For your thought:

Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! 

--James 5:9



Study this Sunday's Readings.

Important dates:

• Sunday, December 18, 11:00 a.m. - Luminaria Construction & Christmas Pageant Rehearsal
• Sunday, December 18, 5-7 p.m. - Christmas Pageant & Potluck Dinner
• Monday, December 19, 7:00 p.m., - Rosary for Remembrance (Hybrid)

CDC Guidelines show that local COVID levels are yellow/medium. Masks are strongly encouraged indoors.

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.

Rising to the Challenge 2023: Pledge Update

We are deeply grateful for the generous and loving support of this faith community. Thank you! 

As pledging members and as children of God, each household provides the consistent financial support that helps the St. Mark’s community to remain viable and sustainable throughout the year and also to grow into the new ministry and work where God calls us. 

If you have not yet made your financial commitment to St. Mark’s and plan to do so, please take your pledge to the parish office as soon as you can. You can find the pledge cards online at www.stmarksabq.org under the Give tab; they are also on the Welcome Table in the Narthex and available in the church office. 

Pledging, by the Numbers 

To date we have joyfully received pledges from 

105 households totaling $506,226! 

For 2023, if 150 households were to pledge $545,000, we could provide the 9 staff of St. Mark’s the full cost of living allowance to meet the high inflation in 2023 and we could also cover the church’s rising costs of operating in this post-Covid world. 

As a point of reference, we look back to 2022 and share that we were blessed with 139 pledging households giving $488,000. That so many members have prayerfully increased their support in 2023 demonstrates strong commitment to shared purpose. We also see this growth as a sign of members’ confidence in the work we are called to do together. We are grateful to see members stepping out in faith and embracing proportionate giving as one part of their own spiritual growth. 

The clergy and lay leadership all thank God for the continued generosity and strong support from our members and friends. We hope that pledges from the remaining 60 or 70 households will enable leadership to develop a financial plan for 2023 to compensate staff as they need and also allow robust growth in our ministries and outreach. We recognize we have a sacred duty to be good stewards of our community’s shared resources as we plan.

Please consider a few practical reminders!

• We do not automatically renew your previous pledge for the coming year. We ask that each household submit a new pledge card each calendar year. You can also amend your pledge if needed throughout the year.

• Previous auto-withdrawals expire at year end, so please renew them at your new level and return your pledge card with attached voided check. We need that to establish the withdrawals before year-end. 

• If you donate through the diocesan website, they do cover any bank transaction fees. Unless you also turn in a pledge card, however, we won’t know your intentions! Please send one in so we can include your support in our planning.

• If you plan to make a charitable year-end gift of stock, cash or IRA distribution please initiate that early in December in order to accomplish it before January 1, 2023. 

For more information about making a year-end gifts or specific questions, please contact business manager Ken Rees via email here or (505) 262-2484, or parish treasurer Miranda Eastham via email here or (505) 883-8005. You may also contact our senior warden Lucy Sinkular via email here or (703) 638-4286 with questions on any aspect of our stewardship work.

Thank you, St. Mark’s for your amazing generosity that allows this faith community to continue Rising to the Challenge, Reconnecting with Joy, and Reaching out with Love in 2023.

Together we are making something beautiful for God in our Neighborhood. 

Take-Them-a-Meal Ministry

St. Mark's has a wonderful ministry that provides a little comfort and support to other parishioners experiencing a temporarily stressful time.

The mission of Take Them a Meal is to help members of our church family by providing dinner for their families when they need it the most, such as during or following a serious illness, a death in the family, returning home from a hospital stay, loss of employment, birth of a baby, and more.

It works through the Take-Them-a-Meal website, where the meal coordinator can quickly put together a schedule, menu notes and information, and detailed directions to the parishioner's home. The site generates a page where, with a protected password, St. Mark's Take Them a Meal team, as well as invited others, can sign up to provide meals on the schedule.

All anyone needs to do to be notified about a need is to send Fr. Christopher an email address, so that he can include you in the notification, as the needs arrise. Being notified doesn't obligate anyone to actually participate; it just announces that there is a need. Meals don't have to be homemade, either. 

