The Fourth Sunday of Lent

​From the Rector
We wondered together in the Fall, we reviewed our vision in January at our Annual Meeting, and asked God to help guide us through Lent. The staff and Vestry have been approaching things at Transfiguration differently in the light of your feedback. We have been experimenting with new approaches to faith formation and program provision and we have tried to be creative as we maximize our gifts. 

I have been stretched by this, at times I have been tired, but I have also been deeply moved by signs of engagement and spiritual growth in our community. All of our Lent meditation packs were taken home, and more had to be made - so many of you are exploring your faith at home. Up to 20 people have joined in our Book Groups and more are reading our Lent book at home. About 12 people have engaged in the Episcopal 101 course. There are 5 youth engaged in Confirmation preparation. New members have joined us almost every Sunday and we are seeking to welcome them to our conversation about faith at Transfiguration as warmly as we know how. Welcome particularly to Saskia, Lissa and family, Melody, Andy and Tracy, Micah and Jennifer and family, Hillary, Ryan and Helaina. We are loving getting to know you.

Our Vestry has met and had a dynamic retreat, thinking of new ways of working so that we can serve our whole community during 2016. 

There are moments where we have to pause and take stock. As we engage in new ways of working we sometimes trip over ourselves like a teenager who just went through a growth spurt and cannot quite gauge how long their limbs are. I have noticed a sense of generosity and trust as we have tried new things though. Thank you for that, it is a sign of the Spirit moving amongst us as we are guided by God.

As I say, this has been a rich season already and there is more to come: more welcoming, more confirmation classes, more conversations about being Episcopalian, more book group conversations and more candles. Our pathway is taking us in a particular direction. We are being guided towards Jerusalem and Holy Week. Our Holy Week services are communal offerings, and I would like your help in putting them on this year.

We want our Holy Week to be filled with the energy of the community. I need your input in shaping, planning and delivering these services. Monica, Fran and I will of course celebrate and preach, but I hope that our Easter becomes a community offering of praise.

Our services are as follows. If you are interested in helping in the ways I ask below, let me know as soon as possible.

Palm Sunday
- 10am - this parish-wide service starts on the hill and processes to the church where we experience the drama of Holy Week in the form of a Passion Play. 
Help needed: actors for the play (need to be willing to do a read through on Sunday, March 13th after the 10:30am service), people to help move furniture.
Maundy Thursday
- 6pm - We have an Agape Meal in the parish hall remembering the Last Supper of Jesus and his friends, then a procession to church where we  strip the Altar and begin a Vigil. 
Help needed: a coordinator for the meal, people to help set up and clean up before and after the meal, people to sign up for the overnight vigil.
Good Friday
- noon, 2:30pm and 7pm - we remember the death of Christ throughout the day, first at the liturgy of Good Friday at noon, then in the Memorial Quiet Garden at 2:30pm and finally at the Taizé service at 7pm.
Help needed: members of the congregation to give testimony at the noon service about the enduring presence of God in their lives even through loss, people willing to read parts of our Gospel story, people willing to come and share stories at 2:30pm in the Memorial Quiet Garden as we grieve loss and share hope, people to help set up for the Taizé service and lead singing.
Easter Day 
- 6:30am, 9am and 11am - Vigil, service of light, and the Eucharist of Easter. 
Easter Day is our most holy day of the year. This year, having been asking questions about the format of the Vigil service I am going to ask you to join me in this: a real start at dawn with storytelling about the history of salvation in the half light in church as the day begins, before we witness the resurrection together. That means starting at 6:30am in the Memorial Quiet Garden. I am going to be asking for feedback on this specific service after we have put it on this year to see if we continue it in this form in future years. But come along and take part in this moving part of our tradition.
Our 9am and 11am services will follow their usual patterns, with coffee hour in-between them alongside the Easter Egg hunt. 
Help needed: Readers for the Vigil service who are willing to make their 'reading' more like a dramatic piece of story telling. Someone to make breakfast for the faithful vigil attenders who got here so early. People to co-ordinate Coffee Hour set up and tidy up, people to bring cookies and other treats.

To take part in any of these opportunities, please email me at [email protected]. Please also look for sign-up sheets that will be appearing during the coming weeks in church. 

I love Holy Week, it is a great time in the year of the Church and I look forward to it being a time that the community comes together and shapes our common prayer in a way that will bring us to life.  
Love,
Matthew+

Images during Lent
On the cover of Journey this month we have a photo inspired by our theme: "Guide my feet". People have been amused, engaged, and participating in our Facebook project to take a photo and upload it with the hashtag #guidemyfeet.  
See the gallery page later on in this issue of Journey for other photographs inspired by this theme.

