Hybrid In-Person/Zoom Worship Continues This Week
This week our worship will continue to be hybrid, with both in person and Zoom platforms available. We encourage you to connect to with worship in whatever way is comfortable and feels safest for you.
As mask mandates increasingly lift in the Bay Area, and as COVID-19 moves in an endemic direction, we look forward to making masks optional for gatherings here at St. Aidan’s. While we are not yet ready to take this step for everyone, we are moving in that direction by inviting worship leaders who are fully vaccinated and boosted, and who feel comfortable doing so, to remove their masks when exercising that leadership in order to be more clearly heard. One exception to this shift is that worship leaders will remain masked while consecrating the elements at the altar. This modest step beyond our practice of the last several months is in accordance with diocesan guidance, the latest version of which can be found at:
https://mcusercontent.com/55a4c86d3e04b0a68eba23b20/files/66ccd2e4-65ab-4b6f-c949-a7101f319652/COVID_Response_Team_Guidance_9Mar21.pdf
Catechism Class – a Collaboration with St. Francis, Starting May 1 at 2 PM
Are you interested in joining a class to prepare for Confirmation, Reception into the Episcopal Church, or renewing your Baptismal vows? During the month of May, Cameron and Fr. Eric Metoyer of St. Francis in SF are coming together in a spirit of friendship to lead a series of conversations on key faith topics, using the The Discovery Series, a collection of brief faith formation videos from the wider Episcopal Church.
When: May 1, 2-3:30 PM - Our Spiritual Journeys (led by Fr. Eric)
May 8, 2-3:30 PM – The Great Commandment and the Great Commission (led by Cameron via Zoom)
May 15, 2-3:30 PM – Faith, Questions, and Creeds (led by Cameron & Eric)
May 22, 2-3:30 PM – The Baptismal Covenant (led by Cameron & Eric)
[May 29, 2-3:30 PM – Eucharist Unpacked (an ‘instructed Eucharist’)] (led by Cameron & Eric)
Where: Zoom -- please reach out to Cameron for the link
This series prepares for a Confirmation service led by Bishop Marc Andrus
at Grace Catehdral on Saturday, June 4 at 10:00 a.m. Please feel free to reach out to Cameron at
rector@staidansf.org or Fr. Eric at
rector@stfrancisepiscopal.orgwith any questions, and we look forward to seeing you!
Good News Gardens – next date: Tomorrow, May 7
Many thanks to all who joined our Good News gardening day on April 2. We enjoyed the daffodils and tulips in front of the church and also did a lot of weeding on the Diamond Heights side of the garden – have a look if you’re walking or driving by. Our next garden spruce-up Saturdays at the church will be on May 7 and June 4. Out of an abundance of caution, we’ll mask and we’ll begin after lunch (12:30) so that we aren’t eating together. (Although there will be snacks and drinks available!) We’ll finish by 2 pm. Question? Contact Deacon Margaret (
Mdyerc@stanford.edu)
The Fourth Sunday in Easter - Morning Prayer
Both 8 and 10 AM worship services will be in the Morning Prayer format again this week. Margaret will be preaching.
Music on the Hill Concert - Sunday, May 8 at 7:30pm
Music on the Hill Presents: Circadian String Quartet in a Special Mother's Day Concert
Reminder: Please join us for our final 2021-22 concert! We look forward to seeing you!
Circadian String Quartet
Monika Gruber & David Ryther, violins
Omid Assadi, viola
David Wishnia, cello
Bay Area based Circadian String Quartet was founded in 2013 to perform classical and contemporary repertoire of folkloric or cultural significance. Since then, CSQ has become known for bold original programming ideas that break boundaries or reach across cultures. CSQ has been quartet-in-residence at the Music by the Mountain Festival in Mt. Shasta, has been featured in the April in Santa Cruz New Music Festival, and the members also serve as resident teaching artists for the Villa Sinfonia Foundation's Zephyr Point chamber music workshop in South Lake Tahoe. Some of CSQ’s recent projects include their collaboration with world class santor player Hamid Taghavi, and the upcoming premiere of “Eurydice’s Defiance,” David Ryther’s new Opera written especially for Kitka Soprano Lily Storm and CSQ.
Performing:
String Quartet in Eb Op. 51 by Dvorak
One Day Tehran, by Sahba Aminikia
El Caribe from “Scenes from Costa Rica” by David Ryther
An Andean Walkabout Toyos Chasqui Coqueteos by Gabriela Lena Frank
In-Person Tickets: $20 per person.
In-Person Tickets for St. Aidan's, 101 Gold Mine Drive: Buy tickets online via Eventbrite:
In Person Tix
Check out our website at
https://sites.google.com/site/mothsf/concerts
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/418948792932373
Casey Fernandez Funeral – Saturday, May 14, 10am
Casey Fernandez, a decades-long resident of Diamond Heights who volunteered at the Friday Food Pantry, died in April. Casey had been unhoused for several years and had been living in this neighborhood in his van. His death has happened in a context in which homelessness and the housing crisis in our city has accelerated to an anguishing degree. And so we are coming together next Saturday to remember Casey, to give thanks for his life, and to strengthen our own sense of solidarity and determination to make a greater difference in our city and our neighborhood.
