Mission & Ministry - Fall/Winter 2020

The mission of the Gospel and the ministry of Christ carry on even in the midst of pandemic. Recent easing of restrictions also allows us to expand our capacity for ministry, but we are moving forward with caution and a concern for the health and well-being of all. Please join us online or in-person as you are comfortable.

Sunday Schedule of Liturgies and Formation

8 a.m. - Low Mass in the West Garden

• In-person, up to 20 people with reservations made online

9 a.m. - Morning Prayer (live-streamed)

9:30 a.m. - Coffee Hour

10 a.m. - High Mass in the Church

• Live-streamed on the parish Facebook page

• In-person, up to 40 people with reservations made online

• Music sung by a quartet

11:15 a.m. - Children's Formation online

11:30 a.m. - Adult Forum lead by Mother Johnson (View Forum topics)

12:15 p.m. - Sidewalk Fellowship on Locust Street

• (Second Sunday of the month or as announced)- please come by to greet one another from a safe distance.

Children's Formation Resumes Online at 11:15 a.m.

Pre-Schola (ages 0-3) sessions posted online every Sunday.  Led by Gabi Machado

Schola (ages 3-7) online on Sunday mornings at 11:30. led by David Stoverschlegel

Young Disciples (ages 8-10) sessions posted online every Sunday.  Led by Angela Bilger and Katie Cummings

Connect (ages 11 and up) online on Sunday mornings at 11:30.  Led by Aaron Smith and Jedidiah Slaboda

Music at Saint Mark’s

Limited Choral Music on Sundays sung by a quartet at High Mass (following diocesan safety guidelines)

Boys & Girls Choir resumes online rehearsals, please contact Mr. Robert McCormick for details.

Outreach at Saint Mark’s

The Food Cupboard continues to provide pantry staples Tuesday through Friday from 9:30 to 11 a.m.

The Saturday Soup Bowl passes out over 200 bagged lunches every Saturday.

Virtual Worship & Community at Saint Mark's

Daily Low Mass
Low Mass is said everyday at Saint Mark’s at 12:10 p.m. and live-streamed on the parish’s Facebook page.

The Daily Office
The Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer are prayed daily at 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., respectively. They are live-streamed on Facebook.

Families at Saint Mark’s Weekly Check-in
For the foreseeable future, every Thursday, from 4 to 4:30 p.m., we will be offering a time for virtual family prayer and check-in via Zoom meetings. For more information on joining the meetings, please email Gabi Machado.

Weekly Children’s Homily
In the summer months, regular children and youth formation classes are on hiatus, but we will offer children's homilies on Sunday mornings, available on the Saint Mark's Facebook page and YouTube channel, beginning at 11:30 a.m. 

Music Ministry at Saint Mark’s
Robert McCormick, Organist & Choirmaster, remains in touch regularly with our choir members, boy and girl choristers, and choir parents, continuing to teach and lead ongoing activities. For further information about any aspect of the music program, please be in contact with Mr. McCormick.

Saint Mark's Knitting Group, Sundays at 4:30 p.m.
Are you looking for a way to hang out with friends while making progress on that long-buried sweater project?  Are you hoping to have fun without leaving home or wearing a mask?  Join the Saint Mark's Society for Knitting In Place (SKIP) this summer.  On Sunday evenings, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., we will hold a Zoom party for knitters (other needlework is okay too).  All you have to want to do is chat and laugh to the sound of clacking needles. Contact Mother Johnson for the invitation, including details for joining by phone if need be.

Contemplative Prayer Podcast
Do you miss our parish’s Friday morning contemplative prayer group?  Have you never been able to participate because of scheduling woes?  We are happy to be able to offer the Contemplative Prayer Podcast on SoundCloud. No good at sitting silently?  Does it help to have a guide?  This is an informal, supportive, gentle introduction to silent prayer.  Each session begins with a few words of welcome and teaching, and then moves into a real-time experience of attending to the breath and resting in the presence of God. Please contact Mother Johnson if you have questions. You can tune in by visiting the parish's SoundCloud page.

Saint Mark’s Scrolls: Psalm 150
Find information and instructions about our parish-wide project of creativity and praise here.

The Search for an Associate Rector

Saint Mark’s, Locust Street, in Center City Philadelphia is searching for a priest to serve as Associate Rector, to share in collaborative ministry at this progressive, urban, Anglo-catholic parish.  We are committed to the ministry of women in holy orders, and both men and women are encouraged to submit their expressions of interest.

Our mission centers on the dual emphases of the worship of God and care for God’s people, especially those in need.  We continue to develop ministry with families and children, an area of parish life that has seen substantial growth in recent years.  The Associate Rector shares all aspects of priestly ministry with the Rector, and takes leadership responsibility for ministry with families and children, as well as with adults in their 20s and 30s.  Gifts in liturgical leadership, preaching, pastoral care, Christian formation, and administration, among others, are all important to the fruitful exercise of ministry in this context.

Saint Mark’s has grown steadily over the past 15-20 years, and has navigated the transition from a pastoral-size parish to a program-size.  We continue to experience a call to grow in our capacity for ministry and in our health and vitality.  We are looking for someone who will work collaboratively with the Rector, lay leadership, and volunteers to contribute to this process of growth, and who shares a vision of the church that is hopeful, engaging, and expansive.

