FATHER MARK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
​

ANN’S ADDITIONS​

Birthdays
 
Chesney Joplin                                December 8
Lori Peterson                                   December 11
Richard Schaneman                        December 11
 
Anniversaries
 
Mardell and Trudy Schnell             December 6
 
**Please honor Richard Schaneman in celebration of his 90th Birthday!
Cards may be sent to West NE Veterans home, Rm 13;  1002 W. 42nd St., Scottsbluff, NE.  69361
 
It’s time for our annual ECW Christmas Cookie Exchange!  We will meet in the Parish Hall on Saturday, December 11th, at 10 am to fill cookie tins for our shut-ins.  Each person is asked to bring 3 dozen cookies to share.  We hope that will leave 2 dozen for each of us after the tins for shut-ins are filled. Please bring an empty container for yourself.  Tins for shut-ins will be provide by the ECW.
Refreshments will also be served. Come join us for some holiday fellowship!
If you have questions or concerns call Barb Manasek at 436-7767.
 
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 November-December in regular and large print. If you would like any of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.


 
 
 

Thursday Announcements
 November 25, 2021
 

FATHER MARK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. If you are interested in joining our Advent Study, please act today and use this link to sign-up https://saintf.breezechms.com/form/c6ee033180 and purchase the book “Love Came Down” by Christopher Webber wherever you get books. The daily meditations begin on the first day of Advent Nov 28, so we will hit the ground running at our first meeting Thursday Dec 2 at 6:00 P.M. discussing the prior week’s readings. I am very excited to share this Advent work with you. After you sign-up I’ll send a link to the Zoom meeting. 
2. I am so delighted to share with you that once again you responded beyond generously to our 2021-2 Pledge Drive! The total pledged in 86 individual pledges was $212,772, on par with the last few years and exceeding our expectations for the campaign in a year of transition. This reflects the deep faith and commitment of every member of the parish, and you can be very proud of the work you are doing to support and grow your ministry. I have no doubt God will continue to bless and use this church to change lives for generations to come. This really is quite and extraordinary place. 
3. Due to the holiday, there will be church (obviously) but no Sunday School classes this weekend. I do hope you all have a tremendous Thanksgiving Day, and that you are at peace and charity with your loved ones and whoever you share your moments and memories with. Let’s be the face of Christ in the world this week.

​

ANN’S ADDITIONS
  
Happy Thanksgiving!!

 
This Friday is Black Friday BUT it is also Buy Nothing Day…think I’ll pick that one!!

Happy Birthday!!
 
Vicky Gable                            November 28
Atticus Haack                         November 29
Nola Schwab                          December 1
Glen Amateis                          December 2
Amy Meyer                             December 2
Jana Bode                              December 4
Beth McKibbin                        December 4
 
​It’s time for our annual ECW Christmas Cookie Exchange!  We will meet in the Parish Hall on Saturday, December 11th, at 10 am to fill cookie tins for our shut-ins.  Each person is asked to bring 3 dozen cookies to share.  We hope that will leave 2 dozen for each of us after the tins for shut-ins are filled. Please bring an empty container for yourself.  Tins for shut-ins will be provide by the ECW.
Refreshments will also be served. Come join us for some holiday fellowship!
If you have questions or concerns call Barb Manasek at 436-7767.

 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 November-December in regular and large print. If you would like any of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.

 

Thursday Announcements
 November 18, 2021 

1. This Sunday is Consecration Sunday, when we will gather and bless our offerings for next year and celebrate with a special Coffee Hour following both services. Thank you  to everyone single member for your continued faithful and generous support of this parish and our common ministries! This will be an exciting year for St. Francis!
2. A word on pledges – if we haven’t otherwise heard from you, we will carry your amount forward at the same level for 2022. Please know that your estimate of giving is just that, -- an estimate and not a contract. Life happens and things change and you can update us anytime during the year if you need to adjust your giving. Every sacrificial gift we receive is deeply appreciated and used to support our work to serve God in our communities.
3. Next Sunday we begin the short and powerful season of Advent, preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ. I will be leading an Advent study using the book “Love Came Down – Anglican Readings for Advent and Christmas” by Christopher Webber (available wherever you buy books.) This collection of readings, poems, and songs is meant to be used for daily meditation, and my idea is that we will read the daily offerings individually and gather weekly Thursday evenings at 6:00 P.M. on Zoom to discuss and share. You can sign-up to participate here: https://saintf.breezechms.com/form/c6ee033180 

 

Happy Birthday!!
 
