Welcome from the Rector

Father Paul Lillie, Rector

Aloha on behalf of the people of St. Mark's. Welcome to our website, and we look forwarding to welcoming you in person at our church.

A generous 'ohana, St. Mark's is a growing church within the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i, and we enjoy celebrating our Anglo-Catholic heritage and our Hawaiian mission roots.  The patron of St. Mark's is Queen Emma, the wife of King Kamehameha IV. The Holy Sovereigns invited the Church of England to the Hawaiian Islands, and Queen Emma is known for her many works of support and advocacy for the poor and sick. She died on St. Mark's Day, April 25, in 1885.

We are a diverse parish, representing the many different peoples of O'ahu. It is our faith in Jesus Christ, expressed through our Anglo-Catholic spirituality, which unites us.  When we come together for the Eucharist, we become one in Christ. Since 1908 St. Mark's has been ministering the love of Christ to the neighborhoods of Kapahulu and Diamond Head in Honolulu. We also now serve the neighborhood of Waikiki, and on a typical Sunday, tourists and seasonal visitors worship with us too.

Whether you are new to the church, local, or visiting, please join us.

Father Paul Lillie
Rector, St. Mark's Episcopal Church

 

News from the Rector

Rector's Journal
From the Rector: Looking Ahead
From the Rector: Looking Ahead

The Annual Meeting of St. Mark’s is this Sunday, January 19, at 12:30 noon in the Parish Hall. We will hold elections for the Vestry and Diocesan Convention delegates, ministry reports will be shared, and the vestry will serve lunch. The meeting usually runs under an hour. When you arrive please sign in, so that the vestry may establish that we have a quorum consisting of the membership.

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From the Rector: Epiphany Light
From the Rector: Epiphany Light

One of the challenges we face every year in the Church is that once Christmas Eve and Day have been celebrated, people have grown tired of Christmas. Because the secular world begins Christmas so early, by the time the Nativity of our Lord arrives, people are ready to be finished with Christmas. Add to this the great emphasis placed on New Year's Eve in our local cultures, and there is little energy left for a robust celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas culminating with Epiphany Day on January 6.

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From the Senior Warden: Christmas Reflections
From the Senior Warden: Christmas Reflections

We quickly caught our breath after Thanksgiving to welcome Advent this year. Such pace may have caught us unprepared for the riches of Advent. I have friends who struggled to fit family obligations into their calendars. To have control over our calendars is alluring. After all, managing time well is a hallmark of responsibility and an increasing social necessity.

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From the Oblate: Christmas as a Mystery Novel
From the Oblate: Christmas as a Mystery Novel

A good mystery novel is a work of art.  Every scene is significant–even those in which not much seems to be happening–and every detail, no matter how small, has a place in an intricately crafted plot.  The same is true of the liturgies of the church.  Not just the yearly cycle of seasons from Advent to ordinary time, but the cycles of liturgies that mark the special holy days in our parish life, like Easter and, most recently, Christmas.

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From the Rector: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us
From the Rector: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. At St. Mark's we hear these words from St. John's Gospel at the conclusion of almost every mass. One of the exceptions is on Christmas Day when the Prologue of John is the main gospel of the mass, and at the end of the mass we hear the story of the Magi adoring the Christ. Many of us can say the Prologue of John from memory since we hear it almost every day.

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From the Rector: Christmas Peace
From the Rector: Christmas Peace

We have entered the Greater Ferias (weekdays) of Advent. Beginning on December 17 and ending on December 23, at the daily masses we hear the stories from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke that lead to the birth of Jesus. If you are fortunate to attend these daily masses, you will be thoroughly prepared for Christmas.

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