St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church

Weekly E-Blast

February 27, 2025

This Week at St. Francis

Thursday, February 27

10:00 am - Book Group

11:30 am - Threads of Love

7:00 pm - AA Men's Group

Sunday, March 2

8:00 am - Spoken Eucharist

9:00 am - Adult Formation

10:30 am - Eucharist, Live Eucharist on YouTube/Facebook

10:30 am - Sunday School

12:30 pm - Misa

5:00 pm - Taize

Monday, March 3

9:30 am - Bell Choir Rehearsal

7:30 pm - AA

Tuesday, March 4

1:00 pm - Backpack Buddies Sorting

Wednesday, March 5

12:00 pm - Ash Wednesday Service

1:00 pm - Staff Meeting

1:00 pm - Backpack Buddies Packing

6:30 pm - Choir Rehearsal

7:00 pm - Ash Wednesday Service

7:30 pm - AA

Thursday, March 6

7:00 pm - AA Men's Group

Saturday, March 8

10:00 am - Auction Meeting

Sunday, March 9

8:00 am - Spoken Eucharist

9:00 am - Adult Formation

10:30 am - Eucharist, Live Eucharist on YouTube/Facebook

10:30 am - Sunday School

12:30 pm - Misa

Dinner Church

Our next gathering for Dinner Church will be on Sunday, March 30, at 5 pm in the Parish Hall. Father Brendan will make the main dish and we will have a potluck for sides, salads, and desserts. There is a sign-up sheet in the Information Center. We will have dinner, break bread, and celebrate the Eucharist.

Parish Nurse

St. Francis Vestry is seeking a parish nurse to assist church members with their physical well-being. Suggested actions might include:

• Supplying wellness information and resources to the church community.

• Providing health activities to members of the parish.

• Supporting church members during challenging health events. 

Please contact Fr. Brendan if you are or know anyone who may be interested in this volunteer position.

Ladies Lunch

Our next Ladies Lunch will be on Tuesday, March 11, at 11:45 am, at Dar Essalam. A sign-up sheet is in the Information Center. Questions? Contact Peggy Danford or Sandi Thompson.

Let Your Heart Be Heard – JOY RETREAT

March 15, 2025, 1 pm – 4 pm

In this 3-hour mini retreat, Anne-Louise Sterry will be using music and storytelling to explore how we can bring more deep joy into our lives. What is our heart telling us? How can we create a life full of greater vibrancy, integrity, and love? As we learn from what our hearts are telling us, we will also experience more compassion, resilience, and understanding. And more laughter! What a gift to ourselves and everyone whose lives we touch! All are invited. Bring a pad and pen. This retreat is free of charge. You may give a free will offering if you choose.

Anne-Louise Sterry is an internationally recognized motivational speaker and performing artist, performing for over 400,000 people across America and Europe in the last 30 years. Infusing her background in psychology, education, and nursing, Sterry combines speaking and original music to inspire, educate, and entertain audiences through her unforgettable ‘keynote concerts’.

Known to instantly excite the room with her joyful, Anne-Louise has an incredible ability to connect with anyone she meets, from a single individual to an audience of thousands.

Stations of the Cross – Soon to be Back

Our Stations were taken down during Advent to allow for the installation of new walnut frames. Walnut was selected to match other sacred elements in our Nave, e.g., Altar, Credence Tables, Ambry, and Baptismal Font - all of which are walnut. Our Caring Ministry selected these frames and is paying for them as their gift to our Parish Family.  Concurrently, the mats surrounding the images are receiving needed refreshment. Reinstallation of the Stations will commence over the next two weeks with completion planned by Ash Wednesday. For more information, see Gary Thompson.

Lent at St. Francis 

Lent at St. Francis includes opportunities and choices for us to use at home or at church. We are all invited to observe the quiet, contemplative, and community opportunities that make Lent meaningful and prepare us for Holy Week and Easter. Choose what is best for you!

• Adult Formation will focus on the wisdom from Mary, the mother of Jesus. If you’d like a copy of a resource book (on sale at Amazon), you can order Mary: the Imagination of Her Heart, by Episcopal priest Penelope Duckworth. Contact Terri Hoffmann for more details.
• A Lenten booklet will be available at the Welcome Table. It will contain items of Lenten significance submitted by the congregation.
• Evening Prayer will be shared every weekday evening beginning Thursday, March 6th. We will meet at 5:30 pm in the library or conference room of the Parish Hall. We’ll read the stories in scripture, pray for needs, celebrate blessings, and focus on creation and lengthening days. Contact Terri Hoffmann or Christopher Onstad for more details.
• The movie ministry will focus on The Chosen, beginning at 4:30 pm every Tuesday in Lent, with a simple (but tasty) soup supper and conversation following. Please sign up at the Information Center if you can provide soup or bread on a Tuesday or two.
• Devotional books will be available again from the National Cathedral ($10). Based on the theme of pilgrimage, there are scripture readings, meditations, and short prayers for each day (except Sundays) of Lent. We are also offering Spanish devotional books to our Misa congregation. Buen Camino/Good journey!
• We will have the Forward Movement Journey Maps for Lent available to take home, with a suggestion for each day.
• If you would like to sing or ring your way through Lent, join the choir or bell choir for the season! Both choirs have just begun rehearsals of music for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. Contact Jon Holland or Wendy Shrumm for more details.
• During Lent, we weave palm crosses and prepare the church for Easter. Both are wonderful opportunities to be in community and reflect on the seasons. Watch e-Blasts for more details.
• The walls of the Narthex/foyer will be inviting us to imagine or join a pilgrimage. Photographs and text from three parishioners, who have all made pilgrimages on the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain, will be up for thoughtful viewing in the Narthex.

