Thursday Announcements for April 30th, 2020

FATHER MARK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Soup Kitchen -- tonight is our night to provide Soup Kitchen, but during this time we are doing so with a skeleton crew who are making and handing out individually sacked meals. Rick and Vicky have done all the purchasing and preparing, and they will do the distributing also. Rick says they deeply appreciate all those who have helped in the past and continue to offer their time and energy to this important ministry, but during this time of extra precaution and social distancing, keeping it all super simple and confined to just a few hands is really best. 
   
   2) What's up with worship? Honestly I wish I had better news, but as of today we are still not able to gather in church at least through May 10, and I fully expect that date to get pushed back when the Bishop updates his guidance soon. My best guess is that we will be out for a while longer -- at least until our state and our local communities are on the downslope of cases and deaths and our hospitals are adequately staffed and supplied. Only then will we begin to put pen to paper and figure out what worship will look like going forward. Until that time, we are putting together a plan to make our live-streamed video worship as good as we can make it, with strong consideration toward keeping video as a permanent option even after we are able to gather in the sanctuary again. The Bishop is committed to working with every parish on a solution that makes sense to each local context but within an overall framework of doing church safely during a pandemic. I promise we will be back together as soon as it is possible to do so safely. In the meantime, we watch out for those closest to us and take care of our nearest neighbors, and do what the church knows how to do -- pray to and praise God, while comforting and loving each other.
   
   All really will be well. 
   
   Love,
   Fr. Mark+

Gina's Announcements

Prayer Requests: We will start including Prayers for healing in the Sunday Bulletin again, so until we are meeting in person, please email your prayer requests to Gina at stfrancis@allophone.com. The requests must emailed by Tuesday for them to be included in the Sunday Bulletin for that week. If receive after Tuesday, they will be added to the next Sunday Bulletin.

This Week’s Schedule     May 3rd – May 9th 
ALL IN-PERSON SERVICES SUSPENDED FOR NOW
SUNDAY’S 10 A.M. SERVICES WILL BE LIVE STREAMED ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE – Saint Francis Episcopal Church 
(Saint must be spelled out, do not abbreviate)
If you do not have Facebook, you can go to our website www.saintf.org

The Forward Day by Day Meditation for April 30th, 2020 

John 8:7 Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.

From the Archives: December 30, 1996
“What is original sin?” the twelve-year-old asked her grandfather. He replied, “It is something we all have in common. It is one of the things that hold us together.” 

Grandfather’s definition of original sin was a way of saying what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Jesus understood the destructive consequences of adultery just as much as the scribes and Pharisees. But when Jesus zeroed in on sin, it was not just the obvious sins that caught his attention. 

Hard-heartedness is also a sin, because in its rush to condemn, it does not hear the message of mercy and forgiveness from the Savior. Jesus’ parting words to the woman—“neither do I condemn you”—are a reminder of just how forgiving is the God whom we meet in the Bible. 

MOVING FORWARD: Do you have a Judas place in your heart? How does Jesus come and meet you in that place.

Read the contemporary reflection here. 

PRAY for the Diocese of Kondoa (Tanzania)

Ps 37:1-18 * 37:19-42 | Exodus 20:1-21 | Colossians 1:24—2:7| Matthew 4:1-11

Gina’s Office Hours
Tuesday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (work from home)
Wednesday  9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (work from home)
Thursday  9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (work from home)