From the Pastor......

It somehow does not seem possible that with the arrival of the month of May, I am entering the sixth month of being your full-time Priest in Charge. Daily I give thanks to God that Bishop Sisk saw fit to appoint me as your pastor. I have rapidly come to love the members of this congregation, the beauty of our church building, the strength of our music program, the high caliber of our lay leaders, the very hard work of our small staff,  the importance of our outreach programs, the challenges of our confirmations classes, and very much more.
            Traditionally, May is the time when St. Mark’s transitions into its “summer” mode. Sunday school, child care, and the full choir end on Sunday, May 19, 2013, and do not resume until Labor Day. Though many of you may travel or have vacation homes, I hope that we will be a more active parish this summer than has sometimes been the case in the past. Geoffrey Smith, our newly designated Organist and Director of Music, will be working with me to keep our liturgy and music engaging and energized though out the summer. I hope we will be able to sustain reasonable Sunday attendance levels and reliable monetary support over the summer – bills and payrolls do not take vacations! We are hoping to have guest soloists, special events, and some one time educational events during the summer – not necessarily just on Sundays. We look forward to our annual picnic with our partners from St. Ann’s in the Bronx on Saturday, June 22, and hope that many of you will be able to attend here in Mt. Kisco.
            The Sunday of the Ascension, the Day of Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday all fall on Sundays in May and we are planning to have suitable music and preaching to honor those major days in the life of the Church. We will have two infant baptisms on Pentecost, and another on Sunday, June 2, the day after a large group of our youth and adults are either confirmed or received into the Episcopal Church at a service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, at 10:30 am on Saturday, June 1st.
            We are hard at work on the fabric of our buildings. Much needed roof and tower repairs are already underway. A badly broken step into the Parish House is being repaired. We will soon be undertaking an engineering study to develop realistic options for an overhaul of some or all of our badly outdated heating system. The Buildings and Grounds Committee is doing splendid work under the energetic leadership of its Chair, Vestryperson Frank Tortorello.
            If you have not been at St. Mark’s for a while, please join us for worship in the near future. We are alive and well, and looking for new initiatives in ministry, education, outreach, and spiritual growth in the months and years ahead. I hope you will join us!

Bill Doubleday