A Year in Review

As we come to the close of another year, it is a good time to stop and look back at the things we have experienced together as the St. Mark community. 

You may recall last January, how we elected a new class of Elders and Deacons, who then attended a Leadership Training event before we ordained and installed them into their offices. I’m always impressed with the spiritual maturity that our leaders exhibit when they take on this three-year commitment. Since the word “Presbyterian” identifies us as “elder-driven,” we invest a lot in our diversifying, recognizing, and empowering leaders from among our entire congregation.  

In February, the Presbytery of Los Ranchos met at Orange Canaan Presbyterian Church. It was a significant meeting, because Orange Canaan is a Korean congregation, who were perfect hosts, supplying us with “singing chefs” and everything a presbytery gathering could hope for. We also were able to host Denise Anderson as our guest preacher on a Sunday following a Synod Peacemaking event. 

In March, there are two things I want to recall. First, several of us attended a NEXT Church annual gathering in Seattle. NEXT Church is the movement within the Presbyterian Church (USA) that brings me the most hope about the future of our church and the church. Please visit their web site and feel free to ask me if you have any questions about it. If you are interested, the next annual gathering is March 2-4 in Cincinnati, OH. The second memory of last March was that we began our season of Lent with the theme, “Fragile Beauty of the Earth.” For six weeks we looked at the 104^th Psalm and had “Talkback” sessions on Saturday as well as “Earth Care” presentations on Sunday. 

The season of Lent carried us into April, with Holy Week services and three Easter weekend celebrations of the resurrection. We also heard from two of our youth who attended the Ecumenical Advocacy Days training in Washington D.C. In 2020, EAD will be April 24-27 (with a bonus PCUSA training on April 23). If you are interested in attending, contact the church office and we will forward your name to our Peace and Justice Commission, which provides scholarships. You can find our more here.  

During May we hosted two weeks of Family Promise and attended an Angels game. 

In June we celebrated Pentecost wildly, as is appropriate, hosted two more weeks of Family Promise, and celebrated our choir’s huge commitment each week to rehearsing and leading us in our Sunday worship. 

In July, several of our youth and adults attended the Presbyterian Church Youth Triennium, along with others from our presbytery. We also celebrated the retirement of Ann Scott as our Parish Nurse for many years. During this month we also concluded three intergenerational “Fun, Food, and Faith” events hosted by our Children and Youth Ministries commission. 

August is that month where we roll up our sleeves in preparation for the tsunami known as “September.” We also responded very generously to an appeal from United to End Homelessness, resulting in 7 families being able to find a home. 

September is when we kicked off a new season of Sunday School, choir, hand bells, and a host of other ways that we open the work and ministry of the church up to full participation. We also had a Tween Retreat, one of many events that 2019 saw which has been building up our Tweenage ministry. And in September we moved many of our commission meetings on the first Sunday of the month, in order to allow more participation. Finally, during this month we hosted Muna Nassar, a Palestinian Mission Co-Worker as our speaker for Saturday and Sunday. 

In October we had a series entitled, “The World Where It Happens,” during which we celebrated Worldwide Communion, welcomed new members, had our annual meeting, and make our stewardship commitment for 2020.  We also had our Harvest Festival on the last Sunday of the month, which is always delightful. 

November was a time of celebrating All Saints Day, hosting fundraisers for Home for Refugees and National Farm Workers, and setting up our “Giving Tree” for gifts we collected in December. And November is when we have our Alternative Christmas Market, a very labor-intensive, community-saturated event that raises over $23,000 for charitable organizations. 

And, December: We have observed Advent with the theme, “Everybody Needs a Home,” during which we looked at the displacement of the Holy Family and many others like them in the world. We hosted a Christmas party for persons who have been victimized by Human Trafficking. We had a Las Posadas event featuring organizations that serve the homeless. We ordained and installed new leadership for 2020. And we celebrated Christmas Eve with three different, beautiful services. 

Along the way, we had worship every Saturday and Sunday, too many memorial services of friends to whom we have said goodbye, baptisms, weddings, and all of the gatherings that are necessary for a church to thrive and serve. I thank God for every piece of it and for the honor of being your pastor. 

Mark of St. Mark 

Cultivating Wow

I was asked by a friend to re-post a sermon that I preached 6 years ago today at Heartland Presbyterian Church. This is for you, Renee. Thanks for asking. 

The Scripture reading are Isaiah 35:1-10 and Matthew 1:18-25. 

I saw the most delightful presentation this week by Dr. Brené Brown, describing the difference between “sympathy” and “empathy.” She described the occasion when someone we know falls into a deep dark hole. Sympathy, she said, was someone sticking a head in the hole and saying, “Oh, that’s too bad.” She said that sympathy – the worst kind of sympathy I think – often begins with the words “At least”: “At least it’s not a dark deep hole with fire in it.” “At least you didn’t bring a bunch of other people down here with you.” As if the imagination of something even worse somehow makes someone’s deep dark hole better. The ultimate, of course, is that statement that often is thought but goes unsaid, “At least it is you and not me.” Empathy, as Dr. Brown described it, is much better whenever it is possible. Empathy is when someone falls into a deep dark hole and you climb down the hole, turn on the light, and say, “It’s okay. We’ve all been here and you are not alone.” 

I particularly like Dr. Brown’s point regarding those awful sympathetic statements that begin with “At least.” There are times when we just don’t know how to connect with someone else’s pain or joy, yet we want to say something. We hear someone’s story, we have no idea how to react, yet not to react seems cold and inappropriate. So, we say something. I remember attending a conference on Jewish/Palestinian relationships once. It was a tension-filled conference – the first time I ever heard someone stand up and complain about a conference right after the opening prayer! I heard stories of Jews, living in places where there is mortar fire regularly. I heard stories of Palestinians, battling against literal and metaphorical roadblocks just trying to live their lives. For a lot of folks at that conference, every story became a soapbox moment, an obligation to weigh in on the “for” or “against” camp. They felt obligated to state their opinion, declare a side, join the crusade, and filter every story through their position. We’ve been told that we have to believe in something or else we are being unfaithful. We’ve been told that our Christianity requires us to speak the truth, embrace the right causes, be bold and assertive for God! So, whether we declare ourselves “for” or “against,” we operate out of this sense that our faith requires us to say something. But, the moment we take someone else’s experience and jam it into our cause, we’ve lost sight of the person before us, the person whose story is not an “issue” but a life. The moment we throw the gauntlet – whether we think we are on “their side” or not – we’ve traded a relationship for a position.

