Women of the ELCA

President, Linda Pendleton    EMAIL

The Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church offer several Circles that meet once a month for Bible study, fellowship, and friendship. We have one Circle that meets every Friday (Spanish language). If you are interested in coming to a meeting, please contact the leaders. Monthly Circles meet on the first Tuesday or Wednesday of the month, except for December and May when all the women join together the first week of that month at church. Some Circles also take a hiatus in July and August for the summer. (If a meeting date falls on a holiday, some changes may be made to that meeting's time.)

All women of St. Mark's are invited to join or visit any of the circles that meet the first week of each month (except for July and August when we don't meet). We'd love you have you visit any of our circles at any of these times!

As a means of honoring Margret Feigel’s life and helping the Lynbrook children that she loved so, we are collecting kids’ sweatshirts, sweatpants, and such. There will be a collection box for the items in the narthex for this on Sundays. Thank you very much for considering this.

WELCA Board Meeting

The next St. Mark's WELCA Executive Board Meeting will be Monday, June 24, at 7:00 PM via Zoom.

May Combined Circle Meeting and Salad Supper

St. Mark’s Women—You Are Invited!

Wednesday, May 1, 2024
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Fellowship Hall

All St. Mark's ladies and guests are invited to our Women of the ELCA semi-annual salad/dessert supper Combined Circle meeting Wednesday, May 1st. Guest speaker will be Pastor Saul Cardona, who will talk about his past and upcoming mission trips to Honduras. This is also an opportunity to support this ministry, along with our May project of providing summer items for the children in Wise, VA. Suggested donations include: summertime sports equipment and kids clothes, toiletries, suitcases/duffle bags, socks, shoes in good condition, and gift cards. (No winter clothing, please.) If you can't attend the meeting, a collection bin for these items has been placed outside the church office. We hope you can join us!

Opening prayer will be promptly at 5:30 PM, since Pastor Saul has another obligation. Come and enjoy an evening with us as we share food and fellowship!

IT’S A BUSY MONTH, DONATION-WISE!!! … Our May project is really three-fold … and you may choose any or all of the following:

• You may choose to purchase something for the summer activities of the children of Wise, VA and Hazard, KY—see page 3 for more information on their summer needs (including gift cards).

• You may choose to give a monetary donation toward the VA/KY summer activities project. See page 3.

• You may choose to give an additional monetary donation toward Pr. Saul’s Honduras trip.

• NOTE: if you choose to give a monetary donation to either the ’summer activities’ project and/or ‘Pr. Saul’s Honduras’ project, please remember to clearly specify how much of your donation you wish to go to each project and to your free-will offering as well—can do this on your check’s ‘memo’ line or on an envelope containing your check/cash.

** If you are unable to attend in person, please mail your donation to Shanon Hardy. **

Filled Christmas Stockings for the Angel Tree in Wise, VA

On Sunday, November 12th, Janelle Swensson and her husband came to the Friendship House to collect the Christmas stockings, toys, games, children’s warm clothing, and bags of quilts for the foster children of Wise, VA. Thanks so much to all those at St. Mark’s and Springfield Firestone who filled these stockings! Your generosity in helping the less fortunate knows no bounds. And thanks to Alice Real and St. Mark’s Youth who carried all the boxes and loaded up the two SUVs. 

Here is an extract from Janelle’s email:

I cannot begin to thank-you enough for all you have done. Having your youth to help with loading was truly a gift. Please, please thank them for us. The stockings and quilts and all the accessories are all wonderful. The generosity of the gift cards and check are just overwhelming. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. Do you know how many lives/children you will touch and spread great light to?? It is just amazing. ~ Janelle

Again, a great big thank you to St. Mark’s—to our congregation, our WELCA Circles, Quilts and More, and the Sunday School and Youth for opening your hearts and for being a blessing to these children!

