From the Associate Rector

So Long, For Now

Well, it’s finally here. I’m sitting in my almost-all-the-way packed up office, and wondering what I might say to you as I bid farewell to All Souls this coming Sunday. The first thing, of course, is gratitude. Gratitude for welcoming me into this community, and for your support and patience over the years. Gratitude for your joyful exuberance and excitement for the birth of McEwen, and for being his baptismal home. Gratitude for the joy and humor that permeates this place.

When I came to All Souls, way back in 2020, the thing that I longed for the most was to be a part of a team, and not to feel isolated in ministry. I could never have imagined what was in store for me at All Souls, and the joy I would feel getting to know the staff, seminarians, and lay leaders with whom I worked with during my time here. Saying thank you just doesn’t feel sufficient, but it’s the best I’ve got: so, thank you to Phil, Emily, Annie, Jamie, and Dent for making me laugh, for always having my back, and for challenging me to be a better priest. Thank you to Dan Carlson and Michael Drell for providing me with the opportunity to learn alongside you. Thank you to Molly, Jeannie, and Kim, for making those late night Children & Family Ministry team meetings something to look forward to, and for your steadfast dedication to the Children & Families of All Souls. Thank you to the Stephen leaders, Christina, Raymond, Madeline, and Nancy for inviting me into the important work that you all carry out on behalf of our entire congregation. It has been a joy to be a part of it. And to Toni, Michael (again), and Teresa, thank you for an incredible journey and making a great team in Mexico. What an adventure!

As I think about what comes next for me, it’s hard not to think about what comes next for All Souls. I’ve just spent the last hour on Zoom with your incoming Associate Rector, and I have every confidence that you and she will be a great match to teach and learn from one another, and I’m excited to follow along and see what new and exciting things you will get up to together.

As for me, I will be taking the summer off to travel and spend some time with family and friends. In fact, I’ll be leaving on a red eye this Sunday night for Episcopal Youth Event in College Park, Maryland, which I have been working on for almost a year now! Over the course of the rest of the summer I will travel to Denver, New Zealand, Cincinnati, and Memphis, before beginning in my new role at the end of August.

The next step in my formation and discernment about who I am called to be as a priest will be a one-year residency in Clinical Pastoral Education, which is a chaplaincy training program. I will be working as a hospital chaplain-in-training at UCSF, so Andrea, Mac, and I will remain in San Leandro. We are looking forward to finding a new church home and attending church as a family, even though I’m sure it will feel sort of strange seeing everything from the other side! I appreciate your prayers as we navigate this transition and enter into a new season in our lives. 

So, I guess it’s time to say so long for now, All Soulsians! Thanks for the laughs, the tears, the prayers, and the love.

In peace,

Maggie+

From the Rector

Deep Sigh and Godspeed

Even though it was just three years ago, the spring and summer of 2020 feels like three decades ago. The reality that COVID was going to be with us for awhile was just registering, Zoom was becoming part of our everyday existence, vaccines were in a promised future, and we were searching for a new Associate Rector to join us. Thanks to the Holy Spirit and a determined search team, the Rev. Maggie Foote, transplanted from the diocese of Southern Ohio, came to join us in September of 2020. And not a moment too late.

In her time with us, Maggie has graced us with her passion for justice, ridiculous sense of humor, love for children and youth, and compelling relationship with Jesus. She has created our Faithful Families program, designed and helped teach our Sunday School, led our youth week in and week out and on immersion trips to Los Angeles and Mexico City, walked with All Soulsians in difficult times, and preached us towards the Realm of God. On Thanksgiving Day in 2021 she and Andrea welcomed one of the cutest small humans in this world, McEwen. One day I do hope that McEwen will forgive me for waking him up to baptize him at the Easter Vigil a few months later.

While I will miss Maggie as colleague in ministry at All Souls, I’m grateful that she will remain in our diocese and ask that you join me in praying with her as she discerns more about chaplaincy, especially in the hospital setting. And, this Sunday after the 10:30a service, please come and join us wishing her Godspeed in a send-off that combines two of Maggie’s great loves: tacos and beer.

Peace,

Phil+

From Youth Ministry

Reflection from the High School Immersion Trip to Mexico City

Sitting here at the departure gate having gotten up at 4:23 AM after finishing packing at midnight, I am feeling tired but immensely blessed. To say the trip was perfect would be inaccurate but only because of some tummy upsets and overly hot weather, some heavy traffic, sunburn and mosquito bites. Otherwise it really was perfect and astoundingly surpassed my expectations. Having spent a lot of time in Mexico, I felt I knew what to expect and could even dream and hope for a great trip for all. But what I failed to understand was the amazing grace God had in store for this group. 

The group was composed of 8 high school youth aged from 16-18, 4 adults, and an adorable baby. 

