Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed Alleluia!

“The story of Easter, like the Church at its supposed location (the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) has been demolished and reconstructed again and again over the years. The tantalizing narratives in the gospels are as puzzling to the reader as the building is to the visitor. How do they fit together, if at all? What precisely happened? What school of thought today, if any, is telling the story truly? Many have despaired of discovering what if anything, happened on the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion. Yet, despite perplexity and skepticism, billions of Christians around the world regularly repeat the original confession of Easter faith: on the third day after his execution, Jesus rose again.” (N.T. Wright)

Bishop N.T. (Tom) Wright is the Anglican Bishop of Durham. In his book, The Resurrection of the Son of God he identifies the problem that so many in the Church are wrestling with and have been wrestling with as we see the authority of Holy Scripture and the Scripture’s place in western society and culture increasing diminished and dismissed, even by those speak for the Church. What precisely happened on the third day? Is it true? These are the very real questions that Christians struggle with as the world around us tells us that it never happened; that from the beginning it was all one big cover up and conspiracy, which is nonsense, but has made fiction writers (emphasis on the word fiction) like Dan Brown very successful.

Professional atheists like Richard Dawkins have also been making a nice living of late denouncing and deriding all religion, but setting their sights mostly on Christianity as has the very un-funny comedian Bill Maher. So it is open season on the Church and hundreds of thousands of religiously illiterate and unthinking twits are buying the ignorance these jerks are selling. 

But then why should we think that we were going to be immune from derision, falsehood and heresy? It has been so from the beginning, if you will recall what we read in Matthew’s Gospel after the guards report the resurrection to the religious authorities: the religious authorities then “devised a plan to give sufficient silver to the soldiers saying, say, His disciples came in the night and stole him while we were sleeping.” (Matt. 28: 13)

What is interesting is that those who deny the authority of Scripture and who mock the traditional teachings of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith somehow think that they are doing something brave or noble by denying the truth of Christianity in favor of fuzzy universalism, agnosticism and atheism. But then by adopting these postures nothing will ever be demanded of them will there? They will never have to commit themselves to anything. How very brave and noble.

The fact is that is takes far more courage to believe, to commit oneself to following Christ in a faithless culture than to deny or simply shrug your shoulders and say “I don’t know.”

It takes courage to believe, to have faith in God and in the saving power of God’s Son, Jesus, because having faith and committing oneself to this faith means that we then have the obligation to live differently – to live loving, compassionate lives directed toward pleasing God rather than ourselves, serving the needs of others rather than ourselves, turning our eyes to God and allowing God to be seen in the faces of others and as Christians to be for another person the very face of Jesus the Christ.

This is so much more than living an ethical life because being good is nicer than being unkind or insensitive. No, to be Christian is to live an intentional life, one in which we choose to live rightly and righteously, worshiping God and serving one another not just because we believe it is pleasing to God, but because we have known the power of Jesus’ resurrection in our own lives and so proclaim with St Paul: “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In the Season of Easter we celebrate this victory won by Christ on the cross and secured for us by his resurrection.

Alleluia! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

 Bob+

Outreach Committee

Please Bring Back Bags for Faith Lutheran Church’s Mission trip to Nicaragua. Items needed are listed on the bag. toothbrushes, small toothpaste, used eyeglasses( sun and reading), school supplies, children and adult vitamins and Tylenol are a few of the items listed. Thanks for your help. Return date for bags - April 11.

Healthy Beginnings is our project for May. Their needs are for babies and small children. Diapers, rattles, books, pajamas, sweaters, puzzles (small children), sock booties, soft toys, Thank you!

Thanks to Lynn Folcik and helpers 90 plastic Easter eggs were filled with sugarless candy and an Easter message for  on Meals on Wheels trays for Easter

Cathedral Art Festival

Sunday April 18th marks the beginning of the ninth annual Elinor Bartholomew Memorial Cathedral Fine Art Festival.

The Cathedral Art Festival seeks to promote participation in the visual arts in celebration for God’s gift of beauty in the human soul. It is made possible by the Elinor Bartholomew Memorial Trust established by gifts in Elinor’s memory to celebrate her life and her ministry at Saint Mark’s.

The Festival is a juried contest open to artists in this area to submit original works in painting or drawing, fine art prints, sculpture or photography. The winners of this year’s contest will be announced on April 18th at the reception in the Undercroft.

Thank You

April Birthdays
1-   Jeff Keele
2 -   Sharon DeBacker, John Keele
6 -   Marj Phillips, Shane O’Connell
8 -   Barbara Harrington
12 - Joseph Kovanda
14 - Bill Phillips
15 – Melissa Burke
18 - JoLeisa Cramer, Mary Dominy
19 - Nolan Sedlak
22 - John Cramer
23 - Alex Keele, Marsha Nelson
27 - Bev Whiteman

April Anniversaries

 9 – Tom and Rosemarie North
       67 years

Vestry Notes

The meeting was called to order with prayer by Dean Neske. Members present were: Sr. Warden Sigrid Eigenberg, Jr Warden Mary Helen Edwards, Don Brown, Greg Burke, Karen Glass, Suzanne Farris, Rod Epp, Kyle Martindale, Nancy Gingerich, Clint Schwenk. Jeff Lind. John Stitt was absent.

