Story, photos, and videos by the Rev. Dr. Pamela Stevens
At St. Peter’s in Redwood City, Advent 4 worship and observance continued throughout the longest night of the year, offering the first lights of Christmas in the bleak midwinter. A concert in the sanctuary by the Stellamos Youth Chorus titled “In Winter’s House” concluded with a stunning encore at which Stellamos alumni were invited to participate. The reception afterward featured an impromptu barbershop performance, as well as a bake sale in the parish hall, at which the cake pops the youth had made before were a hot seller. The evening concluded with candle-lit caroling in the neighborhood around St. Peter’s, calling people to the holiness of Advent hope.
Stellamos Youth Chorus is a collaboration between St. Peter’s and local youth choral singers of all faith traditions who seek a space to self-conduct, compose, and perform sacred choral music, and also to offer music as a source of hope for underserved children and youth.
The collaboration with St. Peter’s and the development of Stellamos both came about when the parish called its new rector, the Rev. Dr. Pamela Stevens, who has a deep love for choral music as well as youth ministry. The parish Vital & Thriving team, after years of discernment, supported this life-giving collaboration and is working to extend music and ministry collaborations to include the Spanish-speaking DioCal specialized mission El Buen Pastor and the Tongan-speaking congregation in the SKTT denomination, which both worship at St. Peter’s.
Stellamos Youth Chorus offers music at St. Peter’s at worship services, including Sunday services, a Good Friday Tenebrae service that the youth organize (nicknamed “Teen-e-brae), and the Christmas Eve service, which joins together the three congregations that worship at St. Peter’s. In July, Stellamos, which is youth-led, youth-conducted, and youth-organized, collaborated with St. Peter’s and local Episcopal churches on the island of Kaua’i to offer youth-on-youth music theory instruction in a custom curriculum created by the Stellamos singers, children without access to formal musical instruction. Stellamos then performed with the local children at benefit concerts around the island to help raise money for music programs. Proceeds from the Advent 4 concert will go toward the continuation of this project in the summer of 2026.
Christ Episcopal Church in Alameda celebrated the launch of its new laundry program this month, expanding its longstanding efforts to serve unhoused neighbors. The program builds on the church’s shower ministry and seasonal warming shelter, which operates in partnership with the City of Alameda and Episcopal Community Services, giving guests access to washers and dryers. The congregation held a ribbon-cutting after Sunday services on Dec. 7.
The Rev. Stephen McHale, rector of Christ Church, said the laundry program reflects the congregation’s commitment to practical, neighborhood-focused care at a time when many people feel isolated or overwhelmed by national and global challenges. “We’re really focused on community, because there’s so much loneliness out there,” McHale said. “Sharing what we’ve been blessed with in tangible ways, through showers, shelter, and now laundry, seems to resonate.”
McHale said that focus has been accompanied by what he described as an unexpected development. “We’re seeing some surprising growth here at Christ Church, and it’s not coming from Episcopalians,” he said. Increases in participation and financial support, he added, seem to reflect people’s desire to be involved in hands-on, local work.
The laundry program is run by volunteers and supported by donors, including, the Episcopal Impact Fund, which helps congregations develop ministries that respond to local needs. McHale said commercial laundries can be expensive and difficult to access, particularly for people without reliable transportation.
Sarah Passard, who leads Christ Church’s guest laundry program, said the idea grew out of years of observing how guests moved through the church’s shower ministry and the limited options available for washing clothing. Providing laundry access, she said, addresses a gap that had existed for years and allows guests to keep and care for their own belongings.
As the new laundry service gets underway, McHale said Christ Church is seeking additional volunteers. “We’re looking for groups to adopt a day of the month to help run the laundry program,” he said, noting that two or three volunteers can make a meaningful difference.
Individuals, congregations, and community groups interested in volunteering may contact the Rev. Stephen McHale at [email protected] for more information.
Cover Photo: Members of Christ Church Alameda cut the ribbon on the congregation’s new laundry facilities.
Story by the Rev. Canon Debbie Low-Skinner, APIC Chair; photos by the Rev. Jay Watan and the Rev. Debbie Low-Skinner
Members of our diocesan Asian American/Pacific Islander Commission (APIC) met on Wednesday, Dec. 3, for a Christmas fellowship dinner and meeting at Isla Filipino Restaurant in San Bruno.
