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FATHER MARK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
GINA’S ANNOUNCEMENTS Happy Birthday!! Walker Anderson October 29 Prayer Requests: The prayer request sheet is still just outside the office in the church and is updated weekly. Anyone may still email your prayer requests to me at stfrancis@allophone.com. If you do not have email, just call the church and leave a message. Since, I am back in the office, the requests must be received on by Wednesday at the latest, for them to be included in the Sunday Bulletin for that week. If the request is received after Wednesday, they will be added to the next Sunday Bulletin. We will follow the same process and keep the names on for two weeks. Once the prayer request is received, it is added to the prayer list and then I email the names to have them added to the Prayer Chain and to the Daughters of the King. ***Daily Devotion for Thursday October 29, 2020*** Don’t Be Led Astray The 5 Steps – Pause * Listen * Think * Pray * Go Pause God’s words challenge you to live a life worthy of imitation. Step into the challenge of these words today and be reminded that you are called to shine light into darkness, and the light you shine points back to the love of God. Listen Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples, “The legal experts and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. Therefore, you must take care to do everything they say. But don’t do what they do. For they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others, but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.” Matthew 23:1-4 Think Most parents have had moments where they think to themselves (while speaking to their kids), “Do as I say, not as I do.” It is one thing to know all the right things to do, and it is entirely something else to do them – and do them for the right reasons. Rules are one of those things that can lead you astray. When you become too committed to following all the rules or checking the boxes, you are on autopilot, perhaps not even thinking about why something is right or wrong, faithful or not. The Pharisees created rule upon rule to keep the Jews from breaking any of the laws, as the Pharisees interpreted them. They became caught up in following rules, so much so that they became a burden, even a weight of expectation and control on others. Jesus rejected this, even pointing out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Maybe all the rules weigh you down as well. If so, it may be time to examine whether any of them are making it impossible for you to live into Christ’s teaching. Brian Foreman Pray God, what is mine to carry in order to be faithful to you? Teach me to live and love in ways that point to you, not to a handbook of rules. May I always lead with the love of Christ. Amen. Go You are the light of your community. You are the salt of the neighborhood. You carry God’s truth to the places you go. Be confident that imitating Christ is your call, even imperfectly. Be bold in lifting others up in a world that seeks to put them down. Remember your brothers and sisters, and pray for them this day. Amen. ***For those of you that would like to access these devotionals daily, you can go on this website: www.d365.org I thought everyone could use a laugh, so I included some funny memes.     FATHER MARK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS 1) As announced yesterday, Vonnie Rubottom’s funeral service has been moved to Bridgeman Funeral Home in order to accommodate a larger number of guests. The family invites you to attend, beginning at 1:00 P.M. It will be an Episcopal service. 2) Last Saturday the diocese-wide Annual Council was held via Zoom, and it was certainly much different than years past. What it lacked in fellowship and collegiality, it made up for in brevity. Two takeaways: first, the Bishop and Trustees have done a great job managing the diocesan finances during this difficult time. 2020 will not have a dramatic effect on the overall financial health of the diocese, and 2021’s budget is realistic and doable. Second, we continue to be led by an extremely capable, energetic, and visionary Bishop and staff. Here is a link to the Bishop’s annual address, which will give you a clear sense of what I mean by that. https://www.dropbox.com/s/4uwstlw7ffkm24w/Bishop%27s%20Annual%20Council%20Address.mp4? 3) As you know, we are closed again for public worship due to the surge in local COVID-19 cases. This rise in cases is more sudden and dramatic than the one last summer, and by now most of us have seem a direct impact on our lives – either ourselves or someone we know and love has been diagnosed with the disease or quarantined due to close contact. Our church is not immune so we continue to do everything we can think of to keep you safe, including following the Bishop’s guidelines around public worship, which I fully support. Here are the highlights of our policy:
4) All of this is a hardship for sure. I don’t like it one bit and I know you don’t either. But because I know it is the right thing to do I willingly abide by it and enforce it here. So far our region has not been hit as hard by the virus as others, but that seems to be changing these last few weeks. It would break my heart if any of you fell seriously ill from this disease, so I pray that you will protect yourselves and those you love by following the simple steps of wearing a mask, keeping your distance, avoiding inside face-to-face meetings when possible, and using good hand hygiene. These are the best tools we have at this time to avoid increased spread. No doubt a vaccine and treatments are on the horizon, but it may be another year before they are widely available and working. So for now, do what you can to protect yourself and others. It is an act of Christian witness keep others safe, even when it is inconvenient or difficult. Happy Birthday!! Happy Anniversary
