The Episcopal Church of Saint John the Evangelist

Please join us for worship on Sunday mornings at 10:15 am Pacific Time. All are welcome! We are also offering Evening Prayer from Tuesday-Friday at 5:15 pm and Compline on Sunday evenings. Because of the global COVID-19 pandemic and our need to protect ourselves and each other by sheltering in place, we are currently gathering over Zoom from our phones and computers--apart but still together.... If you are not receiving the St. John's emails, please contact Senior Warden Sarah Lawton at [email protected] for the email with Zoom links for our services. (St. John's folks: check your email inbox.)

Saint John's Courtyard Opens for the Neighborhood As an outgrowth of conversations with neighbors and neighborhood organizations this past fall, and with monetary support from The Gubbio Project, Saint John will staff and open its courtyard for the neighborhood between 11am-1pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays on an exploratory basis. The times were selected to coincide with the hours that Centro Latino de SF, across the street from the church on 15th, daily serves a bagged meal to ...go. Though due to Covid advisories we will not open bathrooms or serve coffee at this time, once restrictions are eased we may do so. Socially distanced seating will be made available on the stone benches and on chairs. We also welcome church members to this outdoor oasis during these hours for physically distant social respite, though only 12 visitors at any given time will be received due to city and diocese advisories. The church building and bathrooms, unfortunately, must remain closed. We will continue to receive direction from the city and diocese as Covid developments are monitored. See more

Please join us for worship on Sunday mornings at 10:15 am Pacific Time. All are welcome! We are also offering Evening Prayer from Tuesday-Friday at 5:15 pm; Lectio Divina (scripture reflection) on Tuesday mornings, and Compline on Sunday evenings. Because of the global COVID-19 pandemic and our need to protect ourselves and each other by sheltering in place, we are currently gathering over Zoom from our phones and computers--apart but still together.... If you are not receiving the St. John's emails, please contact Senior Warden Sarah Lawton at [email protected] for the email with Zoom links for our services. (St. John's folks: check your email inbox.)

Very interesting, in-depth piece on Covid and the Mission District: https://missionlocal.org//the-ucsf-researcher-who-challen/

Our weekly newsletter has arrived! Here is a reflection from Deacon Jac: Seen and Unseen The slanted glow of sunlight marks this season of Halloween, All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day, and--in The Mission--Día de los Muertos. While ghosts and ghouls spook and excite the children, I’d love myself to be carried away on a broomstick right about now, given all that’s happening in the world around us. Unfortunately, observing the Feast of All Saints requires me to stay right here w...ith both feet on the ground. This Sunday we are invited to open our hearts to the space between death and breath. If you really think about it, life is not the opposite of death, birth is--life is rather the complete cycle that includes birth and death, and that mysterious in-between that cradles the communion of saints. George MacLeod, founder of the Iona community, believes there are thin places in time and the universe where only tissue paper separates the material from the spiritual. I believe it’s all thin space, and on occasion, if we’re brave, we allow ourselves to experience it. This Sunday, we will remember the saints and those whom we love but can no longer see--we will beckon them to strengthen and guide us. This week there is too much at stake for us to pray simply for the repose of their souls; I think we should rather pray for the departed to rise up and agitate us on behalf of the sake of those who are seen but remain unseen. May the departed shock-start us also to lift up our voices against racism, corrupt power, and selfish disregard for creation. On Sunday we will celebrate and honor the dead, maybe even break through the thin space from them. And on Monday may none of us, seen or unseen, rest in peace until heaven and earth are one. If you haven’t already, vote! Deacon Jac [email protected] (to receive this weekly letter by email, plus lots more information about goings-on at St. John's, plus links to our online services, please email our Senior Warden, Sarah Lawton, at [email protected])

