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Finding Our Way Forward:
The Flame for Friday, October 14, 2022
I’m really excited about our combined service this Sunday at 9AM followed by our quarterly parish meeting. It will all be offered in the hybrid format, but if you are physically able to come, I strongly encourage you to make the special effort to come together in person. It’s time, don’t you think?

I mentioned a few weeks ago that at the parish meeting we’ll be discussing St. Aidan’s involvement in the Vital+Thriving Congregations initiative that I’m leading for our Diocese. We’ll have an in-depth discussion about where we are in the work of discerning our path forward. We’ll also spend time with the spiritual practice “Dwelling in the Word.” All the congregations in our cohort are spending time listening to our text for this year, Luke 10:1-12, Jesus sending of the 70 to find and bring peace in the places where he himself was intending to go. Dwelling in the Word is a communal prayer practice in which we listen to how God is speaking to us, while paying particular attention to how God is speaking to others.

As we think about spiritual discernment and finding our way forward as a church, I’m delighted that our Episcopal Church calendar of Saints celebrates St. Teresa of Avila tomorrow. St. Teresa (1515-1582) was a powerful reformer of the Catholic church but also a theologian of the contemplative life. She saw the church in Spain in decline and spiritual ineffectiveness and worked for change and spiritual renewal. She famously prayed, "From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us."

She wrote a guide for spiritual life called The Way of Perfection to help her nuns develop, first and foremost, a life of prayer. She understood the connection between the contemplative life and the active life. She believed that if you want to live freely and courageously in the world, you must journey inward, into what she called "the interior castle." She noticed that when you truly look inward—in contemplation and prayer—you discover that God is not far off, but right there. God’s Spirit is present within you to commune with you, and—here’s my favorite part—to free you from the false notion that there are achievements required before you can experience that loving presence. What is found within is not some massive, overwhelming achievement ladder to climb to God, but a loving God already there, delighting in you, freeing you to live a life in God’s service. “We are not forced to take wings to find [God] but have only to seek solitude and look within ourselves.” For St. Teresa, the gift of grace was not something to be earned, but to be discovered within, like a beautiful hidden treasure waiting to be revealed. She wrote, “We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can—namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us.”  

On the  Vital+Thriving journey, I believe we will find our way forward into God’s promised and preferred future for St. Aidan’s as we learn to cultivate our inner life with God, and to listen to what God is saying in the lives of others in our community.

Scot

*If you want to know more about St. Teresa, I highly recommend Cathleen Medwick’s biography, Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul (Image, 2001). She’s most famous for her work, The Interior Castle. It’s very readable and a wonderful help for nurturing your spiritual life. (I recommend the Christian Classics edition from Ave Maria Press, 2007).
 
I’m really excited about our combined service this Sunday at 9AM followed by our quarterly parish meeting. It will all be offered in the hybrid format, but if you are physically able to come, I strongly encourage you to make the special effort to come together in person. It’s time, don’t you think?

I mentioned a few weeks ago that at the parish meeting we’ll be discussing St. Aidan’s involvement in the Vital+Thriving Congregations initiative that I’m leading for our Diocese. We’ll have an in-depth discussion about where we are in the work of discerning our path forward. We’ll also spend time with the spiritual practice “Dwelling in the Word.” All the congregations in our cohort are spending time listening to our text for this year, Luke 10:1-12, Jesus sending of the 70 to find and bring peace in the places where he himself was intending to go. Dwelling in the Word is a communal prayer practice in which we listen to how God is speaking to us, while paying particular attention to how God is speaking to others.

As we think about spiritual discernment and finding our way forward as a church, I’m delighted that our Episcopal Church calendar of Saints celebrates St. Teresa of Avila tomorrow. St. Teresa (1515-1582) was a powerful reformer of the Catholic church but also a theologian of the contemplative life. She saw the church in Spain in decline and spiritual ineffectiveness and worked for change and spiritual renewal. She famously prayed, "From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us."

