We the people of Saint Stephen's in-the Field

Seek to know Christ, to share Christ, and to serve Christ,

recognizing his presence in all people, and reaching out in love 

to each other and to the world around us.

Worship This Sunday:

Sunday, October 13th

10:00am - Morning Prayer

BULLETIN

 St. Stephen’s has an in-person worship service every Sunday at 10am. We alternate between Morning Prayer and Holy Eucharist. We are not live-streaming Morning Prayer services at this time. All Holy Eucharist services are live streamed. Links to the bulletin and YouTube video are provided for all Holy Eucharist services.

From the Vestry

Bishop Lucinda and Deacon Robin presided over our confirmation service last week. We had a wonderful coffee hour after the service with the Bishop and Deacon Robin. Special thanks to Pastor Mary for leading the two people being confirmed through their classes.

The necrology book has been set out for names to be added. We have 3 weeks until the All Saints Day service.

Unfortunately, someone left a lot of garbage and recycling in our parking lot. Since we no longer have a dumpster, we are hoping you can help!

If you have space in your garbage and/or recycling bins, please bring a large garbage bag (and some gloves!) to take home some of this "gift".

Saturday, October 19th:

Harvest Festival at St. Stephens

St. Stephens will be hosting an OctoberFest complete with a beer stein holding contest! Please come join us at this wonderful community event. Click here for registration and payment! Also, to participate in the beer stein holding contest, click here to register!

**In order to get an accurate headcount and have the correct amount of food, we need your help! If you are planning on attending, please register on the website above.**

RAFFLE BASKETS FOR OCTOBERFEST

Here is what we have so far:

• A sock basket
• Halloween basket
• Wine and beer basket
• Puzzles and games basket
• Bird basket
• Possible Taco and hot sauce basket
• One undecided

Let Janet know if you have any other ideas for a basket.

Dear Clergy and Wardens of the Diocese of El Camino Real,

The Bishop of Western North Carolina, +Jose McLoughlin , has sent an update on the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. His communication is very limited at this time, so updates are infrequent.



Power is still out in many areas, especially the mountains in the western part of the diocese. It is anticipated that power will not be restored until Friday. Flooding is extensive, as he says, historic, and most of the effort is being put into search and rescue at this time. Roads and bridges are washed out, so it is very hard to get into the remote areas.

Bishops in the eastern part of the country are accumulating supplies to take into that area, but most of it will need to wait until access is granted. Meanwhile, the best course of action for those in our diocese who wish to be of assistance is to donate to Episcopal Relief and Development. ER-D works to give long-term support in areas affected by disaster: support.episcopalrelief.org/hurricane-relief.

Thank you all. Let us keep praying for the people in the southeastern part of our country.

Faithfully,

+Lucinda

Proud Episcopalians in a Parade

Aer van de Water

St Stephen-in-the-Field sponsored the Interfaith Booth at Silicon Valley Pride this summer. Several volunteers of the Rainbow Community walked in the episcopal delegation in the parade.       

           Sunday morning, August 25, I hurried along a crowded street in my asexual shirt and pride flag cape. The delegation of our diocese gathered under the shady trees on Julian Street in San Jose, ready to filter onto Market Street when it was our turn to walk in the Silicon Valley Pride Parade. I hugged some of my fellow students from my Monday Education for Ministry class from St Jude’s. A few parishes had brought large banners proclaiming proudly that us Episcopalians believed God loved everybody. A white dove kite representing the holy spirit flew overhead. A cart with water and a life-size Jesus cut-out decorated with rainbow accessories sat ready to be pulled. I was glad I could represent St Thomas amongst this happy crowd. I greeted bishop Lucinda, here on her day off. My friends Kathryn and Liam showed up with the banner to show off our Rainbow Community Garden on the campus of St Stephen-in-the-Fields.

           Well-prepared with sunscreen and water, we waited as the sun made it a summery 90 degrees. The parade opened with the Dykes on Bikes revving down Market Street towards the festival grounds at Plaza de Cesar Chavez. We took our turn to walk waving and cheering, hooting and laughing past the crowds decked out in their rainbow best. No one proclaimed homophobia or transphobia in the name of God this year, any Christians present this day walked in the parade. I handed out a card to every person with an asexual flag – we often have a hard time finding each other with how sidelined we have long been even in the queer community. After half an hour, we filtered into the side street or into the festival grounds.

           After a lunch break, I entered the festival area for my volunteer shift at the Interfaith Pride booth. St Thomas sponsored the booth – where people received the code to a Google map with pins for every religious organisation that welcomed queer people in Santa Clara County, so that everyone was empowered to practice their religion in safety and community. At the booth, people could also seat themselves in little open air parlour for a supportive conversation. They could add a little heart with their wishes and thanksgivings to a large chickenwire and ribbon rainbow – the offrenda. And we had some games set up for people to relax. As volunteers, we told each other the stories of our religions and queer journeys inbetween serving the people that came to the booth.

