A message from Stephen

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

As a child Lent was the time of year when the priest told us we couldn’t do anything fun. My classmates at St. Monica’s School and I tried to give up things we enjoyed, like soda, sugar, chocolate or television. I had a vague sense that since Jesus suffered, I should suffer in solidarity. As an adult I turned away from that theology of vicarious atonement and thought of Lent as a season to try doing something positive. I tried to read more, to exercise more or get myself to church every Sunday. This attempt to add something good to my life seemed better for my soul. And then Holly and I had children, and the thought of adding something new to my to-do list seemed overwhelming. If anything, I needed to do less in life. To my surprise, I returned to the idea of giving things up, but my theological rationale was quite different. I didn’t seek suffering for its own sake. Rather I started thinking about trimming back the branches of my life that were no longer bearing fruit. I like the idea of making room for new life by letting go of some things that took energy, but were no longer life-giving. It turns out that I have a long list of these things: Too much alcohol, too much caffeine, too much sugar, too much processed food, too much time on Facebook, etc. I can’t tackle these all at once. Studies show that change is more effective when you start small and manageable, and gradually build momentum. So, during Lent this year, I’ll be cutting out alcohol. I just want to remind my body who’s in charge around here, and make some room for new life.

As we enter the Season of Lent I hope that you find something positive to practice, or let go of something that’s no longer bearing fruity in order to make room for new life. Don’t try to do too much and don’t be too hard on yourself. God bless you.

-Stephen

Message from Stephen 2-17-23

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

We’ve reached the end of the season of Epiphany. This Sunday will be our final celebration in church before Lent begins. We’ve been searching for stars in the sky, chasing down wise men and women as they roam the hills looking for baby Jesus, and looking for joyful shepherds. This Sunday we’ll say hallelujah as many times as we can, since the custom during Lent is to refrain from anything too cheery. 

On Tuesday night Mardi Gras will reach its crescendo in New Orleans, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro blows out, and Anglicans everywhere will eat pancakes. Pancakes? That seems a little lame compared to parades and dancing in the street. Anglicans have traditionally celebrated Mardi Gras as Shrove Tuesday. Shrove comes from “shriven” which is related to “shriveled,” for the disposition of our souls and our pantries as we enter Lent. People cleaned out anything fun from their cupboards, which apparently included flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, milk, butter and eggs. To get rid of it, they’d eat pancakes for dinner. Go figure. Here at Christ Church we’ve often gathered for pancake dinners and even pancake relay races on Shrove Tuesday, but the pandemic put a damper on that. We should return to that tradition in the future when we come up for air from our homeless ministry. 

For now, I recommend a trip to Ole’s Waffles for a stack of buttermilk pancakes on Tuesday, washed down with a prayer for our community as we make the transition from Epiphany to Lent. May God bless you and your families as the season changes.

Peace,

Stephen

A message from Stephen 2-10-23

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

Our vestry spent last weekend together up at the Bishop’s Ranch. With the cows foraging the rolling green meadows and oak trees dripping in the downpour, we could well have been in Shropshire County, England. It was beautiful! We sheltered from the wind and rain by the fireside where we plotted the transformation of the entire earth in Jesus’ example. Christ Church is blessed with a strong and talented vestry, and great leadership with our Wardens, Melanie McMullen and Harrison Hamill. Together we wrestled with that question I keep pestering you all with: Who is God calling us to be? We got pretty specific in our responses though, focusing on small group ministry, our youth and children’s program, the homeless shelter, and in-reach here at the church. We also told stories, shared good meals together, and created our own church service. Christ Church is in good hands with these good people.

I was also delighted to be able to announce that Christ Church has hired a new Parish Administrator. Her name is Tracy O’Shea, and she’s great. Some of you may recognize Tracy as a volunteer at our homeless shelter. Tracy recently retired from a long career teaching elementary school and she’s ready for a new challenge. She will begin the job on Wednesday, March 1, so it will be a few weeks still before we find our new normal. Because we Episcopalians are so particular about the way we do church, operate photocopiers, organize files and pay bills, Tracy will have a learning curve when she comes on board. But please drop by the office in March to introduce yourself.

Lent is approaching, so say “hallelujah!” as many times as you can in the next week and a half before the liturgical calendar frowns on that practice for 40 days. God bless you!

