Church Services
Pastor Dave has written a letter to the congregation of St Mark's UCC. A copy of the letter is below. Visitors are welcome to join our Facebook Live Stream.
| worship_cancellation_notice_march_17_2020.pdf |
Updated March 29th - Services will be through Facebook Live and the Conference Call System until further notice. Dates of the first service back in the Sanctuary will be posted on our Facebook page and the home page of the website.
Prayer and Scriptures through the Week
In lieu of weekly Bible Study, Pastor Dave will be offering daily times of hope and inspiration. The details of that are below:
Are you getting tired of hearing bad news about Covid-19 (coronavirus) and the effects of the virus on people and the economy? Are you growing weary of needing to stay home and afraid for your own health if you decide to go outside of your house? If you are, then you are not alone. Many are feeling the stress and anxiety of constantly hearing bad news (even if we don’t have any physical symptoms of the illness) and we are craving words of hope and promise.
Virtual gatherings of scripture and prayer will be shared every Wednesday and Friday at Noon and at 7 PM over the phone. The gatherings will also be streamed live on St. Mark’s United Church of Christ Facebook Page at Noon. The video can be viewed on St. Mark’s Facebook page anytime after that. The gatherings will last between 10 -15 minutes a day. Just enough time to allow us to catch our breath so that we can re-center our lives on God.
To access the daily gatherings over the phone, the steps are very simple:
The number to access the worship service is
(215) 383-1625
When asked for the 6 digit conference code, enter: 569284
If you are asked for the host PIN number, just press *
When you are asked for your attendee PIN number, just press *
We hope you will join us for the opportunity to know that God is still God, and to seek God’s presence as we journey through this dark valley.
Note: The 215 number is a long distance number. Please ensure you have long distance capabilities or you'll incur a cost on your bill.
Are you getting tired of hearing bad news about Covid-19 (coronavirus) and the effects of the virus on people and the economy? Are you growing weary of needing to stay home and afraid for your own health if you decide to go outside of your house? If you are, then you are not alone. Many are feeling the stress and anxiety of constantly hearing bad news (even if we don’t have any physical symptoms of the illness) and we are craving words of hope and promise.
Virtual gatherings of scripture and prayer will be shared every Wednesday and Friday at Noon and at 7 PM over the phone. The gatherings will also be streamed live on St. Mark’s United Church of Christ Facebook Page at Noon. The video can be viewed on St. Mark’s Facebook page anytime after that. The gatherings will last between 10 -15 minutes a day. Just enough time to allow us to catch our breath so that we can re-center our lives on God.
To access the daily gatherings over the phone, the steps are very simple:
The number to access the worship service is
(215) 383-1625
When asked for the 6 digit conference code, enter: 569284
If you are asked for the host PIN number, just press *
When you are asked for your attendee PIN number, just press *
We hope you will join us for the opportunity to know that God is still God, and to seek God’s presence as we journey through this dark valley.
Note: The 215 number is a long distance number. Please ensure you have long distance capabilities or you'll incur a cost on your bill.
Stay at Home Bingo
One of our sister UCC churches had reference to stay at home bingo. Attached, you'll fine a kid's version and an adult version. One way to pass the time in case anyone was bored. Enjoy!
| occ-kid-version-stay-at-home-bingo.pdf |
| occ-stay-at-home-bingo.pdf |
Virtual Activities Occurring at St Mark's
Saturday Night Youth Game Night
This activity is being done through Face Time. We'll be meeting every Saturday evening from 6-9:30 PM for activities and games. If your youth is interested, please reach out to Kathy for more information
This activity is being done through Face Time. We'll be meeting every Saturday evening from 6-9:30 PM for activities and games. If your youth is interested, please reach out to Kathy for more information
Virtual Bingo
Bingo is every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6:30 - 7:30 PM. Use the conference call system to join. If you have bingo cards laying around, great. If not, you can make your own. Use pennies, buttons, popcorn, whatever for your bingo chips
Draw a square that is 5x5. Put B I N G O above each column header.
B - 1 - 15, I - 16 - 30, N 31 - 45, G 46 - 60 and O 61 -75
Remember the free space in the middle. You can pick your own numbers in each of the 5 columns. A sample card might look like this
B I N G O
11 22 41 46 73
13 26 34 56 67
12 25 Free 54 62
3 30 36 51 63
4 18 39 50 72
This is just for fun and something to do. There is no cost, nor any prizes.
Draw a square that is 5x5. Put B I N G O above each column header.
B - 1 - 15, I - 16 - 30, N 31 - 45, G 46 - 60 and O 61 -75
Remember the free space in the middle. You can pick your own numbers in each of the 5 columns. A sample card might look like this
B I N G O
11 22 41 46 73
13 26 34 56 67
12 25 Free 54 62
3 30 36 51 63
4 18 39 50 72
This is just for fun and something to do. There is no cost, nor any prizes.
