Saint Mark’sEpiscopal Church

Looking Ahead

Volume 49 | Number 6 | Summer 2009

From the Rector: Summer Spiritual Reading!Since it is said that in the 1530’s

the books of Erasmus, the influential church reformer and theologian, accounted for up to 20% of all book sales it is appropriate to begin this article with a quote attributed to him:

“When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.”

Friends, please find here a random list of suggested titles to check out or purchase that may indeed come to be more meaningful to you than food or clothes. These suggested titles come from me and some random parishioners (thank you!). Here’s hoping you find the time this summer for both rest and rejuvenation of heart, soul and mind!

Cynthia Borgeault:The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming ¾

the Heart and Mind The Wisdom Way of Knowing: ¾

Reclaiming an Ancient Tradition to Awaken the Heart

Centering Prayer: An Inner ¾AwakeningMary Oliver New and Selected Poems, Volume TwoDorothy C. Bass Receiving the Day; Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of TimeMary Pipher Another CountryNora Gallagher Things Seen and UnseenWallace Stegner Crossing to SafetyTony Jones The Sacred WayJohn Dominic Crossan The Essential Jesus

John McQuiston II Always We Begin Again: The Benedictine Way of LivingMarcus Borg :

The Heart of Christianity: ¾Rediscovering a Life of Faith

Jesus: A New Vision: Spirit, ¾Culture, and the Life of DiscipleshipKaren Armstrong The Spiral StaircaseKathleen Norris:

Cloister Walk ¾Amazing Grace ¾

Esther Dewaal Seeking Life: The Baptismal Invitation of the Rule of St. BenedictKhalil Gibran Jesus, Son of Man

Last month’s Messenger announced that St. Mark’s was beginning a formal Planned Giving campaign. The Vestry has established St. Mark’s Legacy Society. Everyone who includes St. Mark’s in their estate planning, in any of a number of ways, will become a member of the Legacy Society. If you have already remem-bered St. Mark’s, please tell the Rector so that you may be enrolled.

In the next few months, you will hear more about Planned Giving. A brochure on this topic will be mailed to all parishioners. Plans are being made to in-form everyone about the various forms a planned gift can take, and about the advantages of each.

There will also be a formal recognition of the charter members of the Legacy Society. I would like to encourage everyone to give some thought to becoming a charter member. For those who already have living trusts or wills, I know it is a chore to take steps to modify those documents to include St. Mark’s, but St. Mark’s is worth that inconvenience. For those of you who have not yet made es-tate plans, I urge you to do so, and when you do, include St. Mark’s.

x Phil Lally is a long time member and former Sr. Warden of the Vestry.

Update on Planned Giving: St Mark’s Legacy Societyby Phil Lally

June 7

St Mark’s Annual Parish Picnic!

Join us at Hoover Park from 11:30 am – 2:00 pm for games,

food & fun! See pg 7 for details!

July 12

3rd Annual Blood Drive

September 20

Parish Carnival

September 25 – 27

Parish Retreat at Bishop’s Ranch!

(see pg 9)

“Summer Reading” cont’ on pg 11

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Adult Formation

Miriam and Don DeJongh will share stories and pictures from their recent trip to the Middle East, focusing on sites and traditions holy to Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. They will close with an update on their continuing adventures on the Way of Saint James. Their week’s trek this April culminated in a moving Easter vigil and celebration at the abbey church of Moissac, France, for centuries a resting place for pilgrims.

Feel free to contact any of us with questions or to let us know you will join us!Scripture Study: Ken Bencala (kenbnc@hotmail.com / 650.776.4984)Sermon Examination: Susan Dansker (sandan@dslextreme.com / 650.493.8072)via media: Anne Anderson (aa@andpac.com / 650.566.9234), or Mego Tracy (mego.tracy@gmail.com / 650.323.1447)Any of the Above: Lori Walton (lori@saint-marks.com / 650.326.3800)

Take time this summer to SLOW DOWN and engage with others curious about Scripture, Preaching, and the Anglican Way. This summer will preview three new small group gatherings. Plug into one of them:

Take time to examine the Word, the historical context, the literary form, and what it all means to us now. This will be an eight week gathering meeting on Tuesday evenings, start date to be determined by interested parties.