-Stephen

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

By the time you receive this note I’ll be up at the Bishop’s Ranch with our vestry. We’re going to share stories about how we became the people we are, we’ll learn about what it takes to run a church, and we’ll do some long-term planning for the next chapter of life at Christ Church. As I mentioned during Christ Church’s 153rd Annual Meeting last week, we’re seeing traction inside and outside of the church in three particular areas: 

• Small groups are thriving and make a clear difference about whether or not someone stays. 

• Family ministry is thriving and seems to snowball on its own success. 

• Social justice ministry, especially with homeless folks, draws the surrounding community into the church and energizes our own people.

We’ll spend part of our time at the retreat discussing why these areas intrigue people so much and ask what we can do to broaden their appeal. I’m really excited to do this work with such a strong vestry, alongside Will Scott and our Wardens Melanie McMullen and Harrison Hamill. 

While we’re up at the Ranch you’ll be in good hands with the Rev. Bruce Smith. Bruce is a dear friend and mentor and my former boss from Church of the Resurrection in Pleasant Hill. Better than anyone I know, Bruce understands that relationships build community. Please congratulate Bruce on becoming a grandfather just last week, to a grandson who bears his own name.

While getting ready for the retreat, Christ Church’s leadership has been busy with the process of hiring a new Parish Administrator (nothing to announce yet, but stay tuned), and putting the homeless shelter on a more sustainable footing. Life at Christ Church is full!

May God bless you all.

Peace,

Stephen

Message from Stephen 1-27-23

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

This Sunday we will gather for the 153rd annual meeting of Christ Episcopal Church. We have much to celebrate! Our church is full of people, we’ve eked out a balanced budget, our children’s and youth programs are full of rascals, small group ministry is thriving, Adult Spiritual Formation is very active, the Social Justice Ministry has touched a nerve with our homeless ministry, and the choir sounds beautiful. I could go on and on. If only we had a Parish Administrator! The only downside to the annual meeting is that it bumps right up against the NFC Football Championship, pitting the San Francisco 49ers against the Philadelphia Eagles. Apparently some people around here like the ‘niners.

During our meeting we’ll review the past year and preview the next year, including church finances, our Welcoming Ministry and Social Justice Ministry. We will also elect folks to four vestry positions. The candidates are Claire Brown, Molly Stouffer, Julie Denny and K.C. Conway/Jeff Elder. That’s five names, because K.C. and Jeff are a couple and they’ve asked to share a position. We are open to nominations from the floor, in which case we’ll pass out paper ballots. We’ll also elect five delegates for the Diocesan convention. This year those delegates will also vote on the next bishop. Our practice has been to elect five delegates and five alternates, with the alternates “automatically” becoming the following year’s delegates. In 2022 we had only three alternates, John Brennan, David Boone and Dan Sykes, who will become delegates for 2023. That means we need to elect two more delegates and five alternates. We will take nominations from the floor. We’ll also bid farewell to our outgoing vestry members: Janet Kornegay, Mike Melendez, Babs Kenney and Pat Quant who have served our community so well.

Please join us to celebrate, to vote, and then to cheer on the 49ers.

Peace,

Stephen

Message from Stephen 1-20-23

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

It's been another full week in the life of our church. Down a parish administrator, we've had a string of great volunteers handling the office. Over in the Parish Hall we continue to host 25ish homeless folks, while John Brennan and Alisa Rasera gracefully wrangle a herd of volunteers and service providers to make it happen. The youth (and the priests!) are heading up to Lake Tahoe for an old fashioned youth group ski trip. We're recruiting some great new vestry members for the incoming class. And the "normal" life of the church proceeds mostly normally. Here are some more detail on all that:

Parish Administrator: As you've likely heard, Christ Church parted company with Ashley Green last week. By the time you read this email I'll have conducted five screening interviews to fill that role. We'll make the hire when we find the right person. In the meantime, please be patient as we juggle many tasks to fulfill parish administrator responsibilities in the interim.

Homeless Warming Shelter: This week Christ Church's vestry committed to continue operating the shelter 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the month of January. In February we'll convert to operating the shelter 7 nights per week, while closing during the days, unless the rain forecast is greater than 50 percent, in which case we'll keep the space open during the daytime. Professional staff will operate the shelter at nights while volunteers cover the days, operate the showers and provide the meals. We don't yet have a funding plan in place beyond January, but we're getting there. For starters, we're shifting the City's spring spending on this project to the present. And Christ Church will spend the considerable sum we've raised following the donors' intent. We are requesting that the City substantially increase its funding, so we'll be inviting folks to weigh in online at the February 7 City Council gathering, but an actual  vote won't take place until February 21.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive from church members and the wider community. Individuals have donated many thousands of dollars to support this program, which is clearly resonating with the community. John Brennan and Alisa Rasera continue to lead our volunteers and perform many hours of direct service. We can still use more volunteers and funding. Please do not donate clothing or supplies at this time, as we're a bit overwhelmed with material.