Baby Shower for Shaista on November 11

On November 11th, WELCA hosted a baby shower for the Rahmani family. It was such a warm and lovely time with a cake, wonderful food, and many useful gifts (diapers, baby clothes, a baby quilt from Quilts and More, bibs, and a combination car seat/stroller). Thanks to all who made this a special and joyful occasion!

CONGRATULATIONS TO our St. Mark’s “Bold Woman” for 2024 Sandy Lind!
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MARY …

Women of the ELCA "2023 Gathering" … Just Love

The Women of the ELCA have announced the in-person 2023 Gathering—themed “Just Love”—scheduled for September 21-24 in Phoenix, Arizona. Women from all over the country will gather for a weekend of speakers, vendors, and a truly life-changing experience. And the board is sponsoring one first-time Gathering attendee’s registration and room/board—Linda Pendleton was selected for this honor.

The Metro DC SWO will be hosting a Zoom meeting on Saturday, September 30, 2023 from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM where the attendees at the 2023 Gathering will share their experiences with us—so please SAVE THE DATE! More information to come …

Metro DC SWO “Virtual” Spring Gathering 

Our Metro DC Synod Women’s Organization hosted their free 2022 Virtual Gathering on Saturday, May 7, 2022, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM.
Bishop Leila Ortiz spoke to us about what it means to be Rooted in Jesus, and how we can live into our missions, and how we are called to serve.
Sarah Lefler, the Executive Director of Mar-Lu-Ridge, noted that the Lutheran camp/retreat has recently become part of Reconciling in Christ. Sarah spoke to us about what the process entails, from discernment to becoming official. A lively Q&A discussion ensued. [Read Mar-Lu-Ridge's Welcome Statement Here.]

What have the women of your congregation been doing to stay connected with each other? How have you been serving the community, or living into your mission? Well, we also heard about what's going on around the Synod from a few in the Synod via the Chat as well as a presentation from Good Shepherd in Gaithersburg.

We hope you enjoyed it … Combined Meeting, Wednesday, May 4, 2022 at 6:00 PM in the Fellowship Hall!

We so enjoyed the opportunity to get back together, to share a meal, and to renew our friendships. At the May 4 meeting, we affirmed our WELCA Board officers who have all agreed to serve for another year.  Please prayerfully consider filling the vacancy for the Social Concerns Chair. This important committee decides on the projects that we support for the coming year.

2021 SWO Convention:  "Just Love: Just Love Yourself, Love God, and Everything in Between" …

… has been postponed until we can meet again in groups … stay tuned!

Eleventh Triennial Gathering 2021—POSTPONED UNTIL 2023!!!

The Just Love Gathering, scheduled for August 5-8, 2021, has been postponed and registration refunds will be offered. Staff is looking for other ways to build community and bring women together virtually in 2021 and 2022. Suggestions? Send us your ideas here.
Read the story behind the decision at https://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/news/churchwide-executive-board-decides-about-convention-gathering-dates .

2019 SWO Convention:  "ACTING BOLDLY:  Honoring the Past and Celebrating the Future"

The 2019 SWO Convention was held on Saturday, May 4, 2019, at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, 222 M Street SW, Washington, DC 20024. It was a lovley day of worship, learning, and fellowship with other women within the Metro DC Synod. We honored the past as our keynote speaker, Pastor Elizabeth Platz, spoke about listening as we lead. Pastor Platz is the first woman to be ordained in the ELCA. We also celebrated the future with workshops on growing our women’s ministries, expanding our impact on regional, national and international work to end human trafficking, foster racial justice, and promote healing. We also heard from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services with an update on what’s happening at the borders.

SWO Convention:  "Take Heart:  Getting to Wholeness"

Depression and Suicide prevention

On Saturday, May 5, 2018, we hosted the SWO Convention, learning about mental illness from members of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Northern Virginia. They brought us messages of hope from those who have experienced living with mental illness either personally or through a family member. We were also able to have a bi-lingual convention, thanks to our interpreter and rental of 'tour guide' equipment--money the SWO felt was well spent! The workshops were also very well received.

