TONIGHT…
Music and Liturgy meeting, Thursday, April 21, 7pm: We’ll meet to check in on our core liturgical ministries and share ideas for the seasons ahead. All interested folks are welcome!
THIS WEEKEND…
Ladies’ Night Out, Friday, April 22, 6:30pm – Please note new location: Join our monthly get-together as we dine at area restaurants and enjoy good conversation among women of all ages from St. Dunstan’s. This month we will meet at the Freska Mediterranean Grill at 8310 Greenway Boulevard in Middleton.
St. Francis House 100th Anniversary Dinner, Saturday, April 23, 4-8pm at St. Dunstan’s: The celebration begins at SFH with Evening Prayer at 5:15 pm, led by Bishop Miller, and the blessing of a large icon. Drazen Dupor, the iconographer, will be on hand to speak about the icon. The celebration continues at St. Dunstan’s, with dinner at 6:30pm. Ample parking will be available at St. Dunstan’s with a shuttle to and from campus for evening prayer. Tickets are $35. Seating will be limited to 100 people. You can reserve your tickets for the evening at www.stfancisuw.org.
Healing Democracy, One Heart at a Time, Sunday, April 24, 9am: We will explore techniques for creating safe spaces in which to talk honestly, strive to transcend partisanship and reconnect as human beings across the political gulfs that divide us. We’ll experiment with five habits that author Parker Palmer believes will help heal our hearts and the collective heart of our nation. All are welcome!
Last Sunday Worship, Sunday, April 24, 10am: Our Last Sunday worship is intended especially to help kids (and grownups who are new to our pattern of worship) to engage and participate fully. This Sunday we’ll receive Jesus’ teaching about the Great Commandment – love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. NOTE: Our 8am service always follows our regular order of worship.
Middle School Lunch & Learn, Sunday, April 24, 12-1pm: Rev. Miranda invites the 10-and-up youth of the parish to meet with her for lunch after church. We’ll dig into faith, Scripture, life, and our questions about all three. We’ll wrap up by 1pm, and we can arrange rides home for the kids if that help parents’ schedules.
Sing Out Loud! Sunday, April 24, 3pm at St. Dunstan’s: Choirs from congregations that support Middleton Outreach Ministries are joining together to present favorite anthems in an afternoon concert on Sunday, April 24th at 3 pm. The concert will benefit Middleton Outreach Ministries. Admission is free, but everyone is encouraged to bring personal care items (soap, deodorant, feminine products, toothpaste, etc.) for MOM to distribute. Cash/checks are accepted, too. Come join us for an enjoyable and participatory afternoon of Song!
Grace Shelter Dinner, Sunday, April 24, 7pm: Every fourth Sunday, a loyal group of St. Dunstan’s folk provides dinner for resident at the Grace Church shelter, and breakfast the next morning. See the signup sheet in the Gathering Area to help out.
Work Evening, Wednesday, April 27, 5:30 – 7:30pm: Come eat some pizza and help out on the grounds for an hour or so. We’ll be working down in the woods, to clear out some boxelder and buckthorn that threaten to crowd out some of the plants we like better, like currants and raspberries! Warm clothes appropriate for outdoor work and gloves are recommended. We will have childcare and a movie for non-working kids.
Altar Flowers: April and May dates available! Honor a loved one or a special event with altar flowers. Reserve your special date by writing your dedication on the sign-up sheet. Suggested donation is $35. Write “flowers” on the memo line of your check or on envelope containing cash, or donate online at donate.stdunstans.com.
Coffee Hosts Needed! Please consider being a coffee host. Sign-up sheets for upcoming Sundays can be found in the Gathering Area. Thanks!
St. Dunstan’s Diaper Drive, April 17 – May 8: Imagine having to choose whether to pay rent, pay utilities, buy food, or buy diapers for your baby or toddler. Nearly 1 in 3 American families struggle to afford enough diapers, which cannot be purchased with food stamps. Learn more by reading today’s bulletin insert. We are having a diaper drive for sizes 4, 5, and 6 from April 17 until Mother’s Day, May 8. We will donate the diapers to pantries around the area, including Allied Drive Food Pantry, Kennedy Heights, and MOM (if needed). You can shop around for a great deal ($.20 or less per diaper) or make a check or online donation to St. Dunstan’s designated for the Diaper Drive and let our skilled diaper shoppers do the shopping! We’ll dedicate all our gifts on Mother’s Day. Thanks for your support!
THE WEEKS AHEAD…
Confirmation Service, Saturday, April 30, 10:00am, at Grace Episcopal Church on the Square: A service of confirmation or reception into the Episcopal Church for those who participated in the Madison-area Episcopal parishes’ shared Confirmation class during Lent. One new member of St. Dunstan’s will be confirmed at this service. All are invited to attend and celebrate those committing themselves to our way of faith, and our unity as the Episcopal Church in Dane County!
Men’s Book Group, DATE CHANGE – Saturday, May 7, 10am: The book is English Creek by Ivan Doig. Jack McCaskill accompanies his father on a horseback journey to count sheep onto mountain rangeland allotted by the national forest—a routine yearly duty that leads to the revelation of a long-kept family secret. Events develop over the course of the summer and end in a forest fire that brings the book, as well as the Catskill family’s struggle within itself, to a stunning climax.
