Worship

The center of our focus at St. Mark’s is Jesus Christ, known in word and sacrament. So worship is the primary activity shaping and energizing the heart of our parish family.

“Astonished reverence” is a good paraphrase for Christian worship. Another one is “admiration to the point of wonder and delight” (Dallas Willard, quoting A.W. Tozer). At St. Mark’s we pursue astonished reverence and cultivate admiration of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit to the point of wonder and delight.

The blueprint for our communal pursuit and cultivation, in our Anglican tradition of worship, is the Book of Common Prayer. This book, and the tradition it represents, guides and shapes our devotion to Jesus.

Outreach

Jesus came to seek, to serve, and to save through serving and seeking (Lk. 19:10, 22:26; Mk. 10:45). He still does all the saving, but he invites us to join him in seeking and service.

Daily, we have teams that assemble and distribute meals for Meals on Wheels.

Annually, we participate in the Angel Tree program through which we provide Christmas gifts for the children of our neighborhood school, Blanton Elementary.

In addition, our people give regularly and generously through alms boxes located by the Church doors. These funds are used by the Rector for benevolence needs for those in our community.

Fellowship

At St. Mark’s fellowship and food typically go together.

The most important food is the spiritual food of the Holy Eucharist which we enjoy together each Sunday. Someone recently told our priest, “I want to go to a church where people know my name when I’m there and miss me when I’m absent.” We try to be this sort of parish for this sort of person.

Through the year there are receptions and potluck lunches–some planned, others spontaneous–that give us time to enjoy being a parish Church, a group of neighbors brought together by and within the love of God in Jesus Christ.