This is the 40th year to hold Holy Week’s (April 3-7) “Soup and Sermon” at St. Mark’s. It is a week-long series. Services start at 12:05 p.m. each day.

Jim Knowles was an ordained deacon at St. Mark’s. He thought it would be a good way to reach out to the community.

He could not have known what a holiday tradition Soup and Sermon would become and how the town would respond.

The four churches which accepted St. Mark’s invitation included Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, the First Baptist Church, United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church.

Each year the members of each of those churches look forward to providing homemade soup, bread or crackers and dessert.

The Catholics always bring potato soup, on Monday the Baptists will serve chili on Tuesday, the Methodists bring homemade chicken and noodles on Wednesday, the Presbyterians always bring taco soup for Thursday and the Episcopalians offer broccoli and cheese soup along with sausage and cheese bread.

A few minutes after noon (12:05) the paster of each church gives a short devotional after which the group convenes for lunch at 12:15.

Anyone who needs to go back to work by 1 p.m. will be able to, but usually people sit and talk and catch up for a while before going home.

While most events and organizations dwindle after a few years, Soup and Sermon has seemed to pick upstream, growing almost taking on a life of its own. Jim Knowles’ spirit can still be felt at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, especially at Easter time.

St. Mark’s is located at the corner of Highland and Walnut. (The little white church with the red doors.) Everyone is encouraged to attend, and everyone is welcome.