THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

The gospel for the third Sunday of Easter is always one in which the risen Christ shares food with the disciples, meals that are the Easter template for the meal we share each Lord’s day. In today’s gospel, Jesus both shares the disciples’ food and shows them the meaning of his suffering, death, and resurrection through the scriptures: the two main elements of our Sunday worship.

THIS SUNDAY AT ST. MARK'S

9:00 am - Holy Communion with Children’s Time - Sanctuary
9:50 am - Sunday School - School Rooms
10:00 am - Refreshments and Fellowship Hour - Heritage Hall
10:00 am - Adult Forum - Fireside Room
Libby Pfaff - St. Mark’s Teaching Parish student shares her faith story
10:00 am Journeys in Faith - JIF Room
10:05 am Confirmation - Confirmation Room
11:00 am Choral Eucharist Worship Service - Sanctuary
12:15 pm Refreshments and Fellowship Hour - Heritage Hall
12:30 pm Choir Advance - Sanctuary

ADULT FORUM IN THE FIRESIDE ROOM - THIS SUNDAY AT 10:00AM
This Sunday, come and meet our new teaching parish student, Libby Pfaff. Libby will share her very interesting faith journey with us and her call to ministry. Libby is a first year student at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and has been assigned to St. Mark’s for 3 semesters. Please welcome her.

Adult Forum April 22 and Coffee Hour May 27: Lutherans from Rwanda at St. Mark’s!
Our Lutheran Sierra Pacific Synod has a companion relationship with the Lutheran Church of Rwanda (LCR). In April and May, St. Mark’s hosted one visitor from Rwanda on April 14 and will have two more visits from Lutherans of Rwanda.

On Sunday April 22, our ELCA missionary Pastor Janelle Neubauer will join us at the 9 and 11am worship services and Adult Forum. She is the Rwanda country coordinator for Lutheran “Young Adults in Global Mission” (YAGMs). She will talk about her work with youth in mission, and the Lutheran Church of Rwanda. Come hear about YAGMs and our accompaniment of the Lutheran Church of Rwanda.
On Sunday May 27, Pastor John Rutsindintwarane, Assistant to the Bishop of the Lutheran Church of Rwanda and Director of PICO Rwanda will join us in worship and will share information at noon coffee hour about PICO Rwanda and the Lutheran Church of Rwanda. He will also attend SPS Assembly in Sacramento June 1-3 and will be the featured speaker at SPS “Rwanda Connection” in Sacramento on Saturday June 9th. Contact Allana Helland or Mary Ritter for more information about these visits. Come to hear updates about PICO Rwanda and the LCR!
Past Event: Rwamagana Lutheran School founder Robin Strickler took a behind the scenes look at sustainability at the Exploratorium after breakfast with St. Mark’s members on Saturday April 14th. You can follow the work of the Rwanda School at rwandaschoolproject.org

A PERSONAL NOTE OF GRATITUDE
Thank you for your prayers, words of support, cards, flowers, and loving embrace during this time of grief in our family. Throughout these months of sadness with the death of Hans’s mother last year, the death of Hans’s father in January and the death of my father in March, we have been embraced by the love of Christ through the community of St. Mark’s. Thank you for sharing your stories of grief and loss with us. Thank you for reaching out to Grace and acknowledging her grief as a teenager and grandchild. We are grateful to all of you. With Easter hope, Pr. Elizabeth, Hans and Grace

SUNDAY SCHOOL SCHEDULE
May 20th: Bay to Breakers, no Sunday School

May 27th: Last Day of Sunday School PARTY!!

LENTEN BOXES TO LUTHERAN IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE SERVICES (LIRS)
Please return your Lenten coin box so we may send your offering to LIRS. Thank you!

YOU CAN NOW MAKE ONE-TIME DONATIONS TO ST. MARK’S USING PAYPAL GIVING FUND!
If you’d like to utilize this service, please see the instructions below:

Open or Download the PayPal App
Log in or Create an Account
Tap the “Send Money” Icon
Enter “give@stmarks-sf.org” in the search field and continue as prompted

ST. MARK'S MEN'S RETREAT
Although the registration has been turned in to Mercy Center for our Men’s Retreat on April 27 & 28, we may still add names to our registration for the next 2 weeks. If you decide that you would like to join in this event, please let Pastor Ron know ASAP. The cost is $154 for an overnight stay, 3 meals, and our meeting accommodations.

UPCOMING MOSAIC SHOW WITH PR. ELIZABETH
On April 15, Pr. Elizabeth interviews the Rev. Susan Strouse about how Christians talk among ourselves about interfaith matters. Rev. Strouse is an ELCA Pastor and most recently served First United Lutheran in San Francisco. The show airs at 5:00 a.m. on KPIX (channel 5) on Sunday, April 15.

CALIFORNIA BACH SOCIETY
California Bach Society Concert & Reception: HANDEL IN ROME; Special Early Bird Offer for St. Mark’s Parishioners! Order tickets by Thursday, April 19 at 5 p.m. and receive $5 off the above price of Advance General and Senior tickets. Get tickets at http://www.calbach.org/tickets/

SIERRA PACIFIC SYNOD ASSEMBLY
Our annual Synod Assembly will be held on Friday-Sunday, June 1 – 3 at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento. St. Mark’s is eligible to have 4 voting members at this assembly. Attending this assembly is a great opportunity to experience the greater church in operation, to be a part of determining our Synod’s goals for this next year, and to elect our Synod’s voting members to the next ELCA National Assembly. The Synod Assembly starts at 12:45 p.m. on Friday, but if you are not able to come until later that afternoon or early evening due to work, there still is plenty of time for you to participate in this Assembly. If you are available and would like to represent St. Mark’s at this assembly, please contact Pastor Ekdale or Mark Semonian.

