Our Easter Letter

Our members should have received the annual Easter letter from Fr. David in the mail this week. You can also read it below.

Easter Offerings and Flower Offerings

Easter gifts and contributions toward Easter flowers are welcomed. To have the names in honor or memory of your loved ones printed in the Easter bulletins, please submit the information by this Wednesday, April 16. You may return the envelope you were mailed, call the church office (616-456-1684) or email Kate. Additional envelopes are on the Resource Table in the Sanctuary.

What joy it will be to fill the Sanctuary with blooms after Lent!

A Note on Incense: it will be used at the Saturday Easter Vigil and the 10:30 am Easter Sunday Service. There will not be incense at the 8 am Easter Service.

Announcements & Celebrations

Thank you to everyone who led, made soup for, met faithfully in fellowship with and grew their spirits through our recent education offerings. Love God, Love God's World just finished making up for multiple snow days. The two recent book studies of Being Christian and The Four Vision Quests of Jesus were both also well attended and positively discussed.



From the Life of the Church

Happy Birthday this past week to Dr. Gregory Crowell!

Hands-on activities as the Grand Rapids Episcopal Youth group discusses 'Holy Trouble'.

Any photos you'd like shared with the congregation can be emailed to Kate (or send her a Google Photos shared album invite or Drive link).

  Holy Week and Easter 2025 Come! Pray! Worship!

 Stations of the Cross: “The Way of the Cross” booklets are available at the Welcome Desk. Come in Monday–Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Good Friday hours will be limited to 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

April 14-19

Monday and Tuesday Labyrinth Prayer, drop-in 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Tenebrae (Service of Shadows), 7:00 p.m.

Maundy Thursday Soup and Bread Supper, 6:00 p.m.

                                                            Foot Washing & Holy Eucharist, 7:00 p.m.

                                                            Keeping Watch until 10:00 p.m.

Ecumenical Good Friday Service at Park Church, 10 E. Park Pl NE, Noon

Good Friday Liturgy, 7:00 p.m.

Vigil of Easter*, 7:00 p.m. with Fellowship afterward

April 20  Easter Eucharist

8 a.m. & 10:30 a.m.*

Easter Egg Hunt for children following the 10:30 a.m. service

*Incense will be used at the Saturday vigil and 10:30 a.m. on Easter Sunday

Church office closed most of Good Friday and all Easter Monday.

St. Philip’s Episcopal Church Fish Fry Fridays:



Eat in or carry out from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. today, April 11. Fried catfish filets ($15) or ocean perch ($12), with sides of coleslaw, spaghetti, bread and cake. A tasty way to support this local sister church carrying on this tradition...and not have to cook tonight.

Intergenerational Earth Day Retreat

April 25 - 27 | Camp Roger, Rockford

The deadline to register is April 21st. Space is limited and may fill before the deadline. Learn more and register here.

Folx from the Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes and beyond are invited to explore our relationships to and with the Earth, during an all-ages retreat at Camp Roger this spring. Together, we'll reflect on our care for creation and celebrate Earth Day at Plainsong Farm. The cost to attend has been subsidized to $30/person or $20/child aged 5-12. Children under five years old can register for free.

Earth Day Birthday Volunteering

April 26, 1-4 pm

at Plainsong Farm in Rockford

Celebrate our Earth and Plainsong Farm’s tenth year with outdoor volunteer projects, nature crafts, cake and good fun. RSVP plainsongfarm.com/experiences.

United Thank Offering (UTO) Ingathering, May 4

You will be invited to place your UTO Blue Boxes into the hollow cross during both Services.

Transform Me, O Lord

Find our Lenten daily devotional at the Welcome Desk or linked here!

Vestry Update from March



Your vestry is an elected group of parishioners that meets each month to discuss church finances and helps guide the work of St. Mark's. Your vestry met Tuesday, March 25th. We are glad to report healthy finances. Our hardworking Search Committee has identified strong candidates for our full-time rector position and we are making progress toward calling a new rector. Please pray for this process. We also heard from our Building Committee that continues to work toward our expansion and improvement project. You can stay in the know by reviewing our agenda and meeting minutes using this link. We also invite you to meet with the vestry person of the day on Sundays during coffee hour in the library. 

Building Project Update

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the building plans. The Building Planning Team reviewed each request with the architect and incorporated all the suggestions that were architecturally and financially feasible. The final renderings will be posted soon.

With the plans complete, we were able to send a Request for Proposal (RFP) to local construction management companies. The Building Planning Team will review them and recommend a vendor to the Vestry. We anticipate choosing a construction firm and project manager by early May. We will then work with the chosen firm to set an initial construction schedule, realizing that it will be adjusted as we progress through the project and work within the capital that has been committed. We will continue to provide regular updates as new information is available.

Creation Care Ministry welcomes you to participate in the quarterly meetings.

