From the Senior Warden

Gather, Transform, Send

Your All Souls Vestry kicked off the new year with a retreat at St. Clement’s Church in Berkeley. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know one another – in person! – and set goals for our work together.  And it was also an opportunity to ground ourselves in what we believe is the unique purpose and work of any Christian congregation:

GATHER – TRANSFORM – SEND

In that context, we spent a great deal of time talking about the many (many!) ministries of All Souls. And we wondered how these ministries (which are really just people doing good work of one sort or another) are faring as we emerge from a prolonged period of pain, loss, and the constant need to reinvent. There are so many signs of life at All Souls. But there are signs of strain, too. We committed ourselves to really getting to know All Souls over the next year. Not as we once were. Not as we might want to be. But as we really are. Right now. Today.

This look around the parish is our first goal for the year. The vestry will engage in a process of careful listening and learning to take stock of our ministries, large and small. Who are we today? What are we called to within this GATHER – TRANSFORM – SEND framework?  Where is our energy? Where is more energy needed? Is there enough energy to go around? 

Our second goal is related to this. The vestry commits to working in active partnership with staff and ministry leads to create actionable plans to address our parish’s pain points and illuminate our bright spots. We know that it will take all of us “digging in” on this, and so we will work to be sure everyone on the vestry has a meaningful role to play.

Third, we will work to support a successful Living Waters Campaign. Once the funds are raised, we will create a careful plan to invest those funds in alignment with the campaign’s vision and congregational input.  

Finally, a year from now, we will hope to look down the hill and see our neighbors at Jordan Court as if they’d always been there. After all the planning and construction, this is the year to begin to fully integrate this wonderful new facility into the ongoing operations of All Souls. 

Following our day and a half retreat and goal-setting, we held our first official meeting as a new Vestry. Our most important piece of business was to discern and elect our Junior Warden and Chaplains. While the Rector calls the Senior Warden, the Junior Warden is selected by the Vestry itself. This year, your Vestry has chosen Irina Wolf Carrière to be Junior Warden. The Vestry also called two Chaplains, Tim Ereneta and Nydia MacGregor. Pictures of all current Vestry members are in the Narthex, our nametags are marked “Vestry,” and we can be contacted through the Directory. I encourage you to introduce yourself to one or more of us in the weeks ahead. We welcome a chance to hear from you.

Full minutes from Vestry meetings are available in the Narthex, but I will call your attention to some recent news of Jordan Court. Among a handful of other updates, we learned that the Certificate of Occupancy is forthcoming! I’m so glad we were able to celebrate the tireless work of the Jordan Court team at our Annual Meeting a few weeks ago. Incredible leadership has gotten us to this moment, and now the ministry that is Jordan Court will unfold in countless new ways. 

Residents will move in – and perhaps join us at church or at Open Door Dinner or on the labyrinth. 

The church’s new offices will create some much-needed breathing room for our clergy and staff, but also may open possibilities for use of the undercroft that we haven’t yet contemplated. 

The All Souls’ apartments will offer hospitality to clergy, staff, and others for years to come. 

Other churches may want to learn from our experience developing property in this way.

It’s an emergent and exciting time! It also feels a little tender and raw. On behalf of the Vestry, I ask your prayers for guidance. And please don’t hesitate to be in touch.

Melissa Devereaux

Senior Warden

Meet Our New Members

You may remember that a few weeks ago, we introduced some new members to the congregation. Over the next few weeks, we’ll publish their brief bios in the Pathfinder. I hope you all get to meet these fine folks, hear their stories, and bring them into the life of this congregation. 

–Emily Hansen Curran

Introducing Annie Hayes:

Hello All Souls! My name’s Annie, and I am a West Coast native, having grown up on the land of the Multnomah indigenous peoples in Portland, Oregon. I was raised Roman Catholic and am now in my fourth Jesuit institution and my second graduate program as I pursue a Master of Divinity at the Jesuit School of Theology at the GTU in Berkeley. I found All Souls less than a month after classes began this past September when fellow All Soulsian new member Elizabeth suggested I check it out. She had met Rev. Maggie Foote at CDSP, and without ever having visited All Souls she thought – based on that interaction – that this community would resonate with me. She was right! While it was totally the work of the Holy Spirit that led me here, the community’s passion for living the Gospel is what has kept me coming back. 

