Join Us This Sunday
9:00 am Holy Communion with Children's Time - Sanctuary
9:40 am Sunday School Chapel - Conference Room
9:45 am Journeys in Faith Gathering - Fireside Room
10:00 am Sunday School - School Rooms
10:00 am Refreshments - Heritage Hall
10:00 am Confirmation Class - Youth Room
10:10 am Adult Forum: Pastor Elizabeth's Ecumenical Pilgrimage Report - Auditorium
11:00 am Choral Eucharist - Sanctuary
12:15 pm Refreshments & Fellowship Hour - Heritage Hall
12:30 pm Youth Gathering Information Meeting - Heritage Hall
Lent Begins on February 18 — Ash Wednesday Worship
Please join us for Ash Wednesday worship at 12:00 pm and 7:00 pm. Both services will offer the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion. There will be no Wednesday supper on that day. Childcare will be available at the 7:00 pm service.
If you have saved your Palm Sunday palms, please bring them this Sunday, February 15 so that they may be burned to make ashes for Ash Wednesday.
Adult Forum
Feb. 15—Pastor Elizabeth’s Ecumenical Pilgrimage Report
Pastor Elizabeth returns this weekend from her Ecumenical Pilgrimage Journey with ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton. Come and hear about their visits with ecumenical partners in England, Geneva and Rome while Bishop Eaton serves as an ambassador for the ELCA both in the United States and abroad.
Feb. 22-Mar. 15—“Encountering the Old Testament” with Dr. Steed Davidson
We are very excited to welcome Dr. Steed Davidson to St. Mark's for a series of Adult Forums in Lent. Dr. Davidson has taught Old Testament at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California since 2007 and served as a member of the core doctoral faculty at the Graduate Theological Union since 2010. Davidson, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, earned a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Topics covered each week are "How the Old Testament Became a Book/Bible" (Feb. 22), "God's Grace in the Old Testament" (Mar. 1), "Leading Ladies in the Old Testament" (Mar. 8) and "Understanding Violence in the Old Testament" (Mar. 15). These Adult Forums will be held from 10:05 am - 10:55 am in the Auditorium.
Journeys in Faith Invitation
A new group is forming for Journeys in Faith. Come join us in the Fireside Room on Sunday morning, starting at 9:45 am for a time of conversation and reflection. All are welcome! Contact Liv Beck for more information (beckliv@gmail.com).
Meeting About Detroit National Youth Gathering, July 15-19
High school youth and parents are invited to a meeting this Sunday, Feb. 15th at 12:30 pm in Heritage Hall about the ELCA Youth Gathering this summer in Detroit. For more details, please visit http://www.elca.org/youthgathering or contact Pastor Bekah.
Next SMOP Outing: John McLaren Park, Sun., Feb. 22nd
Join SMOP for the next hike at San Francisco’s second largest park! The carpool will depart from the upper parking lot at 1:00 pm to explore Yosemite Marsh, the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, and the Redwood Grove. Please bring food to share for a picnic during the hike. Contact Pastor Bekah for more details.
Loyalty Awards Program Coordinator for St. Mark's
We are looking for a volunteer to coordinate and promote eScrip and other customer loyalty programs to support St. Mark's ministries. The coordinator will help to encourage St. Mark's friends and members to sign up with these loyalty programs and designate St. Mark's as a recipient. St. Mark's receives a small percentage of money from the purchases made with these specific merchants. Interested? Please speak with Pr. Elizabeth for details.
Interfaith Food Pantry
Each year, St. Mark's — along with several other churches — rotates on a weekly basis to distribute food to the needy at Old First Presbyterian Church (1751 Sacramento Street near Van Ness Avenue.) We are looking for at least 12 volunteers for each session to help. The dates for 2015 are Saturdays March 28, May 9, June 27, Aug. 8, Sept. 26 and Nov. 7. The time commitment is from 7:30am-10:30am. Visit http://www.stmarks-sf.org/ministries/pantry to sign up or for more information.
