Join Us This Sunday
9:00 am Holy Communion with Children's Time - Sanctuary
9:00 am Endowment Committee Meeting - Conference Room
9:40 am Sunday School Chapel - School Rooms/TBA
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
10:05 am Adult Forum: Dr. Steed Davidson - "How the Old Testament Became a Book/Bible" - Auditorium
11:00 am Choral Eucharist - Sanctuary
12:15 pm Refreshments & Fellowship Hour - Heritage Hall
12:30 pm El Salvador Sister Parish Ministry Meeting - Conference Room
Adult Forum
Feb. 22 - Mar. 15 - "Encountering the Old Testament" with Dr. Steed Davidson of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
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 for 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).
SMOP Outing this Sunday, February 22: John McLaren Park
Join SMOP for a hike on Sunday 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.
The next SMOP outing will be Sunday, March 22nd departing at 1:00 pm from the upper parking lot for Sunol Regional Wilderness in the East Bay. Our hike will include Little Yosemite, a scenic gorge on Alameda Creek about two miles upstream from the Visitor Center. Pastor Bekah will help to arrange carpools.
El Salvador Sister Parish Ministry Meeting this Sunday, February 22
Are you interested in St. Mark's global mission work? Curious about the Lutheran church in El Salvador? If so, please join us for an El Salvador sister parish ministry meeting on Sunday at 12:30 pm! We will meet in the conference room of the Urban Life Center.
Guest Preacher at St. Mark’s Next Week, Sunday, March 1st
ELCA clergy in San Francisco will be preaching at each other’s congregations on Sunday, March 1st. We will welcome Pastor Megan Rohrer at St. Mark’s! Pastor Megan serves at Grace Lutheran at Ulloa and 33rd Avenue.
Lenten Box Collections for This Season
The money collected in the St. Mark’s Lenten boxes this year will be split between the Campaign for the ELCA and Lutheran Social Services of Northern California. Take a box home and fill it with your spare cash and change, or write a check, then bring it back at Easter on Sunday, April 5th.
Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA
The Campaign for the ELCA is our church body’s moment to look toward the future of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and boldly respond to the needs of the world with a living, daring confidence in God’s grace. This five-year, $198 million campaign will help our church grow our communities of faith, form new leaders, welcome our neighbors, overcome malaria, confront hunger and poverty, accompany our global companion churches, and so much more. For more information, visit http://www.elca.org/campaign
Lutheran Social Services of Northern California
All of the people that Lutheran Social Services (LSS) serves share a common need for safe, affordable and stable housing. LSS programs work towards that common goal. In San Francisco, LSS currently provides two primary types of services – money management services for chronically homeless adults with special needs and case management services for adults, families and seniors living in supportive housing sites. For more information, visit http://www.lssnorcal.org
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.
Journeys in Faith: Today’s Rite of Welcome
This Sunday at the 11:00 am service, we welcome those who wish to begin or renew their relationship with our congregation and have chosen to go through Journeys in Faith. At the beginning of the service, the journeyers are introduced and invited to join the congregation in worship. In the middle of the service, these affirmers are blessed as they begin this special time of sharing and reflection, leading towards their affirmation of their baptism at the Easter Vigil service.
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 12:00 pm
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 12:00 pm. 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!
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.
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.
News from Mt. Cross
Registration is now open for summer programs at Mt. Cross! This year's theme, "A Love that Never Ends", centers around discussion of Deuteronomy 6:5 and what it means to love as God loves. Visit the Mt. Cross website to view a list of exciting programming options for children, youth groups, and families: http://www.mtcross.org/#!summer-programs/c3vg
Mt. Cross has also begun hiring staff for the summer of 2015! Camp can be a transformative and rewarding experience for participants and staff alike. Know of anyone 18 years or older who would enjoy working at camp? Please encourage them to apply at: http://www.mtcross.org/#!employment/c1vud
California Bach Society Discount
Use the code "ST MARKS SF" to purchase discounted tickets for the California Bach Society’s Fri., Feb. 27 concert at St. Mark’s. Visit http://www.calbach.org/
Worship Leaders for this Sunday
Assisting Ministers...Kyle Schiefelbein (9); Richard Boyle, Linda Jackson (11)
Lectors...Robert Rathmell (9); Rachel Letchumanan (11)
Chalice Bearers...Jeremy McClain, Mark Semonian (9); Jane Borg, Clovis Curl (11)
Acolytes...Astra Varian, Nora Hurley
Welcome Ministry...Louis Gutierrez, Jerrold Allen (9); Larry DeSpain, John Elford, Gail and Cal Culp (11)
Refreshment Hour Chairs...Donna Dindia, Chuck Lewis
(Next Week: Marie-Jose Baum, Kate Knickerbocker)