Our Capital Campaign,
"Rejoice and Blossom!"
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Week 2 Invitation to Reflect & Share
We are eagerly anticipating the launch of our Rejoice & Blossom Capital Campaign at St. Mark’s on Saturday, November 1, 2025. In preparation for this big event, we are inviting each person in the St. Mark’s community to witness, reflect, respond to, and share the extraordinary things God is already doing within and among us, here at St. Mark’s and in every aspect of our lives.
Please open your heart and respond to this week’s prompt digitally (using the link below) or manually (using the space provided in Sunday’s worship bulletin insert).
...for waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert...
Where do you long for "living water" to cleanse, refresh, or renew your soul, our church, our community, or our world?
Where do you look for (or where do you find) that "living water"?
Click here to share your response for Week 2. (Deadline Sunday at noon!)
Click here to view the "Rejoice & Blossom!" Reflection Slideshow, Week 1, featuring community responses to the last week's community reflection question about JOY!
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The St. Mark’s church offices were abuzz with activity over the summer. Preparations are almost complete for the “Rejoice and Blossom!” parish-wide Capital Campaign Kick-Off Fiesta on November 1, to be held on the church grounds (think “tent”) with a catered dinner and live music to celebrate the launch of congregational fundraising for the renewal of our beloved church building. Please Save the Date – your opportunity to RSVP and other details will be provided in early October with the official event invitation.
Also, your St. Mark’s Building Renewal Teams worked through the summer to further develop the architectural plans for the redesign of the St. Mark’s worship space, chancel, and chapel. The Contractor Selection team led several building tours in September and various proposals are under review. Q&A tours of the proposed West Addition will be offered after Sunday services beginning in October. Watch for announcements in The Messenger and the church bulletin, or contact capitalcampaign@stmarksabq.org.
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Widening the Welcome Prayer Meeting
Wednesdays on Zoom
7:30-8:00 PM
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Join us for 30 minutes every Wednesday evening as we spiritually anchor the exciting work of St. Mark's building renewal and capital campaign in our larger spiritual goal of "Widening the Welcome to the Way of Love" at St. Mark's. This 30 minute gathering includes song, silence, prayer, and scripture reflection. All are welcome! This is the Widening the Welcome Prayer Meeting Zoom Link, and it stays the same every week.
Whether or not you can join us on zoom on Wednesdays, we encourage you to spend time holding this project in prayer each week. You can access our Widening the Welcome Prayer Slides at any time. The slides include core prayers and scripture passages, as well as weekly scripture passages, and recordings of short, weekly spiritual reflections from Marcel Varoz (a new "Word from Marcel" is added each week!). Questions? Contact Mother Sylvia, or Stephanie & Marcel Varoz.
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Conversation: Our "Money Stories"
and Spiritual Health
Saturday, October 4th, 1pm in the Library
Like conversations about sex, conversations about money are often considered "taboo"--not only in public, but even in our churches and families! Yet both money and sexuality are essential parts of life. Our experiences and beliefs surrounding money, like those around sexuality, can shame and constrain us..or they can liberate and empower us to live ever more fully into the joyful, generous, abundant, faithful lives God intends for us.
It is helpful for each of us to pause and take time for a spiritual/financial inventory each year. As we move into the Fall we are presented with a variety of opportunities for holiday gift-giving and charitable giving--including invitation to contribute to St. Mark's Capital Campaign and St. Mark's Annual Giving Campaign--it's important to step back, breathe, pray, and reflect.
What do we want to embrace? What do we want to release? What money habits and money stories shape our current financial life and decisions? What might we want to shift to bring our spiritual/financial health and wellbeing into better alignment in the coming year?
Over the next several months, there will be several opportunities to join Mother Sylvia for a time of shared conversation, reflection, mutual support, and prayer as we explore the role of money---and our "money stories"--in our lives and spiritual health.
Please join us for any or all of these conversations!
Saturday, October 4th, 1pm
Saturday, November 22nd, 1pm
Saturday, December 6th, 1pm
Saturday, January 7th, 10am
Contact Mother Sylvia for any questions.
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The Season of Creation
and St. Francis
Speaker: Fr. Michael Jupin
Thursday October 2 at 11:00 AM Eucharist Service
The Season of Creation is a mini-liturgical season within the Season of Pentecost - aka Ordinary Time. It runs from the Sunday closest to September 1st and concludes on the Feast of St. Francis on October 4th.
