For your thought:

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh."

--Luke 6:21



Study this Sunday's Readings.

CDC Guidelines show that local COVID levels are yellow/moderate; therefore masks are strongly encouraged indoors. 

We move from Daylight Time to Standard Time on Sunday.  Don't forget to set your clocks on Saturday evening - set them back one hour - so that you may get to church on time on Sunday morning. 

Important dates:

• Sunday, November 6 at 9:30 a.m. - Feast of All Saints (bring a photo of a recently deceased loved one for the ofrenda)
• Saturday, November 26 from 10-2 - Gathering of the Greens - more info coming soon!
• Sunday, November 27 at 10:45 a.m. - Advent 1 Greens Event - more info coming soon!
• Sunday, December 11th at 4:00 p.m. - Parish-wide holiday concert outing to see Santa Fe Desert Chorale at Immanuel Presbyterian Church

Useful links:

• Fill out a form to volunteer, donate altar flowers, fill out a new member/visitor form, and more!
• Access and/or edit your Member Directory information.
• Access previous sermons.
• To check CDC COVID-19 Risk for Bernalillo County, click here.

Pledge and Pancakes: Celebration Sunday was a Huge Success!

On Celebration Sunday, October 30, St. Mark’s received 55 pledges for a total of $323,640. Thank you, St. Mark’s, for your generosity in supporting and ensuring the vitality of this faith community. It is our joy to give back a portion of what God has given us for the work of God in the world through St. Mark’s. This Ingathering Sunday at St. Mark’s was the largest in more than a dozen years and we are grateful for the outpouring of your generosity. As a community, we still have a ways to go to reach our budgeted goal of $510,000 in pledged income for the year 2023 and we are off to a tremendous start! 

If you have not yet had a chance to join with the whole community of St. Mark’s in making your own financial commitment, please take a moment to complete your pledge this week. Pledge Cards are available in the church office, on the welcome table in the narthex, or online https://www.stmarksabq.org/give.Together we are Rising to the Challenge, Reconnecting with Joy and Reaching out with Love.

If you did not receive a pledge card at your home address, please contact the church office or fill out this form to help us update our records so that we have your current mailing address. 505 262-2484. 

Sunday: Feast of All Saints - Parade of Saints

All youth (infant through high school) are invited to participate in the Parade of Saints at the 9:30 Eucharist this Sunday, November 6. Arrive a few minutes before 9:30 and select a saint placard to carry as we walk around the sanctuary during the Litany of the Saints. Families are encouraged to walk in the parade together.  

Fr. Christopher's Ruminations on All Saints and El Dia de los Muertos:

On All Saints Sunday, November 6^th we honor all those who, by the way they live their lives, have proclaimed the goodness of God in the world. We remember famous Saints like Francis and Mary but also unknown ones as well. Some of those we remember have shaped our lives and faith in amazing ways. 

One of the ways we remember them at St. Mark’s is by creating our own Dia de los Muertos ofrenda or altar in honor of the faithful men and women who have gone before us and been examples and inspiration in our lives. In doing so we want to create a kind of holy space in our simple act of honoring and acknowledging death. Lovingly, reverently, solemnly we will place photographs, items that remind us of loved ones and icons of those who have gone before us in the faith. Among the marigolds and pumpkins, the cornstalks and the sugar skulls we will nestle image of the saints, old and new to remind us of the gift of life in the midst of remembering death. We will light candles and sing songs that remind God’s people that in death life is changed not ended.

Death is not easy and we don’t always understand it as a gift. Some deaths are so difficult they nearly destroy the lives of the living. Some are so senseless in war and violence and disease or accident that we mourn and rage against them. There is nothing wrong with clinging tenaciously to life and resisting death in all its many forms. But the truth is that there are also deaths that are a kind of gentle and welcome good. And there are times when even difficult deaths, tragic or sudden, can become for us a kind of gift over time, a gift that opens us up to the power and depth of life. This of course is why the celebration of Dia de los Muertos with its playful but reverent honoring of death can be such a gift to us. In the robust celebration of All Saints and Dia de los Muertos, there is the possibility of shaping a space for holy reflection that interrupts our busyness, and allows us to open our hearts and lives to be touched by God’s Holy Spirit. 