A better answer would be “Wow.” 

 “Wow.” It’s a silly word in many ways, because it really says nothing. “Wow” is that empty phrase that says nothing about being “for” or “against.” “Wow” says nothing about our own experience and opinion. “Wow” says nothing substantive; it is simply an empty word that is fully relational. By saying nothing, “Wow” can say just the right thing. “Wow” says “I’m listening,” but it doesn’t say “I’m explaining,” “I’m comprehending,” or “I’m judging.” “Wow” offers an opportunity for the relationship to continue between someone’s story and my life, without filtering it through my obligation to set things right. Imagine how many conversations could be transformed from confrontation to solidarity with nothing more than the word “Wow.” 

I’m convinced that the most powerful thing people of faith can do is to cultivate “Wow.” I’m not talking about manufacturing pizzazz. That’s what bored people do. Pizzazz is the junk food of empty carbs for the insatiable appetites of people who can no longer see wonder in real life. “Wow” is something else entirely. 

The Advent journey, and the Christmas story that follows it, offer us marvelous opportunities to cultivate “Wow.” “Wow” is that moment when the people in darkness see a great light. “Wow” is when the bloody uniforms and muddy boots of warriors become fuel for a cease-fire celebration. “Wow” is when an anxious King thinks all is lost, then hears the cry of a newborn baby. “Wow” is when God’s people, after a long exile and an exhausting journey, finally re-enter Israel singing songs that they never thought they’d sing in their ancestral home again. “Wow” is when an aging couple discovers that in their dotage they will conceive and bear and child. “Wow” is when a young woman discovers that God’s power of life is greater even than simple human reproduction would suggest. “Wow” is when her fiancé is invited to hear that the scandal on his hands is actually a wonder sent from God. Long before we feel the need to explain the story or declare ourselves warriors in defense of Christmas, the journey of Advent and Christmas invite us to babble that nonsensical word of the overwhelmed heart, “Wow.” 

The genius of the Christian church has been how its yearly calendar begins, not with January 1^st, but with the season of Advent. When we’ve said “Wow” at how people in exile maintain hope, we are ready for everything that the year will throw at us. When we’ve said “Wow” at Zachariah and Elizabeth, we are ready for the miracle stories in the gospels, when we hear over and over how “all of them were amazed.” When we’ve said “Wow” at warriors beating their weapons into tools, we are ready to hear the Sermon on the Mount. When we’ve said “Wow” at exiles returning to their homes, we’re ready to read Paul’s letters to churches struggling to maintain their unity amid their differences. When we’ve said “Wow” at the manger, we’re ready to look at the cross and believe that good can overcome evil. Likewise, when we’ve said “Wow” at the strange visitors from the east, bringing the best gifts their culture has to offer, we are ready for a year of enlarging our lives by meeting strangers in our world. When we’ve said “Wow” with Mary, we’re ready to say “Wow” with anyone whose journey of sexuality or parenting can be the occasion of grace. 

Advent is that season when we cultivate “Wow.” Nothing prepares us better for experiencing “God with us,” in our darkness, in our world, and in our hope. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Christmas Eve

On Tuesday night we will have three wonderful opportunities for our church family, our extended families that are visiting, and for guests to join together in worship and wonder. Christmas Eve is a meaning-filled time for many reasons: Family gatherings keep us grounded and connected; festive lights and music all around enlarges the joy to a larger community; quiet moments with a single candle glowing in the darkness is enchanting; and the excitement of children is always wonderful. For the Christian community, the heart of this celebration is captured in the name Emmanuel, “God with us.” It is a message that brings great joy to shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night, Magi from the east, a young woman with all kinds of revolutionary aspirations, and even causes a heavenly band of angels to break out in praise. For you and me, Emmanuel means we are not alone when we are grieving a loss, trying to make ends meet, wondering what the future holds, or wearied by the never-ending struggle for justice. In our greatest moments of joy, as well as our most trying moments of despair, anger, and hate – you and I have the assurance that “God is with us.” It will not necessarily make everything easier and it surely is not a magical formula. Rather, it gives our pain more meaning and our intentions greater purpose. If you hear nothing else this Christmas, please find a way to speak the name, Emmanuel, “God with us,” into your life. It matters. 

Here are our Christmas Eve opportunities. This is both for your information and for you to be able to share this information with a neighbor who may be in need of a Christian community as well. (That’s me encouraging you to be an evangelist! ) 

At 4:00 our children will take us on a journey, following the Mexican tradition of Las Posadas. I’ll leave it to the children to describe that tradition, but it will be an excellent way to re-visit the Christmas story. Many thanks to our coordinators and Pastor Hayes for preparing this service. The service will conclude with “Passing the Glow Sticks of Christ.” 

NOTE: Our 4:00 service is usually very full, so come early and, if you are able, consider parking by the Administration building or even the preschool so that others and late-arriving guests can park near the door. 

At 7:00 our choir will lead us in a musical embrace of the Christmas story. I’ve had a glimpse of the arrangements that the choir will be singing and they are absolutely lovely. Many thanks to Scott Farthing, Alicia Adams, and our very dedicated choir for making this service possible. It will be a wonderful service that concludes with “Passing the Light of Christ,” which I find to be one of the most savor-able moments of Christmas Eve. 

At 9:00 our worship service will gravitate around a traditional Catalonian poem called “El cant dels ocells,” or “The Song of the Birds.” There’s a lovely story behind this poem and it provides a unique way to hear the Christmas story anew. Many thanks to Steve Johnston, Jennifer McCullough, as well as our Synerjazz and Synersingers for making this service possible. It will also conclude with “Passing the Light of Christ.” (Please note: We will not be serving communion at this service, as previously announced.) 

If you are traveling this Christmas Eve, our hearts go with you. If you are in the area, I hope you will make every effort to be in worship and please feel free to bring someone whom you know would appreciate this sacred time with us. 

