West County Log Cabin Tour--Presyberian Women's Virtual Outing

 Log Cabin Tour

 

Thursday, November 12 at 9 a.m. 

This is part of MP’s Thursday morning activity and Hangout will start at 10 a.m.  Contact Mary Beth or MP if you have not been attending Bible Study and would like your name added to the invite list.

Tour stops include:  Baxter Cabin in Schroeder ark

              Mertz Cabin in Faust Park

              Harrison/Schmidt/Dahlke Cabin,  Vlasis Park

              Bacon Log Cabin

Clester, Hackman and Oge Cabins, Conway Park

Hardscrabble,  Grant’s Farm

Innsbrook Cabin, Innsbrook

Estill and Kropp Cabins—Drace Park

What is past is prologue:  Grothe Log Home

 

A Cup of Coffee

 

As a civilian in Germany, I worked for the 29^th Area Support Group.  One of my colleagues was a crusty Army Senior NCO.  While he liked to complain and at times used such “blue” language that one of the German women in the office once pulled him by the ear into the restroom and washed his mouth out with soap, we all knew deep down that he was really an “Oscar the Grouch” with a heart of gold.  In fact, we once wrote a poem about him and called him Oscar the Grouch in it.  When I first started working with him, he was divorced, with his ex-wife and daughter living in the States.

 

To our surprise, he came back from a trip to the States married to his ex-wife who had returned to Germany with him along with their teenage daughter.  After a few days of settling in, he was suddenly very upset.  Turned out that, as a Divorced Parent with no dependents in country,  he hadn’t paid any attention to the fact that the BX (even though we had the 2 largest BXs in Europe in our area), had a very limited supply of school supplies or for that matter other items (ie clothes) that teenage girls wanted.  In this case, it was a prom dress. It was hard enough that she had moved to Europe in the middle of the school year, but it was extremely hard to find out that she was invited to the prom and the BX didn’t have any dresses left and ordering one from the states would take too long to get there.

 

I asked him how big his daughter was, then told him I could solve his problem.  I had cocktail dresses and formals left from college as well as ones that as an officer and an officer’s wife, I had for the more formal base functions I had to attend and his daughter was welcome to borrow what she needed for the prom. 

 

A few days later, the Sgt and his wife and daughter showed up at my home.  We left the Sgt sitting in my living room, while we women went upstairs to “shop” in my wardrobes.  Unbeknownst to me, while we were upstairs finding the right dress, and the right accessories, my young son, Nathan, who had also been banished from the upstairs, decided that he should be the host and entertain the Sgt.  I only found that out later, when, after I bid them goodby,  (the daughter and wife happily carrying out a dress, shawl, purse and matching jewelry), I went into the kitchen and found quite a mess.

 

Now, Mike and I don’t drink coffee, but we kept instant coffee on hand for those infrequent times when someone was over who wanted a cup of coffee.  In the kitchen, I found a coffee cup with a Very THICK, layer of coffee sludge on the bottom of the cup.  It seemed, after talking to Nathan, that he had made the Sgt a cup of coffee.  Only since he had no clue what the correct proportions were, he put in most of the jar of instant coffee.  Plus, he had no way of heating the water, so he used warm water from the tap.  He proudly told me the Sgt drank it all and told him how good it was! 

 

The next day, I apologized to the Sgt, who told me that after I saved his skin with the dress, the least he could do was drink the coffee my son had made.

 

Less than 2 years later, after his daughter had graduated from High School, moved back to the states and started college, she died from meningitis. 

 

Whenever I see a jar of instant coffee now, I think of her.  Of all the promise that her life had held.  And her father, who, like all fathers had wanted the world for her. And how, for a short time, I had been able to help him give it to her.  A simple act of sharing that tied two families together.  And a cup of inedible coffee that he drank anyway to not hurt a small child’s feelings.

