In This Edition:
  • Worship this Sunday in person at 8:00 and 9:30
  • Offerings in Lent
  • Christianity 101- Session 2
  • Staffing Update: Office Assistant at St. David's
  • Coffee Hour
  • Children and Youth Update
  • Prayer Shawl Ministry
  • Loaves and Fishes
  • Bring it Home MN
  • Saturday Morning Prayer Update
  • St. David's Book Club News
  • ICA Update
  • Regular Offerings
Women's History Month

In prayer we trust
By hope we live
On truth we stand
From our hearts we give
Love.

– SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK
click here to hear the women's musical group Sweet Honey in the Rock sing I'm Gon' Stand. And to learn more about this group, click here.
This Sunday: The Third Sunday in Lent
Join us for live, in person worship at both 8:00 and 9:30 this Sunday. We'll SING TOGETHER (remaining masked)! And plan to stay for coffee hour and to hear Children and Youth Minister Anna Brock share stories of her life and faith (see announcement below).

Please continue to wear a good fitting, N95, KN95, or KF94 mask as you attend services, and remember not to come if you are feeling sick at all. We will have these types of masks available at church if you do not have one. COVID vaccinations with boosters offer yet another layer of protection, and are also strongly encouraged for all who are able. We will continue to Facebook Livestream and upload to YouTube to accommodate for those who choose to stay home.
Offerings During Lent
Sharing Life Together Deeply:
Growing Where We are Planted

What a privilege it will be to hear members of our community share stories of their life and faith during a special Lenten Series, "Sharing Life Together Deeply: Growing Where We are Planted". Please join us, live, in the Undercroft, following the 9:30 service on each of the five Sundays of Lent. . Thank you, in advance, to those who have agreed to share their stories with us:

March 6: Steve Johnson click here to view
March 13: Craig Warren click here to view
March 20: Anna Brock
March 27: Gervaye Parent
April 3: Launa Tucker

We'll take time for small group reflection after each presentation. Join us!

Note: most or all of the presentations will be videotaped and available for viewing afterwards.

Life Transformed: The Way of Love in Lent

Each Sunday in Lent we will supply a bulletin insert that can guide your own Lenten practices during the week. Click here to link to each Sunday's insert.

Brother, Give Us a Word

A wonderful option for Lent is to subscribe to receive a daily word for reflection delivered by email from the Brothers at the Society of St. John the Evangelist. Click here to subscribe.
Bring your Socks to Church!
Youth Ministry is wanting your socks, the single socks that you've given up finding the match, the socks that have worn a hole in the heel, the socks that are just too funky to ever actually wear... we want them! There will be a collection basket outside Anna's office this Sunday.
Curious why we want your old socks? Imagine a game that combines capture the flag and dodgeball, but our throwing weapons? Balled up socks. We have plans to play this next Wednesday, so please bring socks!
Christianity 101 - Second Session this Tuesday
Join us for an educational series that will provide a sweeping overview of who we are as Christians and as Episcopalians and where it is we come from. We'll gather once a month on Zoom (link below) for a time of teaching with Q & A, organizing ourselves around four topics:

Session 1, Tuesday, February 22: The Bible, with the Rev. Leonard Freeman

Session 2, Tuesday, March 22: Church History, with the Rev. Katherine Lewis

Session 3, Tuesday, April 26: The Episcopal Church, with the Rev. Guy Drake

Session 4, Tuesday, May 24: Prayer and Worship, with the Rev. Katherine Lewis

Sessions will run from 6:30-7:45 PM. At the end of class, we'll encourage participants to join in the Compline Zoom room for nighttime prayers, which start at 8 PM.

All are invited to attend, with a special invitation to high school students preparing for Confirmation. Feel free to invite others from outside St. David's to attend! No need to register.  

