Dear Friends, 

I graduated in 1966 with a degree in mathematics and physics from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. My two closest friends at the time, David and Tony, taught me about call and vocation. Specifically I learned that I was not called to be a scientist. The three of us took all the same courses; we studied together and socialized together. The work came easily to David; he is a truly gifted physicist and has made significant contributions to the field of material science. Tony and I had to work really hard to master concepts that came effortless to David. Tony was willing to do the work because the stars called out to him, inviting him to deeper and deeper knowledge. He has made significant contributions to the field of radio astronomy. I wasn't gifted like David, nor did I hear a call from the natural world. I needed to find  a different vocation.

I had attended an all boys Anglican elementary and high school where I caught religion. I went to Wits  quiet and shy, especially with women and with no experience of anything other than master servant relationship with black people. My first Anglican society retreat at college changed all that. I found myself as a person among other persons, gathered around the Eucharistic table, dissolving the barriers between black and white, male and female. Participating in and taking leadership in this community of transformation became my highest priority.

Lent Program 

 covenant!

Hearing and Responding to God's Call

Sundays 10:45am - 12:15pm

A light lunch is provided. Child care available by request.

March 13 - Where do I find my self-worth?

Finding my worth given by God, through connection with others, with the world around me and with my deeper self.

March 20 - How can the "bridge model" help me hear my call?

Learning to distinguish gifts from passions and to wonder about call.

March 27 - What do I really care about?

Exploring my passionate connection with the world.

April 3 - What am I really good at?

Receiving as gifts my innate abilities, those things that I do well and love doing.

April 10 - What is God's call to me now?

Identifying a provisional statement of my vocation.

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper Meets Pizza Night Activities

Philip 

Shower! 

Brewing on Belief

Brewing On Belief is a ministry geared to those in their 20s and 30. The next event is March 7th, as noted in the following announcement:

Join others in their 20's and 30's asking the big questions in a small pub. We'll discuss belief, faith, and theology over a few beverages with featured speakers each month. No particular belief required, please be over 21.

Brewing On Belief - "What's the Point of Prayer?"

The Rev. Dr. Susie Snyder is Assistant Professor of Contemporary Society and Christian Ethics at Episcopal Divinity School

Monday, March 7th, 7-9 PM

The Field, 20 Prospect St., Cambridge, thefieldpub.com, Steps from the Central Square T Stop

Calendar 

In case this winter mimics last year, with many stormy Sundays and you wonder if there is a church service, you can  do any of the following: 

       Phone the church at 781-272-1586 to hear a recorded phone message.
       E-mails will be sent if time permits.
       Listen/watch WBZ News Radio 1030 AM and WBZ-TV channel 4
       Website will be updated at www.saintmarksburlington.org

If you question whether or not to attend church on a stormy Sunday, please consider your safety above all else.

Pantry Items Needed

Prayer for the Seven Gifts

Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit

You have bestowed upon us your servants the forgiveness of sins,

And have raised us to the new life of grace.

Sustain us, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit.

Give us inquiring and discerning hearts,

The courage to will and to persevere,

A spirit to know and to love you,

And the gift of joy and wonder in all your works. Amen.

This is a slightly altered form of the prayer we offer immediately after a child or adult is baptized. I think this prayer is too good to be used just a few times each year; I invite you to incorporate it into your prayers during the coming weeks of Lent.

Lent means many things to Christians. Some think of it as a season to take away something they usually enjoy, such as chocolate. Some think of it as a season to try out a new spiritual practice, such as the Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families found on pp. 137-140 of the Book of Common Prayer. Several years ago I took advantage of the quiet roads around our home during Lent; I stopped listening to the news while driving to work or driving the kids to activities and used some of the time as an opportunity to pray for my family or other people that I would meet in my travels. These individual Lenten practices can help strengthen or renew our relationships to God and to our families, friends and neighbors.

 Lent was originally a time of preparation for baptism. In the 3rd and 4th centuries most Christians were baptized as adults. Each person would commit to several years of training prior to baptism. Since most baptisms occurred at the Easter Vigil, congregations began to set aside the 40 days prior to Easter as a time of intensive preparation and fasting. While the focus was on helping new members get ready for baptism, it gradually came to include all members. Lent became a time for the entire community to study, pray and work together.