Dale Weir

Shared in Writer's Life which meets 1st and 3rd Tuesdays via Zoom

Be an Angel for the Virtual Christmas Boutique

 

Sadly, the annual St. Mark Presbyterian Women’s Christmas Boutique and Angel Street Cafe, which was scheduled for November 10 and 11, has been cancelled. Cancelling this beloved long time tradition is a stab in the heart for all of those who for many years joined together in camaraderie to raise funds for missions supported by PW. Our St. Mark family generously contributed their time, talent, baked items, soups, salads, crafts, and just plain good cheer to make the boutique the kick-off event for the Christmas season. We are thankful to everyone who, over many years, have helped to make this event a resounding success. 

In January of each year, PW allocates the proceeds to their designated missions. This January we designated $12,000 to missions at home, within the presbytery, and the wider community. Presbyterian Women of St. Mark had expected to raise over $9,000 from the 2020 sale based on the amount generated in the 2019. The PW Candy Sales during Lent, that have additionally raised around $2000, was also cancelled 

These missions are in need more than ever this year. For those reasons, we ask that if you are able to give monetarily the value of what you would have donated to the boutique in terms of items donated or money spent shopping the many wonderful crafter stalls, we will be able to continue supporting our missions. If you are able to support the “Virtual Christmas Boutique” with a donation, please address your check to St. Mark, with Christmas Boutique in the memo line. 

Thank you again for your continued support! The missions PW supported this year with 2019 funds are: Presbyterian Children’s Home and Services, Circle of Concern, Farmington and Ashley House (Springfield), Lydia House Arch, City Defenders, Third Presbyterian Church, Isaiah 58 Ministries, Mound Ridge Camp and Retreat Center, Newborns in Need ,St. Mark Fall Festival, St. Mark Fellowship Committee, St. Mark Major Repairs, St. Mark Youth Ministries

Worship November 8

CELEBRATION SUNDAY 

10:00 am Virtual Service 

ORDER OF WORSHIP

CENTERING PRAYER (Romans 14)

Eternal God, you are our hope and our salvation, for in Jesus Christ you conquered death. Baptized in him, you raise us to new life. Increase our faith, hope, love, and generosity, that we may praise you with our whole hearts this day and welcome you with joy when you come to set the whole world free. Amen.

PRELUDE      Praeludium and Fugue      Fischer

WELCOME and ANNOUNCEMENTS

CALL TO WORSHIP

Friends, we come today to worship our Creator.

Father, give us FEARLESS faith.

Sisters, we gather to praise our Redeemer.

Jesus, give us FEARLESS hope.

Brothers, we meet to celebrate our Sustainer.

Spirit, give us FEARLESS love.

Come, let us worship our generous God together!

† HYMN “This Is My Father’s World” Hymnal #370

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Holy and gracious God, you are all light, wonder, and glory. You are our strength and our delight; you give us all we need to live. Yet, our eyes wander to all that glitters, and we chase after things that do not give life. Forgive us, Lord, and turn us back to you. Overwhelm us with your goodness and cover us with your grace, for we know you are the source of life, the fountain of all that is good. We continue to pray in Jesus’ name. (Silent Confession)

ASSURANCE OF GRACE

† SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST

The peace of Christ be with you.

And also with you.

SCRIPTURE Ephesians 3:14-21

SERMON “FEARLESS: Generosity” Rev. Dr. Dave Burgess

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Westminster Confession of Faith, Shorter Catechism, Question One

Q. What is our chief end?

A. Our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy God forever.

OFFERING AND PRESENTATION OF 2021 PLEDGE CARDS

SPECIAL MUSIC      Cantabile on I Want to Walk      Behnke

† THE DOXOLOGY

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER 

† HYMN      “Take My Life”      Hymnal #697

† CHARGE AND BLESSING

† BENEDICTION RESPONSE      “We Lift Our Voices”      Hymnal #710

POSTLUDE      Fantasia on I Want to Walk      Behnke

†You are invited to stand, as you are able.

