Sandbox Worship, tonight: We gather at 5:30 for simple evening prayers, learning about gargoyles, and a shared supper (provided). All are welcome at this informal & intergenerational gathering.
THIS WEEK…
Giving Campaign Kickoff and Parish Talent Show Sunday, October 22, 11:30-1pm: Our fall Giving Campaign starts with a Talent Show, at which members of St. Dunstan’s will have the opportunity to share their skills. A light lunch will be served. Come see the accomplishments of fellow parishioners and enjoy the show!
Sunday School, Sunday, October 22, 10am: This Sunday, our 3 years olds to kindergarten class will have a special music time, while our Elementary classes will continue the story of Moses’ relationship with God during the years in the wilderness after the Exodus.
Grace Shelter Dinner, Sunday, October 22, 7pm: Every fourth Sunday, a loyal group of St. Dunstan’s folk provides dinner for residents at the Grace Church shelter, and breakfast the next morning. See the signup sheet in the Gathering Area to help out. To learn more, talk with Rose Mueller at (608) 836-1028.
Helpers Wanted for our Pie Brunch (November 19)! We’ll celebrate the conclusion of our fall Giving Campaign with a potluck pie brunch at 9am, between our two Sunday services. This is always delicious and fun! This year we are looking for a few new helpers who can assist with decorating, set-up and clean-up. If you’d like to help, sign up in the Gathering Area or contact Laura Bloomenkranz.
Safeguarding God’s Children Training, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 5:30 – 8:30pm, St. Francis House Episcopal Student Center: Safeguarding God’s Children is a required training for all those who work regularly with children and youth, and for those in elected parish leadership. If you believe you need this training, please plan to attend, and register at this link: http://www.diomil.org/safeguarding-gods-children-class-with-trainer-registration-form/. Dinner will be provided.
Revelations Study Group, starting Thursday, October 26 at 7pm: All are cordially invited to a study of Revelation beginning this Thursday, October 26 at St. Dunstan’s after Sandbox, 7-8:30 PM. We’ll meet for five weeks (skipping Thanksgiving week), focusing this week on Rev 1-3. Some copies of Revelation in manuscript format are available in the Gathering Area; there’s also a signup sheet so we’ll know how many additional copies to print. Each week there will be some historical orientation, but we’ll mostly focus on trying to hear the text together today. Fr. Tom McAlpine will facilitate.
Ladies’ Night Out, Friday, October 27, 6pm: Come join us for good food and good conversation among women of all ages from St. Dunstan’s. This month we will meet at Pasqual’s Cantina, 702 N. Midvale Blvd. in the Hilldale Shopping Center. For more information or to arrange a ride, please contact Kathy Whitt or Debra Martinez.
Help us Solve the Bible Mystery! St. Dunstan’s has a big, old, leather-bound St. James Bible and Aprocrypha. It was printed in 1868 at the University Press in Oxford. There is an inscription in calligraphy inside the front page which says, “St. James, Vienna, A.D. 1871”. Do you know who gave the Bible to St. Dunstan’s or anything about it? Or do you know someone who might have more information? Thanks for your help.
Coffee Hosts Needed for November: Please consider being a coffee host and talk with Janet Bybee for more information.
THE WEEKS AHEAD…
Capital Campaign Forum: “How We Got Here,” 9am, Sunday, October 29: Maybe you’re new to the parish, maybe you’ve been waiting to tune in until it seemed like something might actually happen, maybe you just need your memory refreshed about how and why we came to be talking about a possible capital campaign at St. Dunstan’s. Come at 9am next Sunday for a refresher on our process and progress so far, from 2015 to the present! And bring any questions you may have for the Capital Campaign Discernment Steering Committee. (Reminder: Plans and options for the campaign will be presented to the parish on Sunday, December 3.)
Last Sunday All-Ages Worship, Sunday, October 29, 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.
All Saints’ Day, Sunday, Nov. 5: 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 26, we will commend these faithful departed to Christ our King.
Black Friday Craft-In: VOLUNTEERS WANTED, Friday, November 24, 1 – 4pm: This year we’ll hold our fourth annual Black Friday Craft-In, a free public crafting event. We can use all kinds of volunteers – whether your skill is sewing, woodworking, stamping, papercrafting, 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, and we have some Michael’s gift cards available to help you cover materials expenses. A new hope this year is to help kids make teacher gifts – your ideas needed! Sign up in the Gathering Area to help out, or contact Rev. Miranda.
Men’s Book Club, Saturday, November 11, 10am-12pm: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, first published in America in January 1885, has always been in trouble. It was condemned by many reviewers in Mark Twain’s time as coarse and by many commentators in our time as racist. But, according to Ernest Hemingway, it was the “one book” from which “all modern American Literature” came, and contemporary critics and scholars have treated it as one of the greatest American works of art.
Attending to Scripture in the Anthropocene, 9am, Nov. 12 & 26: “Anthropocene” – have you heard this word? In Nature, a top-ranked scientific journal, earth scientist Clive Hamilton writes: “[It arises]…from the new discipline of Earth-system science. Earth-system science takes an integrated approach, so that climate change affects the functioning of not just the atmosphere, but also the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the biosphere and even the lithosphere…. [the] human imprint on the global environment has now become so large and active that it rivals some of the great forces of Nature in its impact on the functioning of the Earth system.” Between services in November, Biblical storyteller Pamela Grenfell Smith invites you to listen and reflect on some key Biblical stories with her as people of the Anthropocene Age. What happens when we pay careful attention? How do they sound to us now?
Math Help: We believe that church should be a place where people can bring the questions they’re wrestling with. For some people, that might be, what on earth is going on in my child’s math homework? We have some willing, math-literate adults in the congregation who’d like to help you and your child make sense of math. If this would be helpful to you, please email me at , and we’ll work on scheduling a Math Night at St. Dunstan’s.
Capital Campaign Possibilities: Parish Presentation, Sunday, December 3, 9am: At this meeting, the Capital Campaign Discernment Steering Committee, along with our consultant and our architect, will present the ideas we’ve been developing in response to the hopes and needs that the parish has named over the past many months. This presentation – and your responses – will help us decide whether to move forward to the Study phase of the capital campaign. Please plan to attend! NOTE: The 10am liturgy will begin at 10:30 that morning in order to allow sufficient time for our presentation and discussion. If you can’t attend that day, look for materials to come out by email, on our church website, and by snail mail to those who prefer information by that route.
Online Giving Options: If you’d like to make a gift online, visit donate.stdunstans.com on your smartphone or computer to make a donation in any amount. We use Square, a widely-used secure service, to process online donations. If you’d like to put something in the offering plate to represent your gift, you can pick up an “I Gave Online” card on the way into church. Thanks to all those who contribute financially and in so many other ways to sustain and grow our ministry together here at St. Dunstan’s!