Observing Lenten disciplines alone can give us the impression that faith is something we can do alone, and that it is mostly about deprivation and rigidity. I don't believe this. I believe that we can't really follow Jesus Christ alone; we only know God's presence and love when we are gathered together in what St. Paul called the Body of Christ. And while periods of fasting can help us understand God's generosity, faith is ultimately not about deprivation, it's about learning to live generously.

I hope that in the coming years we will recover more of the communal element of the original Lenten practices. Here are three ways we can do this at St. Mark's this year:

+ We can join together for our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on March 8th, and then for our Ash Wednesday Service on March 9th.

+ We can participate in the Covenant Class following worship each Sunday during Lent.

+ We can make a renewed commitment to attending worship each week.

Thanks be to God!

Philip

John, Shirley, Rick and I attended the Deanery meeting in Waltham.  Our grant request was approved and $350 was given to us for our Final Affairs Fair.  More info on this event will be forthcoming.

Our first Vestry meeting of 2011 was held on 2/14/11.  Our new Vestry members were introduced and made welcome.  A church audit for 2009 was completed by a group from Christ Church in Waltham.  A group from St. Mark's did an audit for them.  Two issues from the audit were noted. 

1.      Lack of quarterly reports on pledges

2.      Lack of Vestry voting on expense over budget

Both of these items were voted on and approved.  There will now be quarterly reports on pledges and any expense over budget will be voted on by the Vestry. 

Sarah (Manly) Van Gulden has approached John on a discernment to become a Priest.  John gave his blessing and Sarah asked Sally Cassidy and me to be on her discernment committee. We will keep you abreast of this as things happen.

A discussion was held on awarding a music scholarship for voice students at Burlington High School.   Bob Pattison is getting together with Susan and will report back to the Vestry.   

Don't forget the Shrove Tuesday Pancake supper on March 8.  There is a sign up sheet to list how many are coming so to get the ladies to plan for enough food.

We, at the request of John, are looking into the possibility of having Saturday evening prayers. This is to accommodate the numerous parishioners who cannot attend church on Sundays.  For three Saturdays, the service would be led by lay people.  John or Philip would be there for Communion on the fourth Saturday.  Please let John, Philip, Shirley or anyone on the Vestry  know your feelings about this endeavor.

Well that's all for now.

God Bless

Don

Annual Meeting Notes 

Developing a Vision for the Way Forward at our Annual Meeting

           Our 2011 Annual Meeting included a very unusual process for collecting ideas from our congregation. We began by considering the needs and challenges we see at St. Mark's and in our community. Then each of the 50 or so members present spent a few minutes recording their ideas about our greatest needs and challenges on sticky notes. Then we considered the gifts and resources we have to respond to these needs, and each member spent a few minutes recording their ideas about our greatest gifts and resources on sticky notes. Finally, five of our middle and high school aged members collected all of these sticky notes, over 200 total, and brought them upstairs. They looked for patterns in the responses and sorted them into categories.

            Member observations about our gifts and resources for meeting needs and challenges were remarkably unified. They fell into three broad categories:

1. An overwhelming number of responses (over 50) affirmed that leadership is a bountiful gift at St. Mark's, including:

+ 15 responses about general lay leadership (for example: 'committed youth leadership')

+ 29 responses about ministry teams (for example: 'choir' or 'pastoral care team')

+ 12 responses about our ordained leadership (for example: 'involved and caring priests')

2. A similarly large number of responses affirmed our supportive, multi-generational community as a resource.

3. 14 responses affirmed that our building and grounds and those who maintain them are a resource.

            Our thoughts about the needs and challenges we face were much more diverse, however we can still see some clear patterns:

1. The largest group of responses (18) identified our need to grow our church community.

2. A second large group identified our need for consistent funding.

3. Our third largest group identified needs in the community that might be met through outreach efforts.

4. Smaller groups of responses identified needs to grow the choir, improve our facility, broaden our leadership, care for the elderly, and the challenge of being the Church in a secular society.

