From the Rector

Coloring Covers
It was fascinating to notice the trend for adult coloring. There have been adult coloring books since the 1960s, but a new trend really took off in 2015. These books give their users the chance to unwind at the end of the day. Some commentators have suggested that they are inviting us to get in touch with our inner child. Some have even suggested that coloring is an attempt to escape reality by retreating into a childish activity. I don't agree.

We pray together as a team each week during our staff meeting. We rotate bringing a meditation activity. Over the last year, coloring has been used for this activity a few times and we realized just how meditative coloring can be. 

Far from being an escape from reality, I think that coloring can be a 'mindfulness' activity, it asks us to slow down and pay attention, to become really focused. 

Our Coloring Covers in the last month have been attempts to create a new way for you to do this. We are always looking for new ways to engage members of our community in prayerful activities. We want to provide you with tools to deepen your spiritual life. So we thought it would be great to use the space on the front of our bulletins to create a new way of engaging in meditation (you can also do this at home if you take the bulletin with you). 

So color away in church, or take the cover home and color there. We have crayons available if you need them!

We have offered four coloring covers now. We are going to keep going for a little while. We may even collect them together in a book at some point. Today's cover is an image from our church landscape.  If you have an idea for a cover theme, let Noreen in the office know and we may use your idea on a future cover. 

Love,
Matthew+

News & Announcements

Graduates
Today we recognize our graduates (though not all are here today, so we will recognize others on another Sunday). We have three High School graduates this year: Congratulations to Rebecca Robinson, Louis Villa and Maggie Phillips! Congratulations also to Eve Kearns and Camilla Krause graduating from Middle School.

Service Schedule
As outlined in a previous Announcement sheet we are moving to a simplified pattern of services with three services every week at 8am, 9:30am and 10:30am. On five special Sundays a year we will have one parish-wide service at 10am. Watch out in the announcement sheet for these occasions. We hope that our first Sunday services at 10:30am will remain a time for experimentation in new liturgical ideas and new music. This will develop over time. Your feedback is ALWAYS welcome on any changes we make. 

Confirmation Welcome - June 5th
Next week we welcome and celebrate the youth who are newly confirmed: Eve Kearns, Camila Krause and Desmond Hart. Thank you to the mentors who have helped them prepare: Matt Longnecker, Bethany Lukach, Dace Samta, Dawn Bailey, Aidan Jobe Sea and Jessica Jobe Sea. We will also recognize those members of our community who officially have joined The Episcopal Church: Ann-Marie Wiese and Matt Longnecker.

Upcoming Home & Hope hosting
We are hosting homeless families in our Parish Hall, June 12-19. The sign-up sheet for volunteers is online:
http://www.transfig-sm.org/members.html
More news on Home & Hope next week. 

Sunday Summer Surprises
We take a break from children's program for the next two weeks, but coloring and creative activities will be available in church. Then Summer Sunday Surprises starts! The activities take place during the 10:30am service over the Summer months, beginning June 19. Come along and join in the fun! A sign up sheet for volunteer is available at the back of church and online on our parish website.

Reading Together Through the Generations
It's more fun to read books together. Let's do a monthly book club this summer and discuss it together over tea and snacks on the last weekend of June, July and August. The idea is to select 3 heart warming books that young readers to young adults to young grandparents would enjoy reading. Some suggestions include: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery, and A Matter-of-Fact Magic Book: No Such Thing as a Witch (A Stepping Stone Book by Ruth Chew), and Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick. And there is SO much more to choose from. If you are interested in participating, please speak to Michele Charles  to nominate your favorite book and your preference for meeting time on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon on the last weekend of each month.

St. Margaret's Guild - May Ingathering
Today is the last Sunday for donations to St. Margaret's Guild ingathering for the Teen Van and Teen Homeless Shelter: a program run by Packard Hospital for Children at Stanford, providing for needs of homeless youth in the Peninsula and South Bay. Thank you to all who donated items.  For more information, please speak to Nancy Burnett.


