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St. Mary the Virgin
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Weekly Reflections

Weekly Reflection-3/21/2023

St. Mary's Reflection: Lynne Dombrowski, Junior Warden

Compassion: Learning to Love Our Neighbors

Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters …

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Weekly-Reflection-3/14/2023

St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson

I Love Daylight Saving Time!!!!

I expect I am in the great minority, but I love Daylight Saving Time. I love the Sunday we "lose" and hour of sleep. It's almost difficult for me to fall asleep on Saturday because I delight in the change that is coming (and perhaps a bit because I am trying to go to bed an hour earlier!!!)

What I love is…

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Weekly Reflection - 3/7/2023

St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. Kathy Guin, Assisting Priest

What Really Matters Most to You?

What really matters most to you? I have been thinking of this question as I have spoken with others at St. Mary's, who are deeply reflecting on their lives during this powerful season of Lent. I am seeing a sense of awe and wonder as they look at those deep places in their lives of meaning…

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Weekly Reflection - 2/14/2023

St. Mary's Reflection: David Crosson, Co-chair Justice Ministries

The Kingdom of God is Like a Cat's Cradle?

Paul pictures the church as a human body in which every member has its own purpose, but each is interdependent with all others. (1 Corinthians, 12:12-26) Author Kurt Vonnegut offers the more secular metaphor of a cat's cradle, a complex yet subtle web of human interconnecti…

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Weekly Reflection - 2/2/2023

St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. Kira Austin-Young

Celebrating Candlemas

This week holds one of my favorite lesser-known and observed Holy Days of the Church - the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, understandably shortened to the Feast of the Presentation - on February 2nd. It is a day that is rich with both religious and cultural meaning due to it fa…

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Weekly Reflection - 1/24/2023

St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Youth Minister

SMV Youth Gather to End the Exception

Immediately after the end of the Civil War, Congress and the states ratified the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. Sadly, the 13th Amendment also included an exception to abolition, "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." Very quickly, b…

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Weekly Reflection - 1/11/2023

St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson

Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Some Other Day?

I will be honest with you; I am not a big fan of rain. My preferred climate is dry, warm but not hot, in which an abundance of outdoor activities can be engaged in. The rain gets in the way of my outdoor exercise routine and in general gives me a feeling of malaise.

The rain these last cou…

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Weekly Reflection - 1/4/2023

St. Mary's Reflection: Elizabeth Falcon, Vestry Member

As we welcome 2023, I'm struck by a familiar feeling of disbelief at how quickly the past year flew by. In the year to come, I long to do a better job of being present and thankful for every moment before it passes me by. All of it. The exquisite moments, the excruciating moments, and especially those subtle in-between moment…

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Weekly Reflection - 12/8/2022

St. Mary's Reflection:Rebekah Hays Estera

Reflections of Baking for the Feast of Sankta Lucia

Photo on left - *A rosemalled tray of lussekatter - (my kid always makes a cat and sneaks it into the bunch)

Hi, I'm Rebekah Hays Estera. I'm a postulant preparing for the vocational diaconate from SEA Episcopal, San Bruno, and completing my Mentored Experiential Learning (sometimes c…

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Weekly Reflection - 12/21/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson

Christmas is Nigh!!

You would think that, as a clergy person, Christmas would not take me by surprise. Sure, I have deeply enjoyed celebrating Advent each Sunday morning in the unique and beautiful we do each year. My Christmas shopping, however, is woefully behind schedule! Perhaps I will give Epiphany gifts instead, though I am…

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Weekly Reflection - 11/17/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Russell Fudge, Vestry Member
A Life in Faith Community

When someone asks me why I love St. Mary's, memories of life in a faith community come to mind. In this Reflection I am going to try to explain how my past leads to my hopes for the St. Mary's of the future.

