Miscellaneous

St. Mark’s Focused Outreach Opportunities

>> Kemp School Community Project <<

>> Canterbury Court <<

>> CARE House <<

Contact Father Mike or Jim Rudd to learn how you can get involved! Together we can make a difference.

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“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself; and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart fro that desire. And I known that, if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

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Need to know what’s happening this month or next at St Mark’s???  Then click HERE!
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Weekly Scripture Readings

The Revised Common Lectionary, which lists all of the upcoming readings for the year is now listed on our web site.  From the Main Menu, go to Schedules, Scripture Readings, and then select the appropriate year of interest.  …Or simply click HERE!

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Building and Grounds Information !!!

When you leave our buildings during the week, please be sure to close windows and doors and turn off the lights.

We have had several occasions lately when we have come in early in the morning to find stairway lights on, the breezeway lights on, a window open, and even the church office door open.

Thank you for your increased awareness of our need to keep our facilities — and the people who use them — secure!

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“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.”
— Woodrow Wilson

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What is the “Rector’s Discretionary Fund” anyway?

On the 4th Sunday of each month (e.g. next Sunday, October 24), the Plate Offering (loose bills and coins) is deposited in the Rector’s Discretionary Fund. According to the national church’s canons, this is a fund which is to be set aside in each church and is to be used by the Rector, at his or her discretion, to assist the poor. It may not be used for any other purposes.
Here are some ways that your contributions have been used 
to help others:

 

 

> Providing food for a family who lost their home and possessions in a fire

> Providing needed medication to a woman who was injured by her abusive husband

> Providing diapers for a “special-needs” child whose mother could not afford them

> Assisting a family who could not afford the cost of a funeral for their infant daughter.

Thank you, and may God bless you for your generosity!

 

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Thank you to the Parish Action Team for their past donations to the Rectors’ Discretionary Fund, which is used to assist the poor in our community.

Sincerely,
Mike Kreutzer

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I am the light of the world

Whoever follows me will never walk in 

darkness but will have the light of life.

John 8:12

Our lamp hanging in the Sanctuary

(In memory of Vincent Shields)

 

The lamp hanging in the sanctuary will need donors to keep it burning. The cost for each candle will be $6 for a two week period. Also, more than one person/family can sign-up for a candle. Each week the bulletin will announce from whom the candle was given and why. Sign-up sheet is on the bulletin board outside the church office.

 

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The Episcopal Book / Resource Center,
a service of the national church office,
has a new web address:
www.episcopalbookstore.org

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A thought for our time…

Richard Hooker (1554-1600) was probably the most important theologian in defining the Anglican approach to Christianity.  Observing the divisions within the Church of his time, and the tendency of various factions to claim that they alone hold the “true faith,” he wrote:

“Pray that none will be offended if I seek to make the Christian Religion an inn where all are received joyously, rather than a cottage where some few friends of the family are to be received.”

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Forward Day by Day

After the February/March/April issue of “Forward Day by Day”, St. Mark’s will no longer order these publications.  If you would like to continue to receive them, you may do so by sending a check for $13.97 for a 2-year subscription to the regular edition or $11.97 for a 1-year subscription to the large print edition to:

Forward Movement Publications

412 Sycamore Street

Cincinnati, OH 45202-4195

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It is said that music is the universal language for all people. Well, today, United Way is “preaching to the choir.” We believe St. Mark’s Episcopal and United Way have a common melody: 

>>> We care what happens to children and youth

>>> We promote strengthening individuals and families

>>> We respect dignity and independence for the elderly

>>> We support quality programs and services to meet needs

Please support the United Way campaign.

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St. Mark’s Vestry spent Saturday, March 8, 2003 in a work session, examining our mission and goals and ways that we can better address them.  One outcome of that meeting was the decision to take a new approach to our parish organizations.  Vestry members will now assume leadership roles for four areas of mission:

     Outreach and Evangelism

     Parish Life

     Education

     Facilities

Supporting all four of these are the functions of Communications and Finance.  Our intent is to work together to ensure that all these aspects of our life as a church are directed toward the mission with which we have been entrusted by God, and with the goals that we have set in order to fulfill that mission.   Watch for more information in the coming weeks and years!

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