This Week
Sunday, May 29
The Second Sunday after Pentecost
 8:00am      Traditional Eucharist
9:30am       Joyful Noise Eucharist
10:30am     Musical Eucharist
Monday, May 30
Memorial Day Holiday
Parish Offices Closed
7pm             FA Meeting (Parish Hall)
Tuesday, May 31
8:45am       Ministry Team - Liturgy subcommittee Meeting
9am             Morning Prayer(Good Shepherd, Belmont)
6:30pm      New Millennium Chamber Orchestra rehearsal (Church)
7pm            AA Meeting  (Parish Hall)
Wednesday, June 1
9am             Morning Prayer (Chapel)
10:30am     Gospel Preview (Parish Hall)
7pm             Zen Meditation Group (Chapel)
7pm             FA Meeting (Parish Hall)
Thursday, June 2
9am             Morning Prayer (Chapel)
10am            Transfig Fireflies (Parish Hall)
3:30-8pm    Myriad Music Dance Rehearsals (church)
4pm              Staff Meeting (Parish Hall)
7:15pm         Penin. Young People's AA (Parish Hall)
Friday, June 3
3:30-5pm     Girl Scout Brownie Troop(Parish Hall)
4-9:30pm     Myriad Music Dance Recital(church)
Saturday, June 4
10am            General Confirmation at Grace Cathedral
3-5pm          Jennifer Ho Student Recital(church)
Sunday, June 5
The Third Sunday after Pentecost
 8:00am       Traditional Eucharist
9:30am        Joyful Noise Eucharist
10:30am       Musical Eucharist
1-4pm           Snake Dragon Club-Japanese storytime group event (Parish Hall)

From the Rector

Ora Labora
What about your work is prayerful? If you answer 'absolutely nothing' you would be in good company. 
The Latin phrase 'Ora Labora' comes to us from Benedictine tradition. It is a wonderful piece of circular Latin grammar that means 'to work is to pray and to pray is to work.'

In the Benedictine monastic tradition those dedicating their lives to a religious community would go to the chapel to pray 7 times a day, and between their prayers they would engage in work. Their work may be academic study, writing, chores around the monastery, cooking for the community or spiritual direction for members of the local community or visiting pilgrims. 

When I used to visit the community in Elmore in England, a Benedictine community in the countryside, I was impressed by the architecture of their chapel. It was designed to look like a barn. This was the place of prayer for the community: designed to look like a place of work in most farms.

This community, and all Benedictines, believed that prayer should be approached in a workmanlike manner. It is their main task after all. But the flip side of that is that their work should be approached in a prayerful manner.

The underlying idea is that our work is really just an extension of prayer. When we are working, if we are being the people that God truly created us to be, our work should be a manifestation of who we are, and therefore - when we do it with our whole hearts we are praying.

So people who are good with numbers can become accountants, lawyerly people become lawyers, those who are delighted to explain things become teachers and so on.

It does not always feel like that!

What would life be like if it did? This week, as you work, think about how being fully engaged can feel prayerful. This week, when you don't feel like praying just book it into your calendar like a work appointment and then get on with it. Tell me how the experiment goes.
​
Love,
Matthew+

News & Announcements

Youth Confirmation Sessions continue
Today, May 22, 9-12 is the last session of the Youth Confirmation program.  Youth will be invited to participate in the General Confirmation at Grace Cathedral on June 4th and we will be celebrating with participants, mentors and leaders the next morning at Transfiguration. 

A Farewell Message from Coleen Travers

My sisters and brothers in faith,
I'm writing with a full and grateful heart to say goodbye, as I've recently moved from San Mateo to a place of my own in Sunnyvale.
Having been a member of this warm, welcoming community for eight years, I wanted to bid you a fond farewell rather than have you wonder, "Whatever happened to Coleen?," as can easily happen in a vibrant region such as ours. 
I continue to work for Stanford Health Care, in its clinic for employees with chronic illness, where I just celebrated my fourth work anniversary (and, I might add, a job I was "prayed into" by my loving friends within Transfig). I live about the same distance by train as I used to, it's just south of Palo Alto. 
You are a precious community, and I shall cherish the time I was with you. 
Warmly,  
Coleen

Evensong Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Bishop Marc
All are invited to join in the celebration of Bishop Marc's 10th Anniversary as Bishop of California.  This Thursday, May 26th at Grace Cathedral including 5:15pm Evensong and a reception following.

