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Nyhetsbrev från Svenska kyrkan San Francisco, januari 2026
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Var med och stötta kyrkans arbete genom att teckna medlemskap eller lämna en donation. Du kan enkelt göra detta genom Paypal eller att skicka in en check. Mer info här. Kom ihåg att betala medlemsavgift för 2026!
Då utlandssvenskar inte betalar någon kyrkoskatt i Sverige är detta ett sätt att stödja vår församling i San Francisco när det ekonomiska stödet från Sverige på sikt minskar.
Enbart genom ett starkt lokalt engagemang och ekonomiskt stöd kan Svenska kyrkan San Francisco fortsätta sitt arbete i norra Kalifornien och finnas här som stöd för bosatta och besökade svenskar.
Ett enkelt sätt att göra detta är att bli månadsgivare och på så sätt ge församlingen en stabilare ekonomi. Man kan välja vilken summa man vill och sätta upp direkt betalning varje månad. På så sätt behöver man ej oroa sig för att förnya sitt medlemskap.
Du kan även betala in genom att skicka en check till kyrkan: Church of Sweden SF, 2454 Hyde Street, San Francisco, CA 94109.
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Välkommen på svensk gudstjänst i San Francisco söndagen 11:e januari kl 11.00 i Svenska Kyrkan San Fransisco, 2454 Hyde Street.
Joakim Schröder är präst och musiker Therese Brewitz. Tillsammans sjunger vi svenska psalmer. Vi firar första söndagen efter trettondagen och temat är Jesu dop.
Agendan och delar av gudstjänsten är på engelska - så ta gärna med engelsktalande partners och familjemedlemmar.
Efteråt samlas vi till kyrklunch och gemenskap.
Efter kyrkkaffet kommer vi få lyssna på ett kortare föredrag med Brandon Peck, vår tidigare prästkandidat och prästvikarie. For centuries, Christians have wrestled with questions of the ethical life and the pursuit of the higher good. In this presentation, Brandon Westengard, a PhD candidate at the Graduate Theological Union, explores Martin Luther’s theology of free will in relation to love of neighbor and the mystical life, arguing that Luther’s denial of human free will is not a theology of bondage but a mystical orientation toward freedom. This freedom liberates the Christian individual for a life of self-giving service to others.
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Välkommen på svensk gudstjänst i Los Altos lördagen den 17:e januari kl 15.00. Vi samlas i Los Altos Lutheran Church, 460 S El Monte Ave.
Temat för gudstjänsten är "Livets källa. Präst är Joakim Schröder och musiker Therese Brewitz.
Efteråt samlas vi till kyrkkaffe och gemenskap. Hör gärna av dig om du vill bidra med något gott till fikabordet.
Varmt välkomna!
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Barn med föräldrar, far/morfäräldrar, aupairer och så vidare är välkomna på barnsång i kyrkan på Hyde Street varannan fredag. Vi sjunger svenska och norska barnvisor tillsammans.
Vi börjar med sångstund med rörelser med och för barnen. Sedan tänder vi ljus tillsammans innan vi går upp till övervåningen för fika, samtal, lek och gemenskap.
Vill du komma - hör av dig till kristin.hamren@svenskakyrkan.se.
Varmt välkomna! |
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Svenska kyrkan visar nordisk film! Onsdag den 19:e november visar vi sci-fi filmen "Aniara" som bygger på Harry Martionssons episka dikt Aniara från 1956. Varmkorv, popcorn och dryck serveras.
Aniara är ett rymdskepp som ska transportera många människor från jorden till Mars eftersom jorden har drabbats hårt av miljöförstöring. Men efter att ha oväntat ha fått väja för rymdskrot skadas Aniara och hamnar ur kurs, vilket förändrar förutsättningarna totalt.
Kyrkan är öppen från 18.30. Det blir filmmys, trevliga samtal, varmkorv och popcorn. Efteråt kan de som vill stanna kvar för en kortare diskussion kring filmen.