Adult Formation

Adult Formation in Lent will focus on Mary, the mother of Jesus. Little is written about this extraordinary woman in scripture, but we can learn a lot about her - and from her - from the life of her son, and from historians, artists, and theologians who’ve analyzed her through the centuries. As prophet, matriarch, disciple, and paradigm, she has helped shape our faith and beliefs. As the Episcopal tradition has been changed by the women’s movement and beliefs brought to us through other traditions, Mary is being studied with new interest. Please join us for coffee and conversation at 9 am on Sundays in Lent!

Care Bag Ministry

Initiated originally by John Wisecaver and friends, St. Francis has been assembling care bags of food to be handed out to anyone who indicates a need. Members of the congregation carry bags in their vehicles and provide food for those begging at stop signs. We encourage you to pick up a few bags at the Information Desk just off the Narthex. A donation of $2 per bag is suggested to cover the cost of the food. The bags are currently being assembled by the Men’s Book Study Group, under the direction of Arnie Myhra (amyhra@netzero.com).

Lenten Booklets

It has been a tradition at St. Francis for many years to produce a booklet of readings, artwork, poems, or any other printable items to be distributed parish-wide during Lent. Its purpose is to share items that speak to us as parishioners as we journey through these 40 days. It can be an original piece, something that you clipped from a magazine, a passage from the Bible, or a piece of art that has special meaning for you, to name a few options. 

Booklets will be available starting on Ash Wednesday. Please send your submissions to Jodi at saintfranciswilsonville@gmail.com by February 28.

Taizé Prayer at St. Francis

For a time of prayer, reflection, and peace, please join us for Taizé prayers at the Cross of San Daminano. Come to the church at 5:00 pm for the service or 4:30 pm if you would like to sing through the chants prior to the service. 

Our next Taizé Prayer service will be March 2.

Did You Know? - Bird Bath

The Memorial Garden bird bath was given in memory of Margaret Lathrop by the St. Francis Altar Guild.

Ministry Prayers – Memorial Gardens Ministry

Each week, in our Prayers of the People, we pray for a ministry here at St. Francis. This week, we pray for our Memorial Gardens Ministry. The Memorial Gardens Ministry has the privilege of planning, planting, pruning, and maintaining the Tower Garden and the East Garden, which are where the ashes of friends and family who’ve gone before us are buried. The gardens are beautiful, and many of the plants have been here as long as the church has!

Every year, we wake the gardens up for Easter with spring-flowering plants and add summer-flowering plants before Memorial Sunday. In autumn, we put the gardens to bed, pruning and pulling spent annuals. In winter, we put on our foul-weather gear and prune the woody plants under the direction of Masa Mijuno, master fine pruner (we always learn a lot from him!).

If you like having your hands in good soil, or would like to honor folks whose ashes are in the gardens, or would like to know more about plants or other gardeners at St. Francis, we invite you to join the Memorial Gardens Ministry! Our tasks are infrequent and the beauty of the lovely gardens is inspiring. Check the e-Blast or bulletin for upcoming gardening dates and please join us!

William Temple House Donations

As you clean out your cupboards and closets following the holidays, please consider giving your no-longer-needed (or wanted) items to William Temple House. The donation boxes are in the office hallway. Thank you for helping others! If you’d like a tax receipt, please let Jodi know. 

SAVE THE DATE! Outreach Auction 2025

Here’s a date to put on your calendar — June 14, 2025! Your Outreach Ministry will be holding an auction to raise funds for the many outreach programs supported by St Francis. The auction will be a very fun event where we come together to show our love for others, both locally and internationally.

Based on our experience in 2023, we have decided to focus on a live auction (plus a number of other fun events), so of course we need to be thinking about items that can be auctioned. We are particularly interested in experiences — dinners, vacation homes, fishing trips, airline miles, restaurant gift cards combined with theater or movie tickets, cases of wine or wine tastings, spa visits — these are just a few thoughts. No doubt you will have lots of other creative ideas. 

Please contact Carole Biskar (cbiskar@gmail.com) or Ann Frazier (annfrazier41@comcast.net) if you have questions or suggestions.