This week's newsletter is here! With another reflection from Deacon Jac: Gratitude Gestates Generosity For decades St. John’s has embraced the motto More Love; we have buttons and T-shirts and a big sign above the 15th St. entrance sporting the tag. When I see someone wearing a purple More Love shirt it sparks a deep sense of satisfaction. The bold shirts are sacramental in a way they are, in fact, a (modern-day) outward sign of an (age-old) inner grace. At our best, we ar...e love in action; at our best we animate God’s great love for us. I mentioned last week that love fertilizes seeds of gratitude we may not realize lie dormant within us. More love, more fertilizer, more gratitude. What I know to be true, at least in my life, is that gratitude gestates generosity. When I am grateful I want to give. Gratitude Gestates Generosity. The month of October is when we traditionally begin our stewardship campaign. When I think of how grateful I am for all of you the people who are the community of St. John’s I am inspired to renew my pledge. Before the pandemic, I used to believe that our gorgeous building on Julian St. was God’s dwelling place. When I walked into the sanctuary it felt holy, and I knew I was loved just as I am. God was in the walls, and the altar, and the organ, and I was filled with gratitude. But I was wrong. Since we’ve been worshiping via zoom in our homes, I’ve realized that God dwells in us, the people of St. John’s. We bring God into our beautiful building, and that's why it feels so awesomely holy. I can’t wait to worship with all of you face-to-face, passing the peace and breaking the bread. But no matter how we pray, or where we gather, our parish community will always be bound in God’s love, and we will continue to carry More Love into the world. It seems right to again close with Maya Angelou’s words, ‘Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel and say your nightly prayer’. With more love, more fertilizer, and more gratitude, Deacon Jac (to receive this weekly letter by email, plus lots more information about goings-on at St. John's, plus links to our online services, please email our Senior Warden, Sarah Lawton, at [email protected])

Evening Prayer is now at 5:30, Tuesday through Friday. Transition to the evening hours and let go of the demands of the day with us. Click the link below to join us.

This week's reflection is from Deacon Jac: From Deacon Jac More love, more gratitude... Jeremy wrote in last week’s newsletter about how grateful he is for his time at St. John’s, the time he shared with us, every one of us. His gratitude was palpable last Sunday, and of course the gratitude is reciprocal. There’s a link between gratitude and love that is far greater than a simple ping-ponging between two pleasant emotions; love, in both giving and receiving, fertilizes seeds of gratitude we may not even realize are buried within us. With love, the growth of gratitude is automatic. Not only is this occurrence spontaneous, it is powerful and contagious. Dare I say love and gratitude have the potential to spread exponentially at lightning speed. In the midst of this devastating pandemic, I take heart in imagining a world infected by a highly contagious outbreak of love, whose natural course transforms to gratitude as it jumps from one person to the next without even a handshake. St. John’s is a hotspot of love. I want to repeat that St. John’s is a hotspot of love, more love. Shrouded in love, we already have what we need for our uncharted journey. Together in love we will find our priest-in-charge who is patiently waiting to be called. With hope grounded in love we are reconciling (to an extent) with distanced worship. With a heart of flesh we will move faithfully toward a contentious election. And through it all we will continue to pray wildly for one another and for our neighborhood. In her poem Continue, which reads more like a litany of wisdom and hope, Maya Angelou says, ‘Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel and say your nightly prayer’. And to that I say ‘Amen!’ Deacon Jac (to receive this weekly letter by email, plus lots more information about goings-on at St. John's, plus links to our online services, please email our Senior Warden, Sarah Lawton, at [email protected])

Join us for Evening Prayer, Tuesday through Friday at 5:15.

As we prepare to say goodbye to our priest-in-charge, the Rev. Jeremy Clark-King, here is his final newsletter this week. Please join us this Sunday via Zoom for our goodbye party! From Jeremy: Gratitude... It is far far to early for me to know just how much St John's, the Mission, you have given to me over the time I have been with you, but I know that it has been so much and I will always be deeply grateful. When I first joined you, I said that one of the beautiful things about St John's was a certain 'raggedness.' We care about the heart not the appearance. In my first sermon I said, quoting Leonard Cohen, that you are 'Monsters of Love'. You know the love of God and you show it widely and wonderfully freely. For all this, and so much more, I give thanks. The great spiritual writer, Meister Eckhart, says "If the only prayer you say in your whole life is thank you, that would suffice." I will be giving thanks for you, and watching as you move into the future God has for you. I have quoted John O'Donohue many times here; he reminds us that gratitude for our blessings honors them. He says that, 'The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection; it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable...' That is what St John's does. And so, a blessing (thanks to O'Donohue): May you awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence. May you have joy and peace in the temple of your senses. May you receive great encouragement when new frontiers beckon. May you respond to the call of your gift and find the courage to follow its path. May the flame of anger free you from falsity. May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame and may anxiety never linger about you. May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul. May you take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention. May you be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul. May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder. More Love Jeremy Farewell to Jeremy: Sunday at 12 noon we will re-gather at the same zoom link as for the morning service to say farewell to Jeremy as he moves on to a new position in the Diocese of Southwark in London, England. Jeremy and Ellen (Vice Dean and Canon for Social Justice at Grace Cathedral) have been in San Francisco for almost 4 years. Please email Senior Warden Sarah Lawton at [email protected] if you would like Zoom info for this gathering.

