The Messenger of St. Mark's | Epiphany | January 28, 2022
Please come wearing a mask - Masks are required indoors - even if fully vaccinated.
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SAINT MARK'S MISSION & OUTREACH
This Sunday at 9:30 AM: Annual Meeting & Pancake Breakfast
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Our Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, January 30. Annual Meeting is a time for the entire parish to get up to date on all happenings within the parish, learn the goals of the year ahead, vote for new Vestry/Delegate members, and learn the financial status of the church. The meeting will be integrated with our regularly scheduled Sunday Liturgy at 9:30 a.m.

Afterwards, we'll have a scrumptious pancake breakfast presented to the parish by the Hospitality Team. There will be both indoor and outdoor accommodations. Please consider bringing a bowl of fresh fruit to add to the pancake breakfast smorgasbord!

All are welcome. Come as you are.
St. Mark's is Stepping Up to Support Immigrants
February Call to Action
Members and Friends of St. Mark's are stepping up in all sorts of ways to provide support for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, and we invite you to join us! Whether you take smaller steps or bigger steps, whether you take one step or several, your participation helps encourage and support displaced individuals and families on their journey towards safety, stability, and thriving. 

Small Step: Check out the most recent update from Rio Grande Borderlands Ministry and take a moment to pray for those mentioned in the RGBM Cycle of Prayer at https://riograndeborderland.org/blog/st-christophers-el-paso

Medium Step: Donate one or more pairs of unused athletic shoes for asylum seekers who are coming through Albuquerque (see "February Shoe Drive" announcement below for more details) or contact Mary Ellen or Kate

Bigger Step: Consider serving as a financial sponsor for one or more members of an Afghan Family seeking safety in the US. Contact Mother Sylvia or Tela Schwebach for more information and invitation to a Zoom Meeting with one of the family members on February 12th at 9AM. 

Next Steps: Join others committed to this important work on Sunday, February 27th (and the 4th Sunday of EACH month) from 11:30-12:15 at St. Mark's for prayer, updates, sharing, and identifying our "next steps" for the coming month! Contact Mary Beth

Thank you for stepping in and stepping up! 
February Shoe Drive for Asylum Seekers
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We don’t care if you call them athletic shoes, sneakers, gym shoes, tennis shoes, tenny runners or trainers. We just hope you will join us in this shoe drive for asylum seekers.

We are helping the Annunciation House in El Paso as they receive asylum seekers who cross the southern border at Juarez. An ad hoc, citywide ecumenical group is meeting buses sent to Albuquerque to catch flights to their sponsors’ homes elsewhere in the U. S. They give people a change of clothes, food, and find them a motel room to stay in while they isolate five days after COVID testing. Then they board a flight or a bus on their way to sponsors, usually family members who filed the necessary paperwork and covered their transportation costs.

For St. Mark’s contribution to this outreach effort, we have chosen athletic shoes—people are arriving in flipflops. We need men’s sizes 5-7, women’s sizes 5-7.5 and children’s sizes 3.5-7.

Many of you remember that from March-June 2019, through this same ecumenical coalition, Albuquerque residents provided assistance to hundreds of asylum seekers. That help is needed again. The first bus that arrived here mid-January carried 55 people, one third of whom were children. These immigrants were from not only Central America but also from Haiti, Turkey, Russia and Brazil. One of their biggest needs: shoes. No one can predict the ages of the next group of bus riders, so we are asking for a wide range of sizes.

Throughout February, St. Mark’s will be collecting new athletic shoes in the sizes mentioned above. Buy a pair and bring it with you next Sunday. New shoes only, please. If you have a limited budget, buy a pair of adult shoes. You will be helping families take the next step toward a new life.

If you have any questions, please email Kate Spielmann, Mary Ellen Elliott and Mary Beth Libbey (send them an email here).

And, if you want to know more about what else we can do to support asylum seekers, come to our small group gathering after worship on the fourth Sunday, which our clergy have designated Share and Care Sunday. On Sunday, February 27, we will pray together, share news, and discern other ways we can welcome the stranger.
Celebrating Candlemas at St. Mark's
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Bring your candles to be blessed on Sunday, February 6th. 

The church throughout the world celebrates the feast of Candlemas (also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple) each year on February 2nd. We plan to celebrate this feast day (belatedly) at St. Mark's on Sunday, February 6th. It is customary at Candlemas for the church to bless candles for use throughout the coming year.  You are invited to bring a candle (or basket of candles) from home to be blessed during our Sunday liturgy on Sunday, February 6th.  
Call to Photography Artists
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The next show to be featured in St. Mark’s Gallery from March through May, will be photography. If you are a photography artist, please consider entering several pieces of your finest works to this show. Contact Audrey Minard (email) or Anne Gordon Fritz (email) for a prospectus and entry form.
 
Thank you,
St. Mark’s Gallery
2022 Stewardship Update
2022 Stewardship
We currently have 134 households pledging a total of $483,212.
GIVE TO ST. MARK'S
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All are welcome to give and/or pledge to St. Mark's by:

  • Mail (St. Mark's has a secure mailbox and is checked regularly): 431 Richmond Place NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106.

  • You may give electronically through the Diocese of the Rio Grande Parish Donation site and check the box next to "Albuquerque-St. Mark's". Just fill out the rest of the information and click the Next button at the bottom of the page. Please make sure fill out "special instructions or comment" to let us know how to apply your gift (i.e.: pledge, congregational relief fund, etc.).

  • You may give electronically (including pledge payments) to St. Mark's - securely via PayPal® - anytime. Please consider checking the box that reads, "I’d like to add to my donation to help offset the cost of processing."
DIOCESE & BEYOND
DRG Recovery Ministries
DRG Recovery Ministries invites all to celebrate the life and work of the Rev. Canon Samuel Moor Shoemaker. See more here: Recovery in the DRG.
LGBTQ+ Virtual Evening Prayer
The LGBTQ+ Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande will host a service of Evening Prayer on Sunday, February 13, at 6:00 pm (mountain time). This service will be online.
 
Please join the liturgy via Zoom Click here to join Zoom liturgy or Facebook Live Click here to watch on Facebook
 
 
If you have any questions, please contact us at LGBTQdrg@gmail.com
Federal Government No-Cost COVID-19 Tests
COVID-19 Omnicron
The federal government is offering up to four free at-home COVID-19 tests per residence. The tests will not ship without requesting them. You may request yours here: https://www.covidtests.gov/
Email submissions should be sent (via email) to the Communications Specialist by 11:00 a.m. each Tuesday for inclusion on Thursday's e-news. Please see submission guidelines here.
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