Circle of Concern and Isaiah 58

    Established in 1967 by a small group of churches, Circle of Concern has served west St. Louis County for 58 years.

Offering a client choice food pantry and wraparound programs, Circle aims to move families from crisis to stability.

Households in the 63026 and 63049 zip codes, or the footprint of the Parkway, Rockwood, Valley Park, or Kirkwood school districts, making 200% or less of the federal poverty level are eligible for services.

At monthly appointments, clients participate in case management and shop in the pantry where they choose from fresh dairy products, fresh produce, frozen meats, nonperishables, and personal care items. Circle offers emergency rent and utility assistance, counseling, community referrals, kid’s programs, holiday “extras” and scholarships. The onsite Garden Greens project, led by a head gardener and a team of volunteers, produces over 1500 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables annually to share with Circle families.

St. Mark is a founding member of Circle and has a long and engaged history of support, providing food and personal care donations, volunteers, and financial contributions. St. Mark works in partnership with Circle staff and volunteers in hosting the annual Charity Golf Tournament supporting Circle’s client programs.

    Isaiah 58 Ministries provides essential resources to individuals and families in need, focusing on ending food insecurity through our various food distributions. Our choice food pantry, as well as our Fresh Food Friday events, offer a variety of healthy food choices to guests struggling to make ends meet. Similarly, our clothing room offers free, gently used clothing to guests, helping to provide for their basic needs and regain dignity during difficult times.

Isaiah 58 Ministries also offers a range of impactful programming designed to support and uplift the community. From our Health and Wellness Program that offers monthly Lunch and Learn events, to our annual Juneteenth event that celebrates culture, unity, and heritage, to our Back-to-School Fair hosted for neighborhood children, Isaiah 58 Ministries continuously strives to improve the lives of families within our community.

During the holiday season, Isaiah 58 Ministries also organizes Holiday Food Distributions and a Holiday Store, offering meals and gifts to families to brighten their holidays. Through all these services and programs, Isaiah 58 Ministries seeks to transform lives and support the well-being of those in need within the community.

We are grateful to have the support of St. Mark Presbyterian Church and the many volunteers who work with us daily, ensuring the success of our mission to the community. Through donations of time, food, personal care products, clothing, holiday gifts and financial support, St. Mark plays a vital role in helping us care for others as we are building beloved community.

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Worship Prayers March 23

CENTERING PRAYER Your glory and power, O God, surround us in the sanctuary. We lift up our hands and call on your name. We are your people, thirsty for the living water you alone can give. When we consider how you have helped us, giving us a spring that gushes up to eternal life, we cling to you, singing praises with joyful lips; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

CALL TO WORSHIP Everyone who thirsts: Come to the waters, seek the Lord, repent and return so that you may live. All who are hungry for righteousness: Come to the waters, seek the Lord, repent and return so that you may live. All who need the help of God: Come to the waters, seek the Lord, repent and return so that you may live.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION Holy God, we confess that we have grown complacent in our response to you. You set before us a rich feast of blessing, but we are drawn to lesser things that cannot satisfy. You call us to attend to urgent needs in the world, but we indulge our own desires. Our ways are not your ways; our thoughts do not ascend to your thoughts. Forgive us when we fall short of your claim upon our lives. Disturb our complacency and quicken our desire for a more fruitful life. Be patient, we pray, as we amend who we are, in the hope of becoming who you intend us to be. We ask this in the name of our Savior, your Son, Jesus Christ. (Silent Confession) 

ASSURANCE OF PARDON God’s love is sure and steadfast, always providing a way out, a way through, a way back to God. Through the waters of baptism, we have died with Christ and are raised with him. With gratitude, in faith, we will walk the way of Christ. †

 SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST The peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.

PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. 

