August 18, 2019

Worship Schedule 8:30 AM English Worship Service 10:00 AM English Worship Service 12:00 PM Spanish Worship Service 

A Message From Pastor Triolo

Dear Friends, It is with joy that we announce St. Mark’s new Director for Youth and Family Ministry, Grace Casola. Grace will begin her ministry among us on Monday, August 26. May God bless her and St. Mark’s as this new chapter in God’s mission unfolds. Yours in God’s Love, Pastor Albert

Grace Casola is a Lutheran Christian, born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia, who is currently attending Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria as a first year seminarian. Prior to her entrance to the Virginia Synod candidacy process in March 2019 to become a pastor, she served as the Coordinator of Children, Youth, and Family Ministries at College Lutheran Church in Salem, Virginia for two years. There, she worked to provide students and their families with substantive, meaningful Christian programming both at church and at home and realized her call to ministry. Grace believes that strong interpersonal connection is the key to healthy student and family ministry and strives to form these meaningful relationships. Grace has a heart for children, having worked as an SAT/ACT tutor, a swim coach, a pre-school teacher, and an elementary school tutor. During her undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia, she also served as both the co-president of the Lutheran Campus Ministry and the Director of Youth Ministries at St. Mark Lutheran Church- Charlottesville. Grace is a 2017 honors graduate with degrees in Cognitive Science and Religious Studies. When she is not eyeballs-deep in books and papers at school, Grace enjoys swimming, relaxing with friends and family, and learning new words.

Announcements

Military Packages Collection Update: Thank you!!! You really outdid yourselves in July! You generously came through with tons (rounded up!) of items for our end-of-July recipient and her cohorts. Thank you very much!! While she has not yet received the packages, she did say in her earlier email how much our thoughtfulness means. She wrote: I can’t emphasize enough how much your support means! Your thoughtfulness gets us through the tough days and is a wonderful reminder of what we look forward to returning home to.

Next Military Packages Collection: Sunday, August 25 This month’s recipient is Chad Swinehart, and he writes the following:  Let me start off by saying thank you for your support and for this ministry that your church performs. It always goes a long way to keep the morale high in the squadron when we get care packages.   As for specific requests, I do not have anything in particular that I need. However I can give you some items that are usually very popular among the rest of the squadron. Twizzlers always get eaten up very quickly, and generally any other type of candy or trail mix is pretty popular (avoid chocolate or peanut butter-based stuff because it tends to melt before it makes it to us). Brownies sound great. Of course, we will be very grateful for whatever you send.   As for me, I grew up in Tennessee in a suburb of Nashville. I am married and have two children. I am in the Air Force and currently serving in Iraq as an Air Advisor. I work with the Iraqi military and advise them on improving their processes and procedures to increase their overall effectiveness.     Once again thank you for your generosity and grace, I know my squadron will thoroughly enjoy everything we receive.

Chuck and I thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts, cards, letters, visits, and the beautiful flowers. During these days of recovery, they have brought us much comfort.   Sincerely, Sadie

We are going into our second year of the St. Mark’s MOPs group and want to ensure that all moms know they are welcome to attend! The group is held on the second Monday of each month starting September 9 th and lasting through June 8 th . We are meeting from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. During this group we encourage and uplift each other while growing in motherhood. Discussions are centered around parenting difficulties that most mothers incur. We take turns bringing dinner, salad, or vegetables. Childcare is offered while the group meets. Children eat and play while the moms get a couple of hours to be around other mothers sharing their experiences, challenges and victories. After catching up during dinner, we watch a short video which leads into the topic of discussion for the night. Then we discuss the topic while making a craft…. Don’t worry, being crafty isn’t a requirement. 😊 Please email Amanda Linkow if you are interested in joining the group, volunteering to watch the children, or you have any questions. You may also check out the national MOPs website at, www.mops.org . We encourage anyone interested in joining our group, to sign up on the MOPs website using our St. Mark’s group code, 5GA0 (the “0” is a digit).

Counters Needed We have a shortage of Counters at St. Marks 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 twelve weeks. Plus, the camaraderie is second to none! There are seven teams each with three or four members. If interested, please e-mail Ellie Schwarze or call (703) 354-8896.

Practicing the Presence of God Join us on Sunday, August 25 at 9:46 AM or 11:06 AM for a presentation and conversation led by Yvette Moy on deepening our awareness of God’s ever-present activity in and through us. Yvette will be using “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence as the foundation for this event. The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence Brother Lawrence was a man of humble beginnings who discovered the greatest secret of living in the kingdom of God here on earth. It is the art of “practicing the presence of God in one single act that does not end.” He often stated that it is God who paints Himself in the depths of our souls. We must merely open our hearts to receive Him and His loving presence. As a humble cook, Brother Lawrence learned an important lesson through each daily chore: The time he spent in communion with the Lord should be the same, whether he was bustling around in the kitchen — with several people asking questions at the same time — or on his knees in prayer. He learned to cultivate the deep presence of God so thoroughly in his own heart that he was able to joyfully exclaim, “I am doing now what I will do for all eternity. I am blessing God, praising Him, adoring Him, and loving Him with all my heart.” This classic, available at your favorite retailers, has given both blessing and instruction to those who can be content with nothing less than knowing God in all His majesty and feeling His loving presence throughout each simple day.

