The Missive January 2017

A Message from Rev. Hannah….

Happy New Year!

St. Mark's has had quite a holiday season. Our Advent Soup Suppers were a huge hit. Each sup-per was more well attended than the last, with an average of 45 people per week sharing a meal. The chefs definitely their A game, so to everyone who helped provide food, thank you! Be on the look out for more opportunities for food and fellowship in Lent. In addition to fellowship, St. Mark's enjoyed a variety of liturgies. We had a service of Advent Lessons and Carols, the Christmas Pag-eant, Midnight Mass, and a baptism on Christmas day. It was an absolute privilege to watch the people of St. Mark's come together to create and participate in such incredible worship in the past few weeks. Musicians, servers. readers, ushers, flower guild, and everyone who attended any of the services have all contributed to a remarkable achievement of praise and comfort, an offering to the whole community.

With Christmas behind us and Lent and Easter coming late this year, we are looking forward to a long Epiphany season. But although our worship will be steady for the next couple of months, life at St. Marks will remain as busy and Spirit-filled as ever. In just a few short weeks, we will have our annual meeting. It will take place after the 10am service on January 22. Lunch will be a pot-luck, and I strongly encourage every who can to attend. The annual meeting is a wonderful oppor-tunity for fellowship, to get an update on the church's financial status, and this year, to get an up-date on the rector search. Part of being a member of any church is contributing to its logistical function, so come listen to the state of our parish and let your voice be heard. One of the main agenda items for this year's annual meeting is to say goodbye to four vestry members and elect four new members. This annual transition is important to the life of our church, because new ideas and voices keep us thriving as a community and keep our leadership dynamic. But it is a bittersweet moment for me, as I will say goodbye to the first vestry I worked with in my ordained ministry. As a group, they have been supportive of my transition, passionate about life at St. Mark's committed to their leadership roles, and exemplary people of faith. St. Mark's has been lucky to have them, and I know that this tradition of fantastic vestry members will continue. If you see them, take a moment to thank Scott Darwin, Lise Cater, Ryan Smith, and Blake Coe for their outstanding work. Peace, Hannah+

Blue Christmas Service

A beautiful service of hope, St.

Mark’s Blue Christmas filled a need

for many on December 22. Those

who were present appreciated this

special evening dedicated to those

who find Christmas a difficult sea-

son for any number of reasons:

loneliness, grief, isolation, etc. Due

to the positive response. We hope

to make this an annual December

service.

Children’s Christmas Eve Pageant

The costumes and props used for our children’s Christmas eve are now packed away ready for next year’s pageant. I want to thank all the children who participated in our annual pageant. Our narrators for the pageant: Kathryn Davis, Olivia Joy Langford and Rowan Pierce did another outstanding job of leading us through the Gospel story of the birth of Christ. The children enact-ing the gospel message also did an excellent job. Special thanks to Barbara Cart, Stephanie Matthews, Matthew Stone, and Brooke Worlow who helped out during the practices and during the pageant.

Christian Education

Two Saints’

January Schedule

Jan 7, Team 2

Jan 14, Team 3

Jan 21, Team 4

Jan 29, Team 5

Happy and holy New Year! Let us start this new year with a new beginning. May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them!

Our elementary Christian Education program has been a blessing in so many ways. A lot of prayer and time have gone into developing our Christian Education program here at St. Marks. But in order to continue the work we have begun we will need the continued support of par-ents and parishioners during the up coming new year.

For now, we ask parents and parishioners of St. Mark’s to please consider either providing a meal or making a monetary donation to help purchase food items. On Wednesday evenings we feed about 14 kids and four adults. There is a sign up a sheet in the narthex if you would like to help with this. Your generosity and kindness have not gone unnoticed. May you be blessed richly for all you do to support the young people of our parish.

We had our Family Christmas party on December 14. Parents provided all kinds of wonderful finger foods for our gathering. The kids had a great time celebrating and participating in an Christmas gift exchange.

Our Christian Education sessions will resume on Wednesday, January 4 at 6:00pm. We will celebrate Epiphany with a special activity with the children. Please contact Rev. Hannah or Rose Mary (935-0236 or rosemarylatanich@gmail.com ) if you have any questions about our Christian Education program.

These last few months have been busy times for Two Saints'! The number of guests have increased over the past few months to a current number of around 80 guests most weeks. The weekend after Thanksgiving we had a special meal ca-tered in the honor of Barbara Keller thanks to a generous con-tribution by her children. This year on Christmas Eve we had a

large meal that consisted of ham and sides. Thanks to a generous donation from Marya Langford's company there were many desserts as well. Thanks to all the hard work from the teams and donations we have been able to have a very successful year in 2016. We even received a very generous grant from the Craighead County Community Foundation that has allowed us to increase the amount of feedings, take home meals, and kitchen improvements. Here is to an even better 2017!

Liturgy of the Word with Children

Every Sunday at St Marks, children between the age of 3yrs. and 5th grade are offered the op-

portunity to attend Liturgy of the Word with Children.

We process in after the choir, and convene in the small chapel. Here, we follow a lesson that

mirrors the service in the “Big Church”, and we talk about the readings, and work on a small re-

lated craft, or project.

