St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church

Weekly E-Blast

February 5, 2026

Preparing for Sunday

St. Francis subscribes to a weekly service called Working Preacher, which provides some brief commentary on the bible readings for the upcoming weeks. It can be found on the Sermons & Services page on the St. Francis website (https://tinyurl.com/sermonspage). I encourage all of you to consider looking at it prior to Sunday, particularly if you are a lector for the week.

This Week at St. Francis

Thursday, February 5

7:00 pm - AA Men’s Group

Sunday, February 8

8:00 am - Spoken Eucharist

9:00 am - Adult Formation

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

10:30 am - Church School

12:30 pm - Misa

Monday, February 9

10:00 am - Bell Choir Rehearsal

1:30 pm - Search Committee Meeting

7:30 pm - AA

Tuesday, February 10

11:00 am - SpringRidge Service

1:30 pm - Mahjong Group

6:30 pm - Profile Committee Meeting

Wednesday, February 11

12:00 pm - Noon Eucharist

1:30 pm - Finance Committee Meeting

4:00 - 6:30 pm - Drop-in hours with Mtr. Jaime

7:00 pm - Choir Rehearsal

7:30 pm - AA

Thursday, February 12

10:00 am - Book Group

12:00 pm - Threads of Love

5:00 pm - Guys and Gals Nite Out

7:00 pm - AA Men’s Group

Sunday, February 15

8:00 am - Spoken Eucharist

9:00 am - Adult Formation

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

10:30 am - Church School

12:30 pm - Misa

4:00 pm - Dinner Church

We ask your prayers for St. Francis’ clergy transition

Eternal God, heavenly Father, we lift our congregation to you at this time of clergy transition. Give to us open hearts and discerning minds, a vision of the future to which you call us, and the grace and faith to live into it. This we pray in the name of the One who calls us to be instruments of your peace, Jesus our Savior. Amen. 

Updates from the Junior Warden

Our new AED was installed last week by Cintas. It will be professionally maintained on a monthly basis. We will be scheduling CPR training for anybody who is interested. The dates are TBD. Contact Arnie Myhra (504-352-1175) for more information.

We have had several questions about our lighting. After some investigation, we have all LED lighting here at St. Francis.

Dinner Church

Our next gathering for Dinner Church will be February 15 at 4 pm in the Parish Hall. Mtr. Jaime 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 pray, share about scripture, and have dinner.

Altar Flowers

Donations for altar flowers may be given for special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, baptisms, in memory of, etc. Flower envelopes are available or you can make a note on your check in the memo line. There are no flowers during Lent and only greens during Advent.

Susan Cheever, Flower Guild

Lenten Booklets

St. Francis will produce a Lenten booklet again this year. Please send your submissions to Jodi at saintfranciswilsonville@gmail.com. 

Lent at St. Francis

Lenten resources for personal and family devotions will be available for you in the Narthex beginning February 15. Whether your household prefers a fun map or devotional books, we’ll have them! If you are unable to come to church, we can mail you a copy of “Life Stories," using wisdom from Madeleine L’Engel, or a map of the Journey Through Lent. Contact Terri Hoffmann or the office if you need a copy to be sent to you.

Gals and Guys Night Out

On Thursday, February 12, we will meet at Langdon Farms at 5pm. Please come and join this group from St. Francis for fellowship, food and drink, and a good time. You are always welcome to bring a friend.

See you there,

Doug and Rich

Small Dinner Groups 2026

It’s time to sign up for this year’s small dinner groups. This is an opportunity to meet the great people of St. Francis with whom you share Sunday mornings. The groups are made up of couples and singles who meet on a schedule decided upon by your group. Dinners are typically potluck meals in your homes, but you can be creative and meet at a restaurant or whatever you decide. Typical group size is eight people, but if you would prefer a group of six, please note that on the sign-up sheet. Groups will be selected by the end of February. There are so many interesting people in our St. Francis family - here is your opportunity to hear their stories. Don’t miss out on the fun! Questions? Contact Nyla Emory at 503 539-1857 or Nylaemory@mac.com or Lynne Tucker at 503 704-3344 or tuckerfamily@onlinenw.com.

