This Sunday, January 18, 2026

The Second Sunday after Epiphany

8:00 and 9:30am Service of Holy Eucharist

Forum Time: Presentation of Financial Plan for 2026

We continue to Facebook Livestream the Sunday 9:30 service and upload to YouTube.

Sunday Bulletin

Worship Team Schedule

Upcoming Dates

- Sunday, January 18 - Pre-Annual Meeting Budget Presentation

- Sunday, January 25 - St. David's Annual Meeting

- Wednesday, January 28 - Community Night with Mes Amis French School!

- Sunday, February 8 - Youth-Led Sunday at St. David's

A Prayer For Those Living in Fear of Deportation   

God of exile and homecomings, you led your people through the wilderness and taught us that welcoming the stranger is an act of kindness and love. We pray for all who live in fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, detention, and deportation. We grieve the heavy-handed response to largely peaceful protests, and the weaponizing of institutions meant to protect. In your mercy, shield the vulnerable from unjust laws and misuse of power. Strengthen our resolve to stand with immigrants and refugees, not out of partisanship, but as followers of the Risen Christ, whose kingdom knows no border. Through your Spirit, make us agents of justice and peace. Amen.

THIS SUNDAY:

St. David's 2026 Budget Presentation

Sunday January 18, 10:45a in the Undercroft

2026 Budget Presentation       

Become acquainted with the 2026 financial plan along with other items that the congregation will vote on at the following week’s annual meeting.

St. David's Annual Mtg
Sunday January 25, 10:45a in the Undercroft

An in-depth article, with links to documents, will be distributed in an email next week outlining the topics to be reviewed, discussed, and voted on at this important congregational meeting. We will also celebrate the life of the church this past year 2025, along with a look forward to the year ahead-- St. David’s 2026. 

During the Annual Meeting, weather permitting, children and youth will be invited to go sledding on the St. David's lawn! More details coming soon. 

We invite you to come to both meetings to be better informed and share in fellowship with one another. Hope to see you all there.

David Niles, Senior Warden

Cathy Schwichtenberg, Junior Warden

A Joyous Epiphany 2026!

Sunday, January 18th - The Peace Table

During the 9:30am service, children ages 7-11 process out during the song of praise for a lesson and activity and return to the Sanctuary for communion distribution. 

Wednesday, January 21st - LIFT @ Trinity

6:30-8:30pm with dinner for all youth grades 6-12. See you there!

Sunday, January 25th - Annual Meeting and SLEDDING!

A recent tradition at St. David’s is for kids to go sledding on the back lawn during the annual meeting as weather allows. Bring a sled and snow gear!

Youth Led Sunday - February 8th!

Prep dates:

·       Sunday, February 1st - Music Rehearsal

ECMN Youth Camp Planning Retreat - March 13-14
hosted by St. David’s

• For all middle and high school youth who are excited to help plan summer camp. Sign up coming soon!

Sign up:

ECMN Youth Camp 2026 - For current 5-11th graders

• Registration is open now!

Important Links:

2025-26 Children and Youth Registration Form

2025-26 C+Y Program Calendar

A Community Dinner with a francophone theme will be hosted by Mes Amis Preschool on Wednesday, January 28. 

• 6:00pm: Prayer Service
• 6:15pm: Community Dinner
• 6:45pm: Program offered by Mes Amis

Freewill donations encouraged. 

January Vestry Update

The St. David's Vestry met for its January meeting on Monday, January 12 in the Jones Room.  As the last meal for the 2025 Vestry, we shared a potluck with a delicious assortment of foods and recognized our departing Vestry members: Nan Drake, Andy Harvala, and David Niles.  

The meeting agenda included the following topics:

• Dwelling in the Word: John 1:29-42
• Vestry Visitor: Cathy Schwichtenberg on behalf of Allison Ferro
• Cathy shared an update from Allison on the progress of drafting a new ICA lease. The lease expires on February 28, 2026. Katherine, Allison, and Cathy have had several meetings with Dan Narr, Executive Director of ICA, and have agreed on general terms of the new lease. These terms have been sent to an attorney to be drafted into a lease. The lease team will be meeting with ICA on January 21 to review the lease draft and finalize the terms. The next steps will be to gain lease approval from the Vestry and then from ECMN.  

Discernment Topic 1: Review the Vestry’s progress against its 6 2025 goals. The goals aligned under ECMN’s four priorities and were the following:

DISCIPLESHIP

• More intentional focus on the Vestry being disciples of Christ together.
• The Vestry went on an overnight spiritual retreat at the Episcopal House of Prayer in September.
• Each Vestry meeting begins with Dwelling in the Word in which we read two versions of the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel, share a word or phrase that has meaning to us, and discuss how the reading calls us to lead. The Vestry always closes its meetings with prayer.

