A New Church, A New Start

We have died and risen. We have closed one chapter in the history of this congregation, and opened a new one here in a new place! Thanks be to God for you who have labored to make this happen! Anew church, a new start.

Whether your are a long-standing member of this congregation or someone just visiting, you are welcome here to join us in celebrating the presence and power of the risen Lord in our lives today.

"Spirituality is not something on the fringes, an option for those with a particular bent. None of us has a choice. Everyone has to have a spirituality and everyone does have one, either a life-giving one or a destructive one. No one has the luxury of choosing here because all of us are precisely fired in to life with a certain madness that comes from the gods and we have to do something with that. We do not wake up in this world calm and serene, having the luxury of choosing to act nor not to act. We wake up crying, on fire with desire, with madness. What we do with that madness is our spirituality

"Hence spirituality is not about serenely picking or rationally choosing certain spiritual activities like going to church, praying or meditating, reading spiritual books, or setting off on some explicit spiritual quest. It is far more basic than that. Long before we do anything explicitly religious at all, we have to do something about the fire that burns within us. What we do with that fire, how we channel it, is our spirituality. Thus we all have a spirituality whether we want one or not, whether we are religious or not. Spirituality is more about whether or not we can sleep at night than about whether or not we go to church. It is about being integrated or falling apart, about being within community or being lonely, about being in harmony with Mother Earth or being alienated from her. Irrespective of whether or not we let ourselves be consciously shaped by any explicit religious idea, we act in ways that leave us healthy or unhealthy, loving or bitter. What shapes our actions is our spirituality" (Ronald Roheiser, The Holy Longing). Channeling that fire within is what we are about as Christian people. 

We are answering three questions here at St. Mark's either consciously or unconsciously. The first question is why Jesus? Why should I have a relationship with the risen Lord and how does that help me live healthy and at peace with myself and others, loving and hopefully about life?

The answer many of us have found is that a relationship with Christ profoundly alters our life for the better. We discover we are totally loved and lovable. We discover that we are beloved sons and daughters of God with whom God is well pleased. We discover we are precious and one of a kind, a unique person with gifts and talents. We discover we are forgiven and set free. We experience healing and hope. This is not a quick pill or a magic treatment, but the result of the journey of walking with the Lord. Jesus taught us he teaches us so that "my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete" (Jn 15:11).

The second question is why the Church? Why do we need to be part of a congregation? The answer is obvious on one level and complex on another. The easy answer is that in community we experience being loved, forgiven, healed, valued and supported, especially when the community seeks to follow Christ's command to "love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34).

    The complex answer has to do with the reality that the assembly of Christians form the Body of Christ in the world. Jesus taught us: "I am the vine, you are the branches" (Jn 15:5). If we wish to be in touch with the risen Lord, then the reality of that touch is what happens in the Christian Community (the Church) where the sacramental actions take place. The risen Lord uses humans to touch us in His name. It is in the Church where we carry one another's burdens, experience forgiveness, healing, and such most profoundly. 

The third question: why this Church? The Episcopal Church is a place where we accept you as you are and seek to walk with you into the future to which the Lord is calling you. It is a Church where questions are welcome, where your conscience is respected, where how you implement the teachings of Jesus in your life is a personal choice you have to make.

Here at St. Mark's we seek answers to life's questions and challenges in the words and deeds of Jesus. Each of us has to come to answers we can live with and around which beliefs and values we will shape our lives. We seek to help you question, reflect, and develop a spirituality right for you. So welcome to St. Mark's. Know you are welcome here regularly or on occasion.