In 2007 Mark was ordained as a deacon at Trinity Presbyterian Church in East Brunswick, NJ, the only church to which he has belonged for fifty years.  This was the beginning of the current journey although it was not so clear at that time.  Through increasing participation in various church ministries, Mark was unexpectedly asked to present the sermon for one of the annual Deacon Sunday services.  To his surprise it was well received and soon his pastor started a conversation about considering seminary.  After about a year of soul searching, prayer, and considering every reason why he should not, Mark enrolled at New Brunswick Theological Seminary and was taken under care by Monmouth Presbytery.  Now after completing an eight month field education residency with the First Presbyterian Church of Belmar and four hundred hours of Clinical Pastoral Education at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, Mark has fulfilled his seminary education requirements, was graduated on May 20, 2017, and has just concluded his PC(USA) ordination exams.  

About the Message this Sunday  -  Scholarship is in agreement that John's is the latest of the gospels to be written based upon its theological development and consciousness of historical events. One such event that weighs heavily is the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 CE. 

This catastrophic event carried out by the occupying Roman forces produced a situation that called for immediate action by the temple authorities as the seat of their worship and their very lives as Jews was suddenly gone. The answer in the face of such a life changing event was a strict defining of what it meant to be a Jew and of an ingathering of the faithful in an attempt to insulate themselves from further desecration. 

This action of pulling in toward the center left little room for divergent religious practices and the Johannine community found themselves increasingly barred from the fellowship of those with whom they had previously sought inclusion. Using Jesus' words John speaks not to those living during Jesus' time but to those of his own time assuring them that although the pain of change may seem unbearable, God's purpose never changes and will triumph in the end. In following Jesus we are offered to lose our lives, to live fully into the gospel message rather than to hate our lives, do nothing, and remain untransformed.