News Briefs: SF Lutheran Church celebrates 175 years

  • by Cynthia Laird, News Editor
  • Wednesday October 30, 2024
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Lutheran Bishop Jeff Johnson, center, reads scripture from the Bible during the October 27 service at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco to celebrate its 175th anniversary. Photo: Rick Gerharter<br>
Lutheran Bishop Jeff Johnson, center, reads scripture from the Bible during the October 27 service at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco to celebrate its 175th anniversary. Photo: Rick Gerharter

St. Mark's Lutheran Church celebrated its 175th anniversary with a special service Sunday, October 27.

The church, at 1111 O'Farrell Street, also marked the 130th anniversary of its building, which is a San Francisco registered landmark (No. 41).

Lutheran Bishop Jeff Johnson, a gay man, delivered the sermon, said the Reverend Dan Buringrud, who is the senior pastor at St. Mark's.

Buringrud, a straight ally, told the B.A.R. that he's only recently arrived at the church, starting in the position just under two months ago. Prior to that, he had been the longtime pastor at a Lutheran church in Ellicottville, New York.

St. Mark's is the first Lutheran church in the state and survived the 1906 earthquake, though it suffered extensive damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, Buringrud said. While the building has been repaired from that temblor, ongoing work is needed to maintain the facility. He explained. The church now is in the midst of a $3 million capital campaign for that project, he said.

St. Mark's was also a founding member of the San Francisco Interfaith Council and is a site for the council's winter shelter program that operates from mid-January to mid-February. And the church has established affordable housing, Buringrud said.

"We have been at the forefront of affordable housing on church properties," he noted.

St. Mark's has long had its Martin Luther Towers, a 13-floor affordable senior housing complex. It currently has two affordable projects in St. Mark's Square, one for those over 55 and one for families. The goal is to have 300 or so affordable housing units.

"That's a huge ministry for us," Buringrud said.

St. Mark's was also the site, back in 2010, of a special service to receive LGBTQ pastors after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America rescinded its policy prohibiting non-celibate LGBTQ people from becoming clergy. Johnson was one of those who was received at the ceremony, as the B.A.R. reported.

For more information about St. Mark's, go to stmarks-sf.org.

SFAF to hold open house at new HQ

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation will hold an open house at its new South of Market main office at 940 Howard Street Tuesday, November 19, from 4 to 6 p.m.

The party will welcome guests to the new location, an email announcement stated.

As the B.A.R. previously reported, SFAF moved into its new location in early June. The agency had announced last November that it was seeking to lease a new space in SOMA, where its previous headquarters had been located.

"With our lease expiring at the end of 2023, this was an opportunity for SFAF to reassess the space needs of staff and the communities of people we serve at our main location," Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., a gay Black man living with HIV who is CEO of the foundation, stated at the time. "The downturn in the real estate market in San Francisco and the changing needs of our staff — many who are able to successfully work remotely — have enabled us to make a change that will ultimately result in cost savings for the organization and improved access for our clients."

At the welcome party, there will be a procession and blessing of the space by Aztec dancers, Mariachi music in honor of SFAF community program El Grupo's 40th anniversary, representation from all of its programs and services, and refreshments, the email stated.

To RSVP, go to sfaf.org/welcome.

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