Kid's Team
All Kid's Team participants should've received in the mail their copy of the Kid's Team Challenge. This runs from now through Easter Sunday. If you didn't get your copy, please reach out to Kathy.
All Kid's Team participants will receive activities every week through the mail.
All Kid's Team participants should've received in the mail their copy of the Kid's Team Challenge. This runs from now through Easter Sunday. If you didn't get your copy, please reach out to Kathy.
All Kid's Team participants will receive activities every week through the mail.
General Information
What if I have a pastoral need during this time?
Please call the church office at 717-273-0151. If the office is closed due to the virus, listen to the information on the voice message of how to get in contact with Pastor Dave.
What time will the church service on Sunday be that I can join Facebook or the phone conference?
The church service will begin at 9:00. It will have announcements, prayer, Scriptures, the weekly message and hopefully some type of music.
I see there's an option to join Facebook Live Stream and the Conference Call. Do I need to join both?
No, the preference is for all that can join the Facebook Live Stream to join that to keep the conference call for those that have no internet option. If you are reading this message, you "should" be able to see the Facebook Live Stream.
I'm not a member of Facebook. How can I join the Live Stream?
Come to the St Mark's UCC website. www.saintmarksucc.com. On the home page you will see the little Facebook (italicized F) symbol in the upper right of the page to the left of the search tab. Click on that. It will take you to the public version of the St Mark's UCC Facebook page.
I can't listen to the service at 9:00? What are my options?
The Facebook LiveStream will stay on our public portion of our Facebook page.
I want to get my weekly or biweekly or monthly giving in to help with the bills, how do I do that?
While we continue to work to get to online giving up and running, that won't be for a little bit. In the interim, send your check (No cash please) to the church office:
St Mark's UCC
426 N 8th St
Lebanon, PA 17046
If you are able, you can combine multiple weeks into one check and send to save on postage. For ease of recording, put in the memo section of the check your envelope number and amount to go to the General Fund versus the Building Fund.
Will my committee meeting automatically be cancelled?
During this time of social distancing it is encouraged to not have face to face meetings. However, if the committee chair wants to have their meeting through the conference call system, they can reach out to Kathy to get it scheduled.
How long will the conference call system be up and running?
While the conference call system was created to give an alternative for church during this time of uncertainty, the plan is to keep this up and running even when we are back in the Sanctuary. This will give options to those that are not able to be with us each week either because of illness, work schedule or they just aren't able to be with us face to face anymore.
Please call the church office at 717-273-0151. If the office is closed due to the virus, listen to the information on the voice message of how to get in contact with Pastor Dave.
What time will the church service on Sunday be that I can join Facebook or the phone conference?
The church service will begin at 9:00. It will have announcements, prayer, Scriptures, the weekly message and hopefully some type of music.
I see there's an option to join Facebook Live Stream and the Conference Call. Do I need to join both?
No, the preference is for all that can join the Facebook Live Stream to join that to keep the conference call for those that have no internet option. If you are reading this message, you "should" be able to see the Facebook Live Stream.
I'm not a member of Facebook. How can I join the Live Stream?
Come to the St Mark's UCC website. www.saintmarksucc.com. On the home page you will see the little Facebook (italicized F) symbol in the upper right of the page to the left of the search tab. Click on that. It will take you to the public version of the St Mark's UCC Facebook page.
I can't listen to the service at 9:00? What are my options?
The Facebook LiveStream will stay on our public portion of our Facebook page.
I want to get my weekly or biweekly or monthly giving in to help with the bills, how do I do that?
While we continue to work to get to online giving up and running, that won't be for a little bit. In the interim, send your check (No cash please) to the church office:
St Mark's UCC
426 N 8th St
Lebanon, PA 17046
If you are able, you can combine multiple weeks into one check and send to save on postage. For ease of recording, put in the memo section of the check your envelope number and amount to go to the General Fund versus the Building Fund.
Will my committee meeting automatically be cancelled?
During this time of social distancing it is encouraged to not have face to face meetings. However, if the committee chair wants to have their meeting through the conference call system, they can reach out to Kathy to get it scheduled.
How long will the conference call system be up and running?
While the conference call system was created to give an alternative for church during this time of uncertainty, the plan is to keep this up and running even when we are back in the Sanctuary. This will give options to those that are not able to be with us each week either because of illness, work schedule or they just aren't able to be with us face to face anymore.
Links of Interest
Center For Disease Control (CDC)
Lebanon County Emergency Resources
Employees in PA impacted by Covid-19
REACH Lebanon County
Health and Human Services provides non emergency information for those in Lebanon County
Health and Human Services provides non emergency information for those in Lebanon County
Wellspan Hospital
The information is pretty much the same across all hospitals, so just picked Wellspan to reference
The information is pretty much the same across all hospitals, so just picked Wellspan to reference