She wrote a guide for spiritual life called The Way of Perfection to help her nuns develop, first and foremost, a life of prayer. She understood the connection between the contemplative life and the active life. She believed that if you want to live freely and courageously in the world, you must journey inward, into what she called "the interior castle." She noticed that when you truly look inward—in contemplation and prayer—you discover that God is not far off, but right there. God’s Spirit is present within you to commune with you, and—here’s my favorite part—to free you from the false notion that there are achievements required before you can experience that loving presence. What is found within is not some massive, overwhelming achievement ladder to climb to God, but a loving God already there, delighting in you, freeing you to live a life in God’s service. “We are not forced to take wings to find [God] but have only to seek solitude and look within ourselves.” For St. Teresa, the gift of grace was not something to be earned, but to be discovered within, like a beautiful hidden treasure waiting to be revealed. She wrote, “We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can—namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us.”  

On the  Vital+Thriving journey, I believe we will find our way forward into God’s promised and preferred future for St. Aidan’s as we learn to cultivate our inner life with God, and to listen to what God is saying in the lives of others in our community.

Scot

*If you want to know more about St. Teresa, I highly recommend Cathleen Medwick’s biography, Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul (Image, 2001). She’s most famous for her work, The Interior Castle. It’s very readable and a wonderful help for nurturing your spiritual life. (I recommend the Christian Classics edition from Ave Maria Press, 2007).
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 

Reminder: Sunday, October 16 - Combined 9 AM Service followed by the Quarterly Parish Meeting.

MORE THAN ENOUGH - Stewardship Reflection for October 16, 2022
Link:  On Generosity
Question for reflection:

  • How do your acts of generosity respect the dignity of every human being?
Vital + Thriving Listening Campaign Launches
Our next activity in the Vital + Thriving process is a listening campaign. Our Listening Team (Betty Carmack, Will Crockett, Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain, Mileva Lewis, Kathy O’Loughlin, George Slaiman) will be conducting 25 interviews with members and friends of the congregation as well as community members engaged in ministry with us. If one of them contacts you for an interview, please say yes! 

Creation Season at St. Aidan’s
We are planning a number of offerings for Creation Season at St. Aidan’s to celebrate and live into this season of our church year.  The season will begin the Sunday after the Feast of St. Aidan and will include:
  • DHCA/Median Project: Volunteer Work Day, Saturday, October 15 9am-12pm - Pull weeds, trim grass, and pick up trash on the median islands. No gardening experience required. Tools and safety jackets will be supplied. Bathrooms available.  Meet at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church.  Join us for even an hour or two.
Eleanor Elliott's Memorial Service - October 16 - 11:30 AM
Eleanor Elliott's celebration of life service will take place on October 16 after the Quarterly Parish Meeting.

Halloween Cookies  for the Food Pantry:  You are invited to make 3 dozen cookies for the Food Pantry.  We would like to have the cookies by Wednesday October 26. We will be bagging the cookies on the 27th and distributing them on the 28th.  You can start bringing the cookies on Sunday Oct 23. Thank you for helping the shoppers at the food pantry celebrate Halloween.

Cameron is on Sabbatical
Cameron is on a long-planned sabbatical (August 1st – November 27th). While he is away, the Reverend Scot Sherman is serving in his stead, on a half-time basis.

This is a time of growth and opportunity for all of us-- for Cameron in this time of sabbatical, for St. Aidan’s as we make our way into to Vital + Thriving program, and for Scot as he walks more closely with St. Aidan’s on this journey.

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: COVID-19 Health Guidelines

Our St. Aidan's Women's Spirituality Group will meet via zoom Saturday, October 15th, at 10:30. The Women's Spirituality Meeting will be held on the 3rd Saturday of October in order not to conflict with Habitat for Humanity which is on the 2nd Saturday in October. We will meet at our regular 10:30 a.m. time.  October's topic, suggested by Kathy O'Loughlin, is "On the Shortness of Life." 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.

