Lectionary Readings

Episcopal News

Coming events

Sunday, Jan. 19

•8:00 am Holy Eucharist Rite I in the Chapel

•9:10 am Spiritual Formation Class: “Who is Jesus?”

•10:00 am Holy Eucharist Rite II

•11:30 am Antique Show 2025 planning meeting

Monday, Jan. 20

•Church office closed (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)

•7:00 pm Choir Rehearsal

Tuesday, Jan. 21 – 7:00 pm C.S. Lewis on Joy, Suffering, and Inbetween

Wednesday, Jan. 22

•10:00 am Healing & Reconciliation Holy Eucharist

Thursday, Jan. 23 – 1:00 pm Quilting and Knitting Group

Sunday, Jan. 26

•8:00 am Holy Eucharist Rite I in the Chapel

•9:10 am Spiritual Formation Class: “Who is Jesus?”

•10:00 am Holy Eucharist Rite II

•11:20 am Annual Meeting

For more events, visit our calendar.

Antique Show Planning Meeting

Antique Show kickoff meeting this Sunday, January 19 at 11:30 am in the board room! It is time again to start planning for our annual Antiques Show May 28 - 31! Come one come all! Contact: Jamie Bellows (bellows151@aol.com)

St. Luke’s Breakfast Update

St. Francis will be preparing and serving breakfast to the homeless at St. Luke's in February and March this spring, not January. If you wish to help, please keep these dates in mind:

Feb. 14 and 15 (prep at St. Francis, serve at St. Luke's)

March 14 and 15 (prep at St. Francis, serve at St. Luke's)

Contact Gayle Taylor (gaylentaylor@gmail.com) if you wish to help.

Celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year with us at St. Francis. We'll have food and fun for the whole family, plus live and chance auction to benefit the mission and ministry of our St. Teresa's guild.

Saturday, February 1

6:00pm in the Parish Hall

Tickets:

$10 advance purchase

$13 at the door

To purchase tickets, contact the church office (310-375-4617) or Robin Pano (310-779-0486).

Study Series:

C.S. Lewis on Joy and Suffering and Inbetween

This discussion-based class explores C.S. Lewis's insights on joy, suffering, and the human experience. we will look at works such as, Surprised by Joy, The Problem of Pain, Mere Christianity, and other essays and talks. We will explore questions of why we suffer, what joy truly is and how we can find meaning in both. We will engage with Lewis's reflections, consider our own perspectives, and explore how joy and suffering shape our lives.

RSVP: dswestervelt@gmail.com or 310-977-3014

When: Tuesdays beginning on January 21

7:00pm - 8:15pm

Where: Board Room

Leader: Dale Westervelt

Fr. Jason's Week in Review

January 10: Took most of the day off; admin tasks; returned several emails.

January 11: Sermon prep; put the rest of Christmas away, and then found several things that didn’t make it into the boxes.

January 12: Sunday services - the baptism of Jesus. We had 32 (!) at the 8am service and 72 at the 10am service. Wayfarers were in charge of coffee hour, and once again they did an outstanding job. In the afternoon Sue Ferme contacted me to let me know that we had an opportunity to support LA County Firefighters, and I sent the list to the congregation that evening.

January 13: Met with senior warden; planned for vestry meeting and annual meeting; admin tasks; pastoral phone calls; I received an email from former parishioners who still receive parish-wide emails; they live in Princeton, New Jersey now, and shipped supplies to our church. They also asked if they could appeal to their rector to help our efforts in supporting the firefighters. Their rector used to be the curate at a church 20 miles down the road from me, and he worked with my best friend from seminary. He has graciously offered to help us support the firefighters. It’s been wonderful to see the Spirit moving around us, pointing to ways in which we can help.

January 14: Prepared for vestry and finance meeting; pastoral phone calls; admin tasks; finance meeting; vestry meeting.

January 15: prepared for healing service; healing service; pastoral phone calls; began working on my report for the annual meeting; all day long packages arrived from the congregation of Trinity Episcopal in Princeton, in conjunction with people from our congregation dropping off supplies. We quickly began to fill the spare office with the supplies.

January 16: Returned several emails, made final edits to Sunday bulletin, went to Costco to get four new tires for the van, and while there worked on my homily while wandering through the store; later in the afternoon had a Zoom meeting to plan a funeral for non-parishioners.

