531 West College Avenue, Jonesboro, AR The Missive A Message from Father Joshua Greetings everyone! Well it has been an eventful, wonderful first month of work here. I’ve gotten to meet with many of the people who lead some of the ministries at St. Mark’s, and it’s just thrilling to learn about everything that this community is involved in! I’m getting a bit better with names but still have the feeling that there is much more to learn: both about the people who are a part of St. Mark’s and also the ministry that goes on here. I have had several people in my office to meet and talk and hear their stories, and I would like to continue to do that for several more months. So please reach out to me if you’d like to come in or go out and get coffee! In that spirit, I thought I’d briefly talk about my own spiritual journey. My par- ents started a non-denominational church when I was two years old. That church played an incredibly formative role in my life. It gave me a sense of urgency about the importance of my faith and gave me many of the basic building blocks for personal and spiritual development. Though the importance of grace was fundamental in that church, I think both because of my personality and my age, in high school I became fixated on “apologetic” arguments for faith (arguments meant to “defend” and explain faith). There were times in my life, especially during this period, when I felt confident about determining in pretty general terms who had gotten what right and who had gotten what wrong (in faith, in life, etc.). These judgments highly favored a small strain of Christian identity: it included a particular way of playing music during church, a particular understanding of the Bible, a very narrow understanding of appropriate social norms. In college that side of me was challenged in many different ways especially by being exposed to a much wider spectrum of belief. In college I went to a Methodist church that used a liturgy very close to the Book of Common Prayer, and shortly after I graduated, Jenna and I joined an Episcopal Church in St. Louis, MO. One of the most profound lessons I learned when we started confirmation classes was a shift in what “belonging” to church meant. I had always thought about it in “belief” terms. If you went to a particular church that meant you agreed with their beliefs about the bible and theology and all the rest. The history of the Anglican Church tells a different story. For Episcopalians “belonging” is not primarily about belief but about prayer. Prayer is the heart of our church. If we can pray together we can be a church together. Of course “belief” is important but it was a liberating event in my life to think that people could fundamentally disagree about “core” Christian beliefs and yet still remain in communion with each other. And it’s been a guiding principle ever since. Our willingness and ability to encourage diverse views of the world and the church strengthens our understanding of God and attunes us to what the Kingdom of God is like. It is something that I see every day at St. Mark’s. And it makes me very hopeful for how the Spirit might continue to move in this church! Blessings, Father Joshua
Transcript
531 West College Avenue, Jonesboro, AR The Missive
A Message from Father Joshua
Greetings everyone! Well it has been an eventful, wonderful first month of work here. I’ve gotten to meet with many of the people who lead some of the ministries at St. Mark’s, and it’s just thrilling to learn about everything that this community is involved in! I’m getting a bit better with names but still have the feeling that there is much more to learn: both about the people who are a part of St. Mark’s and also the ministry that goes on here. I have had several people in my office to meet and talk and hear their stories, and I would like to continue to do that for several more months. So please reach out to me if you’d like to come in or go out and get coffee! In that spirit, I thought I’d briefly talk about my own spiritual journey. My par-ents started a non-denominational church when I was two years old. That church played an incredibly formative role in my life. It gave me a sense of urgency about the importance of my faith and gave me many of the basic building blocks for personal and spiritual development. Though the importance of grace was fundamental in that church, I think both because of my personality and my age, in high school I became fixated on “apologetic” arguments for faith (arguments meant to “defend” and explain faith). There were times in my life, especially during this period, when I felt confident about determining in pretty general terms who had gotten what right and who had gotten what wrong (in faith, in life, etc.). These judgments highly favored a small strain of Christian identity: it included a particular way of playing music during church, a particular understanding of the Bible, a very narrow understanding of appropriate social norms. In college that side of me was challenged in many different ways especially by being exposed to a much wider spectrum of belief. In college I went to a Methodist church that used a liturgy very close to the Book of Common Prayer, and shortly after I graduated, Jenna and I joined an Episcopal Church in St. Louis, MO. One of the most profound lessons I learned when we started confirmation classes was a shift in what “belonging” to church meant. I had always thought about it in “belief” terms. If you went to a particular church that meant you agreed with their beliefs about the bible and theology and all the rest. The history of the Anglican Church tells a different story. For Episcopalians “belonging” is not primarily about belief but about prayer. Prayer is the heart of our church. If we can pray together we can be a church together. Of course “belief” is important but it was a liberating event in my life to think that people could fundamentally disagree about “core” Christian beliefs and yet still remain in communion with each other. And it’s been a guiding principle ever since. Our willingness and ability to encourage diverse views of the world and the church strengthens our understanding of God and attunes us to what the Kingdom of God is like. It is something that I see every day at St. Mark’s. And it makes me very hopeful for how the Spirit might continue to move in this church! Blessings, Father Joshua
Episcopal Youth Community (EYC) EYC has had a wonderful relaxing summer. We attended creative arts camp. At Camp Mitchell. It was a blast! We painted, wrote songs, de-signed tie dye ,and created art by using old BCPs, and we also enjoyed swimming.
