Thursday Announcements for July 30, 2020

​FATHER MARK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
 
1) After last week's announcements, several people expressed interest in working with our friends at the Methodist Church to provide a simple bag lunch on Wednesdays, and so I committed us to try it next week. If you want to help, email me at frmarks@me.com. Here's what we will need:

• One or more people to shop for the food -- enough to make 25-30 bag lunches with sandwiches and a fruit, chips, and water. We have money to purchase the food, and just need someone to do the shopping.
• One or more to prepare the lunches.
• One or more to sit on the sidewalk or in the courtyard at noon next Wednesday and hand them out. 

 
2) Many of you already make your donations via online giving, which is a great and easy and safe way to keep your pledge up-to-date during this time of disruption. There is a new, even easier way to give electronically that probably lots of you already use for other things -- text giving. You can now text your donations to the church, using the same platform as we use for online giving, which is about the safest way there is. If you would like to try text giving, the number to use to donate is 308-252-3911. Here is link to a short tutorial starring an old person who is not that tech-savvy -- namely me! https://youtu.be/rxi3sDkvWBI

3) As of this morning, we are still hoping to re-open the church for public worship in two weeks -- Sunday, August 16th at 10:00 A.M. It will look and feel both familiar and awkward the first few times -- masks will be required, there will be no singing, and communion will be handled differently (see box below) -- but it will be the same liturgy and it will be the same sacred space and it will be so nice to be together. 

While we strongly encourage those who are at-risk to continue to participate online and not in-person just yet, we do welcome those who are low-risk and ready to get back. There will be no nursery or Godly Play, but families will be able to sit and worship together, so parents don't worry about kids -- believe me, any noise will be a welcome change from what we have had around here lately :)

Here is this week's graph of new cases in our counties: 

Celebrating Communion 
 
Among many changes in our worship services while we must respect wearing masks and social distancing, Holy Communion may be the biggest collection of changes. This is simply an outline of how communion will happen. It may raise questions that you want to ask before our first service. You may also want to watch our livestream on Facebook to see communion in process before you decide to attend a service yourself. 
 
Picture yourself sitting in a pew, and the service has proceeded to the point where it is usually time for serving the communion:

• The Celebrant will serve self and the assisting priest, followed by the altar party (musician, soloist, Lector/Intercessor)

• An usher will signal to the first pew on the west/piano side to step out of the pew to the first two yellow distancing stickers on the carpet below the steps up to the altar level. Each person must carry with them whatever they brought into the sanctuary, as all will depart the church from the altar rail without returning to their pews.
• An usher will signal the first individual (or family group) to step up to the nearest sticker on the left – followed by the second in line to move up to the nearest sticker on the right
• While both wait on the dots, the priests prepare the host for the correct number of worshippers in each, placing a paper plate with the host(s) on the altar rail, and then backing away from the rail for social distancing
• Each of the two parties on the dots move forward (after the priest has moved back) to the next dot at the altar rail, and the individual (or an adult in the family group) picks up the plate – feeding the host to self (or to each member of the family).
• Each individual (or family group) then moves to the east/choir seats side (keeping social distance), deposits the paper plate in the receptacle beneath the hymn board, and exits the sanctuary and the church after proceeding down the steps near the lift.
• In the meantime, an usher has brought out a second pew, and they have moved up as the previous groups moved up and following the direction of the usher at the steps to either the left or the right dot to wait for the priests to prepare their plates, bringing them forward to the rail and then backing away for each to come forward to serve themselves and exit as the original groups did – maintaining social distance.
• Worshippers who are not comfortable going up the steps to receive the host should remain in their seats until others are served, and the priests will bring their plate with the host to them in their seat. The plate should be discarded in an appropriate receptacle.
• Worshippers who had been ushered to the overflow seating in the parish hall to watch the service on the big screen will be escorted by an usher to the rear of the sanctuary (socially distancing) as the sanctuary is clearing, and they will move toward the altar from dot to dot, receiving their host in the same fashion as the earlier worshippers – either individually or in family groups. 
• We are obliged to come into the church and exit the church without congregating in the narthex or elsewhere in the church to minimize the risks that we’ve heard so much about. We want no one to get the virus because they came to worship at St. Francis. 

GINA’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
 
       Happy Birthday!!                                Happy Anniversary!!
Mardell Schnell            July 31             Jim & Suzi Calder                  August 1
Judith Widmaier           July 31            Ralph & Melissa Moreno        August 1
Justin Bohl                 August 2            Phillip & Colleen Kelly            August 5
Jim Calder                 August 4
 
 
Prayer Requests: Please email your prayer requests to Gina at stfrancis@allophone.com.  If you do not have email, just call the church and leave a message. The requests must be received on Tuesday’s before 12:00pm for them to be included in the Sunday Bulletin for that week. If the request is received after 12:00pm on Tuesday, 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 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.

The Forward Day by Day Meditation for July 30, 2020
THURSDAY, July 30                           William Wilberforce

Luke 5:30 The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to [Jesus’] disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

From the Archives: April 4, 1968

The concern Jesus displayed for obvious and spectacular sinners weighed heavily against his claim to represent God. Some suspected that Jesus did not know enough about righteousness to be able to recognize sin even when he saw it, while others supposed that he mingled with prostitutes and traitors because they were all of a kind. That he did this with saving purpose seems to have occurred to none of them. His eloquent parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son were formed to justify his concerns about lost people, but eloquence is wasted on those who will not hear. Violating the popular standards of righteousness is never acceptable.

His association with tax collectors was especially unacceptable. To eat with such was to establish an unbreakable bond. Could their lostness justify such an action?

MOVING FORWARD: When has your faith in Jesus prompted you to give up privilege or prestige?

PRAY for the Dioceses of Massachusetts and Victoria Nyanza (Tanzania)

Ps [70], 71 * 74 | Judges 4:4-23 | Acts 1:15-26 | Matthew 27:55-66

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