Youth Gone Wild: Will Scott has organized an amazing ski trip for the youth group. I love going on these things. There's so much bonding around the fire, during snowball fights and chasing each other down the mountain.

New Vestry Member Election Slate: Every year Christ Church elects a new class of vestry members for a three-year term. This year we're blessed with an abundance of strong folks. They include: Claire Brown, Molly Stouffer, Julie Denny, and K.C. Conway/Jeff Elder. You read that correctly, I listed five names for four positions. K.C. and Jeff are married and asked if they could share their vestry position. This seems like a great way to bring more talent to the table, so the current vestry is very supportive. We'll share profiles of these good people shortly.

"Normal" Life of the Church: Meanwhile, the church continues to do regular churchy stuff. This includes our annual meeting on Sunday, January 29 right after church. The following weekend, February 3-5, we'll have our annual vestry retreat up at the Bishop's Ranch. Both clergy will be joining that retreat, so the Rev. Bruce Smith (my wonderful former boss) will be leading services on February 5th. Will and I continue to plan our sabbaticals and will share more at the annual meeting.

God bless you all,

Stephen

Message From Stephen 1-13-23

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

2023 is a doozie! As you're well aware, we've had rainstorms right out of the Book of Genesis. In response, we've converted our Parish Hall into a temporary 24/7 homeless shelter. This week Christ Church parted company with our Parish Administrator, Ashley Green. We're beginning a search for her replacement immediately. Here's more information about all of that:

Alameda Homeless Warming Shelter

Last week Christ Church's Social Justice Ministry made the call to rapidly shift from three nights per week to round-the-clock operations. We made this decision for a variety of reasons: 1) It was heartbreaking to evict our guests at 7:00 AM into driving rain. 2) When we asked ourselves how Jesus would use his house during a crisis, this was a theological no-brainer. 3) We are blessed with a flexible space and the world's greatest volunteers, so we're sharing our blessings. 4) We have a number of vulnerable children staying with us.

I want to thank the phalanx of volunteers who continue to be the backbone of this substantial project. John Brennan and Alisa Rasera have spent countless hours in our Parish Hall and organizing volunteers. Kelly Scott has been tirelessly organizing our meals. Our shower team, led by Sally Han, Sarah Passard and Dolores Radding has been amazing. There are too many volunteers from the parish and the wider community to count, though Babs Kenney seems to be everywhere. Props to Zac Bowling and the Alameda Peeps community for stepping up with volunteers and donations.

While honoring existing obligations in the Parish Hall, we've committed to running 24/7 through the month of January. The Housing Consortium of the East Bay is providing professional staff during weeknights. The Village of Love is providing overnight staff on the weekends. Both organizations provide access to the Alameda County Coordinated Entry System, which connects guests with additional services, and helps put them on the path to more sustainable housing. Church and community volunteers are keeping an eye on things during the daytime, improvising gracefully.

We believe we can sustain this pace through the current storm cycle and the month of January. After that, we'll need to work on a more permanent solution for many of our guests, while reassessing the church's volunteer and financial capacity. More to come.

You're probably wondering how we're paying for all of this. We now have an agreement from the City of Alameda to shift shelter budget from later in the year to the present. This will help us cover professional staff right now. The church community and the people of Alameda and the people of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Oakland (where my wife Holly is Pastor) have also responded with great generosity. As of Friday at noon, we have received $14,724 in electronic donations in January for the shelter. We've also received a number of checks and cash donations, which take longer to calculate. The Bank of Marin gave us a $500 grant too. This community has been amazingly generous. Thank you. Direct costs for the shelter include over $1,500 per night for staff salaries. The church is also incurring much higher gas and electric bills, cleaning fees, many supplies and administrative costs.

