October 2017
St. Mark’s News Volume 21/Issue 9
Go Green! Perhaps you’ve noticed the markers of our fall worship season. I’m not just referring to the fact that we have returned to the rhythms of a three-service schedule. Or even the fact that the choir is back in full voice, although their return is a wonderful event. I’m talking more of the long season that emerges following Pentecost and takes us all the way through Advent. Clergy vest in green, so sometimes we call it “green season.” Our Church Collects—the special prayers that introduce our worship—are numbered in this season. It’s the longest season in our Church year. From our Roman Catholic roots, we sometimes refer to this fall green season as “ordinary time,” from “ordinal,” which refers to the counting of the series of weeks in the long season. Our Prayer Book simply refers to it as “The Season After In this Issue Pentecost.” We might think this green time lacks the focus of Advent, the festive nature of the Christmas season, the clarity of From Fr. Bill ............................... 1 the Epiphany season, the solemnity of Lent, the power of Holy Rector Search Update................ 2 Week, or the glory of the Easter season. Actually, I think the M&M Meals ................................ 2 green season brings a little of all of that into our worship time Outreach .................................... 4 Parish Life .................................. 5 every fall.
From the Day School ................. 6 DRE Article ................................ 7 Music Notes ............................... 8 Parishioner Highlights ................ 9 Caffeine Ministry ........................ 9 Celebrations ............................. 10 ROTA ....................................... 11
For one thing, it is a time when we really get to know Jesus as Lord. This year, for example in Matthew it is as if we are walking along the road with Jesus as disciples. There is a degree of intimacy as the Church, through our lectionary, reacquaints us with Our Lord’s important teachings. We are more intentionally reminded of the brief but awesome earthly ministry of our Messiah. It’s a marvelous way to be reminded that Jesus Christ is present in all our daily life and work just as he was with his early Church. We get to know ourselves in the figures of Peter, and James, and John, and in the others who Jesus loved despite their sundry imperfections.
So, there is nothing particularly ordinary about this time, at least not in the sense of being mundane. It is a wonderful time for us to “go green;” that is, to hear His voice with a fresh perspective in a new day. Bill
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