For more information, contact the Rev. Katherine Lewis at klewis@stdavidsparish.org.
Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 829 8466 2070
One tap mobile
+16465588656,,82984662070# US (New York)
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Staffing Update: Office Assistant at St. David's
see below for a note from Maddie and Anna
We have been richly blessed by parishioner Maddie Harvala's ministry with us in her role as Interim Office Assistant and we wish her well as she leaves this staff role to move into her next professional position as a Project Assistant at Westwood Professional Services. We are searching for a permanent Office Assistant. Click here to learn more about the position. Please share this posting within your networks! And we continue to be blessed: Children and Youth Minister Anna Brock has stepped in as Interim Office Assistant while we continue our search. The email address for the office remains the same: office@stdavidsparish.org.
Hi all! I'm grateful to Maddie's organization skills and patience in showing me the ropes. I want to remind folks that the deadline to get updates to the office to be sent in the weekly email is Wednesday at noon. I also want to keep office things and children and youth things separate as they are two different roles, so please continue sending all office needs and inquiries to office@stdavidsparish.org and all and any children and youth ministry things to abrock@stdavidsparish.org.
I'm excited to serve in this new way!
Thank you.
~ Anna
Hello St. David's! I wanted to say before I step away from the Office Assistant role that it does not mean that I am stepping away from St. David's as a whole. I am still on the Vestry and a member of the bell choir, so I won't be disappearing! Not to mention I love you all very much! I have appreciated working here in this administrative capacity, but I am really excited the job I'm starting and I look forward to strengthening my relationship with you all as a parishioner (again). Please email me at maddie.harvala@gmail.com or text me at (952) 412-9074 if you want to reach me about anything! 
Love, Maddie
Coffee Hour is Back!
What a joy to be back for Coffee Hour in the Undercroft! Others must be feeling that way, too, judging from the large turnout the past two weeks. If any of you are wondering if there’s some way to help this effort, there is! Please check the Host signup sheet in the Undercroft to add your availability to the list. You will even have a guide to shepherd you through this process if you are new at it. There’s even a container marked “Cookies” in the freezer if you need help providing snacks. For those who are unable to host, adding baked or bought items to the “Cookies” container would be a huge help. See you at coffee!
Thank you.

Sharon Engel
763-732-9418

Update on Children and Youth Programming
Children’s Ministry: There will be Godly Play offered this Sunday, March 20th during the 9:30 service.
 
Middle School Ministry: Youth Group will meet Wednesday, March 23rd from 6:45-8:15pm, playing a brand new game, and ending with Compline together.
 
High School Ministry: Youth Group will be at St. David's from 6:00-8:00PM. We will have dinner together! Stay tuned for more details.
Save the Date – YOUTH RETREAT – Mark in your calendar August 5-7. All youth going into 6th-12th grade are invited to the St. David’s and Trinity Youth Retreat at Green Lake Bible Camp in Spicer, MN.
Prayer Shawl Ministry
The prayer shawl ministry is asking for some help from anyone proficient in operating a serger. 
Give Joanne Allan a call at (952) 938-2226 If you can help.
Thanks!
Loaves and Fishes
St. David's volunteers will be serving hot takeout meals at St.Gabriel's in Hopkins on March 29. The transition from serving meals on-site to handing out to-go meals has resulted in a need for fewer volunteers than in the past. We already have the 3 volunteers that we need for this upcoming event, but stay tuned for future opportunities to serve in this long-running St David's outreach mission! 
Bring It Home MN
Beacon interfaith Housing Collaborative of which St. David’s is a partner, is asking for our help to advocate for funding from the state legislature for a program called Bring It Home MN. 
What is it: Bring it Home, Minnesota is state legislation (Bill: HF40 HF2220 / SF333)
to fund rental support for all Minnesotans who qualify. This policy would ensure every Minnesotan gets the rent support they deserve. We would achieve this through rent vouchers. Rent vouchers help people with lower incomes find and stay in their homes.  A rent voucher is a simple, cost-effective solution for
housing stability. When a family qualifies, they receive a housing voucher that allows them to find a private market apartment that meets their needs. After they find the apartment, the voucher covers the difference between the 30% of the family’s income and the market-rate cost of rent for the apartment. 

How you can help: Send a digital post card to your legislator using this link:

 
It’s easy to do and takes just minutes! If this bill is passed this session, over 500,000 families from across MN, who can’t afford the high cost of rent, will benefit.   Families in the Families Moving Forward program will be able to transition from staying in a hotel to having a permanent home of their own.  We have the resources to pass Bring It Home MN THIS YEAR but legislators need to hear from all of us to make it happen.  Show your support by filling out the “digital postcard” today.  

Have questions? www.bringithomeminnesota.org
Click on the above link for more information or contact Carol Johnson caroltwokat@gmail.com.
Let’s set a goal of 50 people from St. David’s will send this digital postcard before the end of March!! Join in the Joyful Urgency as people of faith, to advocate for all people to have a home.  
 
What’s happened to Cranberry Ridge?

Ten years in the making, Cranberry Ridge will be opening this spring!! This is Beacon’s housing development for 45 families needing affordable housing in Plymouth, MN . Many of St. David’s parishioners spent time in meetings, advocacy work and city council meetings moving this housing forward and it’s finally going to happen!!!! 

Click on this link to read more about Cranberry Ridge, watch a video with a hard hat virtual tour, and read an interview with Rev. Cindy Hilger on “Fear and Faith”.  
Saturday Morning Prayer Update: Live Only for this week
On Saturday March 19, Morning Prayer will only be held in person in the Narthex, and hybrid will resume on March 26. 

Join morning prayer on Saturdays beginning at 7:45 AM. This service lasts approximately 15 minutes.
St. David's Book Club News
by Cathy Schwichtenberg
St. David’s Book Club will meet on Tuesday, 4/5 from 6:30 pm to 7:55 pm via Zoom. We will be discussing The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich. Drawing on her grandfather's letters, written while he was tribal chairman, Erdrich re-creates a shameful chapter in America's history when Congress introduced a bill to terminate the treaty rights of Native tribes, which would force assimilation and pave the way for a land grab. 
 