Grief, loss, and healing at St. Mark’s, Altadena, and St. Matthew’s, Pacific Palisades

by John Harvey Taylor

The two Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles parishes hit hardest by the wildfires, Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Altadena and The Parish of St. Matthew in Pacific Palisades, have something in common besides loss and grief. Each hosts a highly respected Episcopal school, which means four institutions instead of two will be recovering, taking stock, and rebuilding.

While God didn’t plan it that way, the Holy Spirit, as always, will be in the healing. At most of our schools, most students and their parents aren’t members of the church. It will be a boon to each parish that it enjoys a broad network of neighborhood relationships as well as a marrow deep commitment to outreach, a core value of Episcopal education. All of us at at the diocese will be walking with them each step of the way, including the executive director of our Commission on Schools, the Rev. Ryan Douglas Newman.

Both congregations’ Resurrection spirit was on display on this Lord’s day. I attended the 8 a.m. service at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Santa Monica, which extended a warm welcome to St. Matthew’s neighbors, an estimated three-quarters of whom have lost their homes. The Rev. Nathan Rugh, the rector, presided, inviting his St. Matthew’s colleagues, the Revs. Bruce A. Freeman, KC Robertson, and Stephen Smith, to join him and the St. Augustine’s associate rector, the Rev. Katie Cadigan, at the altar. All three Pacific Palisades priests lost their homes in the fire. Stephen and his spouse, Holly, have a two-year-old, Bruce. Their second child is due in March.

Katie preached powerfully about grief and recovery, noting that the current St. Augustine’s church building was raised up after a fire in the sixties. She said that the towering stained glass window behind the altar is called “the great fire,” with reference to the Holy Spirit. She said how difficult it may have been for St. Matthew’s people to hear John the Baptist, in today’s gospel reading, talk about Jesus baptizing with fire. She preferred our reading from Isaiah: “When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

At St. Matthew’s, while the church buildings survived, the parish school’s elementary building and other facilities were lost. After church, two veteran teachers told me of plans to get students back to class soon. Over coffee in the parish hall, KC, Stephen, and I heard moving stories from two longtime members who lost their homes Both are safe and secure. Lizzy Tooke Moore said that she and her fellow vestry members are calling everyone in the parish and doing their best to stay on the line after the usual “we’re fine” to make sure they’re getting the whole story.

At St. Mark’s, where the church building and most of the campus are gone, worship, with a congregation 140 strong, was via Zoom at 10:30 a.m. The rector, the Rev. Carri Grindon, invited me to say a few words. The Rev. Michael Mischler, ordained a priest on Saturday, presided. Director of music Lisa Sylvester and organist Mark Robson (who mourns so much that has been lost, including the St. Mark’s organ) turned to their pianos to accompany hymn singing. I found myself giving thanks that COVID helped us hone our remote worship chops. As with fires, God does not intend pandemics. But God’s spirit always floods in and helps us make do.

Carrie’s sermon was rousing. “Whether you’re in hotels or AirBnbs, driving in your car, staying in the homes of family or friends or strangers who aren’t strangers anymore,” she said, “the bonds among us are bonds that cannot be severed. We are the latest in a long list of God’s people put on the road by disaster and displacement. We are still one in love. We are still one in Christ.”

The merciless Eaton fire struck St. Mark’s so quickly Wednesday morning that nothing in the church building could be saved. Carri said her only remaining vestments are a cassock and surplice she’d wadded up in her van early last week so she could get them dry-cleaned in time for Michael’s Saturday ordination. Circumstance delayed her errand until Friday, when two dry cleaners in a row said same-day service wasn’t possible. When she broke down and told the second that she was the rector of the church in Altadena that burned, and that she needed to be with her people the next day at St. John’s Cathedral, they said, “You’ll have it by four.”

One of many small graces and miracles this week. Another is that amid the horrific loss of the St. Mark’s campus, its beautiful new preschool building survived. It will be a long time before classes. But it’s a start. St. Mark’s parish is raising a rebuilding fund. You can help here: https://www.saintmarksaltadena.org.

Spiritual Formation: Who is Jesus?

Each Sunday, Dec. 1 to Mar. 30 at 9:10 AM | St. Francis Library

Have you ever wondered about Jesus? Are you questioning and inquiring, curious, or perhaps, doubtful of Jesus and what he is saying? Ever wonder what Jesus may really be saying to us? Where did Jesus come from?

Inquirers, seekers, those wondering about baptism or confirmation, and those seeking a deeper connection to something beyond ourselves: all are invited to conversations about Jesus on Sundays between services in the St. Francis Library.

Conversations will be based on our Sunday readings and we will meet Sundays at 9:10-ish to 9:45am. We will begin on the first Sunday of Advent and continue through the Sunday before Holy Week.

Please contact me, Deacon Celeste, at 310-913-1069 or email at cstump@thecanterbury.org. to RSVP or to answer any questions. I look for to speaking and meeting with you.

Peace, Deacon Celeste

Get Involved at St. Francis

Good Grief Loss Support Group: Alternating Wednesday mornings (11 am to noon) and evenings (5 pm to 6 pm) in the St. Francis Library. For people suffering loss of any kind including death, divorce, loss of health due to an illness or accident, etc.

Men’s Corner: Monthly for dinner at Corner Bakery. Contact Ed Hinz (kn6jn@yahoo.com).

Nurture Group meets on the first Wednesday of the month to have a simple dinner and discuss a spiritual topic in a non-judgmental and open way. Next meeting is December 4 at 6 p.m. at the home of Blair Hinz. Please contact Susan Egan if you wish to attend.

Quilting and Knitting Group: Thursdays at 1 pm in the Board Room. Contact: Anna Eakins (annatkozaki@gmail.com).

SAGES (Senior Adult Group of Episcopalians): Group outings, social gatherings, guest speakers, and more. Contact: Kristina Pela (krab3@yahoo.com).

St. Anne’s Guild: Meets on the 4th Monday of Sept-June at 6pm. Join us for fellowship, plan church events (like the Rummage Sale and Antiques Show), potluck dinners, and our Christmas charity event! Contact Anna Eakins.

St. Teresa’s Guild: Meet a few times a year to raise money for charities that support women and children through dues and our famous Chinese New Year event. Contact: Robin Pano.

Friars: Meets as needed to cook meals for Parish events (e.g. Lenten Suppers). Contact: Dick Briggs.

Yoga: All Levels Hatha Yoga for Strength and Mobility: Mondays, 11 am to 12:30 pm. All Levels Gentle Yoga for Vital Mobility and Balance: Wednesdays, 9am to 10:30 am. Contact: Jill Lynch (jillfenskelynch@gmail.com).

Download our 2024 Get Connected booklet (PDF) for a list of all our ministries and small groups.

Flowers for the altar

Consider making a donation of altar flowers in honor of a special occasion or in memory

of someone you love. (The suggested donation is $50.) Contact Gina McQueen in the church office at 310-375-4617 or gina.mcqueen@stfrancispalosverdes.org.

Call for Photos

Each week we change the photo in the header of this weekly email newsletter. But we need more up-to-date photos... Get your photo featured! You can submit your photos of the St. Francis campus, events, and people to us at social@stfrancispalosverdes.org for consideration. We'll even run your name as a photo credit. So get snapping—we can't wait to see what you create!

Liturgy and Worship

Sundays at 8:00 am

Holy Eucharist Rite I with hymns in the Chapel.

Sundays at 10:00 am

Holy Eucharist Rite II with choir and music in the main church.

Wednesdays at 10:00 am

Healing & Reconciliation Holy Eucharist Rite II with hymns in the Chapel.

Taizé: Last Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm

A meditative service of music and prayer in the Chapel. (No communion.)

For other worship services and parish events, visit our calendar.

Livestream Worship and Sermons Online

We livestream Sunday 10am worship on Facebook and YouTube. You can view past sermons or entire livestreams on our YouTube channel.

Nursery School and Sunday School

Sunday school for children in kindergarten through fifth grade will be held in the Parish Hall from 9:50 am to 10:40 am (ish ... the kids typically come in at the Peace). There is a nursery for children 6 months to 5 years old.

Contact: Kristina Pelá

Pastoral Care

In need of prayer? Send prayer requests to Fr. Jason.

Contact Kristina Pelá to arrange for a Lay Eucharistic Minister to safely bring you communion.

Parish Directory

Our directory is available online. If you need the password, contact Gina McQueen in person in the church office. For security reasons, we don't share the parish directory via email or phone call.