If you would like to be notified of opportunities to help your fellow parishioners, please contact Fr. Christopher via email here.

Asylum Seekers Need Your Help

Organization: Albuquerque Asylum Seekers Co-site Coordinators: Eleanor Milroy and Jane Braithwaite Donation Center: 2nd Presbyterian Church : 812 Edith NE, 87102

Hours: Monday /Wednesday: 4-6 pm Saturday: 1 O am-noon

Director: Jan Hans: volunteers needed to sort donations, also very helpful in understanding the entire system. Text message info is available for contacting Jan.

Purpose: is to provide basic needs for approximately 200 men, women, and children every week who come in by bus from El paso. They are housed in a local hotel for ~3-5 days while travel arrangements are confirmed with sponsors who provide bus or plane fares.

Volunteers are needed. Spanish or another language helpful, but not required. Help is needed with intake, travel, food, clothing, and medical needs. St. Mark's member volunteers: Billie Abraham, Kate Spielman, Mary Beth Libby, Pauline Artery. For more information, please contact Pauline Artery via email here.

For a list of what items are needed, please click here to view.

Sunday Deadline The Barrett Foundation

St. Mark’s delivered approximately $680 worth of gift cards, 18 rolls of wrapping paper, 10 rolls of tape and three gift baskets to Barrett Foundation this week!

Sunday is the final day to turn in gift cards and gift baskets for the Barrett Foundation families who are experiencing homelessness. Barrett Foundation has specifically asked for gift cards this year because many of the families have never experienced being able to choose and wrap a gift for their loved ones. Please drop the gift cards in the box on the greeter’s table and gift baskets in the large box by the office door. 

Thank you for your support of this outreach!

Music that Makes Community

Monthly Albuquerque Song Circle

1st Tuesday of each month, 6:30 p.m., location varies

Join Mother Sylvia and other lovers of singing from throughout the community for a monthly Music that Makes Community Song Circle. We sing together the first Tuesday of each month for 75 minutes, beginning at 6:30pm, with the option to gather for fellowship beforehand. We rotate locations and responsibility for "hosting" among interested participants. We focus on teaching, learning, and sharing songs together in an "oral tradition" style of music-making. We sing songs from a variety of traditions as well as songs of our own creation. We lean heavily on musical forms that lend themselves to learning by ear and singing from the heart, including: simple melodies, rounds, simple songs with layered harmonies, echo songs, and "call and response" songs. We take risks. We experiment. We make mistakes. We laugh. We learn. We encourage one another. We sing. We welcome anyone to join us! Contact Mo. Sylvia via email here or call 510-932-1315 for more information or for the location of our next gathering! To learn more about the history, pedagogy, and practice of Music that Makes Community, visit their website here.  

Luminaria Supplies Wanted

The office is accepting luminaria supplies of bags and candles.

Our goal: 800 candles and folded bags.

How can you help?

• Purchase Smith's yellow luminaria/farolito candles (years of experience tells us these are the best quality and last longer than most other votive candles)
• Purchase bags and deliver to church
• Purchase bags or pick up bags from church and fold them at home and bring to church. 

Advent-Epiphany Schedule

Click here for a printable flyer.

...By Mail (St. Mark's has a secure mailbox and is checked regularly): 431 Richmond Place NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106.

...By PayPal®.

Please consider checking the box that reads, "I’d like to add to my donation to help offset the cost of processing."

...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.).

A Holiday Concert

A Holiday Concert to Share!

Singers from the Voice Studio of Jacque Zander-Wall

Sunday, December 11 6 p.m in the Sanctuary of St. Mark's

Martha Dalager, Piano

Kirk Landin, Flute, Asher Barreras Double Bass and Guitar, Charlie Anderson Trumpet

Carols and Christmas Fun 

Offerings for the Road Runner Food Bank requested!

Cookie Reception to Follow.

All Are Welcomed

DRG LGBTQ+ Holy Eucharist & Potluck Meal

Click here for a downloadable flyer.