope and Possibility Emerges from the Crowd”.

Palm Sunday is also our annual invitation to everyone to be a part of “Sit Somewhere Else Sunday”. If you have a regular place you sit in the sanctuary, consider sitting somewhere else. It is just an invitation, as an opportunity to gain a new perspective, and perhaps meet someone new.

If you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for a long time, a short time, or will be joining us for the first time, we look forward to connecting with those of you here in-person or joining on the live stream.

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Frederick Buechner, novelist and writer of several volumes of spiritual autobiography, puts his own spin on the story of medieval Catholic saint, Godric. Godric, late in his life, is approached by an eager young Monk, named Reginald, who wants to write the story of the holy man’s life. But the seasoned and reflective Godric did not appreciate it when Reginald left out the “sinful” parts of his past. In Godric, we meet an aged saint who is weighing what is important at the end of life. He would say, “What’s lost is nothing (compared) to what’s found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.”

Maybe Buechner’s Godric is correct…that by comparison to life, death could scarcely fill a cup. But it doesn’t always seem that way. Death has intruded in our world in ways unexpected and tragic, taking from us dear ones who mean the world to us. And these losses inevitably are prelude to our consideration of our own death. Whether it is the thought of leaving this world, or the sheer fear of dying itself, the end of life is a vital part of our spiritual journey.

The lectionary reading for this fifth Sunday of Lent is that of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. Lazarus had fallen ill, and Jesus, who was traveling elsewhere, was notified. Eventually, Jesus did return to Judea, but by the time he arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had already been dead for four days. Mary and Martha approached Jesus separately, and each said, “Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Hearing this, and seeing their sorrow as well as the sorrow of others, Jesus began to weep. The story concludes with the raising of Lazarus, but it is impossible to overlook that faith flows from the experience of compassion…the sense that our dread of death is something God deeply understands.

We’ll talk about this in worship on Sunday, as the sermon is titled, “Now, and At the Hour of Our Death.” The sermon flows from the text in the Gospel of John, chapter 11. The Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs, will lead us musically.

If you have been a part of the St. Mark’s community for years, or if you are just discovering us, we look forward to connecting with you on Sunday. To join the 10:30 service online, visit www.smumc.church, and click on the Live Stream banner.

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Sam Wells, Anglican priest and one time Dean of the Chapel at Duke University, recounts a visit he and some friends made to the Blind Cow Restaurant in Zurich, Switzerland. The Blind Cow serves to support the community of visually blind and sight impaired individuals. All the staff members are either completely blind or have some inability to see well. The diner, upon entering the building, is immediately thrust into total darkness, and must rely on the other four senses for the culinary experience. Sam’s crew walked in with hands on the shoulder of the other, hoping no one trip them by seeking to play a cruel trick. Once seated, their hosts guided them through the meal, which was pleasant, but challenging. This was, as Sam would say, an “eye opening” experience.

How do we see deeply into the precious matters of faith and life, some of which seem to make no sense at all? Annie Dillard, in her autobiographical narrative titled Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, has a chapter called “Sight”. She begins by talking about a childhood obsession of hers, in which she would take a precious penny of hers and hide it where folks could potentially find it. She would draw chalk arrows and then write, SURPRISE AHEAD or MONEY THIS WAY. Reflecting on this practice, she writes that for those of us living on this blessed planet, “The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand.” About the illumination that comes from noticing the glories of the world, she writes, “I cannot cause light; the most I can do is try to put myself in the path of its beam.” So, in terms of faith, how do we do that?

Faith is a call to learn new ways to see. In John 9, Jesus meets someone who was born blind, and eventually heals this person. He does so by mixing some of his saliva with dirt to make a mud paste and putting it in the man’s eyes. He then tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. After coming up from the waters, he can see. What follows is a lengthy and sometimes contentious conversation among Jesus, the healed person and the offended religious leaders. The last group believed that Jesus had violated the Sabbath in making the paste, and by urging the man to go to bathe. At heart, Jesus chose to bless this man’s life in some of the most common, and indeed, offensive ways possible. Wonder why?

We’ll chat about this on Sunday, as the sermon is titled, “A Tender and Grimy Grace”, language taken from a poem by Jan Richardson. John 9: 1-11 will be read by Ken Beckley, and Leigh Richey will read John 9: 24-38. We will sing, pray and have a time for children. The Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs, will lead us musically.

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Something remarkable happened on April 5, 1877. Helen Keller described this in her autobiography. Her incredible teacher, Anne Sullivan, was struggling to help Helen, who was both unable to see and unable to hear, to understand the difference between “mug” and “water”. She wrote, “We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Someone was drawing water, and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand, she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten--a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me.”

