Thursday Announcements
 February 3, 2022 

    1.   Don’t forget our Parish Annual Meeting will be held this Sunday, February 6th at 11:30 A.M. We will gather together both in-person in the parish hall and online using Zoom to                discuss the accomplishments, challenges, and blessings of the past year, elect a slate of Vestry Members and Wardens, and look forward to the amazing possibilities of 2023. This              is a year unlike others – a year in which you will choose and call your next Rector and move forward together into God’s continuing mission for this historic parish. Your Search                      Committee will be giving an update on the process and answering questions. Below is the Zoom link for anyone joining us online. I hope you can be with us for these important                      conversations.
                  Join Zoom Meeting
                   https://zoom.us/j/98598583494?pwd=Wm9pWklPZitVdC9uaFBycjd2dVhnQT09
                   Meeting ID: 985 9858 3494
                   Passcode: saintf

     2.   On a related topic, one of the most important and time-consuming tasks of a Search is putting together the Parish Profile – a snapshot of the parish, its history, its people, its hopes             and dreams, and its sense of who God is calling it to be. The St. Francis Parish Profile is complete and is now being used by the diocesan staff to find and review potential                       candidates. You can view the profile on our website www.saintf.org.                                                                                                                              

   3.   Lent is officially 4 weeks away! Here are the offerings we will add to our common life this season:
​                                                                                                                   
         a.  I will be using the Lenten Devotional “Rise,” by John Pavlovitz. You can purchase it for $6.99 at Amazon or wherever you get your books. There will not be a weekly meeting to                  discuss, but if you would like to join me, this is what I will be using in my daily devotions.                                                                                                                                           
         b.  Sunday evenings starting 3/6 at 8:00 P.M. I will lead a ZOOM online Compline service. More information to come including a link to join, but just a heads-up for now.                               Compline is a short liturgy meant to be used by individuals and groups at the close of the day. It is beautiful and I look forward to sharing this time with you as we end our weeks                   during Lent.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 c.  COVID protocols permitting, we will hold Wednesday evening Soup Suppers and Stations of the Cross. Each Wednesday 3/9-4/4 we will gather in the parish hall at 5:30 P.M.               and share a simple meal (sign-up sheet in the parish hall) followed by Stations of the Cross in the sanctuary where we will remember 14 scenes from the Passion of Jesus Christ                  and live into those sacred moments in prayer and contemplation. You don’t have to sign-up to participate, only if you will be  bringing food. 

Birthdays

Karen Mecklem                    February 6
Robert Manasek                   February 9
Diane Eskam                        February 10
Barbara Williams                  February 10
 
Prayer Requests ** Please make sure your request is received by Wednesday of each week. You may call (308) 632-4626 (leave a message), email [email protected] or mail to:
 
St. Francis Episcopal Church
P.O. Box 1201
Scottsbluff, NE 69361

Forward Day by Day Booklets
We have the Forward Day by Day’s for February-March in regular and large print. If you would like any of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.

​Thursday Announcements
 January 27, 2022

​1) Well, I’ll be darned if I didn’t catch COVID. Monday I started to feel a cold coming on so I did a home test just to make sure that’s all it was and it was negative so I went about my life. Tuesday and Wednesday I felt a little worse so to make sure Ann didn’t get my cold I wore a mask and stayed in my office. Then Wednesday afternoon as I was heading back to work after lunch Jill suggested I retest and I did and this time it was positive. So I’m working from home today and tomorrow, and according to the latest guidance I should be OK to be in church on Sunday. I’ll mask except when preaching and will avoid coffee hours. I can say that thankfully I have been vaccinated and boosted and feel really like I have a crummy cold. Hopefully I will be on the mend and feeling 100% by the weekend. In the meantime, please call my cell or email/text me if you need anything. It’s only 10:30 and I’ve already watched TV and browsed the internet more than I care to :)
 
2) As a result of all this, our Vestry meeting was rescheduled for next Wednesday February 2nd at 6:30 P.M. and Men’s Bible Study for this week is cancelled. 
 
3) Don’t forget our Parish Annual Meeting Sunday February 6th at 11:30 A.M. in the Parish Hall. If you will be submitting a group report, please get it to Ann by this Sunday. 
 

Birthdays

Kim Hurst                                         January 30
Tiffany Mackrill                                 February 4
Jack Webb                                       February 4
Jane Kelley                                      February 5
 
Prayer Requests ** Please make sure your request is received by Wednesday of each week. You may call (308) 632-4626 (leave a message), email [email protected] or mail to:

St. Francis Episcopal Church
P.O. Box 1201
Scottsbluff, NE 69361

Forward Day by Day Booklets
We have the Forward Day by Day’s for December-January in regular and large print. If you would like any of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.

Thursday Announcements
 January 20, 2022 

​1) Our Parish Annual Meeting will be held in-person on Sunday, February 6th at 11:30 AM in the parish hall following the second worship service. COVID precautions will be observed — masks and reasonable distancing required, and coffee and cookies rather than a full meal. If you plan to include a written report in the meeting materials, please get it to Ann by January 30th. If you would like to present verbally, let me know as I am putting the agenda together this week. There are no plans to live-stream or zoom the meeting, but the minutes will be available in the days following the meeting. I am happy that we can gather in-person once again, even if imperfectly. Every step forward is great. 
 
2)  The Bishop’s Visitation is scheduled for Sunday March 27th, and he will celebrate and preach at both services. 
 
3) We had a problem with our Facebook livestream on Sunday, and it turned out to be a Facebook-wide problem, something to do with changes to their content streaming policies. Everybody who uses the same system, including other area churches, had the same problem. We do apologize for the inconvenience and think we have a workaround in place so that it is up and running a usual again this Sunday. 

ANN’S ADDITIONS
 
Make fun where you can! 

 
Birthdays
Victoria Schnell                               January 25

​Anniversaries
Curt & Karen Mecklem                   January 27

Prayer Requests ** Please make sure your request is received by Wednesday of each week. You may call (308) 632-4626 (leave a message), email [email protected] or mail to:
 
St. Francis Episcopal Church
P.O. Box 1201
Scottsbluff, NE 69361

Forward Day by Day Booklets
We have the Forward Day by Day’s for December-January in regular and large print. If you would like any of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.

FATHER MARK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS​

1) Our Parish Annual Meeting will be held Sunday, February 6th. The current plan is to hold the meeting following the second worship service in-person in the parish hall (or sanctuary) with masks. No luncheon is planned but coffee and treats will be provided. 
 
2) If you normally submit a report to be presented at the annual meeting, please do so via email or hard copy to Ann prior to Jan 30th so that we can include it in our presentation packet.
 
3) Finally, the Bishop’s visitation has been finalized and he will be here Sunday, March 27th. We’re making plans for a fun and safe celebration. More details to come, but please plan to join us in-person or online for this day. You won’t want to miss our Bishop. He really is quite extraordinary.

Birthdays
Lynn Okicki                          January 17
Saydee Peterson                 January 17
Ben Sauer                            January 20
Jennifer Baird                       January 22
 
Prayer Requests ** Please make sure your request is received by Wednesday of each week. You may call (308) 632-4626 (leave a message), email [email protected] or mail to:
 
St. Francis Episcopal Church
P.O. Box 1201
Scottsbluff, NE 69361

Forward Day by Day Booklets
We have the Forward Day by Day’s for December-January in regular and large print. If you would like any of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.