Mark of St. Mark

Advent 1

This weekend is the beginning of the Advent season! I rarely use exclamation points, but I really love the season of Advent. Our theme this year is “Everybody Needs a Home.” Special thanks to our Worship Commission - as well as Brian Parker and Shane McCullough - who have worked very hard on our seasonal installation in the sanctuary. To get a sense of what this season is about, here is an excerpt from an Op Ed that I have sent to our local newspaper: 

For those preparing to hear the Christmas story, there is one small feature that particularly deserves our attention this year. In a passing phrase, the Gospel of Luke says that Mary and Joseph wrapped the newborn in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the inn. That slight reference to an inn with no vacancy is impacted with lots of meaning. For Luke’s story, it is a reminder that Jesus’ birth takes place under the umbrella of Roman dominion. Luke’s story begins with a reference to Caesar Augustus demanding that all of Israel return to their family hometown for a census. At the least, this census would be added to Caesar’s self-congratulatory list of conquered peoples. Beyond that, it would serve to show how many legions would be needed to maintain Rome’s control, as well as to provide a tax base for funding the next conquest. There was no room in Bethlehem’s inn because so many people were displaced by Caesar’s command. This moment of imperial, politicized displacement is the context in which Jesus’ birth takes place.  

Since the Christmas story is grounded in the experience of displacement, we will listen to it through stories of displacement as well. Each week we will have a subtheme and will point toward a related event that will offer a way of living into this story today.  

November 30/December 1: "Dislocation and Relocation"--When a home no longer feels like home (due to dementia, empty nest syndrome, loss of a loved one, children moving back, etc.). Our Health Ministries Commission will offer a Blue Christmas session at 11 a.m. on Sunday for those who are experiencing loss and grief during this season).

December 7/8: "Displacement and Replacement"--The challenge for refugees, immigrants, and castaways. On Saturday St. Mark will host a special event on behalf of victims of human trafficking. (Due to the need for confidentiality, this event is not open to the public. If you want to support it in some way, please contact the church office.)

December 14/15:  "Homelessness and Housing"--Facing economic, situational, and chronic homelessness in our community. On Saturday we will have a “Synerjazz Christmas Party” in the Fellowship Hall following worship, and on Sunday we will have a Las Posadas event throughout the Fellowship Hall after worship. 

December 21/22: "Unwelcomed and Welcomed"--Exploring the feelings of not being welcomed or not welcoming others. On Saturday there is a “Homeless Persons Interreligious Memorial Service” at Christ Cathedral at 8:00pm, to remember those who have died on the streets of Orange County this year. 

I hope you make every effort to be part of our Advent season, as well as our Christmas Eve services at 4:00, 7:00, or 9:00. I’ll share more information about those services soon. 

Blessings, 

Mark of St. Mark 

United to End Homelessness

As many of you know, I have gotten involved with several attempts to address the homelessness challenge in Orange County during the last several years. Initially, we started the Orange County Alliance for Just Change (OCAJC), with the hope of working to identify and address systemic roots of injustice. Early on we decided to make homelessness our focus and brought Professor David Snow on board, who had just led a team that produced a groundbreaking study called Homelessness in Orange County: The Costs to Our Community. Dr. Snow’s team had been commissioned by the United Way of Orange County and demonstrated that the costs of “doing nothing” are higher that it would be for the county to house homeless persons, in order to provide wraparound services for those who need them. 

About that same time that OCAJC was getting started by offering educational forums about the root causes of homelessness, the United Way was creating a new program in response to Dr. Snow’s study called United to End Homelessness (U2EH). Basing its structure on a model from Orlando, FL, U2EH formed a Leadership Council made up of persons at various levels of government, service providers, business leaders, and educators. And, after a time, they formed a Faith Leaders Council, on which they invited me to serve. I was asked to moderate the Faith Leaders Council in our second meeting, and as a result I was asked to represent the Faith Leaders as part of the Leadership Council. Subsequently, I was asked to be on the Executive Committee of the Leadership Council. Please understand, I’m not bragging about my resume – this is more of a testimony of my inability to say ‘no’ than anything else. And despite my reluctance to add more layers of meetings to my life, I wanted to take advantage of these invitations in order to represent St. Mark, OCAJC, as well as other faith communities in this coordinated effort.  

And it has been an incredible experience so far. Let me share some highlights. 

- U2EH has the goal of seeing 2,700 new units of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) in Orange County by 2025. For a great definition of and look at PSH, check out this page by Jamboree Housing here.  

- U2EH began offering Homelessness 101 workshops that provide one of the best overviews of homelessness and responses to homelessness anywhere. 

- U2EH,  in cooperation with OCAJC, has just initiated a new Housing Champions training called Advocacy 101. The first training took place this week in Mission Viejo. The next two training dates are December 4 at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton and December 5 at the Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove. For more information and to register, click here.

- U2EH began a program called Welcome Home OC, which works with apartment owners to provide “scattered site” PSH, which do not need approval by city councils, but do require initial costs to incentivize apartment owners to participate. 

- Thanks to the leadership of Cottie Petrie-Norris, U2EH received a $2.9 million grant from the State of CA to address homeless veterans through the “Welcome Home OC” program. The outreach to veterans is called “Marching Home.” 

- U2EH worked with the Santa Ana Housing Authority (SAHA) in August to provide 30 units in 30 days, in order to take advantage of 30 housing vouchers that SAHA needed to use, in order to qualify for potentially 300 more voucher. St. Mark was a huge part of that effort. U2EH needed to raise $500,000 of initial costs to house the 30 families, and St. Mark responded with over $115,0000, funding 7 of the 30 units. 

And now, a new opportunity is at hand. The federal office of HUD has awarded 12 communities grants to house 18-24 year olds who have “aged out” of the Foster Care System. U2EH is working with The Orangewood Foundation and SAHA to house 25 former foster youth. The initial costs are over $12,000 each. U2EH has already secured funding to house 7 former foster youth through our WelcomeHomeOC Program and are working to raise $228,060 by December 31, 2019 to help to house the other 18. The St. Mark Mission Commission has already put some funding toward it, and you are welcomed to participate in addition. For more information and to make a contribution, visit U2EH’s GoFundMe page here.  

Well, that’s enough for now. St. Mark has long been a leader in striving for economic justice in Orange County and I think the work of OCAJC, U2EH, and related organizations is an extension of what God has been calling us to do throughout our church’s 50+ years. It is a blessing to be a part of it.

Mark of St. Mark 

Faithful and Expansive View of God

Three quick announcements, then on with the show.

1. If you want to attend our Thanksgiving dinner, Thanksgiving Day at 4:00, please sign up today. Right now, even! Send a note to stmark@stmarkpresbyterian.org.

