CHURCH/PRESCHOOL BEAUTIFICATION DAY TO MAKE OUR CHURCH
WELCOMING
AND
ACCESSIBLE
If you were here, we are so thankful for all your hard work to make St. Mark a beautiful welcoming sanctuary and accessible to all. It's has been long needed to give our space some TLC and we had fun and fellowship in the process.
We also thank Thrivent for their grant, people who donated to help and especially the professional help we received from Lee Highway Nursery.
Big thanks to everyone working at the preschool playground, who helped spread sand, clean up the stream bed, Bennett’s garden and the music garden! We also put a fresh coat of paint on the climber and started work on the new mud kitchen! the playground is open to the community after 5p.m.
Around the church building:
we steam cleaned the carpets, organized narthex, cleaned up the student room, painted the future ADA bathroom, Painted the outside wall of the church, cleaned every window even here in the sanctuary and around the church, put a river rover rock garden at the entrances of the church, mulched everything, trimmed all bushes professionally, replanted the front planter, put in a new garden in front of the church and more...
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FREE LITTLE ST. MARK LIBRARY
St. Mark now has a Little Free Library on the front sidewalk.
Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that inspires a love of reading, builds community, and sparks creativity by fostering neighborhood book exchanges around the world. There are over 90,000 LFLs in 91 countries.
A Little Free Library is a
“take a book, return a book”
free book exchange. Anyone may take a book or bring a book to share. The goal is for people to share their favorite books with their community, both within and without the church.
Our library hopes to have books for all ages and all interests - which will work best if we all participate. You are encouraged to take a book and/or leave a book as often as you want. Enjoy reading!
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OUR CHURCH SPACE
Our church space is
HOLY. It means that it is "set apart" for a special purpose, to serve God, to worship God, and to proclaim God's love to all in many forms.
In this spirit we open our building to specific groups that fits to the use and mission of the church.
Many groups are using our church to gather, talk, sing, pray or play.
You see pictured here is a Monday night at 6:30p.m. group playing chess.
We also have a children choir on Sundays at 4 p.m., AA meetings, Christian Athletes and occasional synod groups.
All our groups encounter a place that is open to all regardless of their nationality, sexual and gender identity, race or socio economic status. Our hope is that sharing the church building not only provide space but also proclaim our faith about God.
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CPP - Child Protection Training at St. Mark
October 9 at 7:00pm
For those who are interested at St. Mark working with children and youth or taking a leadership role at our church. Please let us know if you are coming by replying this email. The training is free and open to all. The training is conducted by the Foothills Child Advocacy Center. Please come to use this opportunity to make our church a safe place.
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Sunday School River Walk and Clean Up October 9
The Sunday Church School group invites everyone to join the youth and their families for some river walking/cleanup/fellowship next Sunday at 9am at Riverview Park. Bring trash bags to help clean up litter. Folks can walk along the trail or play on the playground and enjoy some fellowship outside while cleaning up the beautiful creation that God has made. We will all plan to be back in our cars no later than 9:50 in order to make it back in time for service. Questions? Email
kara.mcclurken@gmail.com
.
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GWOH - God's Work Our Hands - Food Pantry
This month we collected
333 pounds of food for our local food pantry. Thank you for all who contributed and please make food donation through St. Mark part of your way of responding to God's call.
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If you couldn’t make a pledge before, we encourage you to make a commitment with the knowledge that we understand if life circumstances and abilities change. We believe that each of us has the ability to be generous. Life circumstances change and we understand if you cannot fulfill your pledge. There are many ways to respond to God's call and contribute to your church, from prayer to participating and projects and activities.
How do we calculate pledge?
$20 per week = $1040/year
$50 per week = $2600/year
$75 per week = $3900/year
$100 per week = $5200/year
$250 per week = $13,000/year
$500 per week = $26,000/year
In order to work on our budget presented at our annual meeting, the deadline for pledges will be
November 10. We are thankful for your generosity and promise to be good stewards of all of our resources.
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FEEDING CONFIRMANDS
Every Sunday evening before Pastor Viktoria feeds the faith of our Confirmation class, she feeds them dinner.
Dinner is for 9 people and needs to be delivered by 5:00 p.m. to the church kitchen. (Note that one kid is a vegetarian). Contact Heidi Jones with questions (
ernstwrite@yahoo.com
or 434 979 1777).
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PRAYER STUDY - ST. MARK
To come together to learn and grow in prayer, individually and collectively. We will meet from 1PM to 2:30PM each Monday for the next 8 weeks. (Sept 23-Nov 11). Come Join us.
We are reading: Henry Nouwen: The Only Necessary Thing.
We will begin with a short prayer and a sharing of highs and lows. Then we will spend about an hour in a discussion of the readings. Please read the designated chapters prior to the meeting. As you read we suggest you look for/ note your thoughts about the readings.
During the last 15 minutes we will close in shared prayer.
10/7 Chapters 5 and 6 Belovedness; Listening
10/14 Chapters 7 and 8 Discipline ; Unceasing Prayer
10/21 Chapters 9 and 10. Community; Action and Intercession
10/28 Chapters 11 and 12 Forgiveness; Hinderances
11/4 Chapters 13 and 14 Eucharist; Death and Eternal Life
11/11 Summary
(If you were not able to come on 9/14 please read pages 9-22 on your own for background.) We hope you are able to join us. Please come as you are able.
For more information contact:
Laurel McClurken laurel.mcclurken@gmail.com
Linda Roberts wwrlnr@comcast.net
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FIESTA LATINA
(A Hispanic Festival)
SUNDAY
, October 13
right after church
JOIN US
FOR LUNCH
in the school yard
Enjoy a fun afternoon of
FELLOWSHIP
Celebrating some of the wonderful diversity in our land
By having some tacos or taco salad, making Venezuelan arepas,
Singing the folk song “De colores”, Dancing a bit of salsa and merengue
Playing games and Breaking a piñata filled with candies!