Reading Together Through the Generations
It's more fun to read books together. Let's do a monthly book club this summer and discuss it together over tea and snacks on the last weekend of June, July and August. The idea is to select 3 heart warming books that young readers to young adults to young grandparents would enjoy reading. Some suggestions include: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery, and A Matter-of-Fact Magic Book: No Such Thing as a Witch (A Stepping Stone Book by Ruth Chew), and Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick. And there is SO much more to choose from. If you are interested in participating, please speak to Michele Charles to nominate your favorite book and your preference for meeting time on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon on the last weekend of each month.

St. Margaret's Guild - May Ingathering
St. Margaret's Guild ingathering continues for the Teen Van and Teen Homeless Shelter: a program run by Packard Hospital for Children at Stanford, providing for needs of homeless youth in the Peninsula and South Bay. We can support the efforts of this program with donations of the following:
*$20 Target gift cards            *movie passes  
(PLEASE NOTE: THESE SHOULD BE HANDED TO A GUILD MEMBER OR LEFT AT THE OFFICE.)
*New Underwear     *Brushes and combs       
*New Socks       *Toothbrushes and toothpaste
*Sample sized shampoos, deodorants, soaps & other toiletries (hotel packs are great!)
*Small toiletries bags (important for keeping their "gear" together in their backpacks) 
Place items in the basket in the Narthex, except as noted above.  For more information on this program, please contact Nancy Burnett.

Happy Birthday:  
Kaitlyn O'Keefe today, Jane Booth on Monday, Sophia Philipp on Thursday, Elin Fransen on Saturday.
Happy Anniversary:
John and Wendy Garrish on Friday.

This Week
Sunday, May 22
The First Sunday after Pentecost:
Trinity Sunday
8:00am         Traditional Eucharist
9am-noon    Youth Confirmation Session
9:30am         Joyful Noise Eucharist
10:30am        Musical Eucharist
Monday, May 23
3:15pm          Snake Dragon Club storytime (classrooms)
7pm               FA Meeting (Parish Hall)
Tuesday, May 24
9am               Morning Prayer(Good Shepherd, Belmont)
6:30pm         New Millennium Chamber Orchestra rehearsal (Church)
7pm               AA Meeting  (Parish Hall)
Wednesday, May 25
9am               Morning Prayer (Chapel)
10:30am       Gospel Preview (Parish Hall)
4-5:30pm     Looking Glass -Dance class (Parish Hall)
7pm               Zen Meditation Group (Chapel)
7pm               FA Meeting (Parish Hall)
Thursday, May 26
9am              Morning Prayer (Chapel)
10am            Transfig Fireflies (Parish Hall)
2pm              Staff Meeting (Parish Hall)
5pm              Evensong in Celebration of Bishop Marc Andrus' 10th Anniversary 
                       as Bishop of CA, at Grace Cathedral
7pm              Transfig Choir Rehearsal (Church)
7:15pm         Penin. Young People's AA (Parish Hall)
Friday, May 27

Saturday, May 28

Sunday, May 29
The Second Sunday after Pentecost
 8:00am       Traditional Eucharist
9:30am        Joyful Noise Eucharist
10:30am      Musical Eucharist

Monday, May 30
Memorial Day Holiday
Parish Offices Closed

From the Rector
​
Good Grief and the Lessons of Pentecost

Getting back into the swing of things after my trip was a bit of a challenge. Firstly, many of the things that I would normally do in April were moved to early May. Then there was the normal catching up with email and administration when you have been away. Finally, something happened that was out of the ordinary.
In the rush of getting back I noticed I had a 'Good Grief' session planned in my calendar. I thought nothing of it at first. Good Grief is our group for those grieving a significant loss. I have taken many Good Grief sessions, so when in Admin mode I noticed it, and acknowledged that I would be taking it. We had some email discussion about it, and I agreed with Monica that she didn't need to double up with me and come to the session.

