St. Francis Episcopal Church

We seek to be instruments of God's peace, bearing

witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ for all

people.

Lenten Meditations written by and for the people of St. Francis and friends can be found here.

Little Portion

Week of March 31, 2014

Easter Memorials

During Easter services this year, you may wish to have a loved one remembered, or to express special thanks to God for His blessings in your life. The money for these memorials is used for flowers and music, given to God's glory as we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord.

Forms are available on the table in the narthex, or click here to download the form. Flower forms are due in the office by Sunday, April 13th.

Lenten Book Study Blog Post 4...

Join Karen, the associate rector, as she blogs once a week through Lent offering reflections on the book Who's Got Time? Spirituality for a Busy Generation. The book explores different spiritual practices we can use in our busy lives to connect with God.

Don't have time to read the book? No problem. Feel free to simply read the post (it's short, only about 500 words) and comment if you feel so moved or have something to share. Check out this week's post on how music can be a way for us to connect to the holy here.

Copies of the book can be obtained from the church office for $15.00 or ordered online through Amazon or Barnes and Noble for Kindle or Nook.

An Update from the Search Committee...

The Search Committee met on Tuesday night to continue preparing for our upcoming review of candidate applications. Our Canon to the Ordinary, Pam Mott, attended the Transition Event in Florida this week so we expect to be receiving names and resumes shortly. At our Tuesday meeting, we continued our discussions of how we will be evaluating and communicating with candidates. If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please feel free to talk to any member of the committee, or leave a note in the basket in the narthex. Robin Carlo, the chair of the committee, can be reached at rcarlo5@mac.com or 508-341-1698.

Our Care of Creation... "God so Loved the World"

On Saturday, April 26, and Sunday, April 27, the Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Diocesan Missioner for Care of Creation, the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, will preach and present an Adult Forum following our 10:00 a.m. worship service.

The Forum will begin at 11:30 a.m. Part of the presentation will be a 20 minute PowerPoint she and her husband produced. It is called, GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD. I encourage you to go to her website, www.holyhunger.org, and see her professional bio and click on multimedia, click on PowerPoint, "God So Loved the World."

I was a colleague of Margaret's for one year when I served as Interim Rector at Grace Episcopal Church, in Amherst, MA. She is a bright, loving person, who has experienced her own share of pain and recovery. She is an excellent teacher, preacher, and presenter.

I believe our time with Margaret will bless us all and open us up to new possibilities as we care for God's creation.

If you have any questions please contact me at 413-687-5568 or rkwilburn@comcast.net.

Rev. Dr. Randy Wilburn

Interim Rector, St. Francis Episcopal Church

April Seniors Birthdays...

01 Ron Freeman

03 Gloria Goewey

06 Lorraine Hennigar

06 Tom Tomasian

09 Nancy Gundersen

11 Sam Davenport

12 Pris Kerr

14 Janice Schuyler

17 Barbara Beck

23 Helen VanDeMark

24 Al VanDeMark

Palm Sunday Readers...

On the weekend of Palm Sunday, April 12/13 we will read a dramatized version of the Passion Gospel. We are looking for volunteers to take part in this reading at our 3 services. There will be a short run-through with Randy at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, and 9:30 a.m. on Sunday. Please sign-up in the narthex if you would like to read or email the office at stfran@verizon.net and let us know what service you'd like to help with.

Palm Saturday Program...

Saturday, April 12th from 9:00-12:30.

Children (age 3 through grade 5) will have a variety of Lent/Easter activities to choose from such as planting, painting, cooking, dyeing eggs, and other crafts. Small groups will also take turns in a "prayer walk" which will help them to experience Holy Week in a dramatic way (e.g. walking into Jerusalem with palms, sharing bread and "wine," participating in a Tenebrae service and crawling into the tomb.) Activities could get messy and the "tomb" (St. Clare basement) will be cold so please dress in warm play clothes! Friends are welcome. Children should bring a lunch. Drinks and cookies will be provided.

A sign up sheet is on the table in the narthex.

Serving this weekend:

April 5/6, 2014

Altar Guild: Loretta Haynes, Donna Lasher, Marje Sullivan, Marge Tremblay

Saturday, April 5 -

5:00 p.m.

Ushers: John and Lucy Nowak

LEMs: Dick Delorme and Jan Moran

Sunday, March 30 -

Nursing Home: Laurie Sanchez and Betty Hofstra

8:00 a.m.

LEMs: Chris Berglund