When I’m not at All Souls, I’m often at my desk reading and writing for class. I also like to participate in the occasional dance party, throwing them for myself if need be 🙂 I’m a sucker for sunsets, my favorite book is any Mary Oliver poem, and I believe Heaven is just one huge forest of redwood trees. 

The Catechumenate

“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”  –Annie Dillard, from Teaching a Stone to Talk

Over the years I have turned to this paragraph from Annie Dillard at the start of the Lent––the time of year when we enter liminal spaces and fearfully ask to be drawn out to the wilderness, to the places from which we might not return. 

But it’s not just Lent that comes to mind when I read these words from Dillard, it is also the Catechumenate class. I think of the Catechumenate because, for me, this is one the most exciting classes we teach all year––the one in which we learn that crash helmets might be required; where we learn about our particular Episcopal batch of TNT, which I happen to think is especially explosive.

So, what is the Catechumenate? The Catechumenate is a class where we teach about who we are, and attempt to give an idea of what this Episcopal church and faith tradition is about. Folks who take this class (called Catechumens) will learn from a number of thoughtful people in this community and hopefully get a glimpse of Episcopal theology, history, and structure, as well as how to use the Book of Common Prayer and some ideas on how to read the Bible. The class will meet on the five Sunday evenings of Lent (March 6-April 10th) at 7p in person and on Zoom. All are welcome, even if you’ve been an Episcopalian for a long while. But, if you are looking for an introduction to this tradition or are hoping to be baptized, Confirmed, Received, or Reaffirmed into this tradition, this is most certainly the class you’ll want to take. 

I hope that many of you will join this year’s class as we attempt, together, to wrestle with what it means to be an Episcopal sort of Christian in our world. If you have any questions or would like to sign-up, you can write to me at emily@allsoulsparish.org.

–Emily Hansen Curran

Save the Dates

March 1, Mardi Gras

March 2, Ash Wednesday

March 6, First Sunday of Lent

Weekly Worship

Join us at 9am, in-person, outdoor service in the courtyard. This service will move indoors if the weather is below 40 degrees at 8:15a, if the AQI is over 150, or if there is rain.

Or (and!) join us indoors for the 11:15 service or on the live stream at 11:15a, which can be accessed through our website or by tuning into our All Souls Episcopal Parish Facebook page. Click here to watch on Sunday morning. At our 11:15 service, masks are required.

Then join us outdoors at 5p Sunday Night Service for a Eucharistic Service.

If you miss a Sunday, you can always catch the sermon on our homepage or as a podcast, anywhere you listen to podcasts!

Mask Mandate

Due to the CDC mask mandate, masks are required for all large indoor gatherings regardless of vaccination status. This also applies to when you visit the church offices during the week. Thank you!

Wednesday 9am Service

Join the Zoom call here, or join us in person in the Nave at 9a. Password: 520218. Masks are required for this service as it is indoors.

Adult Formation Classes

This Sunday

We have just three classes being offered this Sunday:

• Reading Between the Lines Bible Study @ 7:30a. Contact Kate Murphy, kmurphy2209@gmail.com to join that Zoom call.

• Reading Between the Lines Bible Study @ 10:10a. This Bible Study meets in the Chapel downstairs or on Zoom. Contact Daniel Prechtel, dprechtel1@gmail.com to join that Zoom call.
• Resurrection, part 3  taught by the Rev. Michael Lemaire. This class begins the final part of a three part series on the resurrection. Last spring we explored the range of beliefs that were present in the pagan and Jewish community about life after death. In the second part, we explored the resurrection as reflected in the letters of Paul. In this third and final part of the class, we will take up the various Gospel traditions that tell of the resurrection and look at each Gospel in turn from the empty tomb in Mark, to the encounters of the resurrection at the tomb in Matthew, the Emmaus story in Luke, and finally the story of Thomas in John 20 and the appearance of Jesus on the beach in John 21. It is my hope that this journey together will enrich our faith by clarifying both our questions about the resurrection as well as our hopes in the resurrection. This class will meet on Zoom (click here) and in-person in the Parish Hall, February 6, 13, 20 and 27 at 10:10 am.

Children and Family News

There will be no Sunday School this Sunday for President’s Day. We will resume on 2/27 in the courtyard for all ages, making the clay crosses for Lent!

Youth Group and Youth “office hours” (donuts and hanging out in Maggie’s office) will restart on 2/27!