That was all with my Admin brain working, not some of the other parts of my brain: like the pastor, or the Grandson, or the person with experience of loss.

It wasn't until I was getting ready for the session on Monday afternoon that I remembered I was grieving myself. My Grandfather had just passed away the week before. So I was going to lead a session on loss, attempting to support others, while I was feeling in the middle of it myself.  By this point on a Monday afternoon it was too late to ask Monica to swap out with me, so I just went along, but I said something as we began that led to a session unlike most in this program.

"I wanted to say that I realize I am experiencing loss myself," I said to the group. "That means I may not be able to do quite what I normally do, remembering what you all say and relating your comments back to each other, whilst looking for a theme." I paused for a moment and looked around at our small group. There were five there that night, and each had varying degrees of experience with loss. 
"We may just have to talk and have each of us look out for each other tonight." 
People smiled, and nodded, I think someone took my hand. We talked.

As we discussed our loss, including my own, I was aware of the conversation ebbing and flowing around the room. Different people shared their story, and offered comfort. I didn't guide the conversation, although a few times I tried, but didn't quite manage with my usual 'group process' head on.
In the middle a member of the group reminded me of something I had told her about emotions and Jung some years ago. "You will feel your feelings until they are felt," she told me. 

It is an interesting experience to have words you have used to support and encourage others in grief reflected back to you. It was gentle, it was kind, it was encouraging. I said, "but I don't want to." Which brought some laughter to the group.

This moment reminded me to attend to my own grief as much as I hope you all do to yours.

Why do I tell you this on Pentecost? Because it tells us something about the church we are building. Each of us has the Spirit. Each of us has experience and an ability to offer one another comfort. We are a place where everyone leads and everyone serves. 

Good Grief this week reminded me that I am a part of a community that is growing together in love, and that each of us have something to offer one another as we are open to the Spirit of God guiding us.
Amen. 
Love,
Matthew+

News & Announcements

TODAY, May 15 - Day of Pentecost 
The Day of Pentecost - Festival Eucharist at 10am.  Our parish-wide service today includes the baptism of Colton Ronald Ashley and our community art piece for Pentecost.   
A 'Grill on the Hill' lunch - a barbecue lunch -will follow the service.  Please plan to bring whatever entree (no raw chicken, please) you want to grill for yourself/your family, a side dish, and a beverage to share... and a picnic blanket.  We'll have the grill fired up and provide condiments, plates, cups and utensils.

Pentecost Art
Today during the worship service, we will ask families/households to bring up their decorated flames which have been worked on at church the past two Sundays or at home.  Participants will hang them on our artpiece at the appointed time, as part of a reflection time.  Children are also invited to color the cover of the announcement sheet during the service. Crayons and colored pencils will be available on the table at the back of the church.       

St. Margaret's Guild - May Ingathering
This month, St. Margaret's Guild sponsors an ingathering for the Teen Van and Teen Homeless Shelter: a program run by Packard Hospital for Children at Stanford, providing for needs of homeless youth in the Peninsula and South Bay. The Van moves from established locations, provides toiletries and other housekeeping items, limited medical services and referral assistance to teens living on the streets. We can support the efforts of this program with donations of the following:
*$20 Target gift cards            *movie passes  
(PLEASE NOTE: THESE SHOULD BE HANDED TO A GUILD MEMBER OR LEFT AT THE OFFICE.)
*New Underwear     *Brushes and combs       
*New Socks       *Toothbrushes and toothpaste
*Sample sized shampoos, deodorants, soaps & other toiletries (hotel packs are great!)
*Small toiletries bags (important for keeping their "gear" together in their backpacks) 
Place items in the basket in the Narthex, except as noted above.
For more information on this program, please contact Nancy Burnett.

