Gryphon 11/04

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

Weekly Schedule

All the great religions have something in common, obviously,
a belief in a living God. They also share an ability to change Dogma
and Doctrine when human understanding of the universe grows and changes.

An obvious example for us is the Church’s understanding of our place in the
solar system. We no longer believe that the earth is the center of the universe
orbited by the sun and planets.

Change is hard for all of us, try changing a child’s goodnight routine.
Try changing an Episcopal worship service!

Don’t Panic, we will still be using the Book of Common Prayer. Bishop if you
read this we will be doing so according to the rubrics of the B.C.P. For much
of the summer we will be using the Daily office of Morning Prayer as the Liturgy
of the Word, followed by The Great Thanksgiving, the Eucharist.

I want all of us to become more familiar with the richness of the Book of Common Prayer.
Betty McKee pointed out at a recent parish meeting that our prayer book has
prayers for virtually every occasion in our lives and she proceeded to read one
appropriate to the meeting. The Daily Office and the service of prayers for the morning,
noon and evening are a rich part of our heritage and our prayer book.

This summer we will endeavor to explore and become comfortable with those
services in the context of our Sunday worship.

Contact us:

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

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

St. Mark’s Vestry – stmarksantioch@bellsouth.net

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

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

We have more letters of appreciation for the very generous St. Mark’s Congregation. These letters will be placed on the bulletin board for anyone who wants to read them.

From Bishop Herlong we have an April 5th letter thanking us for the donation of $204.00 to the Bishop’s Discretionary Fund.

From The Campus for Human Development we have a thank you letter for our March donation of $66.67. Campus for Human Development supports Room In The Inn, Respite Care for the medically fragile, Guest House for those in treatment and other ministries of love. Charlie’s comment is, “God is good through you.”

From St. Luke’s Community House we have two letters, one from April and one from May thanking us for our donations of $66.66 each month. St. Luke’s helps low income working families, seniors and others in West Nashville overcome problems that threaten the stability of families in the community.

St. Mark’s is an extremely generous congregation. Our outreach is an excellent example of that. What a wonderful group you are!!!

Judy DeHarde of the Second Harvest Food Bank Pantry at Hamilton United Methodist Church has written to ask me to let the St. Mark's folks know there is a great need for volunteers at the Pantry.

The jobs are easy - and very rewarding. I guarantee you will leave feeling doubly blessed by what you have received and by what you have been able to share. The pantry is open Monday and Wednesday from 4 to 6pm and Saturday from 9 to 12.

If you can fill in one of the slots below, please email Judy at jdeharde@comcast.net.

Right now we need one volunteer for Wed. May18th, Mon. May 23, Wed. May 25, Wed. June 15, Mon. June 20, Sat. July 2, Wed. July 20, Sat. Aug. 6, Wed. Aug. 17 and Mon Aug. 22.

Thank you for considering this way of service.

June Birthdays

June Anniversaries

Baptism

On May 8, 2005, we welcomed Jackson Robert Gregory into the household of God through Holy Baptism. Jackson is the son of Andrew and Stacey Gregory of Houston, Texas, and grandson of Elizabeth Gregory.

Graduations

On May 7, 2005, Tanya McLaughlin, daughter of Lorna and Greg Noren graduated from MTSU Cum Laude with a double major in English and History.

Will ClenDening, son of Bob and Linda ClenDening recently graduated from Watkins College of Art and Design with a degree in Fine Art.

The Campus for Human Development is publishing a devotional book to celebrate the 20 years of Room In The Inn. This year will be the 20^th year. They are inviting people to write devotionals or prayers so that there will be one devotion for each day of Room In The Inn which runs from November 1^st through March 31^st.

The letter of invitation will be posted on the bulletin board in Reynolds Hall along with examples and a form to use if you like. You can also email your submission to Mary Wilder at Campus for Human Development. Her email address is marywilder@chd-nashville.org. If you prefer to mail it, the address is included in the letter.

Ecuador dinner

S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 4^th

You are invited to a celebration of our relationship with

Santiago Apostal, La Pila, Ecuador.

Supper will be served.

6 o’clock in the evening

Reynolds Hall

Here is your opportunity to laugh, cry, struggle, & rejoice; to share your spiritual story & draw strength from the stories of your Companions. We are all on a journey with our Lord & to walk that journey with others, walking side by side is a marvelous thing. As Companions we study scripture, we share experiences, we help each other to find a new understanding of God's presence in our lives. And then we challenge each other to make that presence known in all we say & do. It is a walk worth taking. Praise God!

For more information call Liz Gilliam, Charles Cross, Donna Floyd, Andrea Tucker, Cathey Gwyn, Lauren Cook, Pam Carr-Brannon, George Noren, Mary O & Dan Benedict, Shelley Davis-Wise, Iva Kurz, Lorna & Greg Noren.

A thought and a prayer for our clergy and our church.

He helps us laugh
in the face of our fears,
from the timid
to the very boisterous,
and he loves us.

I didn't say he likes everything
about us, but he does love us
and with a love so deep,
it must be from God

Human? yes.
Direct? Oh, yes.
So is Jesus, folks, so is Jesus....

Thanks, God, for leading me
beside still waters...
and green, green pastures...
in a place called
St. Mark's, Antioch.

drf 4.19.05

When I was invited to join a small group committed to the spiritual goals of prayer, discernment, & direction, there was a part of me that said, "that doesn't sound like much fun." I couldn't have been more wrong. Companions in Christ has given me a group of friends with whom I can share the twists & turns of my spiritual journey. They have also shared their journeys with me. Together, we walked a path that brought us closer to hearing God's call in our daily lives. We prayed. We sang. We grew.

Companions in Christ has deepened my understanding of Christ's love for us & the community of St. Mark's.

Several people asked me for the recipe for the cayenne pretzels I made for the Fall Fest. I misplaced it and came across it today in the process of cleaning out a tote bag. If you need a filler for the gryphon here it is.

Cayenne Pretzels

1 cup vegetable oil
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper

20 oz of pretzels (any kind)

In a small bowl combine the oil, dressing mix, garlic salt, and cayenne pepper. Divide the pretzels between two ungreased 16 x 10 baking pans. Pour oil mixture over pretzels and stir to coat. Bake at 200 degrees for 75 to 90 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Sherry

Please keep Dorrence and me in your prayers. On Thursday, the doctors did a chest X-ray and a CT Scan and have found a large mass in Dorrence's right lung.

He is TB free and out of the isolation unit after a four-day stay. Now we are trying to keep him out of denial while keeping things upbeat. He knows that he is not out of the woods yet. They have doubled his antibiotics, given him at-home breathing treatments, and he returns in one week for a repeat chest X-ray and if the spot is still there, they will do a lung broncoscopy (lung biopsy). They say he has pneumonia (although he had no fever, reduced appetite, or coughing).

It is hard to know what to think-- the gray-haired doctor said that if it is not TB- they will begin procedures to rule out cancer. The younger doctor said that it is pneumonia, but we will do a follow-up X-ray after the second course of stronger antibiotics. Dorrence was just glad to get out of the hospital. We went to Swett's for some real food, then home to take a nap. When he woke up, he wanted to go to see "Star Wars" which took all of his strength.

Today, he insisted on driving to Memphis for a business meeting. I urged him not to go, but he said that it is only driving and he is really wanting to get out. He believes that it will be less stressful than going to work. The main thing is that he is working on his seminary studies. He wants to be a priest and I want that for him too. He says he knows God has called him.

THE GRYPHON’S ROAR

Weekly Schedule

June Birthdays

June Anniversaries

Baptism

Graduations