This Weekend
Pastor’s Sunday School
Begins at 8:30 a.m. in the New Room. Everyone is invited. Child care is available. Below are the lectionary readings for this week:
- Isaiah 64:1-9
- Psalms 80:1-7, 17-19
- 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
- Mark 13:24-37
Christmas At St. Marks
Experience the joys of the season by attending Christmas at St. Mark's on Sunday, December 10 at 4:30 p.m. St. Mark's handbells, chimes, and the voices of children and adult choirs will prepare our hearts for Advent and the birth of Jesus on Christmas. Please invite your friends, relatives and neighbors to share in this wonderful event. A reception will follow the concert to meet and greet all the St. Mark's choir participants.
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Next Week
Volunteers Needed
Marston students need your help! Volunteers are needed for a special workshop at Marston on December 5 from 3:10-4:40 p.m., decorating bags and preparing donations for Christian Community Service Agency. To sign up, please contact Kris at Kris@stmarksumcsd.org or by calling the church office.
Taize Services December 7 And 14
What is a Taizé Service (pronounced TehZAY)? A Taizé service involves sung and recited prayers and chants, meditation, periods of silence, and liturgical readings. No sermon. Prior to the Taizé service, there will be a light meal served in the Social Hall at 5 p.m. prior to going into the Sanctuary and experiencing the presence of God in a refreshing, fresh, and replenishing way through contemplative worship. All are invited!
Poinsettas For Christmas
Poinsettias will once again be available to purchase to decorate the altar for Christmas. The cost is $8 per plant. You can place your order thru December 10. Order envelopes can be found in the church office or Sunday’s bulletin.
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Upcoming Dates
CCSA Adopt A Family Program
By Phyllis Drewett
There is still time to sign up to adopt a family for Christmas through Community Christian Service Agency as we received the following plea for assistance: “Please be advised that we still have 35 client families to get covered with Food Baskets and gift cards for the CCSA Christmas Programs. Most of the families left are large families with 5- 8 members and each one of these large families would receive two baskets. We count on your support for this outreach program. If you have yet to sign up, please do so in order to make sure we can cover these families at this wonderful time of sharing what we have with others." Please consider helping another less fortunate family to have a special Christmas. If you can‘t do a family by yourself, consider joining with someone else. You can sign up on-line through ccsasandiego.org, or call Jeanne at 619-541-2131, or pick up a form in the church office. Also, I am collecting 2018 calendars, Christmas wrapping paper, gift tags, and cards to give out on December 14th , when we give out the gift baskets. You can bring them to the office and put them in the CCSA bin and I will collect them. Thank you!
Living Nativity And Bethlehem Marketplace December 16. 5:30 PM
By Karen Scanlon
All children of every age and from everywhere are invited to participate in the annual St. Mark's Living Nativity. Children who wish to participate as shepherds and angels meet at 5 p.m. in the church office. Program begins at 5:30 p.m. Costumes are provided. No rehearsal necessary. Just show up and have a delightful evening. After the dramatic presentation of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, guests will sojourn past the nativity on their way to the Bethlehem Marketplace. Pound Roman coin. Design royal crowns. Stop at the Spice Shop. Christmas art. Photo booth. Festivities continue with a “soup dinner” for a small fee, a fundraiser for St. Mark's youth. And, you'll find the usual hot cocoa, coffee, and cookie reception. Bell ringing. Choral music. Live animals. See you in Bethlehem! Shalom.
What The Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Birth
Want to make this Christmas deeper and more meaningful? Come to an intensive threeday study, entitled The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Birth. It will be offered from 1 to 2:10 p.m. on three successive days:
- Monday, December 18: Parable, Overture, and Context
- Tuesday, December 19: Genealogy, Conception, and Birth
- Wednesday, December 20: Light, Fulfillment, and Joy
The study will be drawn from the book The First Christmas by biblical scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. Books will be available through the church office in early December at a cost of $9, or may be ordered directly from Amazon
Longest Night Service
St. Mark’s recognizes that often during the holidays there is grief or sorrow that cannot be erased by carols and parties. To help those who need a quiet place to sit, remember, and reflect we offer the Longest Night Service on the Winter Solstice, December 21. The service is preceded with a dinner at 5 p.m. and service begins at 6 p.m. This is a service where people can come to sit, pray, hum or sing quietly, and light candles to acknowledge the darkness and sadness that may be very close.
Catch Up/Get Ahead
Some people find it advantageous from a tax standpoint to prepay their church commitment for the coming year. All gifts, whether they are to fulfill your 2017 intentions or to prepay part or all of your 2018 planned giving must be in the church office by noon, Sunday, December 31st (or postmarked no later than 12/30/17), in order to be credited on your 2017 giving statement for tax purposes. There is no “grace period” as far as the IRS is concerned! If your gift is a prepayment of part or all of your 2018 planned giving, please make sure that you label it as such so that it gets credited properly. If you would like to find out whether or not you are caught up on your 2017 intended giving, please call our finance secretary, Arlene Dempster, at (858) 273-9938.
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News
Giving Statements
If you have any questions about where you stand in regard to your 2017 pledge to the church, please call Arlene Dempster, Financial Secretary, at 858-273-9938. Arlene is able to check your giving record and provide you with the most current information. A final statement of giving for 2017 will be available in January 2018.
Let Us Know!
Picture-taking and video recording are frequently done during church events. Some of those pictures may be published in our church publications, slideshows, on our website, or on our social media pages. If you do not wish to have your picture published, please let an usher know, or contact the church office by phone or email
St. Mark's Sunday School Advent Giving Project
While you're out shopping, won't you, please, purchase a new, warm blanket for one who needs it? Our houses are warm and cozy, and blankets await our climbing into bed. What a lovely Christmas notion for people we may never meet. Thank you for your generosity. Be warm!
"Mindfulness In Motion" Gets Messy!
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.” - Bil Keane
Have you ever eaten dinner with a blindfold on? How about soup? That's just what our "Mindfulness in Motion" students experienced this past week. As you can imagine, there was a lot of laughter in Room 10! Sixteen youth gather on Wednesday evenings to study and practice healthy ways to handle stress. We do breathing exercises, learn about our brains, and move intentionally to build our awareness of the present moment. Sometimes we are just plain silly! Dr. Renate Ward, psychologist at Marston Middle School, is attending the classes. She is observing my teaching methods so she can bring Mindfulness activities to her students. The Rev. Lea Booth from La Jolla UMC assists me, and she's also there to observe Mindfulness in practice. It's a joy for me as an educator to share knowledge with others. If you have questions about Mindfulness please contact me. Want to try a Mindfulness moment yourself? The holidays are a perfect time for Mindful eating. Slow down before you take your first bite. Take a deep breath. Stay quiet for a moment. Give thanks for all that went into making the food you are about to eat. Then, take a bite and savor it. You may find that after fully enjoying the first two or three bites, you won't need any more. Or, you may want second helpings! - Kris Nieder, Director of Youth and Intergen. Ministries (Pictured: Christian, sporting the perfect trash bag poncho for eating soup in the dark.)
Flowers For Homebound
If you have ordered flowers for the altar on Sunday morning but don’t want to take them home with you, please notify the church office. A representative from St. Mark’s CARE Corps will be happy to take flower arrangements to St. Mark’s friends who are homebound or ill.
December 2017 SCOPE
Click here to read the December 2017 UMW SCOPE Newsletter
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