Sound intriguing? Come to an INTRODUCTORY MEETING on June 14, 9:00am in the Chapel. Group to be led by Ken Bencala, 8:00am parishioner and experienced small group participant.

Meet with others for four weeks on Tuesday mornings at the home of Susan Dansker, 3806 Magnolia Dr, Palo Alto (July 7, July 14, July 21, August 4) from 8:30-10:00am to discuss the prior Sunday sermon. Can’t be at church on Sunday? No worries! Listen to the sermon on the St. Mark’s website before the Tuesday meeting. The discussions will be facilitated by Susan Dansker, educator and Outreach Alliance co-chair.

Meant for anyone interested in a better understanding of the Chris-tian faith through an Anglican per-spective, this gathering will meet for six weeks on Sunday mornings at 11:30am beginning on July 12. Through the use of video and dis-cussion, this is a great way to learn more about Anglican Christianity and get to know other members of your church in a more meaningful way. Conversations will be led by Mego Tracy and Anne Anderson, longtime St. Mark’s members and co-chairs of the Membership Committee.

Summer Groups to Check Out!

Scripture Study, the Episcopal Way

Sermon Examination, Critique, and just plain Talk

via media, the Middle Way

Pilgrims’ Progress: Holy Sites in the Middle East

Sunday June 21, 11:30 am

50-Minute Forum:

A message from our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori:

How do we cope in tough economic times? How do we nurture an enduring sense of hope in ourselves and in those around us?

Start with gratitude for what you are and have. Begin with the simple (!) task of listing the blessings in your life – shelter, family, friends, skills and your breath. Include your hungers: for relationship, greater depth in those relationships, the desire to be of service and to give to others out of your blessings.

Reframe your perspective – look for abundance where the world sees scarcity – and discover a renewed sense of connection to, and love for, God and neighbor.

xBishop Katharine’s complete message is on the ECUSA website: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_107118_ENG_HTM.htm

Ponder This

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The financial crisis we are witnessing has triggered three levels of response in me: (1) the immediate, practical thoughts of how to cope and protect my family; (2) political thoughts about how to address the crisis and learn from it, and work at a societal level to prevent a similar one; and (3) spiri-tual reflections upon the turmoil, the suffering, the fears, and the needs so many have experienced. I confess that the reaction.I have no right to complain especially – at least so far – compared to oth-ers but nonetheless find anger (which betrays an underlying fear) welling up inside. How did I get sucked into this crisis? What must I learn? How can I respond to it? And, turning outwards, what did they know (whoever they are – presumably the financial and politi-cal Masters of Universe, to borrow and adapt Tom Wolfe’s phrase) and when did they know it? Then a gnawing real-ization arises that I have been a willing participant in this economy and the question becomes “What did we know and when did we know it?”My mind turns back to all the warning signs. Ads for suspicious no-documen-tation mortgages. Hedge funds with hypercomplex strategies no one could understand, available to select friends who clamored to get in without asking questions. Outlandish CEO compensa-tion justified on the basis of a com-pany’s market value rather than long-term operational performance and as necessary to motivate management to do its job. Strings of self-congratulato-ry profit reports often preceding “ex-traordinary events” that cancelled out profits without self-recrimination. The dismantling of old, Depression-era le-gal safeguards because “that was then

Feature

Faith and the Financial Crisisby Andrew Bridges

and this is now,” and they got in the way of “modern” investment and busi-ness needs. Growth of enterprises to gigantic size in the name of “synergy” and “efficiency,” relying on account-ing alchemy and casting off workers as obstacles to the “realization of value.”We are witnessing the fruits of greed, arrogance and pride, frauds and false-hood, and complacency and misplaced trust. Some of us are the victims of our own complacency despite all the warning signs. Others are the sad vic-tims of misplaced trust – trust in those who either deceived or professed ex-pertise that came up short.Four very disparate analogies have float-ed into my mind in this era: (1) Albania, (2) California geology, (3) lifeboat ethics, and (4) the slow food movement.Albania is a tragic country. In the twentieth century it suffered decades of cruelty under the brutal Communist regime of Enver Hoxha, followed by years of free market chaos culminat-ing in massive pyramid schemes that victimized 70% of Albania’s population. But Albania is also a very small coun-try with very few degrees of separa-tion from the lowly to the high. No person could escape knowing both the victims and the guilty. They were all in the same communities, sometimes in the same families. And in pyramid schemes, the victims are often also the guilty. When the schemes col-lapsed, popular fury swept the coun-try, destroying many homes, business-es, and social improvements and leav-ing many lives shattered by the legacy of both the frauds and the violence. Now Albania must rebuild as a commu-nity that neither accepts nor forgets what happened but moves beyond it to create a new future.

We live in a tragic territory. Earth-quake territory. Maybe it’s not even rational to live here, because the risks are unbelievable. But it’s beautiful here; this is where we make our liv-ing and exercise our ambitions; it’s where our families and friends are. Within this environment, how do we cope? What precautions do we take? Does a moderate quake make us feel more comfortable that the pressure has been released, or more scared as a foreshadowing of a terrifying future? Did we learn from the Internet boom/bust? Did the rest of America not learn from us?Our economic and political circum-stances are more fragile than we wish to believe. Those who think our learn-ing, accomplishments, and culture pro-tect us fail to remember proud and accomplished Germany at the begin-ning of the twentieth century. Our fragile environment is as a lifeboat. We are all in it together and need to look after each other. But some-times it is hard to share our lifeboat with those we blame for the condi-tion we are in, hard to make room for the captain and crew who ran the ship aground, hard to acknowledge that as incompetent or corrupt as they are we may need help steering the lifeboat or working its oars.The final analogy comes from the Slow Food movement. Antithetical to fast food culture, and part of a broader Slow movement, it promotes a differ-ent experience of, and relationship with, food and allows us to enjoy and celebrate our sustenance through pro-moting artisanal and sustainable pro-duction. What would a “slow money movement” look like? Might one savor

“Financial Crisis” cont’ on pg 11

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Children and Families

Saint Mark’s parent-led children’s Sunday school curriculum during the summer features short stories and activities about great individuals who have made the world a better place. During the summer, Sunday morning 10:00 a.m. children’s classes are led by the parents of children in our program.

Parents who have not yet done so are encouraged to sign up for a date or two this summer when you can lead a lesson. All materials and crafts are provided. Saint Mark’s children’s summer program begins on June 14th. Contact Mary Greene at mary@saint-marks.com for more information and to get involved.

During the summer Saint Mark’s likes to give its hardworking Godly Play parent/teachers a much deserved rest and we invite all other parents to join in the pleasure of teaching our young children. We have a wonderful group of children. Here’s your chance to get to know them better.

Sally Bemus

Sarah Borthwick

Mary Greene

Beth Heron

Joanie King

Looking for table talk with your fam-ily? Try a case study. Read the story below to your family and discuss how your family sees the situation.

Grounded for GoodAn eight year old girl and her friend were nowhere to be found when the mother of one of the girls came downstairs to check on them. They had been playing together in the family room when the mother went upstairs to fold the laundry, but she couldn’t find them when she re-turned downstairs. Her heart raced as she called to them throughout the

Summer Curriculum: We Make a Difference!

Thank You to our 2008-2009 Godly Play Teachers! You are Wonderful!

A Case Study for Family Discussion: Grounded for Goodhouse and around the yard for the next few minutes.

Soon the girls could be seen riding home on their bikes, eyes glistening with joy, mouths grinning brightly. They were met, however, with less enthusiasm. Explaining that she had been worried sick that something had happened to them, the mother ended the play date and sent her daughter to her room. It just is not like my daughter, she explained to the other mother, to leave the house without telling me. She is grounded for good.