Music on the Hill - Sunday, October 16 at 7:30 pm - Sierra String Quartet
Samuel Weiser & Elbert Tsai, violins; Alexandra Simpson, viola; James Jaffe, cello. Please join us for a pre-concert gathering from 7:00-7:30. Free wine and beverage.

Performing a program featuring Quartet No. 22 K.589 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lady Isabelle Was that Kind of Woman by U.S. composer Alexandra T. Bryant, and String Quartet by Antonín Dvořák.

Tickets will be sold online for $20 each and we have season tickets available at $70 for the 4 concerts of this upcoming season. See our website for more information about the 4 concerts in this 2022-2023 Season: https://sites.google.com/site/mothsf/concerts

To purchase Season Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-2023-season-ticket-subscription-tickets-420088866107

To purchase tickets for this Sierra String Quartet concert click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-sierra-string-quartet-tickets-420102837897
Individual tickets and season tickets can also be purchased at the door.

St. Aidan’s Gourmet Book Group - Next Date:  Monday, October 24, 7pm
We will continue to meet via zoom with LeeAnn DeSalles serving as our zoom master. She has set up a zoom link 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, October 24, 2022 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
    • Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou  (416 pages) A quirky satire with laser-sharp observations about cultural identity and the ugly truth of tokenism and racism in the world of academia.
  • Monday, November 28, 2022 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
    • Fierce Attachments – Vivian Gormick (181 pages) An unsparing,  deeply courageous memoir about the author’s lifelong battle with her widowed mother for independence.
Wrestling with the scriptures: You are invited to join the wrestling with the scriptures group on Nov 1, 10:30–11:30 on zoom. The link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/996366325. We will be looking at John: 11:45-54.  See you there.

Good News Gardens – next date: November 5 at 12:30 pm

Greens that went to Diamond Diners and new lettuces planted at our last gardening day.

The upcoming dates until the end of 2022 are:  November 5 and December 3. Please join us! Question?  Contact Deacon Margaret (Mdyerc@stanford.edu)

Natalie Lloyd
A memorial/celebration of life service will take place on December 4 at 2:30 pm at St. Aidan's.
 
Cards for Barbara Purcell
With the support of her children, our beloved long-time St. Aidanite Barbara Purcell has recently moved to the Sacramento area. Let’s send our love to her and her family in the form of cards. They can be addressed to her
            c/o Bill Purcell
        4341 Galewood Way
        Carmichael, CA 95608
Thank you in advance for your support!

Financial Summary:  For the period January thru September 2022, total operating income was $199,667 and total expenses were $213,994, for a budget deficit of $14,327.  Pledge payments totaled $133,272 compared to a budget of $142,139, for a shortfall of $8,867.  There was a net operating loss for the period of $135,484 after including year-to-date declines in market value of investments.  The endowment fund had lost $68,715 in value for the year.  Although investment losses are significant, they are mainly paper losses so far, and do not become real until we need to sell investments.  Keeping pledge payments up to date helps us avoid selling investments at a loss.  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:

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 resumes: Wednesdays at 6:30 PM via Zoom
Our in-coming CDSP Seminarian Weston Morris has resumed the service. 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
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          
 
The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
October 16, 2022
Note: Combined 9 AM service followed by
Quarterly Parish Meeting

9 AM Communion (Hybrid)
The Rev. Scot Sherman, Presider & Preacher
David Austin, Guest Music Minister
Anne Benninger, Lee Hammack, Michael Jennings, Jackie Lewey, Janet Lohr, Jim Oerther, Kateri Paul, George Slaiman, Barbara Stevenson, Jill Tollefson, & Rolf Tollefson, and perhaps you!, Choir
Elaine Mannon, Nicole Miller, Lectors
Peter Fairfield, Intercessor
Betty Carmack, In-Person Greeter
JoEllen Brothers, Zoom Greeter
Robert Geesey, Sound/Liturgical DJ
CoCo Lin, Child Care
Janice Tickner-Leonard, Altar Guild
JoEllen Brothers, Bread Baker
 
Calendar for the week starting Friday, October 14, 2022
Friday,
October 14
Saturday,
October 15
Sunday,
October 16