Scripture for November 8

 Ephesians 3:14-21

A Prayer for the Ephesians

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Photo by Zach Reiner on Unsplash

Daily Prayer November 6

 I appeal to you, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Daily Readings for Friday, November 6, 2020

• Morning Psalms 51; 148
• First Reading Zephaniah 3:8-13
• Second Reading Revelation 17:1-18
• Gospel Reading Luke 13:31-35
• Evening Psalms 142; 65

Almighty God, your Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven that he might rule over all things as Lord. Keep the church in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace; bring all creation to worship at his feet, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Clothe us with the power promised from on high, and send us forth to the ends of the earth as heralds of repentance and witnesses of Jesus Christ, firstborn from the dead. Merciful God, strengthen us in prayer that we may lift up the brokenness of this world for your healing, and share in the saving love of Jesus Christ. We pray for those in positions of authority over others, the lonely and forgotten, children without families or homes, agents of caring and relief. (Add your prayers.) Amen.

May God in endless mercy bring the whole church, the living and departed, to a joyful resurrection in the fulfillment of the eternal kingdom.

(Opening sentences, prayers, and blessings are from the Book of Common Worship. Readings are from the daily lectionary in Daily Prayer. Both are published by Westminster/John Knox Press.)

Healing The Broken Heart of America

 Bill Tucker shares one of his blog posts on The Broken Heart of America by Walter Johnson which was being discussed in St. Mark's Zoom Discussion group"Healing The Broken Heart of America". For more information on the Zoom discussion of this book ,  contact Dave Burgess dburgess@discoverstmark.org  

Bill also provides the blog link, in case you are interested in other chapters from the book.

Chapter 5b: The St. Louis World's Fair

The St. Louis 1904 World's Fair was billed as the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. Launched in the summer of 1904, the Fair brought in 20 million visitors over seven months. Walter Johnson lists the highlights in some detail, including dozens of babies living in incubators and rotated into cribs, a nine-acre reconstruction of the Tyrolean Alps, and an eleven-acre reconstruction of the Holy Land. On the grounds of Washington University the 1904 Olympics took place "as a sort of sideshow," remarks Johnson. [The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States, by Walter Johnson (New York: Basic Books), 2020.

Among the featured scholars and scientists at the fair were Frederick Winslow Taylor ("time management"), the German sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies (society vs. community), and the historian Frederick Jackson Turner ("frontier thesis"). As Johnson sees it, however, it was anthropology that framed the message. Frederick Skiff, the manager of the exhibits, said they were "registering not only the culture of the world at the time, but indicating the particular plans along with which different races and different people may safely proceed, or, in fact, have begun to advance towards a still higher development" (204).

In what Johnson describes as a "human zoo," ten thousand people were exhibited in reconstructions of their "native habitat, including:

• Ainu people from Japan
• "Patagonians: from the Andes
• 51 of the First Nations of North America, including
  • Chief Joseph of the massacred Nez Perce
  • Quanah Parker, the Comanche soldier
  • Geronimo, the Apache chief, posing for 5 cent-photographs with white leaders and
    • playing the part of the Sitting Bull in daily reenactments of the Battle of Little Bighorn
• Ota Benga,  one of seven other people sold to Samuel Verner as Mbuti "pygmies" from the Congo Free State
  • exhibited at the Fair as a "cannibal"
  • danced with other enslaved Africans for  as many as 20,000 people at a time
  • later exhibited in a cage at the Bronx Zoo
  • in March 1966 built a fire, danced, then shot himself through the heart in Lynchburg, VA

The exhibits were intended to represent a "march of human progress," placing the savages of the Congo at one end and white humanity at the other. As Walter Benjamin wrote fifty years later, "There is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism" ("Theses on the Philosophy of History," in Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt (New York: Schocken Books, 1969), no. 7.

Although the United States had concluded the war in the Philippines in 1902, American troops were still fighting insurgents in 1904. Despite the conflict, the U.S. War Department transported one thousand Filipinos and 400 additional Philippine Scouts, U.S. aligned soldiers, to the most-visited exhibit at the Fair, the "Philippine Reservation." William Howard Taft, the US military governor of the Philippines argued that the Fair would exert " a very great influence on the pacification of the Philippines" by influencing the Filipinos through the exhibit of the wonders of modern civilization and reconciling them to their fate as conquered people. Johnson called the Philippine Reservation a "civilizationist psyop, an act of psychological warfare."