Welcome Café for Easter Season?
St. Aidan's had a festive Welcome Café (aka Coffee Hour) following the 10:00 AM service on Easter Sunday—the first time we have done this since the start of the pandemic. This special event was held outdoors to ensure adequate air circulation and reasonable social distancing.
The Regathering Committee is interested in determining if this Easter season is the right time for us to return to having Welcome Café on a regular basis. Please let one of us know if you are comfortable with the idea or if you have concerns or suggestions for appropriate safety precautions. The members of the committee are Barbara Stevenson, Elena Wong, Dave Frangquist, Jim Oerther and Cameron Partridge.
Call for Little Free Library Donations
Our Little Free Library has been up and running for about a month now, and it has really taken off-- so much so that we are in need of donations! If you have books to donate, please bring them in to church and we will put them into the Little Free Library as the supply runs low. Thank you!
Men's Group
Saturday, May 14, 9-10:30 am, via Zoom. We will connect for prayer, study and fellowship. All men are cordially invited. If you haven’t received connection information by May 12, contact Dave Frangquist (
frangquist@acm.org). Please note that the Men’s Group has switched to the second Saturday of the month this year.
Women's Spirituality Group - next date: May 14
Our St. Aidan's Women's Spirituality Group will meet via zoom Saturday, May 14th, starting at 10:30. As before, we will have time for both checking in and personal sharing as well as time for spiritual growth. We are certainly open to formats and approaches such as reflections on a poem, scripture, narrative passage or another focus for our growth. We want our group to meet the needs and desires of those who participate. If you want to join us, and we hope you will, please contact Elaine Mannon at elaine@mannon. com to get the information for signing into our meeting.
New Jim Crow Anti-Racist Book Group - next date: May 15
New Jim Crow Anti-Racist Book group – our next meeting is Sunday, May 15, 4-5:30
We’re reading
Barracoon by Zora Neal Hurston. All are welcome – please contact Deacon Margaret for the link…..Mdyerc@stanford.edu.
St. Aidan’s Gourmet Book Group - Next Date: May 23rd
We will continue to meet via zoom with LeeAnn DeSalles serving as our zoom master. She has set up a zoom link, listed below, that will serve for all our meetings. If you would like help with zoom, please contact LeeAnn at
leeanndesalles@comcast.net. If you would like to join the Book Group, please contact
elaine@mannon.com.
- Monday, May 23, 2022 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. via zoom
- Say Nothing by Patrick Keefe – A true story of murder and memory during the Northern Ireland Conflict
- Monday June 27, 2022 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. via zoom
- The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard – with a sharp ear for conversation and an eye for the defining political moment in a social interaction, Hazzard tells a story not merely about love but more deeply and subtly about power
- Monday, July 25, 2022 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
- Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin. Grandin, writing from the dual perspectives of a scientist and an autistic person to give a report from “the country of autism,” introduces a groundbreaking model which analyzes people and their patterns of thought. She charts the differences between her life and those who think in words.
On-Going Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86841144004?pwd=MkZpNUMyWHppMXYyT3FZZHN2ZVVIdz09
Meeting ID: 868 4114 4004
Passcode: 532947
Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity Housing in Our Neighborhood, Sat., June 4th!
On Saturday, June 4
th St. Aidan’s will be contributing a second volunteer team to Habitat for Humanity’s affordable housing effort on Amber Drive. We are signed up to bring
ten people that day, the minimum age is 16, all volunteers must be fully vaccinated and masked, and no construction experience is necessary. We need to arrive at 8:30 AM, bring our own bag lunches, and the work day will end by 4:30 PM.
Please let Deacon Margaret know if you’d like to be part of this team: mdyerc@stanford.edu.
In addition to June 4th are also contributing three people to an additional workday on
Saturday, May 21st. We will have further opportunities as well, and you can also always sign up on your own to volunteer on other days, especially Thursdays and Fridays. To reach out to Habitat for Humanity directly, please contact
volunteer@habitatgsf.org. The Volunteer Calendar, updated weekly, is also online:
https://habitatgsf.org/volunteer-calendar/
Financial Summary: For the first quarter of 2022, total operating income was $103,346 and total expenses were $69,633, for a budget surplus of $33,713. Pledge payments totaled $73,334 compared to a budget of $71,479, for an overpayment of $1,855. The “Raise & Shine” fundraiser cleared $12,527 against a target of $10,000. There was a net operating surplus for the period of $2,154 after including declines in market value of investments. Dave Frangquist
treasurer@staidansf.org.
Resources for Engaging in Anti-Racism, from Elena Wong
Thank you to Elena Wong for sharing this list of resources that were in turn shared with her through her membership in the Western Association for College Counseling: