The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

From the Rector

You are cordially invited…

Jesus invited his disciples to sit and eat with him, and he invited a wider circle to join him in a life of faith. At our parish retreat in August we reflected on the theme: “The Bread of Life” and parishioners were invited to sit and eat together, and contemplate what nourished them.

As part of our program we recreated “The Last Supper” by Leonardo Da Vinci in photographic form, you can see it on the front cover of this announcement sheet. I love this recreation as it is a picture of a meal where friends have gathered around a table to share food. 

This image is central to our Christian form of worship called “The Eucharist”. It is our holy meal, our gathering around a table to be fed by Jesus, and we are all invited to join in this meal, this circle of community, this opportunity to be nourished.

Our program year, inclusing: the start of regular service times, new Chapel Time and Kids’ Club classes, the Choir season and adult formation program are all getting under way over the next two weeks and you are cordially invited to join in! 

Our whole program is an invitation for you to come along, participate, worship, grow in faith and deepen the bonds of affection that exist between us as parishioners at Transfiguration. We have a whole lot planned for this program year and your participation is all we need to make it the most rewarding, faith-filled, intergenerational, participatory, community-enhancing and world-changing year possible.

Wondering Together

There is one other invitation I want to issue today...

We begin this program year with a real focus on telling our Transfiguration story and hearing your Transfiguration story. In the next week or so you will be invited to a dinner at a Vestry member’s house as part of a program we are calling: Wondering Together.

Everyone who is in our parish directory will get an invite. These evenings are hosted by Vestry members, during the evening you will hear the Transfiguration Story told by Virginia Fox and then be invited to share your own Transfiguration story. There will be no ‘ask’ during the evening, these aren’t fundraising events - they are designed to be fun and full of good food and fellowship, and a little story telling and wondering. They will also present an opportunity to get to meet members of the parish you might not know and they are a great way for new members to get to know more parishioners. 

If you are new to the parish and don’t get an invite this coming week let us know that you would like to come and take part.

These evenings are going to help us grow together in love, and help the Vestry reflect on how we can best serve our congregation going forward into 2016. So come along and join in. Eat together, wonder together and grow together.

Consider yourself cordially invited.

Love,

Matthew+

New Web site

If you go to www.transfig-sm.org you should see some changes this weekend.

Over the last year I have been working with a team from the parish including Mike Robinson and Mark Ryan on content and designs for our parish web site. I am grateful to both for their input. For the start of this program year we have put together a simple version of our new web site, full of the up-to-date content that you have asked for, which we hope will evolve as time goes on.

The web site has a new front page, with the trusty Google calendar being one of the main things people asked for to keep everyone up to date on parish events. It also has service times, a Rector’s Blog, the latest sermon, directions to the parish and links to our social media accounts.

Dig a little deeper and you will find pages on our mission and vision, staff photographs and descriptions.

We are also presenting an outline of our ministries at the start of this new program year and a place to find a PDF of our latest announcement sheets as well as an archive of announcement sheets from previous weeks in case you missed anything.

We also have a page dedicated to our pre-school, a fundraising page that is under construction and a member page. This last page is where you will go for online sign-ups for volunteering roles.

This is our starting point for the web site. We hope that you will make use of it over the next few weeks and months and give us feedback. It is a work in progress and we hope to update it as we go along as it is really responsive and easy to adapt. Your feedback will help us to create the communication tool that you need to be able to get the best out of your time at Transfiguration. Is there something missing? Tell us. Is there too much information? Tell us. Could it be easier to find the one thing you are looking for? Tell us. 

Thank you to Mark for helping us develop strategy and for keeping on working on a future design update, thank you to Mike for implementation help, thank you to Monica for edits. We are working to make sure all legacy web site addresses point to this new site.  So for now, go and have a look through: www.transfig-sm.org



News & Announcements

Fall Children’s programs begin Today, September 13th!
Today, Sept. 13, (noon-12:30 pm) we will be offering parents and other faith formation co-leaders a brief introduction to the new SparkHouse curricula for Kids’ Club and Chapel Time in the Parish Hall. We will have sample lesson resources, including Leader and Learner Packs, the Connect Youth Bible and DVD clips. If you are unable to attend either session, last Sunday or today, please contact me to schedule a personal session.   -Monica+

The Rev. Brian Barnes, Rest in Peace
It is with sadness that we announce the death of The Rev. Brian Barnes, Archdeacon of the Diocese of California.

Brian was a placement deacon at Transfiguration some years ago and many still remember him fondly. A service will be held for him at the Cathedral on October 10th - the time yet to be announced.

The Empty Way: Contemplative Christianity and Zen Buddhism
September 21-November 9 (online)

This fall my friend and mentor, the Rev. Brian C. Taylor, will be teaching an online not-for-credit course for the Center for Anglican Learning and Leadership, a continuing education program of our seminary, CDSP. Fr. Brian will be looking at areas of overlap between the two traditions, and encouraging participants to practice meditation/prayer for the 7 weeks of the course. Participants will listen to a weekly audio talk, read one book, and explore other suggested reading or online listening. There will be some online communication between participants.; however, all of this course will be done non-simultaneously. A discounted rate is available if 6 or more parishioners register. For more information, contact Monica+. Registration 

St. Margaret’s guild outreach:  assistance for our furry friends
St. Margaret’s Guild will be sponsoring the Outreach Collection box for September.  We will be collecting items for Pets-In-Need and the Peninsula Humane Society/SPCA.  Items that are needed are listed below.

•For Cats:  Plastic film canisters, plastic shower curtain rings and feather toys, canned tuna, ping pong balls, golf balls

•For Dogs:  NEW or VERY CLEAN collars and leashes, Tennis balls, Nylabones, Kongs (all sizes), hard rubber balls and rubber toys.

•For Rabbits:  Plastic baby toys, keys, rattles, and other hard plastic toys for tossing.

•For Birds:  Rope perches and bird toys

•Unopened packages of dog and cat food and treats (no special diet foods).

•Blankets, receiving blankets, or bedding**     •Paper towels

** Items that they cannot use:   sheets, pillows, pillowcases, electric blankets, carpet of any kind, small boxes, paper towel rolls.

Website: www.peninsulahumanesociety.org   Click on donations for full list.  THANK YOU FOR THINKING OF OUR FURRY FRIENDS!  

Expected and Unexpected - Next Sunday, September 20
Next Sunday, Sept. 20 at 9:15 Mission Hospice representatives will be here. Libby Hagman and Chris Ritzo will talk about the services that Mission Hospice provides and with time for Q&A. They will also bring information about a couple programs they are presenting at other venues.  Questions?  contact Jan Jensen.

Coffee Hour Hosting   
We have many open Sundays in the coming months, for the 9:30 and 10:30 services as well as combined 10:00 services on first Sundays.  Please take a look and sign-up.   SignUp Genius web link.