Church Office Closed on Monday, February 16
The church office will be closed on Monday, February 16 in observance of President’s Day.
Give Thrivent Choice Dollars® to St. Mark’s Now!
Thrivent Financial members: Please take a moment to direct your Choice Dollars to St. Mark’s. Thrivent just posted your Choice "earnings" through December. Our Thrivent members at St. Mark's recently had $2,000 available to donate!! Whether you have $10 or $20 or $200, please donate now! You can check your Choice balance and donate online or by calling 800-THRIVENT (800-847-4836) and saying "Thrivent Choice." Contact Omer Voss with questions at omervoss@prodigy.net.
Next SMART Outing: Ai Weiwei’s @Large on Sat., Feb 28th
The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is internationally renowned for work that defies the distinction between art and activism. In this exhibition of new works created specifically for Alcatraz, Ai responds to the island’s layered legacy as a 19th-century military fortress, a notorious federal penitentiary, a site of Native American heritage and protest, and now one of America’s most visited national parks. Revealing new perspectives on Alcatraz, the exhibition raises questions about freedom of expression and human rights that resonate far beyond this particular place. Ai's sculpture, sound, and mixed-media installations occupy four locations in the former prison: the New Industries Building; a group of cells in A Block; the Hospital; and the Dining Hall. See Pr. Bekah for more details and ticket information.
Save the Date! Summer Day Camp at St. Mark's: June 29-July 3, 2015
Children can come enjoy a week of faith-based fun here at St. Mark’s during the week of June 29 – July 3. Day Camp is a unique partnership between our congregation and Mt. Cross Lutheran Camp. Children will enjoy group games, arts & crafts, worship, community building activities and Bible Encounters. The camp is open to youth who have completed kindergarten through 6th grade. For more information, please contact Kimberly Hamilton-Lam (mjjkmom@yahoo.com).
Training for New Worship Leaders: Saturday, March 28 at 12pm
Have you ever been interested in serving Communion, reading Scripture, greeting visitors, or carrying the processional cross during Sunday worship? We are recruiting additional assisting ministers, lectors, acolytes, ushers, and other worship leaders. There will be a training on Saturday, March 28 at 12:00pm. We will serve a light lunch before having a brief worship time and then training. Please contact louie@stmarks-sf.org if you would like to sign up for this opportunity!
Donate Flowers in 2015
The 2015 Flower donation chart is posted in the hallway across from the church kitchen. St. Mark's members and friends can sign up to donate flowers for the chancel on a Sunday by placing your name on the chart for the Sunday you wish. Your donation can be in memory of a loved one or in honor of a particular occasion. The donation is $50 and can be paid via check in the offering plate. Please note "Flowers" in the memo of the check.
2015 Luther Lecture at PLTS: Dr. George Tinker
The 2015 Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary Luther Lecture will be on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 at 9:00am, featuring Dr. George Tinker, a PLTS graduate and a professor at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. He will speak on the topic "Indians, Lutherans, and Decolonizing Creation: Postcolonial Salvation". How does Euro-Christian theology supplant a Native holistic understanding of the world? Can individualized salvation and concern for ecology and creation be part of the same worldview? Please contact Pr. Bekah if you wish to attend the lecture and carpool to Berkeley. Registration for the lecture and a lunch following is $20.
Housing Needed
A friend of St. Mark’s, a quiet professional, is in need of immediate short or long term housing in San Francisco (or the Peninsula/East Bay). She can be reached at (415) 730-6475.
Worship Leaders for this Sunday
Assisting Ministers...Liv Beck (9); Greg Jahnke, Richard Boyle (11)
Lectors...Barbara McCormick (9); Jo Chadwick (11)
Chalice Bearers...Matt Helland, Andrew Sallach (9); Marisa Louie, Jane Borg (11)
Acolytes...Mila Sall, Tayte Sall
Welcome Ministry...Omer Voss (9); Jerry Lundblad (11)
Refreshment Hour Chairs...John Elford, Marge Okuley, Hiroko Nagata (Next week: Donna Dindia, Chuck Lewis)