2. If you were not in worship last Sunday, you may want to go to the St. Mark web site and listen to last week’s sermon. It was “Hagar’s Story, part 1” and this week we will hear “part 2.” 

3. The Alternative Christmas Market is Sunday! This Sunday! Two days from now! If you’re working the market and have to miss worship, then come on Saturday and follow the crowd to Muldoon’s. 

And now … 

A funny thing happens when we leave our customary spaces and enter other spaces as a guest. Last Saturday, following worship, I was a guest speaker at the Islamic Education Center as part of their celebration of their prophet’s birthday. Our Muslim brothers and sisters know that many Americans view them primarily through the lens of news clips of violence, movie depictions of terrorists, or theories about their sinister intentions. They cringe whenever a mass shooting takes place, praying that it will not turn out to be a Muslim who is doing the violence or Muslims who were the victims. Many Muslims live with a constant shroud of fear that some random person will try to execute a kind of vigilante justice by harassing them or harming them. In truth, they are doctors, police officers, business persons, school teachers, and next-door neighbors, who follow Islam. 

When I was at the Islamic Education Center, the Imam Sayed Moustafa al-Qazwini condemned religious violence in the strongest terms possible. He argued that Muslims who terrorize, take innocent lives, or go to war in the name of Islam are misrepresenting Islam and misreading the Koran. He named names and argued that groups like the Islamic State were wrong. He argued that the best way to honor the prophet Muhammad is to live peaceably and helpfully with all of our neighbors. He honored Jesus Christ - not in the same way that I do, but with reverence and respect. He honored Moses and welcomed the Jewish persons who were in attendance. It was a meaningful experience and always is. 

The same is true whenever I visit the Shinnyo-en Japanese Buddhist Temple in Yorba Linda, the Temple Bat Yam, the Jewish Collaborative of Orange County, or any number of worship spaces where persons of other faiths gather. When the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council or Orange County Interfaith Network meet, they are respectful gatherings with progressive Christians, lots of Mormons, Jews of many kinds, Muslims, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, and Universalist Unitarians. What is curious to me is that the most underrepresented group – at least from the Christian denominations – are Evangelical churches. 

The primary reason evangelicals are underrepresented is fairly clear. Theologically, if one is convinced that professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the only true way to salvation, then there is a problem with interfaith work. It would seem like one is validating a lie. I spoke with an evangelical pastor recently, who is a great guy who pours himself out in service to folks that many others would simply ignore. He said that whenever he tries to convince himself that other religions are siblings and perhaps have their own pathway toward God, he gets hung up on the stories of the Old Testament, where God demanded absolute intolerance of other religions and exclusivist claims that are in the New Testament on occasion. I disagree with his reading of these texts and -more importantly - with the presumptions through which he reads biblical texts generally. I do not doubt his sincerity, but I mourn his conclusions because of what they do not allow him to do. He is not able to enter the Islamic Education Center with an open heart, free of thinking that he is somehow compromising his faith by being there. He cannot enter a synagogue or temple without feeling that the people there are blind to the real truth of their own religion. I am not judging him. I am only speaking from my own experience, having been raised in a way of Christianity that could not encounter other religious expressions with openness. I still struggle against ingrained tendencies of religious intolerance. 

When I was invited to the Islamic Education Center for the prophet’s birthday, I was asked to speak about interfaith relations. I raised the question of why some Christians read the New Testament exclusively and others expansively; why some Jews read the Torah exclusively and other expansively; why some Muslims read the Koran exclusively and other expansively. The only sorts of answers that I could offer were roughly this: The lens through which we read Scripture is shaped by our theological predispositions. My journey has led me to have a large view of God, to where God is free, able, and willing to act in ways that lie outside of my own way of faith; and a small view of humanity, where each claim I/we make about God is proximate at best. For me, “truth” about God is less about the proposition that we formulate, and more about the hunger that drives us to search, hope, and believe. 

Or something like that. 

Mark of St. Mark  

Undies and Church Attendance

Let me begin with Two Quick Notes: 

1. Did you notice the announcement that we’re going to have a St. Mark Thanksgiving dinner this year? If you’d like to come, and are willing to help with the before-during-after stuff, please drop a note to stmark@stmarkpresbyterian.org.   

2. The Orange County Alliance for Just Change is working with United to End Homelessness to offer three “Advocacy 101” opportunities between now and the end of the year, to advocate in our cities for more Permanent Supportive Housing. For South County, Wednesday, November 20, at the Presbyterian Church of the Master in Mission Viejo. For North County, Wednesday, December 4 at the Muckenthaler Cultural Arts Center in Fullerton. For Central County, Thursday, December 5 at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove. All event open registration at 6:30 and you will want to arrive by then so you can register and be ready to start promptly at 7:00pm. If you want to attend one of these workshops, sign up, at https://www.eventbrite.com/o/united-to-end-homelessness-19985632942.

And now, for the Weekly Missive: 

A recent article in the Huffington Post said, “It may be the most familiar dream in the world.” They were speaking, of course, about the “Suddenly realizing you are in your underwear in public” dream. Dream studies folks reckon that the dream is either prompted by what you’re wearing (or not) when sleeping (so let’s not talk about it). Or, they say it may be a subconscious expression of feeling unprepared and risking being exposed in some way (Let’s talk about this one). 

Based on my own sleep experience, which I actually experience every single night, I happen to think that the ‘underwear in public’ dream is just one expression of ‘anxiety dreams’ in general. Beyond physical exposure, those anxiety dreams often tend to be specific to our job, our daily routines, or our deepest fears. For example, as a pastor I often have the anxiety dream of being in a crowded church building and discovering at the last minute that I’m supposed to preach from a text that I had not even given any consideration sermon-wise. I don’t have that dream every weekend, but often enough to know that I carry within myself the feeling of not-quite-prepared anxieties. 

So, here’s a funny thing. The other night I had a very different pastor-anxiety dream, the first of its kind that I can remember. This time I was prepared: The bulletin was ready, the accompanists were in place, the sermon was in hand and mostly in head, and the time was nigh. As I got up to begin worship, there were maybe ten people scattered throughout a cavernous-looking sanctuary. Ten people! And most of them were family to the paid staff! While I know that worship is about the glory of God, not a popularity poll of the preacher, that moment was devastating for me. 

