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Unruly Procession:
St. Aidan's Flame for Friday, March 31, 2023
“…God always begins where we are. There is no new creation without the first. We have to come to the place where we know who we are. This feast affirms the goodness of creation; to be who you are.” (Benedicta Ward, In the Company of Christ, 26)
 
So writes Benedicta Ward, my chosen companion in this year’s Lenten Flame reflections. She is writing here about Palm Sunday, gateway to Holy Week that approaches for us this Sunday. As in previous chapters, she draws from both early and medieval accounts of the day to share its history and meaning, including a fourth century C.E. passage by Sister Egeria, a monastic from Spain who had traveled to Jerusalem:
 
“The babies and the young ones too young to walk are carried on their parents’ shoulders. Everyone is carrying branches, either of palm or olive, and they accompany the bishop in the very way the people did when once they went down with the Lord. They go on foot all down the Mount to the city, and all through the city to the Anastasis… but they have to go gently on account of the older women and men among them who might get tired. So it is already late when they reach the Anastasis; but even though it is late they hold Lucernarium (the blessing of the evening lamps) when they get there, then have a prayer at the cross, and the people are dismissed.” (27)
 
I love what a slow, unruly procession it is that makes its way toward the Anastasis, the place identified as tomb of Christ, the site of the resurrection. I love that this pilgrimage is multigenerational and unregimented. I love that they carry branches, and that these are of the local flora—palm and olive, as Ward notes. It will be palms for us as well on Sunday, but from the logic of this account we could just as easily wave a branch of aromatic California Bay Laurel or Coyote Brush. This parade is real, human, creaturely. Truly this account reflects the community’s movement toward the God who begins where we are.
 
This has been a hard week for many of us, for multiple different reasons. Serious illness in friends and family. The indictment of a former President. A horrific mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school. Refusal by lawmakers to further restrict access to such terrible weapons. A trans community, already being used as a political football now being scapegoated for the unthinkable violence rendered by one.
 
God meets us in the flow of this place, distinctly imprinted as each of us is in this moment. God begins with us here and calls us to walk together into the holiest days of our church year, the events that disclose the foundation of our faith. Slowly, carefully, with all due disorder, raucus yet reverent, we are invited to take in the great mystery of our salvation, our redemption, our liberation. God’s good news bursts all bounds, new creation emerging from the first. 
 
Here we are, friends. Let us wave our branches together this Sunday and make our way into the heart of God’s love.

Peace,
 
Cameron
ANNOUNCEMENTS

Holy Week Schedule - All services use the Sunday Morning Zoom Link 
  • - Holy Week Evening Prayer, Mon-Wed, 7 PM, on Zoom only, April 3rd, 4th, & 5th
  • - Maundy Thursday, 7 PM, April 6th, Hybrid
  • - Good Friday 12-3 PM, April 7th, Service of readings, music, and silence, on Zoom only 
  • - Good Friday, 7 PM, April 7th, Hybrid
  • - Easter Vigil, 7 PM, April 8th, Hybrid 
Easter Gifts
If you would like to make an Easter gift to St. Aidan’s in memory or honor of a loved one, please write the name on the sign-up sheet at the back of the church or in an email to office@staidansf.org. Whether your donation in the loved one’s name or honor comes in the form of a check or via Zelle, please make sure to write “Easter gift” in the memo line. Thank you!

Last chance to sign up for a Vital+Thriving Cottage Meeting!
This Sunday, April 2, we will hold the last V+T cottage meeting at church, from 11:30 am – 1:30 pm. David Mealy will facilitate the meeting and some delicious brunch-y food will be on offer. If you have not yet participated in one of these vital conversations about the future of St. Aidan’s, please sign up for this one. Contact Barbara Stevenson at 415.902.4142 or barbara.f.stevenson@gmail.com.

Fiesta Photos 
Did you happen to take any photos or videos at Fiesta! that you'd be willing to share with the wider St. Aidan's community? Cameron would love to receive them for a video montage. You can send them to him at rector@staidansf.org. Thank you in advance for sharing!

