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We commit to follow Christ, serve others, grow in faith and

transform the world by sharing God’s love.

Dear ones,

Well, Lent is fully upon us! If you were in church last Sunday, you heard me say that the Lenten practice I was given this season, is noticing. I’m grateful for that, because I fear I would be failing more rigorous practices. While the adage “God never gives you more than you can handle…” has always seemed ridiculous to me (there are so many who have so much more than they should ever be asked to handle), I do notice that there are many times when God really does offer up just what I need (which is different from what I want). And the work of noticing is just what I need this season.

Today it was crows soaring through the air over the bell tower, disguising themselves as eagles. And clouds lit up in such luminous ways I could hardly take my eyes off of them. I hope you are noticing too. But even more, I hope you are finding ways to engage Lent that are meaningful for you, precisely where you are just now. Every day of Lent is precious. This is the season the church gives us to slow down, to go inside, to let the things of the world settle around us and to let ourselves turn inward. What does the world look like from a God’s eye view? We’ll never know if we don’t make quiet space and time.

And even in the midst of Lent, we’ll do some celebrating. You may know that the 40 days of Lent don’t include Sundays, because every Sunday is a “little Easter.” So this Sunday at coffee hour, we will celebrate our love and gratitude for Linda and Jan Heller, giving thanks for all they’ve given us over the many years they’ve been at St Barnabas. Rev. Jan was a particularly generous mentor for me when I was first called to St Barnabas, and was your priest and pastor for a lovely interim time. As the convener and lead for the Adult Faith Formation Team, Linda Heller has had a profound impact on our formation and we will do our best to continue her legacy.  Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate them, to thank them and to send them on their way to return to their roots and to be close to their beloved daughter Abbey. Oh how we will miss them!

Wishing you all the riches of this Lenten season.  I can’t wait to see you in church on Sunday. Faithfully, Karen†

Friday | March 14

9 a.m. | Stations of the Cross | Sanctuary

9 p.m. | Compline | Zoom

Sunday | March 16

8 a.m. | Holy Eucharist, Rite I | Sanctuary

Post–Service Coffee Hour | Parlor

9:45 a.m. | Godly Play, Grades PreK-5 | Youth Room

10 a.m. | Holy Eucharist, Rite II | Sanctuary

Post-Service Coffee Hour | Heller Farewell Gathering | Parish Hall

Noon | Vestry Meeting | Library

2–4 p.m. | Youth Group, Grades 6-12 | Youth Room

Monday | March 17 | St. Patrick’s Day

9 a.m.| Lenten Morning Prayer | Sanctuary

1 p.m. | Knitting Circle | Library

9 p.m. | Compline | Zoom

Tuesday | March 18

9 a.m. | Centering Prayer | Sanctuary

Noon | Staff Meeting | Zoom

Wednesday | March 19

9 a.m.| Lenten Morning Prayer | Sanctuary

6 p.m. | Lenten Soup Supper | Parish Hall

9 p.m. | Compline | Zoom

Thursday | March 20

9 a.m. | Healing Eucharist | Sanctuary

1:45 p.m. | Senior Ministry | The Madison

3 p.m. | Campus Stewards Meeting | Library

7 p.m. | Parish Choir Rehearsal | Choir Room

Friday | March 21

9 a.m. | Stations of the Cross | Sanctuary

9 p.m. | Compline | Zoom

Sunday | March 23

8 a.m. | Holy Eucharist, Rite I | Sanctuary

Post–Service Coffee Hour | Parlor

9:45 a.m. | Godly Play, Grades PreK-5 | Youth Room

10 a.m. | Holy Eucharist, Rite II | Sanctuary

Post-Service Coffee Hour | Stewards of Creation Presentation | Parish Hall

2–4 p.m. | Youth Group, Grades 6-12 | Youth Room

On March 2, the Vestry had a very useful and informative meeting with the Canon to the Ordinary (the Reverend Cristi Chapman, assisting the Bishop with clergy transitions, among her duties), here to be of service to our parish as we approach the retirement of our beloved Rev. Karen. 

