February and March 2016 St. Mark s Church~ Joyfully & Unconditionally Welcoming All People You will find many opportunities to practice Community Lenten Disciplines in addition to any personal disciplines you have taken on for Lent. Non-Profit Org. U. S. POSTAGE P A I D Casper, WY 82601 PERMIT NO. 126 Please keep this booklet in an outward and visible place. We strongly encourage you to participate in our Wednesday Evening events and all of Holy Week! God bless you on your pilgrimage. Jim+ and Kay+
St. Stephens and St. Mark s Join hands, programs and soups, Wednesdays in Lent Children, Adults & Babies Wednesday evenings at 5:30 in Lent, February 17 March 18 St. Stephen s will provide soup on one of the nights while different ministry groups from St. Mark s will provide it the other nights. Soups, Programs, Compline 5:30 Gather for dinner and fellowship from 5:30 6:15. 6:15 Programs (The nursery will be available.) Children will meet with Rev. Kay Flores, Fr. Shumard, Pat Hrnicek and Kathy Robinson in Children s Chapel. Adults will gather in the Guild Room where Lara Gilbert and Meagan Acres will lead classes on the events of Holy Week. Youth will meet with Temple and Steve in the Youth Room. 7:15 Compline in the Chancel The first night all will gather for a Godly Play program by Rev. Kay Flores. Once the story is told, the adults will move to The Guild Room for the program on Holy Week that Lara Gilbert and Meganne Acres are leading. Please plan to attend this first Godly Play Story. It is an overview of Holy Week and quite frankly, Godly Play is the most transformation program we have into the church.
Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday Services Shrove Tuesday, February 9, 5:00 PM 7:00 PM St. Stephen s will provide the syrup and St. Mark s the rest. All are challenged to take Fr. Jim on in a pancake eating contest at 6! The first one to eat three pancakes, swallow and sing ALLELUIA wins, but you must eat with your hands behind you back. IT WILL BE MESSY! 7:00 AM Wednesday morning in the side chapel 5:30 PM Wednesday Evening in the Sanctuary ASHES TO GO Noon to 1:00 PM Fr. Jim will be in the side chapel ready to dispense ashes with a prayer for those who drop in as they are able on their lunch break. Invite a co-worker or friend to come with you.
Mid Week Holy Eucharist during Lent 7:00 AM Friday Mornings, February 12 March 18 Fridays during Lent are especially holy and a fasting day. Come join us at St. Mark s for a thirty minute service before you head to work or school. We will share Eucharist in the side chapel. Fridays in Lent are traditionally a fast day as well. Many eat fish on those Fridays. A fast is to remind us that we should be hungry for a closer relationship with God. Sunday Mornings Children s Chapel replaces Children s Sunday School During the Season of Lent Sundays during Lent at St. Mark s, children are invited to be seated with their families at the beginning of the service and then come forward after the opening Collect/Prayer for a Children s Sermon. (Adults say they often get more out of that sermon than the adult sermon. ) The children will then follow the cross and their teachers to Children s Chapel for a story, prayer and song. They will return at The Peace just as they always have done.
GENESIS - NEW BEGINNINGS! Adult Sunday School during Lent The Peaceable Kingdom Come and learn everything you never knew about the Book of Genesis! Adult Sunday School during Lent after coffee hour, 11:00 11:45. I promise you will be reading Genesis again for the first time and hearing and learning things you never knew before. Come and See! Come and Hear! Come and Learn! Adult Lenten Study Pilgrimage Perspective for Holy Week Our study was inspired in part by the recent pilgrimage of some of our members to the Holy Land last October. Their passion from immersion in their faith is contagious, and something that we can experience without leaving the country. Our study was also inspired by our rich and varied traditions for Holy Week; we take part in modern observances and ancient rituals. We read, we pray, we spend time in quiet contemplation, and we raise our voices in loud Alleluias. During the week leading up to and including Easter, there should be a worship service that will speak to each of us. Our daily lives are a pilgrimage. We live each day immersed in our faith, and in the Love of Christ; and Holy Week seemed like the perfect time to live out that pilgrimage in the church. We will examine the Holy Week traditions with a pilgrim s perspective of that tradition. We will be joined for each lesson by a St. Mark s Pilgrim who will share some contagious passion. We will talk about the history, geography and symbolism of our services, and how these traditions impact our lives in very real ways. We hope that beyond the knowledge and fellowship we will enjoy, one of outcomes of the study will be inspiration for all of us to immerse ourselves in the Pilgrimage opportunity that our Holy Week traditions provide.