In-Person Greeters
Share the welcoming spirit of Saint Aidan’s with all who come through our doors at the 10 AM or at combined 9 AM services on Sunday mornings! Since the pandemic, we’ve had several folks step back from this particular role, but if about 4-5 people who currently come to the 10 AM would be willing to be added to that rotation, that would help spread it out among the others who have continued to serve in this way. On a Sunday after Easter (TBD) we will hold a gathering with lunch for new greeters (and any current ones who would like to share their wisdom) to help orient you to the role and share best practices. Thank you for considering this invitation!

Wrestling with the Scriptures - Tuesday April 4 at 10:30 AM
Join us this Tuesday for Wrestling with the Scriptures, our monthly Zoom Bible study that gives us space to engage and -- as our group name indicates -- wrestle with passages that challenge us in some way. Our leader this month is Patrick Hall and he plans to bring us into conversation about Matthew 5:21-37. Please reach out to office@staidansf.org if you need the link, and we look forward to seeing you!
 
Faith in Action “Home is Sacred” Day of Action on April 20
PICO California (statewide Faith in Action network) is sponsoring or supporting several pieces of legislation that address the affordable housing crisis in California. Information on the statewide agenda is here. On April 20, we need lots of people to show up in Sacramento to demonstrate to elected officials that the Faith in Action agenda has public support. Come to Sacramento for the day! Chartered buses will leave from SF at 7 am and return by 5 pm. Please sign up here and let Barbara know that you are coming. If you have any questions or want to hear any fun stories about what Faith in Action bus rides are like, contact Barbara at 415.902.4142 or barbara.f.stevenson@gmail.com. Let’s have a St. Aidan’s contingent!

St. Aidan’s Gourmet Book Group - Next Date:  Monday, April 24, 2023, 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<mailto:leeanndesalles@comcast.net>.  If you would like to join the Book Group, please contact elaine@mannon.com<mailto:elaine@mannon.com>.
  • Monday, April 24, 2023 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
    • The Daughters of Yalta by Catherine Grace Katz  (416 pages)   The untold story of three intelligent and glamorous young women who accompanied their fathers, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Harriman, to the Yalta Conference in February 1945 and the conference’s fateful reverberations in the waning days of World War II.
  • Monday, May 22, 2023 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
    • The Wisdom of the Olive Tree by Corey Stewart  (296 pages)  A story of learning to live with grief, injustice, and the chaos that touches all of our lives.    (NOTE:  The author will  join our meeting via zoom)
Our St. Aidan's Women's Spirituality Group will meet via zoom Saturday, April 8th, 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 – May 21, 4-5:30 pm via zoom
All are welcome to the book group – we are reading Frederick Douglas, Prophet of Freedom by David Blight, from chapter 22 to the end of the book for this discussion.  Questions?  Contact Deacon Margaret, mdyerc@stanford.edu.

Support for Barry Koron
Barry Koron's family has set up a Go Fund Me (linked below) to help support the care he needs that is not covered by insurance. If you are able to lend your support to Barry and family in this way, they would very much appreciate it. Thank you.
Barry’s  GoFundMe, https://gofund.me/1a227c81

Archbishop Naoum asks for support for those affected by the earthquake in northern Syria
Since Sunday night when the first news of the disastrous earthquake in Central Turkey and Northern Syria arrived, we have been watching with great sadness the destruction across the region and the rescue and relief efforts.

The effects of the earthquake were felt far from the epicenter. Archdeacon Imad Zoorob, head of St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Center in Beirut, sent video of light fixtures rattling in this family’s fifth floor apartment. Dua’a Bisharat, director of Saviour’s School in Jordan, said she thought she awoke with a dizzy spell before she realized it was an earthquake.
Read newsletter
Read Archbishop Naoum's Letter
Donate to AFEDJ (American Friends to the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem)

ERD's Turkey and Syria Earthquake Response
Partner with Episcopal Relief & Development to provide support to people affected by the deadly earthquake along the border between Turkey and Syria. Visit episcopalrelief.org today to make a contribution to the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Response Fund
 
Financial Summary:  For January through February 2023, total operating income was $45,728 and total expenses were $50,071, for a budget deficit of $4,343.  Pledge payments totaled $35,836 compared to a budget of $34,082, for an overpayment of $1,754.  There was a net operating surplus of $4,843 after including changes in market value of investments (excluding endowment).  The endowment has gained $8,927 in value this year.  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: Wednesdays at 6:30 PM via Zoom
Our 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
 
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.

