January 26, 2025

9:45 AM English Worship

in person, on Facebook and YouTube

11:00 AM Sunday School and Confirmation Classes

12:15 PM Spanish Worship

in person, on Facebook and YouTube

Flowers from January 19, 2024

My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Thank you on behalf of all of St. Mark’s staff for your generous Christmas gift to each of us and for the personal notes Erik sent to us on behalf of the congregation. It is a blessing and an honor to serve God alongside you. St. Mark’s is a gifted and thriving congregation. I am eager to see what God has in store for us as we continue together on the next leg of the journey.

In my letter to you last week, I spoke of new beginnings and not returning to the status quo. I am applying that to every area of my life, including self-care. I mentioned in a recent sermon that I had gained 20 lbs since Easter. Well, that is now 25 lbs! One of my new beginnings is to resume consistent exercise. So, I have used part of your generous Christmas gift to pay for an annual family membership at our Fairfax County RecCenters. Thank you for making that possible. Maybe by this Easter my clerical collar will not be so tight!

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Albert

PS—It has been my practice to pray for members of St. Mark’s by name while I swim. I pray for participants on council, committees, teams, and other members as they come to me. I pray for both members and their non-member families, also by name when I can. 

News This Week

IMPORTANT CALENDAR UPDATE

for Sundays in February

In light of St. Mark’s Hypothermia program concluding on Sunday, February 2, we will NOT have a bilingual service and community meal to celebrate the Presentation of Our Lord that Sunday. Instead, we will have our regular Sunday schedule. We WILL have one bilingual service at 11:00 AM on Sunday, February 9 to celebrate the Presentation of Our Lord. Our community meal will immediately follow in the Fellowship Hall. The education hour will begin at 9:45 AM, prior to the liturgy. — People have asked what they can bring. A sign-up sheet with some ideas will be in the narthex beginning this Sunday. 

Sunday January 26, 2025 through Sunday February 02, 2025

To Volunteer Use SignUp Genius

or Contact Chris Colovos

These are slots that need to be filled.

Fellowship Hall Shelter Setup

You will assist FACETS staff with unloading the bedding and belongings for approximately 50 guests. 

Time Commitment: 1 hour

1 volunteers needed

Sunday, Jan 26 • 1:30 PM-2:30 PM

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EA5AD2CA1F58-54267575-2025

. . . . . . . . . .

Breakfast & Morning Prep

Morning teams prepare 5:30am breakfast and distribute brown bag lunches.

Time Commitment: 2 hours 

1 volunteers needed

Saturday, Feb 1 • 5:00 AM-7:00 AM

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EA5AD2CA1F58-54267575-2025

. . . . . . . . . .

Oversee Guest Arrival

You will monitor the parking lot to direct guests to the shelter entrance and avoid the Montessori school entrance.

Time Commitment: 45 min

1 volunteer needed

Tuesday, Jan 28 • 4:15 PM-5:00 PM

Thursday, Jan 30 • 4:15 PM-5:00 PM

Friday, Jan 31 • 4:15 PM-5:00 PM

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EA5AD2CA1F58-54267575-2025

. . . . . . . . . .

Fellowship & Evening Activities

Some of our guests are tired after eating and wish to rest. Others enjoy activities, games, or to talk. We will have a variety of preplanned activities. Stay for an hour or all evening.

Time Commitment: 1-3 hours

5 volunteers needed

Friday, Jan 31 • 6:00 PM-10:00 PM

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EA5AD2CA1F58-54267575-2025

. . . . . . . . . .

Overnight Team Leader

As host, you will serve as the primary contact for FACETS' staff and assist them in the safety and well-being of our guests.

Time Commitment: 7 hours (overnight)

1 volunteers needed

Sunday, Jan 26 • 10:00 PM-5:00 AM

Monday, Jan 27 • 10:00 PM-5:00 AM

Tuesday, Jan 28 • 4:15 PM-5:00 PM

Friday, Jan 31 • 4:15 PM-5:00 PM

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EA5AD2CA1F58-54267575-2025

. . . . . . . . . .

