We’ve Got A New Website!
It started back at the start of 2021. I went to change the slider photos on our homepage from the Advent pictures we were featuring and suddenly the button I used to change photos on the homepage had vanished. I assumed that it was my mistake and walked away from the problem for a week or so, but when I sat down again to change the photo, the button was still not there. I asked around the office to see if anyone else could figure out how to do it and when no one else could, I turned to Jocelyn Bergen––the parishioner who had helped to build the site about 10 years previous. She had just moved to upstate New York and left the Bay, but was generous enough (and has remained generous in her advice from this great distance) to help me with this problem.
However, I quickly learned that the problem was much bigger than I had anticipated: the website was so out-of-date that it required a lot of money and Wordpress expertise to rebuild portions of our site.
I took this as a sign that it was time to rebuild the whole thing.
Two and a half years later and we still have a site that has incorrect service times on the homepage, still says that we are meeting on Zoom, and still has photos of our distanced, outdoor, and masked worship services in the dead of Covid! But, we have finally jumped through all the hoops of hiring a photographer, surveying the congregation, visioning out what we want in a new website, requesting money from Vestry, hiring a web designer, and we have finally built a decent enough draft of the site that we are launching it! As I type this our web designer is finishing up acquiring all of the logins needed to make the official transfer tomorrow morning.
Our old site had a good run. It was written mostly by Jocelyn Bergen, Christopher Putnam, Joy Shih Ng, and Liz Tichenor (and many others who I don’t know about because it was built before my time at All Souls), but I’m excited for this update and for what it will allow us in terms of communicating to you all with to our neighbors. After all, the website is the new front door of the church, and we want to make sure people feel welcome and invited in.
That said, please pardon our dust as we will be working out kinks adjusting to this new site for next few months. Specifically, we’re trying to figure out the best way to post our Pathfinder Newsletter and our sermons, and so things might change week to week (or more like month to month) as we figure out how to do this best. You will also find many of the pages missing and links “broken” at this point, but please rest assured, we are working on all of this. I would ask for you patience over the coming months as we chip away at this, but do feel free to send along your suggestions or concerns as they come up.
Lastly, I want to thank Annie Rovzar for all her copy editing over her last few weeks with us and Mike Orr out of the Diocese of Colorado, who helped us build this site. I hope you find that it represents who we are and who we hope to be.
–Emily Hansen Curran
Coming Home to All Souls
“We’re comin’ home, we’re coming home!
With laughin’ tears of joy, we’re coming home.
Knowin’ everything’s not gone -
The nighttime has a dawn.
We’ll sing another song, comin’ home”
Each September as a kid (the kid featured in the picture for this article), I sang this song with the Emmanuel Children’s choir as we gathered for worship on the first Sunday of the school year. The night before, many adult parishioners had stayed up all night roasting a pig in the lawn (yes, you read that right), which we’d feast on after the service. I looked forward to Homecoming each year because it meant reuniting with friends that had been away or busy over the summer and also because it meant the return of a routine, which I craved.
I often think of Emmanuel, my first home church, when I’m at All Souls. In fact, the reason I even entered the doors of All Souls is because it reminded me of Emmanuel. It was August 2016 and we had just relocated to Berkeley from Philadelphia with our then 2.5 year old. Nora and I kept walking after playing at Live Oak Park, and when we got to Cedar and Spruce, I looked up and saw All Souls. Something about the ‘70s brown facade ignited a visual memory back to the Potosi, Missouri chapel where I would spend parish retreats. Then I saw the “the Episcopal Church welcomes you” sign and I knew I had to check this place out some Sunday.
From that first visit, I felt at home. The music, warmth and familiarity of the prayers enveloped me while the anxiety and loneliness I had been feeling as a recent transplant with a new job, new baby coming and new home melted away. All Souls reminded me what it was I loved about church - feeling connected to my true self and, from that authentic place, sharing love and encouragement with others. In short, I come to church to remember who I am and what I’m about. I don’t know why it’s so easy to forget or get distracted, but it is. Some days I’ve already forgotten by the time I get to my car. But I love the weekly ritual of coming home to remember how we are each beloved as ourselves, how we are all connected by God’s love and light.
So, on August 27th, join me in coming home to All Souls! With a taco truck (California’s version of a pig roast, I assume), a bouncy house and with laughin’ tears of joy, we’re comin’ home!
*A note about Children’s formation as we return to a new school year rhythm: Children’s Chapel will resume August 13th-September 17th. Children are led by the wooden cross to the downstairs chapel after the Gospel reading and return at the Peace. Beginning September 24th, we will have a new Sunday School schedule, which will begin at 10:30am in the downstairs classrooms. More details to follow at Rally Sunday and in the Family Newsletter!
–Molly Nicol
July Vestry Meeting Summary
The Vestry met on the third Wednesday in July and in spite of it being in the middle of summer, only a couple of us missed the meeting. As the group gathered, we settled down over what all agreed was the best cherry pie we’ve ever had, thanks to Sarah’s baking magic. Our Chaplain, Ryan Greene-Roesel, offered an opening reflection on attention and appreciation for one another.
In pairs, we shared what we genuinely appreciated about the other person, casting a joy and warmth in the room that was palpable. To round out our opening discussions, we continued our efforts to build a Beloved Community with reflections on Race and the Episcopal Church. Similar to our previous engagement with these topics, Vestry members shared both lived experiences as well as recognized gaps in knowledge.
Moving on to business the Vestry reviewed our current financials which are looking very rosy right now being in better shape than our projections had anticipated for this time of year. While things could change, there is a shared sense of optimism about how we will do in the latter part of the year. The Vestry received updates about repairs done to the Heart’s Leap space and continued our review of the needs of the parish and on-going work related to the Living Waters Capital Campaign. Future meetings will include discussion of how to fund needed projects that are not currently within the scope of work of the Living Waters Capital Projects.
The meeting came to a close after brief discussions of the communications strategy (including the soon-to-be-revealed new website) and the Rector’s report. Of note are the staff changes that the parish is working through (bittersweet goodbye to Maggie Foote, anticipation for Emily Boring’s arrival, and the sad news of Annie Rovzar’s departure). Additionally, Phil confirmed that Repairing the Breach will serve as a cornerstone of the Parish Retreat this year. After a closing prayer to ease us into our night’s rest, Sarah ended the meeting at 9:30. We’ll meet again on August 16.
–Nydia MacGregor, Junior Warden
