13 January 2026
This Sunday we gather for the annual meeting after the high mass. A light lunch will be served, and the meeting will begin at 12:45 noon in the Parish Hall. At the annual meeting the parish elects candidates for the vestry and our diocesan convention delegates. The 2026 budget will also be shared, along with current stewardship statistics of the membership. If you have not pledged for 2026, you may still do so. Please know that pledges do not carry over from year to year, and thus every year we make a new pledge for the upcoming year.
Regarding elections, according to the bylaws, the rector appoints the senior warden, and I am grateful that Dr. Randall Furushima will serve for another year. Each year the junior warden is elected at the annual meeting, and Michel Reavis has agreed to stand for election. We are grateful to Jesse Wilson for his service in this role for the past few years. Each year we also elect three vestry members to serve a three-year term. Standing for election for the vestry are Jeanne DeCosta, Joan Doike, Kaye Kawahara.
Members may also be nominated for vestry elections at the Annual Meeting. Vestry members commit to being examples of discipleship for all of us. They are deeply involved in the ministries of the parish, supporting high holy days, attending and planning formation classes, and serving in the behind-the-scenes ministries of St. Mark’s. Such service is crucial for the day-to-day operations of the church.
In addition to the vestry elections, we will be electing three diocesan convention delegates. I have explained these details recently at the Sunday masses and in the Evangel, but it bears repeating as 2026 is an important year for the diocese. This year there will be two diocesan conventions. On Saturday, May 16, there is the convention for electing the next bishop. On Saturday, October 17, the diocese gathers for the annual convention. The delegates we elect at our meeting this Sunday will be the delegates for both conventions. We have three delegates to elect, and currently standing for election are Randy Furushima, Sandra Leialoha, and Michel Reavis. Jeanne DeCosta is running as an alternate. Nominations for diocesan delegates may also be taken at Sunday’s meeting.
The number of votes a church receives at convention is based on the church’s self-reporting of communicants in good standing - those who attend worship regularly and for whom there is a record of financial support. Because in 2024 St. Mark’s reported 121 communicants in good standing, we are given three votes at diocesan convention. Each church has two delegates for the first 100 communicants, plus one additional delegate for each additional 100 communicants or fraction thereof. The church with the most communicants in good standing is St. Elizabeth’s. They reported 505 communicants in good standing which gives them seven voting delegates at convention. You may view the report of the 2024 communicants in good standing via the link below.
As we gather for our Annual Meeting this Sunday, we will reflect upon the past year, but more importantly we will see how we are positioned for the future. Sometimes people equate Christianity and our faith merely with tradition, but the truth is that Christianity is a future-oriented faith. We are always much more concerned with where we are headed. The past is important, but the future is paramount. This is good news, because as we gather for the governance of our parish, we are called to dream about how God is leading us into the future. From the cross we are called into resurrection life.
Father Paul Lillie +