FAITHFUL INNOVATION

• Take concrete next steps in the Comprehensive Campus Initiative (CCI) Project
• In December, the Vestry voted to approve spending part of the 2026 Endowment distribution on a consulting engagement with the Proximity Project led by Sara Joy Proppe. Sara Joy will facilitate activities to help us discern where we may better use our property to further our church’s mission.
• Ensure that St. David’s is experimenting with new ways of doing church.
• We formed a transition team to assist with the merger of St. George’s with St. David’s to ensure new members are welcomed and become comfortable in their new church home.
• We hosted a booth at the Hopkins Raspberry Festival where we distributed over 600 cups of raspberry infused water and collected prayer intentions on sticks that were later burned in a bonfire at a church community dinner.

JUSTICE

• Stronger presence in justice activities.
• Several Vestry members have become involved with ISAIAH. Activities have included participating in a legislative listening session, attending the “Light in the Darkness” convention in December, and participating in upcoming caucus training.
• Ensure that St. David’s is promoting justice, expansiveness, and hospitality
• The Vestry supports many opportunities for the congregation to participate in justice, expansive, and hospitable activities. Examples include Community Dinners, Adult Forums, Parish Picnic, Interfaith Thanksgiving Service.

Discernment Topic 2: Approve a church policy regarding ICE visits to the St. David’s Church campus. The Vestry approved a policy which states that ICE may not enter our buildings unless there is a Judicial Warrant signed by a federal judge with the specific name and address of the individual they are seeking. Signs stating this policy will be posted on all doors.

Reporting Approvals:

Approved the December Finance Report and the December Meeting Minutes. The Vestry voted to recommend the congregation approve the 2026 Financial Plan (Budget) at the Annual Meeting on January 25. 

New Business:

• Rector’s Report - Rev. Katherine shared a verbal report with the Vestry this month.
• Warden’s Report - Click here.

The meeting concluded with prayer offered by Rev. Katherine Lewis.

Respectfully submitted,

Cathy Schwichtenberg

Junior Warden

Beloved in Christ,

Thank you to all of you who joined the nearly 4,000 souls from around the Episcopal Church and beyond who gathered to pray together online last night. As we navigate these days of great challenge, we are held in a vast network of love and prayer in the wider church. We are not alone. 

Even more than that, thank you for all the faithful ways you are responding and mobilizing for love in these hard and painful days. I and the diocesan staff have spent time checking-in with our congregations who are being most heavily impacted by the current escalation in ICE activity in the diocese. While things are incredibly painful, our congregations are mobilizing for love in deeply faithful ways, checking-in regularly on people who cannot leave their homes, organizing volunteers to deliver food and other supplies, alongside many other acts of care. 

Below, you will find several ways you and your congregations can continue to support those most affected among us in this season. I will continue to keep you updated as we move forward and the situation continues to evolve. Know of my unceasing prayers for our diocese, for those who are targeted and afraid, and for healing in our deeply wounded and wounding nation. 

Grace and Peace,

The Rt. Rev. Craig W. Loya

X Bishop, The Episcopal Church in Minnesota

PRAY

As people of faith, we ground ourselves in the promises of God. Prayer resources are available here.

DONATE - 3 RECOMMENDATIONS

• ECMN Migrant Support Fund - Provides rapid, flexible financial assistance to meet urgent and emerging needs of immigrant individuals and families across the diocese. Click here to donate.
• Casa Maria - A food shelf and clothing closet ministry of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in Richfield, serving immigrant families across the Twin Cities. Casa Maria has expanded food delivery services to ensure families can safely access food and essential supplies. Click here to donate.
• Donate Food Shelf Items at St. Nicholas
• Eggs, Milk, Butter, Chicken, Ground Beef (in tubes) tortillas, cereal, peanut butter, jelly, cooking oil, sugar, flour, masa, shelf stable juice, diapers of any size, baby wipes deodorant, feminine hygiene products, toilet paper, toothpaste. ALDI or Cub gift cards.
• Drop off Times - Tuesdays 10:00-3:00pm or Saturdays 2:30-4:00pm

ADVOCATE

The ECMN Migration Caucus has compiled a wealth of resources for those seeking to support immigrants in Minnesota. Click here.

ISAIAH: Caucus and Action Training

Join us for a faith-rooted training, inviting us to deepen our faith and put it into action. This training is designed to empower those who attended the Light in the Storm event on December 13, as well as others interested, with an overview of ISAIAH’s shared 2026 strategy and concrete next steps. Participants will gain practical know-how and resources to engage in caucus night and local actions in the weeks ahead. Grounded in love of neighbor, we will explore how, together with ISAIAH, we build power so every person is treated with dignity, immigrants are welcomed, the sick are cared for, and the hungry are fed. We will also reflect on the choice before us to embody a politics rooted in love rather than greed or cruelty, and to reclaim our faith in the public square. These trainings are open to the broader community, so you are welcome to invite friends and neighbors to join us.

St. David’s has scheduled three training sessions to choose from:

• Thursday, January 15, 6:30-8:30 PM on Zoom
• Sunday, January 18, 12:00-2:00 PM in the Undercroft (with lunch)
• Tuesday, January 27, 6:30-8:30 PM on Zoom

To register for a session, email Susan Taylor (ss2taylor@comcast.net) or sign up in the Narthex. If none of these times work for you, there are other sessions offered by the broader ISAIAH community. Please register all participants in advance so we can send out the handouts for Zoom sessions and have a headcount for the in-person session.



