The Lion's Roar
December, 2022
A Message from Father Rick...
I was ordained to the priesthood on December 15th, 2002. Which, of course, means that in a couple of week’s I’ll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of my ordination.
Milestones are interesting because they give us an opportunity to look back and see how far we’ve come. So, in that spirit I’d like to share a few of the things that I’m thinking about the last 20 years.
Life is precious and fragile. I’ve held a lot of babies. I’ve held the hands of a lot of people who are dying. I’ve had a lot of tears left on my shoulder. Life is precious and fragile—and part of what makes it precious is its fragility.
Forgiveness and reconciliation is some of the most important work we do. I really do think there is a reason that Jesus highlights forgiveness so much—because division, hatred, misunderstanding, hurt, and betrayal haunt us in our relationships every bit as they haunt governments and nations. Saying “I’m sorry” and saying “It’s ok, I forgive you” are some of the most powerful words we can speak to one another.
Being a part of Christian community is such a blessing. I know life is busy and hard and it’s easy to fall out of the habit of coming to church. But, I’ve seen church change people’s lives. I’ve seen Christian community literally save people. Even if you think that you don’t need church as much today, there are people here who need you.
Finally, people commonly think about the priest when they think about the church, but what I’ve learned in 20 years is that a priest can only do so much if there isn’t an amazing, creative, and faithful congregation. I’ve been extraordinarily blessed to serve three parishes in these two decades—and I’m exceedingly grateful for the people I’ve gotten o serve alongside. Like you all.
We’ll, now that the first 20 are under my belt, here’s to the next 20!
Peace,
Fr Rick
Weekly Offerings in December
Saturday NO 5pm Holy Eucharist Rite
Sunday 8am Holy Eucharist Rite I
10am Holy Eucharist Rite II
9am The Forum, Joseph Novella
Monday 10am Morning Prayer via Zoom
Wednesday 9am Holy Eucharist Rite II
7:30pm The Forum, Joseph Novella
Dec 4 Youth Group & Sunday School, 5pm
Dec 7 & 21 Keansburg Soup Kitchen
Christmas Services
Dec 18 Creche Service, 10am
Walk to Bethlehem, 4pm, beginning at St. James Church
Dec 22 Blue Christmas Service, 7pm at St. Bernard's Church
Dec 24 Christmas Eve Services
1pm Eucharist
with the Band, Harry Dunham Park
5pm Eucharist
with strings, organ and choir (live-streamed)
11pm Eucharist
with choir, organ and incense (live-streamed)
Dec 25 Christmas Day Service, 10am (live-streamed)
Visit our website stmarksbr.org for links and schedules to all upcoming services, bulletins, music offerings, signups, and more.
Advent Brunch - This Sunday
St. Mark's will once again host our annual Advent Brunch on Dec. 4th following the 10am service in the parish hall.
If you would like to bring something or help with clean up please click this link to be taken to the sign up page. You are welcome to drop off your food item in the kitchen before the 10AM service. But...whether you bring a dish or not, please come! There is always enough food for everyone!
Questions about the brunch? Email Sandy Gogerty at sgogerty@optonline.net
We will have a craft table at the brunch for kids of all ages to make a manger stocking and glitter filled Christmas ornaments.
Warden's Corner
As we start the holiday season, we have a tremendous amount to be thankful for and proud of as a parish family. We just finished our more than 3 years with Chip Rubendall who was ordained as a deacon this summer and is now moving on to his next step toward becoming a fully ordained priest. We just completed a very successful capital campaign that will help us to make the capital improvements necessary to keep our building in good working order and enhance our music program. There has been a lot of work put into beautifying our building and grounds this year that makes this a place to be proud of and to offer to other organizations to use our church in the future. As we head into the Advent season, we look forward to sharing special events and services to celebrate the season.
Martha has been working with our internal audit committee to get our books audited in case we need to apply for a new mortgage to take us to the point that we can pay it down within the next year or two as we continue to bring in funds from the capital campaign. As we come to the end of the year, I want to thank all who have contributed their time and financial support to help us make this a special year of recovery from the pandemic and to position St. Mark’s to be a vibrant place of worship for years to come.
