9/11 Multifaith Peace Picnic & Prayers
2025-09-11 17:30 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join this annual community gathering hosted by American Muslim Voice Foundation! This event is free and open to ALL.

Location: King Plaza, 250 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto, CA, 94301 | Event Link

Picnic (dinner provided) and sowing seeds of friendship, followed by a program with multifaith prayers and children’s performances. The program will conclude with a candlelight vigil.

The ability to make our country safe, secure, peaceful and harmonious lies in our hands.

Let us unite to honor the victims of 9/11, their families, and first responders as we strive to transform this tragic day into one of peace & community building.

Let us sow the seeds of new friendships by getting to know each other a little bit better.

Choir Rehearsal
2025-09-11 19:30 - 21:00, 2025-09-18 19:30 - 21:00, 2025-09-25 19:30 - 21:00, 2025-10-02 19:30 - 21:00 | Sanctuary, 600 Colorado Ave, Palo Alto, CA, 94306

Centering Prayer
2025-09-12 09:00 - 10:00, 2025-09-17 08:30 - 09:30, 2025-09-19 09:00 - 10:00, 2025-09-24 08:30 - 09:30, 2025-09-26 09:00 - 10:00, 2025-10-01 08:30 - 09:30, 2025-10-03 09:00 - 10:00, 2025-10-08 08:30 - 09:30 | Kennedy Room – St. Marks, 600 Colorado Ave, Palo Alto, California, 94306
Gather to spend time with God in quiet communion and Centering Prayer

Jail Ministry Training
2025-09-13 09:30 - 11:30
Interested in getting involved with our jail ministry? Or are you a current volunteer who needs to refresh your training? Join us on Saturday, September 13 at Trinity Church Menlo Park from 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Going In, Staying In jail ministry training is for new and returning volunteers. It focuses on orientation to chaplaincy and facility updates, as well as context-specific skill building, such as trauma-informed ministry and cultural humility. The training is free and open to anyone over the age of 21.
Details and registration here.

8 a.m. Liturgy in Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene
2025-09-14 08:00 - 09:30, 2025-09-21 08:00 - 09:30, 2025-09-28 08:00 - 09:30, 2025-10-05 08:00 - 09:30 | Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, 600 Colorado Ave, Palo Alto, CA, 94306
Join us for a spoken 8:00 a.m. service from the Book of Common Prayer held in the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene.

10 a.m. Liturgy
2025-09-14 10:00 - 11:30, 2025-09-21 10:00 - 11:30, 2025-09-28 10:00 - 11:30, 2025-10-05 10:00 - 11:30 | Sanctuary, 600 Colorado Ave, Palo Alto, CA, 94306

Rev. Nick Farewell & Appreciation
2025-09-14 10:00 - 12:30
Sept. 14 is our beloved Interim Rector Rev. Nick’s last day with us here at St. Mark’s. We’ll have a grand Appreciation Celebration and sharing in the Parish Hall following the 10:00 a.m. service to thank him for his ministry and friendship and to mark and celebrate our time together.

St. Mark's Book Club
2025-09-16 14:00 - 15:00 | Kennedy Room – St. Marks, 600 Colorado Ave, Palo Alto, California, 94306
Our book for September is Isola by Allegra Goodman. Kathy Gillam will be the discussion leader. We’ll meet on Tuesday, September 16, 2:00, in the Kennedy Room. Contact Kathy Gillam at kgillamk@stanford.edu with any questions.

St. Marks Book Club
2025-09-16 14:00 - 16:00 | Kennedy Room – St. Marks, 600 Colorado Ave, Palo Alto, California, 94306
The St. Mark’s Book Club is a group of dedicated readers who gather to discuss great books! We meet every 3rd Tuesday of each month at 2 p.m.
This month, we are reading The Personal Librarian. Read the book’s blurb and order a copy here!
Email Kathy Gillam, kgillamk@stanford.edu, for more information and to be added to the group email.

Good Reads Book Club
2025-09-18 16:00 - 17:30
We will finish our September selection, How We Learn to Be Brave by Mariann Edgar Budde. We meet on Zoom every other Thursday afternoon. Contact Marie Highby at mhighby@gmail.com for the Zoom link!