Important development for our neighborhood! *Free* testing now available for children at the Mission Food Hub at 19th and Alabama Streets as part of an effort to address racial and economic disparities:

From our latest newsletter from Fr. Jeremy: News from Faith in Action and the Plaza 16 coalition: You may have seen in the Chronicle the news that the Monster in the Mission has officially been defeated! For years, Maxiumus Partners insisted that they would build luxury housing at 16th & Mission, and that the land would not be sold. Well, guess what? They just sold it! 100% affordable housing for the Mission! Congrats to the Faith in Action leaders and clergy, and many other...s from across the community, who worked together to make this victory happen. ¡Si se puede! Also this week, there is the other great news that the Prop C funds have cleared the legal challenges. That funding will be directed towards tackling homelessness in the City. More Love, Jeremy (photos from some of the actions over the past years that brought us to this moment)

A prayer for workers on this Labor Day: O God, your unfailing providence sustains the world we live in and the life we live: Watch over those, both night and day, who work while others sleep, and grant that we may never... forget that our common life depends upon each other's toil; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (original drawing by Carolyn Olsen; see more about her series of paintings of essential workers here: https://www.pbs.org//by-drawing-essential-workers-this-art)

This week's post from Fr. Jeremy: One of the features of being a priest that I have not done in a long while is a school assembly. In England, as part of the 1944 Education Act, and, of course, having different ideas about Church and State, all schools are expected to hold an assembly with a religious character every day. Most schools have found ways not to do this! Church schools (which are still part of the state system there) do have assemblies....Continue reading

Our Julian Pantry is still providing food for our neighbors, every Saturday morning, in collaboration with the SF-Marin Foodbank, thanks to Jean, Lisa, Allan, and other super-volunteers. Anyone who needs food, please stop by. (thanks to Allan for the photo)

From the latest newsletter from Fr. Jeremy: We have all watched the smoke come and go over the last week. We have watched for updates from friends and colleagues in the path of the fires. We mourn the loss of life and we give thanks for rescues and the astounding work of the firecrews. I long for rain to really show up and so this Mary Oliver poem is, for me this week, a prayer for rain. To soak, clean and refresh. To release sense memories to allow us to grow into what it to... be. Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me by Mary Oliver Last night the rain spoke to me slowly, saying, what joy to come falling out of the brisk cloud, to be happy again in a new way on the earth! That’s what it said as it dropped, smelling of iron, and vanished like a dream of the ocean into the branches and the grass below. Then it was over. The sky cleared. I was standing under a tree. The tree was a tree with happy leaves, and I was myself, and there were stars in the sky that were also themselves at the moment at which moment my right hand was holding my left hand which was holding the tree which was filled with stars and the soft rain imagine! imagine! the long and wondrous journeys still to be ours. More Love Jeremy (to receive this weekly letter by email, plus lots more information about goings-on at St. John's, plus links to our online services, please email Fr. Jeremy at [email protected])

Here is a lovely piece on Gonzalo Guoron, who was working as hospitality staff with our partner ministry The Gubbio Project before the pandemic. Gubbio very much wants to re-open for "sacred sleep" at St. John's and we want that as well! But public health considerations due to Covid are preventing congregate indoor programs from operating right now. Gonzalo tells the story of finding some regular Gubbio guests around the city. Some are doing well, thanks to being provided housing in local hotels during the pandemic--as St. John's has advocated along with our fellow faith communities through Faith in Action! Others are not doing so well as they have not been given shelter. As ever, our long-term goal and hope is for long-term housing for our unhoused neighbors. https://missionlocal.org//before-covid-19-he-greeted-the-/