The movie is in Swedish with English subtitles.
Kom gärna med förslag på filmer ni tycker vi ska visa framöver! |
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DUO SABU IN CONCERT FEBRUARY 8, 2026 Duo SaBu is a unique musical partnership between Heidi Saario, pianist, and Erich Buchholz, tenor, established in 2022. We perform classical art songs of many origins, with an emphasis on Nordic and Finnish composers. We bring a sense of drama and theater to our concerts, and do everything we can to share these poetic vignettes with musical integrity and narrative engagement. We have performed concerts at the Finnish Hall in Berkeley, the Piedmont Center for the Arts, the Flower Piano Festival in Golden Gate Park, and private house concerts.
For our concert at the historic Sjomannskirken in San Francisco, we will offer songs and piano pieces by Elfrida Andree, Agathe Backer-Grondahl, Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius, Toivo Kuula, and Oskar Merikanto. You will hear songs about the sea, lullabies, a perfect sunset, loss, and tales of adventurous love, in English, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish. This will be a tuneful hour of romance and melody. Full texts and translations are provided, and a free will offering via cash box or Venmo is greatly appreciated. |
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by Karl Mettinger
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Mr. Davis visited our Church in September 2002, when we Unveiled a Plaque to honor the memory of Britt-Marie Boman, a church member who died during the pandemic.
His late wife Birgitta was a close friend of Britt-Marie. When he received an inheritance from Britt-Marie’s estate he felt compelled to secure a donation of $100,000 to our church for our outreach.
He returned the following year to give a lecture on Court Skills which was the name of his consulting firm. In 1991 he was contracted by the Department of Justice, State of California to train technical witnesses in testifying in court. Raymond’s professional experience includes testifying in over 1600 criminal, civil and military court martial cases. His grandfather had immigrated to SF after the massacre on Armenians in Eastern Turkey. When Raymond was drafter for Vietnam his grandfather told him to get baptized, he took it seriously and it became a blessing in his life.
One evening when he is having dinner in the Marina district, he happens to be seated close to two Swedish women, both with an open entrepreneurial mindset. Both were members of SWEA and Church of Sweden, where they used to serve coffee. Birgitta, the youngest was a cancer research technician from George Kleins lab at Karolinska. When the lab team moved to Seattle, she was invited to move with them. The rest is history!
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Tell us about your Armenian family and why you got baptized
My grandparents were ethnic Armenians born in eastern Turkey. They emigrated
to America because of the genocide of the Armenian people in 1915. They fled
their homes, traveled to Aleppo, Syria and then onto Boston. Eventually, they
made their way to San Francisco. Despite their initial poverty, my grandparents
became very successful, operating several restaurants in San Francisco, and
also getting involved in restoring old apartment buildings. When my grandmother
died in 1993, her estate was valued at 1.25 million dollars. My grandfather was a
master chef and a master baker. He spoke six languages and read his King
James Bible every day. I still have his very old and well-worn Bible to this day.
And it was his recommendation that I become baptized when I had been drafted
into the Army during the Viet Nam war. He was concerned that I might die
without having the blessing of baptism. He was a remarkable man and I was
honored to know him.
How did you become a forensic scientist
I received a degree in Chemistry from California State University at Sacramento in
1972 and heard about opportunities in forensic science. I arranged a meeting with
the lab director at the State of California Crime Laboratory in Sacramento. I took a
tour of the laboratory and later he invited me to his office. He informed me that the
State had received a grant to open 11 smaller crime labs throughout California and
they were going to hire 30 people with no experience. He asked if I was interested. I
didn’t hesitate to reply with a thunderous, YES! I had a remarkable 32-year career as
a forensic scientist, 12 years in private practice. It was one of the best decisions I
ever made in my career.
Where did you meet Birgitta and Britt-Marie the first time?
At the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco, June 1974. She sat down next to me and
we just started talking to one another over Irish Coffees. After several hours of
wonderful conversation, I asked them if I could drive them home and they agreed.