We can use more money, of course, as well as meals and volunteers to monitor things during the daytime. See here: 

• Monetary Donations: https://christchurchalameda.org/seasonal-warming-shelter

• Meals: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080f44a4a928a20-warming?fbclid=IwAR3WqEP_QuvhmjsS4-hISx-sgSpjzyISlvFsQZVtDaYcUanHQ5ev698WU7o#/

• Volunteer Shifts: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eTYrMg3e-_-3FvdvLQNaHKDUEB0OORE1oqo0bSpOiso/edit?fbclid=IwAR1IDNvwczZ3ltOWDIIb32QO2VjF86vp6TRZGvewVpjtDNOQktPWt53OPDY#gid=0

If you're interested in volunteering, please contact me directly at stephen@christchurchalameda.org

All week long we've had more than 25 people and a few dogs each night. In years past the shelter has been mostly older men. We still have plenty of those, but we're also housing a few families with young children, and younger women. Families stay in the Guild Room. Others stay in the main hall. Our volunteers are buzzing like bees in the kitchen, the registration table, and operating the showers.

I want to thank the good people of Christ Church for sharing our space so generously, and for shifting gatherings to other spaces. Additionally, Head Start has also donated some of its leased space to this project.

Parish Administrator

This week Christ Church and our Parish Administrator Ashley Green parted company. We've already begun the search for a new administrator. In the meantime, we have a great team of volunteers helping out in the office, and the rest of the staff are taking on more responsibilities. Please be forgiving with us as we are sure to drop a few balls as we make this transition.

Let me know what questions you have about all of this. Thank you and God bless you.

Peace,

Stephen

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

Happy New Year. This coming Sunday we celebrate the great Feast of the Epiphany. We moved it from Friday the 6th to Sunday the 8th because that's more fun and because the bishop is visiting. Epiphany literally translates as "manifestation of the divine." In Christian tradition this was the manifestation of God's incarnation to the magi. In Orthodox Christianity and in much of southern Europe, the celebration of Epiphany is actually more important than the Feast of the Nativity on December 25. Spending my early years in Italy, we celebrated the visit of Befana the Witch, who brought us gifts on Epiphany. I have no memories of this because I was a baby, but my mother promises me it's true.

Welcoming the Bishop on the Feast of the Epiphany makes some theological sense. If epiphany implies connecting to something larger, then connecting with our bishop is good imagery. Marc Andrus is one of just a few thousand bishops around the world who fall within the tradition of Apostolic succession. Jesus appointed the Apostles who, in turn, appointed successors, who eventually became known as bishops. It takes a few bishops to consecrate a new bishop, so theoretically, there's a line of succession through the bishops (technically the Episcopate) all the way back to Jesus. Bishops, in turn, ordain priests and deacons, who preside over sacraments in the churches with all the people. So this succession extends to the whole Church. To be sure, there have been some bad apples in the line of bishops, especially some of the medieval popes, but the symbolism is still there. 

So, this weekend as we celebrate the Epiphany, the manifestation of the divine presence to humanity, we also celebrate the connection of each one of us to a larger, living church and historical tradition, which stretches all the way back to Jesus. And if you take the genealogies of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke seriously, Jesus' lineage stretches back through King David, the 12 tribes of Israel, the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, and all the way back to the poetry that starts the book of Genesis.

Happy Epiphany!

-Stephen

Message From Stephen 12-23-22

Merry Christmas!

This week we gather to celebrate God's presence in our midst. We know God as light scattering darkness, as children looking upwards in wonder, as families gathering together, as shepherds running joyfully across the fields, as a new mother welcoming her child, as wise men realizing they have a whole lot still to learn. We know God's presence through music, through communion, in a goofy and joyful pageant, and most of all through each other.

As our community gathers to celebrate Christmas I'm aware that we have so many blessings from God. Our church is thriving, full of new people, young and old. We have enough money to pay our bills and to share with people who need help. We have so many people who love to be together to talk and laugh and sing and pray and share silence. The people of Christ Church know how to have a good party, and how to band together to feed and house our community. The people of Christ Church wrestle with theology while making space for mystery. The people of Christ Church are trying really hard to listen for whom God is calling them to be. As we gather this Christmas to again celebrate Jesus' birth into this messy world, I bid you to remember all of our blessings, to continue sharing them joyfully, and to listen for God in the stillness of these holy nights.

Merry Christmas and God bless you.

-Stephen

Message From Stephen 12-17-22

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

It's almost the fourth Sunday of Advent. You can feel the carols straining to break through our Advent hymns, excitement building to a fever pitch amongst the children, and full grown Episcopalians losing patience with the idea that Advent is a time for thoughtful waiting. It's almost Christmas! Theologically, this leaves us one week to prepare the mangers of our hearts to carry Jesus. How do we do that, especially with the consumer-industrial complex blasting out peppermint-scented Santa songs 24/7? How on earth do we prepare to host God in the mud, straw and cold of our hectic lives?

