Gryphon 11/04

“We at St. Mark’s are on a journey seeking God in you, ourselves and all creation”

Weekly Schedule

Dear People of God, on Sunday Nov. 21 we will celebrate St. Mark's 24th birthday. To some who have been here from the beginning that may seem like a long time. To some it may seem a very short time in the history of the Diocese or the history of the Anglican Church. In truth I think it is both. It is a fairly short time in the grand scheme of things and it is also fairly long in the span of our human lifetime. And it is more than the sum of both those time periods. On Sunday Nov. 7th we will celebrate All Saints Day. A time in which we remember all those who have gone before us giving witness to the Love of God in Christ Jesus. We are reminded that we are never alone on our faith journey. That many have gone before us; here at St. Mark's and in the wider Church; and that many will come after us. Those who have gone before have handed us the Faith to celebrate and proclaim in our own time. Those who will come after us will receive the gift of our Faithfulness. In the meantime we are here as a community called together in Christ name. We are here to be a sanctuary for those who are hurting, questioning, seeking, longing to know and be known in a community that embodies by word and deed the Love of God. We celebrate those who have gone before, those traveling with us and prepare the way for those to follow us in this community of loving reconciliation. Come join in our birthday celebration so that we all might be strengthened on our journey together towards the heart of God.

Contact us:

St. Mark’s Website – http://www.stmarksantioch.org

The Reverend Battle Beasley via email: pathwayspartners@yahoo.com

Electronic submission to the Gryphon’s Roar: submitgryphon@aol.com or nanaljn@aol.com

There will be a Centering Prayer Introductory Workshop at St. Catherine of Sienna Catholic Church in Columbia on November 6, 2004. Contact Carnnie (AssocMercy@aol.com) for more information. Corena Harris and Carnnie Harmon will be the presenters.

THE GRYPHON

The Gryphon is the newsletter of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and as such welcomes articles and suggestions from ALL parishioners. This is your venue for expressing thoughts you would like to share, important events in your families’ lives, suggestions you might have to make our parish life better. Please do not hesitate to use it.

Lorna Noren,

Editor

Mayonnaise Jar and Coffee: When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the coffee. A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous yes. The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. Now, said the professor, as the laughter subsided, I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things-your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions-things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else-the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, he continued, there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Lie on the grass and look at the clouds. Go fishing or take that much needed walk in the park. Play another 18 holes. There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal, wash the clothes. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand. One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. I'm glad you asked, he said. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a friend.

I remember, as a small boy in Midland, Michigan, attending the Baptist Church in a town of some 16,000 people. My sister and I would be downstairs at Sunday school while my parents were upstairs attending the service. Several things stick in my memory such as the baptism tank behind the altar where people were submerged during the baptism ceremony. I also recall the fact that there were at least two factions within the congregation. I can remember one evening several people, including the Minister coming to our house, asking for my parents support against another group within the church. (What it was about, I don’t know.)

When I met Shirley and decided on marriage, we met with Father Williams of St. Johns Episcopal Church in Midland, Michigan. He advised us that we could not be married at the main altar since I was not a member of the Episcopal Church, so we were married in the Chapel, in the basement, of the Church. Again, I was in the basement of the church.

After we were married, I attended instruction classes and was confirmed as a member of the Church by the Bishop.

After we moved to Nashville, Tn. in 1966, we attended St. Bartholomew’s in Green Hills and later St. Phillips in Donelson. In 1988 we started attending St. Marks. We immediately fell in love with the Church and all associated with it. Shortly thereafter, I served on the Mission Council and was Junior Warden for three years.

Now, as a member of the Vestry, Shirley and I still look forward to our involvement with our St. Mark’s family. I enjoy finally being on the upper floor of the church and not in the basement.

THE COOKBOOKS ARE HERE!

Finally the cookbooks have arrived. They are on sale between the Sunday services and after the 10:30 service. Sales have been good. We just want to remind you to think of Christmas gifts for co-workers, neighbors, friends, and family. Perhaps you have already bought a book for yourself. Now buy another for someone else. Cost is $10.00 each and remember, the profits from this sale go to benefit Second Harvest.

Your Cookbook Committee: Susie McEwen, Andrea Tucker, Marcia Williams

St. Mark's "Recipes and Reflections" is now listed for sale on the Morris Press website. In addition to being available at the church, we have the opportunity to offer it to a much broader market. If you'd like to see the listing, please log on to http://www.cookbooks4sale.com/. Type Recipes and Reflections in the first search box; select complete word only in the find box; that will take you to the link. The site lists the "top five" books, and we would love to have St. Mark's book be in that spot.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone for another tremendously successful talent show! Thank you to the outstanding cast of performers, the cheerleaders, everyone who provided food, and all who helped set up and clean up afterwards. And, a very special “Thank You” to John Seufert, our illustrious Master of Ceremonies. It was a great evening of fun and fellowship and we raised over $1,500.

