The Gospel According to St. Mark's

Last night several of us went from St. Mark's to the Capitol to stand up for common sense gun violence legislation. We heard representatives from Congress, and most poignantly, from survivors and relatives of victims of gun violence. Activists from the LGBTQ community as well as Black Lives Matter were present. To me, it felt like the best way to give voice to the pain we are all feeling at violence and hate in the world.

This Decemeber 14, we will once again be the host for the Fourth Annual Vigil for All Victims for Gun Violence in partnership with the Newtown Alliance. While this vigil started with grief over the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, it has grown to include the 100,000 victims of gun violence since Newtown. People travel from all over the country to grieve and to lobby Congress for better laws.

For those of you who volunteered last December, you know hosting the vigil requires a lot of work and a lot of planning. We have significantly more lead time this year and I'd like to begin to get organized. If you would like to be part of the planning committee that will help invite and schedule interfaith speakers, invite local leaders, plan music and other liturgical parts of the vigil, welcome and support guests over two days in our space, and more, we are holding a preliminary planning meeting at 12:30 pm on Sunday, July 31 (room to be announced). If you can't attend the meeting, but would like to be a part of the planning committee, please contact me at justi.schunior@stmarks.net.

Now, putting on another hat, I am sending out copies of our latest directory. You may not be aware that in staff transition last year, I took over managing membership. My learning curve has been slow, but I've learned one thing. It has become clear that our electronic database that houses all of our membership information is unwieldy and out of date. We will be moving to a new database in the coming months and we need to make sure the data we do have is as clean as possible.

To that end, please check your information in the directory carefully. If you do not receive it by email, copies will be available for you to look through at Sunday services over the next few weeks. Even if you have sent me or someone else in the office, check the directory. We'd also love to collect birthdays. If your birthday is not listed in the directory, please consider letting us know when it is.

Taking a minute to check and update will help us move quickly to implement a system allowing us to keep better track of our members and communicate with you all better. Thank you so much for your help!

Peace,

Justi

From Doris Burton, Junior Warden

Around the House...

Tree update: As many of you know, the beautiful weeping cherry trees in our courtyard area were a gift from Lady Bird Johnson in the mid 1960s. Before the parish house construction (2013-14), Vision2020 contracted to have them evaluated after Monarc raised concerns over the impact of heavy equipment. Capitol Trees reported then that weeping cherry trees have a lifespan of about 40 years and these were reaching the end of their natural life expectancy. They also have borers which will speed that decline. Capitol Trees fed and trimmed them but did not expect them to survive the construction-which they did.

On July 7, Capitol Trees returned, somewhat surprised to find the trees still standing but giving us no better report. They anticipate the trees have about three more years before they will die. One is already extremely stressed, there are lots of dead branches, and the borers are still there. We contracted with them to trim and feed again which was done the following day.

The report also noted that when the trees do die, the stumps will remain as they were planted before all the compressors were installed. Should we want to replace them, new locations will have to be chosen. The image of one of those trees on the storage doors in Baxter Hall, photographed by Tracy Councill, will be more valued in the coming years: please do take a look.

There is more sad news: the ornamental trees along the parking lot are also coming to the end of their natural life, also have borers (you can already peel off the bark with a fingernail) and may die within 3-5 years. These were also pruned and trimmed to clean out dead/dying branches.

And so-our garden will be facing major changes in the coming years and gardeners will play a role in those decisions.

HVAC...again. Last summer we had major work done on one of the units serving the nave just after it quit. This year, the other unit showed similar problems so, rather than wait for it to give out on a steaming hot Sunday (or during one of the upcoming weddings), we have ordered the work to proceed. You will not be affected...expect there will be AC (she says, confidently!)

Update: Nomorobo is a website that allows you to register your landline to interrupt and re-direct robo calls (it was wonderful during the primary season!) The latest news is their service is now available for cell phones. The drawback is-it will cost you $4.99/month. Just go to nomorobo.com to register.

From the Church Office

Thanks for your patience the past two weeks. Last week our website and email were down and this week our phones weren't working. Thanks to Thia Hamilton, Peter Turner at the Diocese of Washington, and Charlie Rupp, all systems are back to normal!

Service Notes and Music

Prelude

Allegretto from "Hamburger" Sonata, Wq. 133, C.P.E. Bach (1714-1788) - Madeleine Caceres, flute

Opening Hymn

488 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart, Tune: Slane

First Reading

Genesis 18:1-10a

Sequence Hymn

LEVAS 17 Rockin' Jerusalem, African American Spiritual, arr. Horace Boyer

Gospel

Luke 10:38-42

Offertory Music

(9:00) All Creatures of Our God and King, Tune: Lasst uns Erfreuen, arr. Richard Walters - Erin Riley & Jennifer Randall, duet

(11:15) Hymn 382 King of glory, King of peace, Tune: General Seminary

Presentation Hymn

LEVAS 119 Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart, Words by George Croly, Music by Frederick Atkinson

Music During Communion

Etude in B minor, Op. 33 No. 6, Joachim Andersen (1847-1909) - Madeleine Caceres, flute

Hymn 314 Humbly I adore thee, Tune: Adoro devote (If time allows)

Closing Hymn

LEVAS 191 His Eye Is on the Sparrow, Words by Civilla Martin, Music by Charles Gabriel

Postlude

Rondo from "Hamburger" Sonata, Wq. 133, C.P.E. Bach - Madeleine Caceres, flute

Schedule of Services

July 17, 2016

The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

9:00 am Holy Eucharist + Laying on of Hands

The Reverend Michele H. Morgan, Presider

No Children's Chapel this Sunday

10:00 am Sermon Seminar

The Reverend Michele H. Morgan, Preacher

11:15 am Holy Eucharist + Laying on of Hands

The Reverend Michele H. Morgan, Preacher & Presider

5:00 pm Contemplative Eucharist

The Reverend Michele H. Morgan, Presider & Homilist

About the Gospel

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