Sandy Gibson October 17 Christian & Stacy Bach October 24 Josh Halstead October 22 Samuel Selzer October 22 Haley Sauer October 25 Al Williams October 27 Prayer Requests: The prayer request sheet is still just outside the office in the church and is updated weekly. Anyone may still email your prayer requests to me at stfrancis@allophone.com. If you do not have email, just call the church and leave a message. Since, I am back in the office, the requests must be received on by Wednesday at the latest, for them to be included in the Sunday Bulletin for that week. If the request is received after Wednesday, they will be added to the next Sunday Bulletin. We will follow the same process and keep the names on for two weeks. Once the prayer request is received, it is added to the prayer list and then I email the names to have them added to the Prayer Chain and to the Daughters of the King. ***Daily Devotion for Thursday October 22, 2020*** The Great Commandment The 5 Steps – Pause * Listen * Think * Pray * Go Pause Take a moment to breathe, to reflect on the past day, and to pray: Did I search for happiness in things or in my relationship with the Creator? Did I find ways to express my love to God and those around me? God, open my heart to be more like Christ. Listen The truly happy person doesn’t follow wicked advice, doesn’t stand on the road of sinners, and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful. Instead of doing those things, these persons love the Lord’s Instruction, and they recite God’s Instruction day and night! Psalm 1:1-2 Think I don’t know anyone who does not want to be happy, yet experiencing happiness in this crazy world is a real struggle for many, including myself at times. We often experience moments of feeling happy when we see cute puppies, get invited to the big party, get a good grade on a test, get lots of “likes” on social media, or have a good hair day. But what about happiness that is lasting, happiness that doesn’t go away when thing don’t go our way? Psalm 1:1-2 says that those who are truly happy love the Lord’s Instruction and recite it day and night. They stay away from people and situations that will bring them down and pull them away from God. They seek God’s guidance through scripture and prayer and stay on the right path. Will it be easy and will everything go our way? No way. But we can be assured that God loves us and will see us through. And that, dear friends, gives me a deep sense of happiness that the world cannot take away. Stella Perrin Pray God, help me to see that following your way instead of doing things my way is best and is the path to being truly happy. Give me eyes to see beyond the circumstances around me and trust that you are working to bless me. Amen. Go Go, Offering yourself fully to God, faults and all, Believing that God loves you without reservation, As you seek to love God and the world with all that you are. ***For those of you that would like to access these devotionals daily, you can go on this website: www.d365.org Gina’s Office Hours Tuesday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Wednesday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  Special Wednesday Updates
I apologize for the blizzard of emails this week, but things are moving around fairly quickly these days. Here are three things I want to share with you today. 1) Vonnie Rubottom's funeral service has been moved to Bridgeman Funeral Home on Friday, still at 1:00 P.M. This is in order to allow more than 10 people to be present. The family invites you to join them either for the funeral at 1:00 P.M. or a remembrance gathering (similar to a "viewing" but without body/ashes present) Friday evening 4:00-7:00 P.M., both at Bridgeman. 2) Gina and I have been notified of some omissions and errors in the most recent Parish Directory, and so we have done our homework and will send out a revised version tomorrow. Please forgive us if we fouled up your entry (or in a couple of cases, omitted them altogether). We are deeply sorry and if we continue to make more, if you'll let us know we'll continue to correct them. Our goal is an accurate and complete database and a helpful directory. It is never our intention to be sloppy, although at times I know in the things I send I personally tend to let speed take precedence over accuracy. Any errors in the directory were mine and not Gina's -- she's perfect as far as I can tell :) 3) Finally, I have been remiss in not mentioning (or SHOUTING) that we have a STATE CHAMPION in our parish!! Congratulations to Anna Kelly -- Individual State Champion Golfer!! Anna has been killing it on the course for two years now, and with two years of varsity golf left, I and many others are eagerly looking forward to what she accomplishes next. Way to go, Anna!!! OK -- even more announcements tomorrow :) Blessings, Fr. Mark+  UGH! Due to a surge in local COVID-19 cases, we are required to close again for in-person worship, and so as of this Sunday, October 18th, we are back to online livestreamed only. We will continue to track the local case numbers closely, and follow the Bishop's directives. I am sorry this is happening. We must all do what we can to protect ourselves and others. Wear a mask. Social distance. Limit contact. Test and trace. Seek medical help if symptomatic. We will get through this, but it is up to us to do our part. As you know, we have a funeral scheduled for Friday in the church. I will be making a decision about that possibility early next week. Fr. Mark+ FATHER MARK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS 1) SCAM WARNING!! Many of us in the diocese have received a phishing email in the past 24 hours that purports to come from Bishop Barker, asking for a reply. THIS IS A SCAM! You can just ignore and trash/delete it and any other email or text with his name that looks like this. Bp. Barker will never send a request like this asking for a reply or asking for a donation or anything else. He will communicate via the Ministry Memo or some diocesan-wide publication, or he will call. Feel free to err on the side of ignoring. If the Bishop's office needs to speak with you, they will find you I promise. 