Pulpit Exchange

This weekend we will have the joy of welcoming Rev. Chineta Goodjoin to St. Mark as our guest preacher and I have the joy of preaching at New Hope Presbyterian Church. New Hope worships on Saturday evening, so I get the double joy of worshiping there on Saturday and at St. Mark on Sunday. When I do, please know that I am keenly aware and appreciative of the wonderful relationship between New Hope and St. Mark that many of us have cultivated over the years. 

New Hope and St. Mark have celebrated with laughter and mourned with tears together. We shared the joy, along with the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, when New Hope Presbyterian Church was chartered as an official congregation a little over two years ago. (To see the backstory of New Hope, read this delightful article.) We mourned with Rev. Goodjoin when one of her lifelong best friends was murdered in 2015 as part of the hate crime at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. The next year, we joined with New Hope for an Ash Wednesday service containing ashes and gunpowder, as we initiated a season of Lent reflecting together on gun violence and the cross. And for the last five years we have joined with New Hope, First Presbyterian of Orange, and Canyon Hills Presbyterian churches for a noon Good Friday service. New Hope also has a Social Justice Ministry that dovetails nicely with the work of our Peace and Justice Commission, offering us many chances to work together. Those of us who have had the opportunity to serve alongside of Rev. Goodjoin and the New Hope congregation love, honor, and respect the way that God is at work among them. 

So, I urge you to make a point of being in worship this week, to hear the Word of the Lord from a faithful pastor and to continue building our church relationships together. The following graphic that New Hope posted on their Facebook page captures my feelings precisely. 

Mark of St. Mark