That’s when I learned that they lived in the same apartment building on Franklin
Street two block off Lombard Street in the Marina District. Two years later, Birgitta
and I got married in Sweden, on 9/11.
Why did Birgitta move to Seattle and then SF after working in Prof Georg Kleins lab at Karolinska (where the link between virus and Burkitt’s Lymphoma) Birgitta the technician and Karl-Erik was and Ingegerd Hellstrom were the scientists, and then she moved with them to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
Birgitta was one of three laboratory technicians who came to Seattle, WA along
with the Hellstroms who had received an invitation to continue their work on
monoclonal antibodies at the University of Washington. After two years, she
decided to return to Sweden but not before visiting San Francisco. She fell in
love with the City and got many job offers at local hospitals because of her
association with the Hellstroms. She worked as a cardio-pulmonary function
technologist at Children’s Hospital on California Street.
At a SWEA conference in Washington DC one year, I think in 2008, she met another Swede on a bus tour who worked for a laboratory in South Africa. Coincidentally, that lady’s
responsibility was to send biological specimens called Burkett’s Tumors to the
University of Washington where Birgitta was responsible for picking them up.
Talk about a small world!!!! Birgitta also worked at the world-famous Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle where she performed lung
function testing on cancer patients prior to their bone marrow transplants. She
loved her work and she loved her patients.
Tell us about Britt-Marie Boman and her business and then long friendship with
your wife. Birgitta was younger?
There was a 16-year age difference between Britt-Marie and my wife. Britt-Marie
worked for a very successful property manager in San Francisco. Her boss had a
lovely office gazebo in his front yard where Britt-Marie worked for many years.
One day, Birgitta approached a bus stop on California Street and asked the lady
waiting there when the next bus was due. Britt-Marie said, “It should be here very
soon.” Hearing an accent, Birgitta asked, “Är du Svensk?” And that was the
beginning of a very long and wonderful friendship. Eventually, Birgitta moved into
Britt-Marie’s apartment building taking the apartment across the hall from her.
Tell us more about your life with your wife
Birgitta and I moved to Bainbridge Island, WA to start my own private practice in forensic science and Birgitta with the local hospitals. We joined Bethany Lutheran Church on the Island, and I had the privilege of serving as president of the church council.
How is life after retirement?
I knew that it would be very important to stay busy after retiring. When I retired at
59, I kept active in my profession helping the younger members, I took up long
distance running (marathons), traveled with Birgitta, took cruises, and I published
three novels based on cases that I had worked on during my career. Birgitta
passed away after a four-year battle with (AML) leukemia. After selling our home
in Eagle, Idaho, I moved into a very active retirement community and I’m
enjoying my life. I turned 80 last April but stay as active as possible. I meet with
a small group of professional men twice a week for coffee and conversation. I
give a one-hour Forensic Lecture at my community each month, I play poker
(poorly) with my male friends here, join the folks here for continental breakfasts
and participate in our monthly Book Club.
My final Words; Jag sakna min älskade fru, Inga Birgitta Scott varje dag. Hon var
den bäste som finns. Jag vet att vi ska träffas varandra igen.
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Unveiling of plaque for Britt-Marie Boman
After Raymond Davis secured $100,000 to our church of Sweden in SF
Raymon Davis Board President Karl Mettinger
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This plaque is now hanging in the “Swedish
Corner” in the church dining room
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Children sing-a-long at 10.30 am Friday January 9th and 23rd
Sunday January 11th 11 am, Church service and church coffee in San Francisco. Afterwards we will also hear a lecture with Brandon Peck on the topic: "Plainly a Divine Term: Martin Luther, Mysticism and Free Will.
Saturday January 17th, 3 pm, Swedish church service in Los Altos with church coffee
Wednesday January 20th, 7 pm, Movie Night "Aniara"
Friday January 30th, 12 pm, Week day mass and soup lunch
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