            This was a helpful exercise for several reasons. First, it's quite clear that St. Mark's ongoing efforts to develop lay leadership and build a supportive, multi-generational community have been extremely effective. Second, this data gives our vestry clear direction for its work for the upcoming year. Finally, these results help us see many of our daily concerns in a broader perspective. Let's give thanks for the tremendous gifts we've been given!

Faithfully,

Philip  

Schedule Change

Please note that we will be having our Adult Choir rehearsal immediately following the 7:30 pm service on Ash Wednesday, March 9th.  That means we will not be rehearsing on Thursday the 10th.  This will save everyone a trip and allow time for attending the service.  

Adult Choir Preview

During March the Adult Choir will be premiering an anthem based on a Spanish phrase, Fe Y Esperanza, or Faith and Hope. With words and music by Melinda Ramseth Hoiland, and arranged by Anne Krentz, this engaging song expresses hope for global understanding and peace, and faith that it is possible. The percussion and flute parts bring added charm to this piece. It represents quite a departure for our Adult Choir, so I am grateful for their willingness to try something so different.

We are also making plans to combine forces with the Youth Choir for a Palm Sunday choral introit, and anthems for other occasions.

New Youth Choir Members

We are pleased to extend a formal welcome to Emily and Sarah Collins, Brianna Caccamesi and Samantha Blaney. They are our newest Youth Choir members, and we are very excited to have them with us!

The Youth Choir continues to rehearse each Sunday after the service. We gather as soon as our members have had a chance to hang up their robes and have a snack downstairs. We finish up around 11:30am so that those members who are in Youth Group can join that meeting. As we prepare for Lent and Easter, it will be great to have as many singers with us for each rehearsal as possible. Thanks to choir members and their parents for making the effort!

Thank You

A big thank you to Janice Shedd and Howard Bettinson for participating in Philip's ordination service in New Hampshire. The combined choir included our two St. Mark's members, several singers from the choir Philip directed at St. Andrew's in New London, New Hampshire, Philip's father, and even an alto from the Burlington Congregational Church, whose sister sings with the St. Andrew's Choir! It was a wonderful occasion and we were all very happy to be part of the service to celebrate Philip's ordination.

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
March 8, 2011 at 6:30 PM

On Tuesday, March 8^th the Women's Group will be hosting the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner. Please join us at 6:30 for a wonderful dinner of pancakes and all the fixings, prepared by the lovely ladies of the St. Mark's Women's Group.

          In order to ensure we have enough food prepared for all of your families and friends, there will be a sign up sheet in the Narthex. Please indicate how many guests you will be bringing. There will also be a sign up sheet for supplies and for volunteers to help with set up, serving and clean up. All the proceeds from the dinner will be donated to People Helping People.

If anyone has any questions or is in need of transportation feel free to contact

          Linda Kelley at 781-883-8972 or email Linda  or

          Rosemarie Tieri at 781-272-1558 or email Rosemary or

          Judy Gustafson at 781-229-2688 or email Judy

April Women's Group Fieldtrip

          On Sunday, April 10th we will be attending the Burlington High School Musical - Beauty and the Beast. The play begins at 2:00 PM. All the women of St. Mark's are invited to attend. The cost of the tickets is $15.00 for adults and $10.00 for seniors. A sign up sheet will be posted in the Narthex.

Tickets have to be paid in advance as they must be ordered. Anyone interested in attending must sign up. Please give your payment to Linda, Kelley, Judy Gustafson or Rosemarie Tieri.

- Linda Kelley

Husband: Paul

Grew up: Wilmington, MA with 8 brothers and sisters.

St. Mark's: Women's Group, Welcoming Committee, Greeter/usher, Church Fairs, past Vestry member, Connect/Commit/Covenant participant.

Q:What do you love to do?

A: Be home with my husband

Q: What would you like to do when you retire? (Note: Judy is not close to retirement at this time).

A: I would like to read for the School for the Blind.

When I was only two or three years old, my family moved to Wilmington near the cranberry bogs. We used to have great times skating on the bog and snowmobiling. My older brothers fixed up an old car and drove Mom and us kids down a fire lane through the woods to Silver Lake where we spent the day swimming. We all learned to drive on that old car in the woods.

