Special Events

Special Events occur throughout the year.
As they are scheduled, they will appear on our Parish Announcements page.
Background information follows for those that are somewhat predictable.

• Events that Build Fellowship
  • Foyers
  • Men's Breakfast
  • Pilgrimage
  • Retreats
  • Work Day - Spruce up St. Mark's
• Seasonal Events
  • Boar's Head Feast
  • Caroling
  • Dessert with St. Nicholas
  • Epiphany Pageant
  • Feast Days - Remembering the Saints
  • Greening of the Church
  • Oktoberfest
  • Shrove Tuesday Breakfast
• Special Occasions
  • Baptisms
  • Catechism
  • Confirmation
  • Funerals & Burials
  • Weddings

Events that Build Fellowship

Foyer's

Foyers is an informal dinners club common to Episcopal Churches. Small groups of people gather together to share good food, good conversation, and good company.  Traditional Foyers meet on a monthly basis in a central location or a group member's house for a pot luck dinner.  At St. Mark's this may vary depending on your group.  Please contact the Foyer's Coordinator for more information about joining.

Men's Breakfast

The webmaster is new to St. Mark's.  Is you can, please send some text describing this event.  If you know of any other events that reoccur every year or every other year or two, please make a suggestion to add them.

Pilgrimage

One of the central spiritual disciplines of Christian faith is pilgrimage, a sacred journey. Pilgrims are working out, in a physical way, their desire to journey deeper into God. Just as we seek inner cleansing in Baptism with physical water, and spiritual nourishment in the Communion with physical bread and wine, so the pilgrim seeks a spiritual journey by moving long and hard across physical space.  St. Mark's Rector has found a way to take you along on a Pilgrimage. It all begins in the Spring of 2007.  [More information...]

• Early Christianity - May 2008 - Ancient Christian sites in Italy, Greece & Turkey
• Israel - July 2009 - an Interfaith Experience with Temple Isaiah

Retreats

The Bishop Claggett Center is the retreat, camp and conference facility owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. The center encompasses a 277 acre Frederick County working farm situated on a bluff overlooking Sugarloaf Mt. and the scenic Monocacy River Valley. The Claggett Center is a member of Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers, Inc. and is in continuous operation throughout the year, hosting retreats and conferences for a wide variety of guests. The Claggett Center also offers youth programs, including summer camps, year round conferences, and a variety of programs for adults.

• Programs for the Year
• Directions

Work Day - Spruce up St. Mark's

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Seasonal Events

Advent - The Church New Year (November-December)

Caroling

We usually get together one evening in the church to sing favorite Christmas Carols.  In 2007, we gathered on Sunday in mid-December at 7:00 PM.  Singing was led by the exciting "Monumental Brass". A reception followed in the Fellowship Hall.  In attendance were friends, family, neighbors, and associates of the band. Also, a mixed youth group went caroling in a neighborhood that seldom had such blessings.

Dessert with St. Nicholas

Children meet St. Nicholas and learn that he was a Bishop in the land of Turkey a long long time ago.  He loved God very much.  Hear the story of how he saved the lived of three firls by secretly tossing bags of gold in their window at night.  In some countries, children still find money or bags of gold wrapped chocolate coins in their stockings on Christmas  morning.

Christmas (December-January)

Boar's Head Feast

The Board's Head Feast is an old English tradition. The ceremony came to Colonial America with the French Huguenots who settled in New York and had enjoyed the feast while in exile in England. It became closely connected with the Episcopal Church and its universities who observed the festival as at Christmas. This is St. Mark's annual "Dress Up" event, an evening of fine dining, wonderful music, and fellowship for all. Black tie is optional.  Tickets are sold in advance and the capacity of the Fellowship Hall will determine when the sale will be cut-off.

This festival dates from ancient times. At Roman feasts, boar was the first dish served and became a staple at medieval banquets. As Christianity spread through Europe, the presentation of a boar's head at Christmas came to symbolize the triumph of the Christ Child over sin. In 1340, Queen's College, Oxford, England started a festival that has evolved to what we know today. "Legend has it that a scholar was studying a book of Aristotle while walking through the forest on his way to Midnight Mass. Suddenly, he was confronted by an angry wild boar. Having no other weapon, the resourceful Oxonian rammed his metal-bound philosophy book down the throat of the charging animal, whereupon the brute choked to death. That night the boar's head, finely dressed and garnished, was borne in procession to the dining room, accompanied by carolers singing 'in honor of the King of bliss'."
(Source for history: Wikipedia)

Greening of the Church

An annual event as Advent ends, participants from all three Sunday services (7:30, 9:00, & 11:00 AM) gather together in the nave immediately following late worship service on Advent 4, the last Sunday before Christmas, to decorate with live greens. This annual task is a quick and fun offering of ourselves, and is guided by the Altar Guild.

