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