November Birthdays

November Anniversaries

Do you want to seek God in new friendships? Come to our Santiago Apostal Companionship meeting Monday, 11-8-04 at 7:00 in the Parish Hall.

This Fall, I think that most of us are very conscious of the significance of an election for selecting good people to lead and establish policy. This is as important a matter for our Church family at St. Mark’s - as it is nationally. Our congregation is growing and attendance is increasing (check the attendance chart in Reynolds’s Hall). We now have a solid Sunday School program and teachers in place, and the number of young people is increasing. To me, all this is wonderful and exciting. However, it also means that important decisions will have to be made soon about the direction and planning for St. Mark’s Parish. We need people who are actively involved in the activities and spiritual life of our parish. One of the most important characteristics is: Commitment! This can be indicated by regular attendance at worship services, monthly Vestry meetings, participation in the Vestry retreat, and service on one of our Church committees.

To facilitate the process of identifying candidates, the Vestry directed that a list of all eligible persons at St. Mark’s be verified from church records and the list be posted for use by anyone wishing to make a nomination. Pat Worsley has the nomination forms. Please take a moment to check the list and verify your information. Sadly, there have been times when there is a person who has been active in the Church and would make a good member of a vestry – but, they found out too late that they never had formally transferred their Letter.

I was born in New Jersey but lived in the South for the past 51 years (I know – that means that I’m not just a Yankee – but a d… Yankee!) Most of my growing up was in Florida (Orlando, St. Petersburg and Jacksonville). However, of all the moves made by my family, I’ve always considered that coming to Tennessee was the best! I love the mountains, plateaus, forests, and rivers – the tremendous variety and seasonal change in this state. From the very beginning, my goal was to be a civil engineer. Combining that with my love of water and the outdoors, resulted in my specializing in environmental and sanitary engineering. Initially, I attended UT, busted out and in 1970 became a “transfer student” to Vietnam for 18 months. When I returned, I finished my active duty in the Army War Room at the Pentagon. I returned to school at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville and finally graduated. My first job was in Nashville with the Tennessee Division of Water Quality. Then I worked in Chattanooga as system engineer for the municipal sewer system. That has subsequently been the focus of my professional life. Presently, I work part-time for an engineering consultant (Consoer Townsend Envirodyne) in Metrocenter in Nashville.

For the first half of my adult life, I was out of the church. However, about 21 years ago, I began to feel there were several things missing in my life. I was divorced for several years. Then I met Iva, and several good things came into my life. With an “instant” family (Iva’s two daughters – Jonie and Jackie) I felt there were a lot of good things being fulfilled. Also, I was impressed with the depth and commitment of Iva in her faith. We had been attending church together before we were married, but there were many things that I feel that I learned from her – especially about being a good steward and the importance of welcoming people.

I love the Episcopal Church and I want to use my talents to help it thrive and grow. I feel that its foundation on Scripture, reason, and tradition is challenging to my mind and encourages continued learning. Especially at St. Mark’s, I feel that the openness and acceptance of people – both in the church and beyond our bounds is extremely important. Those characteristics, combined with the programs for spiritual education for young people, and outward focus that are growing at St. Mark’s, are exciting and encouraging to me. I am very grateful to you all for your trust, suggestions, help, criticism, and encouragement while I have been on the Vestry. My goal is to serve you and serve God during my time as Senior Warden. Thank You!

Dear All at St. Mark's,

The 2nd Annual Fall Festival was a great success! There are many to thank for the success.

Thank you goes to Pat Worsley for heading up the Bake Sale and for keeping me organized.

Thank you to all who baked goodies and prepared jams, jellies, bean soup and spices. Our Bake Sale is our greatest success and couldn't be without everyone's effort.
Thank you to Pauline Hall and the Kitchen Team, Cheryl Walker, Mickey Sturm, Paula Chavis, Janet Turner-McDonald, Dale McDonald and all the hard workers.
The food was great! All who ate enjoyed it very much.
Thank you to Susie McEwen, Marcia Williams and Andrea Tucker, our Cookbook team. Our Cookbooks have been a great seller and will continue to sell thru the holidays.

Thank you for all who contributed Recipes and Reflections.
Thank you to Shirley Stewart and Susie McEwen for the many hours of labor with the White Elephant sale, and all who contributed to the sale.
Thank you to the Ecuador Pilgrims, Holly Granger and Elizabeth Gregory for the beautiful crafts that they brought

back to share with St. Mark's.
Thank you to Karla Deal for taking care of the Pet Booth, and for the beautiful hand painted St. Mark's greeting cards.

