Thursday Announcements February 22, 2024 Upcoming Events at St. Francis: Lenten Lunches, Tues. @ 12pm, February 20 through March 19, (various locations, schedule available here) Lectionary Study and Compline, Tuesday at 2pm, Library Soup and Stations, Wednesday 5:30pm, February 21 through March 20 Men’s Bible Study, Thursday 8am, Library Sunday Eucharist at 9am _________________________________________________________________________________________________ ERIN’S EPISTLETTES
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A Lenten Message from Bishop Barker The move to a new home was predictably stressful… and it’s not done yet. We’re now in the phase where our furniture is all moved in, but even after months of downsizing our home and helping to stock the shelves at Goodwill, our house is still packed full of stuffed moving boxes that need to be carefully opened and organized. We’re trying to be wise about that task and it helps that all the cartons are nicely labeled. Should we unpack “Kitchen cabinets” or “Toolroom”? “Family Room books” or “Office drawers”? Though we’re determined to finish this task soon and empty all those crates, we’ve met several folks who have confessed that they have boxes in their basements still lying there unpacked from a prior move that happened years ago. A couple of people have told us that they have boxes that have now remained unpacked for two or even three relocations. It makes me wonder about what’s in those boxes, and why people keep dragging them around. In the season of Lent, followers of Jesus are invited to pack away some of the routines, desires, orientations, and habits upon which we usually rely, to return to a simpler, clearer and restored relationship with God in Christ. By “self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word,” we get back to the basics of following Jesus by eliminating the stuff we don’t need and that gets in the way of being the kind of person that God created and calls us to be. What could you fruitfully put away in the forty days ahead? Is striving after money or recognition keeping you from appreciating the beautiful life God has already planted you in? Is too much time on social media distracting you from tending to in-person relationships? Are fundamentally sinful habits around feeding your appetites or your ego-needs building a barrier between you and the God who loves you so much that he gave his life for you? Making some changes in our lives during the season of Lent is an ancient tradition of the Church. For those of us who embrace this work year after year, the experience is never the same. Some years feel like a failure, serving only to remind us of our desperate need for a savior while in other years we manage with God’s help to make faithful changes in our lives that take root and shape us anew long after Easter comes and goes. Either way, it’s holy work. Dear people of God: I invite you in the name of the Church to the observance of a holy Lent. Let’s prayerfully support one another in our efforts to put away what’s not serving us well, and to make room for new habits and new ways of expressing our love for our neighbors and our love of God. Who knows … we might just discover that there are some things we don’t need in our lives at all anymore and that with the room created by letting them go, we make a way for Christ to rise again. A Blessed Lent to All – + Bishop Barker ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ From the office—Ann’s Announcements Reasonably True
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