St. Mark's Day - Rector's Rambling for April 25, 2021

     Today we take a deviation from observing “the Sundays after Easter” in order to celebrate the Holy Day that occurs on April 25.  Today is the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist.

As noted in the Tables of Precedence on page li in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, All Feasts of Apostles and Evangelists are to be celebrated on Sunday unless bumped by certain Feasts or Sundays that have even higher precedence.  In the older liturgical books this would be considered a second class Feast.  Sundays in Lent or Advent, Holy Week and Easter Week cannot be bumped so they would have a first class status.  Thankfully we have a professionally printed church calendar to remind us where we are today in case we forget to check in the prayer book.

Pictured above is a project that our own Cam Walker stumbled upon recently.  Having moved the Bishop’s Cathedra, which is a fancy name for the special chair the bishop sits in while at St. John’s, he discovered that there were two brass plaques on the wall, hidden by the Sedia up front (another fancy church name for a seat).

The plaques note the donation of the great windows to the left and right of the altar and mosaic reredos.  The windows depict the four Evangelists (including St. Mark), as well as Old Testament Prophets.  One is dedicated to John Minor who died in 1890, the other to St. John’s first Junior Warden, John Roberts, obit 1891.

Cam removed the plaques from their original obstructed location, polished them up, and with the help of Pat Walter they were installed in view beneath the windows.

We give thanks to Almighty God for the gift of these wonderful windows, the lives of those in whose memories they were given, and for the labors of those among us to restore and reveal them.