Book Groups: Crazy Christians
Our Book groups continue to meet as Lent continues, come along at noon or 6pm on Wednesdays to take part, or simply read the book in your own time and know that you are joining in with the whole community.
 
Youth Confirmation Classes 
Youth are gathering every few weeks during February-May to explore what it means to make a mature commitment to lifelong faith formation. Youth will be invited to participate in the Diocesan General Confirmations on June 4th. The parish will celebrate with participants, mentors and leaders on Sunday, June 5th.

Episcopal 101
Matthew is continuing to offer his informal course on what it means to be an Episcopalian on Thursday nights once a month. The evening is designed around a potluck dinner, and we talk about a subject that previous participants have asked about. The original date for the next session has been moved as it fell on St. Patrick's Day, please see the revised schedule below:
May 3rd at 6:30pm
- Why do we pray this way? With a focus on Episcopal Liturgy, the Saints' in the Episcopal Tradition and the importance of the Eucharist.
May 19th at 6:30pm -
(change of subject matter based on feedback) All you ever wanted to ask about Sex for Episcopalians but were afraid to ask. 

Rector's Sabbatical
Matthew will be taking a short part of his sabbatical right after Easter this year as he travels to Israel with the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco. This trip will be with other community leaders and will be designed to help participants get a greater appreciation of the challenges that exist in Israel, particularly in relation to the conflict with Palestine. This trip will last from April 6 - April 17 and Matthew will be stopping over in the UK on his way home arriving back in the Bay Area on April 26th. Monica and Fran will provide liturgical and pastoral care during Matthew's absence.  

The remainder of sabbatical time this year will be in September, October and November. More on that in a future issue of Journey.


News & Announcements
 
Girl Scouts
"My Promise, My Faith" Pin
Girl Scouts have participated in the first four steps toward earning the "My Faith, My Promise" pin, with Rev. Monica and Michele Maia. This pin can be earned each year by Girl Scouts in grades K-12 by completing a five-step journey that explores how the Girl Scout Law relates to our faith teachings. The final step will be completed on Girl Scout Sunday, March 13 at the 10:30 am service. The girls will participate in leading parts of the worship service and will receive their pins. If you have any questions please contact Michele Maia, [email protected].

Transfig teens
Program during Lent and Easter
A number of our teenagers are engaged in Confirmation
preparation during Lent, but if they have extra time and for those who are not in confirmation classes we will be joining with St. Matthew's, St. Paul's and Trinity for youth activities over the next few months. Please see the dates below. More details as they are available.
Sun. March 13 
- 5pm Agape Meal (see page 4 for more details)
Sun. April 10 
- 5pm - activity to be determined
We are working on our own end of year plans and because of some calendar clashes (not least with finals week for many students in San Mateo) we have decided not to take part in the end of year activity on May 22. Watch future Journeys for a year end activity for our own youth, and details of Senior acknowledgement Sunday.

Second Harvest Food Bank
The Second Harvest food barrels in the Narthex are empty and ready to receive your donations of non-perishable food items to help feed the hungry in our community. We will be collecting food donations through Palm Sunday. Bob Adams will deliver them to the Second Harvest Food Bank during the following week. Thank you for your support of those in need.

Zen Meditation - Wednesdays at 7pm
Renshin Bunce is offering a Zen Meditation group practice in our chapel on Wednesday evenings. This group practices Zen Meditation in the style of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, as taught at San Francisco Zen Center for over 50 years.  The group is open to anyone interested.
This is an informal meeting of friends who sit for 30 minutes and then read one of Suzuki Roshi's talks together. Renshin is a priest in the Suzuki Roshi lineage. If you usually sit on a zafu, please bring it along. If you have a copy of "Not Always So," please bring that too.  If you're new to meditation, please send a note and she'll be glad to meet you a little early and talk about the basics of this approach.  
There is no charge, but donations are appreciated to help cover space use costs. Contact: [email protected]

Good Friday Offering 
for the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East
During Lent each year we make a symbolic journey to Jerusalem, remembering the events in our Lord's life and especially those which took place during Holy Week.  Every Good Friday since 1922, all Episcopalians have been asked to make offerings to support the work of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East as a way of uniting ourselves with those who live there today.  The Diocese encompasses 37 parishes and 33 schools, medical facilities and vocational training schools throughout Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.  The doors of it's facilities are open to all regardless of faith tradition.  Several members of our congregation have visited many of these schools and parishes and Matthew will do so when he visits the Land of the Holy One next month.  Indeed, he will be carrying our gifts with him when he travels there.   Envelopes designated for this special offering will be available in the narthex at all services during Holy Week.  Please make checks payable to Transfiguration, with Good Friday Offering noted in memo line. If you would like to know more about the work of the Diocese of Jerusalem, please see this website: www.afedj.org. 

