Holy Week and Easter Sunday at St. Mark's

Holy Week began on Palm Sunday with our Procession of Palms and our neighbors: Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church and All Saints Episcopal Church. Here are the details for the rest of the week:

Wednesday (3/31/10): Lenten devotion in the nave at 10:30 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. The topic is Holy Communion with readings from scripture and Martin Luther's Catechism.

Maundy Thursday (4/1/2010) at 7:00 p.m. The Festival Choir sings On the Passion of Christ by David H. Williams. Communion follows and then the Stripping of the Altar.

Good Friday at 12:00 noon(4/2/2010): A traditional service from Evangelical Lutheran Worship that we have not done before. (This is NOT the three-hour-long service that many Lutherans will remember from their growing-up years.) The service is devotional in nature, with hymns, prayers, and the Solemn Reproaches.

Good Friday Evening at 7:00 p.m. Our Living Stations of the Cross service combines pageantry, prayers, readings and hymns of Our Lord's Passion by the Festival Choir to create a unique service that you won't want to miss. The Stations of the Cross are depicted in tableau (see the picture above of Jesus Meets His Mother). Invite a friend to experience this with you!

Easter Vigil (Saturday, 4/3/10 at 7:00 p.m.) For centuries Christians have used candlelight, prayers, hymns, and Old Testament readings that tell of God's grace from the time of creation to build anticipation for the cry of "Alleluia!" Our service includes music by the St. Mark's Ringers, Festival Choir, and Kingdom Choir. This is a much abbreviated version of the traditional Easter Vigil which, I'm told, used to last into the wee hours of the morning.

Easter Sunday (Sunday, 4/4/2010 at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m.) "The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!" will be our cry as we remember the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Alleluia Ringers play "Alleluia! Give Thanks!" The Festival Choir sings William Billings' "The Lord Is Risen Indeed" and Eric and Ellen Olson provide selections from Vivaldi's Gloria with the oboe and viola.

All are welcome! Come and See!

Newberry College Singers at St. Mark's on March 7th at 6 PM

Founded in 1932, the Newberry College Singers are a premier auditioned choral ensemble with a rich tradition of singing through excellent performances of choral mastersworks that range from repertoire of the Middle Ages through the 21st century. They will be performing a free concert at St. Mark's on Sunday, March 7th, at 6 PM.

An offering will be taken and all are welcome!

Handbell Weekend 2010

On Friday, Feb. 19, eleven of our handbell ringers and I loaded up the cars and headed for Lutheridge, an ELCA-affiliated conference and retreat center in the mountains near Arden, North Carolina. We had registered for the Intermediate Track and were looking forward to ringing under the direction of clinician Michael Joy.

The schedule was a grueling one that included 10.5 hours of rehearsal time before our concert Sunday morning.

In addition to rehearsals, workshops, and lots of eating (Lutheridge does great meals!), we spent a very pleasant evening with Pastor Bill and Karla Trexler in their beautiful new home. Pastor Trexler served St. Mark's as Pastor from 1979 until 1995 when he was elected Bishop of the Florida-Bahamas synod.

And yes. . .there was SNOW! Pastor Tim explained that most of the snow we were seeing had actually been on the ground since before Christmas. We arrived during a warming spell so it was beginning to melt and make things muddy. (A good thing too. Some of us were nervous about the possibility of having to drive on ice.)

Exhausted but musically refreshed, we started our trek down the mountain on Sunday afternoon at about 2:00. We met for dinner at a Cracker Barrell in Pooler, GA before beginning the final leg of our journey home.

Thanks to everyone who went and drove. Special thanks to Rose and Larry for obtaining the trailer, loading it, and pulling all of our equipment up the mountain! Thank you to Pastor and Karla Trexler for a delicious dinner and wonderful evening!

AGO Hymn Festival at St. Mark's on Sunday, September 27th at 7:00 p.m.

The Jacksonville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists will host a hymn festival titled: The Church of Christ: A Mission to Serve. The festival features hymns and readings around a theme of peace and justice. Each hymn will be played by a different member of the chapter. Some of the organists scheduled to play are: Rodney Cleveland (Lakewood Presbyterian Church and Chapter Dean), Zach Klobnack (All Saints Episcopal Church), Matt Daniel (St. Margaret's Episcopal Church), Jane Daugherty (St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church), Tony Testino (Interim at Geneva Presbyterian Church), Tim Mack (Holy Cross Lutheran) and David Emery (St. Matthew's Catholic Church).

The public is invited to attend and sing! An offering will be taken to support the work of the guild and a reception will follow.

Kingdom Choir for Grades 1 - 6 Begins on September 13th

Children are not just the church of tomorrow, they are also the church today! Our singers in the Kingdom Choir prove that each time they lead in worship.

This choir, for children in grades 1 - 6, prepares music for Sunday morning worship and attends a Chorister's Guild music festival annually. This year's festival will be held on February 27th in Winter Park. Singers learn to read music, provide music for services at St. Mark's, and have a good time doing it! Rehearsals are held after the 11:00 service each Sunday and last about one hour.

Contact Tony Cruz for more information.

Pictured: Singers and their parents who attended last year's Choristers Guild festival

San Marco Chamber Music Society: Sunday, September 13th at 7:00 p.m.

The first concert of the San Marco Chamber Music Society's 2009/10 season will be a benefit concert for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It will be held Sunday, September 13 at 7PM at St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3976 Hendricks Avenue, Jacksonville 32207.Come and enjoy the fine acoustics of St. Mark's as we play the music of Reger, Bach, Eichner, Telemann, Britten, and Saint-Saens. Eric Olson, oboe; Karen Pommerich, violin; Ellen Olson, viola; and Edith Moore-Hubert will be the featured performers. The concert is free, and there will be a free will offering to benefit JDRF. The first $200 raised will be matched by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. After the concert, please enjoy refreshments in Hart Hall with the musicians.

An Invitation to Singers: Bach Vespers on November 8, 2009

Singers from the community are invited to join St. Mark's in singing a Bach Vespers service, with orchestra, on November 8th at 6:00 p.m. This year's cantata is Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden (Stay With Us For Evening Falls), written for Easter Monday and first sung nearly 300 years ago on April 2, 1725. There is no charge to be a part of the choir. Rehearsals are on Saturday mornings from 10:00 to 12:00 on October 17th, 24th, and 31st. The dress rehearsal with orchestra is on Saturday, November 7th at 2:00 p.m. (I put the dress rehearsal in bold type because it is not our usual time; however, it's a busy week for many of our orchestra players and was the only available time.)
For more information, contact Tony Cruz at vespers@comcast.net, or by calling the church at 396-9608 x18.
St. Mark's has a long tradition of singing Bach Vespers as part of its musical outreach to the community. We hope that you will become a part of the tradition this year!