2) Speaking of our Bishop, we were just notified that he is resuming parish visits, and we have set our Annual Visitation for Sunday, November 22, 2020 (five weeks from now.) Assuming we are still able to worship in-person, he will be here to celebrate and preach on that day, and during the service he will do Confirmations and Receptions. If you are new to the Episcopal Church and would like to be Confirmed (or Received if previously confirmed in another tradition) please contact me and we can make arrangements. Typically we would have many weeks to go through a more complete catechism with adults but this year and next everything is up in the air and I would hate to miss the chance to Confirm or Receive during this 2020 visit, so I’ll make arrangements to do my best to get a group ready via zoom if there is interest. 3) We are starting to look at Christmas Eve services, and will be posting more information soon about times for both in-person and online worship. How to handle music is a huge deal – Christmas Carols are about our favorite of all hymns – and I am working hard to see what we can do 4) Tonight at 6:30 P.M. we start another zoom bible study, this time on the Book of Acts. It’s not too late to join us, just follow this link to sign-up and get the login info. All you need is a computer connection and a bible. https://saintf.breezechms.com/form/cb4222 GINA’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
Happy Birthday!! Jan Johnson October 15 Danika Bohl October 21 Robert Brenner October 18 Laura Lee Margheim October 21 Santana Tamarak October 18 Prayer Requests: The prayer request sheet is still just outside the office in the church and is updated weekly. Anyone may still email your prayer requests to me at stfrancis@allophone.com. If you do not have email, just call the church and leave a message. Since, I am back in the office, the requests must be received on by Wednesday at the latest, for them to be included in the Sunday Bulletin for that week. If the request is received after Wednesday, they will be added to the next Sunday Bulletin. We will follow the same process and keep the names on for two weeks. Once the prayer request is received, it is added to the prayer list and then I email the names to have them added to the Prayer Chain and to the Daughters of the King. ***Daily Devotion for Thursday October 15, 2020*** God’s Presence The 5 Steps – Pause * Listen * Think * Pray * Go Pause Take a deep breath right now. Notice one thing you see, one thing you hear, one thing your body is touching. You are here in this place. God is here with you, too. Listen We always thank God for all of you when we mention you constantly in our prayers. This is because we remember your work that comes from faith, your effort that comes from love, and your perseverance that comes from hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 Think Earlier this year, I took a pottery class — and I was terrible at “throwing” a pot on the wheel! I spent several classes just trying to make something that resembled a pot… and finally made one! Then another, and another. They say that “practice makes perfect.” Whether you’re learning to play a trombone, throw a baseball, do a pirouette, or make pottery, you’ll definitely need practice. In today’s scripture, Paul is commending the Thessalonians for working so hard — for practicing — on becoming faithful, loving, and hopeful. He recognizes that it takes work to be faithful, continual effort to be loving, and perseverance to be hopeful. We also have to practice being faithful, loving, and hopeful. We may never be perfect (spoiler alert: we won’t be), but we know that God is present with us as we practice. Erin Spengeman Hutchison Pray God, just when I think I can’t be more faithful, loving, or hopeful, help me to keep practicing, relying on your Spirit for help. Amen. Go As you go, remember that God is with you and with those who do justice. Dare to be with God, too. ***For those of you that would like to access these devotionals daily, you can go on this website: www.d365.org Gina’s Office Hours Tuesday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Wednesday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. FATHER MARK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS 1) Last week we gathered in the sanctuary at 10:00 A.M. for in-person worship, and it felt so great to have you all here! While parts of the state are still above the Bishop’s threshold for safe worship, and we’re not out of the woods yet by any means and need to continue to be vigilant about mask-wearing, social distancing, and sanitizing, our numbers are lower and our folks are spread out and it is just wonderful to be together for Eucharist again. As always, make good decisions about your own health risk and what you can and should do safely, but if you are healthy and feel ready, come back together with us. We can fit about 45 people in the sanctuary and another 50 or so in the parish