February 9, 2024

Saint Mark's grief support group will meet on Saturday, February 10th from 9:30 to 10:30 am in the church office. Come join others experiencing the challenges of losing a loved one...you'll be in good company.

The Annual Meeting of Saint Mark’s will be Sunday, February 11 after the 10:30 service.

The meeting will be hybrid. You may join in person or you will be able to zoom in.

The annual meeting will feature reports on what happened in 2023, some previews of things coming up in 2024, discussion of the budget and elections for leadership.

We will be electing:

4 vestry members for 3-year terms

1 Senior Warden for a 1-year term

1 Junior Warden for a 1-year term

1 Youth warden for a 1-year term.

2 Delegates and 2 Alternates to Diocesan Convention (the Senior & Junior Wardens also serve as Convention Delegates).

The Annual Meeting is always interesting and occasionally funny. We will be providing Canterbury Choir subs to nibble on during the meeting and promise to get you home in plenty of time for your Super Bowl party.

Candidates for Vestry:

Dwight Anstaett

Michael Bowman

Norman Jones

Park Zimpher

Candidates for Convention Delegate:

Michael Bowman

Barb Keyes

Candidate for Senior Warden:

Cheryl Boop

Candidate for Junior Warden:

Kevin Fix

Candidate for Youth Warden:

Anna Markwardt

The Annual Meeting is a hybrid meeting. You can also join by zoom using this link:

You can find the Annual Report and the zoom link on the Annual Reports page of the website.

The Evening Knitting Group is meeting Monday February 12 at 6:30 p.m.

The Daytime Knitting Group is meeting Thursday February 15 at 1 p.m.

Both groups meet in the Canterbury Center. Bring your knitting or any other project that you are working on and join in the company and conversation.

Book Study

Many people add study to their Lenten Practices. This year we are reading the book Witness at the Cross by Amy-Jill Levine. It is a good, and easily accessible book that looks at the people who were present at the Crucifixion.

There is a study guide for the book in the arched bookcase in the parish hall.

We will have an in-person gathering to discuss the book on the Wednesday of Holy Week, March 27 at 6 p.m.

Lent Madness

Lent Madness is a competition of Saints. It is a tournament, like March Madness. Each day during Lent there is a contest between two saints. Anyone can go to lentmadness.org and vote for their favorite saint in the contest.

Saint Mark's is having a Lent Madness pool. All you have to do is fill out a bracket and submit it - along with $5 - to Pastor Vicki by February 14. The winner of the Saint Mark's pool will get to decide where to donate the pool. You can find brackets in the parish hall in the arched bookcase.

Sunday Morning Formation

The Adult Formation program will be looking at various translations of the Bible into English. How they are different and the same and how they all came to be.

Adult formation takes place in the parish hall from 9:30 – 10:15 a.m.

On Sunday, March 3 we will have our First Sunday Outreach program in place of Adult formation. This will be in the parish hall from 9:30 – 10:15 a.m. and will discussions about Saint Mark’s Outreach Ministries and how you can get involved.

Wednesday Program

On Wednesday evenings in Lent we are offering a 3 part program. You can choose to participate in one, two, three or all four parts.

• 5:30 p.m. – Gather for a simple soup & bread supper. There will be a sign-up sheet in the parish hall to provide soup and bread each week.

• 6:15 – 7:15 p.m. – Pysanky Egg Workshop. Pysanky is the art of applying wax to eggs and then dying them. It is a multi-step process and ends with beautiful eggs ready for Easter. Join us in the parish hall.

• 7:30 – 7:45 p.m. – Compline. Compline is the night prayer of the church. It has been prayed by Christians for over 1000 years. We will gather in the church for Compline.

The Wednesday evening program will be held: February 21 & 28 and March 6, 13 & 20.

You can sign up to bring soup or bread to the Wednesday program here or on the poster in the parish hall.

Helping Others

Helping others is a big part of Lent. This year we are collecting personal care items. We will be doing two things with these products. We will be making Grooming Bags for mothers in Vinton County through our partnership with Help Me Grow. We will also be donating them to NNEMAP where they are always in need.

There are two ways that you can help:

1.    Make a $20 donation to purchase everything for a Grooming Bag

2.    Bring any of the following to church during Lent (please bring full size items)

• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Body Wash
• Hand Soap
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Deodorant
• Disposable Razors

The service will be livestreamed on the Diocesan Website.

Join us in the Parish Hall at 5:30 p.m. on March 2 for an evening of good company and ethnic/foods. We will have discussions, activities, and information about the various circumstances which cause migration. We will learn about the cultures of some of those who have made the journey to the United States. We will also have guests from CRIS (Community Refugee and Immigration Services) who will participate in our table discussion as they share their experiences with resettlement efforts. 

The proceeds will be designated for the work of St. Mark’s Migrations Ministries and its Culture and Artisans Fair.

There is no charge to attend. A freewill offering basket will be available for your donations. To plan the food amounts, please let us know you are coming. Signup sheets are available in the Parish Hall, or contact Joyce Acton (614) 560-9219, [email protected].

At 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 3, the Saint Mark’s Choir will lead a service of Choral Evensong for the season of Lent. Choral music will include canticles by William H. Harris, responses by Kenneth Leighton, and anthems by Edward Bairstow and Egil Hovland. Organ music will include works by Jehan Alain and Josef Rheinberger.

Admission is free. Donations will be gratefully received in support of the music program at Saint Mark’s. A reception will follow. Please join us for this beautiful and inspiring service, and be sure to invite some friends!

The nursery is staffed from 10:15 a.m. - Noon on Sunday mornings for children age 3 and under. Parents are invited to either drop off their children or to stay with them if they prefer.

If you have questions about the nursery, please contact either Julie Moll [email protected] or Pastor Vicki - [email protected]