If you need something else to be proud of this Pride month, please feel pride for the All Souls community developing these amazing young people who arrived with open hearts, minds, eyes and joyous souls ready to connect with all the wonderful people (dogs and horses) and places here in Mexico. It would be impossible to give you a full sense of the connections we made, but as a well seasoned middle aged traveler, I was still blown away by how much fun and deep fellowship we could have together. The unforeseen miracle of Toni’s warm and welcoming relatives and friends in the Anglican Church here could not have been imagined. Strangers immediately considered us family and that’s pretty much the point of our faith right? 

This was an immersion trip, visiting the city overall but specifically a few parishes with strong youth programs and various other locations including a hospital ministry with Padre Arturo of Sagrada Familia congregation. We also had a day in Cuernavaca where my sending parish St Michael and All Angels is located and we were hosted for lunch, relaxation, and swimming. On our way back to CDMX we stopped in Tres Marias at a horse rescue where I previously worked. 

We approached “immersion” through meeting other youth groups and learning about what it is like to grow up in the Anglican church in Mexico, for the purpose of coming closer to God through relationships and experiences with others. 

I personally held hopes for our group to experience and develop empathy, solidarity, unity amongst difference, and faith through worship and friendship. 

This was all accomplished well beyond my expectations and each day or rather several times per day, my mind was blown and my heart filled with the countless miracles of God’s Love and Providence revealed through the offerings of welcome and hospitality and also the enthusiastic, respectful, and humble acceptance and appreciation of these gifts by our group. 

Our hosts in Mexico embodied everything that we talk about in Christian faith.

We all knew and felt this; recognising it happening around and through us.

This was obvious as we played games, tried new things, and through the observations and reflections brought up during “roses, buds, and thorns” each evening.

Our youth were asked more than once what keeps them involved in church both by other youth and the various adults involved in their formation. The answer each time was ‘community’. The All Souls community that raised and sent out this group, but also the communities we encountered deeply as hosts and family. We are all part of something bigger now. We welcome you into our experience and thank you for the ways you supported us through prayers, enthusiasm, and financial sponsorship.

I want to encourage us all to keep the relational quality of the experience going through continuing the story telling. Ask us, especially our youth, about the trip. Maybe we can make this an annual event? If there is anyone interested in working towards this more specifically please speak to me and Toni. If there is anyone interested in further financial donations, we encountered ministries which would love that support and utilise it beyond its economic value. We would all gain further blessings through maintaining our ties with our newly found siblings in Christ.

-Michael Drell

From the Vestry

Update from the June Vestry Meeting

This month’s All Souls Vestry covered a broad array of important topics. After  spiritual reflection, we discussed our monthly anti-racism training which was focused on gaining a deeper understanding of systematic racism and its deleterious impact. We were able to discuss how systematic racism showed up in our community, especially with an eye toward how it impacted Berkeley and the surrounding area. We thought about what we could do to combat systemic racism and also reflected on how the effort to build Jordan Court was very much in service of helping to address the negative impact of systematic racism on some level.

We also invested significant time discussing Living Waters, and small teams of  Vestry members went back and reviewed user group feedback and further synthesized it for the group. We thought this was important so that we can keep the parish’s feedback top of mind as we review the work of the Property Committee.  The focus at this meeting was on the user group feedback on the Nave, Undercroft, and Chapel, and we sought to understand what were some of the projects that were noted as highly important by members. This exercise gave us a chance to think about the financial implications of those projects as well as how to prioritize them. While no final decisions were made, it was illuminating to review this feedback again. We also voted to allocate funding for further assessments to help understand the feasibility of a potential central elevator location, as well as identified funding for the repair of the fence on the South side of the church’s property which we will share costs with the neighboring home. 

There was also a focus on the parish’s annual budget which is in a good place from an expenses and revenue standpoint. We also started working with a new bookkeeper who works with a few organizations in the area including a few other Episcopal parishes. As always with a new set of eyes, we are assessing our current practices and will likely update some of our financial processes to further optimize how we manage the parish’s finances. 

Lastly, we discussed the communications plan that was developed by the parish’s Communications Task Force. This plan was informed by a member survey, communications audit, and expert interviews. The task force has prioritized focusing on existing members with the largest efforts being placed on redesigning the website in addition to optimizing some church communications like the Pathfinder and researching and developing a recommendation for a parish member (CRM) database and member digital engagement platform. Next year, the task force hopes to expand their focus beyond our current membership. If you are interested in joining this task force please click here to sign-up.

Warm Regards,

Michael Lewis,  Vestry member

Update from Living Waters

Living waters and abundance

Heading into summer, seems a fitting time for another update on the Living Waters Campaign, specifically around the desired upgrades and refurbishment of our facilities. As you may recall, the campaign sought to ensure our physical space can support our ministry by offering Complete Accessibility, Communal Flexibility, Carbon Neutrality, and Continued Vitality.  

