October 21, 2018

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

Message from Pastor Triolo

Dear Friends in Christ, We are blessed to have Pastor Phil Hirsch—Assistant to the Bishop for Mission—with us for worship this Sunday at all three services. Pastor Hirsch will preach and have fellowship with us between services. We will also have an additional treat at the 10:00 AM service. We will have both our children’s choir and a newly formed youth choir offering music to the glory of God! Lastly, I was very blessed to be able to participate in this fall’s men’s Via de Christo . Men, mark your calendars for the next opportunity, which will be the last week of April 2019! The women’s retreat is this weekend. We have two women making the pilgrimage. Please be praying for the Holy Spirit to touch their hearts with God’s love and presence. Yours in the life of God, + Pastor Albert

Announcements

St. Mark's Montessori School will hold a Peace Day celebration on Friday, October 19th, beginning at 9:30 AM  in the Fellowship Hall. Please join us for songs, fellowship, and the sharing of bread. Immediately following, we will process to the playground for its dedication ceremony. Come one, come all!

St. Mark's Fall Congregation Meeting Sunday, November 11 at 5:00 PM, meal served by the youth This is the annual business meeting for the congregation. Nominations and elections for the Church Council and presentation of a proposed budget for 2019 are two of the business items. Please put this important meeting of our congregation on your calendar. Paul Palm, Council President

Have you ever thought about making a legacy gift to St. Mark's? A legacy gift to St. Mark's is a planned future donation, given through your will or other form of beneficiary designation (life insurance, IRA, or trust document). It can be in whatever amount you designate and can take any number of forms, which are described in greater detail in the two-page tri-fold pamphlet at the link below. There are many benefits of Legacy Giving to St. Mark's, benefits such as showing your love for God and your neighbor, changing the world for the Kingdom of God, supporting missions and programs that have been important to you over your lifetime, improving your life satisfaction, and reducing your tax burden. Your gifts can make a real difference! It's truly a win-win for everybody! Want to know more? Go to St. Mark’s website at http://www.stmarks-elca.org/legacy-giving/ or contact Cindy Hausch-Booth at cindyhauschbooth@hotmail.com . Caroline Furnace needs our help! Caroline Furnace has an industrial style sewage treatment plant that requires major maintenance. The plant handles the sewage for the entire main portion of the camp including the cabins, Sukkahs, dining hall, showers and bathrooms, and the primary meeting facility – the Upper Room. The cost is $40,000 and the work will take three (3) months to complete. This past summer the camp was used by almost 300 youth for various themed summer camps. If the treatment plant were to fail next summer, the camp could not function. The Caroline Furnace Board would like to start the repair work this month (October) when camp use is low. Board members are reaching out to Caroline Furnace congregations as well as to individuals in an effort to raise the much-needed $40,000. Can you help? Our goal is to contribute $5,000 from St. Mark’s. Your check made out to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church designated for Caroline Furnace will help ensure that St. Mark’s youth and youth throughout the Synod have a camp for next summer and beyond. Please contact Dave Appler at daveappler@verizon.net or (703) 455-1074 if you have any question. Thank you. Counters Needed . We have a shortage of Counters at St. Mark’s and are looking for a few good men and women to volunteer their services. The job is pretty easy (accurately count and record offerings), the hours are convenient (about an hour-and-a-half on your scheduled Sunday), and you serve once every six weeks. Plus, the camaraderie is second to none! There are six teams each with three or four members. If interested, please contact Ellie Schwarze at eeschwarze1@verizon.net or (703) 354-8896.

Altar Guild needs a volunteer to manage the weekly flower dedications. The job entails assembling the dedication requests (no money is involved), entering them into a shared document, processing occasional changes throughout the year, and making them available to the church office for inclusion in the weekly bulletin. The task requires little time and just a few basic computer skills. If willing to help, please contact Patty Carlson on (703) 455-8239.

Next Military Packages Collection: Sunday, October 28   Our recipient for this month will be William Faurote. His name was suggested by Barb and Lance Quesenberry, who are friends of William’s mother-in-law. He is in the Navy, serving on the mine sweeper  USS Devastator (AM-318) , one of four MCM (mine counter-measures) ships deployed to the Arabian Gulf. It is capable of finding, classifying, and destroying moored and bottom mines in U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in the Arabian Gulf, one of the world's most critical bodies of water for international maritime traffic.   We have not received specific requests from him, although we do hear he likes gaming magazines. If we get other specific requests from him, we’ll let you know. Since they are on a ship, smaller items might be preferred over bulkier items … your usual wonderful goodies will be welcome touches of home. Thank you – you all are always so generous!

ECHO Holiday Meal Program In addition to providing practical, basic-needs assistance, ECHO conducts a Holiday Meal Program to bring cheer to struggling people at Thanksgiving or Christmas. In order to do that, we seek help from groups or individuals to purchase and deliver either the actual groceries for a festive meal, or food store gift cards appropriate for family size, to one or more of over 300 local families. If you are interested, please contact our congregation’s ECHO Representative Janet Apruzese at 703-455-0099 who will then supply you with the name, address, and family size, plus guidelines for gift cards or grocery items for the family you will be assisting. It will be helpful to know by October 25 if you wish to provide a Thanksgiving meal, or by December 1 for a Christmas meal.

St. Mark's Youth

Save the Date

Holiday Bazaar—It’s Coming Soon! Believe it or not, St. Mark's Holiday Bazaar is only a month away on November 4 th . Because the Bazaar Crafters group has shrunk down to three people, we will be depending on donations from the congregation much more than in the past. Soooo, get your creative juices flowing, cooking, making gift baskets, offering gift certificates for flower arrangements ... whatever you'd like to share. Use this opportunity to donate your no-longer-needed treasures to Grandma's Attic or books to the Dime (or more) Novel Table. If you have ideas for offering something new, please let us know ... soon!  As usual, we will need set-up help on Saturday, November 3, beginning at 1:00 PM, people to work at the Bazaar from 9:00 AM to 12:00 AM, and clean-up help beginning at noon on Sunday. Thank you in advance from the crafters, but most importantly, a big THANK YOU from those who will benefit from the Bazaar proceeds via St. Mark's Outreach Ministries.  Questions ... suggestions ... contact Mary Anderson, Beverly Clemsen, or Mary Eskelund.

Save the Date Winter Property Cleanup, December 8, 2018 Connect with members and friends of St. Mark's to help with the winter cleanup of our church property (church, Friendship House, parsonage) on December 8, 2018, between 8:00 AM and NOON. If you have them, bring your truck, gloves, rakes, leaf blowers, ear plugs, tarps (to haul leaves), loppers, wheel barrows, elbow grease, and enthusiasm. Extra tools will be available if you don't have them.  A leaf vacuum   truck will begin taking up the leaves around 9:00 AM, so come as early as possible to   get the leaves ready for the truck . Please contact Alan Eck at 703-569-0814 or  FranAlanEck@msn.com  with questions or requests. This is a great way for Civics students and people required to do Community work to earn service hours. Make this a family affair.

Ministry Team October 21

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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Article Deadline We need YOUR help! In order that ALL OF US receive the necessary documents for This Week, The Messenger, and the website, please send all articles you wish to have published no later than 5:00 PM on the Tuesday before the Sunday you wish for the articles to appear. Send those articles to communications@stmarks-elca.org .