THIS WEEK….
Spirituality in Nature, 9:15AM, Sunday, July 7: Meet just outside the front doors at 9:15 for a half-hour shared exercise in abiding with God’s Creation. Future tentative dates are July 21, August 4, and September 1. (Attending one or more of these events counts as one activity towards our Green Habits Challenge Badge!)
Empty the Nave, 11:30AM, Sunday, July 7: Next week the Nave floor will be re-polished, so we need to take out the seating and other items. This should go quickly as it’s mostly just the seating (we haven’t put everything back yet from the first Nave Emptying party). If you can stay for a few minutes and help move benches, it will be very welcome! Thanks!
Birthday and Anniversary blessings and Healing Prayers will be given this Sunday, July 7, as is our custom on the first Sunday of the month.
MOM Special Offering, Sunday, July 7: This 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: canned chicken, shelf-stable milk, whole grains; salt, pepper, spices; laundry detergent; vanilla or other extracts; low sugar dried/canned fruits; cooking oil; honey; nuts. Thank you for your generous support!
Cookie Church Returns! 6 – 7pm, Wednesdays in July: Cookie Church is simple bedtime church. It is child-centered but not just for kids; we find that youth and grownups like it too! We will share singing, story, Eucharist, and a snack. (Yes, there will be cookies.) We end with bedtime prayers and it’s OK to come in your pajamas! Cookie Church is planned for Wednesdays in July. If you’re away for a weekend but still want to come to church, come try it out! Sign up in the Gathering Area if you’d like to make a batch of cookies for us one week. We ask for at least 20 cookies, and it’s OK to drop them off Sunday morning (clearly labeled so they don’t get eaten at Coffee Hour).
Farewell Party for the Rev. Jonathan Melton & Family: Father Jonathan, the Episcopal chaplain at UW-Madison and friend of St. Dunstan’s, and his family are moving to Texas for a new ministry position. There will be a farewell party for the family at St. Francis House (1011 University Ave.) on Tuesday, July 9, from 5 – 8pm. Please RSVP to Sharon Henes if you plan to attend!
Green Habits Challenge Badge, July – September 2019: Part of our parish Creation Care Mission Statement invites us to pattern our daily lives as caretakers of Creation. Many of us are trying to make our daily habits “greener”, so let’s try together! Pick up a green leaflet under the big calendar in the Gathering Area or go to stdunstans.com/faith-practices/green-challenge-badge-summer-2019/ to see a list of eleven changes and challenges you could undertake. Complete five by the end of September to earn a badge!
Seeking Sponsors for Middle School Mission Trip: St. Dunstan’s Youth Group is headed out on a mission trip from July 29 to August 1! They will visit other churches around the Diocese of Milwaukee and help out with service projects. We’re sending a big, lively group of kids this year! Would you like to help sponsor the trip? Your $25 sponsorship helps cover trip expenses. Each sponsor will receive a postcard from one of our youth, during or after the trip. You can contribute with a check in the offering plate with “Camp Sponsorship” on the memo line, or online at donate.stdunstans.com . Thank you!
THE WEEKS AHEAD…
Kitchen and Bathroom Renovations Begin: Renovation of the main floor restrooms and kitchen is scheduled to begin on July 12. The lower level bathrooms will be available (down the central staircase and to the right). During the kitchen renovation, there will be NO refrigerator or prep space availlable. If you’d like to bring something for coffee hour, please bring it ready to put directly on the table in the Gathering Area.
Madison-Area Julian Gathering, Wednesday, July 10, 1:00 – 2:45 PM: During a time of great turmoil in England and Europe, Julian came to believe unshakably that “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” Please join us for contemplative prayer and discussion of Julian’s optimistic theology! For more information, contact Susan Fiore, ObJN.
Learning about Solitary Confinement: THOUSANDS OF IMMIGRANTS SUFFER IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN U.S. DETENTION CENTERS. A May 20, 2019 investigative report, produced by five news organizations, documented that over a five-year period one out of every 200 detention center detainees spend time in solitary cell isolation for at least two weeks, according to ICE data. Many spent weeks or months in solitary cell confinement. ICE’s own directives say that placing detainees in solitary— or “segregated housing” as the agency calls it—should be used as a last resort. Thousands of pages of documents, however, detail a disturbing portrait of a system where, instead, detainees are too often forced into extended periods of isolation as a first response for reasons that have nothing to do with violating any rules. Not infrequently those sent to confinement included disabled immigrants in need of a wheelchair or cane, those who identify as gay, or those who report abuse from guards or other detainees. In nearly a third of the cases, segregated detainees were determined by ICE to have a mental illness, a population especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of isolation. Furthermore, detainees had lawyers in only 11 percent of the solitary reports. Even for those with lawyers, in more than 270 instances ICE did not notify the attorneys that their clients were placed in solitary. This included six times when detainees were in isolation for more than half a year. “We have created and continue to support a system that involves widespread abuse of human beings,” said Ellen Gallagher, a policy adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, who first spoke publicly for the investigative report. Next Sunday, July 14, we will have the opportunity to look at and/or go inside a Solitary Confinement Cell on our way into or out of both the 8:00am and 10:00am services. And during the weeks of August 11-31, we will have multiple opportunities to join in reading and discussing the New York Times bestseller “Just Mercy,”
Saturday Book Club, August 3rd at 10am: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Getting a hard copy of the book: The Madison Central Library (next door to the Overture Center) has a Book Club section – located on the western end of the second floor. This section contains multiple copies of selected books. The next meeting’s book – The Ocean at the End of the Lane – is available in this section. If you check it out at the main desk and say it is a Book Club book, they can also give you an extended time to read it. Don’t worry if via your online account you are put on a lengthy hold list; the Book Club copies aren’t included in the online catalog