Adult Formation
In March of 2023 the Adult Formation Committee (Anne Yardley, Paul Matthew, Emily MacDonald) met with an advisory panel of about 10 All Soulsians to craft the schedule for the 2023-2024 program year. We also invited parishioners to suggest topics and/or speakers of interest to the committee. Out of our robust conversations came our exciting schedule for the year. The new service schedule at All Souls allows a full hour for class at 9:15am each Sunday morning.
As the committee put the offerings together for the year, we aimed to offer things on a variety of topics – bible, social justice, theology, history, music, liturgy, and interfaith approaches. Throughout the year we offer one main course each Sunday in the Parish Hall and on zoom. We also, on occasion, offer a second smaller class as an additional offering.
We opened the year with Ruth Meyers teaching on the prayers we use each week to bless the bread and wine. If you missed that, you can listen to the recordings here. Currently, the Racial Justice committee is leading conversations about Jesus, Power and Privilege in the Parish Hall and Jane Vandenburgh offering an Introduction to the Spiritual Autobiography, a hands on class offered in the common room after church at 12:00pm.
We have several classes that focus on the bible. Phil Brochard and Lia Deihr will be offering “12 Greek Words every Christian should know” aiding our understanding of the New Testament. The committee especially wanted a class each year in Advent talking about the gospel for the coming year. Michael Lemaire will start that off with a class on the Gospel Mark in Advent and then follow that with a class on the Gospel of John in Eastertide.
In January we again offer two classes – “When notes meet words” with Phil Brochard and Dent Davidson and “An Invitation to Wholeness and Holiness with Hildegard” led by Peggy Patterson.
We have invited Rabbi Harry Manhoff, Rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro, to talk with us about the Jewish origins of Christianity in February. During Lent I will offer a class entitled “Is THIS Anglican music” while Jack Shoemaker offers a reading group on Augustine’s Confessions!
The year would not be complete without an offering from our resident theologian Scott MacDougall who will offer “Discovering Practices of Hope with William Stringfellow,” a class that we hope will help us all during the season of presidential politics!
All of the dates and details on these programs are available here.
We hope to see you at many of them!
–Anne Yardley
The Past Is Always Present
History can be dry. Also dusty. But now and then, it feels like a treasure hunt in which the treasures, unknown at the outset, can pop up in surprising places.
This has been the experience of the All Souls Archives Team, currently Priscilla Camp, Jill Churchman, Anne Cockle, Marilyn Flood, Patricia Granberg, and Alan Schut. (New volunteers are always welcome.) Since last November we have labored away in the undercroft, from 10:00 AM to about 12:30 on the first and third Tuesday of every month. We inventory the contents of the boxes stored in the “archive room” and have gone through over 50 so far. There are more. Some documents are over 100 years old.
Understand that what we have now is not an archive in any sense of the word. We have a collection of documents and photographs arranged with little rhyme or reason, except for some important sorting done by brave souls in the past, notably Thomas Burcham. We inventory the contents of each unsorted box. Those lists are entered into an electronic data base that will, presumably, be turned into a searchable archive list at some point, relating to material that will be kept and sorted. Meanwhile, ours not to reason why; we discard almost nothing. There are exceptions, however. My personal favorite so far has been an empty pink plastic bag. There have been unreadable hand-written notes on all manner of paper, a Bank of America income tax guide from 1980, and a post-it reminding someone to buy eggs and wine. But for the most part, we just write it down, if we can describe it. It can be tedious work, and dusty.
Recently, entirely by chance, I came across something of startling importance.
As clerk of the vestry, I have heard the discussions at vestry meetings in response to the Diocesan Anti-Racism curriculum that the vestry has been working on. One question arising from those discussions was: what was the role of the Episcopal Church, and of All Souls in particular, in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s?
So I had that question in my head when I opened yet another manila folder one day and came upon the transcript of a telegram sent from this parish, signed by 76 parishioners and clergy, to the Rector, Wardens and Vestry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Selma, Alabama. The message deplores the refusal of St. Paul’s to admit African Americans to its services, and continues: “We pray that you align yourselves with the clearly expressed position of the Episcopal Church and the only possible Christian stand in this matter.” So the national church must have had a position. This document, sadly, is undated.