Those in attendance included three postulants, four clergy, two senior wardens, two vestry members, the Rev. Canon Eric Metoyer, Canon for Racial, Social and Environmental Justice, and APIC chair, the Rev. Canon Debbie Low-Skinner.
Churches represented were Holy Child & St. Martin’s Church (HCSM), Daly City; Christ Church Sei Ko Kai, San Francisco; Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; St. Paul’s Church and the Sa Paula Tonga Congregation of St. Paul’s, Burlingame; St. Matthew’s Church, San Mateo; St. James’ Church, Fremont; Church of Our Saviour, Oakland + True Sunshine Church, San Francisco.
After dinner, participants shared their experiences attending Episcopal Asiamerican Ministry convocations over the past year, as well as notable happenings in their congregations.
Here are some takeaways:
It is heartening to see the enthusiasm and energy that our postulants have and will bring as the next generation of leaders in our diocese.
Canon Debbie has been serving for more than a year as a half-time supply clergy at Christ Church Sei Ko Kai. Their previous long-term supply priest, the Rev. Michael Dresbach, died Nov. 24. Please pray for his wife, Mona Dresbach, and his family.
Those who attended the Chinese Convocation last October received training in lay-led Chinese Mutual Bible Sharing (CMBS) from the Revs. Eric Law and Ryan Lun. This project is designed to help spiritually develop and build up community in our congregations.
The Rev. Merry Chan Ong’s term as president of Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries (EAM) ends this year. In its next chapter, EAM plans to add new convocations for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, for children and youth, and for mixed-race Asians.
Caroline Phan was elected as the new convener of the Japanese Convocation (JCON). She described how moving it was when JCON made a pilgrimage in October to Kyushu, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Kyushu, participants learned about the sacrifices and executions that thousands of Japanese converts to Christianity experienced over the past five centuries. As a result, some “hidden Christians” in Japan still practice their faith in secret, even though Nippon Sei Ko Kai (the Anglican Church of Japan) is no longer a persecuted church. The JCON pilgrims were also deeply moved by visits to the museums in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which show the effects of the atomic bombs the United States dropped there 80 years ago to help end World War II. Caroline and Gayle Kawahara plan to offer APIC and the diocese a Zoom presentation on the pilgrimage.
Holy Child & St. Martin’s successful food pantry ministry has been receiving so many food donations that the congregation had to buy a third refrigerator, this time a large commercial model. One of their donors is the new Korean super-sized supermarket Jagalchi, in Serramonte. There were so many sandwiches donated on Thanksgiving that HCSM Senior Warden Sherrie Rubi, whose husband is Japanese American, and other helpers went to two BART stations in San Francisco to hand out sandwiches to hungry travelers.Individuals or congregations who would like to help HCSM pay the remaining balance for purchasing and moving the new refrigerator may send a check to HCSM, 777 Southgate Ave., Daly City, CA 94015.
The next APIC meeting will be in late February or early March via Zoom. Remember that Feb. 17, Chinese New Year, is the beginning of the Year of the Horse.
On World AIDS Day, we pause to remember a chapter of our shared history that continues to form the heart of Sojourn’s calling.
Sojourn Chaplaincy was born on the AIDS wards at San Francisco General Hospital in 1982. In those early years, too many of our gay, queer, and trans siblings were dying in the shadows of stigma and fear. It was through their lives — their courage, their love, their insistence on dignity, and ultimately their deaths — that they became the spiritual ancestors of this chaplaincy. They shaped the way Sojourn understands presence, solidarity, and the sacredness of every person we accompany.
“The AIDS epidemic hit like lightning and cracked everything open. We found ourselves at the epicenter, and we had to do more. People were suffering and dying, and they weren’t Episcopalian — they were everyone. So we realized we had to change, to become an interfaith ministry, because our call was to the humanity in front of us.”
— Bishop Bill Swing, Sojourn Cofounder
The early chaplains of Sojourn showed up when others were afraid to enter the room. They sat at bedsides when families had shunned, held hands when touch was considered dangerous, and listened to stories the world was refusing to hear. The people they accompanied — the ones who died, the ones who fought, the ones who survived — are part of Sojourn’s lineage. Their memory guides our work to this day.
We are living, once again, in a time marked by scapegoating and marginalization. The forms have shifted, but the pattern remains painfully familiar: fear is used as a weapon, vulnerable communities are pushed to the edges, and people are left carrying burdens they should never have to bear alone.