We are looking for a priest possessed of significant gifts for ministry, including a desire to stretch his or her self as a leader in a parish that’s engaged in a wide variety of ministries, and that strives to adopt an outward-looking focus, while attending to the pastoral needs of the parish community.  The clergy at Saint Mark’s lead liturgies that are said and sung, use the breadth of the Prayer Book, and that daily require a meaningful engagement with the Scriptures for preaching, study, and instruction.

Those who find such a vocation attractive and who believe they may have appropriate gifts are asked to please express their interest to the Rector, Fr. Sean Mullen, by sending a resume and cover letter that shares some insight about their strongest gifts for ministry.  Please submit materials by email to: semullen@saintmarksphiladelphia.org

An Announcement from the Rector

Dear friends in Christ,

I'm writing to share with you the news that our Assistant Rector, Fr. Kyle Babin, has been called to be the Rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, on the Main Line.  Fr. Babin's gifts will be a blessing to this well-known Anglo-catholic parish.  We will miss him greatly, and I’m glad that he’ll remain a not-distant neighbor.  In only a short time here, Fr. Babin has provided excellent leadership of ministries with families and children, 20s and 30s, and has steered RISE - an experimental ministry - through its most recent phase.  He's been a gentle and good pastor to so many of us.  And we have benefitted from his voice in the pulpit and at the altar.  I'm very sorry to lose Fr. Babin as a colleague in ministry on Locust Street, but I am confident that God is blessing him and the people of Rosemont by bringing them together through this call.  Fr. Babin will be with us through much of the summer, wrapping up his time here on August 16, which will mean he can be with us through Choir Camp, assuming the camp is able to happen.  He and his husband, Robert McCormick (our Organist and Choirmaster) will be moving to Rosemont shortly thereafter, which means a longer commute to Locust Street for Mr. McCormick. As we get closer to the time, we will plan a way to celebrate his ministry among us in a way that's appropriate and safe, so that we can say thank you and wish him God's blessing in his new ministry. You'll be hearing more from me about this as plans are made, and I'll keep you updated on the search for a new priest to join our parish community.  Meanwhile, don't forget to offer your thanks to God for Fr. Babin's fine ministry, as I am doing too.

Faithfully,

Fr. Sean Mullen

From the Rector: Public Worship Suspended & Church Closed

From the Rector: It is with a heavy heart but a deep sense of social responsibility that I announce that we have decided to suspend all public worship and close the church building for the next several weeks. We believe that this step is in the interest of the common good of all people in our community and in this city, in order not to contribute to the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

We will continue to offer the sacrifice of the Mass daily at 10 a.m., and we will live-stream the Mass every day on Facebook. For resources and leaflets for Mass, please visit the Liturgical Resource portion of our website.

The resident community here will continue to pray the daily offices of Morning and Evening Prayer in the church.

The Blessed Sacrament stands in exposition on the High Altar at all times during this crisis, except during Mass. The exposition of the Blessed Sacrament of the Body of our Lord in this way is our constant prayer to Jesus to be with us and with everyone in this city and beyond during a time of worry, anxiety, and danger. Simultaneously it is Christ's assurance to us that he hears our prayers and that he is, indeed, with us, and that nothing can separate us from his love.

The Saturday Soup Bowl has suspended serving food on Saturday morning.

The Food Cupboard is closed.

The Office will be staffed during the week under modified hours to be determined.

Twelve-step groups will not meet in the Parish Hall at this time.

All other meetings, classes, rehearsals, etc, are either being scheduled to take place on Zoom, or have been cancelled.

The clergy are available to you by phone and email, and in person in the case of emergencies. Contact information is on the website.

We are evaluating the situation every day, and we expect to provide updates at least weekly on Thursdays, but possibly with greater frequency. It is our prayer that we might be able to return to some semblance of normalcy by Holy Week. We will be guided by circumstances in the city.

On the basis of consultation with health professionals and others, we believe that these drastic steps are necessary in order to avoid a greater crisis. The experience of other countries and communities offers us ample evidence both of the benefits of social distancing and of the real danger in failing to do so. If it was in the public interest to stay open we would do so, as our mission would compel us to. Under the present circumstances we believe that our bravery (if we stayed open) could very easily come at the expense of others, and that is no bravery at all.

Yes, we do know people who have been diagnosed with the virus. We do know of churches where the clergy have been diagnosed with the virus. We know of local businesses that are dealing with the impact of the virus. And we know of parishioners in our own parish community whose families and work places are impacted by the virus. We are praying for them all, and we are committed to do what we can to make the situation better, not worse.

We will be praying every day, and we hope you will join us in that prayer, every day at 10 a.m. on the parish Facebook page.

And we hope that our Lord's Presence in the church will be an assurance to you of God's protection and blessing in all things and at all times.

May the Lord bless us and keep us. May the Lord make his face to shine up on us and be gracious unto us. May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us and give us peace. And may the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be with us all, this day and for ever more. Amen.