hall with live-streamed feed. As soon as it seems needed, we will resume a second service. Live-stream will of course continue to be available through our website www.saintf.org. 2) We are starting to think about Christmas services, knowing that we won’t be able to sit tightly together with tons of adults and kids and relatives and visitors. That is so sad, but since there is nothing we can do right now to change it, we are working to put together enough services with enough creativity to still celebrate joyfully and with enough of the usual elements that it will still be special. Probably that looks like more services on Christmas Eve and some video choral music mixed with live soloist. Creativity is not my strength, but stubbornness is, and I am stubbornly committed to providing Christmas services that honor our traditions. You may be asked to “sign-up” for a time to reserve a pew/seat at the service of your choice. Off the top of my head I am thinking of the traditional early and late services plus one or more additional services, maybe something like 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, and 10:30. That’s not in stone yet, but we'll have it nailed down in the next few weeks, so watch this space for more news. 3) Next week I will be starting my next Zoom Bible Study on the Acts of the Apostles —the story of the earliest days of the church. We will meet via zoom every Thursday evening from 6:30-7:30 P.M. If you have any interest in reading the bible with others (the very best way to read it) join us for this delightful time of fellowship and discovery. To sign up, use this link https://saintf.breezechms.com/form/c6ee0398 4) Our bi-weekly Sack Lunch Ministry is a great chance to pitch in and help the hungry in our community. Every other Wednesday (we alternate with the Methodists) we prepare and hand out 35 sack lunches to folks who drive or walk by the church. There are three jobs — shopping for the food, preparing the lunches, and distributing the lunches (sitting in front of the church). If you would more information about volunteering with this fun, easy ministry, click this link: https://saintf.breezechms.com/form/6745a3 5) This week we are sending out Quarterly Giving Reports for the period 1/1/20 - 9/30/20. You should receive your report either electronically or in the mail. Please take a minute to review and check our records against yours. We are happy to investigate and correct any discrepancies. As always, I am humbled by your continued generosity and support of this parish, and especially during this difficult year. You are a blessing. GINA’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
***New Directory*** Father Mark and I have been working on finalizing a new directory and will be sending it out electronically and mailing a hard copy to those who do not have an email address next week. Happy Birthday!! Curt Mecklem October 8 Anna Kelley October 12 Jill Selvey October 8 Shirley Brewer October 13 Lisa Betz-Marquez October 9 Lorrie Wold October 13 Paul Brooks October 10 Prayer Requests: The prayer request sheet is still just outside the office in the church and is updated weekly. Anyone may still email your prayer requests to me at stfrancis@allophone.com. If you do not have email, just call the church and leave a message. Since, I am back in the office, the requests must be received on by Wednesday at the latest, for them to be included in the Sunday Bulletin for that week. If the request is received after Wednesday, they will be added to the next Sunday Bulletin. We will follow the same process and keep the names on for two weeks. Once the prayer request is received, it is added to the prayer list and then I email the names to have them added to the Prayer Chain and to the Daughters of the King. ***Daily Devotion for Thursday October 8, 2020*** Do Not Fear The 5 Steps – Pause * Listen * Think * Pray * Go Pause Some may say there is much to fear. But see what obstacles we’ve overcome! For the Lord has been walking with us every step of the journey and will continue to. Forever. If God is for us, who can be against us? Listen Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, planned long ago, faithful and sure. You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in distress, a hiding place from the storm, a shade from the heat. Isaiah 25:1, 4a Think Storms can be very scary, especially those that include tornadoes and hurricanes. Storms can be unpredictable and can cause a lot of worries, both before and after they come. When a storm is about to come, weather forecasters tend to always have the same advice to keep us safe: “Seek shelter.” While these storms only have to do with the weather, we encounter many other storms in life. We may go through troubles at school, difficulties with our parents, or uncertainty within our workplace. These storms of life can cause a lot of fear, worry, and anxiety. The words in today’s scripture point us to our greatest protector in any storm we could ever encounter. We find that our Lord not only protects us but will ensure that we are safe, even in distress. Our God is a God of promises and these promises only end in “yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20). With God’s protection, we will see the end of the storm and the fulfillment of the promises that were created for us. Dewayne Outlaw Pray Lord, thank you for the promises you have made to me. May I cast all of my cares on you and know that you care for me as you protect me through life’s storms. May I experience your perfect love for me today and show love to all those I see. Amen. Go Remember the words of Jesus as you go forth today: “Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.” (Matthew 