St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church

Weekly E-Blast

February 8, 2024

This Week at St. Francis

Thursday, February 8

10:00 am - Book Group

1:00 pm - Threads of Love

5:30 pm - Guys and Gals Nite Out

7:00 pm - AA Men’s Group

Sunday, February 11

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

Monday, February 12

7:00 pm - Bell Choir Rehearsal

7:30 pm - AA

Tuesday, February 13

11:45 am - Ladies Lunch at Dar Essalam

5:30 pm - Shrove Tuesday

Wednesday, Febraury 14

12:00 pm - Ash Wednesday Service

1:00 pm - Staff Meeting

1:30 pm - Finance Committee Meeting

7:00 pm - Ash Wednesday Service

7:00 pm - Choir Rehearsal

7:30 pm - AA

Thursday, February 15

7:00 pm - AA Men’s Group

Sunday, February 18

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 Sunday, February 25, at 4 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.

Ladies Lunch

Our next Ladies Lunch will be on Tuesday, February 13, at 11:45, at Dar Essalam. A sign up sheet is in the Information Center.

Questions? Contact Peggy Danford or Sandi Thompson.

Shrove Tuesday

Please join us on Shrove Tuesday, February 13, to prepare for the Lenten season. The men of the Parish will be serving the traditional pancake supper with ham and “fixings” for the pancakes. Supper will start at 5:30 pm in the Parish Hall and continue until there is no one left to eat.

Flower Guild Volunteer Needed

The Flower Guild needs one volunteer for the second Sunday and one for the third Sunday of each month after the service to assist our current volunteer. The ushers carry the vases of large flower bouquets into the Sacristy. One Flower Guild member finds those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries (blessed during the service) to let them know they will receive flowers. The other volunteer prepares the bouquets and both help deliver. Contact Carolynne Fairweather (2nd Sunday) or Debbi Kapp (3rd Sunday) to volunteer. It doesn’t take long, and people are so appreciative!

Pre-Lenten Book Sale

Are you in need of inspiration, reflection, and thought-provoking books? The Thursday Morning Book Group will have a table in the Narthex with a variety of interesting books and other items available for your purchase. Choose one and make a donation that you think the book is worth to you. All proceeds will go to Outreach. The books will be available between and after services on February 11.

Lent

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 ‘There is a Season’: conversations about the challenges of aging and grief. Contact Norm Shrumm for more details.

• Evening Prayer will be shared every weekday evening beginning Thursday, February 15th. We will meet at 5:30 in the conference room of the Parish Hall and by Zoom. Each week, the Zoom link and liturgy link will be in the e-Blast; we’ll read the stories in scripture, pray for needs, celebrate blessings, and focus on creation. Contact Terri Hoffmann or Christopher Onstad for more details.

• "Praying for the World" with Carolynne Fairweather on Wednesday evenings.

• Devotional books will be available from the National Cathedral ($10). This year’s theme for daily reflections is ‘Hear Us, Good Lord,’ based on the Great Litany. To reserve a copy of ‘Hear Us, Good Lord,’ contact Terri Hoffmann. We also are offering Spanish devotional books to our Misa congregation.

• 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.

A Lenten Offering:

From the Clarkes United Methodist Church , Mulino, OR to St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church, Wilsonville, OR

"Praying for the World" begins on Wednesday, February 14, 2024 and continues until Wednesday, March 27, 2024, on Zoom from 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM. You are invited to join with the Clarkes United Methodist Church in Mulino for a Lenten Study Group.

This is a seven week course from Ash Wednesday through the end of the Lenten Season - the Wednesday before Maundy Thursday. Based on the World in Prayer Ministry of St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Lodi, CA, it is not a a class about prayer, but a class "in prayer," learning how to deepen your prayer life by praying about international events, new scientific discoveries, trends, fears, hopes, and dreams of the people around the world.

It will look at current events in the world, not mentioned on the local TV news, but about the more positive things going on in the world today. Weekly updates are available on line at: worldinprayer.org

The course will examine the roots of our own prayer lives, victims in the world, praying for enemies, praising God, prayers of our faith communities, and prayers in Christ and blessings. It will focus on scripture and different forms of prayer from different faith traditions (music, dance, art, etc.). There will be discussion questions, suggested homework, sharing, and silence. The course is offered free of charge and the materials are all available online.  

