February 17, 2019

Worship Schedule 8:30 AM English Worship Service 9:46 AM The 9:46 Crowd (Adult Forum) 10:00 AM English Worship Service 11:05 AM Sunday School combined English/Spanish 11:06 AM The 11:06 Crowd (Adult Forum) 12:00 PM Spanish Worship Service

Message from Pastor Triolo

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, I am still coming down from cloud nine after a wonderful Sunday at St. Mark’s. I thank the countless people who worked hard to make the day so beautiful. Almost 240 people gathered in church and over 50 computers were streaming our one bilingual service. At the beginning of the service, our mortgage notes were presented as paid in full and we prayed in thanksgiving that St. Mark’s is now debt free. Later in the service, we celebrated the Presentation of Our Lord and sent the doll representing the Baby Jesus home with one of our families until next Christmas Eve. Throughout the service, we heard beautiful music from four of St. Mark’s music ministries. At the end of the service, we burned our mortgage for all to see. Just before dismissal from the service, council’s vision and strategies were shared. After the service, we picked up our meals in the Fellowship Hall and spread out around the building to celebrate. It was a beautiful day with all of God’s diverse people celebrating our unity in God’s family and looking to the future with excitement. To put the icing on the cake — and to call it icing is the understatement of a lifetime — one of St. Mark’s members made an unsolicited gift of $50,000 toward the vision, specifically the strategy to add bathrooms off of the narthex. Thanks be to God! I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday and to the work the Holy Spirit will do through St. Mark’s in the years to come. God loves you and so do I, + Pastor Albert

Announcements

Lenten Service Schedule   Ash Wednesday, March 6: English services will be at 10:30 AM and 7:30 PM, our Spanish service time is TBD. Midweek soup and services: 10:30 AM English service is followed by soup in the Fellowship Hall. 6:30 PM soup supper in the Fellowship Hall is followed by 7:15 PM services. The English services will be in the sanctuary and the Spanish services will be in the lounge. Notice the earlier-than-normal time of 7:15 PM. Holy Week begins on Sunday, April 14 : Palm-Passion Sunday services are at our regular worship times: 8:30 AM and 10:00 AM, English and 12:00 NOON, Spanish. Holy Thursday services in English are at 10:30 AM and 7:30 PM. Good Friday services in English are at 12:00 NOON and 7:30 PM. Spanish services for Holy Thursday and Good Friday are TBD.

Next Military Packages Collection: Sunday, February 24   Our recipient this month is Ivy Warbis and her cohorts—she was suggested by one of our contacts who is a friend of Sandy Lind. Ivy has been in the Air force for 14 years. She is currently deployed on a remote one-year tour at Incirlik AB, Turkey, doing Special Duty as the Readiness NCO at the Airman & Family Readiness Center, which includes being the installation Casualty Assistance representative.  The only special requests she mentioned are Hazelnut Ground coffee (regular ground coffee, NOT K-cups), and bath stuff (bombs and bubble bath, etc.). (Don’t fret, we will NOT list the items as bath bombs on the customs forms!) She says she herself is partial to snacks on the more-healthful side, but they all will be ecstatic with any items we send … and you know how the recipients always rave about the brownies and other goodies you bake! Since this is the time of year we can send chocolates without them melting, if you end up with leftover   Valentine’s s Day chocolates and want them out of your way and not a source of temptation, we will be happy to include them in boxes we send—you know you can place them in the military packages box in the narthex any time, or bring them any last-Sunday-of-the-month military packages collection.   Thank you so very much for your continuing generous   support of our deployed service members via this project.

