Bulletin

Hello everybody,

Finally, I can report that Teddy, as he drew closer to us last weekend, took a look at Bermuda and decided we were not worthy of his attention. So he took a shift to the East and headed out into the Atlantic no doubt seeking small vessels to prey upon. Not only that, but the tropics are quiet just now. Shhh! We have every hope that the two recent hurricanes will have cooled our waters sufficiently to keep further activity on the mild side.

There was a certain poignancy about today’s service at Holy Trinity. We have been sharing our services with them for three full months now and it has been a collaboration which has worked well. Today was the last of these bi-weekly services as we now each turn to our own weekly service schedules. We have made lots of new friends on both sides and gotten to know them better than we otherwise might have.

I have already sent out an outline of what is planned at St. Mark’s commencing next Sunday so I won’t dwell on that except to remind that there will be hot beverages and light snacks available from 8.30 a.m. in the Parish Hall; there will be a Worship Service in the Church from 9.00 a.m. for those wishing to participate, then returning to the Hall for Fellowship and other Activities. One of those activities will be the Annual General Meeting of St. Mark’s Guild to which all are invited who would be willing to join the Guild and help in the work they do. Please don’t be shy .

Folk will see a few changes inside the church – do not be dismayed – this has been done to provide a more convenient presentation space for the setting up of the technology that we are now using – words of the service on screen, sound system etc. This is what we have been getting accustomed to in the past three months, all of which is fundamental to sustaining the strong social media presence that we have built up since Easter and which is helping to draw people’s attention to us.

Will it be different? Yes, it certainly will – as I discussed in my “All we have to do is dream” item circulated a few days ago. Some will love it, others perhaps less so but it is imperative that we try different ideas to revitalize our Church family. For years now our older generation of members have been wondering “after us – who?” What will happen to our beloved church when we – as Shakespeare’s Hamlet so eloquently expressed – “have shuffled off this mortal coil”?

And it is this that has motivated us to try a different approach. Will it be our grandparent’s and parent’s church? No. But we hope it will be our children’s and our grandchildren’s church. That is where the future of our church lies – in finding ways of drawing in the Generation X-ers and the Millennials who have grown up in an era of technology, computers, smart phones and all the social media platforms etc. which we did not have. We need to reach out to them where they are at if we are ever to be relevant to their spiritual needs. And you may be certain that they have spiritual needs.

So, persevere with us as we embark along this road. We will all learn together what works and what doesn’t, what we like, even what we dislike, and we may then make changes, fine-tuning our worship to encourage a new generation of Church family members. This is a work in progress and it will take time and patience on the part of all of us.

It’s for the good of the family!

Come to St. Mark’s – not just a Church but a family!