The Pathfinder: August 15, 2024
All Souls Homecoming is Coming!
On Sunday, August 25th, we will celebrate our second (and hopefully annual) Homecoming gathering. Whether you have been away for the summer or just since last Sunday, it will be time to re-gather, re-connect and look forward to a busy and exciting fall.
Just after the 10:30a service, in the courtyard of Jordan Court, the Homecoming Festival begins, and here is what is in store:
To kick off the event, and to mark the beginning of the school year, there will be the ancient and revered Blessing of the Backpacks. If you are starting on a new path––a new year in school, a new job or some other new beginning––bring a backpack or some other symbol of your undertaking and join in the Blessing of the Backpacks.
Then, and to put the ‘festive’ firmly in Festival, we’ll have a bouncy house, watermelon, popcorn, sno-cone stations and straight from Oakland, a taco truck!! The taco truck offers standard taco truck fare and accepts credit cards and Applepay. If you would like assistance with the cost of your food, All Souls can help. In the Narthex, at the Welcome Table in the Jordan Court Courtyard, and by the taco truck, there will be baskets of blue raffle-style tickets. Each ticket can be used as $3.00 for food purchases at the taco truck. Use as many tickets as you would like or need and enjoy the day! At the end of the festival All Souls will cover the costs for all the tickets used. Everything else at the festival (the popcorn, bouncy house, sno-cone station, etc.) is available at no-charge.
There will also be a few opportunities to learn more about what’s happening at church for the fall. To that end, the Adult Formation team has been hard at work planning the formational year for us and the calendar will be released. There will also be representatives from the Children’s Ministry team to share more about the children’s programming coming up in this next academic year, as well as plenty of youth around to share about Youth Group for the year.
The Stewardship team will have a booth in the courtyard to learn more from all of us about why we come home to All Souls. We’ll have a table introducing you all to Realm, our new church database (and helping anyone get into the system who needs the technical help), and the Angel Band will be playing and recruiting new members to join in the fun.
If you’re able to help with any set-up or clean-up for the event, please see Emily Hansen Curran! We’re looking for a few more hands to help out.
Every week on the front page of the bulletin, we are reminded that at All Souls, “No matter who you are or where you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome here.” Homecoming will be a tangible opportunity to practice that welcome, both for current All Soulsians and for people who may be coming to a new home for the first time. See you Sunday!
–Emily Hansen Curran
Honoring Our High School Graduates
This coming Sunday, August 18th, we will recognize the All Souls youth who have completed high school and are beginning a new chapter this fall. Below are profiles of our two graduating seniors, Maxime Carriere and Keller Lynch. Please join us in offering congratulations and blessings as we send them forth from this community!
Maxime Carriere
College: Georgetown University
Area of Interest: International Relations
Favorite memory of All Souls: “It's so hard to choose one. I really loved the retreats to Bishop's Ranch. I distinctly remember being very little, and playing on the tire swing on the big lawn in front of the cafeteria after eating a big pasta dinner. I also had tons of fun at various youth camps and sleepovers. I remember having a big snowball fight with cotton balls in the common room with Emily and a bunch of kids, and having a blast in middle school volunteering at a foodbank as part of a weeklong camp.”
Keller Lynch
College: St. Mary’s College of California
Areas of Interest: Environmental science, business, religion
Favorite memory of All Souls: “I don’t have one favorite memory but I always enjoy being an acolyte. I also enjoy the events and the dinners because I love talking to new people.”
Congratulations, Keller and Maxime!
–Emily+
Invitation to Godly Play Training
As back-to-school approaches, we are very excited to launch our Children & Family ministry program for 2024-5!
Last year, our Sunday School attendance grew from a handful of kids to 15+ kids on many weeks. Building on this momentum, we are hoping to run two simultaneous classes each Sunday: one for kids pre-K through 2nd grade, and one for kids 3rd-5th grade. This means we need more teachers and supporting adults!