Thanks for hosting this important meeting--all who attended enjoyed the great food you served as well as the hospitality you all extended.

April's "WELCA Open House" and Refreshments

Our annual May combined meeting was held a week early in April due to our hosting the SWO Convention on May 5th. The well-attended Open House presented us with fun, fellowship, delicious refreshments, and celebrations of some of our accomplishments from this year, and we elected Cherry Moser for another year as our President and Fran Eck as our new Secretary for the next two years.

December "Vintage Christmas" and Brunch

With a new day and time, the annual December gathering was snowed out on Saturday, but it was held at 11:00 AM between services with a good turnout! All in attendance were given a change to fill a "goodie" bag with candies, bagged cookies, pencils, chocolates, bookmarks, and a tag with Bible verse stating it was from the St. Mark's Women--all were encouraged to take a couple home to give to neighbors, shut-ins, and such--and several were given to the Visitation Committee to pass out. As always, we brought our Lynbrook children's Christmas Gifts and we had our usual refreshment time, caroling, fellowship, and fun. Thanks to all the planners and our hostesses who made it such a fun and delicious morning for every one!

ALL ANEW Triennial Gathering

The ALL ANEW Triennial Gathering (TG) was held July 13-16, 2017 at the Convention Center in Minneapolis, MN.  The 22 of us that represented the DC Metro SWO had a fabulous time! See the August issue of The Joyful News for information and reactions of those who attended!

May "Spring Sing-Along and Games"

The annual May meeting found our Women of the ELCA at St. Mark's re-electing our Secretary, Chris Bianchetta. We played a fun version of BEACH BINGO and won some "sweet" prizes ... giant Hershey's chocolate bars--and sang some "summertime" songs as well as enjoying a Spanish song as well! Pam Appler favored us with a sultry version of "Summertime"--what a beautiful voice she has! As always, we had our usual refreshment time, fellowship, and fun. Thanks to all the planners and our hostesses who made it such a fun evening for every one! Please join us in our next combined meeting!

December "A Taste of St. Mark's II"

The annual December meeting ended 2016 with a 'replay' of last December's "A Taste of St. Mark's." Back by popular demand, several women shared memories food, crafts, and traditions of their families' Christmases. All in attendance were given a bag to collect samples of the delicious dishes to take home. As always, we had our usual refreshment time, caroling, fellowship, and fun. Thanks to all the planners and our hostesses who made it such a fun evening for every one!

May "All St. Mark's Women's Meeting"--Spring Enjoyment with A Somber Message

The annual May meeting of the women of St. Mark's ushered in Spring with some great 'tulip' songs, election of our President (Cherry Moser) and Treasurer (Cindy Haush-Booth), great refreshments and fellowship, and a somber message.

Our guest speakers were Gail Hambleton and Wilma Dublin. Gail spoke of the Safe Haven Campaign to eradicate human trafficking (HT) by creating awareness in our communities. Wilma spoke about what we can do in our local communities, such as writing our state and federal representatives to encourage them to pass stricter laws on HT. We learned of some dire statistics on HT particular to our area and we were able to purchase a packet in both Spanish and English as to how we can help. Some of the circles are thinking of using the packet for their circle studies next year.

We welcomed our Spanish-speaking sisters, who have named their Bible study group as the Tabita Circle--how wonderful for us all!

CONGRATS to our new officers:  President - Cherry Moser and Treasurer - Cindy Hausch-Booth

Purpose

As a community of women
Created in the image of God
Called to discipleship in Jesus Christ
And empowered by the Holy Spirit
We commit ourselves to
Grow in faith
Affirm our gifts,
Support one another in our callings,
Engage in ministry and action,
And promote healing and wholeness
In the church, society, and the world.

Link to Metropolitan Washington D.C. Synodical Women's Group 

Link to churchwide Women of the ELCA