So, my hope for us in the coming Feast of All Saints is that in the mist of our worship and in our experience of the ofrenda for Dia de los Muertos, we will rediscover our own communion with all the saints and in doing so find courage and vision to live as one of God’s very own saints here and now. Please bring photos and items that remind us of those we love but see no longer as we remember All the Saints. 

The Return of the Common Cup for Communion at St. Mark’s

St. Mark’s will once again offer a Common Cup for the distribution of sacramental wine at two floor stations. We will continue to offer individual cups of wine at communion stations at the back of the nave as an alternative way of receiving sacramental wine. If you wish to receive wine from the common cup, please approach the chalice bearer directly after receiving the bread, and gently help guide the chalice to your mouth. Intinction (dipping of bread or wafer into the wine) is not permitted at this time for several significant health concerns.

A reminder: In the Episcopal Church communion in one kind, bread alone, is considered full communion.  There are many reasons people may not desire to receive the wine and all are respected. If you wish to hear the words of administration for the wine but do not wish to receive, please approach the cup with your arms across your chest and the words will be said over you but no wine administered.

Another note: when receiving the bread, we have both regular wafers and gluten-free wafers available upon request. If you want to receive a wafer instead of the yeast bread please say, "wafer." If you need a gluten-free wafer please say, "gluten free.”

Thank you for your patience as we continue to adapt to this new reality of worship in the COVID era. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to share them with one of our clergy.

Advent Wreath Frames Needed

Please bring Advent wreath frames to the church to be used for the Advent Event on November 27th. There is a shortage of new frames in town. If you have some hanging around from past Advents, please return them to the collection box in the narthex. Thank you.

A Call to Artists

This is a Call to Artists for our next gallery show here at St. Mark’s.

The title of this show is Small Works. All media are accepted and the maximum size limit is 12 x 12, including framing.

Please contact Audrey Minard via email for a prospectus form.

Thank you and feel free to share this information.

Thanksgiving Food Collection for Crossroads for Women

Bring items to the narthex, or monetary donations to the church, to help Crossroads for Women, an organization whose goal is to provide comprehensive, integrated services to empower women emerging from incarceration to achieve safe, healthy, and fulfilling lives in the community, for themselves and their children. All donations are due by Sunday, November 13th.

Parish Group Outing: Holiday Concert

You are invited to join in a parish group outing to attend a holiday concert of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. If you have never heard the Desert Chorale, they are one of the most accomplished choirs in the United States. The group will present Benjamin Britten's "Ceremony of Carols," a classic of Christmas music. We will sit together at the concert and then optionally go together for dinner at a tasty restaurant on Central. The concert will be Sunday, December 11th at 4:00 p.m. at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, just south of Carlisle and Central in Albuquerque. The tickets will be available at a discounted rate of $35/person. To reserve a ticket please contact Taylor Spence via email here. Please reserve by Sunday, November 20th. Ticket subsidies are available. Please contact Jeremy Wirths via email or Taylor Spence (via email) with any questions.  

Thanksgiving Weekend: Pilgrimage in Place

A self-designed offering of gratitude

November 25-27, 2022

Register: pilgrimageforunity.org

Share gratitude as a pilgrim: Walk, Pray, Give Thanks

11/25-27 Self Designed Pilgrimage

Include others or walk alone; walk 1, 2, or 3 days; shorter or longer distances; consider walking with friends from other faith communities; seek blessings of unity

11/25 Pilgrimage Zoom Blessing Service, 8AM MT

• 11/27 Pilgrimage Zoom Closing, 6pm MT

Diocese of the Rio Grande Convention

Bishop Hunn is inviting our entire Diocesan Family to Diocesan Convention this year: clergy and lay delegates, volunteers but also families including our youth and young adults. All are encouraged to attend!

Everyone is welcome to:

• Opening Eucharist (Friday, November 11 - 6:00pm) - Children and families are welcome!!
• Diocesan Choir (all comers are welcome! - practice at 4:30pm on Friday) 
• Bishop's Report (Friday, November 11 - 3:00pm)
• Keynote Speaker - the Rev'd Harry L. Atkins, Jr. (Saturday, November 12 - 9:00am)
• Workshops - (Saturday, November 12 - 10:00am)
• Borderland Ministries Learning Session
• Children's Ministry Learning Session (for children, and adults too!) 
• Ultimate Acolyte Pedagogy
• Working the CPG

More information can be found on the DRG website: 

Convention — The Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande

Annual Fall Women's Retreat DRG

Download a printable flyer here.