Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020

Reverend Jimmy Moore, preaching
Matthew 20:1-10
A Primer on Finding Easter

“We need a little Easter, right this very minute.” Of course, the words of the actual song say “Christmas”, but I think you’ll acknowledge that we’re facing an Easter unlike any we in the Christian community have ever known. On a typical Sunday morning, we glory in the sanctuary adorned with stunning flowers, with many of our fellow worshippers dressed to the nines, the joyful singing of “Christ the Lord is Risen Today”, and the profound Easter affirmation, “Christos Anesti! Christ is risen!” And to know we won’t be able to experience that in with the full congregations that we have come to expect makes us more than a little sad.

 But this year, this is the Easter we are given. It is an Easter in which most of us are largely confined to home, an act of service that we pray will slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Some among us are undergoing considerable risk to provide medical care and emergency and essential services to our community. And we are cut off from many we hold dear, those whose presence is really part of the relational air that we breathe. Maybe now, more than ever before, for all of the difference of this year, we need a little Easter, right this very minute.

So Sunday, on the Livestream that you will find by clicking on the “Watch the Livestream” button on the St. Mark’s website, you will enter into Easter Worship. Brianna Murray will sing a solo and some of our singers will help us sing Easter Hymns. The sermon, arising from Matthew 28:1-10, is titled “A Primer on Finding Easter”. And we will celebrate virtual communion together. (Our Bishop has granted permission for us to celebrate communion virtually. At your home, you are welcome to use bread and juice, or whatever you have at home, as we celebrate the sacrament together.)

 We look forward to celebrating the Resurrection of Christ with you this Sunday!

Good Friday, April 10, 2020

In recent years for Good Friday services at St. Mark’s, we have invited members of the St. Mark’s community to share reflections on the seven last sayings of Jesus, uttered during the crucifixion. These ‘words’ are collected from the various gospels, and the order we follow is one that has been commonly practiced in the Church. We will livestream the service, but most of the reflections have been recorded. We hope that you find this a brief contemplative time meaningful for your faith.

TO CONNECT TO OUR LIVESTREAM GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE:
FRIDAY EVENING AT 6:55PM, PLEASE GO TO OUR WEBSITE

SMUMC.CHURCH

AND CLICK ON THE LIVESTREAM BUTTON.

Maundy Thursday, April 8,2020

Hello, St. Mark’s Family and Friends! For the last few years, it has been our tradition, on Maundy Thursday, to gather around tables and enter into the story of the Last Supper with word, music and the Celebration of Communion. This year, we will do the same, but virtually though livestream. Bishop Trimble has blessed the sharing of the Sacrament of Communion virtually, during this necessary time of social distancing. 

You are invited to have some bread (or crackers, etc.) and juice (or what you have on hand) to serve as the communion elements. If you are living with others and gathering around a table, or at a table alone at home, we will all be part of one community of faith. United Methodists practice open communion, and are welcome around the table. We look forward to sharing this special evening together.

TO CONNECT TO OUR LIVESTREAM MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICE: THURSDAY EVENING AT 6:55PM, PLEASE GO TO OUR WEBSITE SMUMC.CHURCH AND CLICK ON THE LIVESTREAM BUTTON.

ST. MARK'S UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
MAUNDY THURSDAY
APRIL 9, 2020

Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020

Reverend Mary Beth Morgan, preaching
Matthew 21:1-11
Choosing which Parades to Follow or Lead

What parade might you be following, or leading, in these days? That may seem an odd question, when reality for many is lots of closeness (or closed-in-ness) at “home” and distancing everywhere else. In our Christian tradition, we will be celebrating Palm Sunday this week. We recall Jesus, seated on a donkey, traveling slowly along the dusty roads with many following or joining the parade (Matthew 21:1-11). He did not choose a tall, majestic horse that would distance him from the people who were shouting “Hosanna” and placing “palms” and garments on his path. Rather, Jesus was close enough to see the faces, make eye contact, and hear the voices of those he passed. As he was entering into those last days ahead, which we name Holy Week, Jesus focused on connecting with all the people along his path.

This Sunday, we are invited to explore together (via live-stream) what this means for us as a community, nation and world. In this difficult time, we also see metaphorical parades of people who remind us of deep goodness, faith and hope. Last Sunday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo shared that soon after a call went out for help, over 76,000 retired doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals volunteered. Across the globe, more are leading and joining the essential “stay-at-home” parade. There are parades of voices of advocacy, those of encouragement and care, those delivering groceries to neighbors, and others sharing music, stories and things that warm our hearts and help us smile.

