Calling all chefs (and wannabes) to can up blueberry jam in a fun Friday-night adventure! Led by experienced canners Pauline and Fred Felder and Nancy and Tom Lehrkind, we will be canning blueberry jam. Each participant will go home with one jar. Please bring: an inquiring mind, aprons, choice of beverage, any potluck item to share (meaning, whatever is in your kitchen—it could be a can of beans—just let the spirit move you!). Childcare with activities will be provided for children in 4th grade and under.
The group will meet in the St. John's kitchen at 5pm. Food will be available for children early in the evening, and a potluck meal will be shared. At 7pm, parents with children should feel free to head home, while others are asked to stay to help clean up. Any questions, call Nancy Lehrkind (510-499-8177) or Fred Felder (510-599-3125)
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St. John's was among three Bay Area churches included during a short piece about Easter Vigils during KPIX's 11pm Saturday broadcast. Watch video of the entire Easter Vigil on the St. John's YouTube Channel. Facilitated by St. John's member Jesse Warr
What do you really believe? Many of us have questions about how to live within our own moral parameters and peacefully with our unlovable neighbors, so let's talk about it. Join St. John's member Jesse Warr for a six-week discussion group taking place Wednesdays at 6:15pm from April 17 to May 22. We'll begin each meeting with Episcopal doctrine and discuss provocative questions to encourage participants to be candid about their own beliefs. All are welcome, including teens (with parent or guardian's permission), neighbors, and those from other religious organizations. A sample of questions to be discussed:
Coming Together Attentively— to One Another, to the Moment, to the Spirit Retreat Leader: Marilyn McEntyre March 1-3 at The Bishop's Ranch in beautiful Healdsburg, CA REGISTER by Feb 15th http://tinyurl.com/577334zn Download a flyer. Imagine a whole weekend where you don’t have to even think about cooking! Registration is now open for this year’s St. John’s Women’s Retreat!
The Ranch wants by numbers by mid-February so the registration deadline is FEBRUARY 15th. Please register ASAP. The 2023 Annual Report is now available. Download the report.
On January 21, St. John's will have one short service at 10am followed by the Annual Meeting & a potluck. Please email Laurie Bennett if you can contribute to one or more of these categories:
We have 4 new candidates for the Vestry who will be voted on during the Annual Meeting on Sunday, Jan. 21. See their headshots and read their bios on our website. We have 4 new candidates for the Vestry who will be voted on during the Annual Meeting on Sunday, Jan. 21. Below are headshots & bios. Stephen Baronian Stephen is an Oakland native who has lived the majority of his life in close proximity to his childhood home. Stephen was awarded an MTS degree from the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, in 2018. This marked a career turning point and a long-awaited opportunity to become a chaplain. Raised in the Armenian Orthodox Church, he and his family joined St. John’s in 2013 and are active members. Stephen and his wife, Nancy Roscelli, have one daughter, Frances, who studies English Literature at SFSU. Stephen thrives in the outdoors and especially enjoys reading, road cycling, and spending time at home. He is a proficient (some say gifted) napper and periodically undertakes art projects. Jen Howard-Lukens Jen came to the St. John’s community 10-15 years ago through music and mindfulness. She discovered St John’s while attending Music Together classes with her children in the Fischer Room and, after class, finding a quiet moment in the meditation garden. Her children, Jaden (15) and Keller (11), still sing in the Fischer Room with Ben every Tuesday, and Jen now offers a mindfulness and meditation group for youth. Jen lives in Montclair with her husband Trevor and their two sons, dog, cat, and gecko. She works as a Clinical Psychologist in private practice in Oakland. Her professional roots are in juvenile justice and family therapy and she worked with children and families in the non-profit sector for 15+ years. Jen continues to specialize in trauma, anxiety, relationships, and grief and loss. Jen is interested in serving on the Vestry to help St. John’s continue to find creative ways to bring youth and families together in love and mindfulness. Nancy Lehrkind Tom and I have been members of St. John's for about 40 years now, happily raising three children in this vital faith community. We are both retired attorneys and I still maintain an active practice in the East Bay as a real estate broker. During our many St. John's years, Tom served on the Vestry, and he and I ran a PEP Training Class (Parent Effectiveness Training) for parents of young children; together with the Felders, Millers, & talented others, we led a Canning & Jamming program every Friday night for a year! I sang in the choir for 10 years, taught Sunday School for 6, was in charge of Tenant properties (reporting to the Vestry) for 2, ran two Auctions, and worked on the first-ever Comfirmitzvah Class with other epic parents of that year. My goal is to help re-vitalize some of those activities, reaching out to the wider Montclair community for more participants, and