Mask Policy:  After carefully considering survey input from parish members, as well as City and diocesan guidance and the current practices of other churches and public venues, the Regathering Committee has concluded that it is time to revise our mask policy.  Beginning Sunday, November 20, if you are fully vaccinated and are comfortable removing your mask, you may do so during church services.  We will respect the preference of anyone who feels safer by remaining masked.  In accordance with diocesan guidance, the celebrant will still be masked while consecrating and distributing the elements for the Eucharist.  We will also maintain a well-ventilated sanctuary by opening doors and windows, so remember to dress warmly as winter approaches.  We acknowledge that COVID is likely to be with us in some form for the foreseeable future, and we will be monitoring public health advisories.  Our mask policy be modified again as is appropriate.  Please pray for the health and safety of all our members and friends as we continue to navigate this challenging time.

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
Kate Fritz, Senior Warden
Lee Hammack, Junior Warden
Dave Frangquist, Clerk & Treasurer 
Anne Benniger, Anne Edwards,
Sarah Glover, Michael Jennings, Elaina LeGault
Jim Oerther, Barbara Stevenson     
 
Palm Sunday
April 2, 2023

8 AM Communion (Hybrid)
The Rev. Cameron Partridge, Presider & Preacher
The Rev. Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain, Deacon
Weston Morris, Seminarian
Kate Fritz, Altar Guild

10 AM Communion (Hybrid)
The Rev. Cameron Partridge, Presider & Preacher
The Rev. Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain, Deacon
Weston Morris, Seminarian
David Austin, Guest Music Minister
Anne Benninger, Lee Hammack, Michael Jennings, Jackie Lewey, Janet Lohr, Jim Oerther, Kateri Paul, Barbara Stevenson, Riven Stevenson, Jill Tollefson, & Rolf Tollefson, and perhaps you!, Choir
Betty Carmack, In-Person Greeter
Peter Fairfield, Zoom Greeter
Barbara Stevenson & David Mealy, Lectors
JoEllen Brothers, Intercessor
Nicole Miller, Altar Guild
Paul Nocero, Sound/Liturgical DJ
Barbara Stevenson, Bread Baker
CoCo Lin, Child Care
 
Calendar for the week starting Friday, March 31, 2023
Friday,
March 31
Saturday,
April 1
Sunday,
April 2
Monday,
April 3
Tuesday,
April 4
 
Wednesday,
April 5
 
Thursday,
April 6
 
Morning Prayer (via Zoom), 7:30 AM
Food Pantry, 1 PM
Contemplative Prayer (via Zoom), 9 AM
Good News Gardens 12:30 PM
Holy Eucharist (Hybrid), 8 & 10 AM
Vital + Thriving Cottage Meeting 11:30 AM
Morning Prayer (Hybrid), 7:30 AM
 
Contemplative Prayer (via Zoom), 9 AM
Wrestling with the Scriptures Group (via Zoom) 10:30 AM
Morning Prayer (Hybrid), 7:30 AM
Diamond Diners To-Go and In-Person, 12 PM
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 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 The Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan.

In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: Pray for our diocese as we prepare to elect a new bishop in December and for Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

In our Parish Cycle of Prayer: Pray for the Kairos Ministry.
 
For those with birthdays this coming week:  Martha, Marilyn, Nora, Alton, Vicki.

For all striving for mental and emotional balance and wholeness, and for their families and friends.
 
For those who have asked for our prayers: Wayne, Barry K., Dawn, Elaina L., Faith G., George J., Jack P., Jim F., Joan T., Kathy R., Margaret T., Margie W., Marilyn W., Michael & Elaine J., Nancy F., Nathan C., Patrick M., Reyna G., Tim F.
 
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, Tyre Nichols, 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: Melba Junker, The Rev. Dr. Norman Somes, John Anthony Fabatz, Roger Wolcott, Linda, Ann Schembari, Jean Amos, Marjorie Wilkins Jones, John Morrow, Natalie Lloyd, Sabra Sones, Eleanor Elliott, 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 






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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