Pledge Campaign Launch
2025-09-21 10:00 - 23:30
Hear our lay preacher, Brie Linkenhoker, learn about St. Mark’s budget and plans, and step prayerfully into our season of stewardship!

St. Francis & St. Clare Blessing of the Animals
2025-09-28 10:00 - 12:30
To celebrate the feasts of St. Francis and St. Clare, we will have a festive outdoor service on the labyrinth patio to bless our animal companions. Pets of all species are welcome to attend and be blessed! If your pet is not able to join us in person, you can bring an image or an object to be blessed in their stead.

After the service, there will be a special petting zoo in the parking lot! We have been asked to ensure that dogs (and other pets) stay on the labyrinth patio so they do not stress or disturb the petting zoo animals. But all human St. Marker’s are welcome to enjoy it!

Good Reads October Book Club
2025-10-02 16:00 - 17:00
In October, the Good Reads Book Group will be reading and discussing Peace Like A River by Lief Enger
The group meets bi-monthly via Zoom on Thursdays at 4:00 p.m. Contact Marie Highby at mhighby@gmail.com for the Zoom link!
About this month’s book selection, via Kirkus Reviews:
Handsomely written, rich with the feel and flavor of the plains—and suited mainly for those whose yearnings are in the down-home, just-folks style of the godly. Minnesotan Enger pulls out the stops in this readable albeit religiously correct debut about a family with a father who may be touched by God and a son by the Devil.
Jeremiah Land’s wife left him years ago, and now, in a midwestern town called Roofing, in 1962 or so, he’s janitor at the local school and sole parent of chronically asthmatic Reuben, 11 and the tale’s teller; his precocious sister Swede, only 9 and already an accomplished poet of western outlaw-romances; and Davy, who at 17 becomes a killer—though possibly a just one. Two town boys from the wrong side of the tracks have a grudge against custodian Jeremiah (he caught them in the girls’ locker room) and, after vowing revenge (and briefly kidnapping Swede), they appear one night in the upstairs of the Land house, whereupon Davy (did he lure them there?) bravely and determinedly shoots them dead.
There’s a trial, a conviction—and then a jailbreak as Davy escapes, not to be seen for some months. Miraculous? Well, Reuben has seen his father walk on air (“Make of it what you will,” he advises the reader), and now there’s a miraculous meal (a pot of soup is bottomless), the miracle of the family’s being left an Airstream trailer—even the miracle of Jeremiah being fired, leaving the family free to take to the road after Davy. The direction they go (toward the Badlands), how they avoid the police, what people they meet (including a future wife for Jeremiah), how they find handsome Davy—all depend on what may or may not constitute miracle, subtle or wondrous, including the suspenseful events leading to a last gunfight and the biggest miracle of all (preceded by a glimpse of heaven), all followed by certain rearrangements among the lives of mortals.

Rev. Kirsten Welcome & Brunch
2025-10-05 08:00 - 12:30
Welcome our new rector, Rev. Kirsten Spalding! Rev. Kirsten will preach at both the 8:00 and 10:00 services. A potluck brunch will follow the 10:00 a.m. service.
Pouluck Info:
Reverend Kirsten’s first Sunday with St. Marks will be on October 5. Immediately following the 10 am service, we will come together in the Parish Hall for a Welcome Potluck Brunch. Bring something to share if you can. Before the 10 am service, you can bring your hot or cold dish to the kitchen to be kept warm or cool for brunch. General assignments are by the initial of your last name (but if your specialty is something else, go for it – and if you can’t bring anything, come anyway!) Please bring enough for 10-12 people, and mark your dish and serving utensil with your name.

A – G: Main, Protein or Meat Dishes (Ham, frittata, quiche, salmon, roasted chicken, deviled eggs, other covered hot-dish)
H – P: Veggie salads or Sides (Green salads, roasted veggies such as asparagus, zucchini, or mushroom and onion, baked beans, chickpea salad, potato or other grain or pasta salad, coleslaw)
Q – Z: Fruit or Bread (Fresh fruit or fruit salad, jello salad, fresh bread, rolls, cornbread, banana bread or bread pudding
We need people to please sign up to help with set-up and clean up. Sign up online here, or we will have sign up sheets at church on the next two Sundays. We appreciate everyone’s help in putting together a special welcoming event for our new Rector.
– St. Marks Rector Transition Committee