So, it leaves me wondering why my usual anxiety dream of being unprepared took on the form of being prepared but irrelevant. Here are some theories. 

1. I once read that genuine prophetic preaching results in driving away most people in order to build upon the truly committed folks. That may be true in some churches, but I don’t buy it at St. Mark. For many years my predecessors preached the unvarnished gospel of grace and justice, so it does not fall to me to separate the wheat from the chaff. I just try to maintain that faithful legacy.

2. Perhaps I am feeling the weight of all of the church studies about how the ‘nones’ and ‘dones’ are outnumbering the folks in the world who affiliate with some kind of organized faith. I actually happen to think that there is some encouraging news in those reports, but they certainly raise some concerns as well. I’ll reflect on my reading of those reports some other time because it is too nuanced for this post. 

3. A theory that may have legs falls under my general maxim that dreams reflect the dreamer – in this case the dreamer’s anxieties – more than any of the persons who might appear in the dream. I can’t wake up mad at someone because they mistreated me in a dream, but I can explore whatever mistrusts or anger I might be harboring toward that person because of the dream. In the case of the “Ten People in Worship” dream, perhaps it is an expression of my feelings of inadequacy. 

4. The most convincing theory I have is that I am still adjusting to the “new normal” that many people now practice “occasional attendance” instead of “weekly attendance,” that children have activities whenever there is space and no longer is “worship time” considered off limits; and that our weeks are so over-scheduled that many people choose St. Mattress or St. Arbucks over St. Mark when they have the leisure of choice. (You may now say, “OK, Boomer” if you wish.)

When that is the case, it seems to me to be similar to when a family sits down to share dinner and one or two members are not there. They may have perfectly good reasons and so there’s no need for judgment. It’s just the case that those who are there miss the joy of their company and the family misses the continued strength that comes from being together. That’s how I feel when we haven’t seen someone in worship recently. No judgment, just a tinge of sadness from missing a valued companion. I don’t know how God feels, so I won’t speculate on that. 

Having said all that, I hope to see at least 11 of you on Saturday or Sunday this weekend! It’s a family thing.

Mark of St. Mark

The World Where It Happens, again

This Sunday, October 27, we will have a Congregational Meeting at the conclusion of the Sunday morning worship service (around 10:30am). The purpose of this meeting is to elect new Elders and Deacons, to elect persons to serve on the Nominating Commission for 2020, and to approve the 2020 Terms of Call for Associate Pastor Hayes Noble and Pastor Mark Davis.

I have received a lot of tremendous response about our October theme, “The World Where It Happens.” (Perhaps we should take a moment and be thankful that I didn’t go with the other theme I was thinking about for October. “Pumpkin Spice Jesus” just doesn’t have the same potential.)  We will conclude our series this weekend with a final story about the church in Antioch from Acts 11. You do not want to miss it. 

That upstart community in Antioch had some wonderful qualities: They were willing to bend religious traditions in order to allow the religious truth behind them to emerge. They were open to accountability and the one sent to check on them ended up joining them. And last week we saw how they really stepped into loving an enemy, by welcoming Saul of Tarsus – a force of persecution against the church before his transforming experience – as a resident teacher for a year. That way of living into the gospel may be why the narrator of Acts was able to say, “The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” 

I’m trying to imagine what the absolute, unique, central quality of a community must be in order to take the kind of radical steps that the community in Antioch took. Of course, we have to say it was the work of the Holy Spirit – that’s the central theme of the book of Acts. But, even so, the question remains: What is the central quality of a community when the Holy Sprit is at work? I don’t want to pretend that there’s only one answer to that question – that would be a Spirit-quenching sort of thing to do. But an answer, it seems to me, would be this: A community, where the Holy Spirit is at work, would be a people who are able to as moved by the experience of someone outside of their narrative as they are moved by experiences within their own narrative. This quality is perhaps nothing more than another way of expressing “love your neighbor as yourself,” but let me explain how I’m thinking about it. 

I’ve known a number of folks who were incredibly anti-gay, ostensibly based on their faith. (I happen to think there’s a deeper psychological motive that causes them to gravitate toward a particular way of expressing their faith, or to embrace it with a particular kind of fury. But, I need to let people tell their own story.) And I’ve known a number of those incredibly anti-gay folks who have changed their tune dramatically, usually because they have either come to terms with their own sexuality or because someone in their family whom they love dearly has come out. The journey from ‘virulently anti-gay’ to ‘open and affirming’ is hard, serious, and very courageous. I just wonder why so often it takes someone we know and love, before we can be open and affirming. The person that a virulently anti-gay person condemns with the harshest of words is somebody’s loved one. A church where the Holy Spirit is at work will not limit its empathy to their own relatives, but to recognize that everyone is someone’s beloved child, sibling, parent, or friend. It is that ability to regard the stranger as favorably as we regard our own that demonstrates the meaning of loving one’s neighbor as ourselves. 

That is why it is so important for us to invest time, energy, attention, and money in prophetic and compassionate outreach ministries. That is why we need our Deacons to lead us into our relationships with Glenn Martin elementary school, the Irvine Adult Transition Program, Project Hope Alliance, and so forth. It is why we need the Peace and Justice Commission to lead us in our advocacy on Gun Violence, Human Trafficking, Immigration, and the plight of Farm Workers. It is why we study the world in our Great Decisions program. It is why we need our Mission Commission to guide our investments into CEPAD, AMOS, and the Orange County Alliance for Just Change. It is why our Adult Discipleship and Nurture Commission leads us in a panel discussion on Transgender Issues and Bible Studies on the depth and meaning of our faith. It is why our Youth and Children’s Ministry provides opportunities for our younger church to learn the faith and, in turn, to teach us the faith. And it is why we need our Worship Commission to provide us with weekly worship services, designed to allow us to worship God as well as to come before God with hearts open for transformation.  

In the end, it’s all about being a church so full of the Holy Spirit that we love God by loving our neighbors, even our enemies, in ways that are as natural to us as loving our closest family and friends. By God’s grace, let’s be that church.

Mark of St. Mark

The World Where It Happens, pt.2

This weekend we have a lot going on at St. Mark. In addition to continuing our October theme “The World Where It Happens,” we will be welcoming new members and meeting our new Parish Nurse Beth Schwarz during our Saturday and Sunday worship, following Saturday worship with “Meet Me at Muldoon’s,” and following Sunday worship with a workshop on Parenting as well as a study of the Gnostic gospels. If you think that was a very long compound sentence, just imagine what the weekend is going to be like. Jump in and enjoy! 