As we approach the celebration of Christmas, I challenge you to take a little extra time to pray for more peace in this world and in your own heart. In Mary's word's of the Magnificat, which we read and sang last Sunday, I urge you to think about how your own soul can magnify the Lord. Ask yourself how you can reflect more light from the stars of heaven onto other people. Remember your blessings, and remember to share them. May God bless you through these dark and cold Advent nights.

Peace,

Stephen

Message From Stephen 12-9-22

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

For the last few weeks I've been working with our fearless Social Justice Ministry to revive the homeless shelter in our Parish Hall. We've been strategizing with the Mayor and the Interim City Manager. As you can imagine, these cold, wet nights are miserable for our homeless neighbors. On Wednesday we had a very encouraging meeting with the City and the Housing Consortium of the East Bay (HCEB), and we're close to striking a deal that would allow us to reopen. Nothing is certain yet, but here's an outline of how things will work:

• We will host a shelter in our Parish Hall for 2-3 fixed nights per week, which are not dependent on weather. Opening and closing according to the forecast is just too difficult to staff.

• HCEB will provide professional staff to work overnight.

• Christ Church will organize volunteer teams to provide and serve hot dinners and to-go breakfasts. Christ Church will organize volunteer teams to operate the showers for the guests. Christ Church will also solicit donations of sleeping bags from the community for shelter guests.

• The City of Alameda will provide $70,000 in funding, while Christ Church has committed to raising an additional $20,000. We will fundraise with other churches, the community at large and possibly draw on reserves that remain from the previous season.

• HCEB is currently determining how many nights of staffing $90,000 will pay for. That will allow us to create a schedule.

We still have many details to work out, but our fantastic Social Justice Ministry team is committed to figuring this out. I realize that operating a shelter in our Parish Hall requires us to compromise on space use, and sometimes that is frustrating. At the risk of sounding self-righteous, however, I believe helping out some of our most vulnerable neighbors is a great way to follow Jesus' example in the Gospels.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions at all. I will keep you updated as our plans unfold. God bless you.

-Stephen

Message From Stephen 11-25-22

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.”

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

That quote by Fredreick Buechner captures my feelings about Christ Church's Thanksgiving Dinner. Though I've been out of town, I've watched the photos on social media. I see deep gladness in the faces of Gaylon Parsons and David Burton (our fearless leaders!), Stacey Dembroge, Jim & Sarah Passard, Joan Caton, the Woo family, Melanie McMullen and Hanna Hurley, Jan Spry, Alisa Rasera, Doug Dembroge, Scott Piehler, and so many, many, many others. And over the last few weeks I've literally heard about the deep hunger of many in our community who are looking for a meal on Thanksgiving Day.

Throughout the autumn you have heard me blathering on about the question, "Who is God calling you to be?" I should have just shown people photos of our parish hall on Thanksgiving Day. The spirit of the meal which our church has served for so many years captures the hope of Christianity really well. We find joy in gathering as a community, and we direct that energy towards the needs around us. In the Gospel, Jesus puts it thus: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." While theologians call us to gather as the body of Christ and create a world in which God's will is done on earth as in heaven. But that fancy language doesn't capture the smell of roast turkey and gravy, the sound of laughter, and the generosity of our church.

As we look towards a new (liturgical) year and continue to ask who God is calling us to be, remember the lessons we're learning on Thanksgiving Day at Christ Church. God bless you and happy Thanksgiving.

-Stephen McHale

Message From Stephen 11-18-22

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

The tenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew tells us to "...be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Ever since my two children started keeping corn snakes as pets, I've wondered about this. The snakes who live upstairs from me, Speeder and Rosie, don't seem wise. They literally prove the reptilian brain theory of evolution. The serpents sit there, coiled up doing nothing, for days and days. Until Priscilla and Jackson dangle a frozen mouse (mousicle?) in front of them, which they eat without even bothering to chew. The snakes also try to eat the kitchen tongs holding the mouse, the fingers holding the tongs, or even their own tails, once they scent a mouse. So perhaps the bar for being "wise as serpents" isn't very high.

I often think of Jesus' challenge to the disciples when I balance the spiritual side of church life with the administrative side. I love the praying, singing, gathering-in-love "dove" stuff. The serpent stuff takes more discipline.