Thr Rev. Carolynne Fairweather, D. Min from the Clarkes congregation and a pastoral associate at St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in Wilsonville and a Franciscan Spiritual Director, will be the facilitator. For questions, she can be reached at: [email protected] or 503-332-8486.

Mite Boxes

St. Francis has been using Mite Boxes as a spiritual Lenten practice for many years. These are intended for regular contributions of "mites," little monies, which are then collected at Easter. The money collected is sent to Episcopal Relief and Development for their work in Third World countries. The boxes are in the Information Center for anyone, adult or child, who would like to try a daily practice of gratitude, thanksgiving, or remembrance.

Adult Formation: "There is a Season," continued

Adult Formation has returned to "There is a Season," our guided discussion of the spiritual, emotional, and medical challenges particular to senior adults and their families. How can we best understand our experiences of grief and support others struggling with this? What framework of thinking, praying, and community might best support our preparation for our own mortality, and that of the people we love? How do our culture and medical system both hinder and support our needs in this season of life? Norman Shrumm, semi-retired from hospice chaplaincy, and a former Presbyterian pastor, continues as discussion leader for this series, which has been enthusiastically described as "not as dolorous as you might expect."  

Contemplative Prayer Group

A contemplative prayer group meets twice per month on Monday at 2 pm in the Parish Hall library. We do Lectio Divina and sit for Centering Prayer, among other devotions. Our next meeting will be on February 19th at 2 pm. If you are interested in Silent Prayer or Contemplation and want to join the prayer group or ask for more information, please contact Lucia Jorge-Nebert (call or text: 971-341-2068, email: [email protected]) or Marcia Burdon (text only: 503-380-7820, email: [email protected]).

Taize Prayer at St. Francis

For a time of prayer, reflection, and peace, please join us for Taize prayers at the Cross of San Damiano. Come at 5 pm for the service, or at 4:30 if you would like to sing through the chants prior to the service. Our next Taize Prayer will be on March 3.

Movie Tuesday

Our next Movie Tuesday will be on February 20. More information to come when movie times are released for that week.

St. Francis Respite Care

For the last year, a group at St. Francis has been looking at nonprofit business ideas for the congregation, and one that has emerged is an adult respite care business. Ideally, St. Francis Respite Care will provide care for people on three afternoons a week in the Parish Hall. This business will be a nonprofit, but it will charge for the respite service. Respite care provides a safe and loving environment for people in need of care so that their caregivers have time to address other needs. If you are interested in being involved, please contact Fr. Brendan.

Small Dinner Groups Forming Again

If you are new to St Francis and would like to get to know some other members of the congregation - or if you have been attending St Francis for a while and would like to welcome and get to know more about newer members - consider signing up for a Small Dinner Group.

The groups can be singles or couples and set their own schedule and format. They will Often commit to meeting anywhere from monthly to quarterly for the rest of the year to share a potluck meal and to tell their stories. Groups can meet virtually. It’s a very fun way to get to know the good people at St Francis. 

Please sign up on the list at the Information Center by the end of February. Groups will be assigned early in March. Generally groups have eight people, but if you would prefer a group of six, please note that on the sign-up sheet. Questions? Contact Nyla Emory at 503-539-1857 or [email protected].

Save the Date

Masa Mijuno will join intrepid St. Francis gardeners for a day of pruning in the memorial and east gardens on March 14. Please mark your calendars and prepare your foul weather gear and pruning tools! We’ll begin at 9 am and work until our fingers and toes make us stop. Come any time. Bring soup if you can - our master pruner likes hot soup breaks! Masa is a great teacher and we learn a lot from him each year.

Did You Know? - Flag Pole

The flag pole between the parking lots was a gift from Martha and Edwin Gunderson. On the hillside by the steps down to the Parish Hall, there is a small St. Francis statue which was also a gift. There are many trees and shrubs that were purchased as memorial donations.

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 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!