We are offering a Godly Play training on Saturday, September 7th, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Godly Play is a Montessori-based approach to spiritual formation that includes storytelling, prayer, art, silence, and ritual. The curriculum serves as an introduction to the life of faith, the rhythm of worship, and a sense of belonging in spiritual community. We use the Godly Play approach for all ages of children at All Souls.
The training is open to anyone. Whether or not you think you’d like to teach, now or in the far future, we invite you to come learn more! We especially encourage parents of young kids to take part, as a way to immerse yourself in the philosophy of our program and consider taking on a role in future teaching. (All prospective teachers will complete Safe Church training and other background checks).
To sign up for the training, please email emilyb@allsoulsparish.org by Sept 1st. If you have questions about Godly Play, feel free to reach out to Emily B or to our fabulous veteran teachers, Molly Nicol, Jeannie Koops, and Kim Wong.
And look out for more information on Children and Family program in next week’s edition of the Pathfinder!
–Emily+
An Update from our Video Team
We’ve been making slow but steady changes in the livestream video since I last wrote on March 7, 2024. We have the system refined now, so the amount of change should be much lower from this point on. So it’s a great time to bring you all up to speed.
We have a refined process for timestamps. Timestamps, or as YouTube calls them, “Chapters” are a wonderful feature that lets you advance to the start of predefined segments inthe video. They are in the description as live links and will advance you to that place in the service. Using the PC as an example with the video below, I can go directly to the sermon, creed, announcements, or other sections. We reduced the number of chapters to what we felt were the most requested parts.
The livestream recording is available in a few phases. Knowing the phase will help you take advantage of it.
The service is available immediately after the service. There will be 5-15 minutes of “before the service” time on the recording for you to skip over.
Later on Sunday, we add the timestamps with the video as it is, with that “before” time still there. The key is that you can hit the timestamp for “Welcome and introduction” to skip right over that or to go directly to the sermon.
On Monday we are able to edit the video and cut the blank time at the start of the service. This leaves us in the best viewing condition.
Please take advantage of the chapters/timestamps to optimize your viewing experience. You can read more about this feature of YouTube here.
We also have changed a few things to improve online privacy for people in the congregation. The video is intentionally blurred until a few minutes before the service starts. We also blur the video towards the end of communion for the same privacy reason. A few online viewers have asked what went wrong; know that this is intentional.
Here are some little-known facts about the livestream:
We have about 10-15 people watching livestreams during the service, 50+ people viewing viewing sometime during the week. Some, like the Easter vigil, have had almost 200 views. We’re glad to have you all continue to be part of our church family.
We had a number of problems with audio hum at the start of the year. We tracked this down to a few bad audio feeds at the front of the church and now avoid those connections. We still have the occasional problem with a wireless microphone going dead on us, though.
We’re still using ChatGPT-4o to do the summaries, but we learned that humans can add the timestamps more reliably.
To all the livestreamers and remote members, as well as people who just connect to listen again. We’re glad to have you be part of our church and it’s a pleasure to provide this service from our lofty perch at the back of the narthex.
– Charlie Myers
Living Waters Weekly Update
“Progress,” according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is “to move toward an improved or more developed state.”
We are making progress in our Construction Zone! The undercroft walls, floors, ceilings and demolished bathrooms are still under abatement. They are off limits!
Like previous weeks, the lower Cedar Street door is the entry point for the 8AM chapel service while the upper Cedar Street door is the entry point for the 10:30 service. Egress is through the door next to the lift and right out to Jordan Court. The stairs from the narthex to the undercroft are off limits as well.
ADA porta potties are located in the off street parking spot on Spruce. They will be unlocked prior to the 8AM service. The bathroom in the Jordan Court Community room are also available.
Keep the faith!
See the photos below for a peek at week’s progress.
–Ann Myers and the Property Committee
Announcements & Events
Happening This Week
Worship This Sunday
8:00am, Holy Eucharist in Chapel. Please access the Chapel through the copper doors on Cedar St.