28:20) ***For those of you that would like to access these devotionals daily, you can go on this website: www.d365.org Gina’s Office Hours Tuesday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Wednesday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. FATHER MARK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS 1) OPEN AGAIN! As I said last week, the Bishop has issued new safe re-opening guidelines that take into account regional populations and a new tracking tool (healthynebraska.org). The result is that we are ready and cleared to reopen for public worship beginning this Sunday, October 4th! As before, we will start with one service at 10:00 A.M. and add an early service when needed. Masks and social distancing will be required and there will be no congregational singing, but we will have communion and the rest of the service will be pretty much normal. We can accommodate 40 people safely in the sanctuary, and another 50 or so in the parish hall with real-time video/audio feed. So come and worship if you are ready! 2) Coincidentally, this Sunday is the feast day of our “name saint,” St. Francis. In addition to using the readings for this day and hearing anthems related to his life and works, we will also host our annual Pet/Animal Blessing in Centennial Park this Sunday afternoon at 2:00 P.M., joined this year by several other sister churches. Come out and bring your pets for a short and fun event! 3) Annual Council is coming up, and this year representatives from all Episcopal churches in the Diocese will gather virtually via Zoom rather than in-person. It will be a much different experience than in years past — we will miss the social and fellowship aspects, but we won’t have to travel and we will save money! In addition to myself, Fr. Bob and Mo. Karen, your delegates are Cory Foster, Colleen Kelly, Ann Peterson, and alternate Charlie Kennedy. Thanks to these dedicated volunteers for offering up a Saturday to do the work of the Diocese. GINA’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
Happy Birthday!! Pati McLellan October 1 Shawn Hergenreder October 5 James Nielsen October 1 Chris Kelley October 5 Alena Kennedy October 2 Dennis Mitchell October 5 Johnny Selzer October 2 Lucretia Green October 6 Allie Cawiezel October 4 Bible Study: John and Peggy Wymore will be leading a bible study on the book of Hebrews beginning Thursday, October 1st from 6:00-7:30 P.M. in the parish hall (10 or fewer, masks required). For more information contact John and Peggy at jpwymore@charter.net. Prayer Requests: The prayer request sheet is still just outside the office in the church and is updated weekly. Anyone may still email your prayer requests to me at stfrancis@allophone.com. If you do not have email, just call the church and leave a message. Since, I am back in the office, the requests must be received on by Wednesday at the latest, for them to be included in the Sunday Bulletin for that week. If the request is received after Wednesday, they will be added to the next Sunday Bulletin. We will follow the same process and keep the names on for two weeks. Once the prayer request is received, it is added to the prayer list and then I email the names to have them added to the Prayer Chain and to the Daughters of the King. ***Daily Devotion for Thursday October 1, 2020*** Righteousness in Christ The 5 Steps – Pause * Listen * Think * Pray * Go Pause We make space for God’s Spirit to fill us. A new identity – a new purpose – wells up within. This new way of being comes not from our hearts alone; it comes from Jesus Christ and his righteousness. Breathe in these words and know that you are loved: “Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me.” (from The Prayer of St. Patrick) Listen It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose. Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me. The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14 Think I try, but I am not a very good runner. It’s not so much the exertion; it’s the boredom! I get tired of running on a treadmill or around a familiar path in the park. I get distracted too easily and lose my focus. Here in Philippians, the Apostle Paul compares the journey of faith to running a race. Paul says that the key to being a successful runner is to keep your eyes on the finish line. For those of us who seek to follow Jesus, his example is our goal. We are to continually remind ourselves that the goal is to be more and more like Christ. It’s easy to get distracted or to become bored. But what if we were to wake up every day and to simply pray (even if we don’t feel like it): “God, help me to reflect the light and love of Jesus Christ today”? Perhaps just that simple act may reorient us and help us to focus the eyes of our hearts on our goal. Tyler Tankersley Pray Gracious God, today I ask that you help me to always be striving for the ultimate goal. Help me, dear Lord, to become more and more like you in all that I say and in all that I do today. Amen. Go As you depart from this moment, may you know that the righteousness of Jesus Christ walks with you wherever you go. ***For those of you that would like to access these devotionals daily, you can go on this website: www.d365.org For more information on how the devotionals work, just access the website and click on the “menu”, then click on “about”. This page explains what changes each day and what does not. Please feel free to email with your comments or questions. Gina’s Office Hours Tuesday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Wednesday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. |
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