September 2016

7

St. Francis Bulletin

From the Rector
Fr. Len Giacolone

I hope that all of you had a nice summer and for those of you who may have had a vacation somewhere along the way, I hope that it was restful and relaxing.  As you know we took some time off in July and I am grateful to Father Christopher Guptill for covering for me during my absence.  He apparently enjoyed his experience and is willing to do it again should the need arise.

This fall will be an exciting time for St. Francis.  We will move into our new church building within the next couple of months.  I wish that I could give you a date certain.  However, building projects are subject to lots of twists and turns, not the least of which is the weather.  I am truly grateful for the rain we had in August.  We needed it badly.  But it did put us back a little bit once again.  So we will have to wait and see if the construction crew can make up some of that time.

Jim and Amy Crandell have been visually updating the progress with the construction on our webpage, and as I understand, something called Facebook.  Thanks to both of them.  It has always been interesting to me to see the progress on a construction site.  There are times when you can't imagine the finished product appearing out of the current construction site, and then all of a sudden, there it is.  The boards and pipes coming out of the concrete turn into the building we have been waiting for such a long time.  We will get there and it will be soon.  Mark Rambin, who has been shepherding this project for a long time has continued to work with the contractors even through a busy work schedule.  Since becoming Senior Warden, Grady Collins has joined Mark with the details and finishing touches on the construction.  I am grateful to everyone who has had a hand in this endeavor from the beginning and for all who will take part even after we move, this time for the final time.  Please continue to pray that all goes well with finishing the project.

While all of this has been going on, the Vestry has been working on a plan to pay off the debt we have incurred with the building.  You will hear a great deal about that in the days to come.  We have stepped out in faith on this building and we will need to depend on God for direction and for funds to see us through.  There is an old saying that goes like this:  Pray as if everything depended on God; work as if everything depended on you.  That certainly applies here.  I know that this has taken much longer than anyone expected.  At least that's true for me.  But we are nearing the finish line and the new building will be a place where we can genuinely worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.

Odds and Ends
Sunday School for our youth will be starting up once again beginning on Sunday, September 11.  Doug Cooper will continue to teach our older students and this year Denise Gentsch and Missy Bernard will be teaching our younger students.  I'm grateful for both of these members of our parish for their willingness to take on this responsibility.  I am also grateful to Missy Bernard for coordinating this program for our youth.

Recently, someone donated to our parish a blood pressure monitor and a gauge to measure oxygen levels in the blood.  We have also been promised an automatic defibrillator in the near future.  When that arrives, a licensed paramedic will train a number of our people so that it may be used properly should the need arise.

Sunday School
Classes begin Sept. 11 at 9:30 AM.  All students attend the 9:30 service and leave for class at the announcements.  We have two classes - one for elementary aged students taught by Missy Bernard and Denise Gentsch and another for older youth taught by Doug Cooper. The older class will be discussing the catechism to prepare any youth who will be at least age 13 by April 2 for confirmation.

Anglicans for Life