“Someone was drawing water.” In lands where water is scarce, the very presence of water is breathtaking. But in a culture like ours, with easy access to bottled water, tap water, and an abundance of rivers, streams and oceans, we might forget, ironically, that our bodies are composed of at least sixty percent water. Water is at the heart of who we are. Its absence quickly threatens us, and its presence, if we allow it, can open us deeply. Around the world, religious communities find a great deal of solace and thrill in the presence of water.

One day, Jesus asked someone at a well for a drink of water. This opened into a deep engagement that pushed the boundaries of gender, race and religious understandings. But mostly, it was a conversation about the nature of thirst: thirst for water, thirst for God, thirst for connection and deep knowing. Jesus told this woman, who deduced quickly that he possessed the gifts of a prophet, about a water that would reach to the most deep places in her being…deeper than all the things she had been taught, deeper than all of the limitations that had been placed on her. She would need to read all of her own history, and all the history of those who came before her, in the light of this water.

We’ll chat about this conversation on Sunday, as the sermon is titled, “The Thirst Which Drives Us Deep.” The Scripture for the day is John 4: 1-27, to be read by Terry Clapacs and Leana McClain. We will also hear an update on the Refugee Task Force from Craig Stewart. We’ll sing, pray and have a moment for children. The Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs, will lead us musically.

If you have been a part of the St. Mark’s community for years, or if you are just discovering us, we look forward to connecting with you on Sunday. To join the 10:30 service online, visit www.smumc.church, and click on the Live Stream banner.

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Have you ever intentionally invited someone into a conversation, knowing that individual held different views in areas that mattered to you? If so, did you learn something from that connection? I think about the unlikely close friendship between the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Antonin Scalia (and their spouses). Their shared interests and mutual respect for each other was strong, even with their differences of ideology.

In this Sunday’s scripture passage, Nicodemus, named as a Pharisee, comes to see Jesus in the night. We sense, in Nicodemus, a yearning to deepen his faith. He intentionally enters into a late night conversation with Jesus, that opens him to embrace new understandings and possibilities. What conversations and experiences might we embrace, in this Lenten season, that may deepen our faith and the ways in which we live that in the world?

The sermon is titled “Late Night Conversations and Embracing Life Anew”. The scripture passage is based on John 3:1-16. In our time of worship, we will pray and reflect, sing hymns, and share a Children’s Moment. Our Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs, will lead us in music. We will also celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

If you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for a long time, a short time, or will be joining us for the first time, we look forward to connecting with those of you here in-person or joining on the livestream.

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Some of you know that, through the kindness of the St. Mark’s community, and with funding from the Lilly Endowment, I’ll be going on leave from May through July. One of the things that I’ll be doing during that time is hiking in Maine, with some friends, the northern most section of the Appalachian Trail. The literature and the Internet are replete with stories of hikers who did not prepare well for their trip. One group tried to use their cell phones to signal to authorities when they realized that they might be in trouble, but poor reception blocked that plan. Later that day, they were able to make phone contact, and asked for emergency assistance. They were found later in the day, with all hikers showing the advance signs of dehydration. They had been gone fewer than 48 hours.

Preparations for hiking in the wilderness include making sure you have adequate water and food, are prepared for inclement weather, have good clothing and shoes, and have a good sense of where you are going. But what are the ways one may prepare for a sojourn into spiritual wilderness?

The story of the temptations of Jesus in the Gospels is the suggested reading for the first Sunday in Lent. After his baptism, Jesus was led to the wild and there experienced a version of deep testing. The temptations took several forms, including the temptation to do something to avoid sacrifice (turn stones to bread), to do something spectacular (jump off this temple) and to seek false empowerment (bow down to Satan). And these tests that would recur in Jesus’ life, and they show up in ours as well. What did Jesus do, and what do we do, to prepare for this kind of wilderness sojourn?

The sermon for Sunday is titled, “If You Would Enter Into the Wilderness”. The title arises from a Jan Richardson poem titled, “Beloved is Where We Begin.” The Scripture readings for the day are Psalm 32, and Matthew 4: 1-11. The Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs, will lead us musically. We’ll sing, pray and have a moment for children.

If you have been a part of the St. Mark’s community for years, or if you are just discovering us, we look forward to connecting with you on Sunday. To join the 10:30 service online, visit www.smumc.church, and click on the Live Stream banner.