As it turned out, the child had been

grounded for good, at least for try-ing to do good. Inspired during the play date to raise money for needy families, the two girls decided to go door to door, as they had recently seen some other neighbors do, and ask for donations. It worked. They came back with loads of money. One family even gave them a twenty dol-lar bill.

Questions to consider: What did the girls do right? Why was the mother worried? What could the girls have done differently? How might the parents have responded?

Margaret Miller

Rachael Ramsey

Elisa Schmit

Lori Walton

Beth Wang

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Teen Talk

June 7End of year Pool Party

June 28Hiking and fruit picking

party

July 26Capture the flag and

s’mores

August 23Outdoor movie night

When Matt asked me two years ago to consider taking over the Youth

Ministry Coordinator position, he said, don’t be too serious at youth

group, ok? Maybe the teens can teach you how to relax and have fun

more. Truth is, I didn’t really understand why we had to do all this fun

stuff all the time. Isn’t the point to have serious conversations and pray

and learn and stuff? What does Disneyland have to do with church?

I learned! And he was right, you guys taught me. God likes to see us hap-

py and having fun together, building each other up, even teasing each

other (lovingly!); all that bring us close to God. Who knew my propensity

for making stuffed animals dance would turn out to be helpful in my ca-

reer?! I learned to share my silliness and craziness with you guys, and you

with me and with each other, and isn’t it awesome?

I’m leaving St. Mark’s this summer, to explore other opportunities in my life.

I’ll definitely miss getting to see you every week, and hear about your sur-

prising and amazing lives, but I’m also carrying you with me with a big grin.

“What was the youth group at St. Mark’s like?” people will ask me after I

leave...”Crazy,” I’ll say with a grin and a warm heart. I love you guys.

A note from Liz Graves

SummerYouth Calendar

Summer Youth EventsJune 7 — Join us for a double-header end of year finale! Right after church is our annual summer Parish Picnic in Hoover Park with food and games. We’ll also thank our youth ministers, stalwart parent volunteers, and graduating seniors. Then, after going home for awhile to cram for finals, come back out to our final youth event of the school year, our Pool Party from 4:00-7:00pm (psst- you won’t want to miss the time-honored super-secret Youth Minister Transition Ritual that’ll happen at the party!)

June 28 — Fun in the Sun Day! Meet after church with a picnic lunch, and we’re heading out into the wild! The afternoon will include some combination of hiking, picking fruit from trees of people who don’t want all of it, and delivering it to people who do!

July 26 — Capture the Flag and S’mores! Join us from 6:00 to 9:00 for a capture the flag showdown followed by smores and stories. (Please eat dinner beforehand.)

August 23 — A Movie Under the Stars. We’ll bring the movie and the big screen and snacks, you bring yourself, a pillow and some friends. Meet at church at 8:00pm, and the movie will start after dark.

Watch the website, your email, and events hotline (ext. 22) for more info on these events. See you there!

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Outreach and Community

The time has come for most of us to escape from the normal patterns of our lives for a long weekend, a week, or maybe even two weeks. My husband and I will be taking a summer vacation and I am REALLY looking forward to it! Outreach Alliance will NOT be taking a vacation, but we will shift our focus away from raising money to more tangible things.

FoodAlong with the food donations that show up each week, thanks to YOUR generosity, we will gather some able bodies, teens and adults, to pick fresh fruit with Village Harvest. (You may have read about them in the Palo Alto Weekly in March.) They organize local fruit picking events. You can read about them at http://www.villageharvest.org/index.htm. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to see trees full of fruit, and fruit rotting on the ground, because nobody picks them. Watch for dates in the St. Mark’s weekly email! If YOU have fruit trees that have more than you can use, let us know and we can help you pick them. We still need donations of canned food, as well, since donations usually drop off in the summertime.

