This Sunday, we enter into the season of Advent. Advent is a season of waiting, watching, and longing. We see the despair in our world. Our world is not the way God created it to be. We are not who God created us to be. We long for hope. We long for healing. We long…
A Place of Grace
Worship (Page 47)
On Sunday, November 23, we celebrate the end of our liturgical church year with Christ the King and The Reign of Christ. At our 8:30 and 11:00 worship services, four members of St. Mark (Jenny G., Brian S., Gary D., and Gail F.) will reflect upon what it means to them that Christ reigns in…
Sunday, October 5th at both our 8:30 and 11:00 services, we celebrate the ministry of St. Francis, the blessing of creation, and the gift of our pets with the Blessing of the Animals. Animals of all shapes and sizes are welcome to attend worship and be blessed. Please be sure that all animals are safely…
The celebration of “Holy Cross” occurs on September 14th. Pastor Beth shared her personal struggle with understanding the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross. She wondered, Why did Jesus have to die? Wasn’t there another way for God to redeem humanity? We do not have to completely understand the cross to stand under it…
We welcome you to “God’s Work Our Hands” Sunday, this Sunday, September 7th at St. Mark! We are gathering food (and/or monetary donations) for the Thurston County Food Bank. The Food Bank especially needs protein items such as canned meats, chili, canned beans, legumes, and peanutbutter. Also popular is dried pasta (a jar of pasta…
In Matthew 16:21-28, Jesus told his disciples, ” If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” The second reading for this Sunday, Romans 12:9-21, Paul goes into detail as to how to follow Jesus’s example. Pastor Eric asked us what does that mean and…
Yes, indeed! The “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” has come to St. Mark! A member of St. Mark nominated Pastor Beth for this challenge–to dump a bucket of ice water over her head and give a donation in support of research for ALS. This member lost her husband to this disease. Pastor Beth accepted this challenge!…
Lessons for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, from Matthew 16 and Psalm 138, beg us to ponder identity. Who is God? Who is Jesus? And who are we. We live in a world with violence, hatred, illness, poverty, brokenness. Pastor Beth’s sermon reminds us we have to ponder this, but we cannot let the world define who…
In our Gospel today, the 14th chapter of Matthew, we are reminded of the story of Jesus reaching out to save Peter as he was sinking, asking “Why did you doubt?” As Jesus reached out to his disciple Peter, he sends us out to pick people out of the water. He is always challenging us…
Matthew’s gospel, 14:13-21, shows us once more Jesus demonstrating his compassion by performing one of his greatest miracles….the multiplication of the five loaves and two fishes to feed the thousands of followers who were with him in ‘a deserted place.’ Pastor Eric gave us examples of compassion in our present life stressing that every time…