Gretchen Foster                    November 24
Tosh Nanbara                        November 27

Anniversaries
 
Kim Hurst                               November 27
 
The women of ECW wanted to let you know what we did with the proceeds from the “Christmas in July” Bazaar, that you all donated to so generously.  We first purchased a new coffee maker for the church kitchen. Our Outreach donations included the Buckboard Academy, Cooperative Ministries for Backpacks, Gracies’ Promise, Team Ashton, Episcopal Relief and Development, Eight Days of Hope, Women to Women, Orphan Grain Train, Wheel Chair Ministries, Firefighters Ministry, and the St. Francis Sack Lunch Ministry. 
Thank you for all your help!
 
We will have a Shred Bin here for one more week.   If you  have papers to shred please feel free to bring them to add to the bin.

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 November-December in regular and large print. If you would like any of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.

 

A Note on Veteran’s Day:
 
On Veteran’s Day 2020 the Right Reverend Carl Walter Wright, Episcopal Church Bishop for the Armed Forces and Federal Ministries, gave an address at the National Cathedral. Following are several excerpts from that excellent address:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
“I am here to remind you that The Lord is our shepherd!”
“Now, on this day we recall that 100-plus years ago, when WWI had ended on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1919, President Woodrow Wilson made the call for a day to honor America’s veterans, saying it should be ‘a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace.’”
“On this day in 1938, on the Eve of WWII, Congress approved an Act making Veterans Day. On this day, in 1954, President Dwight David Eisenhower made Veterans Day a national holiday.” And, I would add that on this day we honor ALL veterans, the deceased and the living, the active and retired, all who provide for the defense of this great nation, who at great cost and sacrifice, guarantee our freedoms and keep us safe.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
I so appreciate these words on this Veteran’s Day 2021 and add my own thanksgiving and blessing to all who have sacrificed so much to keep our country safe during perilous times.
 
This is the Prayer for those in the Armed Forces of our Country found on page 823 in the BCP:
 
Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grand them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
 
OK – now on with my announcements for Thursday, November 11, 2021

1. We are two weeks from Advent and six from Christmas! The church year is turning the page from what is to what is to come, and it is always a little jarring even as it is bursting with excitement and possibility! This year we are returning to our usual church routines for the holidays – including decorating the church Sunday, December 5th following the second service, and two in-person services on Christmas Eve, a family service at 5:00 P.M. and a traditional service at 10:30 P.M. Don’t look now, but things are starting to get back to normal around here J

 

1. We will be finalizing our 2021-22 Pledge Campaign next week and announcing and celebrating our commitments next Sunday November 21 at Coffee Hour Fellowship following both services. If you plan to make a pledge commitment this year, please drop off your completed Pledge Card in the narthex this week, or email Ann with your giving intentions at [email protected]. The Vestry and I sincerely thank every member for your continued faithful and generous support of our church! The future is bright here at St. Francis!

 

1. We’re cleaning up the office and getting rid of some really old paper (deposit slips and payables from a decade ago -- the kind of stuff that accumulates until it finally gets tossed) and have a container from Docu-Shred in the hallway by the chapel. We won’t fill it up with just our stuff, so if you have documents or papers you want to throw out but don’t want to put in the trash, feel free to bring them in and dispose of them. In a couple of weeks or when it’s full we’ll call and have it picked up. 

ANN'S ADDITIONS

In honor of our military men and women, Thank you for your service and
Happy Veteran’s Day!!
 

Happy Birthday!!
 
Nina Betz                                                     November 15
Margaret Chase                                           November 15
Kathy Shambaugh                                       November 15
Linda Mitchell                                               November 18
Ralph Moreno                                              November 18
 
Anniversaries
 
Peter & Jennifer Schilke                              November 19
Jon & Amy Meyer                                        November 20

The women of ECW wanted to let you know what we did with the proceeds from the “Christmas in July” Bazaar, that you all donated to so generously.  We first purchased a new coffee maker for the church kitchen. Our Outreach donations Included the Buckboard Academy, Cooperative Ministries for Backpacks, Gracies’ Promise, Team Ashton, Episcopal Relief and Development, Eight Days of Hope, Women to Women, Orphan Grain Train, Wheel Chair Ministries, Firefighters Ministry, and the  St. Francis Sack Lunch Ministry. 
Thank you for all your help!
 
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 November-December in regular and large print. If you would like any of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.