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Into Freshness of Life:
The Weekly Flame for Friday, March 25, 2022
It was a foggy, gloomy morning at St. Aidan’s. The moisture was dripping from the trees as we shifted boxes into the sanctuary for the Friday Food Pantry. It was quite a bounty today with bok choy, brussels sprouts, eggplant, and beautiful broccoli among the offerings. As I was helping break down boxes, someone ducked his head in to talk with me. I could tell something was wrong, and indeed, he let me know that Casey Fernandez, a longtime member of the Diamond Heights community, has died. This was heavy news to me, as I imagine it is to many of you who knew him for decades, as he had struggled to live in this neighborhood for a long time. In the days to come I anticipate organizing a memorial service for him here at St. Aidan’s – please stay tuned. And please feel free to reach out to me if you would like to talk. In a week in which we are hearing so much difficult news, particularly from the war in Ukraine, losses closer to home can hit that much harder.
Speaking of Ukraine, I invite your continued prayer for the situation there. Please pray for the approximately 3.5 million refugees who are streaming out of Ukraine to various neighboring countries, particularly Poland, Romania, Germany, and Moldova. Pray for all defending Ukraine against Russian attack. Pray for Russian soldiers asked to do the unconscionable. As our Presiding Bishop requested last week, please pray for the softening of Vladimir Putin’s heart.
As I read varying opinions about how long this war may go on, I’m also reminded of the pandemic. Some are saying “the conflict will last for months, maybe for years.” Others, pointing to unfolding, not entirely visible effects of massive economic sanctions, are saying, “it’s very hard to predict” how long this war will continue. Asked how European countries are preparing for a war might go on for some time, NY Times columnist Farah Stockman reflected that leaders are grappling much more with the immediate: “This has come on really quickly. The response was quick. And people haven’t actually had time to process what this really means for Europe in terms of city budgets and how are you going to take all of these refugees in for years.” Here in the U.S., President Biden announced this week that we will take 100,000 refugees from Ukraine—a drop in the bucket in the context of 3.5 million, yet a number that very much still matters. In light of this announcement, Episcopal Migration Ministries has shared that they stand ready to assist. Should you wish to donate to their efforts, you can do so here: https://episcopalmigrationministries.org. Episcopal Relief and Development is another trusted organization responding to the crisis in Ukraine, and you can donate to them here.
Uncertainty, pain, and loss are afoot in our world, in our country, and in our neighborhood. In the wake of that loss, it is so important to invite God into our questions, into our lament. And it is so important to lean upon community.
I saw the power of community in evidence last weekend, as we gathered via Zoom to raise funds for St. Aidan’s ministries through “Raise and Shine.” I am highly aware of how much planning and effort has been flowing into this effort for months now, including the 2021 as well as the 2022 vestry. The planning committee was made up of our wardens Elena Wong and Nicole Miller, our Treasurer Dave Frangquist, Jim Oerther, and me. Ray Wong was our auctioneer extraordinaire. Elaine Jennings, Janet Lohr and David Austin contributed inspiring music. Alison Wood contributed our official poster as well as special Zoom backgrounds. Betsy Eddy and John Wilk put together the Dymphna “Sampler.” Nancy Sabin created a new video Sadie skit, wonderfully and hilariously edited by Michaela Sabin-Hinds. Many of you contributed and/or purchased items, a number of them hand-made. This community came together in a powerful, inspiring way. In a moment when we need hope, encouragement, energy, and laughter, you have shared that, profoundly. Thank you.
As we come into this weekend, carrying all that this week has brought, I am reminded that St. Aidan’s is “a joyful community of the Spirit.” And while this phrase does not mean we always feel joyful—it would be disingenuous to suggest otherwise-- it does mean that we are fundamentally “of the Spirit.” The Spirit to whom Mary said “yes” (via the angel Gabriel) in welcome of a preposterous possibility, as we celebrate on this Feast of the Annunciation; the Spirit who descended upon Jesus at his baptism and then led (or drove) him into the wilderness; the Spirit of the living God whom we pray, in the words of the classic hymn, to fall fresh on us. May the Spirit meet us in this wilderness, sustain us with living water, and lead us into freshness of life.
Peace,
Cameron |
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Hybrid In-Person/Zoom Worship Continues This Week, with Worship Leaders Unmasking
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
Canceled - Resilient Diamond Heights Workgroup Meeting, March 26, 4-6 pm
Our Resilient Diamond Heights Steering (RDH) Committee decided to cancel our meeting on March 26 at St. Aidan's Church and on Zoom. We hope to reschedule in the near future.
Raise and Shine: St. Aidan's Spring Auction – Thank you!
Thank you to all who participated in the Raise and Shine Fundraiser! We’ll let you know the outcome of it all in the days to come, but in the meantime thank you for all your support for it!
 Lent Madness 2022 - Support Kateri Tekakwitha TODAY! Have you ever followed Lent Madness? It is a whimsical "tournament" featuring 32 saints arranged in an elimination bracket a la March Madness. During Lent, you get to vote for your favorite saint in each pairing, whittling down the original 32 to the "Faithful Four" by Palm Sunday, with the winner determined on Wednesday of Holy Week. This year there is a special treat for us at St. Aidan's: one of the saints in the running is Kateri Tekakwitha, after whom our own Kateri was named. Kateri has already prevailed over Saint Olaf of Norway, and is matched against James Holly (who?) on Friday, March 25. To join in the fun, just go to www.Lentmadness.org. Each weekday, the current matchup will be right on the home page. Click on (more...) to read the descriptions of both saints, and scroll down to get a chance to vote. You can learn a lot about some very obscure saints and it's great fun. If you don't do anything else this Lent, vote for Kateri Tekakwitha today, March 25 and help her advance to the next round.
