Inside St. Stephen's
               
26 June 2016
  
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
Pentecost Tidings
Growing Ministry, Community & Impact
 

Services
  
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
 Sunday Services
 
8:00am
Contemplative Eucharist

10:00am
Festive
Choral Eucharist
with Summer Choir
(Regular Choir on summer break)

9:45am
Summer Sundays


9:30-  11:30am - Childcare
w/Bebe Hansia &
Christine Trono
  
grass-banner.jpg
 
Coffee Connections:
 

26 June
Team 9:
hosted by 
Mimi Sardou

Next Sunday -
3 July
Team 10:
hosted by 

 

 

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Summer sun
 
Children
Youth 
News
 
Summer Sundays
9:45am
Andrew Hoybach


Nursery
Bebe Hansia
Christine Trono
8:30 - 12:30pm
Camp Create
11-15 July 2016 
CampCreate16H.Sandeman

"Water Ways" will be the Camp Create theme this Summer complete with art, storytelling, music, dance and creativity galore!  Contact Olive DePonte at  
 Olive's email clickto enroll your current first through fifth grader.

For more information go to 
St. Stephen's 

This beautiful logo created by the talented Helen Sandeman.
Thank you Helen!
Artist-in-Residence Display Ugandan basket
June

Zebiya Rigby's collection of handmade baskets from her native country, Uganda, are on display for the month of June.  With colorful designs, these baskets are woven so tightly they can carry water.

Got Art?  If you or your children would like to exhibit your/their art in the AIR space at St. Stephen's Church, please contact Virginia Doyle [email protected]

Living St. Stephen's
This Sunday
Services at 8am & 10am
Summer Sundays  in Classrooms - 9:45am
SAD THINGS - AND AN INVITATION  Cross and Earth
 
I live a sheltered life-to put it mildly.  I live in beautiful part of the world.  I work with kind and caring people.  I am past fear about building a career, raising children.  I can see my way to affording to live in reasonable comfort and dignity for the next ten, or perhaps even twenty years.

So it is salutary, if unpleasant, for me to be confronted once in a while with savagery, hatred, violence and prejudice-in sum, the problem of evil.  I believe it is for you too.  I confess to being weary of the long litany from Sandy Hook to Orlando, from Syrian civil war to Mexican drug war, weary of the deep sorrow, weary of the sense of impotence.  We would be remiss, however, not to open that door once in a while, to struggle for an answer to the fundamental question asked by the psalmist so long ago, "Where is now thy God?"

This Sunday we will try.  I will do my best from the pulpit and at the forum after church.  But I ask you urgently to think about these things, to come with what wisdom you can muster.  Perhaps if we work on it without fear, together we can envision something different, where God's will is done on earth, as it is in heaven.
 
Fr. Malcolm

RECTOR FORUM FOLLOWING THE 10AM SERVICE THIS SUNDAY. ALL ARE INVITED TO ATTEND THIS SPECIAL FORUM.  

A Message from Father Malcolm   all saints day
 
Dear Friends,

This week's gospel has stern words about the cost of discipleship.  Essentially Jesus is telling us that if we want to follow him we must give up everything, home, family, respect for the dead.  I, for one, have not done this.

We live in a nuanced time, doing our best to meet our obligations to family, career, church and society.  Some of us, of course, are called to give their all.  We call them the Saints.  The rest of us deal with the messy business of pilgrimage in a complicated world.

God Bless You All, as you navigate these shoals.
Fr. Malcolm
Shamar-Avad in the Earth and Altar Garden SS Garden
Every Sunday

Please meet this Sunday during the coffee hour in the Earth and Altar Vegetable Garden (behind the Parish Hall) to Shamar (watch) and Avad (work) to produce food for the hungry and needy (see Genesis 2:7 and 2:15). 

Each week we watch (for weeds, bugs or plants that need tying up, or vegetables that need harvesting) and work (weed, remove diseased leaves, tie up plants, or harvest tomatoes and beans). Sunny Lyrek delivers the vegetables to a food pantry for people who need our help. Families and children are welcome.  

This week's Shamar-Avad leads are Katie and David McGee
Summer Sundays Volunteer Teachers Needed! Summer Sundays
Creativity Welcome

Sunday School ended June 5th.  From June to August, Summer Sundays provides a creativity outlet for those young ones who prefer not to attend church with their parents. 

This is a great opportunity for St. Stephen's parishioners to share their art, craft, music, gardening, or storytelling skills with the St. Stephen's children.  Your creativity is welcomed and appreciated. Don Sung and Andrew Hoybach can be reached for any questions. Donald Sung (email link) and Andrew Hoybach (email link)

The summer roster depends on YOU and the sharing of your talents with our youth.  Please sign up if you would like to utilize this opportunity to volunteer one Sunday and share your talents with the children.  Schedule your volunteer Sunday using the link below!

Volunteers
Coming Up & Other News
Camp Create - More than you might know? Camp Create 1
July 11-15

While most think of Camp Create as an art camp, it is so much more.

It has been said, "you can't hate someone whose story you know."  Camp Create seeks to provide a safe place for the campers and counselors to have a meaningful multi-cultural experience, hoping to increase understanding of different races and cultures.  Our participants are primarily Black, Hispanic, Islamic and White. Camp Create focuses on similarities as the children and counselors participate in singing, drumming, dancing, and art together but also celebrates their differences.

If only there was Camp Create for adults...

We welcome you  to be part of the magic of Camp Create. Donate or volunteer, or both!  Your check may be sent to the church, marked for Camp Create. 

