Catching Up, pt. 2

 Last week I shared some of the things that are happening in our church life, with the promise to add more. This week we have some news from our Mission Commission. I will describe our Mission Commission first, then share the news. 

 Our Mission Commission “initiates, guides, and oversees the missional involvement of the church with regard to both local and broader mission relationships.” The Commission also “oversees the allocation of St. Mark’s mission spending.” This year, our elders designated $155,000 for the Mission Commission to allocate. $60,000 goes to the General Mission of the Presbyterian Church (USA); $30,000 goes to our Deacons; and $5,000 to our Peace and Justice Commission. The Commission then allocates the other $60,000 based on ongoing missional partnerships and specific opportunities to serve that arise. A good portion of those funds are left unallocated until the latter part of the year, in case there is a disaster or emergency that needs immediate attention (and there often is). Over the last few years, the Commission has tried to focus on deepening the relationships we have with our mission partners and maximizing the impact that our spending has on those in need. 

 

This month, we chose to fund a “50 for 50” campaign through Orange County United Way.  

 

Since its inception nine years ago, I have served on the Leadership Council and Executive Committee of United to End Homelessness, an arm of the United Way. Homelessness continues to be one of Orange County’s largest challenges, driven mostly by the lack of affordable housing in our area. Last year, 72% of people living in homeless shelters completed the application requirements to qualify for housing, but only 1 in 12 were able to obtain housing because of the lack of units available. Working with public and private groups like the Apartment Association of Orange County and the Orange County Continuum of Care leaders, United to End Homelessness is a leading voice in the county for housing justice.  

 

Among the houseless persons in our county, there are some identifiable groups: Seniors; Transitional Age Youth (who have aged out of foster care); and Veterans are the most common. The needs for each of these groups are different and the potential resources for them are also. This year Orange County United Way has initiated a “50 for 50” campaign, with the goal of encouraging 50 community leaders to house 50 Veteran households and provide a full year of support to ensure stability. For $25,000, the campaign will offer landlords incentives, such as deposits, holding fees, and risk mitigation funds; and offer Veterans housing navigation, furniture, and twelve months of case management with wraparound support services. Once the Veteran is housed securely, their case managers can help them secure additional avenues of support that will ensure that they stay housed. The one-time donation of $25,000 will get a houseless Veteran over the initial hurdle of securing housing. You can read more about it here. This month, St. Mark joined the campaign with a $25,000 donation. 

 

As far as I know, we are the first faith community to join this campaign and now I am using this action to encourage other faith communities to imagine ways of taking part. I also want to encourage you to consider if you should become part of the “50 for 50” campaign, either as an individual or within a charitable group that you are part of. If you have any interest in doing so or want to learn more, please let me know.  

 

There are so many needs and so many worthy organizations trying to meet those needs in our area and throughout the world. I appreciate how our Mission Commission endeavors to match our resources with those needs in ways that reflect our commitments to justice and compassion. 

 

See you in worship, 
Mark of St. Mark

 

Catching Up, pt.1

 Friends, 

 

Last weekend, we welcomed five new members into our church family and this weekend we will welcome four more. What a joy it is to welcome new members into our church. They bring gifts, wisdom, and curiosity. They have come to us by dint of God’s grace and calling, so now when we say, “St. Mark” we are speaking of them as well as those members who have been here for many years. What joy.

 

This week and next, I will lift up on a few things that are happening in our church life. 

 

We re-started our Brew Theology gatherings this week after a brief interlude, with a robust group and an engaging conversation around “My story, our story, God’s story.” 

 

Our Sunday morning worship continues to be powerful and meaningful, particularly with the music ministry under Ryan Yoder’s leadership and with Alicia Adams’ accompaniment. In addition, Debbie Fetterhoff and Alexei Rehorn have been leading our beautiful Handbell Ensemble. We always welcome new voices and ringers, so please feel free to contact the church office if you are interested in sharing your gifts. 