Finally, I had the chance to participate for the second time this year in a joint service a few weeks ago with Rabbi Green and the congregation at B’nai Israel along with Fr. Morley and several other St. Mark’s parishioners to show our support as they are dealing with anti-semitism threats. It was very special to be part of a larger faith community and made me realize how much we as a parish family can do to make a positive impact on our community in so many ways.
Sean Gogerty
Sr. Warden
Sunday School News
Passing the torch
For the time being, we have paused the position of Sunday School Director while we try various formats to meet the needs of St. Mark's parents. John Lyga has served St. Marks in this role since 1989 and we thank him for his many years of service. John will still be around to contribute to whatever program we end up having but he decided it is time for a change. In the meantime, Kristen Hauser (klhglass@gmail.com) will be the lead contact.
Creche Service
We are all looking forward to this year’s Creche Service on December 18 at 10 a.m. Children and youth (and parishioners of all ages) are invited and encouraged to participate as angels, donkeys, lambs, stars, shepherds, kings, figure carriers, readers, singers and banner carriers. Please click the button below to let us know you are available and Kristen and her team will reach out to you
Creche Service
Fellowship News
We will postpone the Brewery Tour meeting for December as it is already a busy month. Our next meeting will be Thursday January 12. If you would like a suggestion for a local brewery to visit in December, keep it local and check out the brand new brewpub in Millington right next door to the Post Office called OAKFLOWER Brewery. If you have a suggestion for a place to visit in January please send a note to John Lyga (jwlyga@gmail.com).
Gift Card Collection for our Creche Service on December 18th
The Foodbank is welcoming gift cards again for the Holidays this year in place of holiday presents.. It is recommended that we donate gift cards from ShopRite, Walmart, and Target as they are easier and more successful to use than the Visa gift cards. Please note the value of each card with a sharpie or pen.
The gift cards were extremely well received in previous years; clients felt empowered and so grateful for the opportunity to shop for their families!
Thank you all for your generous donations at this time of year to help bring joy to others in need.
Buildings News
We have a new supplier of our lavatory paper goods as well as spray cleaners. In keeping with the Christmas season GREEN and RED color scheme, all lavatories and kitchen areas have new RED paper towel dispensers with matching RED soap dispensers. The GREEN comes in on eliminating waste by having all of our cleaners now dispensed into reusable spray bottles.
Automatic paper towel and soap dispenser (left) and multiple cleaner station (right)
The dispensing station is located in the small closet in the entrance area of the Parish Hall. When you need a cleaner go to that room and pick one up. If your bottle is running low, go to the station and fill up the bottle. We will also be centralizing all the brooms and mops into one location in the Parish Hall closet by the end of the month so you can find what you need when you need it. It will be important to make sure our new floor stays clean.
Project of the month - Many thanks go out to Mike Millan for staining and polyurethaning the link ceiling where we removed two skylights that were leaking. Mike used his special formula for blending the color of the new wood into the old. It looks great!
New Projects Available
We still have building projects to work on for anyone interested in volunteering. Check out the full list (available below) including all the projects completed this year. Also we greatly appreciate your input and feedback on the condition of the buildings. To send a note or for more information contact John Lyga (jwlyga@gmail.com)
Food Bank Collection
Please help make the holidays complete for families in need by donating turkeys, chickens, or hams. You can also make a monetary donation and we will do the shopping for you!
You can be place your donation in the kitchen freezer or drop it off at the church office. Thank you for your kindness!
You can be place your donation in the kitchen freezer or drop it off at the church office. Thank you for your kindness!
Donations for the food bank are being accepted through December 16th.
Keansburg Soup Kitchen - Dec 7
On Wednesday, 12/7, we are heading down to serve lunch. Please visit our needs list if you are able to contribute a meatloaf (or two!). The recipe for our Keansburg meatloaf can be found on the link.
Please drop off them off by Tuesday evening so we are all set to go in the morning. Thank you.
As we approach year-end and the 10 year anniversary of our Keansburg mission, we feel blessed to realize that we have been able to provide almost 2,000 meals this year, and over 22,000 meals since we started serving in Dec 2012. Many thanks to everyone for your contributions.
