Our My Story occasional series invites St. Mark’s members to share their stories guided by these prompts:
- What brought you to St. Mark’s?
- What keeps you coming back to St. Mark’s?
- Where have you recently seen God at work in your life and/or at St. Mark’s?
This submission is from BILL ZAHNER. Thank you Bill for sharing your story!
1. What brought you to St. Mark’s?
I came to St. Mark’s with my family (Kasey, Elsie, and Vivienne) because it is a welcoming community engaged in community service.One of my former coworkers had been a member of St. Mark’s and she recommended it to us. From the first day we visited, we felt warmly welcomed and we enjoyed the small but dedicated community at St. Mark’s. One special memory was being at St. Mark’s for Mother Hannah’s studies and ordination. That was a great moment to participate in the expansion of the ministry.
2. What keeps you coming back to St. Mark’s?
Both my wife Kasey and I have spent years of our lives engaged in voluntary community service. I was part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Chuuk, Micronesia and Kasey was a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Lowell, MA. My experience as a volunteer taught me the importance of community service, and I keep coming back to contribute to this community which, in turn, supports the City Heights neighborhood. While I can’t join the pantry days due to my work schedule, I enjoy hearing the stories of the pantry and contributing to the St Mark’s outreach efforts from the sidelines. As a family, we also join in other community work such as contributing to the fundraisers, reading on Sundays, and participating on Vestry. I was a part of a Hamlet, but I couldn’t maintain that while also doing all of the things I have to do as a parent and full time college professor.
St. Mark’s is small so the usual 80-20 rule is turned on its head – it is nearly 100-100! (The 80-20 rule is “in most organizations 80% of the participation comes form 20% of the members, while at St. Mark’s 100% of the participation comes from nearly 100% of the members!). In recent years I have held the role of Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer. While these roles are not nearly as glamorous as they sound, I do enjoy making a meaningful contribution to keeping the church community healthy.
3. Where have you seen God at work in your life and/or at St. Mark’s recently?
Outreach & Quickbooks.
I try my best to find God in the day to day work of supporting the community by tracking finances (Really!). While it can be hard to see a deeper meaning while I am tracking down receipts, scanning, and filing papers, I do see this work as part of less visible but important work of keeping an organization running. During my time in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Micronesia, I learned that a great deal of the important work of community service is, well, boring. That doesn’t make it less important, and the trick is to find God in those everyday moments, rather than to seek out a constant stream of peak experiences.