To volunteer,  (Only 2 volunteer shifts remain) contact Pam Martori at [email protected]
St. Stephen's Summer Music Choir at Pentecost 2012

SING IN THE SUMMER CHOIR: Everyone (includes all ages able to read text) is invited to sing in the summer choir (while the regular St. Stephen's choir is on break.) Arrive up in the choir loft at 9am for a brief run through of the Sunday hymns any Sunday that works with your schedule.  Bring the whole family and sing as one.

HYMN SUGGESTIONS:  Is there a favorite hymn that you would like to sing this summer?  We're taking "requests".  Write down the name and hymn number (it must be a hymn in our hymnal) and drop it in the little basket on the narthex table.  We'll make every attempt to honor your requests.
Taos Youth Mission Trip - THANK YOU! TaosGroup16

Thank you St. Stephen's for getting us here: 2016 Youth Mission Trip - Taos, New Mexico, June 19-25

Updates:
Early June 19 - The Taos team has arrived safely in Albuquerque. All 24 of us will get into cars, then enjoy burritos before heading north to Taos (2 1/2 hour drive.  Thanks to all drivers at 4am: Bruce Partner, Jeff Fisher, Johnny Prentis and Janice Dalzell-Piper! Happy Father's Day to all Dads!

Late June 19: Everyone is safely settled into Taos.  The 10pm lights out has occurred without too much resistance given their early rising.  All the kids get A+ on patience as they had to wait to get into the church due to two meetings held there.  The group shared the many highs of the day: being in New Mexico, being with new friends, building a house, serving a family. You will be quite proud of them.

Mike Peters
THANK YOU! WendyFarewell

Dear St. Stephen's,

I can't thank you enough for such a beautiful send-off on June 19th! Special thanks to Marisa and Joe Jennings for adding the extraordinary planning of this event to their "to do list" prior to leaving on their pilgrimage. 

Words spoken and letters read by Chris Brent, Carol Treasure, Barbara Berling, Skylar Thompson, Teri Pollitt, and Olive DePonte, plus the multitude of cards, framed photographs, and private comments shared with me were beyond anything I could have imagined.  Plus, we were surrounded by gorgeous flowers, purple balloons, and a most delicious Coffee Connections feast coordinated by Frances Barbour, with help from her team.  You affirmed and blessed my priesthood, "Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."

Thank you for loving and worshipping God with me, for saying "yes" to me and the Holy Spirit as we worked to serve others, and thank you for showing me the face of Christ in each of our encounters.  Finally, thank you for the beautiful new green chasuble.  As I celebrate the Eucharist each Sunday, I will wear it knowing we are still connected through the bread and wine that breaks all barriers and separations.  As you wrote on my cake, "God Speed."  

In peace and gratitude,  Wendy+

Thank you!

Healing Sunday The Healing
A Week from Sunday
3 July
8 & 10AM

Those who would like to receive a blessing or laying on of hands may come to the altar following the 8 & 10am services, a week from Sunday on July 3rd.
Do you have a good photo of the Rev. Jim Ward

In order to complete the wall of photos of former rectors, Martha Irmer has attempted in vain to track down a good head shot of James Ward that is high enough resolution for the 8"x10" frame.  Does anyone have a good shot of the Rev. Ward?  Please send the jpg to Martha Irmer via this email click.
Elsewhere
Excerpt from Marin IJ MIF Prayer Wendy 16
Marin Interfaith Vigil
      
Khadija Hansia of the Islamic Center of Mill Valley holds a page as Reverend Wendy Cliff of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church reads a prayer during a vigil outside the First Presbyterian Church in San Rafael on Thursday for the 49 victims killed in the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. The names of the victims were read aloud by members of Marin's faith-based community. Prayers and readings of the di! verse faiths were also recited. Rev. Scott Quinn, acting director of the Marin Interfaith Council, said the vigil provided the opportunity "to remember the lives lost in Orlando and to say prayers of peace and healing." The event was intended to bring together the LGBTQ, Muslim and Latino communities - as Latinos were largely targeted in the Orlando massacre - he said.
ALAN DEP - MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL

Save These Dates!

St. Stephen's On the Gro Calendar:

JUNE
19-25 - Youth Mission Trip, Taos
23 - Southern Marin Homeless meal
26 - Sunday Services - 8 & 10am
27 - Knitting at 10:30am
27 - VESTRY MEETING - 7pm

JULY
3, 10, 17, 24, 31 - Sunday Services 8 & 10am
4 July - Office closed
9 & 10 - Camp Counselor Training 11:30am-1pm
11 & 25 - Knitting Ministry - 10:30am
11-15 - Camp Create - 9am - 3pm
14 - Homeward Bound food ministry
24 - Malcolm Manson's last Sunday here
28 - Southern Marin food ministry
28 - August 8 - Dee out of office

Ongoing:
1st Monday: The Outdoor Club Explorers - on break July-September
2nd/4th Mondays: Women's Knitting - 10:30am
Thursdays:  Contemplative Prayer - 8:30am   
Thursdays: 10am-1 or 1-4pm - Volunteers at the Thrift Shop
Thursday: Choir Practice - 7:30pm (on summer break)
2nd Thursday of the Month: Homeward Bound Meals
4th Thursday of the Month: Westminster Hot Lunch
1st Sunday of the Month: Healing Prayers at 8 & 10am 
Sundays: Children's Music with John after the 10am service ~ after 10am service (on summer break)
             Get the latest updates at: ststephenschurch.org
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Administrative and Communications Associate

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

3 Bay View Avenue

PO Box 97

Belvedere, CA 94920

415.435.4501