St. Francis will be having an outside Workday on Saturday, April 27.  We will start at 9:00 am and work until 1:00 pm.  Bags of mulch have been ordered and delivery will be April 20.   Everyone is welcome to help spread mulch and do general yard clean up. You are welcome to come for all or any part of that time. The more people there are, the quicker we can get it done.   Water will be provided. Feel free to bring any gardening tools, gloves, etc.  We have a large, beautiful property that has such great potential with desired improvements. Some improvements would be small, and some would be big.  

All are welcome to come and enjoy a night of fun, food, and games.  Teams will be selected at random.  Bring something to share and a drink of your choice.  Water, tea, and pop will be provided.  If you have any question, contact Kathi Oaks.

The annual Easter Egg Hunt at St. Francis will take place immediately following the service on Easter Sunday. All children are invited!

Easter egg hunts are said to have originated in the late 1600s when Martin Luther started a tradition of having the men of the congregation hiding eggs for the women and children to hunt for. This was supposed to be a nod to the Biblical story of women discovering the empty tomb on Easter. Queen Victoria later refreshed the practice of Easter hunts when she and her husband hid Easter eggs in baskets throughout the palace for their children to find, although they routinely did this activity on Maundy Thursday instead of Easter Sunday. The late 1900s brought a resurgence of old traditions, leading to Easter hunts becoming popular once more.

The Sunday of the Resurrection: Easter Day will be celebrated with a Festival Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music at 10:30 am.  An Easter Brunch will follow after the service. All are invited for this festive day!

The feast of Christ's resurrection. According to Bede, the word derives from the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess Eostre. Christians in England applied the word to the principal festival of the church year, both day and season.

1) Easter Day is the annual feast of the resurrection, the pascha or Christian Passover, and the eighth day of cosmic creation. Faith in Jesus' resurrection on the Sunday or third day following his crucifixion is at the heart of Christian belief. Easter sets the experience of springtime next to the ancient stories of deliverance and the proclamation of the risen Christ.

2) Great Fifty Days - The feast of Easter is a season of fifty days, from Easter Eve through the Day of Pentecost. From early times the Greek word pentecost (fiftieth day) was used also for the whole Paschal season. During this season there is no fasting. The Council of Nicaea (325) directed that Christians are to pray standing. The word “alleluia” (praise the Lord) is said or sung repeatedly, which contrasts sharply with the season of Lent when the alleluia is omitted. It is customary for the Paschal candle to burn at all services of the Easter season. The traditional Christian Easter greeting (see Lk 24:34) serves as the opening acclamation at the eucharist during the Easter season.

Good Friday service will be using the traditional Good Friday Liturgy. 
This Holy Week service is an important preparation for the Sunday of Resurrection.
Communion will be shared with the reserved sacrament.

Good Friday is the Friday before Easter Day, on which the church commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus. It is a day of fasting and special acts of discipline and self-denial. The liturgy of the day includes John's account of the Passion gospel, a solemn form of intercession known as the solemn collects (dating from ancient Rome), and optional devotions before the cross (commonly known as the veneration of the cross).

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday will begin outdoors (weather permitting) with The Liturgy of the Palms; after which we will process to the nave to celebrate Holy Eucharist, Rite II. Branches will be distributed before the service and will be used during the procession of the liturgy of the palms.

Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week and the Sunday before Easter at which Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mt 21:1-11, Mk 11:1-11a, Lk 19:29-40) and Jesus’ Passion on the cross (Mt 26:36-27:66, Mk 14:32-15:47, Lk 22:39-23:56) are recalled. The observance of Palm Sunday in Jerusalem was witnessed by the pilgrim Egeria in about 381-384. During this observance there was a procession of people down the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem. The people waved branches of palms or olive trees as they walked. They sang psalms, including Ps 118, and shouted the antiphon, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

The liturgy of the palms includes a reading of one of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. Hymns, psalms, or anthems will be sung and the service will focus from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the solemnity of the Passion.

St. Francis will have its annual Ash Wednesday Services. The season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.