BloodOn the second Sunday in July (July 12) we will be hosting the Stanford Blood Drive. If you are in town, and able to give blood, I invite you to sign up for a time slot and share this life giving resource. Put your fear of needles aside, and think about how your donation might save someone’s life! We are extending the invitation to folks at Grace Lu-theran Church and we hope to have about a dozen donors this year.

xSusan Dansker is co-chair of St Mark’s Outreach Committee

Summer OutreachBy Susan Dansker

Over the past year there have been several parishio-ners who have spoken to me and Louise Gulda con-cerning their interest in knowing about our Lay Eucha-ristic Visitors and these persons who have given their time and gifts of love and caring to those in our parish family who are homebound, in hospital or convalescent centers.

Because of this I felt it most appropriate to write a response to these parishioners and all others of St. Mark’s concerning this call of a deep personal nature and desire to give oneself to our Lord’s ministry of providing the Holy Sacrament, prayer and healing con-versation for those unable to be with out church fam-ily on Sundays.

This ministry requires personal discussion with the parish clergy and then diocesan training sessions which leads to completion of liturgical leadership and pasto-ral care studies, visitation participation with the cler-gy team leader or an experience LEV person. Once all is completed, the person is officially licensed by the Diocese of California.

Today, 12 devoted LEVs support the wonderful minis-try we now have. Four of these twelve took diocesan classes in Healing Ministry, and upon their certifica-tion, have given each Sunday’s congregation the op-portunity to receive healing prayer in the St. Nicholas Chapel during communion.

The offering of love, for parishioner’s need to feel a continuous part of St. Mark’s caring gift of Christ dur-ing problematic times, is strongly defined by “our twelve” who truly work together to see that this minis-try never falters.

Thank you to St Mark’s LEVs: Carla Bliss, Kaye Crawford, Teresa Downing, Charlie Foster, Mary Greene, Louise Gulda, Roy King, Jonathan Luk, Mary Nichols, Tim Price, Dorothy Risty-Schon, and David Tull.

xRev. Richard Peterson is Deacon/Emeritus at St Mark’s

From the Deacon’s Benchby The Rev. Richard Peterson

7

You won’t want to miss this! Join us after Church on June 7th in Hoover Park, located directly behind the church parking lot. The picnic is fun for all ages! Food, awards, games and fellowship are calling you.

The Children and Family Commission will provide paper products, hamburgers, hot dogs, buns and drinks.

All are invited to bring some food to share and to help with set up and clean up:

The prestigious Music@Menlo series returns to the Pen-insula this summer, running July 18 through August 8. This season, Music@Menlo celebrates the two-hundredth birthday of Felix Mendelssohn, one of history’s most pro-digiously gifted musicians. The 2009 festival, Being Men-delssohn, will be a season of immersion in this great art-ist’s life and music.

This year the concerts will again take place at St. Mark’s and Menlo College. In addition to the ticketed events, there are always free “twilight” concerts which feature exciting young artists. For full information on the festi-val, visit www.musicatmenlo.org

Join us for a special after church social on June 28 with ice cream sundaes to give thanks to our musicians, choir directors, organist and choir!

A Musical Thank You: Sundaes on Sunday

Music@Menlo Returns to St. Mark’s

Want to help? Much is already in the works for this event, but volunteers are needed for set up and clean up. Con-tact Joanie King at biggyb4@yahoo.com to assist.

A-GGreen Salads or Vegetables

H-NBeans or Potato/Macaroni Salad

0-ZDesserts or Fruit

St Mark’s Annual Parish Picnic!June 7

Community

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My name is Rob Keim, and on June 21st I will join you at St. Mark’s as a newly or-dained Deacon. I come to your by way of my home parish, Church of the Epiphany in San Carlos, and more recently St. Pe-ter’s Redwood City where I have spent the last year as a seminary intern.

As many of you know life is not a straight line. It is fully of zigs and zags. Six years ago, I left corporate

finance at Hewlett-Packard with a phenomenal severance package and spent the next four years in the Masters in Divinity program at the Menlo Park branch of Fuller Theological Seminary, a non-denominational evangelical

Meet Our New Deacon!