SEEKING A FEW GOOD MEN AND WOMEN! "St. Mark's NEEDS YOU 👉 …" For our annual Congregation Meeting elections on Sunday, November 10, St. Mark's 2019 the Nominating Committee is seeking six members of our congregation to fill four spots for three-year terms on the Council and two members to serve on next year’s Nominating Committee (one-year term). If you can recommend someone for these positions, please contact any of the members of this year’s Nominating Committee members: Mike Hardy, Beverly Clemsen, Ivan Eby, Stephanie Stock, and Harriet Latta. Also, we will take nominations/volunteers from the floor for four delegates to next year’s Synod Assembly to be a one-day meeting on a TBD Saturday in June, 2020.

RECONNECT SUNDAY Potluck Brunch! “Reconnect Sunday” is September 8—we’re all looking forward to reconnecting with friends we haven’t seen as often over the summer and St. Mark’s is sponsoring a Potluck Brunch between our 10:00 AM service and our 12:00 NOON service.  Mark your calendars:  Potluck Brunch ...   Sunday ,  September 8 ...   11:00 AM-12:00 NOON More info to follow …

No Children’s Church for the Fall Dear Friends, Based on springtime conversations with the parents of our congregation’s children and youth, we are going to try something new for the upcoming school year. Instead of having the children leave for Children's Church, the children will stay in the sanctuary with their parents during the entire service. Children will be provided with worship related activity bags as they come into church and the service, including sermon will include elements that intentionally speak to them. This idea comes from our parents who expressed the desire to have their children with them during worship. The main goal is for the children to see their parents passionately worshiping, reverently praying, and joyfully singing God's praises. Parents would be modeling for their children the value they put in wholeheartedly worshiping God. The nursery will continue to be available for those who need it. Peace be with you, + Pastor Albert

Connecting with Community

Can You Sew? We need more volunteers to help sew 30 cloth backpacks or school bags for the kids at La escuela de Inglés San Miguel Arcángel where Jane Hernandez teaches English in Cancun, Mexico. It is our goal to complete these by August 20 so Jane can take them with her when she returns to Cancun.  We are using the pattern  How to make a drawstring backpack  from Lutheran World Relief that is used in school kits. The kits are made from a rectangle of sturdy light weight fabric such as denim, canvas, twill, or corduroy. The finished size is 14" x 17”. One piece of strong cord/rope 4 yards total (1/4" in diameter) is needed for each drawstring backpack. Patterns will be available from the Narthex display and the attachment below. Fabric is available from the Quilters on Tuesday if you need some. We will make clothesline available for the drawstring if needed. If you would like to sew one or a few of these bags, please contact Cherry Moser at  clmoser@cox.net  or 703-690-8177.

Directions for Bags

Now Collecting School Supplies for Children Needing Free Physicals. (any leftover supplies will be given to ECHO to distribute to needy students in our community)

New backpacks – girls’ and boys’ – all grade levels 3-ring binders – 1”, 1½”, 2” only Paper pocket folders with prongs and without prong Vinyl or laminated pocket folders with prongs and without prongs Spiral notebooks – wide-ruled and college-ruled Composition notebooks – wide-ruled 3’ X 5” lined index cards 3” X 3” Post-it notes Student scissors – pointed tips only #2 pencils Pink pearl erasers Small pencil sharpeners with covers Colored pencils – 12 pack Pens – black, blue, red Markers – broad tip and thin tip – 10 pack Highlighters – broad tip and thin tip Dry erase markers – broad tip and thin tip Gently used/new books/novels for pleasure reading for grades K –12 – We are especially low on books for Grades 6 – 8.

FREE COMMUNITY SUPPERS Nutrition is a need in our community. Most children at Lynbrook Elementary School receive free or reduced meals. Some of the families have difficulty providing meals for their children on weekends. Beginning on Sunday, September 8, St. Mark’s will host a weekly community supper free to our neighbors from 5:00 – 6:00 PM. Pastor Albert will prepare the meals for the first month. We are applying for a $250 Thrivent Action Team grant to provide funds for the first month of meals. Another couple at St. Mark’s has already generously given $1,000 to help support the effort. We can still use help in the kitchen, with setup and breakdown, and connecting with our neighbors during the meal. In addition to providing meals, we plan to identify two to three other needs in our community through our conversations and work with our neighbors to help meet these needs. We are also hopeful that our time together will lead to some form of a worship service at 6:00 PM. Our neighbors would not be expected to join us, but they would certainly be welcome and invited.

Ministry Team August 18

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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