On this Palm Sunday, everyone is welcome to be part of a virtual “Palm Sunday Parade”. Everyone is invited to find, or make, something palm-like. It could be something from nature, palms drawn (or cut out from construction paper), or something else creative.  If you are willing, send a photo of you and/or others with you at home - with your “palms”- or just a picture of yourself.  We will put these pictures together in a slideshow and create a virtual parade of palms!  It will be nice to see each other’s faces.  (Please note that these will be shown, and recorded, on the live stream of the worship service on YouTube.) Please send any pictures (in jpeg format, if possible) to Mary Beth Morgan (marybethmorgan@smumc.church) by noon on Friday (4/3) if you can.

We are also looking forward to a children’s moment, and are fortunate to have, in music leadership, Stephanie and Patrick Conklin who will offer the duet, “Jerusalem: The Holy City” by Charles Parry, and Heather Orvek will play piano. We look forward to worshipping together, via live stream, on Sunday!

Sunday, March 29

Reverend Jimmy Moore, preaching
Luke 10: 1-6 and Galatians 6: 17-18
That’s Gonna Leave a Mark

“Ouch! That’s gonna leave a mark.” Most of us have said this, or something similar to it, when we experienced a painful bruising. Our bodies bear a visual witness to many of the hurtful things we have experienced. And those bruises and wounds and scars are part of the story of our lives, both in terms of what caused the pain and how we have healed from them. And as everyone knows, there are scars and bruises that are not visible to sight, because they have happened in our personal hearts and in the souls of our community. What wounds do you carry today? How will much of what we are experiencing today, including the coronavirus phenomenon, mark us for a very long time to come. How do we respond?

 This question arises as we move through the season of Lent at St. Mark’s, a time we are calling “Holy Curiosity”. During Lent, the sermons are shaped by responses to questions from our congregants. In this sermon, the question came, “Could a Christian of very great spirituality & devotion to Jesus, such as St. Francis of Assisi, be actually afflicted by with the stigmata?” Francis was the first, but other devout Christians have claimed that when the contemplated deeply the suffering of Jesus, that they too would develop wounds in their bodies that mirrored his. As theologian Ivan Illich would have it, “Compassion with Christ... is faith so strong and so deeply incarnate that it leads to the individual embodiment of the contemplated pain.”

 Whether one believes that kind of thing is even possible, it is true that we all carry various kinds marks of our experience, and in some cases, of our devotion. For example, we’ve seen pictures  of marks left by masks worn by health care professionals to keep them safe in treating COVID-19 patients. Those wounds are part of our story, and our stories are shaped by and shape our faith. We’ll explore this in our Live Stream worship on Sunday. The sermon is titled “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark,” rising from Luke 10: 1-6 and Galatians 6: 17-18. We will sing, pray, have a children’s moment, read scripture and have a sermon. We look forward to our online time together at 10:30 on Sunday morning.

Sunday, March 22

Reverend Mary Beth Morgan, preaching
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Through the Seasons of Our Lives, How Might We LIVE?

More often, these days, I am hearing (and reading) personal stories and memories that begin with the words  “I remember when . . .”.  These come from our young children to our senior adults, and those of ages in-between.  They recall times of not being able to leave home because of weather, war, unsafe air quality, illnesses  . . .  Often, those stories include how they lived their lives during these difficult times.  Almost without exception, memories include people who gave of themselves to care for them and others, helped them to feel safe, created new adventures and experiences, and nurtured faith, wonder and hope.

In this Lenten Season of “Holy Curiosity”, we have invited all of you to send us questions to help guide our sermons.  This week’s sermon title is Through the Seasons of our Lives, How Might we LIVE?  This comes from a reflection and questions from one of our wise senior members.  She reminds us that in our Lenten journey, we are moving towards the final season of Jesus’ life on earth. What ways might we follow Jesus’ example of how to live, even in those days?  We will also explore a scripture passage from the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 30:15-20), which is often considered to be the end of Moses’ farewell speech to the people of Israel, in which they are encouraged to embrace life.

We will be worshipping together by live-stream again this Sunday, and not in person.  We will pray together, engage in a children’s moment and sermon, be moved by music shared, and have an opportunity to bless gifts of self and resource we offer.  We hope you can join us on the Live-stream by going to the home page on our website at www.smumc.church. Scroll down to find the link for Live Stream. Or, bookmark this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRug8vCO_eMZv7FepvZBrww/live.