Scripture for March 23

 Luke 13:1-9

Repent or Perish

13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

Read full chapter

By Phillip Medhurst - Photo by Harry Kossuth, FAL,

Daily Prayer March 21

 

They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Exodus 33:1-23; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Matthew 5:17-20

Holy God, Creator of all, the risen Christ taught from scripture of his death, resurrection, and ascension into your glorious presence. May the living Lord breathe on us his peace, that our eyes may be opened to recognize him in breaking bread, and to follow wherever he leads. Fountain of wisdom, by your word you set the universe in space, and with your hands you molded us in your image. Everywhere we see signs of your loving care. Guide us always into your ways, that in your wisdom we may find life abundant and live forever in the splendor of your glory. Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us co-workers in your creation. Give us wisdom and reverence to use the resources of nature, so that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty. (Add your prayers.) Amen.

The grace of Christ attend you, the love of God surround you, the Holy Spirit keep you, that you may live in faith, abound in hope, and grow in love, both now and forevermore.

Your Kingdom Come

 

My Theology

“Your kingdom come; Your will be done

On earth as  in heaven.”

(All Translations from the New Zealand Prayer Book).

The kingdom of God is coming, but  the kingdoms of earth are not subject to God. We would not pray for what we already have. We pray for God’s kingdom because that perfection exists only with  “God” or “Lord’ or “Mother/ Father.” Where is heaven ? I surely don’t know. But we are praying for its  coming. It is not already here.

C. S. Lewis, in his trilogy that begins with Out of the Silent Planet, imagines that Earth is a singular planet in the Solar System that is separated from God. Lewis would be the first to call the trilogy fiction, not theology, but his ideas are intriguing experiments in understanding a good Creation fallen and violence threatening to destroy it.

The idea of Earth being a singular “silent” planet develops from the imagined planet being disconnected from the rest of the planetary beings. It is “silent” (called “Thulcandra”) because God has been rejected in favor of a secular civilization.  The voice of Earth no longer communicates with the other planetary presiding spirits.

This is a crude theology that tries to account for a good Creation in the midst of conflict and violence, a concern that humanity is on a path to destroy itself. I am optimistic about the wonders of science, art, and nature, but not about the ruling powers that threaten to conscript them.  I think this would have been Lewis’ view of the predicament of Western civilization.

“Romanticism,” at least the Wordsworthian version, seems more optimistic of the perfectability of humankind.  The unspoiled world of Nature will rule over the spoiled civilization so that humankind’s  best impulses will eventually rule.  Romanticism is optimistic, at least in the present age. Romanticism does not believe we are a fallen world that God must rescue.

“Our Father in heaven

hallowed be your name.

The prayer is addressed to a male figure, but I assume that God is not gendered, because it would be a limitation of God’s identity. We worship  God when we say “hallowed.”

“Your kingdom come; Your will be done

On earth as  in heaven.”

The prayer expresses a hope, but not a confidence, that God will control our destiny.  The primary distinction comes from “on earth as in heaven.” We pray for the reign of God, but it is not yet fulfilled.

” Give us today our daily bread”

Some of us are not in need of tangible bread, but we recall that Jesus said “I am the Bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry”(John 6:35). That bread we all need.

“Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

To me, this is the core of the Good News: we are forgiven our shortcomings, but that entails forgiving our neighbor. I don’t think of this as conditional. God forgives us regardless of what we do.  But receiving the “Bread of Life” could entail forgiving, because God forgives those who offend us.

“Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.”

I find this line comforting. To me it says that God may spare us from attack, temptation,  bad judgment, and the consequences.  Most likely, God will allow what is necessary for our deliverance from evil, not immunity from necessary trials.

“For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,

now and forever.”

The conclusion tells me that power and glory belong to God, and that is how God plans to finish the story of earth. The kingdom is coming.

I find this prayer more dependent and responsive to the choices of humans, than the ideals of Romanticism.  Both Romanticism and Christianity celebrate the freedom of humans to act responsibly, but only Christianity connects that freedom to the consequences of human failure.  Christians rely on their hope for the kingdom of God and their actions in the quest of the kingdom . Forgiveness is  necessary for this kingdom to come–both God’s and God’s creatures. But come it will.

We stand halfway between the kingdom coming and the kingdom come. We believe that God will assume “the power and the glory forever.”

This tension between the kingdom and the kingdom coming defines Christianity’s expectations and its distinction from Romanticism.