 

On Saturdays, our worship is very similar in its content but has a different vibe in its form. We have a smaller ensemble of musicians and singers, who show up faithfully each week to empower the music and liturgy with Ron Levy as our pianist and music director. Our “Life Together” gatherings and occasional “Meet Me at Muldoon’s” events (this Saturday!) have made this gathering more intimate and welcoming. 

 

Our Preschool is also doing exceptionally well. Under the excellent direction of Monica Heredia and Noemi Carrillo, we are operating at full capacity, offering tremendous opportunities for families and children to engage together in a wholistic, compassionate approach to early education. Our Governing Commission (5 church members with the director) and Parent Advisory Council (which also includes church members with parents) are doing great work are always exploring other ways of building our relationships. 

 

Another exciting thing that is happening these days is our exploration, with students at Cal-Poly, of ways to enhance and maintain our property. We love our canyon and our Facilities Commission have recently added Monarch butterfly habitats in its apron. Now, we are looking at more ways to lower fire risks, as well as ways to enhance the grounds surrounding the preschool. The process is early yet, but it has been wonderful to see landscape architectural students in conversation with our Facilities Commission about our commitment to environmental sustainability. 

 

There’s too much more to share, more to celebrate, and more to say, but for now I will just encourage you to read our 2025 Annual report and marvel at how faithful God has been among us as how faithful so many of our members have been in response. It is a joy to serve here.

 

See you in worship,

Mark of St. Mark

Flipping Tables That Need Flipping

Today is Good Friday, the difficult day of Holy Week when the betrayal, arrest, abandonment, trial, condemnation, torture, and crucifixion of Jesus result in his death. I know it is difficult for many of you to make your way to a Maundy Thursday or Good Friday worship service; and we were unable to stream last night’s Maundy Thursday service for a variety of reasons, so for today’s entry I want to send my reflection from last night. Then, at the bottom, is an invitation for you.

Throughout this season, we have tried to follow Jesus’ work of turning over tables. It is holy work. It is necessary work. It is the kind of work that has been needed throughout human history. Tables have often been places of exclusion, where some are welcome and others are forbidden; with clear demarcations between the servants and the served. Tables have often been lavishly plated for some, while others go hungry. Tables have often been places where decisions are made by the few and powerful, while the effects of those decisions have been devastating for those who are not at the table. Tables have often been a great prop for those who would pound it in order to exercise the implied violence behind their authority. The table is the tableau that shows who is who in our world. In that sense, we can say, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus, and lead us, because so many tables in our world need overturning.”   

 

When we think of turning over tables, we think of that story when Jesus brought havoc to the temple court, but throughout his life Jesus demonstrated many ways of overturning tables. Jesus had the gall to sit publicly at a table with notorious sinners. He ate with them; drank with them; laughed with them; loved them, while the sanctimonious and proper folk stood apart and criticized him. Jesus let a woman, a woman of ill-repute as everyone knew, wash his feet while at a table, and even broke all the customs by declaring her clean. Jesus sat at a table with a diminutive chief tax collector and all of his tax collector buddies, much to the chagrin of the pursed-lipped religious folk. And, of course, Jesus overturned the tables on this night when he wrapped himself in a towel – a “tool belt for washing feet” – and served each of his disciples, one by one. When the Lord becomes the servant, the tables are turned.  Time after time, Jesus overturns everything we have been taught to think about tables as showing who is who in our world. 

 

And that is what makes our invitation to this table tonight so intriguing. For those who have bought into the culture of hubris, where we are here to be served and not to serve, who have bought into notions of success, notions of privilege, notions of who belongs among us and who does not – those are the notions of people who sneered at Jesus’ table, not those who joined it. When we have been trained in the culture of hubris, all of our presumptions get overturned at this table. 

 

And when we have been told that we do not belong at this table, that we are not good enough, not holy enough, no clean enough, not straight enough, not white enough, not male enough, not housed enough, or simply not enough – those assumptions are also overturned at this table. This is where betrayers, abandoners, deniers, fearers, and failures are treated as honored guests. Even in this last meal, as Jesus dons himself with a towel and washes each person’s feet, he was overturning tables. As we come forward to be part of the Lord’s Supper, we come to the table of overturning. 

Mark of St. Mark