Other News & Notes

Online Giving

There is a super easy way to give to All Souls––for either a one-time donation or for your ongoing pledge––that is through an app called Vanco Mobile (what used to be called GivePlus). You can find this app through the app store on your phone. Once downloaded, search for All Souls Episcopal Parish and you’re in! If you’d prefer not to download the app, you can just as easily give online through our personalized online donation page by clicking here.

Filming during Services This Sunday, February 20th

Stephen Ministry: Christ Caring for People through People

That’s the motto of Stephen Ministry. The Stephen Minister’s role is to bring God’s love into the lives of people who are going through a difficult time or experiencing a crisis. What do Stephen Ministers do? They listen, care, support, encourage, and pray with and for a person who is hurting. And in the midst of this confidential, one-to-one, caring relationship, God’s healing love comes pouring through.

If someone you know is facing a crisis—large or small—and could benefit from the caring presence of a Stephen Minister, talk to Rev Maggie Foote (maggie@allsoulsparish.org) or Stephen Ministry Leader Madeline Feely (madelinefeeley@gmail.com).  Our Stephen Ministers are ready to care for you!

Soulcast

Check out Season 5, Episode 8  with the return of Rev. Maggie Foote!

Meal Train

If you are able to help provide some meals for parishioners in need, please contact Cathy Goshorn to help out! We are in great need at this time to help care for each other––please consider helping other All Soulsians in need by providing meals or gift cards for meals. You can reach Cathy at ogoshca@yahoo.com.

Memorial for Joan Blair

The Celebration of Life and Memorial Service for Joan Blair will be on February 19th at 11a in the church. There will be a lunch reception to follow the service in the courtyard. The service will also be live streamed from our homepage and on Facebook. You can see photos of Joan and family on her memorial site (click here). Click here to see the announcement for Joan’s memorial.

Lenten Soup + Story Groups

It’s that time of year, again! Soup + Story is a small group program that we host during the 5 weeks of Lent. This year, we’re going to offer a few different tracks of engaging our 

Soup + Story programming: one in-person in parishioners homes or in the church courtyard (we’ll likely ask for vaccinated & boosted folks only for indoor gatherings, but if you can host outdoors at your home or in the courtyard at church, then that will not be required or advised), one over Zoom, and one individual track. If you’re interested in hosting a Soup + Story group in any of the forms listed above, please contact Emily, emily@allsoulsparish.org. These groups will start the week of March 6th and will meet weekly until the week of April 3rd.

Catechumenate

What is the Catechumenate? The Catechumenate is a class where we teach about the Episcopal Church in an attempt to give an idea of what this Episcopal church and faith tradition are about. Folks who take this class (called Catechumens) will learn from a number of thoughtful people in this community and hopefully get a glimpse of Episcopal theology, history, and structure, as well as how to use the Book of Common Prayer and some ideas on how to read the Bible. The class will meet on the six Sunday evenings of Lent (March 6-April 10) at 7p in person and on Zoom. All are welcome, even if you’ve been an Episcopalian for a long while. But, if you are looking for an introduction to this tradition or are hoping to be baptized (whenever that can happen), Confirmed, Received, or Reaffirmed into this tradition, this is most certainly the class you’ll want to take. I hope that many of you will join this year’s class as we attempt, together, to wrestle with what it means to be an Episcopal sort of Christian in our world. If you have any questions or would like to sign-up, you can write to Emily at emily@allsoulsparish.org.

Episcopal Summer Camps––Save the date!

Interested in Episcopal summer camps for your kids? While registration has not yet begun, the dates have been dropped. Check out the latest with all the dates and descriptions of camps (click here).

Associate for Music Position

As many of you know, Dr. Jamie Apgar, our beloved Associate for Music, will be leaving us this spring. The job posting for his position just went live today, click here to read about it (or pass it along to a potential candidate!). 

Adult Formation Committee wants your input!

The Adult Formation Committee is in early stages of planning for the summer reading group and the calendar for the 2022-2023 season. We would love to hear your ideas about:

1. What book or books might you recommend for the summer reading group?
2. What classes would you like to attend next year?

Suggestions of both topics and speakers are welcome!

Please send your ideas to Anne Yardley (ayardley@drew.edu) before March 7th. Thanks for helping to shape our communal learning opportunities!