Community

seminary. During that time I felt God calling me to Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church which meant I needed to supplement my work at Fuller with some additional time at the Episcopal Seminary in Berkeley. With the comple-tion of my seminary studies in 2007, ordination was still two years away. Therefore, after more than four years without income, I decided to re-hydrate my depleted fi-nances by working as a finance controller at Cisco Sys-tems in San Jose. During all of these turns in life, I felt and still feel God’s strong call towards Holy Orders and my eventual goal of being ordained a priest.

I smile with anticipation at the thought of joining you all at St. Mark’s as a deacon. You have a reputation of being a wonderfully Christ-centered family -- a community with a heart for all. We will discover together how I can help you reach to those outside our church with the words and actions of shalom.

Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I

not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,

looking into the shining world? Because, properly

attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.

Can one be passionate about the just, the

ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit

to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so.

All summations have a beginning, all effect has a

story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.

Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of

light is the crossroads of -- indolence, or action.

Be ignited, or be gone.

Mary Oliver New and Selected Poems Volume Two

What I Have Learned So Far

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Barbara Crafton, Episcopal priest, author, and creator of the online site “The Geranium Farm” (www.geraniumfarm.org), an institute pro-moting spiritual formation, will be this year’s retreat leader. Known to many through her almost daily “eMos” – electronic meditations, we are blessed to have her in person with us this year at the Bishop’s Ranch.

Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to meet Barbara, to rest and have free time together, sing together, laugh together, pray together. We will have separate programs for adults, teens and children

Friday, September 25th through Sunday, September 27thThe Bishop’s Ranch, Healdsburg, California

$200.00 Adults$110.00 Child ages 3-12

$125.00 Teens ages 13-18

Email LeeAnne at leeanne@saint-marks.com to reserve your spot, or look for a registration form on the Welcome Table.

Registration Deadline – Friday, September 11, 2009This retreat will fill up quickly, register now!

St. Mark’s 2009 Parish Retreat WeekendFeaturing Barbara Crafton

of

Community

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Every profession seems to have its own set of jokes which are passed around constantly on the Internet. There’s no exception (nor shortage) when it comes to organist jokes ei-ther. Here are a couple that you might enjoy:

From Reader’s Digest, April 2009:

During a funeral, the organist played a beautiful rendition of Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” as the casket was carried out of the church. After the service, the minister com-plimented him on his performance. “Oh, by the way,’ the minister asked, “do you know what the de-ceased did for a living?”“No idea,” said the organist as he began packing up.The minister smiled. “He was a butcher.”

And here’s another oldie but good-ie, but Garrison Keillor.

1 AND IT CAME TO PASS, when Paul was at Corinth, he and certain dis-ciples came upon a mob that was stoning an organist.

2 And Paul said unto them, “What then hath he done unto thee that thou shouldst bruise his head?”

3 And the people cried aloud with one voice, “He hath played too loud every Sabbath for nigh on twenty-two seasons.

4 Yea, in the prelude and postlude, he maketh our heads to ring as if they were beaten with hammers.

5 Behold, he sitteth up high in the loft, and mighty are the pipes and mighty is the noise thereof, and

Notes from the Music Staffby Jim Welch

though we speak together below, he nonetheless playeth with all the stops, the Assyrian trumpet stop and the stop of the ram’s horn and the stop that soundeth like the sawing of stone, and forsooth, we cannot hear a word that cometh out of our own mouths.

6 Yea, and even more: upon the singing and chanting of psalmes he doth indulge in atonal variations and obscure counter-melodies that con-fuse us mightily, and these he play-eth with merry discord, loosing more and more evil spirits from the brassy reeds and high-shrieking mixtures as he continueth, yea, even in such a militant tempo that we have not time even to draw breath as we sing.

7 And even furthermore he always causeth a stop called Double Ophi-cleide of thirty-two cubits to be de-ployed for the last bass note in all ye hymnes, like as if he were trans-porting his own mind so as to be in ye Chapel of Kinges itself.