An Introduction to Charitable Giving, Sunday, May 1, 11:30am: Come for lunch with several of the folk of St. Dunstan’s who have expertise in the areas of financial management, charitable giving, and taxes. They’ll outline the logistics of different ways of giving to your favorite organizations or causes, different kinds of gifts, and tax implications of giving. Questions welcome too! Folks of all ages and incomes are encouraged to come; child care will be provided.
Healing Prayers: Next Sunday, one of our ministers will offer healing prayers for those who wish to receive prayers for themselves or on behalf of others.
Birthdays and anniversaries will be honored next Sunday, May 1, as is our custom on the first Sunday of every month. Come forward after the Announcements to receive a blessing and the community’s prayers.
MOM Special Offering, Sunday, May 1: Next Sunday, half the cash in our offering plate and any designated checks will be given to Middleton Outreach Ministry’s food pantry. Here are the current top-ten, most needed items: pouch/canned meat, sugar, size 6 diapers, meals in a can, ketchup/mayonnaise, canned potatoes (any variety), laundry detergent, non-perishable lactose free milk, plastic grocery bags, paper grocery bags. MOM is always in need of quality bedding and household items as well. Thank you for all your support!
Backpack Snack Pack, Sunday, May 1, 12pm: Every month St. Dunstanites of all ages help pack Backpack Snack Packs for local school children from low-income households, so that they have nutritious snacks available over the weekend. We’ll work in the Meeting Room following the 10am service.
Evening Eucharist, Sunday, May 1, 6pm: Join us for a simple service before the week begins.
Proclaiming Love in a Polarized World: An Open Meeting with the Bishop, Wednesday, May 4, St. Dunstan’s Church, 6:30 – 8:00pm: Our bishop Steven Miller will be making his annual visit to St. Dunstan’s next month. All members of St. Dunstan’s are invited to an open conversation, over tea and cookies, about how to be witnesses for a loving God in a time of so much polarization and division in our public life.
Words in Season: Mothers – All Kinds, Sunday, May 8: Dear performance and poetry loving members of St. Dunstan’s, join us for a seasonal celebration of words and the spirit. Daniel Hanson and Evy Gildrie-Voyles invite you to bring a poem to share, loosely connected to our theme of Mothers – all kinds: good and bad, yours or somebody else’s, real or metaphorical. If your chosen poem is long, please consider reading a selected portion, to allow time for all to share. We will share our poems in the Nave after folks have had a chance to get a bite to eat at Coffee Hour. All ages are welcome to participate. No memorizing is necessary.
Spring Clean-up Day, Sunday, May 15, 12-2pm: Join us after the 10 am service to put some “sweat equity” into tending our beautiful buildings and grounds. Wear or bring your scruffy clothes and work gloves. Lunch will be provided! A list of tasks will be posted in the Gathering Area by Sunday the 1st. We will also have a Pre-Clean-Up Day on Saturday, May 14, from 9am to noon, to do some prep work for the parish work day and some of the more skilled work needed on our grounds.
St. Dunstan’s Day All-Ages Worship & Hat and Tie Sunday, May 22: We will celebrate the feast day of our saint, Dunstan, on Sunday, May 22. You’re invited to mark the occasion by dressing up with a fancy hat and/or tie – wear your own or borrow one from the collection at church. We will also take up a special collection for scholarships for the Diocese of Milwaukee’s camp program, Camp Webb. It’s our custom to take photos of the whole congregation after the 10am service that Sunday; we hope you’ll stay a few moments to participate.
Vacation Bible School Dates Set! Our summer Vacation Bible School will take place from Sunday, July 31, through Thursday, August 4, 5:30-7:30pm. Kids ages 3-10 are welcome to participate; kids 11 and up may participate as actors and helpers. We hope these dates are helpful to St. Dunstan’s families making summer plans.
40th Annual Women’s Mini Week – Surprised by Joy! – August 11 – 14, 2016, Camp Lakotah, Wautoma, Wisconsin: This is your time to retreat from your everyday routines, to allow discoveries and friendships to refresh you, to find comfortable activity or blissful quiet. Registration forms are in the Gathering Area. For more information, see the website at www.womensminisweek.org.
Creation Care Task Force Update
Christ wears ‘two shoes’ in the world: scripture and nature. Both are necessary to understand the Lord, and at no stage can creation be seen as a separation of things from God. – John Scotus Eriugena (810-877)
St. Dunstan’s Creation Care Task Force has met twice so far. We’ve explored the deep streams in Scripture and Christian theology that call us to seek and honor God through God’s creation, and that link our wellbeing to the wellbeing of the world. We’ve shared stories and memories of the importance of the natural world in our own lives and spirituality. We’ve tried on John Muir Laws’ definition of “love” as “sustained compassionate attention” and begun to ask ourselves, what could it look like to be a faith community that practices sustained compassionate attention towards the natural world – both the bit of it that “belongs” to us, here at 6205 University Drive, and the larger landscape and systems of which we are a part? We’ll continue that conversation, at both big-picture and nitty-gritty levels, in the months ahead. Please continue to hold our conversations and work in prayer, and look for signs of God’s presence and love in Nature’s overwhelming life and beauty in this spring season!