Click here for the People’s Agenda: Dignity and Affordability for All

Day of Prayer & Fasting for Truth & Freedom

January 23rd, 2026

ISAIAH calls upon people of faith and all our neighbors in Minnesota to take part in a day of fasting, prayer, and action.

NO WORK. NO SCHOOL. NO SHOPPING.

MARCH DOWNTOWN MINNEAPOLIS AT 2:00PM

Click here to learn more.

Click here to sign-up to participate.

Christmas Offering

Thank you for your generosity in donating to our Christmas offering recipient, Avenues for Youth. Through your support, we raised $3.060 for this local nonprofit whose mission is to provide a stable home, build trusting relationships, and support youths’ education, career, health and wellness and housing goals.

For 30 years, Avenues has supported youth ages 16-24 in Hennepin County. Whether a young person needs a place to stay for just one night, or a year and a half, Avenues partners with youth to find their path out of homelessness.

You can learn more about Avenues for Youth at www.avenuesforyouth.org

Sanctuary Preparation

As we make room for additional seating and refresh our sanctuary space in the new year, St. David's is looking for a volunteer or two to help us take some time to evenly distribute worship materials (prayer books, hymnals etc...) throughout all our rows of seating.

If you have some time and interest in serving, please email Julia at office@stdavidsparish.org to arrange a time. We thank you for considering.

Minister of Finance Position

The position description and application instructions for our Minister of Finance Position have been posted on our website, Facebook, Instagram and on Indeed.com.

We thank you for sharing this opening with your networks and for any references you might provide. Interested applicants may email staffing@stdavidsparish.org to introduce themselves and share a resume and cover letter outlining their relevant experience.

We look forward to welcoming a new member to our staff team!

Phishing Alert

We have been notified that a scam message has reached a few of our St. David's contacts appearing to have been sent from the Rev. Katherine Lewis. The message asks that you reply about a situation that needs to be handled "discreetly". Please do not reply.

Here are some guidelines from US Cybersecurity experts to help you recognize phishing messages.

Stay Safe with Three Simple Tips

1. Recognize - Look for these common signs:

• Urgent or emotionally appealing language, especially messages that claim dire consequences for not responding immediately
• Requests to send personal and financial information
• Untrusted or shortened URLs
• Incorrect email addresses or links, like amazan.com
• A common sign used to be poor grammar or misspellings although in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) some emails will now have perfect grammar and spelling, so look out for the other signs.

2. Resist - If you suspect phishing, resist the temptation to click on links or attachments that seem too good to be true and may be trying to access your personal information. Instead, report the phish to protect yourself and others. Typically, you’ll find options to report near the person’s email address or username. You can also report via the “report spam” button in the toolbar or settings.

3. Delete - Delete the message. Don’t reply or click on any attachment or link, including any “unsubscribe” link. Just delete it.

Hats & Mittens

Hats & Mittens is a non-profit organization that collects hats and mittens for children (infant through teenage years). Its goal is to ensure that children in the seven county metro area have access to hats and mittens and be warm while they learn, reach and grow. 

Through the winter months, St. David’s will be collecting warm hats, mittens/gloves and scarves in all sizes for infants through young adults. They can be new or gently used (but clean). There are Hats & Mittens boxes at the two south church entrances.  

In this 2025-2026 winter season, Hats & Mittens has received requests from more than 60 non-profit organizations working with children and teens in the seven county metro area, who have never requested hats and mittens before. 

As of late last week, we had virtually no warm mittens/gloves for all ages,

starting at infant/toddler to young adult! 

Please check your closets for any clean, gently used warm mittens and gloves. In the 5-14 year age groups , waterproof mittens will be especially appreciated. Scarves and hats are also most welcome. 

There is a lot of winter left. Please help keep these young people warm. Thank you! 

You can help spread the warmth. 

ICA Update

The 2025 Turkey and Holiday Meal Program was a great success! ICA served more than 1000 families, distributing more than 1000 turkeys and raising more than $70,000! In fact, iCA surpassed its goals with the help of every person who made a donation and its many community partners. 

In response to the federal shutdown in October & November with the cut-off of SNAP benefits, ICA stepped up in many ways:

1. Food Shelf hours were expanded.

2. Additional emergency food sites were opened. 

3. New curbside pick-up options were initiated, so every neighbor could access food with dignity, flexibility and choice.

4. Hundreds of food drives helped support ICA.

5. Many new volunteers helped support ICA.

6. Financial donations were most generous. 

ICA is so grateful for the outpouring of support during that hard time. 

Our mission: To create a healthy and stable community for all

Our vision: A community where everyone has the resources to thrive

Our belief: ICA’s presence in our communities makes our neighborhoods more stable and secure

Have an announcement you would like to share in this weekly email?

Send it to office@stdavidsparish.org before 9:00 am on Wednesday to be featured.

Upcoming Sunday Forums

What else is going on at St. David's?

Want to view the full calendar for the week? Click here to view the St. David's website complete with a calendar to keep you updated on events and offerings! Scroll all the way to the bottom to view it.

Pastoral Care Line: 952-767-0891