Women of the ELCA: Bold Women’s Day and Thankoffering On Sunday, February 24, our St. Mark’s WELCA/MIELA will celebrate Bold Women’s Day and will invite the congregation to participate in a Thankoffering collection that goes to churchwide Women of the ELCA to support their ministries. Each year on Bold Women’s Day, we honor women who have boldly stepped forward to take on what needs to be done to further the ministries of the Women of the ELCA. Did you know … … in the 1850s, Lutheran women raised chickens to sell the eggs and made quilts to sell to fund missions here and abroad. … after the 1850s, Lutheran women sent female teachers and nurses into the mission field as well as creating the schools and provide funding for the mission fields. … in the 1930s, the Women’s Missionary Society used Thankofferings to continue to fund the women’s expanding missions. ... and the beat goes on ... Today’s WELCA/MIELA continues to take up causes and finance ministries—locally, nationally, and globally. Please join us in us in helping to support our missions.

Food Collection for ECHO Once again it is time for St. Mark’s to help ECHO keep its food room stocked. This is the time of year when food donations drop, so ECHO relies heavily on its supporters. The following items are needed at this time. You can pick up a bag in the narthex this Sunday or next Sunday and return it by March 3. Items needed will also be attached to the bags—or you can bring your own bag.    *Jelly                                                 * Detergent Vegetable Oil                                     *Deodorant *Canned Pasta                                    Razors *Tomato Paste (6/8 oz.)                       Shaving Cream *Jello/pudding mix                             *Facial Tissue *Boxed Rice (2#)                                 Adult/child OTC pain medications *Canned meat                                     Coffee/Tea *Juice or Milk cartons (individual size) Flour (2 lb)                                  *Most needed items

Holiday Show by Troop and Pack 881 11-24-18 Our Holiday Show this year was performed at Brightview Assisted Living in Annandale. I did not know that Troop 881’s Holiday Show was so famous that we had to perform two back to back shows to satisfy our audience. It was a huge surprise to us all! All of my fellow Scouts were there to display their best acting; and this was also the first time our girl Cub Scouts joined us. All of our performances were excellent but there were some that surpassed our standards. The first one was a funny skit called “The Harry Hamburger,” performed by Kien, Minh-Vien, and Steven. It was about a customer finding hair in the hamburger and how shockingly speechless he was when he found out the patty was pressed in the cook’s hairy armpit! The audience laughed like kids in a candy store. The second one was a poem called “Sick” read by Kien. It was about a girl named Peggy Ann Mckay who wanted to skip school and used all kinds of unbelievable excuses to stay at home. She gave up when her Mom told her it was Saturday! The audience cracked up! Our girl Cub Scouts, Vy, Vivian, Kayla, Isabella also did an excellence job dancing to the song “Baby Shark.” Jason, my fellow Scout recited a funny poem named “Stupid.” Finally, Tyler read a cheerful poem called “A Christmas Tree” which brought us the holiday spirit. This was a successful show, probably the best show we had ever done. Thanks to Mr. Kyger, Mr. Phong, Mrs. Hang, Mr. Curtis and our parents the 2018 Holiday Show wouldn't be possible and I am looking forward to the next year's show!

Help wanted : We are seeking a facilitator (leader) for either  The 9:46 Crowd  or  The 11:06 Crowd  (both English Adult Forums). Presently, Rodney Pendleton is handling both groups but would like some help with one or the other. If you are interested in helping, please contact Pastor Triolo, the church office, or any Church Council member. Help wanted : We are seeking volunteers for a new ministry at St. Mark’s to operate the audio system from an iPad during services and, eventually, assist in the live streaming and recording of our services. Our goal is to relieve our Pastors of any responsibility for the system during services. You will be trained on the very user-friendly system, and if you have an agile index finger and can use an iPad, you possess all the needed skills. Please contact Pastor Triolo, the church office, or any Council member to express interest.

St. Mark's Youth Group

Ministry Team February 17

Altar Flower Dedications

Communion Cards.  Please don’t forget to fill out a communion card each time you  worship . Cards are located in the pew racks. If your address has changed, you can include that information so the church office can update your records. In addition, use of the card allows the church office to enter your communion and attendance in the official church records. Thank you.

Kristin's Message based on the lectionary of the week by Kristin Berkey Abbott .

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