The Book of Common Prayer Use it and Learn it in Lent St. Mark s bulletins will give page numbers in the BCP during Lent. Including the whole service in a bulletin is good hospitality for visitors and for Episcopalians who still have trouble traveling around the BCP, but during one season a year, it can be a good and joyful thing for all of us to familiarize ourselves with The Book. Our services will be a bit more contemplative and quiet during Lent. 8 O Clockers Enjoy! Making provisions for family, church and charity. The Book of Common Prayer, one our instruments of authority, requires rectors and vicars of congregations to regularly remind members of their eventual death and eternal life. The BCP specifically states, The Minister of the Congregation is directed to instruct the people from time to time, about the duty of Christian parents to make prudent provision for the well -being of their families, and for all persons to make wills, while they are in good health, arranging for the disposal of their temporal goods, not neglecting, if they are able, to leave bequests for religious and charitable uses. (p. 445, BCP). The season of Lent when we are reminded that dust we are and to dust we shall return might also be a good time to plan out our funeral, for it is for those we leave behind. Feel free to speak with Jim+ or Kay+ about this.
. TGIF: Theology on Tap, Fridays February 12 March 18 Fridays, 5:00 p.m. 6:00 p.m. at the Backwards Distillery in Mills Exotic Drinks, with and without alcohol So if we are Thanking God its Friday then we ought to talk about God on Friday, especially during Lent. It should be about sundown which means the end of the Friday Fast. This is something to invite your friends to. We will address topics, from Who are we? to Who is God? Descartes answered this question which epitomized The Age of Reason, I think, therefore I am. I happen to believe that God calls us to The Age of Love, We are loved, therefore we are! Please call or email Fr. Jim if you are coming so he can either reserve the above room for if there are more of us, another venue. His phone number is: 912 844-7412 and email is jshumie@aol.com. You will have time to talk theology and then have your Friday night free to pray. Accessibility...Welcoming Everyone! Starting in Lent, St. Mark s will begin offering Communion at the side chapel for those who may not want to climb steps to the altar. This idea came from the Newcomers Committee who want to provide unconditional welcome to all at the Lord s Table. A Worship Leader
St. Mark s Holy Week Schedule 9:00 AM Palm Sunday, March 20 7:00 PM Reading of the Gospel of Mark Wednesday, March 23 rd 7:00 PM Maundy Thursday Service with foot washing, March 24 th 7:00 AM Good Friday Service, March 25 th Noon Good Friday Service with Stations of the Cross, March 25th 7:00 PM Good Friday Service with Tennebrae, March 25 th 7:00 PM Easter Vigil Service, March 26 th 9:00 AM Easter Morning, March 27 St. Stephen s Holy Week Schedule 8:30 AM Palm Sunday with Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian at Shepherd 4600 S Poplar. Finger food breakfast starting at 8:30 AM and service at 10:00 AM 7:00 PM Maundy Thursday foot washing at St. Stephen's 7:00 PM Good Friday Stations of the Cross at St. Stephen's 7:00 PM Easter Vigil in the style of Godly Play at St. Stephen's with Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian 10:30 AM Easter Day at St. Stephen's 701 S. Wolcott Casper, WY 82601 307.234.0831 Email:stmarkscasper@aol.com www.stmarkscasper.com www.wyomingdiocese.org