Lately we have been having record numbers of children attending, in fact, on Sunday December

18th, we had 12 kids!

I have been volunteering for this service for many years, I stepped up after Mother Joanne

pleaded one too many times from the lectern for volunteers. At the time, my children were

grown, and I did not have any other experience with childcare, but I could see that the service

was about to be cancelled if no one stepped up. So I figured why not? What could possibly be so

hard about watching a handful of children for approximately 30 minutes every 4th or 5

th Sunday?

Well honestly, it is not the easiest thing in the world, the children are full of energy and every

time I lead them in, I can never tell how their moods will be, or how they will get along. Here’s

the thing though…through the years I have gotten to know the kids, I have seen them grow, and

I have gotten to know their parents. Most Sundays they really do get the lesson, and they always

have fun working on the craft. I feel more connected to St Marks than ever, and I feel like I’m re-

ally making a contribution.

Well, Mother Joanne is gone, and Rose Mary has been asking for help with this mission, so I

feel like I need to join the cause and ask for some help!

We really need a few more volunteers to help out. Please think outside the box here. We wel-

come any help from men or women, young or old, parents or non-parents!

If you feel like this is something you can help with, please contact Rose Mary and let her

know!

Thanks for your concern, Donna Gilbert

HAPPY NEW YEAR from ST. MARK’S ECW !!

ECW will meet Saturday, January 14th at 9:00 for our January meeting. We

will be electing officers for the coming year. We will also be planning our Book and

Bake sale. Fellowship time will be at 9:00. The business meeting begins at 9:30.

Please send any agenda items to beckycarr_asu@hotmail.com.

ECW’s annual Book and Bake sale will be held again this year in conjunction

with the Men’s Club’s Pancake Breakfast on Saturday, January 28. Please consider

baking something for us to sell, or donating used books, CDs, Puzzles or Videos. If

you are setting aside items for donation, please do not bring them to Church until

the week before the sale since storage space is limited.

Our meetings are always fun, and a nice way to start off the New Year with

the women of St Mark’s. Reconnect with some long-time friends and make some

new ones. We have a wonderful group of women at St. Mark’s.

Thank you for your participation in the Warm and Fuzzy tree for the Family

Crisis Center. It was a huge success this year because of the generosity of the St.

Mark’s Congregation.

Saturday, January 21st at 2pm, St. Mark's will have a Kitchen Cleaning and Purging. Any

and everyone is welcome to help organize, clean, and downsize. Members of ministries that

use the kitchen regularly, even as little as once a year, are encouraged to participate so that

valuable items that might not appear valuable are not tossed out. If you cannot attend the

event, but want items you use to be recognized, please let the church office know. Feel free

to bring a box of Clorox Wipes, a roll of paper towels, a snack to share, or some tunes to jam

to! See you there!

1/01 Daisy Doty

1/03 Reneilia Hampton

1/04 Kailey Ferguson

1/04 Linda Cobb

1/05 Robin Dauer

1/06 Ann Fritz

1/07 Donna Gilbert

1/07 Ashlyn Holland- Moore

1/07 Dennis Zolper

January Birthdays

January Anniversaries 1/02 Erik and Donna Gilbert

1/29 Todd and Kelly Welch

1/09 Greta Troutt

1/16 Sam Fagan

1/16 Katie Toombs

1/20 Noe Heim

1/21 Phillip Poston

1/21 Adele Johnson

1/21 Bradley Reed

1/23 Matthew Dauer

1/23 Teresa Fuller

1/24 Kelly Welch

1/25 Hanne Heim

1/26 Gabriel Looney

1/26 Kirsten Penley

1/26 Beth Smith

1/26 C.W. Toombs

1/27 Maizie Henry

1/28 Sally Coleman

1/28 Robin Robinson

1/30 Rhonda Dauer

Santa was very good to the children and staff of St. Mark's Day School. The holidays were a

well deserved break. We are excited to return to school January 2nd and see our children and

co-workers. We have not had much in the way of winter weather, but just in case, remember

that St. Mark's follows the Jonesboro Public School closings for inclement weather. Also be

sure to "like" us on Facebook for "up to date" announcements and information. School will be

closed January 16th in observance of Martin Luther King Day. We will be starting enrollment

for the summer program and the fall school year soon, so be looking for information if you

know of anyone interested. Thanks, Peggy

St. Mark’s Day School

Upcoming Events…..

January 2017

Jan 1 One service at 9:00 am

Jan 2 New Year’s Day Observed

Jan 6 Epiphany Service at 7pm

Jan 8 Daughters of the King

Jan 14 ECW Meeting

Jan 16 Vestry Meeting

Jan 19 Men’s Club Meeting

Jan 21 Kitchen Clean Up Day

Jan 22 Annual Meeting and Potluck Lunch

Jan 16 Martin Luther King Day, Office Closed

Jan 28 Pancake Day and Bake/Book Sale

Financial Update

December Year to Date

Pledges and Offerings Received $ 24,909 $ 302,357

Needed to meet budget 28,204 316,486

Budget Surplus (Shortfall) ($ 3,295) ($ 14,129)

Actual Expenses Paid $ 21,218 $ 295,107

Actual (Shortfall) $ 3,691 ($ 7,250)

Loan Balance $ 153,548