Free Will Donation will be given to
Lutheran International Refugee Services
Please
SIGN UP
as to what you would like to bring
for the tacos, taco salad or piñata
Please also bring a
Lawn Chair
and possibly your own cup, plate
and silverware,
Though some will be provided as needed.
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
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EVERY SECOND MONDAY
You are invited!
Our Beer and Hymns
Trinity Pub on the Corner, 7pm to 8 pm.
All ages are welcome. We meet the second Monday of each month, same time and place. Bring your friends to experience this Lutheran tradition. We will have a great time!
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ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL IS BACK!
The adult Sunday School class is an informal discussion group, open to all. We usually have a topic planned, but current events, concerns on the minds of attendees, studies requested by the ELCA, and books or articles on a range of topics have been known to stimulate conversations.
We meet at 9 am on Sundays in the Student Room. Some come late; some need to leave early. Some read topics in advance of class; some come if and when they can. Some contribute liberally to conversations; some choose to listen.
Our first planned topic will be an introduction to and discussion of Dear Church, a book by ELCA pastor Lenny Duncan. We may dedicate our time in September and October to this interesting book. An article by Pastor Duncan was published in the July 2019 issue of Living Lutheran magazine:
IF YOU WANT EVEN MORE DISCUSSION ON THIS BOOK
Join Tapestry this Thursday night at 7:00 PM for our second of six weeks of conversations on "Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US" by Lenny Duncan. We'll be having this six week conversation via Zoom (video chat). Join us for some or all of the sessions as you are able.
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We grieve together with Bob and Laurene Nelson
A Celebration of Life
Service will be held at St. Mark
OCTOBER 5 at 11 a.m.
Sadie Bender Mikels
Oct. 7, 1914-Sept. 8, 2019
There will be dedicated time to share your favorite memories and say good bye until we meet her again in Heaven. After the service you are invited to share light refreshments. You are welcome to bring cookies, nuts or fruit to share.
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Lost and Found
is our annual weekend retreat for
youth in 7th and 8th grade
and their adult advisors. We have Large Group gatherings that consist of singing, energy, comedy, worship and a presentation on our event theme. After each Large Group gathering each person is part of a Small Group made up of about 8 youth and a couple adult leaders where participants will get to know other Lutheran youth from Virginia and discuss life, faith and other topics that arise throughout the weekend. On Saturday afternoon there is large chunk of Free Time during which we will also hold out annual Talent Show. In the evenings you will relax in your Cottage and talk with other youth and adults from your congregation and other congregations about how the weekend is going.
For more information on Lost and Found and to register for the event,
click here
.
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Message on racism and white supremacy
On Sept. 13, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton issued a statement regarding actions the 2019 Churchwide Assembly took to address “the deadly power of racism and white supremacy.” The actions included offering a public apology titled “Declaration of the ELCA to People of African Descent,” adopting a resolution condemning white supremacy and adopting a resolution to establish June 17 as “Emanuel 9 Day of Repentance.” Eaton said, “Standing equally under the judgment and promise of the gospel, we, as a church, can recognize the overt and covert ways that a culture of white supremacy denies full humanity to all people, and we can work to dismantle it.”
Read the statement
.
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Domestic Violence Awareness
Thursday, October 10, 6:30-8:30pm at Northside Library
Multicultural Health Celebration
Saturday, October 5, 9:30 am to 2 pm, The Covenant Church, 1025 E. Rio Rd.
This health fair is designed to address health concerns of refugees and immigrants, as well as underserved local populations. There will be many FREE screenings, including blood pressure, diabetes, hearing, vision, mammograms, dental for children and adults, nutrition counseling, mental health consultations, flu shots and tetanus shots. Lunch and childcare will be provided. Interpreters of various languages will be on hand to help with translations. Contact
Dela Alexander
for more information.
Sacred Sexuality, by Sharon Tate
October 6 and 13, 1 to 2 pm, The Sum, 914 E. Jefferson St., Suite G4
A free two-part presentation and conversation with Sharon Tate about your relationship with your sexuaity and what that means to you.
Download this flyer
for more information.
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Sunday September 29
Welcome:
Tom Hecmanczuk
Greeter:
Jennifer Dwiggins
Ushers:
Lewis & Crosby Horton
Crucifer/Acolyte/Chalice:
Crosby Horton
Assisting Minister:
Nano Masters
Children Moment:
Christa Escobar
Lector:
Tim Hess
Cantor:
Susan Horton
Altar Guild:
Heidi Jones
Nursery:
Nora Giesecke
Snack:
Margi Roache & David & Will Zentmyer
Coffee/Clean up:
Gail Milligan & Amanda Nelsen
Counters:
Pat Dwiggins & Mark Giesecke
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Sunday October 5
Welcome:
Marco Escobar
Greeter:
David Brumbaugh
Ushers:
Tom & Caroline Hecmanczuk
Crucifer/Acolyte/Chalice:
Mia Martin/Alice McKenna
Assisting Minister:
Jack Milligan
Children Moment:
Tom Hecmanczuk
Lector:
Lewis Horton
Cantor:
Tony Marbury
Altar Guild:
Patty Marbury
Nursery:
Mia Martin
Snack:
Carolyn Rader & Kristen Wray
Coffee/Clean up:
Lisa Veale & Caroline Hecmanczuk
Counters:
Greg Wichelns & Mark Giesecke
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St. Mark Lutheran Church (ELCA) of Charlottesville, VA
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