Sunday, March 15

Reverend Jimmy Moore, preaching
Whose Feet Are You Washing"?
John 13:1-15

Sometimes it is very clear that science and faith, often thought to be at odds, are actually working in significant harmony. In accord to the knowledge we have, and as a faith response, we are all doing our part to make sure that we are keeping each other healthy. We are washing hands often and for twenty second, using hand sanitizer when we cannot wash hands, keeping some “social distance” from others, and staying home when we are sick. And at St. Mark’s this Sunday, we’ll take the additional step of worshipping only via a live stream on the internet. That means we will not worship in person, nor we will we have breakfast, Sunday School or scheduled small groups. These are interesting days to be sure.

Handwashing, of course, has multiple understandings, both literal and metaphorical. Obviously, we wash to make sure that we can eat safely and not pass along communicable diseases. Historically in faith communities, the washing of the hands has served as a ritual purification that happens before and after a meal, on waking in the morning or upon returning from a cemetery. Then, of course, the governor Pilate famously “washed his hands” as if to declare that he was entirely innocent of the death of Jesus.

But what about the washing of feet? Sunday’s sermon, which is included in the live stream worship service, flows from the foot washing passage in the Gospel of John, ironically chosen weeks before the focus on healthy precautions of sanitary cleaning. The sermon arises as a response to one of the questions Mary Beth and I have received as a part of our Lenten theme of “Holy Curiosity”. The questioner asks if we are ready to undertake a church wide social justice project. The sermon will be titled, “Whose Feet Are You Washing?”

On the night Jesus was betrayed, he shared with his disciples a Passover meal. Following the meal, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, to their great surprise.  This was an act usually relegated to a servant in the house as an act of hospitality, to remove the grime from the feet from guests who almost certainly had walked dirty and potentially unsanitary streets. On Sunday, we’ll talk about what it means for us to “wash feet” during a time when we are encouraged to maintain social distance from the other. We hope you join us in worship on the live stream. There will be music, scripture readings, prayers, a children’s moment,  and we’ll find creative a ways to have an offering.

We hope to connect with you through the livestream. Click on this link at 10:25 AM on Sunday.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRug8vCO_eMZv7FepvZBrww/live

Sunday, March 8

Reverend Mary Beth Morgan, preaching
John 20:24-29
Wisdom from the Patron Saints of Questioning and Doubt

What do Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Zechariah, Thomas, Martin Luther, C.S. Lewis, Mother Teresa, Pope Francis, and Anne Lamott have in common? They, along with many others, are people of faith who have also been willing to share questions others might keep hidden, as well as their doubts. In doing that, they may help give us courage to do the same. 

 In this season of Lent, as we explore Holy Curiosity, we have invited all of you to send us questions to guide the sermons. This Sunday, we explore a three-part question we received: What if this is all there is? What if “thy will be done on earth” is the whole deal? Would it make a difference in how we conduct our lives? We will do so reflecting on the story of Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples, who became known as Doubting Thomas (from John 20:24-29). What wisdom might be gained from the patron saints of questioning and doubt?

 In worship this Sunday, we are very fortunate to have the music leadership of the Chancel Choir and organist, Heather Orvek, under the direction of Gerry Sousa. All are welcome, on Sunday morning, to get some breakfast anytime between 9:00-10:15am, join others around tables, or participate in a Sunday School class. In this flu season, may we commit to stay home if we’re sick (knowing prayers will come our way), wash our hands well and often, and greet one another with a “holy wave,” nod, or elbow bump. If this will be your first Sunday at St. Mark’s, or you have been here for decades, we look forward to sharing this time together on Sunday!

Sunday, March 1

Rev. Jimmy Moore, preaching
John 2:1-11
Miracles, Yes

“Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood.” So writes Mary Oliver at the beginning of her delightful poem, “Mysteries, Yes.” At St. Mark’s, we are using the Season of Lent to ask some important questions. So one of mine is “Where in my life and in our world have I seen marvelous mysteries that defy explanation and understanding?” What about you?

 In our Lenten emphasis which we are calling “Holy Curiosity”, we are doing a couple of things. In our Ash Wednesday services, we invited folks to do a prayer called the “Examen” every day. In the prayer, we ask two questions, “Where have I seen God this day?” “Where have I seen brokenness today?”

 But the other thing we have done is invite folks to send us questions that they would like to see us craft into sermons. So this week, one of our members has asked that we preach on the challenges of the interface of science with some of the really hard to believe miraculous stories of the Scriptures. If one reduces it to an either/or categories, one must either ascribe to the miraculous detail of every story, or one must adopt philosopher David Hume’s sense that a miracle is impossible because it would be an violation of a natural law. But what if there is a third way to welcome these stories…one that acknowledges the mystery of life and faith? We’ll try that this Sunday with the story of Jesus at a wedding where the water became wine. The sermon is titled “Miracles, Yes”, and rises from John 2:1-11. We will celebrate Holy Communion, and the Chancel Choir will sing. We hope to see you this Sunday.