Dave Frangquist
frangquist@acm.org
Bless the Middle Space: A Formation Series for Lent
Join us for our Lent adult formation series "Bless the Middle Space." In it we're drawing on contemplative practices and the arts to reflect together on and to co-create Lent as a sacred "middle space." We're gathering via Zoom after Evening Prayer from 7-8:15 PM on March 9, 16, 23, 30, & April 6, using the Wednesday Evening Prayer link. Please reach out to office@staidansf.org for it, and we look forward to seeing you!
Wilderness Kits
Many thanks to Amy Newell-Large who has prepared new prayers and a music list for this year's Wilderness Kits. They are available for pickup at church – please feel free to reach out to the office office@staidansf.org to arrange to pick one up, or to have one brought to you.
Habitat for Humanity Housing in Our Neighborhood,
Tomorrow, Saturday, March 26th a volunteer team of seven St. Aidan’s people will work for Habitat for Humanity’s affordable housing effort on Amber Drive. We are also contributing three people to an additional workday on Saturday, May 21st. We will have more opportunities, and in the meantime you can also 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/
You can also reach out to Deacon Margaret with any questions mdyerc@stanford.edu.
New Jim Crow Anti-Racist Book Group - this Sunday
Our next meeting is this Sunday, March 27, 4-5:30 pm. We’re reading Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead. All are welcome – please contact Deacon Margaret ( myderc@stanford.edu) for the zoom link.
Good News Gardens – next date: April 2
Many thanks to all who joined our Good News gardening day on February 26. We enjoyed the daffodils 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 April 2, 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)
St. Aidan’s Gourmet Book Group
We will continue to meet via zoom with LeeAnn DeSalles serving as our Zoom master. She will be sending you zoom instructions prior to 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.
The upcoming books and dates are:
- Monday, March 28, 2022 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. via zoom
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings by Plants - by Robin Wall Kimmerer
An intertwining of science, spirit, and story.
- Monday, April 25, 2022 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. via zoom
- The Long Petal of the Sea - by Isabel Allende
Follows two refugees from the Spanish Civil War who start a new life in Chile - an intimate journey in the midst of clashing worlds.
- 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
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:
Please send in your recipes for the COVID Connect Cookbook!
As shared in previous weeks, Peter Fairfield and Linnea Sweet are putting together the COVID Connect Cookbook. He's received several recipes thus far but would very much like more. He writes:
We are living through a time that will change our world in ways that we cannot yet begin to understand. We can hope that our shared vulnerability to this virus worldwide will help us see that all humanity is connected and that we must all work together. As we shelter in place, many of us are concerned with food. If we are not working, how will we afford it? If we cannot go out, how will we get it?
In our community of Saint Aidan’s, many are able to feed themselves and to help others get fed. More than that, we appreciate the food that we get and are finding new ways of making the sharing of food as enjoyable as possible.
The soup recipes that Cameron has been sharing have made our diet much more enjoyable and have given Linnea and I the inspiration to collect recipes from all the congregation and share them. We ask that everyone with a favorite recipe email it to us at peterlinnea@earthlink.net. We will collect and edit them into a cookbook which will be a lasting reminder of this strange and special time in all our lives.
We hope to be able to publish this cookbook in printed form and sell it to raise funds in support of Saint Aidan’s food ministries. We know you have been sharing food. Now please share your recipes!
Contemplative Prayer continues: Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday from 9-10 AM via Zoom
Contemplative prayer continues during this time of sheltering in place, via Zoom. Contemplative Prayer is silent with the beginning and ending marked by a bell. You can practice meditation, silent prayer, journal, or otherwise enjoy the collective quiet. Thank you to Susan Spencer for offering to anchor this practice once again, especially the Saturday, during this time. Please feel free to reach out to the office for the Zoom access information: office@staidansf.org.
Morning Prayer continues: Mon, Wed, Fri at 7:30 AM via Zoom
We also continue to have Morning Prayer to help sustain and ground us, online/over the phone! Please feel free to reach out to the office for the Zoom access information: office@staidansf.org.
Evening Prayer continues: Wednesdays at 6:30 PM via Zoom
Every Wednesday evening we hold Evening Prayer via Zoom. Evening Prayer usually lasts a half hour. Readings for the day often feature commemorations from the Episcopal Church’s calendar of saints, and the service includes a brief reflection time on the readings. Please feel free to reach out to the office for the Zoom access information: office@staidansf.org
To add an announcement to the weekly bulletin of the Flame, please send your edited text no later than 11:00 am Wednesday to office@staidansf.org
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St. Aidan's Vestry
Elena Wong, Senior Warden
Nicole Miller, Junior Warden
Dave Frangquist, Clerk & Treasurer
Christine Powell, Anne Edwards,
Michael Jennings, Jim Oerther
Anne Benninger, Kate Fritz, Elaina LeGault
Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 27, 2022
8 AM Communion (Hybrid)
The Rev. Cameron Partridge, Presider & Preacher
The Rev. Amy Newell-Large, Deacon
Jackie Buckley, Altar Guild
10 AM Communion (Hybrid)
The Rev. Cameron Partridge Presider & Preacher
The Rev. Amy Newell-Large, Deacon
David Austin, Guest Music Minister
Anne Benninger, Lee Hammack, Michael Jennings, Janet Lohr, Jim Oerther, Kateri Paul, George Slaiman, Barbara Stevenson, Jill Tollefson, & Rolf Tollefson, and perhaps you!, Choir
David Mealy, Janet Lohr, Lectors
Peter Fairfield, Intercessor
Dave Frangquist, In-Person Greeter
Margaret Tait, Zoom Greeter
Robert Geesey, Sound/Liturgical DJ
Kate Fritz, Bread Baker
CoCo Lin, Child Care
Barbara Stevenson, Altar Guild
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