10:30am, sung Eucharist (click here to access the live stream). Enter through the Cedar St. doors.
Wednesday 9am Eucharist Service, in the Jordan Court Community Room (note the location change, due to construction noise). Join us on Zoom here.
Reading Between the Lines Bible Study, Sunday @ 7:00a. Click here to join by Zoom, or join them in-person in the Jordan Court Conference Room.
Adult Formation
There is no Adult Formation class this week. Look out for the full class calendar for 2024-5, coming soon! Thanks to those who led us in book groups this summer and those who participated.
Children & Family
First Day of Sunday School! Join us on August 25th (Homecoming Sunday) for an orientation to our Sunday School program, during the 10:30 service! During the construction project, we will be meeting in the basement space (formerly Hearts Leap preschool). Look out next week for details on how to access this space.
Youth Program will return in just a few weeks! Here are some upcoming highlights:
We’re seeking youth volunteers to help out with Homecoming Sunday, around 11:30-2 on Sunday the 25th. Email Emily B if you are willing!
The first Sunday of Youth Group is Sept. 8th, 7-8:30pm. We’ll meet in the narthex; enter through the copper doors on Cedar St.
Youth are encouraged to sign up for Parish Retreat! We’ll have special youth programming and designated cabins. Register with this link and select "Youth" as your occupancy. Scholarships are available; ask one of the Emilys.
To join the youth mailing list, email emilyb@allsoulsparish.org.
Justice & Peace
Boost the Vote! “…it is the church’s responsibility to help get souls to the polls.” - Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
This important effort is still ongoing! Please consider taking part:
The All Souls Justice and Peace team invites you to help increase voter turnout by writing letters, following these easy steps:
Pick up from church 20 individual names, addresses, paper, & envelopes
(The names come from Vote Forward’s analysis, identifying citizens in low voter turnout areas)
Write non-partisan notes to encourage voting
Add postage
Return to Janet or a church basket to be mailed on Vote Forwards’s assigned dates
Ask for 20 more…?
Contact Janet Chisholm, jgchisholm@aol.com to request materials or to ask questions.
Undergraduate Street Medicine Outreach Undergraduate Street Medicine Outreach (USMO) is a Cal student group that organizes outreach events every Saturday to bring food and resources to homeless encampments in Berkeley. In addition to ongoing menstrual product donations, there is need for the following items: power banks, phone chargers, batteries, general hygiene and first aid products, and size 8 women’s shoes. Please bring these items to the red bin in the Narthex. Email Beth Christensen (beth.christensen) for other volunteer opportunities with USMO.
Needs of the Community
Meal Train If you are in need of meals, or if you’d like to join this network to deliver food to others, please email Sarah Oneto at sarahoneto@gmail.com.
Everything Else
Young Adults Potluck and Baseball Game: If you are in your 20s or 30s, come join us on the Belgum's patio from 6:30pm - 8:00pm on Tuesday, August 20th for a potluck. Please bring something to share! On Tuesday, August 27th we will be going out to the Oakland Ballers game at 6:30pm (tickets are $2). For more information, reach out to Tommy and Lizzie Belgum at tommylbelgum@gmail.com.
Homecoming Sunday: August 25th after the 10:30 service You are invited! Whether you’ve been coming for a while and are returning from summer, or you’ve been away for a very long time and hoping to reconnect, or if it’s your first time: welcome home. Come celebrate the start of the new year with us. We will also offer a Blessing of the Backpacks; students of all ages are invited to bring their school bags for a special tag and a prayer.
Save the Date: Parish Retreat Join us at Bishop’s Ranch for our annual Parish Retreat, September 13th-15th. Sign up here.
Sermon Haiku Here is this week’s sermon Haiku— generated by ChatGPT!— about Harlowe Zefting’s sermon on August 11th.
God’s word endures all,
Through violence and betrayal,
Faith’s journey persists.
You can listen to this sermon and all past All Souls sermons on our podcast channel.
