Sunday, May 19 9:00 A.M. Worship with Live-Stream
10:00 A.M. Fellowship Hour with coffee and donuts
10:05 A.M. Last Adult Forum
11:00 A.M. Worship in Fellowship Hall
6:00 P.M. Youth Group at Rock Cut Monday, May 20 10:30 A.M. Mosiac Hub
10:30 A.M. Classic Chorale Rehearses Tuesday, May 21 10:00 A.M. Staff Meeting
11:00 A.M. St Mark Duplicate Bridge
7:00 P.M. Executive Meeting Wednesday, May 22 9:30 A.M. St. Mark Ringers Thursday, May 23 9:00 A.M. Cherry Valley Bridge Group
12:30 P.M. Sew and Sews
6:30 P.M. Emotions Anonymous
7:15 P.M. Red Lights Sunday, May 26 9:00 A.M. Worship with Live-Stream
10:00 A.M. Fellowship Hour with coffee, and donuts
11:00 A.M. Worship in Fellowship Hall
6:30 P.M. Youth Group Rec Night at Grace Lutheran | Join us this Sunday, May 19th Pentecost Sunday
9:00 A.M. - Traditional Worship in the Sanctuary- Prelude will start at 8:55.
10:00 A.M. Fellowship Hour with coffee and donuts
10:05 A.M. Last Adult Forum
11:00 A.M. Worship in Fellowship Hall If you are unable to be here, click here to join us at 8:55 for our live-stream service. | LSSI Sunday - May 19th
This Sunday we are fortunate to welcome representatives from Lutheran Social Services of Illinois to join us in worship and update us on the ministries they are able to do in Rockford and throughout the state. LSSI is one of our partner agencies, whom we support in a variety of ways. Lisa Seymour, an Associate Executive Director with LSSI’s Children’s Community Services, will be our guest preacher for the morning, and staff members from the Spring Ridge Senior Living will lead our adult forum. | Meet our Summer Intern, Em!
Greetings St. Mark Community! My name is Emily Johnson (you can call me Em for short) and I am excited to be this summer’s Youth Ministry Intern. I have been a lifetime member of St. Mark and I am honored to spend my summer in service of it. I was baptized and confirmed here and it has always been a dream of mine to have this role. I am looking forward to being a leader in Vacation Bible School and attending the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans this July. For a little bit of background on me, I just finished my sophomore year at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. I am pursuing a dual degree program with a B.S. in Cell and Developmental Biology and a B.A. in Theater. In my free time, I enjoy acting in plays and musicals, playing women’s rugby, attending services and volunteering events with the Protest Chapel Community, and practicing my instrument: the euphonium. It is such a blessing to have the opportunity to come back and serve the community that has supported me for so many years. Thank you and feel free to come say hi after services! | Help Make VBS Special This Summer! Vacation Bible School is June 17-21, and there are lots of ways that YOU can help! Do you want to be in on all the action? To volunteer your time during VBS week, fill out the questions on our registration website: St. Mark VBS. We need helpers at activity stations and with each group. Do you want to help prepare craft materials and make decorations? Come to the Prep Party at 6:00 on May 29. We’ll be measuring, cutting, gluing, laminating, and who knows what else! A light dinner will be provided. Do you want to donate or loan supplies? Here are some of the items we need. DONATIONS – do you have extras of any of these supplies?
• Empty cereal boxes
• Beads, charms, and floss for making friendship bracelets
• Fabric markers or colorful permanent markers
• Battery-powered fairy lights (small strands for table decorations)
• Blue tarps LOANS – mark items with your name!
• Large Rubbermaid (or similar) bins
• Logs or stumps for sitting around a “camp fire” – 12-15 seats Alternative idea: kid-friendly stools or floor pillows
• Ladder Ball game set
• Disc golf discs
• 5-gallon drink dispenser jugs (let us know if yours is for water only or if lemonade is okay!) Thank you for helping us make VBS a memorable experience for St. Mark kids and the many friends and visitors we meet each year! Ms. Julie & Children’s Ministry Committee | Registration is Now Open
Mark your calendars now – VBS Week is June 17-21, 2024. We’ll have a summer camp-style adventure with God! Each day, kids at this camp-themed Vacation Bible School will learn that we can trust God to be with us in every situation! Whether we feel excited, scared, nervous, lost, or confident - God is trustworthy to lead the way with wisdom, peace, and joy. Thanks to a generous donation, VBS is free! Registration, for kids entering kindergarten through 6th grade, is open until June 3. Register here. | Summer Book Study - Refugia Faith
Join Pastor Chad throughout the months of June and July for an in-depth discussion of the book, Refugia Faith: Seeing Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth by Debra Rienstra. Refugia are places of shelter where life endures and expands after natural disasters. This hope-filled book explores how Christians can become people of refugia for the earth, our communities, and our own spiritual selves. This eight-week study will meet on Mondays at 7:00 pm, beginning on June 10th. When weather allows, we will plan to meet in our outdoor worship space. Thanks to a Thrivent grant, copies of the book will be available to participants at the first session. Please sign up by emailing Pastor Chad at prmckenna@stmarklc.com | St. Market is in Need of Supplies
We have had several people utilize our St. Mark Market. The supplies are running low with the demand being higher than we have experienced in several months. The best items for St. Market are crackers with peanut butter or cheese in them, canned goods with a pull top (ravioli is a good one), breakfast bars, bottled water, travel deodorant, travel toothbrushes and toothpaste, meat sticks (without refrigeration required), and other easy to carry food items that don’t require cooking or refrigeration. We have designated a spot in the kitchen to place donations, please look for the sign on the kitchen counter. Thank you for helping to love and serve our neighbors. | Synod Assembly In-Kind Offering
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of ELCA World Hunger, the Social Ministry Committee encourages the congregations of the Northern Illinois Synod to have a food drive for your local food pantries. St. Mark will be collecting food, especially peanut butter, for the Rock River Valley Pantry from May 5th to May 31st. There will be barrels in the narthex and by the Café. Thank you for supporting people in need in our community. | Our St. Mark Members: Alexander Gehrke Jr., Nancy Dinges, Karen Clements, Don Lundine, Lis Pearson, Jeanne Zeschke, Ulla Kercher, Mark Honzel, Lorine Kortus, Beth Johnson, Carol Kilts, Diane Swanson, Sherri Lindquist, Bette Patterson. Family and Friends of St. Mark Members: Tom Heck, Sue Hougton, Sue Wick, Diane Wilder, Robert Hobby, Berkley Shai Cappa, Tobin Uhren, Ronald Horowitz, Jim O’Brien, Jeanne Menzies, Greg Palmer, Natena Berry, Mike Balles, John Ayotte, Carrie Kielty, Ed Sobczyk, Elizabeth Woodworth, Bill Hart, Ellie Krepfle, Tom Montgomery, Jon Baylander. Those serving in the military and their families: Holden Paddock, Logan Gehrke, Hunter Haggestad, Scot Hornick, Jim Tammen, Brandon Ballenger, Taylor Eversole. Strengthen and encourage those in public health services and in the medical profession: caregivers, nurses, attendants, and doctors, all who commit themselves to care for the sick and their families. | Office Hours
Monday through Thursday
9:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.
Friday - 9:00 A.M. - 1:00 P.M. Telephone: 815-398-3557
Publications
St. Mark Memos, the weekly e-newsletter, is distributed each Thursday. The deadline for submission is Monday by 3:00 P.M.
Please click to send submissions.
Worship Services
Miss a Sunday at St. Mark? Please visit our website and watch the service online.
Please click to watch. | |