The purpose of the meeting was to begin developing a partnership, and for the Canon to bring clarity to the transition process. She outlined a rough timeline, identifying the various responsibilities of the Diocese, Vestry, and Congregation. 

She emphasized that our energy and focus in the next three months will be gratitude and celebration. In our remaining time with Rev. Karen, we want to recognize the lasting impact of her ministry among us—faithfully leading us to become the flourishing, loving, and spiritually focused parish we are—and to give her a beautiful sendoff. 

In addition, we will prayerfully start the process to call an Interim Rector and discern other preliminary steps to help prepare for the transitional period that starts in June.

Contact me (or any Vestry member) to share questions, compliments, ideas, and concerns. 

Phil Fergusson

People’s Warden

philfergusson@hotmail.com

Reflection, Repentance, Renewal

Lenten Resources

Please find resources below for this Lenten season, including a link to resources from the national Church and Bishop LaBelle’s Lenten video message. Our Bread for the Journey daily Lenten reflections book written by our very own St. Barnabas parishioners is available for pickup at church, or you can click the button below to download a digital copy. These daily reflections are also being emailed each morning during Lent.

St. Barnabas will also offer daily prayer services in the Sanctuary at 9 a.m. during the Season of Lent. Centering Prayer on Tuesday and Healing Eucharist on Thursday will continue, along with Morning Prayer on Monday and Wednesday, and Stations of the Cross on Friday. While we know that not everyone can get to church during these weekday hours, the sanctuary is always open during church office hours for you to come by and pray, and the Stations of the Cross books will be available in the Narthex for your use at any time.

We pray that Lent will be for you a season of reflection, repentance, and renewal as the Spirit moves in your life and the life of our community.

Lenten Learning, Lenten Practice, Lenten Suppers

Join us Wednesday in Lent through April 9| 6 p.m.

Please join us in the parish hall at 6 p.m. for a simple supper, rich teaching, and lively conversation. In this Lenten Series, Cultivating a Meaningful Life by Discovering What Matters Most, we are exploring some essentials of the Christian Life, discovering how they can help us deepen our lives in Christ and help us to navigate the changes in our community and in the wider world. Next Wednesday's conversation will center around our personal Spiritual Journeys. We'll be looking at how our Spiritual Lives and our more external, or Secular Lives intersect, and discover the many ways our faith really does inform our lives in the wider world.

Join us for what is sure to be an evening of exploration, growth, healing, and hope (and Rev. Karen's last teaching series with us). Questions? Email Rev. Karen, revkaren@stbbi.org.

Godly Play

Godly Play | 9:45 a.m. | Grades PreK–5

Join us this Sunday as we begin our Lenten journey toward the mystery of Easter! Entering into this most precious time of mystery and wonder together is so special. We can’t wait to see you there!

Youth Group

Youth Group | 2–4 p.m. | Grades 6–12

During the Lenten season, we will continue in our Holy Troublemakers and Unconventional Saints book, learning about African and African-American people of faith and how their beliefs impacted them, their communities, and the world around them. We will learn about individuals like Fr. Broderick Greer, Rev. Wil Gafney, and Wangari Maathai. Hope to see you there!

Once upon a time, flies, ants, and bees were considered a nuisance to be swatted and eliminated, but now that their numbers have diminished, we perceive how necessary they are for a sustainable world, with flies and bees as pollinators, while ants aerate the soil. Along with our wild companions, we now realize how necessary those native grasses, plants, and trees that we cleared away are to insuring the health of the planet. Biodiversity is bio-dependency.

What’s being done to sustain this blessed creation we have inherited for the future? To name a few: A Global Biodiversity Framework has been adopted by many countries, committing to preserve 30% of land and water and restoring all degraded ecosystems by 3030. We can email support for this plan by writing to our elected representatives. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault safeguards 1,302,397 seed samples from almost every country. We now understand that the loss of a crop variety is irreversible. We can plant and nourish our native grasses and plants, protect our trees from harmful clearing, encourage local farmers to plant a wider variety of crops.



