St. Mark's Episcopal Church Troy

09/06/2026

09/06/2026

On this the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Joyce Landers provided for us a beautiful homily based on the Gospel message in Matthew 18:15-20. Addressing the concept of forgiveness, she stressed that we must forgive others and that we must remember that everyone is our neighbor. She also reminded us that while we are forgiving others we in turn must always remember to forgive ourselves, and to keep in mind at all times that no one is outside God’s forgiveness.

09/06/2026

First Monday Brown Bag Lunch
12:00 p.m., Monday, September 7, 2026, in the parish hall.

Bring a lunch. Bring a friend, neighbor or maybe someone visiting you over the holiday weekend. Everyone is welcome!

09/03/2026

This Saturday, September 5th, we will pause to remember Katharina Schutz Zell, church reformer and writer. She was born in 1497 in Strasbourg.

Katharina was especially interested in the new thinking and teaching about the church. She was intent on seeking a holy life; for a long time, this meant a dedicated celibacy, but as a Protestant, she was convinced of the holiness of marriage as a vocation, and late in 1523 she married Matthew Zell, the most popular priest and preacher in Strasbourg.

For clergy to marry was truly a startling thing for Christians in this time; even some of the new Protestant Christians found it difficult, distasteful, or immoral.

That same year, 150 men and their families were driven out of Kentzingen because of their beliefs; Katharina and her husband purportedly welcomed 80 of these people in their home. She wrote a “Letter to the suffering women of the Community of Kentzingen, who believe in Christ, sisters with me in Jesus Christ,” in which she interpreted these women’s painful experiences in light of Scripture and the promises of Christ, in order to encourage them on their path.

Throughout her life she continued to welcome refugees and to visit those sick with plague, and other feared diseases. Some of her guests were more well-known than others; she welcomed Martin Bucer (who had performed her marriage) when he fled Weissenburg, and John Calvin when he fled France.

08/30/2026

08/30/2026

We were so very honored to have The Rev. Albert Kennington with us on this the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost to celebrate Holy Eucharist Rite Two and join us for our Fifth Sunday Parish Lunch.

Rev. Kennington’s sermon was based on our Gospel lesson from Matthew 16: 21-28 in which he spoke to us reminding us and urging us to seek a closer relationship with God referring to them to as “thin places” and to pay special attention to them wherever we may find ourselves in the midst of them - where human and the divine touch. Therefore, we must hold tightly by our hands and hearts and care for each other.

The service was followed by a wonderful lunch and a very special time of fellowship revisiting the past and celebrating the present together.