Speaking of #TheWorldWhereItHappens, I invited everyone in worship last week to use their cameras of every sort in order to look for and to try to capture images of where the Reign of God is taking place in the world. When you do so, please send them to stmark@stmarkpresbyterian.org and we will collage them, post them on social media, etc. And please feel free to post them to your own social media sites, using the hashtag #TheWorldWhereItHappens. The primary goal of our month-long theme is to live into our faith by participating in what God is doing in the world. In order to do that, we are training our eyes to see glimpses of where God is at work, particularly in moments of resistance and liberated, or when walls of prejudice and bigotry come crashing down. We are taking our cue from the church in Antioch, which was established when some of the believers broke with the habit of speaking only to people like them and began to share the joy and justice of the gospel to people they perceived as ‘others.’ 

Some of the responses that I’ve heard since we began this week’s journey is, “It is hard to see where God is at work when the world is torn by violence and genocide and separation walls and glass ceilings and environmental destruction and constant divisiveness.” Indeed that is a valid response. If our goal were to pretend none of those things is taking place and only to focus on sunsets and kittens, then we would be reducing our faith a comforting illusion or even a distraction. So, allow me to offer three responses to the real difficulty of the task before us. 

First, as difficult as it may seem, our task of looking for signs of God’s reign is vital to really living into the rhetoric of our faith. The familiar expression, “May your will be done on earth as in heaven,” shows that our faith is built on trusting in God’s real presence in our world. And, frankly, it is tempting to assume a kind of baptized atheism, which more or less sees “God’s will” as a good aspiration, but does not expect Godself to have anything to do with it. It is hard to see where God is at work in our world, but I suspect that developing that kind of vision comes through being a lifelong disciple, who practices the skills again and again day after day, and only achieves the skill after failing at it over and over. Think of a beginning dancer, a student of martial arts, or an aspiring writer. It is a trained eye, not a simple glance. 

Second, the Christian faith has long sought a way to name how the reality of God’s reign is here, and yet the fullness of it is not. Theologians speak of God’s reign as a “Yet, but not yet” reality. Liturgists have shaped the season of Advent as pointing toward the “first Advent,” the first coming of Jesus, and anticipating the “second Advent,” when the reign of God comes in all of its glory. Biblical scholars focus on “the Word” that “became flesh and dwelt among us”; as well as the invocation, “Come, Lord Jesus.” Pastoral Caregivers have spoken of God as “a present help in times of trouble” and “our only comfort in life and in death.”  When we look for signs of God’s reign and struggle to see them, we are not alone. The paradox that God’s reign is here and that God’s reign is yet to be fulfilled has always been a challenging part of the church’s entire ecosystem. 

Finally, I want to lean on the wisdom of Reinhold Niebuhr for a moment – at least as far as I think I understand him. Niebuhr spoke often of achieving the “proximate good” as opposed to “ultimate good.” Any language about the “ultimate good” here and now in our lifetime is arrogant and blasphemous. At best, until the Reign of God comes in its fullness, even our best efforts are tainted by human sin, human finitude, our failure to see future consequences fully, etc. If our greatest achievements are, at best, proximate goods, then we can continue to find hope, encouragement, and purpose in doing justice, even if injustice is rampant around us. And for those of us who say at times, “The World Where It Happens” and are tempted to say at other times, “The World Where $#!& Happens” – here is small ray of hope. Injustice is also proximate, never ultimate. That is the point of our longing for the “second Advent,” the fullness of God’s reign. The “real world” has an arc that bends toward justice, even when injustice is rampant. 

To live into the fullness of God’s reign, to discipline ourselves to see it, to name it, to capture it, and to share it – no matter how awkwardly we do so – is a way of resisting evil and living in faith. 

#TheWorldWhereItHappens

Mark of St. Mark 

The World Where It Happens, Pt. 1

We're up to something during the month of October. I’ll start with a nod to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s song “The Room Where It Happens,” from his brilliant musical “Hamilton.” (You can listen to it here.) Our theme for October is “The World Where It Happens.” By studying the brief history of a church in Antioch (Acts 11), we will set out each week looking for where the “kin-dom” of God is taking place in the world. While it is good to be ‘the church gathered’ on Saturday or Sunday, to worship, regroup, share our stories, encourage one another, etc., our real focus is what happens when we are ‘the church scattered’ throughout the rest of the week. Our faith proclaims a God who is always redemptively present in the world, transforming life, changing practices, challenging injustice, practicing compassion, and living into the Good News of the Gospel. That’s where we want to be. Much of what we do when we are the church gathered is to prepare us to participate in “the world where it happens.” 

So, come on Saturdays or Sundays during October and re-discover this new church that arose in Antioch and did amazing things. Let’s pray together that God will awaken us to what God is doing in the world. Then, let’s go out together to be active participants in the world, where the kin-dom of God is taking place, the world where it happens. 

And here’s how you can be particularly active for the month of October. Grab your camera, your smartphone, and any other device you have that takes photos. Capture a photo of something that shows the kin-dom of God in the world. It could be two children of different ethnicities playing side-by-side, it could be someone marching with a sign calling attention to climate change, it could be someone caring for a pet or helping a neighbor. Heck, it could even be a sunrise that calls us to worship!  Actions both big and small, presence both radical and supportive – use your theological imagination to see where God is present in our world. Of course, we will have to consider the privacy of others, so please give that consideration before you take someone’s photo.

After you’ve captured the photo, let’s display them. If you send them to stmark@stmarkpresbyterian.org, we will display them on our various forms of social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. (Again, please be sure that you have permission before sending them to us.) We will display them with the hashtag #TheWorldWhereItHappens. In addition, you can display them on your Facebook page, tweet it, or put it on your Instagram timeline. When you do, please use the hashtag #TheWorldWhereItHappens. We will use this month to sharpen our vision to see where God is at work, and to sharpen our message to share where God is at work.

Let’s jump in.

Mark of St. Mark

Compassionate, Safe, and Effective Responses

Today’s message has two unrelated topics. The first has to do with a concern on our church campus; the second is about a theme that we will follow in worship and beyond, during the month of October. 