 
Monday,
October 17
Tuesday,
October 18
Wednesday,
October 19
Thursday,
October 20
 
Morning Prayer (via Zoom), 7:30 AM
Food Pantry (at church), 1-2 PM
Contemplative Prayer (via Zoom), 9 AM
Women's Spirituality Group (via Zoom), 10:30 AM
Holy Eucharist (Hybrid), 9 AM Combined Service
Quarterly Parish Meeting, 10:30 AM
Eleanor Elliot Memorial Service, 11:30 AM
Music on the Hill - Sierra String Quartet, 7 PM - 9:30 PM
Morning Prayer (via Zoom), 7:30 AM
 
Contemplative Prayer (via Zoom), 9 AM
 
Morning Prayer (via Zoom), 7:30 AM
Evening Prayer (via Zoom), 6:30 PM
Contemplative Prayer (via Zoom), 9 AM
Kaffeeklatsch (via Zoom), 3 PM
Our Prayers 
In Your Prayers, Please Remember:

In deep acknowledgment that St. Aidan’s is located within the unceded, ancestral land of the Yelamu tribe of the Ramaytush Ohlone people who have lived in vital relationship with this holy place for thousands of years.
 
In the Episcopal Church: Pray for Michael our Presiding Bishop; Marc our Bishop; the clergy of the Diocese; our Rector Cameron; our sabbatical priest, Scot, our assisting priests Don and Gary; our Deacons Margaret, and Mark; our Music Minister Barry; our Guest Music Minister David; our seminarian Weston; our postulant Lisa; our Childcare Provider CoCo.

In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer: Pray for Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America.

In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: Pray for St. Luke's, San Francisco.

In our Parish Cycle of Prayer: Pray for the Good News Gardens & The Little Red Hen Garden Cooperative.
 
For those with birthdays this week:  Martin, Judy, Katty.

For all striving for mental and emotional balance and wholeness, and for their families and friends.
 
For those who have asked for our prayers: Barry, Dawn, Earl P., Janice L., Jeffrey E., John E., Kathy R., Margaret T., Mary P., Nancy P., Pam F., Sam C.
 
For the ongoing work against intersecting forms of oppression, particularly racism; and in affirmation of human dignity;

For our work in the world: Habitat for Humanity on Amber Drive, the Friday Food Pantry, Diamond Diners.
 
For Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Elijah McClain, Walter Wallace, Adam Toledo, Daunte Wright, and all whose lives have borne deep witness that Black Lives Matter, and that systemic racism, white supremacy, and police brutality must be eradicated.
                                                   
For our congregation as we embrace our call to be a sanctuary people, may we commit ourselves to prayer, education, and practices of sanctuary to support immigrants to this country and all people who are estranged, excluded, or threatened in 21st century America.
 
For all who are struggling in this time of pandemic, vulnerability, intensified injustice and division; for strength, support, and community across physical distances and for deepened engagement and commitment to our common life;

 For those who have recently died: John Morrow, Natalie Lloyd, Sabra Sones, Eleanor Elliott, Joseph Potenti, Ellie McCarthy, Christine Ortiz.

Names of the living are printed by first name only unless otherwise requested. 
Living prayer request names will be kept on the prayer list for four weeks;
to keep someone on the list for longer, please notify the office.
To place a name on our prayer list, please contact the church office
 415-285-9540, ext. 3 or office@staidansf.org 


The 19th Sunday after Pentecost
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Psalm 119:97-104
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8

Website and Staff Email Addresses
Our website address is staidansf.org
The email address to reach Cameron, the Rector, is rector@staidansf.org
The email to reach Cary, the Parish Administrator, is office@staidansf.org
The  email to reach Barry, the Music Minister, is music@staidansf.org
The email to reach Dave, the Treasurer, is treasurer@staidansf.org
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Our mailing address is:
101 Gold Mine Drive 
San Francisco, CA 94131

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St. Aidan's Episcopal Church · 101 Gold Mine Dr · San Francisco, CA 94131-2538 · USA

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