This Week
Sunday, March 6
The Fourth Sunday of Lent
8am               Traditional Eucharist
9am-noon    Youth Confirmation Session 2
10:00am       Community Eucharist 
6-9pm           Sine Nomine Rehearsal (Parish Hall)

Monday, March 7
11:00-noon   Preschool activity (Parish Hall)
3:15pm          Snake Dragon Club -Japanese language storytime (classrooms)
7pm               FA Meeting (Parish Hall)

Tuesday, March 8
9am               Morning Prayer (Good Shepherd, Belmont)
5-10-11:30am  Staff Meeting (Parish Hall)
7pm               AA Meeting  (classrooms)
7:30pm         Finance Team Meeting

Wednesday, March 9
9am               Morning Prayer (Chapel)
10:30am        Gospel Preview (Parish Hall)
noon              Lent Book Group (Parish Hall)
3pm               Good Grief (at Judy Castillo's)
3:15 -5:45pm Looking Glass Korean Learning Center (classrooms)
4-5:30pm      Looking Glass Korean Learning Center (classrooms)
6-7:30pm      Lent Book Group (Parish Hall)

Thursday, March 10
9am               Morning Prayer (Chapel)
10am             Transfig Fireflies (Parish Hall)
6:30pm         Vestry Meeting (venue tbd)
7:15pm          Peninsula Young People's AA (Parish Hall)

Friday, March 11
9:30-10:30am  Preschool activity (Parish Hall)

Saturday, March 12
8:45-11:15am Looking Glass Korean Learning Center (classrooms)
9:30am-1:30pm  AA Group - AA district of San Mateo (Parish Hall)
3-9pm             Ragazzi Boys Chorus (on site - Parish Hall & church)
7pm                 Ragazzi and Harker School Concert (Church)

Sunday, March 13
The Fifth Sunday of Lent  
(Daylight Savings Time begins)
8:00am          Traditional Eucharist
9am-noon     Youth Confirmation Session 3
9:30am          Joyful Noise Eucharist
10:30am         Musical Eucharist
noon - 1pm    Transfig Choir Rehearsal (church)
5-7pm             Transfig Teens to Agape Meal with St. Paul's, St. Matthews' and Trinity youth
6pm                Distil (Young Adults) Dinner Club at Dawn's

Regularly Scheduled Programs:
Morning Prayer (with Good Shepherd, Belmont)
Tuesday mornings at 9am @ Good Shepherd
Wednesday mornings at 9am @ Transfiguration
Thursday mornings at 9am @ Transfiguration

Gospel Preview
Wednesday mornings, 10:30 - noon (Bible study and conversation) in the Parish Hall

Transfig Fireflies 
Thursday mornings, 10am - noon (playgroup for 0-5 yr olds and their caregivers) in the Parish Hall


Holy Week & Easter
Palm Sunday, March 20, 10:00am
A parish-wide Eucharist which will begin outside on the hill with a palm procession to the church and the Passion Play.  There will also be storytelling and an activity for the children.  

Maundy Thursday, March 24, 6:00pm
Agape Meal in the parish hall, a procession to church and stripping the Altar and start of the Vigil. 
Maundy Thursday, 8pm through Good Friday, 10am
Vigil with one hour shifts through the night.

Good Friday, March 25
noon         Liturgy of Good Friday
2:30pm     Remembrance in the Memorial Quiet Garden
7:00pm     Taizé service

Holy Saturday, March 26
9am - noon   Parish Work Morning
2-3:30pm       Choir Rehearsal (church)

Easter Day, March 27
7:00am      Vigil & First Eucharist of Easter
9:00am      Joyful Noise Eucharist
10:15am      Easter Egg Hunt and Easter coffee hour
11:00am      Festival Musical Eucharist of Easter

Second Sunday of Easter, April 3
8:00am       Traditional Eucharist
10:00am     Community Eucharist
​
Third Sunday of Easter, April 10
8:00am       Traditional Eucharist
9:30am       Joyful Noise Eucharist
10:30am     Musical Eucharist