 Thursday Announcements February 15, 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  Beloved in Christ - This past week Annie and I moved into a new house after nearly thirteen years at the same address. The home we just departed was the property we bought when we moved to Nebraska at the time I became bishop. It was the setting for many important life moments, both high and low. The only address at which I’ve lived longer in my entire life was my childhood home. 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 The Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska | Dioneb.org From the Office--Ann's Announcments  Birthdays John Selzer February 19 Kathy Anderson February 20 Evelyn Anderson-Saenz February 22 Alyssa Harvey February 22 Peggy Wymore February 22 Jacklyn Cawiezel February 24 United Thank Offering United Thank Offering is not just for grown-ups! We can begin teaching gratitude and giving at a very young age. Here is a fun idea to get kids (and grown-ups) involved. ABC's of gratitude: Write all the letters of the alphabet down on the left side of a piece of paper. As you think of a blessing or gratitude, write it down next to the corresponding letter of the alphabet. With each new blessing or gratitude, add a coin to your box. It might take a while to have a blessing beside each letter. Try to fill in a gratitude for each letter before beginning a new piece of paper. Please pick up your blue box, or use an envelope provided in the bulletin the next time you attend a service. Thank you! Jenny Bohl The Forward Day by Day’s for February-April are here in regular and large print. If you’d like one of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.  You GO Girl!! Comments are closed.
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