Within the Reservation the tribes were assigned different levels of civilization:

• the Visayans - "intelligent"
• Islamic Moros - "fierce"
• Bagobo - "savage"
• Negritos - "monkey-like"
• Igorots - "picturesque"

The near-nudity of the Igorot made for controversy and fascination at the Fair. Some worried that the naked dark bodies might horrify or stimulate the white women attending the Fair. Government officials thought they would undermine the case that the US was civilizing the Filipinos. The Anthropology Department thought they should represent the authentic culture of their tribe. President Theodore Roosevelt settled the debacle by requiring codpieces worn in strategic areas to create the impression of both the primitive and the civilized.

According to the leader of the Fair's Anthropology Department, William McGee, "There is a course of progress running from lower to higher humanity, and all the physical and human types of Man mark stages in that course" (207). The working theory was that civilization could take the place of racial violence as a tool of "racial progress."  The conclusive activities of the Filipino war were vindicated by these exhibits. However the Black soldiers who served as "adjutants" in the Indian wars, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippine -American War were not allowed on the grounds in uniform.

In fact, African Americans were only represented at the Fair as actors on "the Old Plantation," where they sang minstrel songs, staged a religious revival, and cakewalked. The music of Scott Joplin, who had composed a piece to accompany a waterfall called "The Cascades," was banned from the grounds. Ragtime was considered a challenge to the beaux arts classicism that pervaded the Fair.

One memorable distinction between savagery and civilization was the rumor that the natives of the Philippine Reservation ate dogs. One of the neighborhoods near the exposition grounds is today known as"Dogtown,"  because it was supposedly where the Filipinos got their dogs.

The theme song "Meet Me in St. Louis" made a salacious reference to dancing the "Hoochee-Koochee,"  a reference to a dancer at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. Under the name "Fatima," Fahreda Mazar Spyropoulos, danced so suggestively that she was banned from the St. Louis World's Fair. The "hoochee koochee" was considered a "racially tinted sexual promise."  The subtext of the lyrics was a white woman lured by interracial desire and a white man who had lost control of his girl.

Walter Johnson concludes that two important lessons were established by the St. Louis World's Fair.

1. "to codify the history that had begun with Lewis and Clark--the history of nineteenth century St. Louis and the imperial project it sponsored--into a set of lessons that would guide the United States in the twentieth century." e.g. President Roosevelt announced while touring the grounds that the United States "would reserve the right to intervene in the internal affairs of nations anywhere in the Western Hemisphere," i.e. would become its "policeman."(214).
2. "It tried to channel all of the violence, steamy desire, and brittle masculine anxiety that characterized both the history of the city and its daily life into a set of pat lessons about white supremacy and racial progress"( 215).

https://wtucker.edublogs.org/2020/07/10/broken-heart-chap-6-the-st-louis-worlds-fair/

Christmas Alternatives

 

Christmas Alternatives Giving Celebrates 20 Years Christmas Alternatives will look a bit different this year. However, we will continue to support Christmas Alternatives with our gifts to honor our loved ones, while benefitting many deserving people throughout the world. 

Twenty years ago, St. Mark created the “Mission Committee” with the vision of our Pastor Howard Gleason and endorsement of the Session. St. Mark Church was noted for founding and supporting many local missions within St. Louis and St. Louis County. It was Howard Gleason’s vision to expand the mission of the church beyond the borders of St. Louis. This vision continues to flourish. 

The Mission Committee was created in 2001 with these goals: 

1. To educate the congregation and raise the awareness of non-local mission needs; 

2. Along with the pastors, to monitor and recommend activities for mission at St. Mark; 

3. To research specific mission activities to sponsor; 

4. To continue our level of funding and discover new mission needs. 

The committee was allotted a budget through St. Mark, but it was always the committee’s emphasis to obtain additional funding outside of the budget. The committee members observed that all of us have too much “stuff.” 