adding a theatre component to our St. John's life as well. Linda Williams Given that I have not long been a member of St. John’s, I am humbled by the opportunity to serve on the Vestry and pray that what I lack in years I will make up in enthusiasm. The Episcopal Church of my childhood was rich and formative, as was attending the Catholic Church with my beloved Irish Catholic grandmother. During college at UC Berkeley I ‘went east,’ exploring Buddhism and attending the Berkeley Vedanta Society where I met my Bengali husband. Through contemplative practice in Vedanta, Buddhism, and Christianity, I came to believe in the truth of all faith traditions whose mystics, free of dogma, speak the same language of love. Several years ago, I returned to the Episcopal Church, my forever spiritual home. Though my marriage ended, I am blessed by my 28-year-old daughter, Marie, living in Santa Barbara. With graduate degrees in Public Health and in City and Regional Planning, my career zig-zagged through health care legislation, program development, contract negotiations, and health compliance. I am impassioned by the right to universal health care, the rights of immigrants, the undocumented, and trafficking victims, and anti-death penalty work. Happily retired, I am (slowly) writing The Great American Novel as well as a memoir of my immersion into Indian history and culture. My dog Marley and I frequent the vast expanse of the East Bay hills that surround a beautiful and buoyant church called St. John’s. Dear Friends, I am often asked, “How can we better support youth and young families?” Well, let’s ask them. Before reading my Christmas message below, please read a statement from our youngest vestry member, Kirby Marion, and watch a one-minute video by Lara Pierpoint, also a vestry member and a parent of a young family. A Message from Kirby Marion The final part of our mission statement states that we are to manifest God’s love through action. As a community we have always been proud of our actions - from feeding the hungry, clothing the weary, and providing transportation for the youth of the area. While St. John’s has been very actionable in the past, the current social climate calls us to take more action than we ever have before. It is time for us to step up within Genesis, (a network of congregations and community organizations co-founded by St. John’s to create equity in our communities). With your support, we are going to make waves of positive change flow through our home and radiate through the nation. With your support, we can provide aid to people suffering, while simultaneously working to dismantle the structures that cause suffering in the first place. With your support, a renewed Genesis and a renewed St. John’s will be a beacon for the beloved community. The Gateway Project will bring “flare” to St. John’s! Many St. John’s members and visitors have long considered the steep, partially blind Gouldin Road entrance to St. John’s campus and the steep, blind Alhambra Lane exit to be daunting, uninviting, potentially hazardous, and unattractive. We’re aware of one fairly recent incident involving an elderly woman who drove off the side of the Gouldin driveway in the dark at our Christmas drive-through. Over the years there have been other such incidents. Better lighting, curbs, and reflectors could mitigate the safety risks of the current entrance and exit. However, these improvements would not solve other problems that the new “flared” entrance from and exit to Thornhill Drive will address. With the new two-way bridge over Temescal Creek, cars and service and emergency vehicles will enter and exit across the bridge. The only cars still needing to drive down the Alhambra Lane exit from the site are those parking on the south wing of the upper parking area. School drop-off traffic will be directed to enter across the bridge, go up to the turnaround for drop off, and continue back down and exit out across the bridge. The Gouldin Road access will be closed off for vehicular traffic when the bridge and new driveway are completed. St. John’s is blessed with a beautiful campus which has a treacherously steep entrance and exit, making our campus less accessible, hospitable, and safe for parishioners and the broader community. The Gateway Project addresses these long-held concerns. It will create a new entrance or ‘gateway’ to our church campus. It entails installing a prefabricated concrete bridge from Thornhill Drive over Temescal Creek, which runs alongside the north edge of the church property, creating a new driveway and turning circle and upgrading our parking, landscaping, and outdoor lighting. The proposed new entrance will greatly improve traffic safety for school children and residents in our neighborhood and enhance our visibility and accessibility for both the parish and the greater community. The City of Oakland, neighborhood groups, and the local community have expressed strong support for The Gateway Project.
On Saturday, December 2, St. John's community members of all ages gathered to decorate the church for the Advent and Christmas seasons, craft, and have dinner together. Many thanks to the ladder-climbers, cooks, cleaners, crafter-planners, unpackers, chair-and-table-carriers, banner-hangers, and all those who made this special night possible!
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