Treasurer Marj Phillips reported that we may need more funds to finish out March than we have. There was a question about the audit and the lack of interest during the month of February on the Smith Center accounts

THE DEAN’S REPORT

Dean Neske thanked the Vestry for having this meeting on Tuesday. He pointed out that there were two more Wednesday’s for Sermons a la Carte. The Aabel funeral will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, March 17. Since the burial will be held in Minden he has asked Greg to host Sermons a-la- Carte.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Music and Worship – Information on the 130^th Anniversary celebration. Was discussed. We are in the process of contacting musicians.

Buildings and Grounds – Rod recommends to the vestry that we replace the back door with a non wood door. We are looking into a fiberglass or metal door. Sigrid recommends that the back steps be replaced by concrete and an acrylic finish. Jerry Daniels has been asked about the rug in the Common Room. It is needing to be repaired. Marge Gardner returned two rugs to the Dean that had been stored with her by Dean Bart

Christian Ed – Kyle reported that they are going to be using the Ministry Memo from the Diocesan Office more for information on Events for the youth.

Outreach – Rod reported that 120 sack lunches were prepared for Sermons a-la- Carte on March 3. Plastic eggs filled with sugarless candy and a Bible verse was prepared by Lynn Folcik for favors on the trays for Easter Meals on Wheels. April 18 is the collection date for items for the Lutheran Mission trip to Nicaragua

Stewardship –– Greg reported that the response to the Lenten Letter so far is up to $1,300.

OLD BUSINESS

It has been decided that the 130th anniversary should begin with a festival Eucharist followed by a musical concert in the afternoon with refreshments. The Bartholomew Art Show has been moved up to an April 18th opening so the Art will be on display.

NEW BUSINESS

Kyle Martindale has felt the call to ordained ministry. Motion by Mary Helen seconded by Suzanne to recognize and endorse the process of ordination. Motion carried. The Wardens need to contact the Commission on Ministry. Motion by Sigrid second by Mary Helen to form a Discernment Committee. Motion carried.

We have had a leak above Columbarium. It was discovered to be caused by clogged drains with tuck pointing material. Upon inspection by the tuck pointing company they agreed it was their fault and would pay the damages.

Work session - It is important that we as a Vestry establish some direction and guidelines as to what we want in an interim priest before we meet with the Dioceses. Dean Neske has agreed to meet with the Vestry to help us on April 7.

Sigrid moved that we accept Dean Bob’s resignation as of May 31, 2010 as requested by him. She added that we have appreciated many things that he has contributed to Saint Mark’s - from excellent sermons to the multiple ways he has increased our knowledge and understanding of the Bible; the Episcopal Church; of our responsibilities as Christians; and of the love of our Savior, JESUS CHRIST. He has entertained us with his guitar and songs, he has endured a rough road that he did not intend to have. I thank God for the class that Dean Bob had in the midst of contention that showed him how much of what happened seemed to be common to many churches. I wish him well in what unfolds for him after May and again thank him for his service to Saint Mark’s Pro-Cathedral. I also thank him for the many ‘calls’ he has inspired for many parishioners. Seconded by Mary Helen. Motion carried.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned and closed with prayer by Dean Neske

Fine Arts Festival

The annual Elinor Bartholomew Memorial Fine Arts Festival begins taking entries on March 5. Any artist in our area may submit up to three slides of original works in painting, drawing, mixed media, fibers, sculpture, glass, prints, or  photographs. Computer generated images are not part of this show. Slides or digital images of works to be considered must be submitted with an entry form, available from the Parish Office.
The jurors this year are Turner McGehee and Richard Brink. The show will open on April 18th and run until May 16th.

Why We Do What We Do…

Dean Neske – At least twice year, on Christmas and Easter, we make a point of including two elements that are generally absent from our Sunday celebrations. We have incense to the delight of some and the distress of others, and we have the asperges.

While the word ‘asperges’ sounds like a nasty green vegetable or some chemical additive for sugarless chewing gum, it is actually from the Latin word aspergere, which means to sprinkle. We get the term from the 51^st Psalm; “Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop…” This is when the priest sprinkles the people with water using an aspergillum (don’t you love the words), which can take the form of a brush, a branch or a metal rod.

As a liturgical practice the sprinkling of the congregation is intended to serve as a reminder of our baptism, and so when done properly are to be used at the beginning of the Holy Eucharist as a preparatory ceremony before we begin the celebration, and then again as the ministers of the Altar recess, to again remind the congregation that when we go forth from the church we go forth as Christians and are to live accordingly.

The asperges is also used at the Great Vigil of Easter following the congregation’s renewal of their baptismal vows, and in fact the water used for sprinkling the people has been blessed using the form for the blessing of the water for baptism.

Why does it matter? More than anything else because the Sacrament of Baptism is what sets us apart as Christian people and we need, especially on the major feast days of our Faith to be reminded that we did not come into this world as Christians, Christians are made not born, and we have been called to live as becomes a child of God and a follower of Christ. The sprinkling of the asperges may simply be a drop of water, but then again, a drop of water is what made us who we are.

So, once again we shall include the asperges as part of our Easter observance, and it will be a bit different this year as we have recently purchased a new aspergillum which does in fact look like as brush made from sweet grass and a water pot to go with it. We did this because with our present aspergillum one good shake would exhaust the entire reservoir of water, which defeats the purpose of sprinkling the congregation, so if in the past you have thought to yourself: “Ha! He missed!” Well not this year. Ha!

“Thou shall sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be clean…”