This week at St. Mark’s, we are keeping in mind and heart our Appalachia Service Project team that has travelled to Johnson City, Tennessee. There they are working with a local family to make their home warmer, dryer and more accessible. ASP got its start through the inspiring work of a United Methodist pastor named Glenn “Tex” Evans. During his thirteen years as director at Henderson Settlement in Frakes, Kentucky, Tex witnessed a deep level of poverty. In 1969, he recruited fifty youth and adults volunteers to help repair homes in Barbourville, Kentucky. By the end of the summer, four families had warm homes in which to live, and fifty individuals had experienced the power of loving connection and useful work.
Serving challenges old assumptions, and creates new worlds. In the case of ASP, Tex was able to challenge prevailing myths about the kinds of things that interest young people, and to confront myths that surround people in poverty. It is, in fact, that the greatest creativity occurs in the intersection of seemingly contradictory realities. As Wendell Berry has taught us, “It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”
Jesus clearly saw a future for the disciples in which they would be creatively blessing the world around them. He told them that they were to be salt, taking away the blandness that they encountered. He also said that they were the light of the world, and were to bring rays of hope to all around them. On Sunday at St. Mark’s, we’ll engage this, as the sermon is titled, “Serving as an Act of Creation,” arising from Matthew 5: 13-16. The text will be read by James Thomas, who has taken leadership for the ASP team this week. He and other ASP volunteers will bring a report about the work that they accomplished this week. We’ll also receive our latest class of new members into the full fellowship of the Church. We’ll be led musically by the Chancel Choir, under the direction of Gerry Sousa and accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs. One of our choir members, Ashley Ruckman will sing “My House” from “Peter Pan”, written by Leonard Bernstein.
If you are new to St. Mark’s, or have connected with us for a long time, we look forward to having you join on Sunday. Worship starts at 10:30 in the sanctuary. To connect online, visit www.smumc.church, and click on the Live Stream banner.