Finance Report
2022 Year-to-Date (YTD, through October) Financial Results
- Operating Income is $321K, $8K (or 3%) favorable to budget, driven by full and partial year pledge income and donations received year-to-date, offset partially by unfavorable Buildings Use Donations and a budgeted but later canceled fundraising event. Note a small fundraising event (separate from the Moved by the Spirit Campaign) was contemplated for 2022 but was later canceled when it was deemed unnecessary.
- Operating Expenses is $306K, -$2K (or -1%) unfavorable to budget, driven by higher utility (energy) costs, building cleaning expenses (note St. Mark’s has returned to its pre-COVID full cleaning schedule), and timing of expenses.
- Operating Net Income is $16K, $6K favorable to budget, driven by favorable operating income cited above.
Laughter in the Pews
Christmas Memorials
If you would like to make a donation for our Christmas flowers in memory or in honor of a loved one, please email the office with their names and we will include them in our Christmas bulletins. We ask that all names be submitted by Wednesday, December 21st. You may mail in your donation or place it in the plate at services. Thank you!
It will soon look a lot like Christmas around St. Mark's, both inside and out. Your flower donations will go a long way in making it all possible.
Petition for Nomination to the Vestry
Should you wish to nominate yourself or someone else for an open vestry position, please fill out the form below and submit it to the office no later than 12/26. There are also blank forms available in the link and the office.
HOMES for Somerset County is asking for our help. Redstone American Grill, located at Bridgewater Mall is looking for their next recipient of their Woodfire Fund. Once the charity has been selected, they donate $1 for selected entrees when ordered. HOMES for Somerset County believes this will be a three month program. Please VOTE for HOME. The Link is: https://forms.gle/HeeDmE9S51MGzCYR6. Voting ends December 4th
November Birthdays
Dec 1 Bob Les
Emiliana Omick
Dec 3 Brian Lettow
Kathy Seabrook
Dec 5 Julia West
Helena Centolanza
Dec 6 Jacob Giordano
Nicholas Giordano
Noyoze Eweka
Dec 12 Jim Barna
Wilson Kochek
Joanne Woolford
Dec 13 Benjamin Seitz
Rich Thoma
Dec 14 Christy Denechaud
John Mooney
Ariana Omick
Elsa Van Loo
Dec 18 Thalia Centolanza
Dec 19 Sean Gogerty
Susan Sinofsky
Dec 20 Charlie Sheppard
Dec 26 Tim Marston
John Snyder
Dec 27 Christine Trucco
Dec 29 Mattie Morley
Bryan Knill
Theresa Nishimura
Dec 30 Carter Lettow
Dec 31 Rob Brangaccio
Meg Jewson
Anniversaries
12 -7 Tim & Nancy Opremcak
12-31 Steve & Susan Sinofsky
Vestry Members:
Rector: The Rev. Richard M.C. Morley
Senior Warden: Sean Gogerty
Junior Warden: Martha Heiner
Buildings: John Lyga
Christian Ed. Kristen Hauser
Comm. / Evangelism: Marliese Knill
Fellowship: Sandy Gogerty
Finance: Matt Seitz
Grounds: Steve Kujan
Membership: Lily Chan
Outreach: Jody Hough
Stewardship: Gerald Creighton
Non-Vestry Positions:
Warden Emeritus: Jeff West
Treasurer: Teri Passarello
Recording Treasurer: Doug Post
Assistant Treasurer: Bruce Walker
Sunday School Director: John Lyga
J2A Coordinator: Chip Rubendall
Music Director: Mike McCormick
Warden Emeritus: Jeff West
Treasurer: Teri Passarello
Recording Treasurer: Doug Post
Assistant Treasurer: Bruce Walker
Sunday School Director: John Lyga
J2A Coordinator: Chip Rubendall
Music Director: Mike McCormick
Parish Admin: Ann Millan
Our Online Directory
Have you downloaded our online directory app to your smart phone or tablet yet? It's really easy and so convenient to have! Follow this link for step-by-step instructions.
Prefer to use your computer? No problem! Click here for instructions on how to get connected with your computer.
Once you are in the directory you will be able to update your own information and even upload a new photo.
Give the office a call if you need any assistance.