Earlier this year, the Property Committee (lead by the incomparable Patrick Tahara) received conceptual designs and a rough order of magnitude estimate of the costs for the proposed projects. In April, the Vestry evaluated the options (with rough cost estimates) and recommendations provided by the Property Committee. After discussion and reflection, weighing the congregation’s various needs and our fiscal responsibility, the Vestry provided the Property Committee with an approved scope of work from which the architects and contractor are now refining the project’s schematics and cost estimates. 

Reflective of All Soul’s great abundance and generosity, the general scope of work encompasses most of what we hoped for:

  • In the Chapel, there will be new lighting and new heating; 
  • In the Parish Hall, there will be new flooring, improved heating, new curtains, repaired windows, improved AV, and plentiful, new storage; 
  • The Kitchen will be renovated with new stove top, ovens, sinks, and cabinetry;
  • The Undercroft will have improved flexibility, improved lighting, and better AV; 
  • The campus will receive a major electrical upgrade, positioning us to move to carbon neutrality in the future;
  • Deferred maintenance (roof gutters and waterproofing) will also be addressed; 
  • The elevator will be located approximately in the vestibule between the parish hall and the sanctuary – the “courtyard location” – with access to all levels except the Crow’s Nest (which is earmarked for storage)

In addition, the Property Committee is exploring the option of placing the elevator where the current lift is. This is an iterative process as the plan details are worked out, options narrowed, and nailed down, the corresponding cost estimates are more accurate. Each iteration offers another moment of discernment and decision. Through this process, we will uncover the solutions that serve the congregation’s needs and are feasible logistically, structurally, and financially. In the end, we remain committed to identifying the best solution to abundantly nourish the spirit and community for the next 100 years.

-Nydia MacGregor, Jr. Warden

Save the Dates

  • July 2, Maggie’s last Sunday
  • July 14-16, All-parish Big Sur camping trip (sign-up here!)
  • August 19, All Souls at the As game
  • August 27, Rally Sunday
  • September 15-17, Parish Retreat at the Bishop’s Ranch

Weekly Worship

Join us for worship this week:

You can access the live stream through our website or by tuning into our All Souls Episcopal Parish Youtube page. Click here to watch on Sunday morning. 

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

Wednesday 9am Service

Join the Zoom call here, or join us in person in the Nave at 9a. Password: 520218.

Formation

Adult Formation Classes

  • Reading Between the Lines Bible Study @ 7:00a. Click here to join by Zoom, or join them in-person in the Common Room.
  • Reading Between the Lines Bible Study @ 9:15a. On break for the summer.

Children, Youth, and Family News

Nursery The downstairs nursery is open and available to you for your use whenever you’re at All Souls. This is not a staffed nursery, so an adult must be there with your child, but if you need a quiet place to take a time out, change a diaper, let your child play or take a rest, the nursery is open for you to do all of those things. If there is a service going on that’s being livestreamed, you will be able to watch the livestream on the computer in the nursery as well.

Side Chapel There is a special seating area located in the side chapel that is meant for children and families, giving children a clear view of the altar, and full of materials with which they can immerse themselves in the actions of the liturgy. All are welcome and encouraged to check it out!

Sunday School This week, join us for Children’s Chapel during the 10:30am service. Children are invited to follow the Children’s Chapel leaders down the center aisle after the gospel reading, and rejoin their families before communion!

Faithful Families will start up again in the fall.

Youth Youth Group is on hiatus for the summer.

Episcopal Summer Camp Registrations are Now Open!

Episcopal Camps across the country are starting to open for registration, including the Diocese of California’s not one, but TWO summer camps: St. Dorothy’s Rest, and The Bishop’s Ranch. You can find more information about the dates, age ranges, and cost for each camp at the links below:

St. Dorothy’s Rest

The Bishop’s Ranch

Other News & Notes

Going Away Party for Maggie!

On July 2nd, after the 10:30a service, we’ll have a Maggie-style lunch together, of tacos and beers, and celebrate her time with us at All Souls. If you are able to contribute to lunch, please sign-up to bring something (click here). We’ll also be collecting a purse for Maggie to send her off into her summer and her next adventures. If you are able to contribute financially to a purse, please see Sarah Kern, sarahinthenightkitchen@gmail.com, or you can drop cash in the offertory plate (sealed so that we know how much is meant for Maggie) or write a check directly to Maggie Foote and put it in the offertory plate.

Sunday Night Service on Summer Break

The core team for the Sunday Night Service has decided to have the weekly worship services for the Sunday Night Service take a summer break (with the rest of you!). We’re going to take this time off and devote some of our energy to relaxing and making some plans for the future. 