Today I want to share some of the "serpent" thinking that goes into the mundane process of church budgeting. As we all know, inflation is high all around us. That is driving up costs for Christ Church. Specifically, we're facing a 6.7 percent cost-of-living allocation from the Diocese and a 5 percent rise in health insurance premiums. Maddeningly, in 2023 the Diocese is also asking all the churches to pay a 17 percent assessment on our PPP loans from 2020. Our PPP was $66,000, so that works out to around $11,000. In the spirit of being wise as serpents, we are preparing to dispute that because it seems ridiculous. Fortunately, our new five year lease with Heat Start will generate an additional $28,000 in 2023. But that doesn't cover the gap between rising costs and rising pledges. In our convoluted math, we need an approximately ten percent rise in pledging to cover our projected budget. This means our Finance Ministry and vestry will need to be creative. Some options include:

• Cut the budget wherever possible.

• Dispute the PPP percentage the Diocese is asking for.

• Not follow the Diocesan COLA guidelines.

• Another fundraising push as we wind up our "Who is God calling you to be?" campaign.

• Reach out to our many newcomers to become pledgers. New parishioners typically don't start pledging regularly for a few years. Longer-term parishioners tend to be more generous than newcomers, so when they die or move away, it takes a number of newcomers' pledges to compensate.

• Approve a deficit budget, which we'd supplement with reserves.

• Charge for communion. Just kidding! We gave that up 500 years ago.

• Draw more on investment income.

• Find creative sources for new revenue, such as leasing our kitchen to a caterer, hosting a social fundraiser, etc.

• Some combination of all of this.

In the next few weeks our Finance Ministry will sketch out various proposals. We'd love your creative ideas if you've got any, so please reach out to me. Together, we'll figure this out. Together, we'll continue welcoming all kinds of newcomers. Together, we'll follow Jesus' invitation to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

In the meantime, let me know if you'd like to look after my kids' snakes while we're on sabbatical next summer. Think of the wisdom you could acquire!

Peace,

Stephen

Message From Stephen 11-11-22

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

My heart has been full this week. With the rain, darker afternoons, and now this lovely, crisp air, I've been walking a lot with my dog. I fasten a wool scarf around my neck and a leash around Bear's. We wander our community side-by-side. I pretend it's late autumn in New England as I stroll among what passes for turning colors in our magnificent California. My heart has been full for a few reasons.

From the comfort of my laptop I've been watching financial pledges for 2023 roll in, slowly piling up quantifiable expressions of commitment to this dear church. It's humbling and a little intimidating to see so many people support our church. In parallel, I've been watching preparations for our giant Thanksgiving dinner. All kinds of people have signed up with donations of food and money and time. It feels like the perfect B-side to our Faith Full Giving campaign.

I focus on these positive things to distract myself from electoral anxiety. Meanwhile, I've been talking with our Social Justice Ministry to learn how we can do more to help out our homeless siblings. This has been frustrating. We've got the will and the resources, but coordinating with the City and other non-profits feels way harder than it should be. But somehow this cooler, darker weather also softens my heart to grief. Over the past few weeks I've met with a number of people who are grieving and read a good book on grief (good grief?) by my friend Liz. As we raise money for the church and work on homelessness and hunger, I'm increasingly aware of just how fragile and blessed so many of us are. The sturdy cliche "There, but for the grace of God, go I," fits.

Take care of yourself through these dark nights. Take care of the people you love. Share what you can with everybody else. And may God bless you.

-Stephen

Message From Stephen 11-4-22

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

All week long I've been buzzing with good energy from last Sunday's Faith Full Giving service and party. I'm so excited that we can ask the question "Who is God calling us to be?" seriously, not rhetorically. I'm really curious to learn how the Spirit is moving in each of us share our blessings with more people. In my note today I want to thank all of you who provided such thoughtful answers in church on Sunday to the question animating our Faith Full Giving drive. From the deepest part of me I also want to thank all of you who have been able to make a pledge to support Christ Church in 2023. Your commitment means an awful lot to me personally because it validates much of the work the staff and leadership of Christ Church are up to. But there's more, too. The commitment of so many good people to the shared project of sharing more and more love with our community helps buoy my faith in humanity. Together, we're sharing our resources to create something larger than our individual selves. Theologically, St. Paul would say we're learning how to be the Body of Christ for a hungry world. More whimsically, I feel like we're all learning to dance together to the same music.