8 Lo, he is a plague upon the faith and should be chastised.”

9 Paul, hearing these things, had himself picked up a small stone, and was about to cast it, but he set it down and bade the organist come forward.

10 He was a narrow man, pale of complexion, quaking and thin of hair.

11 And Paul said unto him, “Can it be that a man like thou hast so abused thy brethren?”

12 And wishing to justify himself, the organist replied, “I could not hear them singing from where I sat, and therefore played the louder all

the while so as to better encourage them to sing heartily.”

13 And Paul turned round to the mob and said loudly, “Verily, his sin crieth out, but hear ye my words, let him who casts a stone be willing to chair the committee to find yet an-other organist.”

14 Nevertheless, they being too deaf from the organ to understand the Apostle, they cast stones for many hours until their arms were tired, whereupon Paul bade the organist repent and he did.

15 And Paul said unto him, “Thou shalt take up the flute and play it for thirty days, to cleanse thy spir-it, and afterwards thou shalt play pleasant chorales upon one, nay, not more than two stops.”

16 Then they returned to Corinth and sang psalmes unaccompanied and gave thanks.

x Jim Welch is St Mark’s Resident Organist. Visit his website at www.

welchorganist.com

Community

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the value of one’s labor and the bless-ings of its fruits and promote its sus-tainable production? Is our rush to gain and spend a spiritual form of eating disorder, a financial bulimia that offers no nourishment? Can we truly focus each day on the daily bread, or must we corner the market in grain futures?These analogies have helped me ex-amine the demands of faith at this mo-ment. How are we called to respond?First is to remember the connected-ness of humanity, of our society, and of our community. The command-ment to love one’s neighbor as oneself prompts us to extend ourselves with monetary and institutional support for others who are vulnerable or in need; with our attention and care; with ac-tions to repair and preserve institu-tions and social structures that sustain

Journeying god, pitch your tent with mine

so that I may not become deterred by hardship, strangeness, doubt.

Show me the movement I must make toward a wealth not dependent on

possessions, toward a wisdom not based on books,

toward a strength not bolstered by might,

toward a god not confined to heaven. Help me to find myself as I walk in

other’s shoes.

Traditional Prayer song from Ghana

Journeying godDiane Schoemperlen Our Lady of the Lost and FoundFrank Matera Exploring New Testament TheologyDavid McCullough Brave CompanionsJohn Hope Franklin Mirror to America, The Autobiography of John Hope FranklinSaint Augustine Confessions (Translation: R. S. Pine-Coffin)Nikos Kazantzakis

The Last Temptation of ¾Christ, including the “Prologue” (Translation: P. A. Bien)

The Saviors of God: Spiritual ¾Exercises (Translation: Kimon Friar)Kathleen Norris Acedia and MeBlakeslee and Blakeslee The Body Has a Mind of Its OwnMichael McCullough Beyond Revenge

Adam LeBor City of Oranges-Arabs and Jews in JaffaDaoud Hari The TranslatorPhilip Simmons Learning to FallUwem Akpan Say You’re One of ThemForrest Church Love and DeathSonny Schwartz Dreams From the Monster FactoryGwen Ifill The BreakthroughMarilyn Lacey This Flowing Toward MeSandra Levy Imagination and the Journey of FaithSallie McFague A New Climate for Theology: God, The World and Global Warming

And last but not least, check out the daily emails from Rev. Barba-ra Crafton, our Fall Retreat leader (See pg 9)

and protect us all; and with prayer. The response of this community to the challenge we all faced in continuing vital financial support for this Parish was a stunning example of one form of response to the call. Second, all of us in businesses, non-profit institutions, government organs, and communities must operate and manage them sustainably for them-selves and the other stakeholders. At the core of their focus must be the vulnerable ones who have placed their well-being in the care of others, but every organization can and should ex-tend itself for a broader good. And it is a fallacy that self-interest of an organization or community either re-quires it to ignore, or benefits from ignoring, the welfare of outsiders. Third, this era reminds us to lay up

treasure where it cannot be spoiled. Apart from that greatest treasure, other treasures are fragile, and we must cherish and promote them: the treasure of meaningful work for those around us, the treasure of security for the long term, and the treasure of trust and connectedness.Fourth, to the extent we all have suf-fered from, shared in, or stood passively by the deceptions of recent years that have led to the current crisis, we must practice forgiveness and repentance. It’s hard to do either of those when angry. We must be attentive, commit to learn-ing and spiritual growth, confess things we have done and left undone, and seek amendment of life, both our personal and our social life.