Though we’ll take a break from our Sunday gatherings, we’ll still meet up this summer for:

  • Beer garden hang outs, June 28th and July 26th at Westbrae Biergarten in Berkeley.
  • A family dinner in August. This will be a Storytelling Dinner meets Family Meeting. Stay tuned for more details in July!

Big Sur Camping Trip, July 14-16

The Santa Lucia Chapel and Campground, a mission of All Saints Parish in Carmel, is a private and secluded campground in the gorgeous Big Sur area. It’s a sweet spot that sits right on the Big Sur River, and is right next door to the Big Sur River Inn and restaurant. There’s a spot to float down the river and a little swimming hole and family friendly beach, complete with a rock to jump from. 

Cost: $45 per person for the weekend (children under 5 stay for free; $180 max per family) Note: Santa Lucia has substantially raised their rates, but we are hoping to keep this weekend affordable for all who are interested. Scholarships are available. Talk to Emily Hansen Curran for more information. To reserve your spot you must sign up and pay in full no later than July 1st! 

Summer Book Groups!

The Adult Formation Committee is pleased to announce the summer book groups for the summer. All book groups will meet at 9:15am prior to the 10:30am service.  

  • June 4, 11, 18, 25 Thomas Merton Seven Story Mountain. Led by Jack Shoemaker 
  • July 9, 16, 23 The Meal That Reconnects: Eucharistic Eating and the Global Food Crisis by Mary E. McGann. Led by Ruth Meyers
  • July 30, August 6, 13 The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. Led by Emily McDonald

Summer Book Group #2 – The Meal That Reconnects: Eucharistic Eating and the Global Food Crisis by Mary E. McGann

Led by Ruth Meyers 

In The Meal That Reconnects, Dr. Mary McGann, RSCJ, invites readers to a more profound appreciation of the sacredness of eating, the planetary interdependence that food and the sharing of food entails, and the destructiveness of the industrial food system that is supplying food to tables globally. She presents the food crisis as a spiritual crisis—a call to rediscover the theological, ecological, and spiritual significance of eating and to probe its challenge to Christian eucharistic practice. Drawing on the origins of Eucharist in Jesus’s meal fellowship and the worship of early Christians, McGann invites communities to reclaim the foundational meal character of eucharistic celebration while offering pertinent strategies for this renewal. The book is divided into three sections so we will plan to talk about Part I on July 9th, Part II on July 16th and Part III on July 23rd.

Need a parking spot?

We’ve got a parking lot under the Jordan Court apartment building that is available to anyone with challenges with mobility or anyone who regularly drives someone with challenges with mobility. If that is you, and you would like access to the parking garage on Sundays or other times when you are at the church, please reach out to Annie Rovzar, annie@allsoulsparish.org.

Spaghetti Again Mens’ Dinner

Join some of the men from this parish for a monthly dinner in the Parish Hall. June 26th at 6p. Please bring good appetites, a beverage to share, and ideas for meeting topics and format.RSVP! (For non-French speaking friends, Let us Know if You’re Coming!) (LUKIYC) to Bob Cross, rcross@skootskyder.com.

Open Door Dinner

Open Door Dinner is next Sunday, July 9th. If you are able or interested in helping put the meal together or deliver some meals to the camps around Berkeley, please see John or Anne Cockle, cocklejl@gmail.com, or cockle1@icloud.com.

Last Call for Baseball

Thinking about our All Souls night at the ballpark this year, I keep hearing the chorus of that old Stones song, “This could be the last time, Maybe the last time, I don’t know, oh no, oh no….”  Well, we don’t know if this is the last time but let’s do it one more time.  It’s been part of life at our parish for over 15 years.  And I remind you, it has never been about the quality of the team on the field.  Celebrating summer, celebrating our community life, some purely non-church fun with your church friends.

The windup, the Pitch:  Saturday August 19, A’s vs Orioles, 6:07pm game time, 4:45pm tailgate party in the Coliseum lot with the usual great spread of food & bev, with each Soulsian receiving a 1973 replica jersey of the World Champion A’s, AND following the game a Star Wars Drone Show lighting up the sky.

$35/pp, PayPal / Venmo strongly preferred, RSVP by July 31, don.a.gates@gmail.com.

Don Gates

Please join us for the First Annual Episcopal Impact Fund Volunteer Day

We are thrilled to invite YOU, our amazing community, to a special volunteer opportunity with our grantee, City Hope. On Saturday, July 22, we will serve breakfast to residents of the Tenderloin at the City Hope Community Center. We hope you’ll join us as we give back and connect to the needs of those around us.

Episcopal Impact Fund Volunteer Day – City Hope Breakfast

What: Serve a delicious home cooked breakfast, restaurant-style, to residents in the Tenderloin

When: Saturday, July 22, 2023
Time: 8:00-10:00am, volunteers arrive at 7:30am

Where: City Hope Community Center: 45 Olive Street, San Francisco

Space is limited.