ST. MARK'S YOUNG ADULT GATHERING
On Sunday, May 6, the young adults of St. Mark’s will be gathering at 12:30 p.m. in the Fireside Room of the Urban Life Center for a simple lunch and time to catch up with everyone in terms of what is happening in people’s lives. We also will use this time to talk about what we may want to do together throughout the summer months. This is a very open and informal group and both members and friends of St. Mark’s are welcome to participate. If you have the opportunity, please let Pastor Ron know if you are planning to attend so that he can plan food accordingly.

INTERFAITH WINTER SHELTER WALK
The San Francisco Interfaith Council is sponsoring a Walk on Sunday, May 6, to raise funds for the Winter Shelter. The Walk will begin at 1:30 p.m. at Lake Merced (parking circle) in SF. To register, donate, or obtain more information, visit: http://winterfaithshelterwalk.dojiggy.com. If you have any questions, please call 415-474-1321 or email winterfaithshelterwalk@gmail.com. Perhaps we could get a team of walkers from St. Mark’s to participate.

APRIL SENIOR LUNCHEON
St. Mark’s Seniors, Thursday, April 19 is the next MLT monthly luncheon in Heritage Hall, from 12:00-1:30pm! Please join us for a delicious meal prepared by MLT’s very own Delvone Anderson. Delvone will also prepare and play a custom playlist of classical music. Entrées options include Pork Loin Roast and Vegetable Lasagna. All entrées come with Sautéed Seasoned Spinach, Rice, Spring Mix Salad with vinaigrette dressing, and French Bread and Butter. Strawberry Shortcake will be served for dessert. The cost is $5. Please pay in the MLT Office by Friday, April 13. Come and be among friends. See you there!

ST. MARK'S FOOD PANTRY
We are a part of the larger Interfaith Food Pantry group of 6 churches in San Francisco. Our shared responsibility is to distribute groceries, from the SF/Marin Food Bank, to 300 patrons on Saturday mornings. Distribution takes place at Old First Presbyterian Church on Sacramento St. between Polk and Van Ness.

The next distribution date is April 21. We usually divide our morning’s work into 3 shifts. Volunteers can sign up for 1-3 shifts as follows:

7:30 AM - 9:00 AM Unloading
9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Distribution
11:00 AM - 11:30 AM Clean-up

Come join the St. Mark’s volunteers at the next distribution. To sign up, contact Diana Gomez at dianamrsgomez@mindspring.com

RWANDA SCHOOL PROJECT
Saturday April 14: St. Mark’s congregants are hosting Robin Strickler, founder of the Rwanda School Project (http://rwandaschoolproject.org). We will begin with scones and coffee at 8 AM at the home of Allana Helland, and then proceed on to the Exploratorium on Pier 15 where Robin will check out the sustainable design of the building. We will wrap up the day with a walk around the farmers’ market at the Ferry Building. If you are interested in joining in this day, contact Allana at allanahelland@gmail.com for details on where to meet when.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR now for SUNDAY, APRIL 15 at 4 pm at Grace Lutheran Church, Palo Alto. Combined choirs of Grace, First and University Lutheran churches will present "EARTH AND ALL STARS", a festival of hymns and music honoring the legacy of Herb Brokering (1926-2009), most famous for writing the words to the hymn “Earth and All Stars.” Brokering was a promoter of healing, justice and peace, and led more than 100 pilgrimages to Europe, China India and the Middle EAst including Bethlehem, where he met Rev. Mitri Raheb. Proceeds from this concert will be directed to Bright Stars of Bethlehem, supporting the health, educational, cultural and spiritual development of people in Palestine. More details later and on our Facebook page.

VOICE DEADLINE
The deadline for the next Voice newsletter is Monday, May 14 and will cover June, July, and August. Please send all submissions to Stefani Lawrence (lawrence@stmarks-sf.org). Thank you!

SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY FOR MUSIC LOVERS!
Create your own organ music at home! A beautiful CANTICUS 1 HOME ORGAN in excellent condition is available at reduced price! Owner is relocating out of California. The advanced digital Viscount technology permits simulation of traditional pipe organ sounds and personalization of the organist’s preferences. The organ’s reduced price: $9000 Interested? Please phone (415) 238-3642 or email: ghj0108@yahoo.com.

Director of Music...Dr. Timothy Zerlang
Assisting Ministers...Sharon Reinbott (9); Libby Pfaff, Kyle Schiefelbein-Guerrero (11)
Lectors...Randy Schieber (9); Jo Chadwick (11)
Chalice Bearer...Jane Borg (11)
Acolytes...Katya Jackson, Grace Ekdale Hoch
Altar Guild...Jane Borg
Sacristans...Ed Chitty, Kyle Schiefelbein-Guerrero
Ushers...Omer Voss, Randy Schieber (9); Debra Varian, Larry DeSpain, Linda Jackson (11)
Coffee Hour Chairs...Donna Dindia, Chuck Lewis
Next Week’s Coffee Hour Chairs... Eva & Matt Dober, Kate Knickerbocker