My brother Don moved back into the community where we grew up several years ago. He recently told m…

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Weekly Reflection - 10/18/22

Weekly Reflection - Hope - Georgia Burke Lu

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Lately I've been thinking about hope, which seems in awfully…

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Weekly Reflection - 9/19/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Geogene Keeler, Vestry Member

Prayers

When I learned that my future grandchild had a problem with his heart three months before he was born, I placed him on St. Mary's prayer list. The small weekday 7am SMV service I attended prayed up a storm. When he was one day old, he received his first heart pacer. We continued to pray for that first scary year. Toda…

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Weekly Reflection - 8/18/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Lynne Dombrowski, Vestry Member

"It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth. . . . "

Every Sunday, we hear these words as part of the Great Thanksgiving during Holy Communion, and we proclaim "Thanks be to God" many times throughout the service. I've been thinking a lot late…

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Weekly Reflection - 6/23/2022

St. Mary's Weekly Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson

The Times They Are a-Changin' Bob Dylan

"The only constant in this world is change." While I don't know who said this pithy phrase originally, it is certainly true for us at St. Mary's today. We are transitioning to our summer schedule, having completed another fabulous program year. For the first time in over two years, …

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Weekly Reflection - 6/14/2022

St. Mary's Weekly Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson

The End of an Era: Manny Gabiana

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven" Ecclesiastes 3:1

This Sunday, St. Mary's celebrates a beautiful era in our common life with the retirement of our beloved and longstanding Buildings and Grounds Keeper, Manny Gabiana. What a journey it has been!

I…

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Weekly Reflection - 6/8/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Nancy Clark, Sunday School Director

Thank you Wonderful Sunday School Teachers!

It's June. Have you been to any graduations? Nursery school, middle school, high school, college, graduate school? The answer is probably yes and if not this year, certainly many many in years past.....except for those Covid pandemic years when pomp and circumstance ceased and Zoo…

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Weekly Reflection - 6/1/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Interim Associate Minister

Confirmation

"Confirmation is the rite in which we express a mature commitment to Christ, and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop." -The Catechism, BCP p.860

This Saturday, seven youth from St. Mary's will formally commit themselves to Christ and receive a laying …

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Weekly Reflection - 5/4/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Interim Associate Minister

St. Mary's Parish Fair This Saturday

What I have heard most frequently from members of St. Mary's is that what they have missed the most during the pandemic was the experience of community: being together, worshiping together, learning together, taking walks together, singing together, serving together, eating togethe…

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Weekly-Reflection-4/25/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: David Crosson, Coordinator,

St. Mary's Stephen Ministries

If Jesus Asked for a Stephen Minister, So Can You

Photo: Garden of Gethsemane, 2017

Wait a minute! Jesus needed a Stephen Minister? Where is that in scripture?

Try Matthew (26: 36-46): Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he . . . said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to death; r…

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Weekly Reflection - 4/11/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson

An Invitation to an Easter Journey

One of the great gifts of the Christian calendar is the rhythm of returning, year after year, to the life of Jesus amidst our daily lives. One of the most ancient and profound opportunities is to walk the way of the Cross with Christ and then discover the empty tomb. This ancient journey has been know…

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Weekly Reflection - 4/6/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson

The Cracks in the Sidewalk Allow the City to Breathe

This past Sunday we experienced a candlelight (and mobile/flashlight) worship service. This was not due to any intentional spiritual intention, but rather the surprising discovery that our lighting system had crashed. Despite our best efforts for fix the problem, the lights never…

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Weekly Reflection - 3/29/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Marla Perkins, Music Associate

A Lenten Cycle

This Lent I have given up my car. I bicycle mainly, walk, and use transit with a few necessary exceptions. While allied with goals of weight loss and concrete environmental action, this practice also began alongside a deeply needed mind reset. Vacation was neither an option nor a solution, these needs had to be me…

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Weekly Reflection - 3/23/2022

May you find here, by the Grace of God, that which fills your soul - Nancy Clothier

When I began attending St. Mary's I was going through some personal difficulties. When I walked into the courtyard, there was a kiosk with information posted on events happening in the parish. On one of the notes was the saying, "May you find here by the grace of God, that which feeds your soul." T…

