One of my check-in questions this week with my Zoom small group was to share a memory of a past St. Michael’s Day celebration. It was a little disheartening that we found this to be a challenge. So far into this pandemic, we are forgetting what life was like before – how we would gather, how we marked special occasions, how we used to party.
Since September 2020, on the last Saturday of each month, Burrito Love has been on a mission to provide a nutritional sack lunch to our community neighbors. As you walk in the neighborhood, you may notice Burrito Love flyers posted for the event on telephone poles. Included with each sack are cookies and a chilled bottle of water. The Super Torta restaurant on Woodstock provides the burritos at a significantly reduced cost.
I feel like we are frayed around the edges because of COVID. We are still knit together but have lost some cohesion over the past 18 months. Even our strongest pieces have thinned and struggled to hold everything and everyone together. It’s the nature of collective trauma, surely, to feel forever exhausted and on edge in unstable times.
Still, a golden thread has emerged in our beloved music program in the form of a return to in-person choir rehearsals. Even while we cannot sing to full capacity on Sunday mornings until restrictions are lifted, the St. Michael’s Singers has started gathering again in the open sanctuary on Wednesday nights to learn psalms and anthems together for both personal enrichment and communal worship.
St. Francis Day is on October 4, and we’re celebrating it on Sunday, October 3. All are invited to attend our annual Blessing of the Animals at 12:00 noon in the courtyard. The clergy will offer blessings and treats for each pet, and you can have your photo snapped with St. Francis (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) or in front of the red doors. It’s a chance to chat and catch up with your friends and fellow parishioners and introduce them to your beloved pet.
The first youth group meeting of the new school year is happening at Normandale Park on Sunday, September 12, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm. Masks will be required, and dinner will be provided 🙂 We hope you had a wonderful summer. We missed all of you!
If you missed the offertory solo from last Sunday, take a listen to the marvelous duet from St. Michael’s Singers soprano Beth Ilem and Choir Director Brian Fairbanks on flute as they present Craig Courtney’s “Be not afraid,” set to Isaiah 43:1-4.
We’re looking for some social-media and tech savvy volunteers to help with such things as online moderation and video production.
As we face continued uncertainty with COVID variant surges and the suffering of our world in war and climate chaos, the work of the church goes on. I am grateful for the work of a small team of people who began a conversation last year about how structural racism relates to our use of sacred music.
Many of our connections that predate the pandemic have grown stronger, and even some new ones have grown deeper
The month of August is the perfect time to pick up a backpack and school supplies to help support local children in the foster-care system. Donations can be dropped off at the church on Sunday mornings inside the courtyard doors, or you can bring them during the week (call first). Monetary gifts are also very welcome to help “fill in the blanks” when more supplies are needed to complete the backpacks. Please bring your donations the next three Sundays—August 8, 15 & 22.
Sunday Worship Schedule
7:30 – Spoken Traditional language (Rite 2 with no music)
9:00 – Traditional Service with Choir
11:00 – Inclusive Language with Choir
1:00 pm – Misa en Español
© 2025 St. Michael & All Angels