I want to call out a few folks in particular for gratitude in our "Who is God calling you to be?" campaign. Andrew Massey led our effort as chair of the committee this year. Sally Han serves our vestry as liaison to Faith Full Giving. Andrew Han, Sheri Stock, Ashley Jackson and Jose Quinonez rounded out our crack committee. Our great speakers included Kimble Helms, Matt Ganser and Allison Melendez. Jose, Andrew Han, Sheri and Hale Foote pulled our party together. Juan and Luz Garcia catered the event. The church staff -Will Scott, Ashley Jackson, and Michael Moran- worked really hard to pull all of this together. I am so grateful for the work and love and energy of all these people.

If you have not already made a pledge to Christ Church for 2023, we'd be grateful if you could. That will help us to pull our budget together in time for the new year. May God continue to bless you all, and may you continue passing on those blessings to the people around you.

Peace,

Stephen

Message From Stephen 10-21-22

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

It's mid-October, the weather has finally cooled and another Oakland A's season has ended unceremoniously. This means it's also fundraising time at Christ Church. Raising money is not everyone's favorite thing. Neither is donating money. Sometimes in October I feel like I have a split personality; from my right brain I talk about creating relationships with God and with each other, and serving our community. From my left brain I track financial data on a spreadsheet. Usually I keep these lobes of my brain separate. Who wants to talk about filthy money when they're contemplating the circles of heaven? For this reason, I find that Faith Full Giving season is a challenging spiritual exercise for me. Faith Full Giving confronts me with the idea that I can seek integrity in the various spheres of my life. When I say integrity, I mean its dictionary definition: the state of being whole and undivided. Working on my annual pledge to Christ Church forces me to align my personal and private values with my hopes for this community and all my blathering during sermons. Because how we each spend our limited income is a clear and quantifiable reflection of our private values, applied to a collective cause. I tend to think of my financial choices transactionally, but Faith Full Giving puts a relational lens on my choices. I can yammer on endlessly about loving God and loving our neighbors and the value of community life and our calling to share our blessings, but a financial commitment is a tangible, long-term bet on those very values.

Each one of us has to make their own decisions about finances and philanthropy with the counsel of prayer and the people we love, balancing all the pulls of costly modern life. As you make your decisions about supporting Christ Church with money, time, energy and love in 2023, I ask to bring a sense of God's blessings, your own joy in community, prudence at taking care of your own needs, and a heart open to God's movement at Christ Church, in your family, and in the whole wide world. Who is God calling you to be?

Peace,

Stephen

Message From Stephen 10-14-22

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

After church last Sunday Will Scott and I hosted a newcomers' gathering to talk about how the Episcopal Church became the particular way it is. One person asked us how Christ Church was doing with diversity. I noted that like most Episcopal churches, our congregation no longer reflects the demographics of our neighborhood. We tend to be whiter, older and more affluent than many of our neighbors. Clearly we have work to do to make our church more relevant to the people around us. Another newcomer commented that diversification was really a challenge of evangelism. That's an excellent point. I truly believe that we have something wonderful going on here at Christ Church. As Will likes to say, we're a unicorn. But we obviously have some difficulty inviting people into the story of our church.

To me, the issues of diversity and evangelism roll into the larger question we're talking about this Faith Full Giving season: Who is God calling you to be? Put differently, how can we as individuals and as a church reflect God's character, and how can we share that with people we don't see on Sundays? Frustratingly for someone who likes to pretend he knows everything, I don't have the answers to those questions. We're doing something new here at Christ Church: bringing the beauty of our tradition into conversation with the experiences of people who don't go to church. There's no script for that, so we have to write it ourselves.

I want your help writing that script, that love letter to God and our neighbors. As we look ahead to our Faith Full Giving Sunday, I invite you to join me in answering the question, "Who is God calling you to be?" and in sharing the answer with our lives.

God bless you all!

-Stephen

Message From Stephen 10-7-22

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

As you read this note I'll be leading a group of priests through the wild and rugged Escalante National Monument. Journeying into the wilderness, away from e-mail, staff and parishioners feels like a strange way to prepare for Christ Church's Faith Full Giving campaign. After all, I won't be able to edit things on Google Docs, or coordinate with our bookkeeper, or even dial in to a zoom meeting with our great leadership team. How can I possibly do ministry when I'm off in the desert?

Counterintuitively, and also self-servingly, it actually makes sense to me. I seek the solace of fierce landscapes, in part, to work on my own identity. Those long miles on the trail are a great way to sit with our Faith Full Giving question for the year: Who is God calling you to be? Of course, I won't be alone out there. I'll be with my tribe of Faith Full priests, and I'll certainly be asking each of them who God is calling them to be as they help steer their congregations into the brave new world of life in the shadow of Covid-19. I'm very curious about what I can learn from them.

