January 18, 2023

I look forward to seeing you all at the Annual Parish meeting this Sunday. We will have only one service at 10:00 am followed by a catered meal in the School Dining Hall and Annual Meeting. We have much to celebrate and some exciting new things on the horizon. I want to remind everyone of the upcoming Family First Saturday event that will be held on February 4, 2023, from 5 pm – 7 pm in the parish hall. We will be doing Karaoke. I look forward to seeing the hidden talent and musical tastes of everyone who attends. 

We are in the process of installing our new sound and video equipment and hope that in the next few weeks, we will see a vast improvement in the online services and sound in the church itself. We have hired a sound company to install and set up our system and are looking forward to making the worship experience better. Our current system is well more than a decade old and there have been great advances in electronics since it was installed in 2009. 

To that end, we have gained a few volunteers who are willing to help learn and run the new system. We would love to have even more volunteers so that we can share the load of an extremely important ministry of our church. 

May God Bless you now and always,

Father Grant +

There will be a service in our Memorial Garden on Saturday at 11:00 am to memorialize long-time parishioner, Caroline Schuler who joined our parish in September 1970. Caroline formerly served as a member of our Altar Guild and the Daughters of the King. Fr. Grant will be officiating the service.

Gospel: Matthew 4:12-33; It’s Your Call! – 1/22

Listen quietly and carefully in your heart, and hear Jesus calling you; “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of people. His words still ring in our consciousness down through the centuries. For us, they mean: “Bring your relatives, friends, and associates to St. Mark’s. Within Saint Mark’s, they mean for us to help guide our community to Christ, the final and sole reason for our being. Yes, it is my call; it is your call. (Norm Carroll)

The Guild will meet on Thursday, January 19th at noon, for a potluck lunch in the Ministry Center. Attendees will be filling the homeless food bags. Additionally, a physical therapist will be speaking about balance. Please feel free to join us! (Lynne Coughlin)

On January 22, 2023, we will hold our 2023 Annual Meeting in the school’s dining hall following the SINGLE 10:00 am CHURCH SERVICE for the entire parish in the church. At the meeting, we will be choosing members for next year’s Vestry and representatives for our Diocesan Convention. Following the meeting, lunch is being catered by our school’s dining hall kitchen staff. 

The book club will meet in the South Chapel of the Church at 11:30 am beginning with lunch, and the discussion of a Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry follows from noon until 1:00 pm. Contact dorothyseibert@comcast.net if you have any questions.

Our Church website is www.saintmarksftl.com. Thanks to the hard work of Chuck Gregory our choir has its own page on the church website. https://saintmarksftl.com/wej-serve/lay-ministries/adult-choir/ There you can sign up for our newsletters and visit our channel on YouTube to be inspired by all our recent songs. Keep checking, new songs are being added to YouTube, including Psalm 150 by Lewandowski sung by the choir, https://youtu.be/NouUJ91EaUg; But Who May Abide the Day of His Coming by Handel, sung by Aaron Venable, the Base Section lead, https://youtu.be/itZiykHxEJ0; and Gesu Bambino, a beautiful Italian Christmas Carol which mixes O Come All Ye Faithful into the song, sung by Fr. Fred Johnson, a choir Tenor, https://youtu.bej/mmQAGXOypJA (Robin Dreyfuss)

“Focused on Hunger, the Leadership of Ed Abate and Joe Bruzzi, and the Guild for our snack bag ministry. (Join them tomorrow at noon in the Ministry Center to replenish those bags.) Kirk and Charles Bookman-Baran for their leading support for the Pantry of Broward. (Food collection takes place on the first Sunday of each month, but gratefully accepted at all times).”

“I am grateful to all those who are serving on the altar – bearing the cross or the Gospel, acting as lay Eucharist ministers, serving as acolytes, and for the verger shepherding their education.”

During our previous Rector’s early tenure, Fr. Bob Trache promoted the display of flags in the church as a means of demonstrating the diversity of our parish. Paraphrasing . . . “if any member of the congregation wishes to purchase a flag from the country of their heritage, Saint Mark’s will display it in our sanctuary for all to see.” I’ve identified each of the flags, some are expected and some are surprising. Fr. Bob’s message is even more relevant today . . . we can only grow God’s Kingdom through building community by embracing diversity. From front to back (east to west), the flags mounted are North Side – US, Canada, New Zealand, Wales Ireland, Jamaica, France, Israel, Russia, Germany, and Greece. South Side – Episcopal, UK, Scotland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Norway, Cuba, and Venezuela. (Harry Richardson)

CLICK HERE to view up-to-date, easy-to-read church and school schedules of activities, a very useful tool.

Father Grant has a daily prayer blog which he starts each morning. He shares this with all who would like to pray together at www.atwinfather.com. When you go to the prayer of the day, there is an option to receive the daily prayer in your email inbox so that you don’t have to type it in every day.

Now that the cases of COVID have thankfully abated, wearing a facial mask is encouraged, but not required. Please respect the space of those who choose to be more cautious.

Father Grant, our rector is currently available to provide pastoral care for our parish. You may contact Fr. Grant at 954-334-0131, or by email at gwiseman@saintmarks.com.

Please submit your future write-ups to Dorothy Seibert at dorothyseibert@comcast.net. We also invite you to post on our church website blog, https://saintmarksftl.com/submit-post/, which helps us keep up with the sharing of information. All information will be reviewed and considered for posting on the church website, Facebook page, and Instagram, as well as in this Parish News.

If you are not receiving our Parish News, please sign up at https://saintmarksftl.com/#subscribenow, and complete the Constant Contact form located on the right side of the web page.