On this day, Christians gather to begin the journey towards the Cross and the Resurrection with an Ash Wednesday service. It offers us an opportunity to stop, reflect on who we are and whose we are, adopt an attitude of humility, hit the reset button, and begin again. You are invited to stop the whirlwind of life and activities that surround you on all sides and remember: God hates nothing God has made; God forgives the sins of all who are penitent; our God is the “God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness.” Although we are to remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return, we ought never to forget that we are Holy Dust, created and inspired by the very breath and Spirit of God, as described in Genesis chapter 2: “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Imposition of ashes will be offered during an in-person service and streamed online: 6:00 pm: Traditional Rite II Mass with instrumental music

Mark your calendars for St. Francis' Annual Meeting!

The meeting usually takes place on a Sunday after the 10:30 am Liturgy. 

During this annual meeting Delegates will be chosen, new Vestry Members will be announced, and a presentation of the budget and finances will be given. As well as a list of brief reports from all Ministry Chairpersons.  

Celebrate Super Bowl Sunday by bringing cans of soup for the foodbank. How many cans can we collect? 50? 75? 100?

What has a bigger impact than a trio of 300-pound linebackers bearing down on a quarterback? You! 

Your impact changes lives when you huddle up to participate in this year’s Souper Bowl Outreach. Now, more than ever, your community needs your help. The number of families struggling to put good food on their tables continues to grow. By working together, we can fight hunger and poverty in our community around the time of the Super Bowl football game.

On Sunday, we will be having our Chili Cookoff Contest during coffee hour.

Practice up on making your best chili—See if you can beat last year’s champion.

The children of St. Francis will be presenting an Epiphany Pageant during the service on Sunday.

This will be one last opportunity to sing Christmas carols!  

Please enjoy the time spent with our youth at St. Francis!

A Christmas Eve Festal Holy Eucharist, Rite II, will be held at 8:00 pm with special music starting at 7:45 pm.

Come and enjoy this special and festive service with us!

St. Francis will be having its annual “Hanging of the Greens” after the church service. 

Please make plans to help beautify the church for the Christmas Eve service on December 24. 

We will be decorating cut out Christmas cookies during coffee hour. Cookies, frosting and sprinkles supplied.

Join the fun and plan on taking some home to share. Make sure to wear your cookie decorating clothes!

Canterbury Court is having its annual Christmas Cookie Event.

You can help by donating food items.  Those items include flower, butter flavored Crisco, parchment paper, walnuts, butter cake mix, nutmeg, sugar, brown sugar, almond flavor, vanilla, cherries in heavy syrup, kosse chips, and condensed milk.  Any donations will be very much appreciated as we help with our community.

Please join us for a celebration to honor our Veterans in our area.

Stay after the service for a Potluck Fellowship.

Please invite all your Veteran family and friends to this special event! 

An RSVP is not required, but, if possible, please call the church at (937) 748-2592 to leave your name.

St. Francis will be attending the 149th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Southern Ohio will convene on Saturday at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio.

ANYONE can register to watch via Zoom at www.dsoconvention.org.

Join in to see Miracle on 34th Street, The Musical at La Comedia on Thursday evening, December 7. Tickets are $53.00 unless you are 11 years old or under, in which case your ticket will be $43.00.

Payment must be turned in to Ginny Culp or the church by Sunday, November 5.  Sign up to reserve seats with Ginny Culp!

St. Francis is having its annual All Saints Sunday!

If you would like loved one's or friend's names to be included on the list of those that have passed away and want them to be read as we celebrate, please contact the church office at (937) 748-2592 or parishsec@saintfran.org. 

St. Francis will be having a “Trunk or Treat” event during this October Fest /Halloween season.

We will have at least 12 participants that will bring their cars and open their trunks with an assortment of candies.

Come and bring your treat buckets for candy and spend some time together in fellowship as we celebrate this Harvest Season!

Grill master Jack is at it again! 

Jack will be grilling chicken for a back-to-school Fellowship Coffee Hour.  

Many thanks to Jack for the numerous barbeque parties he has hosted.

Memorial Day Tribute - Remember and Honor

Join us as we pay tribute to or fallen heroes! We invite you to celebrate with us all the men and women who fought and died for our country. By honoring them with a flag in our front yard during Memorial Day.

Contact the office at 937-748-2592 or parishsec@saintfran.org to contribute your loved ones name.