St. Mark's Episcopal Church
August 2, 2020
The Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
Join us this Sunday for a broadcast from the Sanctuary of St. Mark's at 10:30 through our website or Facebook page

L et your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.
Message from Christian
This Sunday, we will continue with Morning Prayer, actually a Service of the Word, and preaching. The Gospel from Matthew has much to do with the Eucharist, as it is the story of the feeding of thousands of people with just a few loaves of bread and fish. There were baskets left over!

We will not celebrate Eucharist, though, the Eucharist, consecrated bread and wine, is always present in the Tabernacle at the Altar, a living symbol of the Body and Blood of Jesus. This Sunday, we will have a large loaf of bread and wine on the High Altar to remind us that we are people of the Eucharist, the Communion with God in Jesus and with one another, key to our life together.

Somewhat like the Israelites in exile in Egypt and in Babylon, we might consider that we are somewhat in exile, and we long for and will again be united around the 'Table of the Lord' and in and through the sharing of the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist. Until then, let us consider how we are Eucharist for one another, united in prayer, united in and through the Spirit, united in truth, justice and love, an end to violence, racism and hatred, and the list goes on and well that it should, right?

May God sustain us as followers of Jesus and the Beloved Community to which we cling as the Household of God at St. Mark's.

Blessings to you. ~ Christian+
St. Mark’s Breakfast Cafe’

We continue to serve on Saturday mornings with an average attendance of about 50 patrons. They have expressed how grateful they are and our teams have been happy to serve. We are averaging about 3-4 volunteers per week and it is apparent that with new health regulations to address, we would need triple that number to serve every week if we were to move indoors in the fall or when we are given permission to do so. We have team leaders in place and need to fill the team for the four weeks of the month (sometimes 5)

Please call Megan at the church if you would like to be added to the list of volunteers and let her know which week of the month you would like to serve. We could welcome you on board now or you could let us know if you wish to wait until we move indoors. Thanks so much for considering joining St. Mark’s most impactful outreach program.
Prayer Continues During the Week
We are thankful to those who wish to offer an opportunity of prayer during the week. Please join us through our website or facebook for a livestream time of prayer on the following days and times.
Monday 8:00 p.m. Compline
Wednesday 12:00 p.m. Noon Prayer
Thursdays 8:00 p.m. Compline
Read and Discuss Ibram X. Kendi’s book “How To Be Antiracist . Please join with fellow St. Mark’s parishioners in a group discussion of nationally recognized author Ibram X. Kendi’s book “How To Be An Antiracist” and note an updated list of dates in the link below.
A message from your Endowment Board
Finances at St. Mark's

We are grateful to all those who have maintained their pledge,
paid up their pledge for the year,
those who have contributed beyond their pledge
and those who continue to financially support the mission of
the Church at St. Mark's.

We recognize that the results of the pandemic
and not gathering together as a community on Sundays has had
and will have an impact on the Parish's finances. 

Weekly giving is considerably under what is needed to meet the budget.
Tuesday, the Finance Ministry met and looked
at past and present giving and will attempt to project
what giving may be in the upcoming months.
 Potential budget cuts loom large.
We anticipate what budget cuts may mean for staff
and other operational aspects of the Parish budget.

We ask for your prayers as well as financial support in helping us
meet the needs of the budget for 2020. 

Thank you for your prayers and support.
 May God be with us.
 
~ Christian+
Grand Rapids Episcopal Youth
I am happy to say that youth group is back! We took a break and are ready to be back in full swing July 15 at 6:30! Middle and high schoolers are all invited and you can join us for all or part of our time together. (Those going into middle school in the fall and those who have just graduated high school this year are welcome, too.) Our gathering tomorrow will primarily be a game night and we'll finish with Compline by around 8:30.
Please email me, Jeff Brown @ jeffatgrey@gmail.com for the link to the zoom meeting.
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Thank you for your continued support of St. Mark's!
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the LORD's people.
St. Mark's is a part of the
Staff Vacations
Please note the time away for staff vacation time
Mother Sue - July 15-29
Father Christian - Aug 3-18
Megan - Aug 1-7
Pam - Aug 17-21
Jeff - Aug 8 & 9
St. Mark's Episcopal Church

Grand Rapids, MI 49503
616-456-1684
https://.www.stmarksgr.org
https://www.facebook.com/stmarksgr/
meganh@stmarksgr.org