Epiphany (January-April)

Epiphany Pageant

Pageant presented during the Sunday School hour with youth of all ages participating.  Everyone who wants to have a part is welcome. Family and friends are welcome. Thru the pageant, learn the stories about our faith, by getting right inside of them and becoming part of them.

Shrove Tuesday & Mardi Gras

The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The term is derived from shriving, which means confessing and absolving. The Tuesday before the beginning of Lent was a traditional day for hearing confessions. The three days before Ash Wednesday have been known as Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday, with these three days collectively known as "Shrovetide." The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is also commonly known as "Mardi Gras" or "Fat Tuesday." Because of the Lenten fast, the day before Ash Wednesday was a day to consume animal fat. In some places it was a day of celebration and indulgence before the discipline of Lent. The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is also known as "Carnival," which literally means the removal or putting away of flesh (meat). Some Episcopal churches observe Shrove Tuesday with a parish supper, or the burning of palms from Palm Sunday to provide ashes for Ash Wednesday.
(Source: Glossary definition on the website of The Episcopal Church)

February 5, 2008, St. Mark's will be celebrating Mardi Gras in the St. Mark's beginning at 6:00 PM. Pancakes and sausage will be served. Members are encouraged to invite friends, wear spectacular Mardi Gras masks, costumes, and beads, and to come have an uproariously fun time. The Imposition of Ashes service will follow the Mardi Gras party at 7:30 PM, to initiate the beginning of Lent. The Imposition of Ashes service will also be offered the Wednesday morning and Wednesday evening. Net proceeds from the Mardi Gras Pancake Dinner will benefit the Monthly Men's Breakfast project of creating a commemorative plaque for St Marks' parishioners serving in the armed forces. Parish men and friends will meet in the parish kitchen at 6:00 PM on Monday evening to prepare for the pancake dinner.

Lent (February-April)

Fasting

Fasting is abstaining wholly or partially from all or certain foods, for physical or spiritual health. The extent and rigor of abstinence depends largely on custom and circumstance. Christ taught it and practiced it. As a spiritual discipline, fasting is an act of contrition, cleansing, and preparation. The BCP recommends fasting for the season of Lent, which Christians should observe "by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's Word" (BCP, p. 265). The BCP designates the weekdays of Lent and Holy Week and all Fridays except in the seasons of Christmas and Easter as days of "special devotion" with "special acts of discipline and self-denial" (which normally include fasting). An exception is made for the feast of the Annunciation in Lent and feasts of our Lord on Friday.
(Source: Glossary definition on the website of The Episcopal Church)

Easter (March-April)

Egg Hunt

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Pentecost (April-November)

The season after Pentecost begins on the Monday following Pentecost, and continues through most of the summer and autumn. It may include as many as twenty-eight Sundays, depending on the date of Easter. This period is also understood by some as "ordinary time," a period of the church year not dedicated to a particular season or observance, as in the Roman Rite adapted after Vatican II.
(Source: Glossary definition on the website of The Episcopal Church)

National Days (January-December)

Feast Days - Remembering the Saints

Special services and educational programs occur throughout the Church Year for the Saints.  Please refer to the weekly bulletin for special services and to the Lectionary for special prayers.

Oktoberfest

The webmaster is new to St. Mark's.  Is you can, please send some text describing this event.  If you know of any other events that reoccur every year or every other year or two, please make a suggestion to add them.

Special Occasions

Baptisms

contents coming - this page still under construction - a link will be placed here directing you to detailed information about how to have a baptism at St. Marks

Catechism

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Confirmation

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Funerals & Burials

contents coming - this page still under construction - a link will be placed here directing you to detailed information about how to have a funeral held at St. Marks

Weddings

contents coming - this page still under construction - a link will be placed here directing you to detailed information about how to have a wedding held at St. Marks