Bill Tucker

Annual Report: Deacon Committees (Part 2)

 COMMUNION COMMITTEE 

This was a transitional year for the Communion Committee. It was not until April that, using advice from Pastor MP, we developed a workable map and guide for Communion Servers to follow. Servers receive their trays below the Chancel. Only the pastors must navigate the steps. Each server is assigned a portion of the sanctuary. Elements are passed from both sides except the one closest to the South wall and the choir loft. Thanks to input from Nancy Sutch, we worked out the procession from the back once servers have finished serving each element. The Communion Committee buys the elements. The star crackers are gluten free. Trays are set up before each Communion service and individual servers assigned to stations in front of the Chancel. They sign up using Signup Genius and receive their instructions via email.

FLOWER COMMITTEE

The donation of sanctuary flowers is a wonderful way for our members to honor loved ones and commemorate special events during the year, while, at the same time, helping to beautify our church. During our most holy seasons, Easter and Christmas, members can purchase Easter Lilies and Poinsettias. All plants purchased can be taken home by those who made the donation and shared with whomever the member chooses. 

During 2024: 1) A total of 41 sanctuary bouquets were ordered from a local florist. 2) A total of 9 seasonal silk floral arrangements were purchased to be used for the Sundays when none have been donated by church members. There were also silk floral arrangements purchased for use during the Easter and Christmas seasons. 3) For the Easter season, 18 families donated a total of 37 Easter lilies which were ordered from a local greenhouse for our sanctuary on Easter Sunday. 4) For the Christmas season, silk poinsettia plants were placed in the sanctuary at the beginning of the Advent season prior to the arrival of the live plants. 21 families donated a total of 48 poinsettia plants which were ordered from a local greenhouse for our sanctuary for the Sunday prior to Christmas and for the Christmas Eve services. 

A special thanks to the members of St. Mark who so generously provided flowers during the year. Your participation is greatly appreciated and brought beauty, joy, and a personal church connection to so many. Hopefully you were blessed by the blessing you provided.

WORSHIP SUPPORT COMMITTEE – Liaison Committee Members:  ushers; greeters;  Sanctuary setup;  Communion; Pastor MP - Liturgists . Worship Support provides help when needed for the above groups. Thanks to Pastor MP and her technical know-how, ushers, liturgists, and Communion support moved to using Signup Genius, making the process of contacting members to perform those functions much easier. Towards the end of the year, work began on transitioning greeters to Signup Genius also. In 2024, three new individuals joined the ushers. As noted above in the Communion committee description, the Communion team worked with Pastoral Staff and Session as the communion process evolved to fine tune the procedure. Pastor MP continues to manage the Liturgists. 

One Great Hour of Sharing: Lent and Easter

 

Since 1949 One Great Hour of Sharing has been the single largest way that Presbyterians join together to share God’s love with our neighbors in need around the world. Each gift helps to improve the lives of people in challenging situations through three impactful programs. 

• Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (32%) works alongside communities as they recover and find hope after the devastation of natural or humancaused disasters. 

• Presbyterian Hunger Program (36%) takes action to alleviate hunger and the systemic causes of poverty so all may be fed. 

• Self-Development of People (32%) invests in communities responding to their experiences of racism, oppression, poverty, and injustice and educates Presbyterians about the impact of these societal ills.

 Additionally, St. Mark supports the Marian Medical Water Mission, which works to provide clean water to communities in Africa. Let’s continue the St. Mark tradition of “digging”! You can use the special yellow envelope that was in your packet for March, or you can write a check to St. Mark and indicate OGHS or Marian Medical Mission in the memo line.

Annual Report: Deacon Committees (Part 1)

CAREGIVING COMMITTEE 

The caregiving team reached out to members in many ways: 

1) We sent cards to many homebound or ill members, as well as families with loss. 2) Delivered various gifts to homebound members including flowering plants, mums, cookies and 24 advent bags. 3) Offered refreshments after funerals. 4) Made a “we care meal” and delivered it to members twice a year. We also made/delivered desserts to senior living residents and accompanied the treats with plants.