xAndrew Bridges is a current Vestry member and parishioner

“Financial Crisis” cont’ from pg 3

“Summer Reading” cont’ from pg11

Ongoing Events

Special Events

Sunday8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (St. Mark’s Chapel)9:50-11:30 a.m. Child Care (Eastside classroom 2)9:00 a.m. Adult Education Hour (Kennedy Room)10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist w/Music (Church)KidsWord Infant Care and Toddlers (Eastside classroom 2) Preschool (Eastside classroom 1) Kindergarten & First grades (Westside classroom 1) Second & Third grades (Westside classroom 1) Fourth & Fifth grades (Clubhouse-Church 2nd floor)6:00 p.m. Youth Group (Parish Hall, Youth Room, Library)

Monday1:00 p.m. Centering Prayer and Meditation (Kennedy Room)

Tuesday7:30 p.m. Compline (St. Nicholas Chapel)

Wednesday8:30 a.m. Centering Prayer and Meditation (Kennedy Room)12:15 p.m. Holy Eucharist with Healing Rite (St. Mark’s Chapel)

Thursday10:00 a.m. Sacred Way Small Group (Kennedy Room)7:30 p.m. Choir Rehearsal

Friday8:30 a.m. Centering Prayer and Meditation (Kennedy Room)

Saint Mark’s Calendar

The MESSENGERSt. Mark’s Episcopal Church600 Colorado Ave Palo Alto, CA, 94306-2510

St Mark’s Episcopal ChurchSunday Schedule

8:00 a.m. The Holy Eucharist (St. Mark’s Chapel)9:00 a.m. Adult Education Hour10:00 a.m. Choral Eucharist (Church) Children’s Programs6:00 p.m. Youth Group (Parish Hall)

Church Office Telephone (650) 326-3800Fax: (650) 326-2186email: info@saint-marks.comChurch StaffRector: The Reverend Matthew McDermottAssociate Rector: The Reverend Lori WaltonChildren/Family Ministries Coordinator: Mary GreeneYouth Ministries Coordinator: Liz GravesDeacon: The Rev. Richard Peterson (Emeritus)Assisting Clergy: Rev. Dr Rebecca Lyman, Rev. Joanne SandersMusic Director: Rebecca MaggiChurch Organist: James WelchOffice Adminstrator: Katie YatesBusiness Administrator: LeeAnne McDermottTreasurer: Maureen Kennedy

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St. Mark’s website: www.saint-marks.com

Saturday, June 69:00 am “Sowing the Seeds” workshop (Grace Cathedral)

Sunday June 711:30 am Annual Parish Picnic (Hoover Park)

Sunday, June 2111:30 am 50 Minute Forum: Pilgrim’s Progress (Kennedy Room)

Sunday, June 2811:30 am Sundaes on Sunday!11:30 am Youth Group “Fun in the Sun Day”

Tuesday, July 7 “Sermon Examination” small group begins

Sunday, July 1211:30 am 3rdz Annual Blood Drive11:30 am “via media, the Middle Way” small group begins

Saturday, July 18 – Saturday, August 8 Music@Menlo Festival

Sunday, July 266:00 pm Youth Group “Capture the Flag and S’mores”

Sunday, August 238:00 pm Youth Group “Movie Under the Stars”

Sunday, September 13 Fall Programs Begin

Sunday, September 20 Parish Carnival

Friday, September 25 – Sunday, September 27 Parish Retreat at Bishop’s Ranch