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Weekly Reflection - 3/15/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Natalie Hala, Liturgist and Verger

All That They Carried: Parables of Resolve

Rose faced the unimaginable heartbreak of the impending sale of her 9 year old daughter Ashley. Enslaved on a South Carolina plantation in the 1850's, Rose packed a cotton bag for Ashley with a few precious items as tokens of love (a braid of her hair) and essentials for her sur…

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Weekly Reflection - 3/8/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Interim Associate Minister

In Celebration of International Women's Day

I have been incredibly blessed to have my life filled with strong, loving women. As a boy, I grew up as the only boy on my mom's side of the family: she had two sisters, they all had girls, and I have two older sisters. I am lucky to have grown up in a household where femini…

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Weekly Reflection - 3/1/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Interim Associate Minister

On Wednesday Christians begin the 40-day journey of Lent with the observance of Ash Wednesday. We start by journeying with Jesus into the wilderness at the start of his ministry, and we end Lent by journeying with him into Jerusalem, to the cross, and to the empty tomb on Easter Sunday. Of course, any journey require…

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Weekly Reflection - 2/22/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Gloria Galindo, Senior Warden

When I first came to St. Mary's some 12 years ago I was unexpectedly made to feel right at home. I think it was a case of the right place at the right time, and, God taking care of me. Practicing my faith involves taking action. That action for me is getting involved with the church community. Just as I was thinking I wanted to …

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Weekly Reflection 2/14/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Nancy Clark, Sunday School Director

Valentine's Day

February 14, Valentine's Day, known in pre-secular times as St. Valentine's Day, is prime time for greeting card companies and florists. Last year, in pandemic times, a total of 152 million roses, red being the preferred color, were sold in the U.S. and somewhere in the neighborhood of 145 million cards were…

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Weekly Reflection - 2/8/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson

Making the Holy Sausage: Annual Meeting 2022

"...and to take your share in the councils of the Church." Ordination of a Priest, BCP pg. 531

I have always found the line above interesting. In my ordination vows to the priesthood, during the examination, the role of a priest is articulated. Along with being a pastor, priest, and teacher, …

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Weekly Reflection - 2/2/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Natalie Hala, Liturgist and Verger

Touching Eternity

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we see face to face. Now I know in part, then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known."

(Corinthians 13:12)

God has extended an open invitation to us with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on Christmas Day and its unfolding in space two da…

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Weekly Reflection - 1/26/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson - One Body, Many Parts

Last week we announced the 2022 vestry candidate slate and I have been delighted by the outpouring of enthusiastic support for the slate (if you haven't seen it yet, it can be found HERE). I received several emails about how talented and committed the slate members are, and several St. Mary people also shared…

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Weekly Reflection - 1/20/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Eric Choate, Director of Music

My New Year's resolution is to take more breaks and go on more walks. As a Protestant from the Midwest, I have a heavy-duty complex about work ethic and guilt. I have trouble unwinding at the end of the day, knowing that there are still emails to return, music to plan, music to learn, and a long list of administrative tasks. It…

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Weekly Reflection - 1/13/2022

St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Interim Associate Minister

This week we celebrate the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Just like us, Dr. King was a follower of Jesus, and in response to the love and grace of Christ, he looked around himself and saw the horrific and destructive toll that systemic racism was taking on the black communities around him. He…

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Sermons

  • Mar 26 | The Rev. Kira Austin-Young
    Sermon 3.26.2023
  • Mar 19 | The Rev. Kathy Guin
    Sermon 3.19.2023
  • Mar 12 | The Rev. Kira Austin-Young
    Sermon.3.12.2023
  • Mar 5 | The Rev. David Erickson
    Sermon 3.5.2023
  • Feb 26 | The Rev. David Erickson
    Sermon 2.26.2023

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2325 Union St. · San Francisco, CA 94123
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Sunday Services

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  • 9:00 a.m. Eucharist with Children’s Homily and Children and Youth Choirs
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  • Bulletin for March 26, 2023 - All services

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