To all who contributed to the pet booth.
Thank you to Sharon Rice for taking care of the Plant tent and to all our green thumbs who contributed to the plant sale.
Thank you to Andie Scott for organizing the Teenagers for the Kids Carnival.
Thank you to Carey Hardison for the stress relief massages.
Thank you to Les Worsley for the Hay rides.
Thank you to our set up and take down crew: George Kurz, Battle Beasley, Herb Stewart, Dave Winters, and Dave Parsons.
Thank you to Dave Parsons for being our Security.
And last but not least:

Thank you for our Silent Auction sponsors:
Belle Meade Animal Hospital, David C. Edwards, 5121 Harding Rd.
Michael Osgerby, providing John Michael Montgomery's hat, shirt and jacket and CD's
Shelley Davis-Wise, Pottery
Karla Dean, AKA Graphics, hand painted photograph of St. Marks
Iva Kurz, Mary Kay baskets
Dan Sweeton, Butterfly box
Amy Dimond, painting
Janet Turner-McDonald, silver earrings
Embassy Suites, one night lodging.

Sandy Winters

The Annual Parish meeting will be held in December. One of the important functions that must be accomplished at these meetings is for the congregation to elect the new members of our Vestry. Greg Hall, Susie McEwen and Sandy Winters will complete their three year term at the end of 2004. We are grateful for their service to our Church family in this capacity and we hope that their “retirement” will enable them to continue their service in other ways.

There are several important criteria for people to be nominated and elected to our Vestry:

Be a communicant of St. Mark’s (having been either confirmed or received at St. Mark’s or enrolled as a communicant by Letter of Transfer from another parish)

Be a “giver of record” (The person must submit a pledge card – the amount does not matter, but the fact of making a written commitment matters a lot. We respect the fact that some people make generous contributions to the Church but - for various reasons – they do not want to make the commitment of pledging. However, a consequence of that decision is ineligibility for serving on the Vestry.)

In addition to these standard requirements, the Vestry established two additional requirements at the meeting on 18 September 2004: “All new Vestry members must agree to attend the first available ‘Prevention of Sexual Misconduct’ training, and to attend the Vestry Retreat.” The rules of the Diocese require that people in a variety of parish positions – especially Vestry members – receive this training. St. Mark’s supports this program. Additionally, we consider attendance at the annual Vestry Retreat to be very important. This is not “just another meeting”. Rather, it is a time when the Vestry focuses on the mission of the Church, the mission of St. Mark’s, and develops the long-range plan to implement that mission.

Now that the harvest time is here I wanted everyone to know how our "God's Little Quarter Acre" did this summer. Perhaps it looked like quite a mess when viewed from the parking lot. But let me tell you something. We managed to plant, weed, water, grow and harvest a total of 55# of fresh produce that was taken to the Second Harvest Food Bank at Hamilton United Methodist Church. We provided them with fresh green beans, lima beans, okra, peppers and yellow squash. Not only that but we enjoyed flowers cut from our own garden and arranged on the altar on Sunday mornings.

Now that we have "seed" money from the sale of the cookbooks earmarked for giving to Second Harvest and planting our garden we can buy the needed fertilizer, seeds, and plants for next year. I would like to create a rotation schedule for people to work/pick in the garden next year. Please let me know anytime...now or in the spring...if you would be interested in helping in this mission. This can be an incredible addition to our larger community with a little effort from a lot of people.

DO YOU SAVE YOUR GRYPHONS?

If you save your old Gryphons, I have a major request. Back in either the May, June or July issue, there was a poem written by a member of the congregation called “The Light in the Tree” The person who wrote it has experienced a computer crash and has lost all his/her writings. This person is now trying to rewrite those items lost but it is difficult to do when written from the heart with the feelings being experienced at that particular moment. If you have that issue, you don’t have to part with it but if you could please either make a copy or bring it to the church so I can make a copy, I know the author would love you and bless you for it.

Thanks so much,

your editor

In his beautiful book, "I Shall Not Want," Robert Ketchum tells of a Sunday School teacher who asked her group of children if anyone could quote the entire 23rd Psalm. A golden-haired 4-and-a-half-year-old girl was among those who raised their hands. A bit skeptical, the teacher asked if she could really quote the entire psalm. The little girl came to the front of the room, faced the class, made a perky little bow, and said,

She bowed again and went and sat down. That may well be the greatest interpretation of the 23rd Psalm ever.

Forgiveness is a rebirth of hope, a reorganization of thought, and a reconstruction of dreams. Once forgiving begins, dreams can be rebuilt. When forgiving is complete, meaning has been extracted from the worst of experiences and used to create a new set of moral rules and a new interpretatioin of life's events.

THE GRYPHON’S ROAR

Weekly Schedule

November Birthdays

November Anniversaries