The Gospel According to St. Mark's

The Clergy, Wardens and Vestry have worked hard to make this year's retreat easily accessible to everyone. Our goal is to have at least 100 members of all ages gather in community to celebrate our new future. We want you to come!

Here are a few of the changes we have made in an effort to ensure that this time together is possible for all:

- The weekend will be at Claggett Center in Adamstown, MD. It is a lovely retreat center 45 minutes from NW DC and 90 minutes from St. Mark's.

- We will begin on Saturday morning at 10:30 sharp, eliminating rush hour travel on Friday night and one night's payment.

- We will have bus transport to and from St. Mark's for up to 50 people at no additional fee. We want those who don't have their own car to come too.

Rob Hall, Josie Jordan, Jenifer Holland, Caroline McReynolds-Adams, Kit Arrington, Michele Morgan and I have been planning the retreat, focusing on the theme "Growing and Deepening Our Spiritual Home." There will be large group, small group, intergenerational play, and worship during our time together; our teens and children will have planned activities both with us and on their own.

Please check out the Claggett Center website at https://www.claggettcenter.org. It is a beautiful spot in the rolling hills of Maryland with newly renovated accommodations. There are wide verandas with rocking chairs looking over lovely meadows and gardens. There is an exquisite chapel, converted from an old silo, for Compline and hymn singing. There is an outside labyrinth and a great swimming pool! So far, we have reserved Christiane Inn and to view those accommodations, click the "Amenities" tab at the top.

We wish we could make the retreat free! But we can't. The pricing is $146.50 for a single room and $131.50 per person for a double room (all meals are included with the room fee). For each second person in a single room or third/fourth person in a double room, the fee is $91.50 (children under 5 are free.) We hope that you will consider investing these funds and a day and half to be part of this very important community time together.

We have over 30 people committed already. Kit Arrington is working to see if we might do registration online, in addition to at church. Stay tuned, and please reserve your spot with Kit Arrington immediately with your interest at kit@tulsablue.com.

We are so looking forward to seeing you there.

Hugs all around from the planning team.

Peter

From the Reverend Michele Morgan, Priest-in-Charge

Greetings cyclists!

To show our support for the cycling community in DC, please join us for the first annual "Blessing of Bicycles" to be held as the Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes on Saturday, May 7, at 11am. Michele and a group from St. Mark's will leave from the church at 10:15 am.

The blessing is a short service in which we will say a prayer over all the assembled bikes, asking for protection and joy for cyclists as they ride. While the service comes from the Anglican tradition, no religious affiliation is required! Blessings are a way that the church shows love and support for various groups so please allow us to bless you regardless of your stance on faith.

The blessing will last just under 30 minutes and will be followed by a group bike ride led by Bishop Mariann Budde. This will be the first bike blessing in DC but similar events have been held in New York and San Francisco since the mid-1990s.

During the mingling time, we will be selling pizza, baked goods and drinks as well as t-shirts bearing the image of the Madonna de Ghisallo provided by Cycology Gear. All proceeds from this event will go towards making Ascension Saint Agnes more handicap accessible. Donations are also appreciated and accepted. Spoke cards and stickers will be provided to all participants free of charge.

About the Madonna de Ghisallo:

Legend has it that in medieval times, a local count was being attacked by bandits near the town of Ghisallo, Italy when he saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary, and running towards this vision saved him. Thus, the Madonna del Ghisallo became the patroness of travelers. Then, in 1949 a local priest managed to persuade Pope Pius XII to admit her as the patroness of cyclists. Since then, the small chapel has become a shrine to cycling legends, both living and deceased, and provides a memorial to those who have fallen in our sport.

Being an almost permanent fixture on the percorso of the Giro di Lombardia - as well as featuring regularly in the course of the Giro d'Italia - has kept the chapel in the forefront of the cycling world over the years and a collection of cycling memorabilia that would be the envy of any museum has accumulated inside. The walls of the tiny chapel are almost covered in pennants of cycling clubs from all over the world, jerseys from champions of the recent and distant past, and most prominently, a selection of bikes that have made history.

Our visual representation of the Madonna de Ghisallo comes from Cycology Gear, an Australian clothing company specializing in cycling-related clothing, one of the event partners.

Special thanks also to our three other DC-based partners: the Washington Area Bicyclists Association, DC Department of Transportation and the National Museum for Women in the Arts. We're very grateful to have their support in this endeavor!

From Doris Burton, Junior Warden

Around the House....

PARISH WORKDAY: SATURDAY, MAY 7 STARTING AT 9 A.M.!!

It's pouring outside as I write but the prediction is for some sun tomorrow...weeding will be a breeze!

This is an open invitation to the entire parish to join the Fabric Committee for our Second Annual Workday.

Our work will be focused on the courtyard garden BUT! There are things to do inside and bits that are easy for those with bad backs (for whom weed-pulling is not an option). Either way-come join us!

