A very blessed and joyful Easter Season to all of you! The Lord is Risen and we are made new, Alleluia!
I want to thank everyone for their contribution to the Holy Week and Easter services. These most beautiful services can only happen because of the tremendous cooperation of many people who work hard to see that our worship is beautiful and honors the God who saves. Thanks to every one of you who had a part to play.

It would be great if we could bask in the beauty and glory of these days for a bit. But life goes on and so does the business of the church. 

As you are well aware, on Saturday, April 14, Father Jay Atwood will be at St. Francis to present the Emergency Preparedness Workshop which he developed for the Diocese of Fort Worth. The workshop will cover several different aspects of crisis situations that might arise in a parish setting. It begins at 10:00 am and will last until approximately 2:00 pm. Everyone is invited and I would especially encourage each of you who has some office in the church to attend. That includes Vestry, Altar Guild, ushers, etc. Since this presentation will continue through the lunch hour, you must sign up on the table in the narthex. A five dollar contribution to defray the cost of the lunch is also requested. Registration will be cut off on Sunday, April 8. So please sign up now. This will be beneficial for all who attend.

In our ongoing attempt to do all things correctly, security cameras have been installed in and around the church property. They will be monitored around the clock and will bring us an additional piece of security around the church.  Also in process is the fabrication of a new sign for the church and two new stained glass windows. Our new building is still a work in progress.

Bishop Iker will be here on Sunday, May 20, Pentecost Sunday. He will administer the Sacrament of Confirmation at that time. If you have not been confirmed by a bishop in apostolic succession, you need to be. If you wish to be confirmed please see me at your earliest convenience. Likewise, if you wish to renew your commitment to the Anglican faith (perhaps you have been away for a while) or if you have been confirmed in another church and wish to be received formally into the Anglican faith, please also see me as soon as possible. I will need to get the appropriate certificates from the diocese.
One final note. Many years ago, St. Francis had a Sunday morning schedule of 8:30 and 11:00 am. Between the services, we had some sort of Christian education for adults, as well as for our children. It has been suggested that we attempt to do that again. However, our current schedule will not permit this. There simply isn't enough time between the services to allow for a class. It would require that we move the current 9:30 am service to at least 9:00 am. Of course this will only affect those of you who attend the 9:30, so I would be interested in hearing from you, especially if you have an objection to this. Christian education for everyone is important and week day evening offerings are not well attended, especially at our church. So please let me know what you think. This could be a good opportunity to deepen your knowledge and your faith.
 

  Steve McCown
When family members or friends die there are funerals, memorial services, or graveside interments to help us mourn and reminisce about our loved ones. However, when a child dies in an abortion, parents and family have no body to bury and no grave to visit. The parents of an aborted child often carry this dark grief as a secret, alone and afraid of the judgement of others, and grandparents and siblings of an aborted child do not know how to grieve or honor them. People who have lost a child to a miscarriage can even find that sometimes those in the Church can be uncomfortable and uncertain of what to say or what to do. This makes a difficult grieving process even more challenging.

A way to help grieving parents or family members is to memorialize these children lost to abortion or miscarriage. Memorializing a child is more than simply acknowledging that someone existed; it gives dignity to the lost child and provides a visual, perhaps even physical, reminder of a life lost. But, most importantly, it provides the grieving families the chance to honor these children as human beings, as well as mourn and express their own loss. Only when they are given the opportunity to grieve can parents and families find peace and then, ultimately, healing. If the Church indeed believes that all lives are sacred and that life begins at conception, we as a people of God need to reach out to these hurting parents and families.

https://anglicansforlife.org/2018/03/20/take-action-memoralizing-unborn/

Thank you to all who responded with donations both in-kind and monetary to the Lenten Drive to benefit Voice of the Martyrs. Christina Hatley reported she had enough donations to fill 11 Action Packs and 11 Family Medical Packs.
 

