Greetings! Third Sunday after the Epiphany. Read This Week's Lessons

Transcription

1 Greetings! Third Sunday after the Epiphany Read This Week's Lessons

2 Pay Attention. Be Astonished. Tell About It. The Rev. Scott Stoner, Weekly Words of Wellness (1/18/19) Mary Oliver, my absolute favorite poet, died this week at the age of eighty-three, and there is an ache in my heart. Accompanying the sadness is the gratitude I feel for how thoroughly she has enriched my life. Her poems make the deep accessible, describing the most profound and sacred mysteries of life with words that always stir my heart and soul. Writer Ruth Franklin perfectly captures the essence of this Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. "The way she writes these poems that feel like prayers, she channels the voice of somebody who it seems might possibly have access to God. I think her work does give a sense of someone who is in tune with the deepest mysteries of the universe." If you are not familiar with Mary Oliver's poetry, do yourself a favor and spend some time getting to know her work. To help you get started, I am sharing with you of my favorite of her poems, "Sometimes." You can find more of her poems in books such as American Primitive for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984 and in New and Selected Poems for which she won The National Book Award for poetry in Thank you, Mary, for connecting us with the Sacred both within and around us. "Sometimes" by Mary Oliver 1.

3 Something came up out of the dark. It wasn't anything I had ever seen before. It wasn't an animal or a flower, unless it was both. 5. Two or three times in my life I discovered love. Each time it seemed to solve everything. Something came up out of the water, a head the size of a cat but muddy and without ears. I don't know what God is. I don't know what death is. But I believe they have between them some fervent and necessary arrangement. 2. Sometimes melancholy leaves me breathless. 3. Later I was in a field of full of sunflowers. I was feeling the heat of midsummer. I was thinking of the sweet, electric drowse of creation, when it began to break. In the west, clouds gathered. Thunderheads. In an hour the sky was filled with them. In an hour the sky was filled with the sweetness of rain and the blast of lightning. Followed by the deep bells of thunder. Water from the heavens! Electricity from the source! Both of them mad to create something! The lightning brighter than any flower. The thunder without a drowsy bone in its body. 4. Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.

4 Each time it solved a great many things but not everything. Yet left me as grateful as if it had indeed, and thoroughly, solved everything. 6. God, rest in my heart and fortify me, take away my hunger for answers, let the hours play upon my body like the hands of my beloved. Let the cathead appear againthe smallest of your mysteries, some wild cousin of my own blood probablysome cousin of my own wild blood probably, in the black dinner-bowl of the pond. 7. Death waits for me, I know it, around one corner or another. This doesn't amuse me. Neither does it frighten me. After the rain, I went back into the field of sunflowers. It was cool, and I was anything but drowsy. I walked slowly, and listened to the crazy roots, in the drenched earth, laughing and growing. "Sometimes" is from Red Bird by Mary Oliver, published by Beacon Press, Bach's prelude on "Liebster Jesu" will be the organ prelude, preceded by the chorale, sung by Caroline Willoughby. Gordon Young's festive anthem: "From All That Dwell Below the Skies" will be heard at the Offertory. Sunday February 3rd immediately

5 following the 9am service 2019 Diocese of Ohio Winter Convocation The theme for this year's Winter Convocation is "Speaking our Faith." As always, it will be at Kalahari Resort and Convention Center in Sandusky. This year's event will run from 7:00 p.m. on Friday, February 1 through 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 2. Our keynote speaker will be the Rev. Kit Carlson. We will have a second guest speaker, Heidi Carter, who will offer workshops on youth ministry in smaller congregations. Leading us in music will be George Baum, rector of St. Timothy's, Massillon; and we are hoping to put together a Convocation Choir. With 16 best practice workshops, a children's program, and a youth program, the Winter Convocation offers something for everyone. Additional information and registration is available here. Sunday, January 27 th : Holy Eucharist, 8:00am and 10:00am Confirmation Class, 9:00am (Parish Hall) Wednesday, January 30 th : Study Group, 10:30am