Garden: My goal is to move the courtyard garden back toward its original plan. Designed by parishioners in 2000, it was installed to replace what had been wood chips (from the Head-Start days of yore). Plants were carefully chosen to include native species as well as those reflected in Biblical passages. Over the years, it was not tended as carefully as it might have been: lots died and plants were added somewhat haphazardly.

Wednesday, I took those original plans to my local garden center and purchased nearly a dozen fitting the original description (like the passionflower vine!) and we will add these on Saturday after weeding and thinning. We will have Solomon's Seal to offer, some daylilies and a few other things that have become crowded.

While we'll have some gardening gloves and tools, you can bring your own, of course. Please be sure to mark them (STM tools are banded with silver duct tape, the JWs have pink).

If you are an inveterate gardener, I am looking for 10 volunteers to be responsible for the care of a portion of the garden for the season. If you can't make tomorrow but are willing, please contact me at (stmarksjuniorwarden@gmail.com)

Inside: The choices are wide: some cleaning in the kitchen but also some simple, easy tasks (sorting of plasticware and our everyday stainless), vacuuming nave floor vents, cleaning the light switches in the nave (both of these need to be done prior to an 11:30 wedding), scrub tables, replace light bulbs, or paint a ceiling. Teens who show up will be painting the Lions' Den with magnetic and/or whiteboard paint; Baxter Hall tables could also use a good scrubbing.

Cleaning supplies will be provided but rubber gloves are limited...

There'll be coffee and goodies at 9, newsprint listing the jobs so you can see what's claimed, a chance to meet new friends and work together for the good of all at St. Mark's.

Please do consider joining us...rain or shine!

From the Reverend R. Justice Schunior, Associate Rector

Friends,

We still need readers in different languages for all three services onSunday, May 15, the day of Pentecost. If you're nervous about reading in a foreign language, remember that it's just Acts 2:5-13, a shorter portion of the whole reading AND you'll be reading while other other people are also reading in different languages. The aim is to capture the confusion and wonder of the gift of the Holy Spirit. What an amazing gift it is to be able to speak with and listen to others from different backgrounds. Please share that gift with us! Let me know if you can read, what language you'll be reading in, and what service you attend at justi.schunior@stmarks.net.

Peace,

Justi

From Jeff Kempskie, Director of Music

Dear St. Mark's,

In just under one month the Chancel Choir will formally sing its last service for the season - a Choral Evensong on Sunday June 5th at 5pm. This is a beautiful, meditative service that the choir puts a lot of work into and is something I'm sure many of you would enjoy. A reception will follow the service in Baxter Hall.

Just a little further down the road, St. Mark's will host a series of early music concerts entitled "Baroque Bonanza II" beginning June 17th. You can view the complete list of performances here.

Peace,

JEFF

Service Notes and Music

Prelude

Jig from the First Act of The Fairy Queen, Henry Purcell, arr. Martin Setchell

Opening Hymn

Hymn 182 Christ is alive! Let Christians sing, Tune: Truro

Gloria in excelsis S 280 Robert Powell

The First Reading (11:15 am and 5:00 pm only)

The Lanyard, By Billy Collins

The Second Reading (11:15 am and 5:00 pm only)

Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21

Celtic Alleluia Fintan O'Carroll & Christopher Walker

The Gospel

John 17:20-26

Offertory Anthem

O God the King of glory, Henry Purcell- Chancel Choir

Presentation Hymn

193 That Easter day with joy was bright, v. 5, Tune: Puer nobis

Sanctus S 129 Robert Powell

Fraction Anthem

This is the feast of victory for our God, Tune: Festival Canticle

Music During Communion

(9:00) Jesus, Debby Kerner-Rettino

(9:00) For the beauty of the earth, Words by Folliot S. Pierpoint, Music by Calvin Hampton

- Boys & Girls Choir; Libbi Rivera, director, Conrad Chaffee, piano

Within Our Life We Have Two Homes, Words & Music by William Flanders

Hymn 336 Come with us, O blessed Jesus, Tune: Werde munter

Closing Hymn

460 Alleluia! sing to Jesus! Tune: Hyfrydol

Postlude

Chaconne from The Fairy Queen, Henry Purcell, arr. Martin Setchell

Schedule of Services

Sunday, May 8, 2016

The Seventh Sunday after Easter

9:00 am Family Eucharist

The Reverend Michele H. Morgan, Presider

The Reverend Rebecca Justice Schunior, Co-Presider

There is no Children's Chapel on the Second Sunday of the month when we hold Family Eucharist. We encourage children of all ages to join us for a shorter, more child friendly service at 9:00 am in the Nave.

10:00 am Sermon Seminar

The Reverend Rebecca Justice Schunior, Preacher

11:15 am Holy Eucharist

The Reverend Michele H. Morgan, Presider

The Reverend Rebecca Justice Schunior, Co-Presider & Preacher

5:00 pm Contemplative Eucharist

The Reverend Rebecca Justice Schunior, Presider & Homilist

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