Today, we accompany people living with HIV, and we also stand with those facing other crises — trans and gender-diverse people navigating discrimination, immigrants seeking safety and freedom from the threat of ICE and appalling detainment, families grieving unimaginable losses, staff carrying emotional burdens, and patients confronting illness, poverty, and isolation. The courage we learned in the AIDS years stays with us: to resist scapegoating, to honor every life, and to show up without fear or judgment.
On this World AIDS Day, we remember the ancestors of Sojourn — those whose lives and deaths shaped our ministry. We carry their memory with reverence, and we commit ourselves to offering the same fierce compassion in the present moment.
If you feel moved to support this work, I invite you to make a gift in honor of World AIDS Day:
We currently have a matching grant this week, and all gifts to Sojourn up to $3,000 will be tripled until we meet our goal!
Your generosity helps ensure that the legacy of compassion born in the AIDS wards continues — in every room where someone needs to know they are cherished, that they belong, and that they are held by love.
This past June, to celebrate Pride Month (June), the Rev. Justin R. Cannon chalked a Transgender Pride Flag on the sidewalk in front of his congregation All Saints Episcopal Church in San Leandro. He sent a photo of it to Tommy Martin-Edwards, a new churchgoer who identifies as nonbinary and goes by they/them pronouns. Tommy, also known as Sister Eva Lynn Goode amongst the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (thesisters.org), comments, “It was right after my first time coming to church in person as my most authentic self and it made me feel so welcome.”
Tommy posted a photo of the mural on TikTok, and it went viral with over 55,000 views, 12,900 likes, 495 bookmarks, and almost 300 shares. Some of the comments on the post included messages from people moved to tears by the expression of support. After reading dozens of these comments and hearing how moved Tommy was by the expression of visible support, Father Justin brought the idea of a permanent mural to the church council. They liked the idea but wanted something even more inclusive. There was strong support for a flag with all the colors including trans colors and brown and black stripes. The church council unanimously approved the project.
Just in time for National Coming Out Day (October 11), Father Justin completed the mural at the front entrance to the church. On Sunday, October 12, All Saints Episcopal Church will host a Queer Fellowship Luncheon for church members at a local restaurant to celebrate National Coming Out Day. While transgender rights are being stripped away by our federal government, and places like Florida have removed rainbow crosswalks (like the one here in San Leandro at Washington Ave and Parrot St), Father Justin believes visible signs of support are more important than ever. He explains, “At the beginning of his ministry, in Luke 4:18 Jesus makes it clear that he was anointed by God to bring good news to the poor, the outcast, and oppressed. He preached a message of radical inclusion and confronted religious authorities when they shut people out because they were deemed ‘unclean’ or undesirable. The message of the Gospel is quite simple, one of God’s wide-reaching love for all people.”
At All Saints, every service begins with their welcome message: “No matter who you are or where you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome here.” You can learn more about All Saints at www.saintsalive.net.
Story by Kathy Kennedy, Outreach Chair, Christ Church Portola Valley Woodside
Photos by Jocelyn Sideco (St. Paul’s Burlingame), Kathy Kennedy
On Saturday September 20th Outreach leaders of the Episcopal churches in San Mateo County and northern Santa Clara counties gathered at Christ Church Portola Valley Woodside to learn about one another’s charitable programs, discuss common challenges and to look for areas where we can collaborate. Our initial purpose of “Outreach Exchange” was simply to meet one another then, after a brief discussion of threats faced by the charities we nurture, to focus on understanding one another’s programs many of which overlap.
Kathy Kennedy, Outreach Chair for Christ Church Portola Valley Woodside, set the tone by telling how her group reached out to a few diocesan Episcopal churches in February as they worked to raise scholarships for 94 student nurses in Malawi, Africa who were sponsored by GAIA Global Health. When USAID collapsed so did their scholarships. Timely assistance arrived “but we realized we had no easy way to reach our counterparts to help with fund-raising,” said Kennedy. “Many other charitable organizations face serious financial issues in these challenging times. We need to be able to work together.”
By reaching out to our neighbor parishes and with help from Diocesan clergy, we identified sixteen churches in our geographic area. Carol Wentworth, who co-chaired the Outreach gathering, said “the hard part was identifying the Outreach leaders at each church, getting their contact information and learning what programs they run.” Nine churches were able to attend this first meeting. “It was all worth it once we got together,” says Kennedy. Contact information was shared with all attendees.