It is 1953. Thomas Wazhushk is the night watchman at a jewel bearing plant, the first factory to open near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a prominent Chippewa Council member, trying to understand a new bill that is soon to be put before Congress. The US Government calls it an 'emancipation' bill; but it isn't about freedom - it threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land, their very identity. How can he fight this betrayal? Unlike most of the girls on the reservation, Pixie - 'Patrice' - Paranteau has no desire to wear herself down on a husband and kids. She works at the factory, earning barely enough to support her mother and brother, let alone her alcoholic father who sometimes returns home to bully her for money. But Patrice needs every penny to get if she's ever going to get to Minneapolis, Minnesota to find her missing sister Vera. Among other friends and acquaintances of Patrice, we meet Hay Stack Jones, a white high school math teacher and boxing coach who is hopelessly in love with Patrice. In The Night Watchman multi-award winning author Louise Erdrich weaves together a story of past and future generations, of preservation and progress. She grapples with the worst and best impulses of human nature, illuminating the loves and lives, desires and ambitions of her characters with compassion, wit and intelligence.
 
~Library Journal and Hclib.org
 
Please join us for an interesting discussion of this excellent book!
 
ICA Update
Minnesota Foodshare March Campaign 
This year’s Minnesota Foodshare Campaign to collect food and raise funds continues through the end of this month. All funds donated in March will be matched, so your gift will go even further. Additionally, with ICA’s buying power, they are able to buy more food for the same dollar. Every $20 donated to ICA will yield 20 meals for people experiencing food insecurity right here in our community. If you would like to donate, go to icafoodshelf.org/march-donation.

March Round-ups for ICA
This month, make sure to round up your purchases at Lakewinds Food Coop, Driskill’s Downtown Market and Tonkadale Greenhouse. ICA appreciates the support of these local businesses during Minnesota Foodshare Month.

Food Shelf items needed this month
You can always bring items directly to the Food Shelf at 11588 K-Tel Drive off Shady Oak Road by Shady Oak Lake. Better yet, bring them to church this Sunday. The third Sunday of each month is designated for bringing items you wish to donate to ICA. 

ICA is currently running low on the following foods, personal items & home supplies:
* cereal (hot & cold)
* tea, coffee, Keurig cups
* olive oil
* baby food, baby wipes, diapers (size 5) , pull-ups
* paper products (tissues, paper towels, napkins, toilet paper)
* personal products (shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant, adult diapers)
* soap (dish, bar, laundry)

Feel free to bring anything you wish to donate. ICA is grateful for all donations. If you won’t be in church on Sunday, you can bring items whenever it is convenient for you and leave them in the baskets provided at the east and south church entrances. Thank you.
This Week at St. David's!
Featured Events
  • Worship and Holy Eucharist in the Sanctuary
  • 8:00 and 9:30 AM on Sunday, March 20th
  • Sharing Life Together Deeply, hear from Anna Brock
  • Adult forum, after the 9:30 service on Sunday, March 20th 
  • High School Youth Group at St. David’s Sunday, March 20th from 6:00-8:00pm
  • Vestry Meeting, Monday March 21st from 7:00-8:30pm 
  • Christianity 101 via Zoom, Tuesday, March 22nd from 6:30-7:45pm 
  • Middle School Youth Group, Wednesday, March 23rd from 6:45-8:15pm 

Want to view the full calendar for the week? Click here to view the St. David's website complete with a calendar to keep you updated on events and offerings! Scroll all the way to the bottom to view it.
In this time of the coronavirus pandemic, the need to reach our most vulnerable parishioners has been great. Our 11 person Pastoral Care Team has stepped up to the plate and has been regularly calling around 24 St. David's members and families to share in remote fellowship, prayer, and conversation to determine if we, as a community, could help address any of their unmet needs. We are pleased to report that virtually all of these parishioners are doing well so far and have their basic needs met by their facilities and/or family. They are in good spirits and continue to remain resilient in the face of isolation and uncertainty.

If you find yourself in need of food or other resources, please contact:
Steve Johnson at: twokat@centurylink.net or (952) 237-0031 
or:        
The Rev. Katherine Lewis at: klewis@stdavidsparish.org or (612) 747-5405

and we will assist you in finding solutions.
Pastoral Care Line: 952-767-0891
COVID-19 Resources Available

ECMN COVID-19 Response Resources Page Click here
Websites

St. David's Episcopal Church: http://www.stdavidsparish.org

The Episcopal Church in Minnesota: http://www.episcopalmn.org

The Lectionary Page-Lectionary Readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net

The Episcopal Church: http://www.episcopalchurch.org