6 Sunday, February February 3 rd : ONE SERVICE TODAY Holy Eucharist, 9:00am Annual Meeting immediately follows the service Confirmation Class, 11:00am Thankful Thursdays will continue sending food home once a month to 8 families from Schreiber Elementary School through the end of the school year as our pantry donations allow. Please consider donating any of the following to help us supply these 8 families with some meals. Thank you in advance! Pasta Tomato or Spaghetti Sauce (no glass please) Fruit (in plastic containers or cans) Canned vegetables Hamburger helper or similar Boxed mashed potatoes Oatmeal Granola bars Cereal Applesauce (no glass please) Monetary donations

7 Register for Summer Camp Bellwether Farm offers a traditional overnight summer camp in Wakeman (near Norwalk) where school-age children can immerse themselves in fun, engaging activities. These programs will seek to teach healthy social, nutritional, and environmental practices, while providing a safe context in which to encounter God's beautiful creation. Summer Camp Dates: Week 1: June for children who have completed grades 1-12 Week 2: June completed grades 2-12 Week 3: July 1-6 completed grades K-12 Week 4: July 8-13 completed grades K-12 Week 5: July completed grades K-12 Campers will have an opportunity to learn about organic gardening, animal care, and creative cooking. They will also participate in traditional camp activities including swimming, canoeing, arts and crafts, fishing, field games, and archery. The Bellwether Farm staff is invested in the life of every camper, seeking to inspire future generations to become passionate leaders in the world around them. Registration CLICK HERE is now open. Register by March 15 and enter promo code DIO2019 to receive $25 off. Bellwether also seeks camp counselors. If you or someone you know may be interested, please fill out the application online (click here).

8 Ken Pakenham, Joan Werren, Ron Hill, Peg Hill, Conley Family, Tom Burns, the Briggs family, Susan Hostetler Family and Friends: Johnny Willoughby, The Shafer Family (friends of the Gordons), Layna (friend of Boyds), The Moore Family (friends of Nadels), Carol Morton, Marcie (friend of Gordons), Baby Hudson, Shirley Allen (friend of the Mulls), Michelle Garber (family of Geoff and Bobbi Gordon), Matt Gagnon, The Kesslers, Deb Thompson (friend of Jan Hudson), Bobby Guerin (friend of Pam McCarthy), John and Phyllis Green (friends of Sue Little), Mike Lutsch (uncle of Bobbi Gordon), Weisenstine Family (friends of the Kennedys), Jim Mesko (friend of Jim Weaver), Carey Sloan, Craig Kerner (Mandy Pelger s father), Mick and Pat (friends of the Kieslings), Federal workers who are furloughed For all those serving in the armed forces. For all those who have died. -Please share updates with Bobbi Gordon.- PRAYER CHAIN: St. Mark's has a group of prayer warriors who pray for 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 Please note, prayer requests may be placed on the

9 Prayer Chain, in the Sunday bulletin's Prayer Concerns, or in both places. Please let Bobbi know your preference. Servers this Sunday, January 27th: Acolytes, 8:00am: Susie Hines Acolytes, 10:00am: Lesley Kiesling, Lauren hoot, Justin Crowl, Marilyn Thorp, Joe Hoot Eucharistic Minister, 8:00am: Paul Sack Eucharistic Ministers, 10:00am: Bruce Schutrum, Pam McCarthy Ushers: Richard Crowl, Wayne Paradis, Kirk Bletzacker If you are unable to serve, please try to find a sub as soon as possible and notify the office. Thank you! TH ST. NW CANTON, OH OFFICE@STMARKS-CANTON.ORG We seek to unite all people with God and each other in Christ through worship, fellowship, education, and service. St. Mark's Church The Episcopal Church The Diocese of Ohio More Links HERE AmazonSmile is a website operated by

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