St. Mark Episcopal Church in Crossett

08/10/2026

In this week’s readings, we considered how God’s purposes move through betrayal, fear, and the howling wind, and cannot be stopped by any of them. Joseph is stripped of his robe and sold into Egypt by his own brothers, yet the psalm looks back on that same story and sees the hand of God working through every injustice toward a redemption no one could have predicted. Peter steps out of the boat toward Jesus, feels the wind, and begins to sink, but the hand that catches him is immediate and sure. Paul drives it home: the Word is not far off, not locked in heaven or the deep, but near us, on our lips and in our hearts, and how beautiful are the feet of those who carry it forward.

Readings include: Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28; Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b; Romans 10:5-15; and Matthew 14:22-33.

08/01/2026

This Sunday we read of how God meets us in the place of struggle, scarcity, and grief and transforms every one of them. Jacob wrestles through the night with the divine, refuses to let go without a blessing, and limps away with a new name and the mark of that encounter written on his body forever. Paul bears unceasing anguish for his own people, a reminder that genuine love costs something and that the gifts of God are never cause for triumphalism. Jesus, grieving and seeking solitude, is met by a hungry crowd. Rather than turning them away, he takes five loaves and two fish, blesses and breaks them, and feeds five thousand with twelve baskets left over. The church that cannot continue in safety without God’s help is also the church entrusted with more than enough to feed the world.

Readings include Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1-7,16; Romans 9:1-5; and Matthew 14:13-21

07/26/2026

In this week’s readings, the kingdom of God works the way a mustard seed works, the way yeast works — small, hidden, unstoppable, transforming everything it touches. The psalm calls us to remember a God who has been faithful to his covenant across a thousand generations, and Paul reaches the crescendo of Romans 8: neither death nor life, neither things present nor things to come, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. This is the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price, and it has already been given to us.

Readings included Genesis 29:15-28; Psalm 105:1-11, 4; Romans 8:26-39; and Matthew 13:31-33,44-52

07/25/2026

Today in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we pray for the Diocese of Arkansas in the Episcopal Church.

07/18/2026

This Sunday's readings include:

Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139: 1-11, 22-23
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30,36-43

In this week’s readings, the overwhelming presence of God meets us precisely where we are — in the wilderness, in our weakness, in a world where wheat and w**ds grow up together. Jacob falls asleep on a stone and wakes to discover that the gate of heaven was right where he was standing, because there is nowhere we can go where God is not already there, searching us out, knowing us, holding us fast in darkness and in light. Paul carries that forward: we have not received a spirit of slavery and fear, but a spirit of adoption, and the whole groaning creation strains toward the day when God’s children are fully revealed in glory. Jesus tells us to resist the anxious urge to uproot every w**d in the field — judgment belongs to God, and the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom.

07/14/2026

St. Mark Episcopal Church is a sacramental church, meaning that in addition to emphasizing the reading and the preaching of the Word (each Sunday service has readings from the Old and New Testaments, Psalms and the Gospels), we also emphasize the sacraments – or the acts that Christ gave to us – that serve as “outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace.” In other words, the sacraments, Baptism and Holy Eucharist (or Communion), are not just symbols, but promises from Christ.

From The Episcopal Church’s Website: “In the case of Baptism, the outward and visible sign is water, in which the person is baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; the inward and spiritual grace is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God’s family the Church, forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit. In the case of the Eucharist, the outward and visible sign is bread and wine, given and received according to Christ’s command. The inward and spiritual grace is the Body and Blood of Christ given to his people, and received by faith.”

Most Sundays we receive the Eucharist, hearing the words, “The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.” And when receiving the bread and the cup, those who come to the altar hear the promise again: “The body of Christ, the bread of Heaven” and “The blood of Christ, the cup of Salvation.”

Baptism and Eucharist are known as the “dominical sacraments” because they were given to us directly by Christ. In addition to the dominical sacraments, there are other spiritual markers in our journey of faith that we have received from the historical church that can serve as means of grace. These include:
• Confirmation: the adult affirmation of our baptismal vows
• Reconciliation of a Penitent: private confession
• Matrimony: Christian marriage
• Orders: ordination to the diaconate, priesthood, or episcopacy
• Unction: anointing those who are sick or dying with holy oil

07/13/2026

Even though we're a modestly sized church locally, because The Episcopal Church is the American member church of the Anglican communion, we are members in the third largest church globally.

The Episcopal Church is American in history, but global in its reach.

The Episcopal Church includes 106 dioceses and one mission area across 22 countries or territories. It is also part of the Anglican Communion, a worldwide Christian family of 42 Member Churches spanning more than 165 countries.

In other words, The Episcopal Church is connected to a much larger global tradition of faith, worship, and service.

07/13/2026

07/11/2026

This Sunday's readings and selected Psalm will include:

Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 65: (1-8), 9-14
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

The readings will challenge us to consider the Parable of the Sower and how we respond to God's word and call when it comes to us.