After some coffee and banana bread we started with a prayerful poem by Choctaw Episcopal Bishop Steven Charleston read by Mary Jennings of Christ Church Los Altos. “Virtually none of us had ever met before,” says Wentworth “so our first priority was to get to know one another even before we learned about one another’s programs.” Christ Church parishioner Carl Cheney professionally designs strategic training programs and helped craft the program so that people moved around, met one another and had a chance to introduce their programs. The patio was designed with both an auditorium section and with tables for breakout sessions.
Says Kennedy “during the program I was able to learn the specifics from Outreach chair Ken Myers on how tiny Holy Family Episcopal Church in Half Moon Bay provides nearly 500 backpacks filled with school supplies to very low income coast side kids each year. Mary Chaw from Holy Child and St. Martin Episcopal Church in Daly City left us all speechless as she described providing 350,000 meals to the needy (so far this year) by picking up unused food from local restaurants,” says Kennedy. “Everyone had fund-raising stories,” recalls Wentworth. “One of the most successful was described by Monika Hakota of St. Paul’s in Burlingame which runs a twice-a-year rummage sale that raises $30,000 each time.”
“Carl told us that the program would be successful if people wanted to meet again and collaborations started during the program. That is just what happened,” reports Wentworth. Doctor Tom Watters from The Episcopal Church of Saint Matthew in San Mateo described their monthly Laundry Love program for low income or homeless people at a local laundromat, a program that St Edmund’s Church in Pacifica hopes to emulate. “Currently we are collecting Halloween costumes for kids/teens at Life Moves Haven House shelter, a program being led by Trinity Church in Menlo Park, and we look forward to work with Epiphany Church in San Carlos on a November program for 40 homeless veterans staying at a Life Moves shelter,” reports Kennedy.
Sixteen churches were invited along with ten charities and two “tool” makers whose products can help with volunteer recruitment or fund-raising. The charities/tool makers each had a booth in a breezeway and during a half-hour program break everyone mingled.
Informational flyers and contact information was available for the churches. Life Moves provides 26 interim shelters in the two counties and Tassie Jenkins of Episcopal Church of Epiphany was excited to meet Life Moves volunteer coordinator Lynelle Bilsey. Angela Hey is the Board Chair of SpiritCare which visits with forgotten seniors at 80+ care homes in the Bay Area and only one of the churches knew about them before so, for her, it was a great opportunity. Mary Beth Train of St Mark’s in Palo Alto was happy to talk about Crop Walk which she will lead on Sunday October 26th. That program raises money for the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto along with combatting hunger abroad. Other participants included Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy of Santa Clara, Project WeHope which runs shelters in East Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay and San Francisco and runs a mobile laundry/shower program in the greater Bay Area and the Episcopal Impact Fund which is a philanthropy focused on dignified housing and breaking the cycle of poverty. It was a popular stop for many. Faith in Action advocates for affordable housing and monitors ICE activity. Internationally, GAIA talked about their work eliminating AIDS and malaria in Malawi, Africa and Rise Against Hunger talked about their program to eradicate hunger worldwide. “Our church made 15,000 meals with RAH two weeks before and it is a great way to get a hundred community people working together for a good cause,” says Kennedy. “It has also been a powerful tool for church building.”
Two tool makers participated. SignUp Genius is used to recruit volunteers and more recently added capabilities to raise funds. Two teens, Katie and Josie Miller, from Christ Church Portola Valley Woodside have developed an app to link teens who want to volunteer in the community with Outreach charitable programs. Both the churches and the charities wanted to know more about that.
During a wonderful lunch prepared by vibrant 92 year old Ruth Ann Wrucke and her team, church Outreach groups and the charities continued their conversations. Afterwards the churches went to their last breakout session to discuss “Given what we have learned today, where could this group go in the future to make a real impact?” Learning from and inspiring each other was valuable and we were encouraged to keep the communications and collaboration going.
Generally we all agreed the Episcopal Outreach programs need to work together. Other churches volunteered to host future programs. We want to share a common events calendar and Angela Hey and Kathy Kennedy are working on setting that up. “I am working on final fixes to the church contact list which will include include contact information for participating charities and tool makers. I hope to send it electronically to all the church Outreaches this week, including the ones who couldn’t make the initial meeting,” reports Kennedy.
