The Lion's Pause

WE SEEK TO UNITE ALL PEOPLE WITH GOD AND EACH OTHER IN CHRIST THROUGH WORSHIP, FELLOWSHIP, EDUCATION, AND SERVICE

Rector's Ramblings

By the time this article is published, I will be in Lexington, Kentucky for a class on Thomas Merton. Merton wrote of a moment of conversion in his book Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. At the intersection of Fourth and Walnut in Louisville, Kentucky, Merton looked at all of the people around him and came to the realization that he loved all of them, and that he could not possibly be alienated from another person. He wrote, “It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness.”

Merton went on to write, “It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, though it is a race dedicated to many absurdities and one which makes many terrible mistakes: yet, with all that, God Himself gloried in becoming a member of the human race.”

On this last day of the Season of Christmas, take a moment to contemplate the fact of the incarnation. God became one of us to reconcile us to Himself and to one another. There is no one who is alien to us. There is no such thing as an ordinary human. Each person you meet bears the image of God, which was exalted by the incarnation of the Son of God.

Merton insisted that if we all come to this conclusion, there could be no more violence. To destroy a human life is to do violence against the image of God. If only we could see one another as we really are, as those whom God loved so much that the Son of God would choose to become one of us.

Fr. RJ+

Sunday, January 7, 8 and 10 a.m. Morning Prayer

Lessons

Bulletin

Live Stream

Monday, January 8:

Knitting, 1 p.m.

Book Club, 3 p.m. Love is the Way by Bishop Michael Curry

Wednesday, January 10

Evening Prayer, 4 p.m. on Zoom

Bulletin Zoom

Monday, January 15:

Office Closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Save the Date: Annual Meeting, January 28

Fire Panel Campaign Update:

A big thank you to the nineteen parishioners who donated to the Fire Panel Campaign, as of the end of 2023 St. Mark’s received $8,870.00 of our $10,000 goal.

The new panel is installed and has been inspected by the necessary government departments.

Donations are still being accepted- any amounts over the $10,000 will be earmarked for future capital improvements.

Please note Fire Panel on any contributions.

Thank you for your prayerful consideration,

St. Mark’s Finance Committee

The Diocese has continued to offer easy online giving. To use this, please select "St. Mark's Canton" from the dropdown, and choose either a one-time or recurring gift. We thank you for your continued support.

Designate a Gift to St. Mark's

Newsletter Additions

If you are adding something to the Lion's Pause, please submit it here by the Monday prior to Friday publication.

Step right up and be a GREETER prior to the 10 o’clock service. Add your name to the sign up sheet on the kiosk in the lobby. All that’s needed is a smile and welcoming phrases to fellow parishioners and visitors alike. Hospitality is contagious !

NOTABLE - Bob Morrison

One of my favorite composers is Natalie Allyn Wakeley Sleeth. Her "Joy in the Morning" has outsold every other item in the Hope Publishing Catalog. She has 200 works in print, and everything she wrote seems bubbly with joy.

But her minister husband was afflicted with cancer, and, for his memorial, she wrote "Hymn of Promise" ("in the bud there is a flower...something God alone can see..."

As fate would have it, Natalie succumbed also to cancer, and the "Hymn of Promise" was sung at her funeral - in fact, I have used this work at every funeral service I've played. It is so touching and comforting.

But another of her writings has also been a favorite of mine and of our choir librarian Beck Rand: "Feed My Lambs." It is scored for unison choir, keyboard, and two flutes. Some time ago I hired two flautists to play this delightful work.

As the years went by, I wanted to schedule it again, but I didn't want to spend money for two players to do just one piece. And then it hit me: Ron Hill had donated his Radio Shack synthesizer to St. Mark's - an electronic device that can imitate a host of musical sounds, including flutes! I enlisted the aid of Bruce Schutrum, who, unlike me, is quite proficient in these modern marvels of technology. He worked with the synthesizer, dividing the keyboard into two separate entities. His left hand played a flute, his right hand, a different flute - and - voila! - two flutes. I connected up the boombox (which we had been using out of doors) to amplify the sound, with a prayer that it wouldn't cut out like it had one summer Sunday. And - Gott Sei Dank, it worked.

I also used the boombox to boost the handbell tree when Karen Violand played communion music, hoping again that it wouldn't cut out - so far so good.

Then came the refurbishing of the Betty Fortney Sanctuary in the Woods last Fall, and I trotted out the boombox once again. I needn't have bothered.

January Anniversaries

16 Mark and Kim Nadel

24 Fred and Roberta Zollinger

January Birthdays

3 Sara Strattan

4 Livvy Mull

8 Rick Crowl

10 Debbie Shellhammer

18 Julie Werren

25 Barrie Thorp, Ten Gall

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Prayer Concerns

Pat Julian, Ten Gall, Vonda Temelkoff, Henry Aegerter, Jim Weaver, Jane Schutrum, & Ron Brookes

Family and Friends: Sandra Carnes (friend of Leslie Redmond); Dr. Mallamaci (acquaintance of Bobbi Zollinger); Jeanette Moore (Louise Moore’s daughter); Jolanda Mull, Dr. Sandy Lopater, Kirk Schuring, Pam Lagodich, & Bill Allen (sister-in-law & friends of the Mulls); Earl Hoot (father of Joe Hoot); Chuck Boone (cousin of Bruce Hixon), Ashley Stockman (friend of Katie & Ryan Kuceyeski); Tim Swihart & Michelle Graber (friends of the Gordons); Larry Aclaska & Judy Heisser-Turner (acquaintence & sister of Bert Heisser); Lee, Theresa, & Addelyn, and Chuck Boone (friends & cousin of the Hixons); Nori Shawk (friend of Brynn Pelger); Heidi Hoekstra (friend of Father RJ); Alison & Johnny Willoughby (friend & grandson of the Willoughbys); Middle East & Heather Armington (request & friend of the Watters); Jane King; Elaine Campbell (friend of the Turners); Sammy (friend of Leslie Redmon); Bob Rownd (friend of John Werren & Anne Coen); Melanie & Trish (friends of Paulette Frech); Pat Walter & family (friend of Barb Whitehouse); Don Martin & Mark Osterhage (classmate & neighbor of the Watters); Alycia Geis (Karen Violand’s friend’s daughter); Don & Janet Sheatzley-Morgan (husband & sister of Barb Siegfried); DaNay Jackson (friend of Ron Brookes); Allison Cornell-Hood, Jody Serentsis, & Anne Higgins (daughter & friends of Diane Cornell); Finnigan Savage (friend of Pam McCarthy); Jimmy Little (son of Sue Little); Yanette Pysher (Vonda Temelkoff’s cousin); Tony Donahue (friend of the Boyds); Marc Hostetler (brother of Susan Hostetler); David (acquaintance of the Nadels).

For those who have died.

For those in the armed forces.

PRAYER CHAIN:

St. Mark's has a group of prayer warriors who pray for the specific needs of those on the prayer chain. If you would like to place yourself or a loved one on the prayer chain, please contact Bobbi Gordon at ggordon24@sbcglobal.net

Prayer requests may be placed on the private Prayer Chain or on the Prayer Concerns list appearing in The Lion's Pause and Sunday bulletin or in both places. Please let Bobbi know your preference. Unless otherwise instructed, names will be listed as we receive them. Please update Bobbi or Katie on the status of your friends or family members as to when they may be removed from the prayer lists.