A Place to Belong
Dear All Souls Community,
Thank you for the warm welcome last Sunday! As I approach the end of my second week here, I’m continually struck by the kindness, authenticity, and generosity of this congregation.
Our choir anthem this week, “The Road Home” by Stephen Paulus, is one of my all-time favorite choral pieces. I especially love the final stanza:
“There is no such beauty
As where you belong
Rise up, follow me
I will lead you home.”
Though I’m very new to All Souls, my arrival here feels like a homecoming.
I come to you after a season of in-between time– the end of seminary, a drive across the country, time with family in Oregon. I’m grateful to begin to put down solid roots and sink into a place. I believe that true “belonging” happens when we feel the safety, welcome, and encouragement to show up as our whole selves among others. Already, I’ve felt this at All Souls, and I’m eager to continue to help build a culture of belonging in concrete ways.
Here are some of the experiences I’m excited to share with you in the coming months.
On September 24th, we’ll launch our Fall 2023 Children’s Ministry program. Your team has been hard at work planning curriculum for Godly Play and Faithful Explorers.
That same day, we’ll start the Youth Program with a kick-off and visioning event.
On September 30th, I’ll lead a trip to Half Moon Bay for a tidepooling expedition (see the article below– I hope many of you can come!).
In addition to these events, I hope to be present to many of you individually. I’m generally in the office from Monday-Wednesday, 9am-6pm. (On Thursdays, I’ll be working on a writing project– a collection of essays about science, faith, and the self). Feel free to email me with any questions, or to set up a meeting/coffee/appointment: emilyb@allsoulsparish.org. I welcome the chance to walk alongside you through questions, doubts, challenges, and joys.
Finally, many of you have asked what you should call me. “Emily B” works well– though I can’t promise that will eliminate all confusion. As Phil has quickly learned, if you call out, “Hey, Emily!” in the office, you’ll likely get two!
In peace and gratitude,
Emily B+
August Vestry Meeting
The August meeting of the vestry had many reasons for celebration. One of our chaplains, Jill Anderson, set the tone with a reflection on Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day”, which culminates in the line, “what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” We had many “wild and precious” events to celebrate. First, our own Jill was married last weekend, a marriage that we will also celebrate in our worship service on August 20th!
Second, we had the privilege of considering the endorsement of Cal Payne-Taylor for candidacy, the next step in the process of ordination. Cal has been serving at St. Paul’s in Walnut Creek and spent the past few months in clinical pastoral education at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. We held a group interview with Cal to hear of his experiences, which proved quite moving and joyful, and ultimately voted unanimously to endorse Cal for candidacy.
Finally, we had a tour of the new website, which we commend to all of you. It is visually gripping with beautiful images of our community life at All Souls, and is much easier to access and navigate. The website is still in its testing phase, so please forward any suggestions or recommendations on ways to improve on it. Many thanks to Annie Rovzar, Emily Hansen Curran, and Father Phil for their work on the website, and to Michael Lewis, who spearheaded a vestry workgroup on the website and improving our overall communication.
We also had a fair number of additional issues to consider. Patrick and the property committee brought us three different options to consider for the courtyard placement of the new elevator. Each of the options has merits and drawbacks, and the vestry will consider these and take action at the next vestry meeting. We had a brief update on the Isaiah Project, which will be presented more fully at the September retreat at Bishop’s Ranch, as well as at formation hour that same Sunday. And we began work on the 2024 church budget and stewardship campaign, which will launch in late September.
Respectfully submitted,
Nathan Brostrom
Homecoming Recap
Last Sunday, on August 27th, we tried something new - a Homecoming Festival. I’m writing this note to you all because I thought Homecoming was really, really fun and good, and I thought you (especially if you missed it) might want to hear and see more. Also, Molly Nicol apparently started a tradition of writing about Homecoming alongside a picture of yourself as a kid, so there’s mine, circa 1989––my first soccer picture.
A few months ago Richard Lynch called me and pitched an idea to have some kind of party to officially welcome folks back––from summer, from covid, and from years away from a church setting. It was sort of a wild idea because it involved a bouncy house and a taco truck and, well, I’ve never seen a bouncy house or a taco truck at All Souls before. He also had this wild idea to send out a postcard to all of our closest neighbors and invite them over for this event, something I also hadn’t seen us do before. And because you can’t say “no” to a bouncy house, I told him I was “in” to try to pull off this event. We then roped in our Parish Life crew (Jeannie Koops), and off we went.