It was accompanied, elsewhere in the same folder, by a newspaper clipping reporting that St. Paul’s had admitted “four or five” African Americans the previous Sunday, for the first time. The concluding paragraph reports that the Rector, Rev. T. Frank Matthews, “said the decision to desegregate the church came after ‘a long and arduous session of soul-searching on the part of the vestrymen, who were aware of the implications.’ “ The clipping, also undated, does not indicate the source publication, but the story is attributed to the Associated Press.
Did our telegram contribute to St. Paul’s change of heart?
Seeking clues, I googled the church and read that it had received national attention in 1965 for shutting its doors to outsiders, including African Americans, who had come to Selma “during the Civil Rights Movement. Inspired by members of the parish who walked out in protest and by the persistence of Episcopal seminarian Jonathan Daniels (recognized in the Episcopal Church calendar as a martyr,) the Vestry voted to affirm that all are welcome for worship.”
The next step was to search for Jonathan Daniels. In addition to finding him on Google, I found him in the 2010 edition of Holy Women, Holy Men on pp. 526-527. At the age of 26, he was killed shielding 16-year-old African American Ruby Sales from the blast of a 12-gauge shotgun after participating in a picket line, on August 14, 1965. Ruby Sales is now 75 and is a civil rights activist and theologian. It seems reasonable to presume that both our telegram and the clipping were dated sometime in 1965, before August 14; Daniels’ persistence, but not his death, is mentioned as a motivator in St. Paul’s change of practice in the Google article.
The Spirit is always moving, I believe, and can be encountered in all kinds of work, even the dusty and the dry.
–Priscilla Camp
Vestry Update
The vestry meeting on 9/13 was an interactive experience with several important pieces of business. The first, our “Becoming Beloved Community” discussion, was the final piece of the Diocese of California’s mandated anti-racism training for vestries. This has been a fruitful topic of conversation for the last six months and because of the diversity of the current vestry, has been a deep learning experience for many of us.
This was also a timely conclusion as we segued into the Parish Retreat weekend with its theme of “Repairing the Breach” and the continued discussion about the upcoming Isaiah Project. The Isaiah Project report has been written and vestry members looked forward to it being shared at the retreat. In a similar vein, the Racial Justice committee will be hosting three formation hour classes on “Jesus, Power and Privilege” beginning on 10/1 at the 9:15 formation hour.
On the business side, an update of the bylaws were discussed and an amended set was approved. Monthly updates (i.e. passing the minutes, budget updates, etc.) were conducted along with reports on the parish administrator search and hire (position filled by Diana Markley, a member of St. John’s, Oakland!)
The heart of the meeting was an interactive tour of the proposed elevator sites with a chance to examine the physical spaces, ask questions of Patrick Tahara (Property Committee representative) and discern best ways to proceed given the large amount of information available. The two possibilities under discussion were the courtyard elevator location (one of the original choices) and a new foyer/interior spot, which would not increase the footprint of the church, an important consideration due to possible sprinkler issues. In the end, the vestry voted to spend a limited amount of time and money further exploring the second option in order to make the wisest long-term choice for the congregation.
Finally, the start of our annual stewardship campaign was announced with a bagel breakfast and discussion during formation hour on Sunday, 9/24. The theme this year is the “mustard seed” and stewardship season will culminate with an all-parish dinner. We hope you will be able to join us to celebrate our campaign and enjoy the beloved community of All Souls on Sunday, October 29th.
–Kim Wong
The Hard Work That Is Homecoming
The Greeks of Homer's time called it nostos: that age-old story in which the epic hero can return home only after decades of trials, a voyage out beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the sailing on into the River Sea encircling The Known World. Odysseus descends into the Hell, is raised from the dead, and returns to his wife and son in Ithaca only after losing each of his ships and all his men.
How does each of us embark on such a journey? how are we to find ourselves at home here in what's mysteriously called "America," somewhere that often seems less a place than an idea?