           Next to the Interfaith booth, a few episcopal churches had decided to rent a booth together, a first this year. After seeing how many queer and allied episcopelians showed up in the delegation in the morning, I understood a bit better why they wished to do outreach (quite literally) next to the interfaith booth. The festival in general was more community-oriented and mellow than last year. I greeted a few fellow activists who came by the booth.

Diocesan Newsletter



Read about what’s going on in the diocese! Click below to subscribe to the diocesan newsletter that is emailed every two weeks.

Help with Wildfires in Northern California

The Park Fire near Chico is threatening many parishioners in our sister diocese of Northern California. It has grown to 393,012 acres and is only 18% contained. It is the fifth-largest wildfire in California history.

Many feel called to help those who are displaced by disaster. The primary need of people who are evacuated is money, allowing them to eat, travel to safety, settle down where it is safe and comfortable, and contact loved ones. Please prayerfully consider donating to the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California Disaster Resilience Fund if you are able. 100% of your donations go to help those in need. Click HERE to donate.

Presiding Bishop Elect prioritizes

Creation Care from the start . . .

The title of the recent Episcopal News Service (ENS) article reads:

"Presiding bishop-elect to forego installation at National Cathedral; scaled-back event to be held at church’s New York headquarters."

Read the full article HERE.

A Prayer in Times of Transition . . .

Assist us, Lord, in living hopefully into the future. In the face of change, help us to set unnecessary fears aside and to recognize our potential for creative response. Help us to develop a reasonable optimism when confronted by “the new” and to guard against our own defensiveness. Be with us as we remember and celebrate former times, and keep us from unreasonable yearning for them, which takes us from the work you have set before us in our time. All this we ask in the name of your Child, our Savior, Jesus Christ.



Amen.

A prayer for peace in the Middle East

God of mercy and compassion, of grace and reconciliation, pour your power upon all your children in the Middle East: Jews, Muslims and Christians, Palestinians and Israelis. Let hatred be turned into love, fear to trust, despair to hope, oppression to freedom, occupation to liberation, that violent encounters may be replaced by loving embraces, and peace and justice could be experienced by all. Amen.

(by The Reverend Said Ailabouni Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Chicago, IL.) 

You can help . . .

If you are interested in making donations to help with the relief efforts in Israel/Palestine, here are the links that were included in Bishop Lucinda's letter:

https://j-diocese.org/wordpress/

https://realepiscopal.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=99ebbaf4cee8d012c9edafe60&id=d91c439a3d&e=bcc1702497

Wednesday Book Group

Weekly Wednesday Bible Study

 11:00am, at St. John’s 

When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Rabbi Laureate Harold Kushner

This classic treatise of trying to understand personal tragedy was published in 1981. Over 4 million copies of this book have sold, and it’s been translated into at least 12 languages! The author was born April 3, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York, and he passed away at 88 in hospice care on April 28, 2023.

Updates and opportunities!

We have space available to rent. If you know of any non-profit agencies or schools that need a space, let them know that St. Stephen’s has space. 



While it’s nice to have the flexibility to use the space ourselves, we need the income and so hope to find a new renter. 

Our church, parish hall, and our beautiful grounds, including the labyrinth are all great venues like for a variety of special events like receptions, birthday parties, quinceaneras, etc. Please encourage friends to consider St. Stephen’s as a venue for their special event!  

To reserve a space or ask question, contact the office, office@ssitf.org or click on the link on our website https://www.ssitf.org/facility-rentals. 

Spread the word and pray for St. Stephen’s!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

All Services begin at 10:00am, unless otherwise noted.

• Sunday, October 13th, Morning Prayer
• Sunday, October 20th, Holy Eucharist
• Sunday, October 27th, Morning Prayer
• Sunday, November 3rd, Holy Eucharist
• Sunday, November 10th, Morning Prayer

Kudos:

• All who brought food to coffee hour last week.

• Rob for setting up the parish hall and making the coffee.

• Kristen for making a special trip to get coffee creamer.

• Trig for getting the microphones to work. 

NEEDING PRAYER SUPPORT?

Prayer is one of those things we often think about, might feel inadequate about, believe in but might be unsure how to proceed. How we pray is sometimes unique to each of us. The Church provides help in many ways. If you find yourself in need, of any kind (emotional, physical, spiritual, guidance, etc) consider how St. Stephen's can support you:

*   there is a prayer chain of committed pray-ers (who maintain confidentiality). 

*   tell people about your answers to prayer! and the miracles you witness, or how prayer changes YOU.

Editor's Note  

Have an announcement?

Please send any announcements or articles you want to have included, to: kristenvdm@yahoo.com, by Thursday, 10am each week. 

Kristen van der Molen