To My Fellow St. Markers:
The king is dead. Long live the king!
That phrase, originally coined in France in 1422, expressed a reality: Kings come and kings go, but the monarchy remained.
It comes to mind when I think of St. Mark’s, where we are today and where we will be in the future. Our Rector has gone, but our faith community goes on, just as it has several times in the past. It’s disrupting to lose our Rector, just as it was when Dick Louis, Bruce Bramlett and Lucinda Laird departed.
But each time we have grown and become stronger during this transitional period.
It’s easy to think of St. Mark’s as Randall’s Church, and it was for the past 10 years. But it also was – and still is – Marilyn’s and my Church, as it has been for more than 30 years. And it is your Church, whether you first walked through the door last week or have been coming here for decades.
St. Mark’s is Jim Pruden telling bad jokes on a Saturday night or Mary Kearney singing beautifully on Sunday morning. It is Hayley Austin and Ruby Mather playing a duet at our Martin Luther King celebration. It is Jeanettte Adams' poetry or Ardie Walser’s dramatic reading of scripture. It is black-skinned and white-skinned toddlers running around the labyrinth after Sunday service. It is Ruth Lowe’s sandwiches at coffee hour. It is three generations of the Kist family worshipping together.
St. Mark’s is its people – black and white, young and old, straight and gay, Asian and Latino – coming together for a common purpose.Now we are going through a period of change, and it can be tough. The search process is long, but it can work to strengthen us as a faith community if the people – you, me, all of us – step forward on behalf of OUR Church.
Yes, Randall has departed, but Math Adventures and Word Play continue each Saturday morning. We still visit the day laborers, collect food for the needy, welcome the homeless, open our doors each day for all to pray, get silly on Halloween, provide support in times of sorrow. We hope that you will continue to be an active member of St. Mark’s during this critical period. Join us for worship each Sunday, take part in the wide range of activities, help shape the profile that will be used to find a new Rector, and continue to provide badly needed financial support.
And if you are someone who hasn’t been to St. Mark’s in a while – whatever the reason – this is a good time to come back home. You are always welcome here.
This is our Church.
The Rector is gone. Long live St. Mark’s!
Kevin DeMarrais
[comments/feedback invited]