The Season of Creation is an ecumenically sponsored effort to pray for the healing of Creation and to raise awareness of the climate crisis that the entirety of the Creation faces with increasingly dire consequences. Begun by Orthodox Christians and adopted by the Anglican Communion, the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America – and many more, we stand in solidarity with Christians throughout the world when we pray together for the healing of the planet and for the conversion of hearts of all who participate in the harming of Creation.
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St. Mark's Men's Book Group
Thursday, October 9, 9:30 AM
We will read Chapter 9 & 10 (37 pages) of Sam Keen’s Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man. Contact Michael Jupin at (740) 870-9008 or jmjupin7@gmail.com if you have questions.
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Music that Makes Community Retreat
October 10-12 at the Norbertine Abbey in ABQ
Music that Makes Community is offering a Three-Day Retreat at the Norbertine Abbey, October 10-12 in Albuquerque, NM and we hope that you join us for two and a half days of singing, learning, and fellowship! Your retreat leaders will be Rev. Sylvia Miller-Mutia, David and Winona Poole, Conie Borchardt, and other local leaders. Single Day and commuter options available. Click here for details and registration.
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- Saturday, October 4, at 10:00 AM - Book Club - Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
- Saturday, October 4 at 1:00 PM - September Youth Event
- Saturday, October 4 at 1:00 PM - Our Money Stories & Spiritual Lives
- Saturday, October 4 at 4:00 PM - Newcomer Happy Hour
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Tuesday, October 7 at 6:30 PM - Music That Makes Community Singing Group (Offsite)
- Thursday, October 9, at 9:30 AM - St. Mark's Men's Book Group
- Friday, October 10 - Music That Makes Community Retreat Begins
- Saturday, November 1, at 5:00 PM - Capital Campaign Kick-Off Fiesta
- Sunday, October 12 at 6:00 PM - LGBTQ+ Ministry Queer Trivia
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GROW
Groups & Classes for All Ages
"Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship,
in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers?"
- Book of Common Prayer)
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SUNDAY MORNINGS @ 11:15AM
FOR ADULTS
(Not Just for) Newcomers Class (Stoney Chapel)
Sunday, September 21
This Week's Topic: The Book of Common Prayer
FOR YOUTH
Kids (ages ~3-8): Godly Play
Sunday, September 14
This Week's Lesson: Flood
Tweens (ages ~8-11): Art & Bible
Young Teens (ages ~12-14): Holy Troublemakers 1
Older Teens (ages ~14-18): Holy Troublemakers 2
OTHER GROUPS AND CLASSES
Bible Study: Every Thursday at Noon (Library)
This Month's Topic: The Gospel of Luke, First Nations Version, Chapters 8-10
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STEPPING STONES
Community doesn't just "happen". Healthy communities depend on the intentional investment of time, energy, and effort by each individual. Each week we share a specific practice, or "Stepping Stone" that each one of us can take towards building a healthy, welcoming, vibrant community of belonging at St. Mark's.
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DID YOU KNOW?
FAQ’s about Worship at St. Mark’s
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MUSIC IN WORSHIP 1
Navigating the Hymnal 1982
Music is central to our experience of worship at St. Mark’s. Because our members come from a wide variety of denominational backgrounds, we try to include a variety of musical selections in worship, with the majority of our congregational music being drawn from two main sources: the blue Hymnal 1982 (an Episcopal hymnal) and the green Gather Hymnal (a Roman Catholic hymnal.)
HYMN FUNCTIONS
In the Episcopal Church, hymns serve doxological, formational, and relational functions. What does that mean? Doxological: Hymns enable us to give praise, glory, and worship to God together. Formational: Hymns both express and form the faith and teaching of the Church. Relational: Hymns connect us to other members of the worshipping community, as we sing together, and connect us with Christians who have sung these hymns in other times and places. Many of our favorite hymn texts and hymn tunes have been in use for many centuries and (in some cases) millenia!
HYMNAL ORGANIZATION
For the uninitiated (actually, for anyone) the hymnal can be challenging to navigate at times. Here are some hints to help orient you to the hymnal.
SERVICE MUSIC
The first ¼ (or so) of the blue Hymnal 1982 is service music. Service Music refers to musical settings of liturgical texts and prayers that might be recited or sung by the congregation in worship. In the blue Hymnal 1982 the service music is designated with an “S” before the hymn number.