Adult Formation

Adult Formation in Lent will explore spirituality for our own lives, based on wisdom of Richard Rohr. God is such a mystery! Most of us can remember turning points in our lives that have led us to reimagine how we relate to God and others. We move forward in ways that we likely don’t understand, hopefully growing through the quiet workings of time and grace. Once we have lived into an understanding of who/what/how we are - critical work! - we can move on to other questions, other meaning, other work, toward our own soul’s wholeness. ‘God has no grandchildren. God only has children.’ We each make our own discoveries.

We’ll meet 9:00 - 10:00ish, beginning February 22. If you’d like to read Rohr’s wisdom directly, look for ‘Falling Upward;’ otherwise just join us on Sunday mornings!

Memorial Gardens Work Day

Garden putterers, unite! Please come help us make the Memorial Gardens beautiful for Easter on Saturday, March 21, beginning at 9:30 am. Bring gloves, pruners and diggers if you have them, maybe a mug of coffee. We’ll clean up winter damage and fill the gardens with blooming plants, should be finished by noon—come and work as you can. If you’d like to help choose the plants, join us Saturday, March 14 at 10am; we’ll start at N&M Nursery on Feller Rd. (Donald) and move on from there!

Contemplative Prayer Group

A contemplative prayer group meets twice per month on Thursday 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 12th at 2:00 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: lnebert@yahoo.com) or Marcia Burdon (text only: 503-380-7820, email: mlburdon@hotmail.com).

Console Cabinet with Handbell Storage

Installed in our Sanctuary 1/22/2026, the creation of this console cabinet was a collaborative effort by parish members David White (appreciated as a premier woodcrafter) and Gary Thompson (designer, MFA).

The cabinet design is an adaptation of the “organic” style as reflected in various oak furnishings in our Sanctuary -- a style that takes its cues from nature with an emphasis on minimalism and harmony between man-made elements and the natural world. The requisite characteristics are clean & straight lines and surfaces mostly devoid of flourishes and embellishments. The exception in our case is that the cabinet end panel has triangular appliques – a design element also found in our Altar rail. 

The walnut crosses on the drawer fronts are a stylized version of a Celtic Cross and a larger version of 300 smaller commemorative crosses given to members of our Congregation at the time of our Parish’s 40^th birthday. 

The cabinet design also reflects a logic that has determined which furnishings in our Sanctuary are in Oak and which are in Walnut. Most are in Oak. In intentional contrast, Walnut has been used exclusively for our sacred elements, i.e., Altar, Aumbry, Baptismal Font, Credence Tables and Stations of the Cross frames.

Most of the solid materials came from repurposed Red Oak from two former Choir Pews which were replaced by individual chairs in 2024. The Walnut crosses on the drawer fronts were made from repurposed Walnut from a former Organ Console which was replaced in 2019. The remaining materials were purchased by our Caring Ministry as their gift to our Parish Family.  

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 Sunday, March 1st.

Treasurer’s Report

Pledge income for January 2026 was $6,974 under budget.  

January 1 – January 31 Income from all sources:

Budgeted: $33,850

Actual: $26,241

Difference: under budget $7,609

January 1 – January 31 Expenses:

Budgeted: $33,850

Actual: $30,694

Difference: under budget $3,156

The bottom line: For January, our income from all sources was UNDER our expenses in the amount of $4,453.

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

Update: The St. Francis congregation provided ten van loads of donations to the William Temple House Thrift Store last year! 

As we continue through 2026, please continue to donate clothing, electronics, furniture, and household goods so William Temple House can provide counseling services, food, and other items to those in need. Thank you!

Cold weather items including blankets, sleeping bags, and warm clothing are especially needed now; please consider donating any of these items if you are no longer using them. Again, thank you.