Sunday, February 19, 2023

Years ago, I went camping with my son to the Sierra Nevada mountains, about six hours north of Los Angeles. The website we consulted said that if one had anxiety issues, the drive up to the campsite at about 7000 feet would be sure to reveal that. The website was correct, for sure. That night, the temperature dropped below freezing, and there was a light snow falling when we got up the next morning. But there was also a cloud encompassing us, evoking a truly eerie feeling. I walked to an overlook, about 200 feet from our tent, and discovered that the cloudy fog was intermittent. There I was able to glimpse a taller snow capped mountain across the way, with clouds dancing near its top. It was, without doubt, one of the most transcendent things I have ever seen. The anxiety and the cold paled in comparison to that moment.

Have you ever had a time of mystery and even cloudy foreboding which opened into a time of clarity, wonder and change, either personally or in the larger community? The lectionary reading of the Gospel for this Sunday is the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. In this mysteriously told story, Jesus is on a “high mountain” with several of his disciples when Elijah and Moses appear before them. Jesus’ clothes, the story says, are dazzling. At this moment in the story, a “bright cloud” appears, and from the cloud, the disciples hear a Voice from the cloud telling them to listen to Jesus. In this story, there is a moment of deep clarity and transformation.

What in the world can this story mean for contemporary folks like you and me? We’ll play with that in worship on Sunday, as the sermon is titled, “Beneath the Dark Clouds, the Passing of Light.” This sermon arises from Exodus 24: 12-18, which will be read by Mike Sonneborn, and Matthew 17: 1-9, to be read by Linda Crawford. We will sing together, pray together, and have a moment for children. The Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs, will lead us musically.

If you have been a part of the St. Mark’s community for years, or if you are just discovering us, we look forward to connecting with you on Sunday. To join the 10:30 service online, visit www.smumc.church, and click on the Live Stream banner.

Sunday, February 12, 2023

Each Sunday, in worship, we conclude our prayer time by saying the “Lord’s Prayer”. David Owen, who served as a pastor at St. Mark’s for years, and who is greatly missed, wrote about this prayer in his book “Getting There from Here”. He notes that the last words we say, ending in ‘forever, Amen’, were not Jesus’ words, but were added by the early church.

David reminds us that “One of the mysteries of life is that time and eternity- that is “right now” and “forever” exist side by side…Time and eternity are not separated by a thick, impenetrable wall, but by a soft yielding curtain.” (150-151). In the last few weeks, here at St. Mark’s, we have celebrated the lives of three wonderful people, who are also incredibly missed. At the same time, the love, care and gifts they shared, are living on through others and blessing our world.

In our time of worship, we will pray and reflect, sing hymns, and share a Children’s Moment. Misty Smith will read our scripture passage based on Luke 11:1-13. There will also be an important update from our Refugee Task Force. Our Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs, will lead us in music. Patrick Conklin will also sing a solo of “The Lord’s Prayer” by Albert Hay Malotte. The sermon is titled “Love that Knows No Bounds”.

If you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for a long time, a short time, or will be joining us for the first time, we look forward to connecting with those of you here in-person or joining on the livestream.

Owen, D. 1995. Getting There From Here: Meditations for the Journey. Bloomington, IN: Saint Mark’s United Methodist Church, pp. 149-155.

To connect to our livestream worship Sunday morning, click the link on our website www.smumc.church. The service starts at 10:30am. Livestream starts at 10:25am

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Jesus said in Matthew 5 that those who choose to be disciples are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” What is that kind of language intend to arouse in those who would embrace faith in the world? At the least, those words signify that we are called to be visible in the world, and impactful in the life we share in it.

Anne Lamott, in her story of her own coming to faith, writes starkly about the despair in which she lived, and the role that addictions had played in her life. With stunning frankness, she describes her own journey to faith. Telling her story with a disarming honesty, she writes that her faith story “did not start with a leap but rather with a series of staggers.” She also lets her readers know that the members of a tiny Presbyterian church were key players in her own life saving discovery. She writes, “I want to mention once again that I do not think I would be alive today if not for the people of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Marin City, California.”

German Lutheran theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who notably resisted the regime of Adolf Hitler, formed a confessing movement that stood as a faithful witness when much of the church had capitulated. Near the end of his life, while in prison, he would write, “I thought I could acquire faith by trying to live a holy life or something like it. Later I discovered and am still discovering up to this very moment that it is only by living completely in the world that one learns to believe.”

So, on Sunday at St. Mark’s, we’ll reflect on what it means to be “salt” and “light” in the world. The sermon is titled, “Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light,” arising from Matthew 5: 13-20. The Gospel passage will be read by Patrick and Becky McClellan. There will also be a brief mission moment by the St. Mark’s Refugee Task Force. We will sing, offer prayers, and have a moment for children. We will also celebrate Holy Communion.

If you have been a part of the St. Mark’s community for years, or if you are just discovering us, we look forward to connecting with you on Sunday. To join the 10:30 service online, visit www.smumc.church, and click on the Live Stream banner.