Overnight Shelter Support

Assists FACETS staff and team leader with overnight duties and unplanned events.

Time Commitment: 7 hours (overnight)

2 volunteers needed

Sunday, Jan 26 • 10:00 PM-5:00 AM

Monday, Jan 27 • 10:00 PM-5:00 AM

Tuesday, Jan 28 • 10:00 PM-5:00 AM

Wednesday, Jan 29 • 10:00 PM-5:00 AM

Thursday, Jan 39 • 10:00 PM-5:00 AM

Friday, Jan 31 • 10:00 PM-5:00 AM

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EA5AD2CA1F58-54267575-2025

. . . . . . . . . .

Fellowship Hall Shelter Breakdown

Assist FACETS staff in loading loading truck with guests' belongings for delivery to the next hosting church.

Time Commitment: 1 hour

3 volunteers needed

Sunday, Feb 2 • 1:30 PM-2:30 PM

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EA5AD2CA1F58-54267575-2025

Military Packages Collection: Sunday, January 26 (or anytime) 

Thank you very much for all your support of this project during this past year—it does make such a difference to our deployed military folks to know they are supported.

We are pleased to have a recipient group with ties to our St. Mark's family for this end-of-January shipment: Albert Roddy, cousin of Sean Murphy. He and his shipmates are deployed for several months, serving on the USS Stout (DDG 55). Sean has been communicating with his cousin Al and reports that they like lots of things, including chips, beef jerky, cookies, trinkets, cards … and we know that everyone loves to get brownies! You are very clever in coming up with wonderful items that we love to send and they love to receive.

The "official" collection day will be January 26, but you also know you can donate items anytime; if during the week or on a non-collection Sunday, you can put items in the box labeled "Military Packages" on the second floor between the elevator and the office; on collection Sundays, we will have that same box in the narthex.

Thank you, thank you! 

Update on Afghan Refugee Support

Our refugee family is continuing to grow into their new lives in Northern Virginia, and St. Mark’s members have provided recurring situational assistance to them where needed. Out of concern for their privacy, we will leave names out of this update: loving parents S and E, and delightful children M and S. Baby M, born in the USA, is now one year old. Her older brother S is excited to be in kindergarten. E has been piecing together Uber work, as he continues to complete his recovery from being rear-ended by a negligent driver, and he is seeking new full-time work. S is seeing her children grow rapidly and is imagining a life where she can enter the workplace. Like many young women, the demands of motherhood and the cost of child care make it a real challenge to find stimulating work that can provide parental flexibility and support child care.

St. Mark’s has paid for driving school for S, who has passed all of her tests and is awaiting her license. We have provided some supplemental funding for food at times when the family has had gaps in their government food assistance coverage. We are not providing a regular monthly support amount for them, but we have responded when they have identified specific life challenges. They require some prodding to discuss their problems and to identify where they need a helping hand. They are doing without some things that many of us take for granted, such as dental insurance. 

The DONATE ONLINE button on our church website includes a link to the “Aid to Afghan Family” fund to help the family in times of need. Your gifts to them will go a long way to their success in being able to live in our country. And if you know of a possible full-time job situation, that would also be a great help. Thank you!

Looking at Future Possibilities of St. Mark’s in our Neighborhood

Many churches nationwide have completed partnerships to build affordable housing, senior living facilities, and community centers on their excess land, in ways that produce revenue and provide benefits to their neighborhoods. As approved by the Congregation Council, St. Mark’s has signed a Letter of Agreement that will allow us to undertake a study of potential transformation of parts of our properties, which could allow St. Mark’s to continue to be a vibrant presence on Backlick Road for many years to come. Les Fettig is the Managing Director of the Mandate Democracy Foundation, a non-partisan non-profit, based out of George Mason University. Our LOA with Mandate Democracy provides, at no cost to St. Mark’s, a framework that will allow Mandate Democracy to study various options for our properties and give us an indication of the economic and social benefits of those different property configurations. This LOA will not obligate St. Mark’s to take any specific course of action, but it will provide us with an opportunity to begin to visualize how these concepts could help us serve our neighbors and support the future of the congregation. Please stay tuned for further announcements as we engage the congregation in dialogue as we prepare the study. In the meantime, please feel free to contact Erik Long or Les Fettig about this partnership. 