Answering this question well as individuals and as the community of Christ Church is a prerequisite for everything we do around here. How can we raise money, raise energy or gather newcomers to our church without a clear sense of who we are and who God is calling us to be? So, at risk of sounding like a broken record, I continue to invite you to ask the question: Who is God calling you to be? Listen for God, listen to your hearts, and to listen to each other.

God bless you and stay safe out there.

-Stephen

Message from Stephen 9-16-22

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

Here we are, at the cusp of another program year! This Sunday, September 18th, we'll try out a new liturgy from the New Zealand Prayerbook, welcome our choir back, restart Sunday school, and kickoff youth group, among other things. We'll celebrate our reunion during coffee hour with a barbecue, a scavenger hunt, a bouncy house, and presentations by Christ Church's ministries. Working with our leadership team to plan for our Autumn kickoff has reminded me just how much we do around here to help bring the kingdom of God right to our community. We are blessed with so many talented people who put their money and time and spirit where their mouths are. I'm grateful to work alongside so many people who live in Jesus' example.

As we continue gathering this year, I'll be pestering you all to think about what we do well around here. I want to hear from you about what brings you joy as a Christian and as a member of this community. And, how we can leverage that joy to meet some of the needs of people here in the East Bay. I'm looking forward to these conversations.

Come join the party on the 18th, and may God bless you.

Peace,
Stephen

Message from Stephen 9-9-22

"And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul.."

-John Muir

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

For two Sundays in a row I've been chasing John Muir's spirit into the forest, looking for my soul. Last Sunday a dozen of us climbed super-way-high-up into the Sierra Nevada, 9300 feet above the San Francisco Bay. We were so high it wasn't even hot! This coming weekend 62 of folks from Christ Church are headed down to Big Sur to share meals cooked over an open fire, sing songs beneath the stars, swim in the river, and share church on a beach. But I'm not done! Near the end of the month both Will and I are headed up to our annual clergy conference at the Bishop's Ranch. We'll both be camping out because that's more fun than sleeping beneath a roof. The theme of the week is "Finding Franciscan Joy in Unraveling Times." The clergy will also be gathering without the bishop to brainstorm about what we'd like to see in the new bishop. Neither of us will miss a Sunday. Then during the first week of October I'm leading twelve priests deep into the Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument. The Escalante was the last area to be mapped by Europeans in the lower-48 states. There we'll trek 40 miles through rugged wilderness, discussing the book Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape. We'll also pray throughout the days and share stories about what's working in our churches. I won't miss a Sunday for that either.

All this woodsiness may seem excessive. I get that. I didn't plan for all of these events to fall so close to each other, but sometimes that's how the universe works. Maybe it's a nudge from God? I don't know, but John Muir did say that “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” My hope for all this time beneath the clear sky of God's creation is to press my own soul into the fingerprints God left behind when she created all of this. And hopefully, in that communion, find some stories to share with all of you.

Also, I promise to shower before I see you next.

Peace,

Stephen

Message From Stephen 8-19-22

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

I'm writing this note on the morning my kids returned to school (7th and 8th grade) and rain fell in Alameda. Hallelujah and glory be! Both events feel like miracles. Covid protocols at the kids' school are much more modest than those of the past two years. I hope this means that as we look towards autumn we're all fumbling towards a new normal. We need some more miracles around here. I say that with a grain of salt, since all of my recent predictions about future events have been way, way off. I wouldn't make a very good prophet. But still, I find reason for hope! Covid cases aren't nearly as serious as they once were, the vaccination rate in our Parish is very high, and the ambient anxiety feels lower to me.

As we turn the corner from summertime to the school year, from corn-on-the-cob towards pumpkin spice, I'm hopeful for the change and growth to come at Christ Church. Sunday school and the choir will be back soon (September 18). Last night our vestry approved our expanded partnership with Head Start, so that we can help support more low-income children in our community. Soon I'm going to start meeting with an executive coach to help me grow as a manager of staff, volunteers and time. And I hope to begin a season of discernment at Christ Church in which together we ask ourselves where our own joy and the community's needs overlap.

Hang in there, good people. We have a resilient church, the Spirit of God is with us, and we've got great work to do together. May God bless you in this time of fruitful change.

Peace,

Stephen