As a parish, St. Mark’s sent 10 children to camp this year on scholarships this year. We are beyond thankful for all of your support and we are impressed by your kindness to our EYC kids. It is an honor to be part of St. Mark’s in Jonesboro! We will resume our weekly meeting on Wednesday, August 22 at 5-7pm. We will serve pizza and talk about our summer and make plans for our upcoming year in EYC. If you are willing to provide a meal for EYC, please contact me or the office. If you are interested in our Youth Group you can call or text me with any questions 870-340-5559. Much Thanks to St. Mark’s, Mat and Stephanie
Hope’s Suzuki Strings
Suzuki Strings is gearing up for the fall 2018 term. Individual lessons will start the week of August 6 and a special rate is being offered for all St. Mark’s families: a $10.00 per month discount off the standard tuition rate. Please contact me at 870-253-9916 or email me at [email protected] for more information and to schedule an observation of both an individual lesson as well as a group class! Thank you!! Have a blessed day! Hope Smith
Aug 4– Team 4
Aug 11- Team 5
Aug 18- Team 6
Aug 25– Team 7
Hebrews 6:10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you
have shown him as you helped his people and continue to help them.
Helping Neighbors Food Pantry is one of 19 food pantries in Craighead County. It terms of hours of operation and size we are the largest of the 19, a representative from the Food Bank referred to us as the Gold Standard of pantry opera-tions. Among the faith-based organizations that are a part of Helping Neighbors, St. Marks, is the largest contributor financially and it terms of volunteer hours. Over the past 12 months we have served more than 21,100 individuals and distributed 304,000 pounds of food. Our service is Jonesboro’s “West End.” Our hours of operation are 10-12:00, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and 5-7:00pm on the first Tuesday of the month. We are currently looking to relocate to a larger facility in our service area on a lot that was do-nated to Helping Neighbors and a second one that we purchased. In addition, we are also part of a new group that is seeking to identify, and map out, food insecurity in the county and develop a plan to address it. Our biggest food need at the pantry, at this time is, believe it or not, is peanut butter! We have a never-ending need for peanut butter. In addition to our need for peanut butter, finan-cial contributions are our life blood. Only 40 percent of what we distribute comes from the food bank, the rest come from various donations, with the balance purchased by the staff. Things to Donate to Helping Neighbors: cereal, cereal bars, peanut butter, canned goods, kid’s canned goods such as ravioli , spaghetti and meatballs. and other food items. Clients can also use personal hygiene items like soap, shampoo, laundry detergent and cleaners. We also redistribute used books, small toys, and used magazines. I guess we don't really appreciate shampoo and toilet paper until we don't have any! We do NOT need Egg Cartons!
Thank you to all of our St. Mark’s Volunteers: Board Member, Gary Latanich. Volunteers: Robin Anderson, Scott Darwin, Jane Gill, Susie Grommet, Rhinda Kesseling, Donald Mankin, Pat McAndrew and Karen Olsen
St. Mark’s Volunteers on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Tuesdays of the month from 10am– 12pm.
If you have an interest in working at the pantry please contact me, at church, or via e-mail, [email protected] or by phone, 870-935-0236.
EfM (Education for Ministry) Sign up by the first week in August...
St. Mark's is offering an Education for Ministry - EfM - class this fall. EFM is a deep, guided theological study for lay people interested in creating a stronger Biblical and theological foundation for their ministry in their church and in the world (www.efm.sewanee.edu).
EFM is a four year program that covers the Old Testament, the New Testament, Church history, and theology, but participants enroll in it one year at a time. The cost for one year of EFM is $375. Scholarships will be available. If you are interested in enrolling in EFM for the 2018-2019 cycle or your are in need of financial assistance or a scholarship or would be interested in making a donation , please contact Father Joshua ([email protected]) or St. Mark's' EFM mentor, Jane Gill ([email protected]).
Liturgy of the Word with Children
We are looking for responsible teens and adults to volunteer with our Liturgy of the Word with Children ministry. Liturgy of the Word with Children is celebrated on Sunday mornings during the 10am Holy Eucharist Service. This is an opportunity for children to hear the scheduled Gospel reading in