CIRCLE OF CONCERN 

 This committee is responsible for the collection of food, paper, cleaning and personal care items donated by our congregation, and the delivery to Circle of Concern located in Valley Park, MO. Church members are informed of Circle of Concern’s needs in our monthly newsletter and weekly bulletin. In addition, Deacons deliver special collections made by our preschool, children and youth ministries. During the past year, 113 bags (1,265 lbs.) of all items were donated to Circle. Also, 7 boxes (138 lbs.) of canned goods were collected and donated from our November “Giving Thanks” dinner.

CIRCLE OF CONCERN GOLF TOURNAMENT 

May 20 arrived at Aberdeen Golf Club, Eureka, Missouri with a sold-out event of 144 golfers, 54 volunteers and ideal temperatures with just the right amount of sunshine. The event raised over $37,000 with all proceeds benefiting Circle of Concern, one of several local missions supported by St Mark Deacons. St. Mark has served as the event sponsor for the past 18 years and has worked in concert with Circle of Concern staff and volunteers to create goodwill within the community for both entities as well as raise needed funding. The following demonstrates the direct impact St Mark had on this years’ tournament: 1) Members funded $11,000 in Sponsorships and auction items 2) 21 members served as volunteers on the day of the event. 3) 5 members participated as golfers. 4) Members recruited 34 other golfers. 5) 3 members served on the Golf Committee. Thank you, St. Mark members, for sharing your time, talent and resources to make this event a success.

HEALTH & WELLNESS COMMITTEE

The Health and Wellness Committee organizes blood drives; organizes CPR/AED/First Aid training classes; maintains seven first aid kits and two AED units located throughout the church property. The committee sponsored four Red Cross blood drives this year. One hundred sixty-one (161) units of blood were collected.

The committee continued to monitor the viability of two HeartSine Samaritan AEDs (Automatic External Defibrillators) and the inventory of seven first aid kits. On June 1, the committee, in partnership with the Metro West Fire Protection District, presented a Hands-Only CPR & Stop the Bleed classes for thirty-seven (37) members. As an added bonus, the Metro West personnel conducted a thorough review of our first aid kits to the class. They also introduced our AED unit with instructions on its use.

STEPHEN MINISTRY 

For the next year, Stephen Ministry will be primarily focusing on grief support efforts. Those efforts will include Grief Share, Grief Through the Holidays, facilitating Blue Christmas and continued scheduled contact with those suffering a loss.

Worship Prayers March 16

 CENTERING PRAYER* *J. Birch, faithandworship.com

 

           God of Love, God of Peace, this fractured word cries out in pain, burns deep into my soul, and challenges me to make a difference.
           God of Love, God of Peace, God of this world, scarred by grief and tears ignorance and  fear, soften hearts of stone and begin with mine.
           God of Love, God of Peace, create within me a heart for people, a desire for change, for new beginnings to start this day.

 

CALL TO WORSHIP (Psalm 27)

 

The LORD is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

One thing I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after:

to live in the house of the Lord all my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.

Come! Let us worship our saving LORD together.

 

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

 

Merciful God, you made us citizens of heaven, but we confess we have set our minds on earthly things. We let our desire for security restrain our commitment to serve the poor. We let our fear of danger curb our obligation to love our enemies. We let our love of things dull our generosity to the needy. We let our craving for public status prevent our honesty about hidden sins. Yet, you know the desires of our heart and nothing is hidden from you. By the power of the Holy Spirit, conform our sin-weakened bodies to the glory of Christ, that we may be the body of Christ for the world. (Silent Confession)

 

 

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH – The Apostles’ Creed

 

OFFERING

 

Invitation to the Offering

 

Christ gave his life for us. Let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God

 

Prayer after Offering

 

Let us pray…O God, we behold your goodness to us. Accept the offering of the work of our hands, and use us for the sake of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

 

Scripture March 16

 Luke 13:31-35

Jesus’ Sorrow for Jerusalem

31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’[a]”

Read full chapter

Photo by K Kannan on Unsplash