What a complicated people we are, with all our variegated histories, our selves defined externally by class/caste, race, ethnicities, our souls having to bridge generational gulfs, political loyalties, regional identifications, language worlds. Has there ever been a people with such a defining need to get at what makes us feel at home in a group even as we cling to what remains most ardently ours, belonging to us and us alone as individuals?
Finding ourselves at home as Christians at All Souls Parish in Berkeley, California, in the United States of America in the month of October the year 2023 requires a most arduous kind of spiritual work.
Last year about this time All Souls launched its first small group writing workshop in the spiritual autobiography, its members dedicated to offering one another support and understanding as we sought to sort out the various answers to the most basic question: WHERE I AM FROM. The work of homecoming -- as we have spent this year together discovering -- is all but impossible if we cannot decipher who our own people are, what they sound like in aural memory, the feel of the air, the weather, the ground upon which they've stood.
How can we ever hope to become known to one another if we are not known to ourselves?
Our congregation is now embarked on our own work of collective self discovery, defining our values as followers of Jesus. In the effort called "repairing the breech" at The Bishop's Ranch last weekend we're using monies raised by the Capital Campaign to fund the Isaiah Project's four-pronged effort. Because continued work in social justice is central to my own values and ideals, we will move this Formation Hour class to meet just after the 10:30a service in the Common Room, starting October 8-October 22nd.
–Jane Vandenburgh
Announcements & Events
Children & Family
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.
Children’s Ministry - Thanks to all who came out for our first day of Sunday School last week! Sunday school continues each week during the 10:30 a.m. service. Children generally will head downstairs at the start of the service, then return after the “Peace.” See an usher if you need directions.
This week, however, ALL children (pre-K through 5th grade) will meet in the courtyard for a joint lesson on St. Francis, including a visit from Opie the service dog!
Youth Program - The official day/time of Youth Group has been set for this year! We’ll meet on Sundays from 7-8:30 pm in the Parish Hall. Join us for the first meeting this Sunday, Oct. 1.
Note on communications: On Tuesday afternoon (9/26), we sent out an email to the parents/youth we have on our current roster. If you did NOT receive that email, but you’d like to be added to our youth program email list, please reach out to Emily B.
Questions about Children, Family, and Youth ministry? Contact Rev. Emily B. (emilyb@allsoulsparish.org)!
Adult Formation
Jesus, Power, and Privilege Starting October 1, the Racial Justice Team is teaching our next Adult Formation Class (during the 9:15a hour) called Jesus, Power, and Privilege. In this class we’ll explore our agency to create change in someone’s life, in our community and in the world and how Jesus addressed power and privilege. Join the racial justice committee in examining all this and how to apply it in our own life and at All Souls. October 1, 8, 15 in the Parish Hall and on Zoom. Click here.
Introduction to the Spiritual Autobiography Starting October 8 in the Common Room after the 10:30a service. Click here for more information.
Click here to see the new Adult Formation Calendar for 2023-24.
Events & Everything Else
Last Call for the Tidepooling Expedition Reminder: the All Souls Tidepooling Expedition is coming up this Saturday, Sept 30th! Join Associate Rector Emily B (a marine biologist!) for an afternoon of exploration. All ages welcome!
When: September 30th, 4-5:30 pm, to catch the low tide
Where: Fitzgerald Marine Reserve near Half Moon Bay. Meet in the free parking lot by the ranger station.
Optional dinner to follow. Please sign up using this form by Friday, Sept 29th, or reach out to Emily B (emilyb@allsoulsparish.org).
Stephen Ministry Wish you had someone outside your family/friend circle to support your journey through a difficult or unfamiliar situation? A Stephen Minister is a possibility. Stephen ministers are trained fellow parishioners who offer confidential care, prayer and listening hearts. Contact Madeline Feeley madelinefeeley@gmail.com or Deacon Emily for more information or to connect with a Stephen Minister.
Blessing of the Animals October 1st just after the 10:30a service in the courtyard (pets are welcome during the service, too!).