St. Mark’s Lutheran

I’ve been slow to get things on the website. For that I apologize. It has been a hectic season, and I want to share with you some of the stuff we’ve been working on and what will be coming up.

Last Sunday was the congregational meeting where the proposed budget for next year was presented and we walked through a discussion of moving from vision to mission. The previous post highlights that separately, but a lot of time and effor have gone into pulling those things together.

We will have a thanksgiving service on Wed, Nov 25 at 7 PM. Come sing and give thanks before the eating of the bird.

The Sunday following Thanksgiving is the start of Advent – the start of the new church year. We have a few things planned:
1) On Friday’s during Advent I will be hosting dinner. Twelve is roughly the comfort level for a family style dinner, so I’m taking reservations for you or any guests that you might like to invite. Give me or the office a call to reserve you seat at an Advent dinner.
2) We will be publishing an Advent devotional booklet. In preping for the season I came accross a gorgeous series of what were supposed to be bulletin covers (peek below). They will be the book covers and the theme of each weeks devotions.

I’ve been preping a basic lutheran teachings class that will start on Dec 6th in the 11 PM Sunday School hour. For anyone who would like to consider formal membership – this is the class. We will be using the Augsburg Confession as the source material. This should last about 6 weeks or longer depending upon class interest. I’d invite everyone to attend. It would be great to be forced to move rooms.

We continue to walk through Genesis on Thursday mornings at 10 AM

The confirmation class has passed out of the Old Testament overvew and is now reading the Gospel of Luke.

And that doesn’t touch on Community Lutheran, Operation Christmas Child, the fixing of the water drain and other other stuff going on.

Tags: Announcements, Church Direction by Parson Brown
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The attached presentation below was published in the newletter and was present at the 11/15 congregational meeting. At the last congregational meeting me present a vision for St. Mark. The response has been positive and the phrase we’ve been using is that is appears people have “bought into” the vision. Almost literally as our pledge drive to make the budget has been successful.

Now comes the harder part. Making that vision a reality. Giving form and structure, time and funding, to what has been nice words and feelings. Every healthy and successful congregation has two to three missions that taken it outside of its walls in service to their community. In this congregation we have been blessed with one such mission that now is the time to refurbish it – the preschool. We also need to spend the time thinking and praying about what the next mission might be as we move toward health.

The plea at the end is for members who want to help in setting the direction of the preschol. I’ve got 4 members. We will meet probably 5 times for 1 hour a time over the next couple of months and present the collective ideas and outline to the coucil in February. Short term need that could have a large impact. If interested, give me a shout.
Vision to Mission (preschool example)

Tags: Announcements, Church Direction by Parson Brown
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This past Sunday (Aug 2nd) we set aside time to present a vision of what St. Mark as a congregation could be and to talk about some of what it will take to get make that vision a reality. Posted here is the full presentation on the vision componant. Members of the church who were in worship saw and heard this live followed by our Stewardship Elder talking about our current fiscal health. Those who we not in church last Sunday (or who had not already heard it because they are on elders or council) will be receiving a mailing containing a letter for introduction, a couple of slides from this presentation and an invitation to look at the full presentation here. That mailing also includes a letter from our Stewardship Elder and a request for the members financial support over the next 5 months. Please prayerfully consider the vision presented and the elders request for support.

Vision Presentation – Power Point
Vision Presentation – PDF

Tags: Announcements, Church Direction by Parson Brown
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Just a note about the timing of updates here. My laptop screen has been going bad, but I’ve been limping through. Last week it finally went. I hope to get the replacement part today and fix it, but until I get my system working again, I just don’t have the easy ability to update the site. All my files and programs are on the laptop. The good news is that even if I can’t fix the screen that the system itself still works and I could plug in an external monitor.

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As I told the congregation this Sunday, little Ethan is doing well, and excpet for some tape over the cuts seems to be back in full health – no spit up and taking a full bottle. Thank you all for the prayers and support offered.

After that week that I would not want to re-live, and catching up on necessay things like Bible study and sermon prep, I can take some time to get back here.

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Sorry for the lite posting/responses this week. Ethan, our new baby boy, went into the hospital Sunday evening, had surgery Monday, and just came home. I’m catching up on some other necessary items first. I’m hoping to get back to this space tomorrow.

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Weight: 7 lbs 6 oz
Length: A little over 20 inches
Born with plenty of hair and a good set of lungs.
Name still TBD…

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This morning, about 4 AM, my wife pushes me and says she thinks its time and adds she is having contractions about 4 minutes apart. At 4 AM when I heard that I was thinking more about how to deliver a child than driving to the hospital becuase this thing is coming now. The 4 minutes things soon subsided. She got up and made the proper calls and walked around and what were felt to be contractions subsided or at least slowed way down. (While daddy is running around throwing the necessary stuff in the car only to be told not just yet.) The labor pains are starting, but not 4 mins apart. New life is on its way.

That seems a little like the drawing near of the kingdom to us. We are all pregnant (Romans 8:22-23) and can feel the pangs of our future glory. Sometimes the kingdom is as near as a 4 AM wakeup call with contractions 4 minutes about. And sometimes it says not quite yet. Babies and God both have their own timing. The thing that we do not have to worry about is the end. Babies are born. The Kingdom will be revealed in our flesh just as it is now in Jesus Christ.

With that note, here is the Easter Sermon. It was a glorious day. The congregation even drowned out the trombone. He is Risen!…He is Risen Indeed. Alelluia!

Full Text

Tags: Announcements, Mark, Meditation, Sermons, Worship, grace by Parson Brown
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Sorry for the light posting last week. Got a cold starting about wednesday evening and I am right now just emerging from a fog. I should be back to normal posting this week.

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I’ve been being pressured to chant, so Matins/Vespers is up this week. This is a warning. I can achieve volume, but Randy Jackson would be sitting there saying, “Dog…pitchy…way too pitchy”.

But the agreement is if I chant the congregation comes along as well. No wimping out on the Te Deum.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, that is fine, come to the service 10 AM Sunday and we’ll take some time to talk about the service first. And then you get to watch the train wreck. Everybody loves a trainwreck, right? I’ll try not to be the worst American Idol auditions example, but please don’t let me find myself on youtube.

Tags: Announcements, Events by Parson Brown
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