February 12, 2026 l ISSUE 7

 Sunday Morning

Adult Formation

Conversations

Join us Sunday

from 9:30 - 10:15 a.m.

in the Parish Hall

as we listen to God's Holy Word

and discuss how it impacts our personal lives.

9:30a.m. in the Parish Hall

Sunday service

at 10:30 a.m.

in-person

or online

UPCOMING SCRIPTURE READINGS

SUNDAY LEADERS

A Note From Fr. Jeff

We continue to celebrate Black History Month at St. Paul's. We were blessed to have Debbie Nelson-Linck with us this past Sunday to talk about and share many meaningful black history artifacts with our adult formation gathering. Her sermon at our 10:30 service was well received. If you weren't with us on Sunday, or if you would like to hear her sermon again, please click the button to the right or visit YouTube and find the St. Paul's service for 2-8-26, and then fast forward to her sermon, starting at around minute 30:00. You'll be glad you did.

This coming Saturday, February 14th, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Webster Groves, our diocese will be celebrating the feast of Absolom Jones, the first African-American priest ordained in the United States. A Eucharistic liturgy will be celebrated at 11:00a.m. followed by lunch and a dialog with Bishop Deon and the preacher of the service, Naomi Tutu, daughter of the late Bishop Desmond Tutu. This is an event you don't want to miss!

Next Sunday, February 15th, as part of our adult formation time at 9:30a.m. we will be reading from Frederick Douglass's "What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July"   which he penned on July 5th, 1852. This is another moving document that speaks to our care and compassion for our African-American siblings and what they have endured and overcome.

And Debbie Nelson-Linck has agreed to share with St. Paul's a few of her artifacts related to Black History Month that we can exhibit at our upcoming Pancake Supper on February 17th, at 6:00p.m. so that more people can see and appreciate them. Another event you won't want to miss!

On Sunday, February 15^th we will celebrate the final Sunday after Epiphany. Wasn't it just Christmas?! And now the Epiphany season is coming to a close.  Next Wednesday, February 18^th will be Ash Wednesday, the start of our Lenten season. We will party on Tuesday, Mardi Gras, with our annual Pancake Supper. Come and enjoy hot fresh pancakes, sausage and fruit at 6:00p.m. in our parish hall. And then come back on Wednesday, again at 6:00p.m., for our Ash Wednesday service and imposition of ashes.

And on Sunday, February 22^nd we will begin a six-week adult formation program entitled "Unbound: Seeking the Freedom of God's Love." We will wrestle together with what it means to be truly free: to remove our masks, reject false power, center on the excluded, accept God's love, and choose life even in the shadows of darkness and despair. We'll dive deeper into each Sunday's Gospel passage, and we'll leave with some follow up study for the week ahead. Great Lenten practices! Please plan to join us. We need a full hour for each session, so we will begin promptly at 9:15a.m. Let me know if you have any questions about participating. 

-- What's Happening at St. Paul's --

Lent is Coming!

Join us for the annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, Tuesday, February 17th, 6:00p.m. in the Parish Hall. Melissa will again be at the grill flipping the best pancakes this side of the Mississippi! Enjoy this free meal of fresh hot and delicious pancakes, grilled sausage, fresh fruit, and beverages. This event will replace our 3d Thursday meal for our neighbors, so please come and assist in serving all who come join us. 

Lenten Adult Formation Program

Beginning, Sunday, February 22^nd at 9:15 a.m. for six consecutive Sundays.  

Unbound: Seeking the Freedom of God’s Love 

This Lenten season, join our Adult Formation conversation in following Jesus through the wilderness and into the heart of the Empire. Along the way, we’ll wrestle with what it means to be truly free: to remove our masks, reject false power, center on the excluded, accept God’s love, and choose life even in the shadow of darkness and despair. We’ll meet Gospel characters like Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman at the well, the man born blind, and Lazarus, and explore how Jesus invites each of them – and us – to step into the light to claim life abundant. Each session will focus on the Sunday Gospel reading. Join us at 9:15 a.m. in the Parish Hall each of the six Sundays in Lent.

At this time in our nation with increasing disregard for the constitutional norms and the escalation of tactics intended to induce fear and compliance, I have joined with over 150 other Episcopal Bishops in calling for action towards hope and the restoration of civility across our nation. Please find attached a copy of the letter, to which I am a signatory, from Bishops of the Episcopal Church. While this is not a pastoral letter that is required to be read in church, I encourage you as you are called by the Holy Spirit to do so.

Like many of you I am appalled by the actions of the federal government in places like Minnesota and Maine, along with other cities across the country. As followers of Jesus, we are called to a better way. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior reminded us, “The Church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and critic of the state and never its tool. If the Church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.” Those words rang true some many decades ago and they ring true now.

As followers of Jesus, we cannot sit on the sidelines while the dignity of our siblings is being trampled. We can no longer be spectators as our neighbors whom Jesus called us to love as ourselves are being denied basic rights based solely on the color of their skin and the tone of their accents. We cannot with integrity recite the words of our Baptismal Covenant while ignoring the plight of our siblings in Christ.

Know that I give thanks and pray for each one of you, and know that as my grandmother often said, “We may not know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future." Never be afraid to trust the unknown future to a known God.

Abundant Epiphany blessings,

+Deon