This Week At St. Martin's

Thank you to Rev. Dr. Sandra Dager for being presider and Preacher for Sunday, March 1.

Welcome Transitional Pastor Rev. Alan J. Watt

March 8, 2026

10:00am Worship Service

IMPORTANT NEWS FROM THE St. Martin’s Council The St. Martin’s Lutheran Church Council is excited to announce that St. Martin’s will be served by Transitional Pastor Rev. Alan J. Watt beginning on March 8. To welcome him that day, we will have one service at 10:00 a.m. followed by a potluck. Here is some background information from Pr. Watt:

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Pot Luck Sunday

March 8 Following

10am Worship

• Deliver dishes with serving utensils to Fellowship Hall
• Label your dish:
• Your Name
• Name of dish
• Vegan, gluten/lactose free
• Pick up dishes and utensils after potluck

Calling all Pot Luck Enthusiasts! 

Your Connections Committee is looking for friendly faces to help plan and run our pot lucks! It's not a big job - there are several small jobs and we need plenty of people to take small jobs so no one has to do it all. If you'd like to be on the pot luck volunteer mailing list, or if you'd like to be involved with Connections in some other way, please contact Carey Henderson at chenderson@saintmartins.org

 Cultivate: Work, Rest, and the Garden of the Heart.

Wednesday Evenings

February 25-March 25

6:30pm Soup Supper

7:00pm Holden Evening Prayer

Join us for Wednesday evening Lenten Vespers Cultivate: Work, Rest, and the Garden of the Heart. Let's untangle the modern cycle of exhaustion and listen to God's call to return to the biblical rhythm of creation. Throughout these forty days, we will learn to:

• Shift from Toil to Work: Finding the sacred "liturgy" in our daily tasks.
• Shift from Leisure to Rest: Moving from "shutting down" to "waking up" to God’s goodness through glad contemplation.

Faith Formation Interests

at St. Martin's for 2026

The Faith Formation Committee at St. Martin's Lutheran Church would love your help in shaping the direction of Faith Formation for 2026!

Please take a few minutes to complete a short survey. The survey is available by clicking here.

Prefer paper? A printed copy will also be available at the Welcome Desk.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and helping guide this important ministry!

Gather Austin is a community for young adults to deepen relationships, nurture faith, ask hard questions, and be filled with hope. We welcome all people across race, faith background, gender, sexuality, and perspective.

March 5- Gather Austin will meet at Triumphant Love LC for a Lenten Devotional.

A Calendar of all their Spring events can be found at https://gatheraustin.org/

Save the Date! March 26, 7:15pm Texas Civil Rights Project - Conversation with Jim Harrington Hosted by Austin City Lutherans at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church See austincitylutherans.org for more information.

Your generous donations of time and dollars help us keep the Lunch Bag Ministry going. For less than $5 you can provide lunch for one of our hungry neighbors. If you would like to participate in the Lunch Bag Ministry directly, please contact Fay Jones (fjones@saintmartins.org). You can donate here, click here Then choose “monthly benevolence” from the drop down funds list. For more information email serve@saintmartins.org.

WELCA Pack and Tack

Have an old quilt or quilted bedspread that you no longer use/want? WELCA Tack & Pack can turn them into coats to add to our baby care kits. This year Lutheran World Relief is asking for new or homemade coats to include in the kits and this is one way we can economically accomplish this request. What a wonderful way to show our love to children wherever they may be. Quilts may be dropped off in the church office with the note indicating Tack & Pack. Thank you for your support

Spread Hope

The Serves Committee encourages you to take part in SMLC’s service opportunities. Each act of kindness creates a ripple effect—let’s turn those ripples into a flood of kindness and service.

Check out this week’s highlights and ways to get involved: Keep the kindness going!

St. Martin's Serves at Bread For All-

Monday March 2, 2026

Bread for All, 11:30 packing and 4:30 distribution.

Click here to sign up.

Lunch Bag Ministry. Please continue supporting this vital program for our hungry neighbors. Click here to donate In the fund menu, select Lunch Bag Ministry.

St. Martin’s Serves at Loaves & Fishes: Volunteers are needed for the truck team on the second Monday of each Month 3:00-4:30. Contact Carey Henderson, chenderson@saintmartins.org to sign up.

SMLC is seeking to recharge our partnership with LuMin, the ELCA campus ministry at the University of Texas located a half mile from SMLC. If you would be interested in spearheading this partnership we already have several folks willing to serve. 

Email serve@saintmartins.org for questions or to volunteer.  

News from the Youth

Faith Formation- 10am on Sundays.

Youth in grades 6-8 meet in Youth Room 148

Youth in High School meet in Room 150

Upcoming Events:

NOTE: Time changes during Lent

Please come to the Holden Evening Prayer service at 7:00pm in the Chapel.

March 4 ~ 7:30pm - Middle School Movie Night

March 25 ~ 7:30pm - High School Game Night

April 1 ~ 7:30pm - Middle School “Minute to Win It!” 

We Remember in Prayer

Beverly Shortes; Judy Hansteen; Yolanda Decker; Marilyn Speer; Stacey Nuzzo; Weni Haley; friends and family of John Byous (Fred and Stacy); Jacqui Gilmore; immigrants living in fear of ICE; Carol O’Brian and David Swanner; Claire Montgomery; family and friends of Daniel Hanes; the people of Minneapolis, Patti Hjelm; Helen Altobello; Lynn Brandon; Noah Webb; Bret Baumann Sr.; family and friends of Stanley Cravatt; JoAnn Buerger

We Continue to Pray For

Eugene Trautman; Kent Mickelson, Deb Johnson, Bill Martin, Sam Gourley, Ronnie Johnson, Peter Jordahl; Walt Knauff, Arvid Larson, Pat Larson, Doris McGaughy