In Memoriam
We announce the passing of Jim Wall, a former senior warden at Transfiguration, husband of The Rev. Anne Wall.  He died on April 11th, may he rest in peace.  For those who knew him and wish to attend, a funeral is planned for tomorrow, Monday, May 16 at St. Marks, Palo Alto at 3 pm.

Youth Confirmation Sessions continue Next Sunday, May 22
There will be one more session of the Youth Confirmation program on Sunday, May 22, 9-12, to be led by Matthew Woodward and Dace Samta.  Youth will be invited to participate in the General Confirmation at Grace Cathedral on June 4th and we will be celebrating with participants, mentors and leaders the next morning at Transfiguration. 

Service Times
Thank you so much for your responses to our request for feedback about Sunday service times, during the month of April.

We received a variety of comments and have shared them with the Vestry. The majority of the feedback on the Ministry Team proposal about service times was positive. Two areas of concern were raised:
1) Enjoying the combined services as an opportunity to see younger families gathering with the rest of the congregation and a desire that this should not go away.
2) A desire that our creative approach to liturgy on the first Sunday of the month should be retained even if we no longer have regular combined services.

The Vestry balanced this against the concern that frequently changing the pattern of worship was creating a barrier to participation. We realized, by reviewing attendance figures and by talking to young families, that many were not able to get to the combined services as much as we had hoped.

It is our desire to continue to build on our creative, diverse and engaging liturgical style, while responding to real concerns from members of the congregation about accessibility.

We will therefore be moving to a pattern of every Sunday of the month having three services at 8am, 9:30am and 10:30am. On the first Sunday of the month we will continue to try experimental approaches to liturgy, new music and intergenerational worship. We will also focus on five Sundays a year as combined (parish-wide) service Sundays. These are: The Day of Pentecost, Transfiguration Sunday, All Saints' Sunday, The Annual Meeting Sunday and Palm Sunday.  These services will continue to be developed to make sure that they reflect the whole life of our community and our approach to liturgy.


​This Week
Sunday, May 15
The Day of Pentecost
10:00am        Festival Eucharist for Day of  Pentecost 
                            with baptism of Colton Ronald Ashley  & Grill on the Hill potluck lunch to follow
6:15pm          Distil Dinner Club (Young Adults) (venue tbd)

Monday, May 16
10:30am        God Group (Parish Hall) 
noon              Preschool Chapel Time (church)
3:15pm           Snake Dragon Club storytime (classrooms)
7pm                FA Meeting (Parish Hall)

Tuesday, May 17
9am                Morning Prayer (Good Shepherd, Belmont)
6:30pm          New Millennium Chamber Orchestra rehearsal (Church)
7pm                AA Meeting  (Parish Hall)

Wednesday, May 18
9am                Morning Prayer (Chapel)
10:30am         Gospel Preview (Parish Hall)
3:15 -5:45pm Looking Glass Korean Learning Center (classrooms)
4-5:30pm       Looking Glass -Dance class (Parish Hall)
7pm                 Zen Meditation Group (chapel)
7pm                 FA Meeting (Parish Hall)

Thursday, May 19
9am                 Morning Prayer (Chapel)
10am                Transfig Fireflies (Parish Hall)
2pm                 Staff Meeting (Parish Hall)
6:30pm           Dinner & Conversation with Rector (Parish Hall) 
7:15pm             Peninsula Young People's AA (Church)

Friday, May 20
3:30-5pm        Girl Scout Brownie Troop (Parish Hall)

Saturday, May 21
8:45-11:15am   Looking Glass Learning Center (classrooms)

Sunday, May 22
The First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday
8:00am          Traditional Eucharist
9am-noon     Youth Confirmation Session
9:30am           Joyful Noise Eucharist
10:30am         Musical Eucharist