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Dancing Into the Rhythm of Lent
Rev. Mary Beth Morgan, preaching
Matthew 17:1-9
Transfiguration Sunday with Jazz in Worship

When you hear the word “Lent,” what comes to your mind?  It might include “giving something up” or fasting, fish and Fridays. One of my early school memories was an assignment to bring a shoebox to school on Ash Wednesday. During Lent, we were to give our teacher any candy or sweets that we obtained, which she would then keep in our shoeboxes until after Easter. I imagine the intention was to introduce us to spiritual disciplines in a tangible way.  It also had the added benefit of helping our math and calendar skills, and we were counting down, and marking off, the days until Easter.

Even as we grow older, there can still be a yearning to “get through Lent” and to Easter.  Yet, the Lenten season offers an opportunity to be savored.  Lenten comes from an Old English word meaning “spring.”  Lent extends to us an invitation to embrace the springtime for the soul, and for reflection, prayer, repentance, wonder and openness to possibility and awe. 

The scripture passage we are exploring, on this last Sunday before Lent, tells the story of the Transfiguration (from Matthew 17:1-9).  It invites us to be open to mystery and awe, to listen deeply to Jesus’ words, to be willing to go up to the mountain and to come back down, and to be present. As Barbara Brown Taylor notes, sometimes “faith has more to do with staying fully present to what is happening right in front of you than with being certain of what it all means.”

In worship this Sunday, we are very fortunate to have the music leadership of IU Jazz professor, Pat Harbison, and three incredible student musicians, We will also celebrate welcoming new members.  All are welcome, on Sunday morning, to get some breakfast anytime between 9:00-10:15am, join others around tables or participate in a Sunday School class. If this will be your first Sunday at St. Mark’s, or you have been here for decades, we look forward to sharing this time together on Sunday!

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Anger: Brief Madness or Healing Energy
Rev. Jimmy Moore, preaching
Matthew 5:21-26

It’s hard to know what to do with anger, isn’t it? The poet David Whyte writes that anger is “the deepest form of compassion…” But he also says, “What we call anger is often simply the unwillingness to live the full measure of our fears or of our not knowing…” Dealing with anger, our own or another’s, is one of the most impactful spiritual and relational decisions we make. Anger can fuel our need for personal change or change within the community. Left unattended, anger (or what we call anger) can also sever our relationship with ourselves and with others.

 Fred Rogers, aka Mr. Rogers, once told a story about a time that he left work after a bad day, and he was in a bad mood. He stopped by to see his grandsons who were playing with a hose in the back yard, supervised by a baby sitter. Fred told the boys that he did not want to be sprayed, but as the play went on, one of the boys, Alex, began to spray closer and closer to him. Fred said in a stern voice, “Alex, that’s it. Turn off the water.” Alex did so, but was very sad. Fred said he became more sad as well. Later that night, he called Alex, and apologized, telling him that he had carried his bed feelings from work into that back yard. Alex said, “Oh, Bubba, everybody makes mistakes sometimes.” (You can watch the video by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33AFCyblVzk)

 We’ll explore this powerful theme of anger and restoration in worship on Sunday, as the sermon is titled, “Anger:  Brief Madness or Healing Energy” arising from Matthew 5: 21-26. The Chancel Choir, led by Gerry Sousa, will lead us in worship. We hope to see you this Sunday.

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Changing the World with a Shaker of Salt
Rev. Jimmy Moore, preaching
Matthew 5:13-20

“Take this with a grain of salt.” Has anyone ever said that to you? When we say that, we usually mean that whatever we are saying is better taken conditionally…that there could be other facts that could impact what we are saying. But the phrase originated with Pliny the Elder, in the late first century, who when describing a remedy for poison, urged that the concoction be taken with salt. The implication was that the salt would help the medicine go down by limiting any harmful effects. We expect salt to help us out.

In his book, SALT: A WORLD HISTORY, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to salt, the only rock we eat, to describe the ways that it has shaped civilization from the very beginning. Our very physical bodies need salt to survive. Salt has served as currency, impacted trade routes, and inspired revolutions. It allowed cultures to move beyond seasonal availability of food, and speaking of food, many of us are deeply disappointed if our food is too bland, lacking some salty flavor. These, of course, are only a few of the uses of salt.