Our island nests in the Salish Sea, which is populated by 37 species of mammals, 172 species of birds, 253 species of fish, and 3,000 species of invertebrates. And yet polluted runoff, ocean acidification, and fossil fuel effects have put them in extreme danger of extinction. The Salish tribes have been studying these effects and exploring possible environmental aids for decades. We can stop the use of chemicals we use on our land and in our homes that create the toxic runoff into the water. We can support the projects of Climate Action Bainbridge and Climate Smart Bainbridge. Encourage our schools.

Finally, we can work to reduce plastics, in our home, in our markets, in our stores. Microplastics are now corrupting sea water, ground water, the seeping landfills, the very air we and are companions of creation breathe.

We, the Stewards of Creation at St. Barnabas, would be pleased to have you join us, offer us further information, join us in attending local informative presentations and actions on our island and daily recall in our prayers, “thy kingdom come… on earth as it is in heaven.”

—Sue Ellen Case

The first signs of Spring are popping up. In our house, however, the signs of Spring are a little different. Yes, there are buds on the rhododendrons and other flowering bushes. The crocuses are poking out of the ground. More of the lawn is green.

But those are no longer the sure signs for me that Spring is coming. Instead, when you live with Tom Clark, you start to notice small things each day indicating that Spring isn’t far away: The small plastic cups awaiting dirt and seeds in the bay window. The bags of potting soil leaning against the banister in the foyer. The newly tilled dirt in the large planting pots on the patio downstairs. The hoses being reconnected. The temporary table by the sliding glass doors in the dining room where seedlings will soon be bathed in the morning sun.

Gardening brings Tom great joy – being outside and digging in the dirt. But what I know is that he is sowing more than vegetables; he is sowing love and generosity. He always grows more than the two of us could eat in a year so I know he isn’t just laboring for us. He is laboring for his community so that he can share with family, with friends and with food pantries in an attempt to feed as many as he can with his garden. Food, after all, is love.

—Katherine Bolles

The St. Barnabas Prayer Chain consists of a group of pray-ers who believe in the power of prayer and who devotedly pray for others. If you would like to add someone to the prayer list, or if you would like to join those who receive information about those for whom we pray, email Prayer Chain Coordinator, Drucy Burnet Hodge, drucy15@msn.com. Parishioners remain on the prayer list for one month, non-parishioners for two weeks. The long-term prayer list is periodically reviewed and revised. 

*St. Barnabas Members

Deacon Dan Fowler and other volunteers from St. Barnabas lead devotion services at area senior living centers on Bainbridge Island. All are welcome join us!

The Madison House

Every Thursday at 1:45 p.m.

Fieldstone—March 19

Memory Care 1:30 p.m.

Assisted Living 2 p.m.

The Pacific Northwest Premiere of the new feature-length film Kintsukuroi will benefit the construction of a visitors center at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. St. Barnabas Episcopal, Bainbridge Island, Japanese American Community (BIJAC), and Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association (BIJAEMA) are partnering to screen the film on Thursday, March 27 at the Lynwood Theater as a prelude to events at the Exclusion Memorial on March 30.

Kintsukuroi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using gold. Often times the repaired item is stronger and more beautiful than the original. This philosophy is an apt metaphor for the Japanese American experience during WWII.

With a stroke of his pen, President Franklin Roosevelt effectively destroyed the lives of over 120,000 Japanese Americans when he signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. Kintsukuroi follows members of the Ito family from their pre-war life in San Francisco’s Japantown to the concentration camps of the American West to the battlefields of Europe as they endure one of the most shameful periods in American history.

Kintsukuroi has screened in eight film festivals, including Films of Remembrance in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Kintsukuroi was named Best Feature Film in the 2025 Silicon Valley Asian American Pacific Filmfest.

Filmmaker Kerwin Berk, a Sansei from San Francisc’s Japantown, will attend the screening and participate in a Q&A discussion afterward.

Bainbridge Island North Kitsap Interfaith Council is presenting a Spring Music Festival on Sunday, March 30 from 3-4 p.m. at Bainbridge Island’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The theme is “Our diversity makes us stronger,” and there will be musical offerings from area worship communities. You are cordially invited to attend, and St. Barnabas will be represented by Schola Nova!

