St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church

Weekly E-Blast

March 13, 2025

This Week at St. Francis

Thursday, March 13

10:00 am - Book Group

11:30 am - Threads of Love

5:30 pm - Guys and Gals Nite Out at Langdon Farms

7:00 pm - AA Men's Group

Saturday, March 15

1:00 pm - Lenten Joy Retreat

Sunday, March 16

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, March 17

9:30 am - Bell Choir Rehearsal

7:30 pm - AA

Tuesday, March 18

4:30 pm - The Chosen and Soup Supper in the Parish Hall

Wednesday, March 19

9:00 am - Memorial Gardens Pruning

12:00 pm - Noon Eucharist

1:00 pm - Staff Meeting

7:00 pm - Choir Rehearsal

7:30 pm - AA

Thursday, March 20

7:00 pm - Vestry

7:00 pm - AA Men's Group

Saturday, March 22

2:30 pm - Stations of the Cross at Mt. Angel

Sunday, March 23

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

Joyful Respite Care

Joyful Respite is an Adult Day Center located at St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in Wilsonville. The Center provides short-term respite support for family caregivers who are looking to recharge while leaving their loved ones in a safe and engaging environment. Provided are delicious and nutritious morning and afternoon snacks along with lunch. Hours are 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Mondays thru Wednesdays. An assessment for all potential participants will be conducted as part of the enrollment process. This assessment helps us to better understand and care for your loved ones. Please call if you have any questions and to schedule a visit with Joyful Respite at 503-776-5068. Blessings to you all. 

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.

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.

The Stations of the Cross (via Crucis) at Mt. Angel Abbey

The Stations of the Cross are graphic representations of the events that happened to Jesus, in his way from Pilate’s house to Golgotha.  They comprise an ancient Christian devotion that enables us to walk in the footsteps of Christ, during His path of suffering and death (Via Crucis or Way of the Cross), for our Redemption.  The devotion was started by early Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem, who took the practice to their lands of origin and spread it in different forms and under different traditions.  In our days, the Stations have become an opportunity to contemplate Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and deepen our faith in the promise that death is not the end, but a necessary step to Eternal Life.

This Lenten season we will have the opportunity of carrying on this devotion at the outdoors Stations of the Cross located along the wooded hillside that leads to Mt. Angel Benedictine Abbey.  The finished Stations, and the statuary and paintings contained within, date back to 1889 and they are a beautiful example of 19th-century German sacred art.  We will walk these outdoors Stations on Saturday, March 22^nd.  We will meet in our St. Francis of Assisi church parking lot at 2:30 pm for carpooling. If you want to participate, there is a sign-up sheet in the Narthex.  For more information please contact:  Lucia Jorge-Nebert (email: lnebert@yahoo.com or call or text: 971-341-2068).  There will be one more opportunity in April to walk the Stations of the Cross in a setting outdoors (the day and location will be announced soon).

Movie Tuesday

Our next Movie Tuesday will be on March 18th. We will watch The Chosen in the Parish Hall, beginning at 4:30 pm and have soup for dinner.

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.

Gal’s and Guy’s Night Out

On March 13th, we will meet at the Langdon Farms Restaurant at 5pm. Please come and join this group from St. Francis for fellowship, food and drink, and a good time. Bringing a friend is always welcome.

See you there,

Doug and Rich

Memorial Gardens Prep for Easter

Please join us on Saturday, April 12, 10am-1pm to prepare the gardens for a beautiful Easter! Bring gloves, pruner, digger and help us trim perennials and plant annual flowers. It’s so much fun, so good for our souls and so inspiring to see afterward! You will be most welcome!

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 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 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!

Memorial Gardens

Intrepid St. Francis gardeners! Masa Mijuno, master fine pruner, will be here on Wednesday, March 19, to teach us and prune the trees in and around our memorial gardens. Bring your foul-weather gear, warm socks, gloves, and pruning tools and join us as you can between 9 am and 2 pm. We’ll have hot soup (yes, please!) around lunchtime to thaw our hands and tummies. Please join us if you can!

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 April 6.

Did You Know? - Bell Tower

The Bell Tower houses four cast bronze bells, which were made in Belgium and currently chime every fifteen minutes during the hours of 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. The chime pattern is that of Westminster Abby. The bells are also programmed to play the Angelus at five minutes prior to each service on Sunday. There is also a pattern to chime a toll and a peal.

The four cast bronze bells were crafted by the Eijsbhouts' Co., Asten, The Netherlands. They were shipped by boat to Elderhorst Bells. Inc. of Palm, Pennsylvania for the final inspection before being transported overland to Oregon. The total weight was 1,918 lbs. Bell note A, 992 lbs., 36" in diameter; Bell note D 419 lbs. 27" diameter; Bell note E 298 lbs. 24" diameter; and Bell note F 209 lbs. 21" diameter. 

The bells are mounted with the proper notes for the Westminster melody and are controlled by a computer. There is a peal for weddings and other celebrations and a toll for funerals. The regular hours of use are from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm daily.

The bells were a donation to the church by Joseph and Melanie Barclay in memory of their parents. The dedication reads “Dedicated to the Glory of God and in loving memory of Joseph and Merlen Barclay and Howard Trafford, October 30, 1988”

Ministry Prayers – Bell Choir

Each week, in our Prayers of the People, we pray for a ministry here at St. Francis. This week, we pray for our Bell Choir. The Bell Choir is a dedicated group of individuals with a variety of backgrounds. They come to rehearsal each week knowing that, if they are absent, there is no one to ring their bells. Some have decades of musical experience; some have very little musical knowledge or experience. What may be unique to handbell ringing is that the position one plays can be matched with the experience and ability of the ringer so that each person has an appropriate challenge and sense of accomplishment with every piece.

St. Francis has many handbells that we are not currently using, so it is very easy to add a new ringer or two any time. This group shares the joy of offering their gifts and talents with the church community through handbell music, while having a bit of fun and laughter along the way! If you are interested in joining, please contact Wendy Shrumm.

Treasurer’s Report

Pledge income for February 2025 was $4,117 under budget.

February 1 – February 28 Income from all sources:

Budgeted: $33,892

Actual: $32,126

Difference: under budget $1,766

February 1 – February 28 Expenses:

Budgeted: $33,795

Actual: $31,822

Difference: under budget $1,973

The bottom line: Through February our income from all sources was over our expenses in the amount of $304.

The monthly financial report is posted on the Bulletin Board at the church.

We thank you for your gracious contributions that help us to care well for ourselves and the communities we serve.

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.