For many reasons, the bus depot on the other side of San Joaquin Hills Road has long been a way station for persons who are homeless. Because of that, we often get homeless persons who might approach the church during the week, asking if we distribute bus passes or simply looking for a comfortable spot to escape the heat, charge their phone, etc. Our encounters with these visitors are usually brief and cordial, although there have been a handful of exceptions during my time here. And, on occasion, someone will enjoy the comforts of our buildings, the company of our people, and the taste of our food quite a bit and keep returning. That is largely a positive thing. But, it raises some concerns as well. 

Many homeless persons – as a cause or an effect or a cycle of both – live with mental illness. That is why housing the homeless is a far more complex matter than finding an empty apartment or offering rent subsidy. And – depending on the degree of the illness – it can make it difficult to be in community together. I’m using a lot of qualifiers because these kinds of generalized observations are often used unfairly against persons with mental illness, and I don’t want to contribute to that unfairness. But, taking mental illness seriously is necessary if we want to safely, compassionately, and effectively be in community with our homeless neighbors. So, let me offer three questions that might help us find paths that are safe, compassionate, and effective.

1. Is someone acting inappropriately? We have had persons who have not respected either the people or the property here. In that case, the staff addresses it directly and usually the behavior changes. Sometimes it takes a while, especially if the person involved is a member of the church. If the behavior does not change, we may either insist that they leave the property or we may get the help of the Newport Beach Police, but we do address it directly. Please report any inappropriate behavior to the staff and we will respond to it the best we can. 

2. Is someone threatening? Even if someone is not actually doing something inappropriate, some actions can be intimidating – such as when someone is on the property as a single person arrives alone to prepare for an event, or someone whose presence on the patio is okay, but whose presence up near the preschool is not. “Threat” is always a judgment call, full of gray areas. But, here is the key: If you feel threatened by the presence of someone on the campus, please tell the staff. You need to be able to participate in the worship and work of the church without feeling threatened. So, it matters and we will try to respond appropriately. 

3. Is someone discomforting? This is a little different from the second question above. If someone lacks access to customary practices of hygiene or if their behavior is erratic, but not inappropriate – it can be discomforting. We want to maintain the difference between being uncomfortable and being threatened, because someone who causes us discomfort may be exposing flaws within our society or prejudices within ourselves. But, again, these are gray areas and I encourage you to err on the side of caution. So, even if you are unsure of whether you are feeling uncomfortable or threatened, talk to the staff. We do not have perfect answers either, but we will try to respond appropriately. 

If there is no staff present and you feel threatened, do not hesitate to call the police. They handle these matters very well. For emergencies call 911. For non-emergencies, call the NB Police main number 949-644-3681 or Officer Tony Yim, the liaison with the homeless community: 949-432-0240. 

On the whole, the people who are St. Mark do a marvelous job in practicing hospitality to those who typically experience hostility. It is the way of Christ. At the same time, we are responsible to one another and your staff is here to help us make the critical decisions that allow us to be a welcoming place. We take that role very seriously. 

And now our second topic: During the month of October, we will be following the theme with the hashtag #TheWorldWhereItHappens. We will study the church in Antioch, whose story is in Acts 11, and through that we will have assignments to go out during the week and to look for places where we discover the kin-dom of God taking place in the world. So, get those cameras and phones ready to capture some glimpses of the kin-dom of God and share them with each other. I’ll show you how next week as we turn our eyes toward #TheWorldWhereItHappens.  

Mark of St. Mark 

International Peacemaker, Pt.II

Last week, in my Friday Blast, I wrote about Muna Nassar, the International Peacemaker from Palestine who will be visiting with us at the end of the month. Muna will be offering a lunchtime workshop at the meeting of the Presbytery of Los Ranchos (click here for information and here to register), and she will be speaking about her work at our Saturday 5:00 pm and Sunday 9:30 am worship services. As a reminder, Muna is part of a community called Kairos Palestine, which is based on the profession of the Kairos Palestine document (which you can read here.)

This week, I want to lean in to one thing I said last week: “It is hard to find a topic that generates more controversy between Jews, Muslims, and Christians than Palestine/Israel. Even among PCUSA commissioners when the G.A. meets every two years, the conversations are difficult and decisions are negotiated very carefully.” Allow me to mention two areas where the conversations, and even the agreeing to the terms of the conversations, are particularly difficult. 

1. One area of serious controversy within our Presbyterian conversations has to do with whether boycotts, divestments, and/or sanctions are legitimate or effective ways of bringing about change. You will hear these approaches referred to as the “BDS movement.” That topic is far too complex for me to address fairly in a short essay. But, let me at least point to a recent example of how it is an active point of contention. Last year the governor of Kentucky signed an executive order that would bar that state from awarding contracts to companies that support the BDS movement. The PCUSA objected and you can read what our Stated Clerk, J. Herbert Nelson, wrote to the governor here.

The Kairos Palestine document address the BDS matter very carefully, saying, “Palestinian civil organizations, as well as international organizations, NGOs and certain religious institutions call on individuals, companies and states to engage in divestment and in an economic and commercial boycott of everything produced by the occupation. We understand this to integrate the logic of peaceful resistance. These advocacy campaigns must be carried out with courage, openly sincerely proclaiming that their object is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the perpetrators and the victims of injustice.” 

2. Another space where the conversations regarding Palestine/Israel are difficult is in how one recounts the history and tells the story of the current situation there. For example, the Kairos Palestine document makes reference to the non-violent attempts to bring about change in the First Intifada, while many Jews would recount their experience of violence during the Second Intifada. The Kairos Palestine document say that oppressive actions like the separation wall and settlements have brought about the violence; while supporters of Israel would say the violence has brought about the need for the wall and settlements. 

It is very hard for those of us who live in the U.S., with limited or no first-hand experience to fully appreciate how people living in the region experience the struggle. There are learning trips that are organized by Jewish, Islamic, Christian, and educational institutions, each of which offers to help people see the reality of the situation and many of which are suspicious of the real intentions of the others. There are testimonies from Palestinians and from Jews, each of which will rend the heart because of the real pain that people have experienced. And it seems that voices from every side of the controversy feel as if their story is being misrepresented or underrepresented in mainstream channels of information. So, the sources on which we rely, the vocabulary that we use, and the history that we assume are all important. They require both diligent deliberation from us, as well an openness to learning more. 