 For all of that, and perhaps because of that, it makes it difficult to know what Jesus meant when calling the disciples “the salt of the earth”. At the least, two things are true. For those listening who might have supposed that the great thing that was needed was for someone to come in and make things better, Jesus says, if effect, “…you are the salt of the earth. You are those who can impact the world for good.” And second, rather than relying on the great powers of Empire, wealth and weapons, the reign of God comes through the domestic graces: loving gesture, gracious speech, lively community, and prophetic calls.

 This will be our theme at St. Mark’s this Sunday morning at the 10:30 worship service, where the sermon is titled, “Changing the World with a Shaker of Salt”, arising from Matthew 5:13-20. The Chancel Choir, directed by Gerry Sousa, will lead us in worship. We hope to see you.

Soup Lunch This Sunday, February 9

OPERATION FRIENDSHIP (OF) SOUP LUNCH
Enjoy a soup lunch in support of Operation Friendship to be held after Worship on February 9 in Garton Hall. Choose from a variety of delicious soups, grilled cheese sandwiches, and baked goods. All eat-in orders include a roll and a drink. Stay to eat your soup lunch in Garton Hall, with drinks provided by OF. You may also pre-order and take lunch home with you. Order forms are available at the Welcome Desk in Garton Hall. Operation Friendship (OF) is a travel exchange program for youth with which St. Mark’s has participated for generations.

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Discovering New Possibilities of Who We Are Called to Be
Matthew 4:12-23
Rev. Mary Beth Morgan, preaching

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” children are often asked. “What are you going to do after graduation?” is a question posed to teenagers and young adults.  Sometimes those questions are asked as a way to get to know a young person better and to learn about and celebrate their interests. Those questions may also be asked with an underlying hope that that the young person’s answer will indicate a plan and direction for their future. 

In the scripture passage we are exploring this Sunday (from Matthew 4:12-23), a man named Zebedee may have been feeling some comfort in the way his sons, James and John, answered those questions. They went into the family’s fishing business and, by all appearances, business was good. Then one day, an itinerant teacher, named Jesus, comes by and asks his boys to follow him. They get out of their father’s boat and drop their nets. Jesus invites another question “Who are you going to be as a disciple?” Regardless of what we do, or where we are in our life’s journey, each of us is invited to embrace that question.

 All are welcome on Sunday morning to get some breakfast anytime from 9:00-10:15am, to join others around tables, or to participate in a Sunday School class. We will celebrate communion, and the Chancel Choir will lead us in music. If this will be your first Sunday at St. Mark’s, or you have been here for decades, we look forward to sharing this time together on Sunday!

Sunday, January 26, 2020

The Journey from Curses to Blessings
Rev. Jimmy Moore, preaching
Matthew 5:1-12

Have you ever felt cursed? As baseball season approaches, Cubs fans are reminded of the Billy Goat curse, which originated when William Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat tavern, brought his goat, Murphy, to game four of the 1945 World Series. Murphy’s odor was a problem for some fans, and Sianis and Murphy were asked to leave Wrigley Field. As he left, a miffed Sianis was heard to utter the words, “The Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.” This was widely interpreted to mean that the Cubs would not win a world series in Sianis’ lifetime. Indeed, they did not and the ‘curse’ was not lifted until the Cubs won the series in 2016. Still, Cubs fans are known to live with the dread expectation that if something can go wrong with the team, it will.

That’s sports, and we can laugh about that. But in broader human life, many feel that they are cursed…that they are born under a bad sign. Many carry the sense that nothing good will happen for them, and the unhappy legacies they and theirs have known will only continue. And too often, we can join in the continuation of the woes of others by pronouncing our own curses on them, or just as unfortunately, neglect bringing blessing to their world.

Blessing seeks to undo the cursed sense that we can carry. In the teachings of Jesus, the “beatitudes” are intended to reverse the power of curses, of the expectation that certain behaviors flow from and bring about the deep displeasure of God. In Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, unlike Matthew’s version, woes (curses) are included, indicating that there are indeed some behaviors that merit deep divine displeasure. But in the Jesus’ teaching, much of what has been considered to be woeful can rather be understood as blessings. But both Matthew’s and Luke’s versions represent that is called “the great reversal”. So, if someone thinks that someone’s poverty, to name one example, is an indication of the absence of blessing, Jesus flips that, and teaches that it is rather the poor who are blessed.

So, therefore being an intentional community or person who embraces blessing has the power to effect dynamic change. We’ll talk about this in worship, as the sermon is titled “The Journey from Curses to Blessings”, arising from Luke 6:17-26. We hope you join us.