For over a decade, the Rev. Jim Friedrich has been writing richly layered reflections on things that matter—both human and divine—on his popular blog, The Religious Imagineer. His first posts in 2014 were dispatches from his 500-mile pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, and subsequent writings have explored a wide range of topics. If you enter into the site’s Search box such words as God, Jesus, Theology, Spirituality, Art, Poetry, Cinema, Liturgy, Saints, Pilgrimage, Politics, or one of the seasons of the Christian Year, you will find a variety of intriguing choices, such as:

Dante and Lewis Carroll Walk Into a Dark Wood, Dreaming the Church That Wants to Be, What is the Olympics’ “Last Supper” Controversy Really About?, 7 Spiritual Practices for the Time of Trial, The Ten Best Religious Films, The Spirituality of Running, To Plough and Harrow the Soul: The Shared Work of Art and Faith, A Musical Tsunami, What Does the Iliad Tell Us About the Invasion of Ukraine?, “We must learn to forget revenge”—Thinking about Gaza, What Will the Cross Make of Us?, and God is a Dance We Do.

Every post draws on the wisdom and eloquence of theologians, mystics, artists, activists, poets, novelists, scholars and songwriters, as well as Jim’s own experiences and wonderings. “It’s like a dinner party,” he says, “where I invite a diverse selection of creatives to gather for a lively conversation that would not otherwise happen. If the reader can partake of the feast, drawing both delight and inspiration from that conversation, then I have done my work.”

In 11 years, The Religious Imagineer has published 388 posts and received over 290,000 views, not only from the U.S, Britain, Canada and other English-speaking countries, but from 49 other countries as well. “It’s become a major part of my ministry,” Jim says. “My posts aren’t the kind that go viral. They ask more of the reader than the short and snappy material designed to snag the casual browser. You’ll find interesting information on my site, but formation (dare I say transformation?) is the primary goal of all religious writing. And for those willing to read my blog mindfully, I hope to provide fresh and nourishing perspectives on the big questions: Why are we here? What is the universe trying to tell us? How do we practice the presence of God, and shape our lives to divine intention? Do we matter? Are we loved? Is there hope?”

Jim will be leaving St. Barnabas when his spouse, our rector Karen, retires in June. But his blog will continue, and on his website (jimfriedrich.com) you can sign up to be notified of future posts. 

Our Diocese is calling for our support for its Refuge Resettlement Office to assist refugees here in the U.S., helping them to find places to live and to get settled here. They are in need of everything from safe affordable housing, household essentials— everything from furniture to cleaning supplies, and groceries for a few weeks—to working directly with people to help them acclimate to our country, as well as providing money for rent and utilities. There is a huge need for money at this point in time. The list is much longer but you get the idea. In other words, to help with everything that a family would need to start a new life when they begin with nothing. Your Outreach Committee is asking you to prayerfully consider how YOU can help. For more information on things you can do to help, please visit the diocesan website. In order to make a donation, please visit the the link below.

Lent, Holy Week, & Easter

Join our churches and worshiping communities from across the Diocese of Olympia this Lent, Holy Week, and Easter! More services will be added throughout the season, so click here to check for regular updates!

St. Luke’s, Seattle Is Raising the Roof

St. Luke's, Seattle reached an important milestone in their building project! Read more about the January 30 Topping Off Ceremony, their new affordable family housing units, and learn how you can be part of Building a Place Where Love Dwells!

Talking about Israel and Palestine

How do we respond when those in peril cry out to us? How can we bring this conversation into our congregations in a productive, respectful way?

We invite you to join us for a half-day gathering on

Saturday March 22 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Bloedel Hall

1245 10^th Ave East, Seattle WA 98102

Coffee and snacks 9-9:30; bring your own brown bag lunch.

Office Hours: Monday–Thursday | 9 a.m.–2 p.m.

Outside of office hours, contact the office at info@stbbi.org or 206/842-5601.

For pastoral care emergencies, please contact Rev. Karen at revkaren@stbbi.org.