 Thursday Announcements June 22, 2023  ERIN’S EPISTLETTES
From the office—Ann’s Announcements  Birthdays Rick Anderson June 26 Kathy Graham June 28 Lisa Ledbetter June 28 Mary Kay Versen June 30 Dan Witko June 30 Anniversaries Robert & Lisa Brenner June 25 Cory & Gretchen Foster June 26 The ECW (Episcopal Church Women) will be holding a meeting on Saturday, June 24th at 10am in the Parish Hall. We will be making plans for the “Christmas in July Bazaar” on July 22nd. We can really use your help! We will also discuss other ideas for future events. Refreshments will be served. The Daughters of the King are sponsoring a collection for the CAPWN Food Pantry. This will replace our collection of personal hygiene items in June and July. The Food Pantry is expecting a higher demand as the agencies that provide two meals a day to children and families will only be providing one meal a day in the month of July. This is due to a change in vendors. We will be collecting June 25 and all Sundays in July. Please bring non-perishable items and place in the baskets in the narthex. Some suggested items include: cereal, peanut butter, canned tuna and meats, canned fruits and vegetables, pasta, dry beans, rice, masa harina, individual serving packages of fruits and vegetables, flour. Please check expiration dates. Thank you for your ongoing support of our community! Noteworthy news: Safeway is selling $.92 CASES of water (LIMIT 2 CASES per customer, with a member card)!! (Offer runs through Tuesday the 27th.) This is a spectacular offer, and… is just so happens that our Wednesday lunch program goes through 2 CASES of water each time we’re hosting. Please bring any donations to the kitchen. “Christmas In July Bazaar” being held in the Parish Hall on July 22, from 8-2pm. We are looking for items that could be used as gifts or decorations at Christmas, or craft items you have. PLEASE NO CLOTHING! We will also have a baked goods table. Food items should be brought no sooner than July 21st. Other donations can be brought starting Sunday, July 16th-21st, to the tables on the East Wall of the Parish Hall. Please call Barb Manasek if you have any questions or need donations picked up at your home, 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 We have the Forward Day by Day’s for August- October are here in regular and large print. If you’d like one of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.  FAITH, FORGIVENESS, AND FR. KANO (OUR NE SAINT) May 10th, 2023 This past Sunday in our prayers of the people we remembered Fr. Hiram Kano, Nebraska's saint. His story is one of faith and forgiveness that most of us cannot imagine. When Hiram Kano was a teenager in Japan just after 1900, he fell gravely ill, and the doctors said it was hopeless. He felt God's presence and did not give up, and 100 days later left the hospital as a "miracle case." He was baptized by a missionary and, in 1916, left Japan to attend the University of Nebraska with a letter of recommendation from William Jennings Bryan, who had visited the Kano family. Hiram graduated from UNL in 1918 with a master's in agricultural economics and established a 300-acre farm north of Kearney. Anti-Asian sentiment arose in Nebraska, and legislation was introduced in the state legislature to restrict Japanese-Americans from owning land, or even leasing it for more than two years because they were not considered to be "white." Horrifically, there was also legislation proposed to prevent them from serving as guardians for their own children. These were defeated in great part due to Kano's testimony in the legislature. This testimony brought him to the attention of Episcopal Bishop George Beecher, who also strongly opposed the anti-Japanese legislation. Beecher urged Kano to take up missionary work in western Nebraska, and Kano was ordained a priest in 1936. Fr. Kano established two congregations: St. Mary's in Mitchell and St. George's in North Platte. By 1934 he had baptized more than 250 people. On Sunday, December 7th, 1941, after the Pearl Harbor attack, Fr. Kano was arrested on the steps of his church after leading worship, denied contact with his wife and children, tried without an attorney, and sent to a Japanese internment camp. 120,000 people of Japanese descent—men, women, and children—were relocated to ten internment camps far from their homes. In several of these camps, and across four states, Fr. Kano led worship and ministered to many, including his own jailers, people of Japanese background, AWOL American soldiers, and German prisoners of war. Fr. Kano was released in 1944 (not a single case of subversive activity was ever found in any of those thousands interned), but could not return to his home in Scottsbluff because of threats. He returned to seminary at Nashota House and earned his master's degree. On Trinity Sunday, 1946, Fr. Kano was able to resume his ministry in Nebraska among his welcoming and fervent congregation. \Fr. Kano retired in 1957 and died in 1988 at age 99; his ashes are buried in Scottsbluff. During his internment, Fr. Kano wrote this: "We must bring into our hearts the God who is the source of life, wisdom, love, peace, and justice. We must firmly believe that our hearts are the palace of our God, hen our world will naturally become more light; strength with hope will be given to us; our bodies, even if under the restraints of imprisonment, will transcend time and space in the environment of freedom. This huge happiness we can have now if we have faith." That is a prayer for us all, and his story is a reminder of the sin of fear and hatred of "the others" whom Scripture calls us to welcome and love. Blessings and peace, Fr. Keith+ This piece was written by Keith Winton, Rector of St. Andrew's, Omaha. Comments are closed.
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