We are welcoming Muna Nassar to our presbytery because she is part of our International Peacemaking program. Her testimony is consistent with the actions that the General Assemblies of the PCUSA have deliberated and have supported fairly consistently over the years. Her testimony may challenge some of our perceptions and assumptions. In that case, we should lean into those challenges hear her story with an open heart. At the very least she will enable us to understand better why the PCUSA has made the decisions that we have over the years. At best she will open our eyes to the gospel’s call for justice and peace in this troubled region of our world.

Mark of St. Mark

International Peacemaker

You have probably seen in various St. Mark missives that we will be welcoming an International Peacemaker from Palestine, Muna Nassar, to our area at the end of September. Muna will be presenting at the Saturday and Sunday worship services at St. Mark on September 28 and 29, and will offer a workshop at the Presbytery of Los Ranchos meeting on Saturday, September 28 at St. Peter’s by the Sea Presbyterian Church (16911 Bolsa Chica St. in Huntington Beach) at 12:30pm. Muna will also be meeting with our youth and others from the presbytery during her stay here. 

A few introductory notes may be in order. 

1. “International Peacemakers” is a ministry of the Peacemaking Program of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA). They invite leaders of partner churches to share their experiences from around the world as peacemakers. This is one of the missions supported each year by our Peacemaking Offering, which we receive on Worldwide Communion Weekend, the first weekend in October. 

2. Muna is part of a movement in Palestine called “Kairos Palestine.” The word “kairos” is from one of the two Greek words in the New Testament that refer to time. The other is “chronos.” “Chronos,” as you would imagine, refers to chronological time, the succession of seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc. “Kairos” has come to mean something more like “the right time,” a propitious moment that calls us to take a stand, offer a word, etc.  

3. In 1985 Christians in South Africa issued a document called The South African Kairos Document, issuing a call for churches to recognize the realities of life under Apartheid, to resist, and to demand change. Similar documents were written in other contexts, such as Central America, Zimbabwe, and India. In 1989, a group of Christian Palestinians issued the Kairos Palestine document, officially entitled, “A Moment of Truth: a word of faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.” You can read the Kairos Document here. It is not a brief read, so you will want to give yourself time. 

4. In 2010, the General Assembly (G.A.) of the PCUSA approved a report from the Middle East peacemaking committee and commended the study of the Kairos Palestine document to all members and churches of the PCUSA. They also directed the peacemaking group to write a study guide for that document, which you can find here.

It is hard to find a topic that generates more controversy between Jews, Muslims, and Christians than Palestine/Israel. Even among PCUSA commissioners when the G.A. meets every two years, the conversations are difficult and decisions are negotiated very carefully.  In 2003, the G.A. approved a study entitled “Resolution on Israel and Palestine: End the Occupation Now.” In 2008, the G. A. approved a more moderate approach, arguing for the need not to “over identify with the realities of the Israelis or the Palestinians.” Even so, the PCUSA has consistently recommended studies that help to show the realities of injustice with which Palestinians live daily.  

When Muna Nassar visits us, we will have the opportunity to speak someone who can offer us a Palestinian Christian perspective on Israel/Palestine. I invite you to prepare for her visit by reading the documents that I have linked above, formulating your questions, and opening your heart to her testimony and witness to us. As the authors of Kairos Palestine said, “As Palestinian Christians we hope that this document will provide the turning point to focus the efforts of all peace-loving peoples in the world, especially our Christian sisters and brothers … We believe that liberation from occupation is in the interest of all peoples in the region because the problem is not just a political one, but one in which human beings are destroyed. We pray God to inspire us all, particularly our leaders and policy-makers, to find the way of justice and equality, and to realize that it is the only way that leads to the genuine peace we are seeking.”

Mark of St. Mark 

Y’all Come

I've decided to quit trying to swim against the current on this one. I’ve decided to listen to the wisdom of that felicitous King James translation of Acts 26:14, “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” I’ve decided to throw in the towel and quit suppressing that which lies deep within. Rather than fight it, I’m embracing it.

I'm embracing the word “Y'all.” I have now for several years. But even more defiantly and more recently, I'm embracing the phrase “Y'all come.” 

At the risk of sounding like Gomer Pyle, I think the word “Y'all” is as acceptable as any other contraction. I don't tend to use the phrase “All Y'all” except for a very rare point of emphasis, particularly when someone has been previously excluded. But, I'm all about the “Y'all” and accidentally used the phrase “Y'all come” this weekend. 

That’s when I knew I was doomed to say it. So now I’m embracing it. 

My grandmother used to say, “Y'all come see us” or the reductionistic, “Y'all come!” all the time. It drove me crazy because she'd say it repeatedly as people were leaving her house. At the time my thought was, "We just came to see you! It's your turn to come see us!" But, still she'd say it without hesitation, “Y’all come.” I would think to myself, “That’s something I’m never going to say.” 

Then, it happened. In St. Louis. Last weekend. We were saying goodbye to folks whom we had not seen for years, the end of the kind of joyful reunion that weddings can be on occasion. We really did want people from our past lives to come see our current lives and all of us were hoping to see them again. That’s when I realized I was saying, “Y’all come see us” or at times “Y’all come.” 

I was becoming my grandmother. 

In retrospect, I can see that she had a gift for hosting people. That would explain why so many family Thanksgiving celebrations were populated by a sailor from the Naval base or an airman from the Air Force base or a soldier from the Army base who was stationed nearby, far away from their home, and she had met them at church and offered them a family for the holiday. Most of them ended up getting free room and board for a year or so. 

When Margaret Adams said, “Y'all come,” she meant it. And now, despite the protestations of my youth, I'm embracing the “Y'all” and even the “Ya'll Come.”

This weekend, we begin our new season of what functions for St. Mark as “ordinary time.” On Saturday we will worship and our Youth Group will begin worshiping with us as they move their weekly meetings to Saturday evenings. On Sunday, our choir will be back in the loft, our children will be back in their Sunday School classrooms, and one hopes that our Summer activity travelers will be back in their seats. During worship on Sunday we will distribute Bibles to various ages of children and after worship we will have an All Church Picnic filled with good fun and good food.  

So, “Y’all Come!” 

Y’all come, just as you are. Y’all come, even more casual than you are. Y’all come ready for worship and a picnic. 

Bring a friend and make it “All Y’all.” 

And if that's not enough of an invitation for you, give this a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWn0HmvDexQ  

Mark of St. Mark