HYMNS
The remaining ¾ (or so) of the blue Hymnal 1982 is hymns, ordered numerically from 1-720. The hymns in the Hymnal 1982 are ordered topically and/or seasonally in the following categories: Time of Day: Morning (1-11); Noonday (12-23); Evening (24-37) Compline (aka Night, 38-46); Sunday (47-52); Liturgical Season: Advent (53-76); Christmas (77-115); Epiphany (116-139); Lent (140-152); Palm Sunday 153-157); Holy Week (158-173); Easter (174-213); Ascension (214-222); Pentecost (223-230); Holy Days and Various Occasions (231-293); Type of Service/Occasion: Holy Baptism (294-299); Holy Eucharist (300-347); Confirmation (348-349); Marriage (350-353); Burial ( 354-358); Ordination (359); Consecration of a Church (360-361); Church Doctrine/ Teaching: The Holy Trinity (362-371); Praise to God (372-433); Jesus Christ our Lord (434-499); The Holy Spirit (500-516); The Church (517-527); The Church’s Mission (528-544); Christian Vocation and Pilgrimage (545-565); Christian Responsibility (566-612); The Kingdom of God (614-617); The Church Triumphant (618-625); Holy Scripture (626-634); The Christian Life (635-709); Other: Rounds & Canons (710-715); National Songs (716-720).
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INDICES
At the back of Hymnal 1982 you will find copyright information followed by a variety of potentially useful indices, including: 1) Authors, Translators and Sources, 2) Composers, Arrangers, and Sources for Service Music; 3) Composers, Arrangers, and Sources for Hymns; and 4) Index of First Lines (the final and by far the most useful of all, beginning on p. 954)
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ATTRIBUTIONS
At the bottom of each hymn, in small italic print, you will find information about the origin of each hymn, including names/dates of the author or the text and the composer of the music. If you are feeling nerdy (or just curious) it can be fascinating to notice where/when each hymn comes from! For example, in the photo below you can see that the text for Hymn 22 is the English translation of a text from 4th Century Bishop Ambrose of Milan, and the tune is a plainsong chant tone found in a 14th century songbook.
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SERVE
"Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which God looks compassion on this world....
Yours are the hands with which God blesses all the world."
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September Food Drive Update
In September St. Mark's collected 200 lbs. of food for the Roadrunner Food Bank. Thanks to Bill & Cheryl Foote for making the delivery! And thanks to everyone for their generosity! In addition to canned pinto beans, tuna, chicken, and peanut butter, the Food Bank is especially in need of "ready to eat" meals like beef stew, chili, mac & cheese, etc. Please pick an item to add to your weekly grocery list and drop it off when you come to church each week!
Church Unbound Update
Last weekend, 26 volunteers participated in serving at our designated weekend. Some of our regular volunteers were unavailable due to other commitments, and several new individuals joined. What a blessing!
Bagels
In addition to regular bag lunches, we distributed 100 sliced bagels with peanut butter or Nutella packs. Preparing them was labor intensive, but teamwork made it possible. Some recipients recognized the bagels happily; others needed an introduction. All was gone quickly, and we have more in the freezer.
Toiletries and Women’s Feminine Products Are Urgently Needed! Place in the designated tub.
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For your information:
• Sherry Reeder and I continue to meet weekly at our favorite bagel shop.
• Mother Sylvia is the Clergy Sponsor for Church Unbound.
• This week, we have a scheduled appointment with Dean Kristy from St. John’s Cathedral.
Cookies are so appreciated! Thank you!
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For your thought:
There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
-1 Timothy 6:6-7
Click here to study this Sunday's Readings.
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Worship on Sunday is both in person and virtually, every week at 9:30 a.m. We live stream Sunday liturgies on our Facebook & YouTube channels.
Also, we offer a Midweek Eucharist every Thursday at 11 a.m. that is both in person and on our live-streaming platforms.
| | | | | Give by mail (St. Mark's has a secure mailbox and is checked regularly). Send to: 431 Richmond Place NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106. | | | | | Give electronically by PayPal®. Please consider checking the box that reads, "I’d like to add to my donation to help offset the cost of processing." | | | | | 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 (e.g., pledge, congregational relief fund, etc.) | | | |
All are welcome! Come as you are!
Join us for worship during our Thursday 11:00 AM midweek Holy Eucharists and our Sunday Holy Eucharists at 9:30 AM.
You may join us in person or on Facebook & YouTube.
Email submissions must be sent (via email) by 9:00 am Wednesday
for inclusion on end-of-the-week's e-news.
www.stmarksabq.org
© 2025
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