Almost Summer Edition
From Peter
By the time this newsletter hits your inbox Memorial Day weekend, all sorts of graduation ceremonies, school reunions, weddings and family trips will be well underway. This is a busy time of year.
It is no less so in the church year. Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity Sundays are here. Boom. Boom. Boom.
On June 8th we’ll hold a parish meeting after worship.
Then begins the season of Pentecost, when the altar hangings turn green and stay so for months and months. I will continue to preach in short 3-sermon spurts, to bring some spiritual focus to sermon time. Let me know how that is working please.
It’s a busy time, indeed; and here are some reflections I am working on. I mentioned in the last newsletter our need to clearly divide up the various tasks that need attention week to week. A goal of the parish meeting will be to get those things firmed up.
I am aware that we have not been having any sort of after church gathering for refreshments or fellowship. My idea is to have a monthly “coffee hour” after service. We’ll do the normal chomping and chatting, and then I will lead a short Bible Study. Every three months we’ll forgo the Bible study and have a brief parish meeting.
Oh, the Wednesday Lenten Lunches were great. St. Mark’s was represented every week, a good chance to share fellowship with other Village Christians. Sadly yours truly was sick for the Wednesday assigned to us. Pastor Hector spoke in my place, and the folk of St. Mark’s and All Saints provided a great lunch.
I attended a Prayer Breakfast hosted by the Hoosick Falls Kiwanis Club. This is an impressive group that does a great deal for the village and surrounding area. They certainly have my support!
We included the Hoosick Falls Senior Center schedule in our last newsletter. The June schedule will be in the next newsletter.
In the meantime…
Thrift Store:
Open May 24th 10 - 2
Then in June - Wednesdays 2 - 5 and Saturdays 10 - 2
Special Dates:
Parish Meeting after service, June 8th.
Please note that in June there will be Morning Prayer on the 4th Sunday, June 22nd, and Communion on the 5th, June 29th. Peter is away on the 22nd.
And from a former St. Mark’s parishioner - The Rev. Denny Keegan
Denny serves as a Deacon in the Diocese of Albany, helping out at Christ the King Spiritual Life Center and at St. Paul’s in Greenwich.
While I write this I am also preparing for an upcoming sermon, and this half of a verse has captured my attention.
“And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’” Revelation 21:5a
This quote comes after John receives the vision from God of a new heaven and earth that are receiving the holy city, the new Jerusalem where God and his people dwell together forever. God appears to be making things new out of things and people that He has already created. God is not throwing things out and starting over. God is removing the corruption of sin and death from the world we were born into, so that we can live the lives that he intended in the first place. Lives where we are bearing the fruit of a right relationship with God and each other. Lives where we live together in mutual love.
I have seen this work begin to take root in my life. In my teen years I attended Hoosick Falls Central School. During this time I was an avowed atheist, even though I was raised in church. I also was one of those mischievous kids in tie-dye playing hacky sack in Wood Park just across the way from St Mark’s way back in the1990’s. In my mid 20’s I had an encounter with God. Life had been bumpy. I had made some bad choices.
Something in my inner self screamed out for some understanding of my situation. God clearly spoke to me, asking me where my sense of morality actually comes from. Even though I walked away from God, He had not walked away from me and I seriously pondered the question. The answer I came up with was my knowledge of the Bible, albeit very little. This caused me to rush home to my mother’s house and grab my childhood Bible. I have read the Bible every day since. That was over 16 years ago.
This reading also makes me pause to ask, what new thing is God making from and for St Mark’s. St Mark’s brings up wonderful memories of hospitality for me. Memories of Hazel Myers’ M&M cookies during Wednesday Band Concerts in the park, and playing in the backyard of the church as a youth. Where is God renewing your gifts for the new future God is calling for you?
