In the past few months Holly Manor Nursing Home in Mendham opened up to outside volunteers once more, and so I’ve been able to start going there once a month to offer a service of Holy Communion. I’ve been going to Holly Manor since 2009, and I’ve always enjoyed my time there with the residents.

In years past, I’d go, do the service, chat with some of the residents for a while and then head out. My October visit was very different. I did the service, and then chatted with those who were there. And then the activities coordinator asked me if I’d do some room visits with several other patients—and of course I said “yes.”

I went from room to room—eight residents, one after another—and found people who were lovely and gracious, but who were also incredibly isolated. Because of their particular medical needs and age, and the ongoing pandemic, they are unable to spend time out of their rooms. They were so, so lonely, and starved for connection.

On the flip side, I saw the incredible joy on people’s faces here at the Food Truck event! For the first time since Easter a large group of St Marksers gathered in one place. I’ve had so many comments from people saying how good it was to see “so and so,” and how good it was to talk to “such and such” again.

We’re in this limbo right now, where we aren’t being mandated to stay away from each other, but coming together in large numbers is still rare, and almost disorienting. 

These two events, one in a nursing home, and another in our parking lot, made me think about how “loving our neighbor” is hard. And necessary. And requires creativity and intention and energy and effort.

And, I for one, am “all in” on trying to do it differently right now, so that those who are lonely and isolated can know that they are loved and held dear.

Peace,

Rick+

Click here to watch a quick video on how to connect with St. Mark's calendar

It’s that time!  You guessed it…. Fall leaf cleanup!  Come one, come all!  Bring a friend, a loved one, one of your kids… Let’s meet at 10:00 on Saturday November 6 with a rain date of Saturday November 13.  We appreciate any help you can provide even if only for a short while.  There’s always a lot of work to do but many hands make quick work.  Thank you in advance.  Hope to see you on the 6th! 

My first thoughts as I write this note is regarding the well-being and safety of all of our parishioners.  I recently got my COVID booster shot and the after effects reminded me of how this virus can really impact people who contract it, although only for about 36 hours, so I hope you are all doing well and doing everything you can to protect yourselves and your families.

As we head into the holiday season, we can look back at a year so far where we have come such a long way from the complete COVID shutdown we were living in at the beginning of this year.  We don’t have to go much farther than to see the wonderful gathering we had with the food trucks in the parking lot on October 24th to see the incredible community we have in what we call the St. Mark’s family.  We had about 120 people come out and listen to beautiful music, fun food (I was an especially big fan of the shake with the donut on top) and great fellowship (including the Morley chickens and Jeff’s dog).  For those who have been able to attend the past couple church services, either in-person, or remotely, you were also able to see the tremendous video presentations by our Stewardship chair, Shirley Baker.  The idea of providing cash envelopes to parishioners who can use them to do something for somebody else has already brought inspirational stories of how we can make a big difference with small gestures in others’ lives.  It has really touched a nerve in me and I hope it has with all of you too.

Plans are still in motion for this coming holiday season on how we want to try to continue with our annual traditions (turkey giveaways around Thanksgiving, the Mid-Advent brunch, Creche service and, of course, our Christmas Eve services.  This is an exciting time of year for all of us and I am looking forward to our church’s efforts to try to get back to whatever new normal we can establish and still maintain our priority to serve Christ and do so in a safe environment for all of our people.

Sean Gogerty, Jr. Warden

Please help make the holidays complete for families in need by donating turkeys or hams. You can also make a monetary donation and we will do the shopping for you!
Turkeys or hams can be placed in the cooler outside the church beginning 11/7 or in the large freezer in the kitchen. Thank you for your kindness!

Donations for the food bank are being accepted  through December 15th.  

We had the “Blessing of the Rockets” on Sunday Oct 24 at the 5 pm service so we are not all set for Launch.  The tentative launch date is Saturday Nov 13 or Sunday Nov 14 mid afternoon at Ross Farm launch pad. We will be reaching out to see which date works best.  If you did not get to build a rocket, I will have several available for kids to launch.  If you need help finishing your rocket let me know and I will make a house call.  Questions?  Need more info or rocket building help? Reach out to John Lyga at jwlyga@gmail.com.

Twice a year we have a thorough inspection and maintenance of all of the HVAC systems in the Church, Halls, and Rectory.  You can imagine we have a fair number of units that must be regularly checked.  We recently had this done and received a clean bill of health.  Yea! Unfortunately, some of our wooded structures are not in the same shape.  We had some leaking during the recent rains and need to get the section of roof repaired where the Fellowship Hall connects to the Chapel roof.  This section of roof shingles will likely need replacing soon.  There are also a number of smaller projects that need some TLC and many can be done by parishioners.  Much of this work falls to Martin Hale our Parish Sexton, he is a miracle worker but cannot do everything that comes up.  If you are handy or just want to pitch in and help out and learn, send an email to the office or John Lyga at jwlyga@gmail.com.  There are a number of small projects including  painting, weather stripping, floor tiles needing replacing, upgrading some room lights, and some repair work in the rectory.  Lots to go around!

Question of the week: Why is one of the restrooms closed outside the Heritage Room?  

One of the restrooms is being converted to a shower room to provide more flexibility for how we use our facilities.  For someone who spent a career working in chemistry labs, accidents happen like in the kitchen and having a shower close by is nice to have. Also having a shower would open up our facility to help those in need of a short term place to stay, something we have not been able to do, yet there is great need. There is currently a small team being established to work with the Diocese to see what we can do to help. Reach out to the church office for more info.

We had our first session of the new Sunday School program held every other week during the 5pm Sunday service.  We all watched a short Pixar video clip called LOU watching how a school playground bully can change with a touch of kindness.  The kids went on to work on our rock “Kindness Project” (see photo) https://www.thekindnessrocksproject.com/.  

We will be meeting in Bryans room every other Sunday at 5 (the same Sundays that we will be having the dinners provided).  Everyone is welcome. Need some information? Want to help out with Sunday School?  Reach out to John Lyga at jwlyga@gmail.com