Please Submit Annual Report Inputs

Happy New Year! Our Constitution calls for our Annual Report to be published by February 15th. Please submit your 2024 St. Mark’s Annual Report inputs to the church office by January 31, 2025. 

Our Quarterly Benevolence Schedule for 2025 is:

Q1 – ECHO/St. Mark’s FFO

Q2 – Mar-Lu-Ridge/Caroline Furnace

Q3 – ELCA World Hunger

Q4 – Facets/Lamb Center

In the First Quarter, we are supporting ECHO and our own St. Mark’s Food for Others program.

ECHO (Ecumenical Community Helping Others) provides assistance to individuals/families in need within the Burke/Springfield community by offering food, clothing, housewares, and financial assistance for housing/utilities. St. Mark’s is one of the founding churches of ECHO.

Our FFO teams distribute food to neighbors in need weekly. Your donation will help support purchases of food to supplement what we receive from the grocery stores and FFO warehouse distribution. 

You can support these benevolence recipients through our online giving portal or by designating Quarterly Benevolence on your check. 

Sunday: David Pruiksma, friend of the Weekly’s.

Monday: Doug Saunders, son-in-law of Mary Eskelund.

Tuesday: Grieving family of Laurie Dahlen, friend of Janet Beyea; Verna Diaz, friend of Barbara Quesenberry

Wednesday: Grieving family of Maximiliano Blanco, father of Pr. Varinia Espinosa; family and friends of Laurie Dahlen, friend of Janet Beyea.

Thursday: James Wetzel, brother of Karen Randall; the grieving family of Vic Nelson; Grieving family of Charles Draper, family friend of Cheryl Dwyer.

Friday: grieving family of Marilyn Anderson.

Birthdays Next Week:

Jan 19: Sadie Light

Jan 20: Janet Beyea

Jan 21: Kevin Dahlke

Jan 24: Kevin K. Dahlke

Jan 25: Kay Zumstein 

Birthdays Next Week:

Jan 26: Emma Kornegay Umanzor

Jan 28: Ian Wharton

Jan 30: Joan Enerson, Ella Michaelsen, Myriam Teie

Jan 31: Antti Makinen

Feb 1: Tyler Irwin

Feb 2: Arthur Schwarze

Dwelling in the Word Bible Study

"Dwelling in the Word Bible Study" meets via Zoom meetings (see church calendar for Zoom link) every Thursday at 10:30 AM. Please plan to join us as we begin to study the Book of Hebrews! 

Men’s Bible Study

The Men’s Bible Study Group is reading the Book of Daniel and meets on Wednesdays at 9:00 AM in-person in the Lounge and via Zoom. (See Church Calendar on the web site for Zoom details.)

Thank you one and all for your “pop tops”. The Ronald McDonald house is grateful to each of you!

Yvette Moy and the Salaam Isa Mission Society have three events coming this winter and spring. The first is the annual prayer breakfast and fundraiser at St. John’s in Alexandria. Below is the flyer. The other events will be announced as they draw closer. All three can help us better connect with the generations coming after us.

Connecting with Students at Lynbrook Elementary School

St. Mark’s continues to receive blessings of opportunities to help serve our neighbors. Our renewed outreach to the community is reaping benefits in new and renewed connections with the county, non-profits, and area churches - geared toward meeting the needs of our neighbors. Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services has reached out to St. Mark’s about connecting with children at Lynbrook through the GrandInvolve program. We expect to have someone speak about this volunteer program at Sunday services in the coming weeks. Seniors who register through this program sign up for an hour or two per week to spend at the school tutoring and mentoring. Please see flyer for more information about the program. We will have a sign-up sheet in the Narthex for those who are interested in learning more about this opportunity. 

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