With that in mind the committee created a unique way of giving that provided two gifts: (a) honoring a loved one or friend and (b) concurrently benefitting deserving people with a tangible gift. After much research, the committee decided to raise funds by creating an alternative Christmas event which we termed: Christmas Alternatives. That first year, the following missions were selected:

 National Missions - John Hyson School (New Mexico), Menaul School (New Mexico), Koinonia Partners, Presbyterian Children’s Services

International Missions - Marion Medical Mission, Rancho Ebenezer in Nicaragua, and Heifer Project.

 Each Mission was contacted to determine the types of items that could be “purchased” by our members to give to loved ones at Christmas. A shopping list was generated, Minutes for Mission were presented to the congregation, and posters were displayed. Our first year, $1395 was donated by our members on gifts that would honor the recipients and benefit deserving people in multiple places around the world. The committee was thrilled! The second year, $10,024.83 was donated via Christmas Alternatives. When the congregation was informed of this news during a Minute for Mission, gasps of astonishment were heard throughout the sanctuary. The St. Mark congregation had embraced a new way of shopping for Christmas gifts, and a tradition began that has continued for 20 years. 

During our first 19 years, St. Mark members and friends have contributed over $150,000 to Christmas Alternatives. You have provided health to communities through the drilling of wells for clean water, vaccinations and maternity care. You have given livestock and seeds so that people can provide food for themselves and their families. You have given gifts for children at Christmas and supported mission co-workers throughout the world. Thank you for supporting Christmas Alternatives during the past 19 years. Let’s make 2020 a truly spectacular 20th year celebration! 

Sunday, December 13 1-3PM  DRIVE THROUGH

We are offering a drive through drop off of your completed Christmas Alternatives shopping list and check. As a bonus, complementary Christmas Cards with artwork from our St. Mark children will be available for you to select from the warmth of the front seat of your vehicle.

Worship November 1

November 1, 2020 

ALL SAINTS’ SUNDAY

 10:00 am Virtual Service 

ORDER OF WORSHIP

 

CENTERING PRAYER (Romans 14)

 

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. Eternal God, help us to live fully and completely for you this day and always. Drive out fear, and please be near as we gather for worship. We pray this, and all things, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

PRELUDE      Toccata      Pachelbel 

WELCOME and ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

CALL TO WORSHIP (Psalm 34)

 

O taste and see that the Lord is good:

happy are those who take refuge in God.

With hearts and hands and voices,

let us praise the Lord.

God is good, all the time.

All the time, God is good.

† HYMN      “For All the Saints”      Hymnal #326

 

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

 

Gracious God, you call us your own children and cover us with your love. We long to be as merciful and compassionate as you, but we fail to live the life to which you call us. Where we ought to forgive, we condemn; the evil we should shun, we embrace. We know we should reach out our hands in love, but we allow fear to close fists. Forgive our sinful ways, tame our wayward wills, and make us more like Christ. We continue to pray in Jesus’ name. (Silent Confession)

 

ASSURANCE OF GRACE

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

SCRIPTURE I John 3:1-3

 SERMON “FEARLESS: Love”       Rev. Dr. Dave Burgess 

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Heidelberg Catechism Question One Q. What is your only comfort, in life and in death? A. That I belong--body and soul, in life and in death--not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him. 

OFFERING SPECIAL MUSIC     Amazing Grace      arr. Medley

                Masked Ringers 

† THE DOXOLOGY 

REMEMBERING THE SAINTS 

SACRAMENT OF THE LORD’S SUPPER 

   Great Prayer of Thanksgiving 

   Words of Institution 

   Sharing of the Bread & Cup 

   Prayer after Communion 

† HYMN      “To God Be the Glory”      Hymnal #634 

† CHARGE AND BLESSING 

† BENEDICTION RESPONSE      “We Lift Our Voices”      Hymnal #710 

POSTLUDE      People of the Lord      Scheer

 †You are invited to stand, as you are able.