Mom had a brother, a veteran of the Korean War, who stayed with us  from time to time. Relatives were always coming to stay with us for a few days.  Thank goodness for bunkbeds! In the summer, my Mom's sister and her husband came to stay with us. That is how I learned about baseball. We sat in the shade of a big tree and listened to the Red Sox on the radio.

Later, I spent a couple high school vacations in New York City with my aunt, who was a college professor in Special Education. While I was there, I helped her type her doctoral thesis and also helped some of her grad students with their typing. I worked in the Department for the hearing impaired, and helped my aunt with fall registrations. During another summer, I went with her to Virginia where she edited tapes of NY Special Ed classes to justify continuing grants for the schools and programs at the graduate level where she taught.

I met my husband, Paul, through a coworker who was a temp in the office. She had gone to college with Paul at The University of Lowell. He had learned to ski and go tent camping with his family, and we started to do those things ourselves. I really like to ski, and we went quite a lot. We went camping in the summers: Desert of Maine, Winslow Park & Campground in Freeport, ME,  NorthTruro Campground, MA, and Acadia Blackwoods Campground. I love the ocean. We are both Pisces.

Paul graduated from college as a Registered Nurse and worked at Melrose Wakefield and MGH. In Stoneham, he was a case manager for hospice. Eight years later, he embarked on a new career path, Clinical Hypnotherapy. We are on Burlington Cable Access: "Healthy Hypnosis" and I became part of his team, helping with the video camera work.

About eight or nine years ago, we went looking for a church where we could get connected, and we visited St. Mark's in the summer when many people were off on vacations. Doris took a liking to Paul. Over the years, I got involved in one thing at a time, starting with the Fair and Women's Group. Being shy, I like to work behind the scenes. I gradually became more comfortable and got involved in more areas.  {Note: Judy has been wonderful to work with on the Welcoming Committee, greeting people and making the Badge rack and all the name tags.]

(reported by Rick Eaton)

A frequent topic among the students at EDS is time management. All of us juggle mutiple commitments of school, working either at St. John's chapel, a field education site, or our home church, and spending time with family. Many of us add jobs into the equation. We struggle to find time for daily prayer, to get enough sleep or regular exercise, to cook healthy meals.

Things came to a head for me in February as I was dealing with my third illness of the winter (me, who hadn't even had a cold in I don't know how long.....) I realized that in my passion for staying involved at St. Mark's while at the same time trying to take advantage of the opportunities at EDS, working, and caring for my family, I had been seriously neglecting my health. Something had to change.

As I thought and prayed about it I realized that I have the rest of my life to be involved at St. Mark's, but only another two years of being at EDS. Although it has been a difficult decision to make, and even a more difficult one to actually live into, I have withdrawn from almost all of my commitments at St. Mark's. I will no longer be a lector, chalicer, or eucharistic visitor, unless needed to fill in at the last minute. I have told Deb Smyth that I can't continue in a leadership role with the pastoral care team. This was truly hard as I've loved working with her. I will participate in as much outreach activity as I can, but again without any regular commitment. Finally, I've asked John and Shirley to find someone else to help with communications for the church, although I will gladly continue to produce the ROAR and write any press releases or parish mails needed through June. If you think you might be interested in any aspect of a communications ministry and want more information, please don't hesitate to email me and we can set up a time to talk.  

None of this is any reflection on my underlying commitment to St. Mark's, and my great personal affection, even love, for many of you. I will continue to worship with you as often as I can, and I hope to continue to preach occasionally. And I will be working hard to rebuild my health and energy. As a first step I've joined Weight Watchers, which, as some of you know, is not about dieting but rather about changing behavior. I've committed to making the necessary changes, and in the last two weeks have spent more time in the kitchen than I think I have in the last three months. And slowly and painfully I'm beginning to build regular exercise back into my life. I tell you all of this because I need your support. Please keep me in your prayers, even as I pray for God's help with these apparently trivial but genuinely difficult life changes.

- Catherine Owens

LECTORS

CHALICERS

Holy Eucharist and Church School both begin at 9:30 am on Sunday. Church School children join the congregation at the peace. After service we have coffee hour in the parish hall.

Morning meditation is held on Tuesdays from 7:00 to 7:30.