Readings for April

4/1 Easter Sunday

• Acts 10:34-43
• Psalm 118:14-29
• Colossians 3:1-4
• Mark 16:1-8

4/8 1st Sunday after Easter

• Acts 3:12a, 13-26
• Psalm 111
• 1 John 5:1-6
• John 20:19-31

4/15 2nd Sunday after Easter

• Acts 4:5-12
• Psalm 98
• 1 John 1:1-2:2
• Luke 24:36b-48

4/22 3rd Sunday after Easter

• Acts 4:23-37
• Psalm 23
• 1 John 3:1-8
• John 10:11-16

4/29 4th Sunday after Easter

• Acts 8:26-40
• Psalm 66:1-11
• 1 John 3:14-24
• John 14:15-21

Notes on the Readings:

• St. Francis follows the 1979 BCP Lectionary for the lessons (We are in Year B) with the text read from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
• Each of the Sunday's readings are linked to the page on LectionaryPage.net.
• The Sunday collects and text of the psalms are from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
• On the second and fourth Sundays, the psalm is chanted at the 11:00 service. The psalm markup is based on the Cathedral Psalter and is a part of the St. Francis Psalter - a multi-year project to post the psalms for chanting on our website. So far 84 of the 150 (56%) psalms are completed.

Happy Birthday! April Birthdays

4          Lewis Armstrong 
6          Bryan Gentsch
8          Robert Bernard 
10        John Goodrich 
11        Keira Leigh Kristo-Reinking
14        Morgan McCormick 
20        Ray Merrill 
21        Jim Crandell, Ellen Harrison
23        Sharon McDaniel 
24        Donna Hunt, Samantha Armstrong 
 

Happy Anniversary! April Anniversaries

5          Roy and Nancy Jones
10        Dan and Ellen Harrison
11        Dale and Mary Boswell

St Francis Calendar for April

Sundays

• 9:30 a.m. Said Holy Communion
• 9:30 a.m. Sunday School
• 10:00 a.m. Choir Practice
• 11:00 a.m. Holy Communion with music
• 1:00 p.m. Embrace the Journey course (on the 8th.15th, 22nd)

Thursdays

• 7:00 p.m. Evening Prayer

1st Friday, April 6

• 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Games Night

1st Saturday, April 7

• 9:00 a.m. Prayer Service for our Nation

2nd Monday, April 9th

• 6:00 p.m. Vestry Meeting

3rd Saturday, April 14

• 10:00 -2:00 p.m. Emergency Preparedness Workshop

3rd Monday, April 16

•    7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Austin Chapter of the Readers of First Things (ROFTers) Meeting

3rd Friday, April 20

• 12:00 p.m. Mothers' Prayer Group

5th Sunday, April 29

• ~12:15 p.m. Fifth Sunday Potluck
• 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Hymn Sing at the Retirement and Nursing Center, 6909 Burnet Lane

• Receive the newsletter via e-mail with a printable version attached 
• Pick up a printed copy on the table at the entrance to the church
• Have a copy mailed to your physical mail box (cost to the church is 49 cents)
• View newsletters on our website.

To change how you receive the newsletter, contact Amy Crandell in person or via e-mail.
 

St. Francis Anglican Church of Austin
A parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth
Diocese Office: 2900 Alemeda St. 
Fort Worth, TX 76108
http://www.fwepiscopal.org/
Bishop: The Rt. Rev'd Jack L. Iker, D.D
Rector: The Rev. Canon Len Giacolone
Music Director: Ralph Webb
Parish Administrator: Mark Rambin
Vestry Officers

Senior Warden  David Norris	Junior Warden  Jim Britt
Secretary Kevin Burnette	Treasurer  Grady Collins

Vestry Members

Class of 2019: Brendle Glomb, David Norris, Kevin Burnette
Class of 2020: Missy Bernard, Dinah Arce
Class of 2021:  Jim Britt, Matt Donnowitz, Donna Hunt
Fr. Len Giacolone