TONIGHT…

Spooky Sandbox, Thursday, October 27, 5:30pm: All are welcome to a special edition of our weekly Thursday evening worship. We’ll share some spooky Bible stories, with appropriate music and crafts. Dinner will follow our intergenerational worship service. All are welcome!

THIS WEEKEND…

Ladies’ Night Out, Friday, October 28, 6pm: 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 Sa Bai Thong at 6802 Odana Road, in Madison. 

Naming our Saints: In anticipation of All Saints Day, please fill out one or more Saint Slips, available in the Gathering Area. Tell us about a saint, well-known or known only to you, whom you remember with love.

Last Sunday, Sunday, October 30, 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. NOTE: Our 8am service always follows our regular order of worship.

Middle School Lunch & Learn, Sunday, October 30, 11:30am: Rev. Miranda invites the 10-and-up youth of the parish to meet with her for lunch after church once a month. 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 helps the parents’ schedules.

Fall Giving Campaign: Kids’ Market: As the Kids’ portion of our fall Giving Campaign, the kids of St. Dunstan’s (and their parents) are invited to contribute used toys or other unwanted but useful items to our Kids’ Market, which will run from October 30 through November 13. Kids are encouraged to go through their rooms and bring in some small, good-condition items that are ready for a new home. (No clothing, and no more than one plastic grocery bag per child, please!) Please bring in all contributions by Sunday, October 30. Kids and adults of the parish can shop the Market from October 30 through November 13. All donations will go to support our 2017 parish budget, as our kids’ contribution to our church’s ongoing life. Thanks for your participation!

Black Friday Craft-In: VOLUNTEERS WANTED, Friday, November 25, 1 – 4pm: This year we’ll host our third annual Black Friday Craft-In, a free public crafting event. We can use all kinds of volunteers – whether your skill is sewing, woodworking, stamping, paper crafting, helping little kids with simple crafts, smiling at people and saying “Welcome!”, setting up tables, or putting cookies on plates. If you’d like to plan and set up a craft station of your own, let Rev. Miranda know (so we budget table space for you!), and we have some Michael’s gift cards available to help you cover materials expenses. Sign up in the Gathering Area to help out, or talk with  Rev. Miranda.

 Christmas Cards for Jail Inmates: Thanks to all who have contributed cards; we have a good stock now! Our Card-Writing Station is now set up opposite the kitchen. You can take a moment to write a message while at church, or take home a couple of cards and the card-writing guidelines, and write at home. These cards will go to inmates at the Dane County Jail this Christmas, through an initiative of our sister parish Grace Church.

Christmas is a bleak time for these men and women, and even a simple message of kindness can bring some joy and hope. Our goal is to complete at least 100.

THE WEEKS AHEAD…

International Potluck, Saturday, November 5, 5pm: Diversity comes in many flavors, and our congregation has a wide range of ages, sexual orientations, and nationalities.  The Diversity Potluck is a get-together intended to showcase and celebrate our beautiful diversity, whatever that word means to you.  Bring a dish that you feel celebrates your own personal diversity.  You can bring artwork, music, or poems (original or not) that celebrates it as well!  Feel free to dress up to celebrate it!  Dinner will start at 5:00.  Please, bring a small card telling us about your dish/art, and note if the dish is gluten free/ vegetarian/ peanut free.  Please sign up with what dish you are bringing in the Gathering Area.

Birthdays and Anniversaries will be will be honored and Healing Prayers will be offered next Sunday, November 6, as is our custom on the first Sunday of every month.

“Breaking all the Rules: A Byzantine Princess Writes History”, Sunday, November 6, 9am: This fall we are starting a new 9am opportunity: a time for some of our members who are scholars, educators, and thinkers of deep thoughts to talk about things they love to talk about. Leonora Neville, one of our newer members, is a professor of history at UW-Madison. She’ll tell us about Anna Komnene, a fascinating figure who is the subject of Leonora’s most recent book.

All Saints’ Day, Sunday, Nov. 6: We will celebrate this holy day with an opportunity to remember the faithful departed; renewal of our baptismal vows; and, at our 10am service, a kids’ saint procession.

Remembrance Station: Consider bringing in a token of one of those saints whom you remember with love and respect, as an extension of our All Saints commemorations. Our Remembrance Station this year will include a place to hang pictures or notes, and a table where you may place a photo or other memento. Please don’t bring in anything precious or irreplaceable. On Sunday, November 20, we will commend these faithful departed to Christ our King.

Falk Food Friends Grocery Packing, Sunday, November 6, following the 10am service:  All helpers are welcome as we prepare weekend grocery bags for homeless families whose kids attend Falk Elementary School.

Evening Eucharist, Sunday, November 6, 6pm: Join us for a simple service before the week begins. All are welcome.

MOM Special Offering, Sunday, November 6: 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: dried beans, whole grains, herbs and spices, low-sugar beverages, ethnic foods, spaghetti & pizza sauce, cooking oil, single-serve peanut butter, whole grain cereal and laundry detergent. Thank you for all your support!

Election Day Prayers, Tuesday, November 8, 12pm: There will be a simple prayer service at noon. Whoever we are voting for, whatever our hopes or fears, we can come together and pray for the wellbeing of our city, nation, and world. All are welcome. There will also be a Communion service at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, at 1833 Regent Street, at 5:30pm that evening.

Madison-Area Julian Gathering, Wednesday, November 9, 7:15 – 9:00 PM: Julian of Norwich was a 15th Century English mystic and anchoress.  Little is known about Julian’s life, but she wrote a book, as far as we know the first in English written by a woman, about a series of revelations which opened her to the depths of God’s unconditional love for us in Jesus Christ. Come join us for contemplative prayer, fellowship, and reading/discussion of Julian’s book.  At the beginning of each meeting, brief instruction on the practice of contemplative prayer is offered.  All welcome.