In making the decision on the date of our event, we decided on Rally Sunday, which gave us the opportunity to incorporate elements of something that has existed at All Souls for a long time, with this new thing. And so we kicked off the Adult Formation year and released the new class schedule for 2023-24 academic year; we had a children’s formation table and introduced our new Associate Rector, the Rev. Emily Boring (who is offering a tidepooling expedition later next month. If you haven’t already, sign-up here!); Justice & Peace had a booth to sign-up new volunteers; we had prayer tags where prayer requests could be written down and hung on a tag on the fig tree in the courtyard; and we had a photo booth where you could take a new family picture for the online directory or join the directory for the first time; and of course we had the bouncy house, sno-cone machine, popcorn machine, and taco truck.
At the heart of this Homecoming event was a booth called “Other Homes”. Before making our way to All Souls, many of us have found support in other places: in other Episcopal churches, Catholic communities, Orthodox churches, and in yoga, Jungian psychoanalysis, and nature immersion. We wanted to try to capture these places that have sheltered us, and so created a booth where folks were encouraged to consider these other homes, write them down on a card, and hang them on a display. Over 25 people stopped by to contribute their answers, and many more took the card home and said they would consider their response. If you’d like to join this project, click here to add the description of a spiritual home you’ve had. The answers we’ve already received are up on the bulletin board in the Narthex, and more information is to come.
In short, Homecoming was a good time and it seems likely that we’ll do this again. Thanks to everyone who showed up, set-up, cleaned-up, played, and ate tacos. And so for those of you who missed it, here are some pictures from the day. Enjoy.
–Emily Hansen Curran
Save the Date: All Souls Tidepool Expedition!
Tidepools are home to a vast diversity of creatures, from sea stars to anemones to barnacles to fish (and sometimes even octopuses!).
Join Rev. Emily B to explore the shoreline and learn about tidepool species. All ages (and friends from outside All Souls) are welcome. Optional dinner to follow. RSVP by clicking here to receive details and updates.
DAY: Saturday, Sept. 30th
TIME: 4-5:30 pm (Tidepooling is best when the tide is 1’ or lower; this window is the lowest tide of the day!)
WHERE: Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Half Moon Bay
Announcements & Events
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.
Sunday School
This week, Sept 3rd - Children’s Chapel. This Sunday (and the next two weeks), join us for Children’s Chapel during the 10:30am service. Kids of all ages are invited to follow the Children’s Chapel leaders down the center aisle after the Gospel reading for a short (~20 min) lesson. Children will rejoin their families before communion.
Starting Sept 24th - we will transition to our new Sunday School curriculum! Sunday School will begin at 10:30am. Children will head downstairs at the start of the service, then return after the “Peace.”
Pre K- 1st grade: Godly Play
2nd-5th grade: Faith Explorers
Youth The date for our Youth Group Kick-off Event has been changed to Sunday, Sept. 24th (rather than the 10th). Join us after the 10:30am service (around 11:45) to meet other youth, get to know the leaders, play games, and help us vision for the new year. Donuts provided! The permanent day/time of Fall 2023 Youth Group is to be determined. Questions about Children, Family, and Youth ministry? Contact Rev. Emily B. (emilyb@allsoulsparish.org)!
New Adult Formation Class: Giving Thanks and Praise The Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers kicks off our 2023-24 Adult Formation year! Click here to learn more. Click here to see the new Adult Formation Calendar for 2023-24.
Sunday Night Service The core team for the Sunday Night Service has decided to permanently suspend the weekly worship services for the Sunday Night Service. You can read more about this decision by clicking here.
Making Space for Others As we’ve moved to one principle service, the Nave is feeling a little more full on Sundays (which is great!) As a way to help folks who are late or new feel welcome, please try to sit as far forward as you’re comfortable and try to sit in the center of the pew, leaving space for others on the sections of the pew closest to the aisle.
Climate Justice Events We’ve got a movie night coming up on September 7th (click here to learn more), and the Diocese is offering an online event, the latest in the Sacred Earth series. Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Community through Environmental Justice, with Peggy Sheppard will take place on September 13th at 6p on Zoom. Learn more about this event by clicking here.