• Pray: 
• Season of Creation 2025
• Learn: 
• The Love God’s World Curriculum  
• Other potential education offerings in 2025t
• Act: 
• ASHRAE Level 2 Energy Audit at St Mark’s
• Sustainability and St Mark’s building project
• Solar at St Mark’s
• Zero Waste Project 
• Residential Solar 
• Holy Ground for Whole Communities Grant
• Plainsong Farm
• Advocate: 
• Grand Rapids Climate Coalition 

We would love to have your ideas and hands, and hearts involved in Creation Care at St Mark’s. If you are curious, please reach out: Steven.mark.mulder@gmail.com

Give Something Up/Give Something Away

Thank you to everyone who has taken up this challenge and helped fill carts of food for the pantry!

If you’re looking for something to give up during the season of Lent, how about taking up the challenge to Give Something Up/Give Something Away! By giving up a can of soup or a box of cereal, you will be blessing both yourself and someone in need. It’s just one way that we at St. Mark’s take Jesus’ command to love our neighbors to heart. Thanks for considering this option this Lent! ~Outreach Ministry

Gratitude is a Journey - UTO Boxes

Have you grabbed your United Thank Offering Blue Box yet?

Here's a video on UTO's impact in the Diocese of California.

St. Mark's is renewing our commitment to UTO. UTO, a ministry of The Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Through UTO, individuals are invited to embrace and deepen a personal daily spiritual discipline of gratitude. UTO encourages people to notice the good things that happen each day, give thanks to God for those blessings and make an offering for each blessing using a UTO Blue Box. UTO is entrusted to receive the offerings, and to distribute the 100% of what is collected to support innovative mission and ministry throughout The Episcopal Church and Provinces of the Anglican Communion.

Together West Michigan (TWM)

Looking for a place to invest your energy for or anxiety about social justice in our local community? Contact Deacon Jan, another TWM member or Kate to link up.

Campus Ministry Every Wednesday 11-1 through Holy Week

Students continue to be fed at St. Mark's, in more ways than one. Are you interested in hosting a lunch, volunteering, or serving as a point of contact for this program? Please email Laura Kozminski. Program partner is United Campus Christian Fellowship, a partnership ministry program supported by local Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist and Christian Reform congregations.

All staff, Vestry and volunteers in contact with vulnerable youth or adults must re-certify with Safe Church every 3 years. For the online, self-directed platform, reach out to Kate or Jeff for instructions.

Zoom opportunities for this training are forthcoming from the diocese.

St. Mark's partners with Westminster's Downtown Food Pantry. Items needed for April are pork, beans, ravioli and chili.

St. Mark's Volunteers:

St. Mark’s relies upon a significant volunteer effort to fulfill its mission – within the congregation and in the community. There is an online form to see volunteer opportunities you can fill out to alert staff and ministry leads. If you prefer a more personal option, do not hesitate to reach out to Mike or Kate, 616-456-1684. Thanks to all our ongoing volunteers!

Clothing Donations: The Outreach Ministry welcomes donations of belts, jeans, shirts and sweatshirts, coats, socks and warm weather items, to be given out to our unhoused neighbors at Breakfast Café. There is a basket in the coat room for these.

Downtown Food Pantry: Just bring your cans or boxes to church with you and leave them by the basket just inside the Sanctuary doors. ~Outreach Ministry

Sunday Services at 8:00 a.m. and at 10:30 a.m. (recorded live)

Healing Prayer during Holy Communion, near the piano in the South Transept

Mid-week Eucharist at noon on Wednesdays from September-May

St. Mark's Episcopal Church is a growing, welcoming, and affirming community of faith in a vibrant urban community. In our worship and in our service to the community, we proclaim that all people are worthy of God's love. We celebrate and uphold the dignity of all people whose ethnicity, cultural heritage, and denominational traditions are examples and celebrations of God's love. We welcome visitors and parishioners from all social, political, and educational backgrounds, and all abilities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. We affirm all people and celebrate diversity, as we work to fulfill God's love for all people as a community of faith.  

Parking and Restrooms on Sundays

Please respect the handicap parking spaces at St. Mark’s, especially on Sundays. These are needed by many parishioners.

Consider the free metered parking on Pearl, Ionia, Lyon, Fountain and other streets near the church. The small Kendall College lot across Division from the church is available when the gate is open. Paid options include the upper and lower levels of the GRCC building on Fountain Street, and the Ellis Parking Lot at 210 Ionia just west of Lyon Street. For Sundays only, white validation tickets for the Ellis lot can be found from an usher or greeter.

Main floor restrooms are limited. The second floor has additional restrooms.

St. Mark's Episcopal Church

134 N. Division Avenue

Grand Rapids, MI 49503

616-456-1684

https://www.stmarksgr.org

https://www.facebook.com/stmarksgr/

officeadmin@stmarksgr.org

Background image credit: Angel Pattern Vectors by Vecteezy