Community Updates (9/28/23)
We have a new Interim Priest coming to ECA!
This Sunday we will be welcoming Stacey as our Interim priest and listening to our wonderful Handbell choir. Come and enjoy, there will also be tasty quiche and muffins for coffee hour. Stacey will be with us throughout the remainder of 2023.
Stacey is a warm, competent, genuine person who is excited and looking forward to becoming a part of ECA. She is an experienced former Rector of 15 years along with extensive interim work. She recently completed an interim posting in San Francisco at the end of August. Stacey lives in Novato and will be present in Almaden 3 days a week. Besides leading us in worship, she will be available to provide pastoral care, make pastoral calls and give support to us as we continue through this transition time before we call our next rector.
A brief update on our Rector search. The Vestry is actively working on and putting plans in place with the information we received from the Transition team. I realize that this all seems like a long process however, we need to remember that in fact the length of time it is taking is not unusual. I ask that each of you continue to have patience, hope and faith that we are being cared for by our God and led by the Holy Spirit in this work.
Thank you all,
Ellen
From the Interim Priest:
Dear friends,
What joy it has been “to enter” ECA - if you have not seen my office, please do stop by on Sunday or just whenever…Ellen and Ruthanne and no doubt others put fresh flowers and great plants here, and I have hung a couple of my favorite pictures in the office to make it homey for a time.
My letter of agreement with the congregation and with Bishop Lucinda reminds us that my work here is to help you prepare for your next rector. This is constantly my focus. The LOA also contains some important words from priestly ordination vows, because the work of a priest is quite similar in all places - preaching the Gospel, loving and serving Christ’s people, and nourishing them, and strengthening them to glorify God in this life and in the life to come.
On a more practical level, but no less important, the LOA also calls for us to do some tasks which are considered “best practice” for an interim time. You have done some of these things in coming up with the parish profile, which is part of what informs rector candidates in their discernment and also informs the congregation about itself. Other things, like considering how the congregation deals with disappointment and conflict, renewing and reworking relationships with the Diocese, and
Because we will have a relatively short time together, we will be “consolidating” some of these activities, probably in some Sunday forums or some such. I leave you with some words about work by a favorite poet and writer of mine, David Whyte.
A FIRM PERSUASION
To have what William Blake called ‘a firm persuasion’ in our work — to feel that what we do is right for ourselves and good for the world at exactly the same time — is one of the great triumphs of human existence... To have a firm persuasion, to set out boldly; to delight in error as another way of rediscovering the way, to find a mature generosity through what we thought to begin with was only a personal gain, to see humiliation not as a punishment but as the daily test of our sincerity: is to make a pilgrimage of our labors, to understand that the consummation of work lies not only in what we have done, but who we have become while accomplishing the task... Work, at its best, at its most sincere, and in all its heartbreaking forms, is one of the great human gateways to the eternal and the timeless.
~ adapted from CROSSING THE UNKNOWN SEA
See you in church, or on line on Sunday, with bells on!
love, Stacey
St. Francis Day and Blessing of the Animals - Sunday, October 8
The feast day of this beloved saint is October 4, and “properly” we would celebrate this day this Sunday. HOWEVER, as we are catching up with ourselves, we will bless animals and pictures of animals and stuffies on Sunday, October 8. Details to follow.
"First Friday Fellowship" is Coming
A new monthly Fellowship event kicks off Friday Oct 6th at 5:30 pm in Fellowship Hall. This event is a "Holy Spirit" potluck where you bring anything you would like to share to eat and we gather for a casual meal to talk, laugh and enjoy each other's company. We will have a sign up on the bulletin board however you can come without having signed up. There is no charge, we ask that you bring a food item to share, your own silverware and dishes and a beverage for yourself. This will make set up and clean up easy for all. Each month will have a different theme and in October we will celebrate the fall season.
Shape Deadline
We all want to know what is happening or "What's the buzz" as they say. Our monthly Shape newsletter does just that and provides so much information for us. This is a reminder that the deadline for articles or photos for The Shape will now be the 20th of each month. If you have an article please submit to Mike Schmidt by this date. If you cannot submit your article by that date, please contact Mike and let him know that you will be sending something in and when he should be expecting it. This way he is able to plan and formulate our newsletter. We realize activities and schedules do happen in the last few weeks of every month and we want to make sure they are included and accommodated. It is important that we get to hear about all the wonderful things happening at ECA!
A reminder to submit your Gifts of Gratitude to Mike for the October Shape!
Here is a direct link to our weekly “An Episcopal Sermon” podcast.
Each weekly podcast episode is a live recording of the Gospel reading followed by the sermon based on that reading from our Sunday services. A new episode is posted on our website every Monday (in case you missed it on Sunday). This podcast provides thought provoking messages that can be listened to anywhere at any time.
Enjoy!
Link for this week:
https://www.churchinalmaden.org/news/sept24-2023-an-episcopal-sermon
Maui Wildfire Victim Donations
If you are interested in donating for the victims of the devastating wildfires in Maui, please consider donating funds to the Episcopal Relief and Development at
https://www.episcopalrelief.org/what-you-can-do/give/donate-now/individual-donation/.
Also to an organization associated with the Diocese of Hawaii called "A Cup of Water" at
https://www.episcopalhawaii.org/a-cup-of-cold-water.html
Bishop Robert and the Diocese of Hawaii have invited you to pray along with them and have offered these prayers:
Almighty God, who is our strength and our refuge; be with those who are besieged by fire, guide those who evacuate so that they may find care and comfort in a safe place; protect their homes and their pets, their neighbors and their friends, so that they may return home to a loving community. We ask this in the name of Jesus your son, who abides with you and with the Holy Spirit. Amen.
O God, whose love encircles us; sustain those who respond when wildfires roar, keep them safe from harm and hold them in your sheltering embrace so that they may complete these burdensome tasks, return home to their families, and keep the lives and homes of all they protect safe from harm, in the loving name of Jesus, who gave his life for all. Amen.
Loving God, our strength in times of despair, be with all those who have lost their homes to wildfire, comfort them in their distress, strengthen them for the journey ahead, and sustain them with your loving embrace, that they may find a sense of home once again. We ask this in the name of your son Jesus Christ, who heals the sick and restores the lost. Amen.
Prayer Vine
Kathleen Eagan is the director of the Prayer Vine. If you have any prayer requests that we can be praying for, please contact her at kathleeneagan34@gmail.com. Also if you are interested in becoming a part of the volunteers who are the Prayer Warriors, please let Kathleen know.