THIS WEEK….

Game Night at St. Dunstan’s, Friday, September 6, 6pm: Join us for an evening of games for all ages. Friends, partners, kids – all welcome. Bring a snack to share, or come as you are!

Festive Coffee Hour, Sunday, September 8: We are still a couple of weeks out from our new kitchen, but we can celebrate the beginning of a new program year anyway! If you’d like, bring a treat to share at our coffee hour after 10am worship on Sunday, September 8. Please bring your treat ready to share; we do not have utensils, trays, etc. available (yet!).

Guests Worshiping With Us, Sunday, September 8, 10am: Some participants in the Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice Sacred Sites program will visit St. Dunstan’s on Sunday, September 8, during 10am worship. The Sacred Sites groups have been visiting faith communities all over Madison to increase interfaith understanding and connectedness; several St. Dunstan’s folks have been participating. Please help welcome our guests!

Madison-Area Julian Gathering, Wednesday, September 11, 2019, 1pm We welcome everyone who is interested in learning more about contemplative spirituality in the Christian tradition.  We meet the second Wednesday of the month for a period of contemplative prayer, after which we discuss a reading from Julian of Norwich, a 14th Century English mystic who has been called “a theologian for our time.”  We would love to have you join us.  If you have questions, contact Susan Fiore, ObJN.

COOKING FOR HEALING HOUSE: Volunteers Wanted! Imagine you have just delivered a baby and your family is homeless. The shelters are only open at night. You are on the street with your newborn and other children for 10 hours a day. You have no safe place for your newborn to sleep. Until recently, Dane County had no place for homeless families to recuperate after medical procedures. Healing House is a new facility that offers 8 beds for people in need of a safe place to heal and recover, with food, medical support, and case management onsite. Healing House residents need meals, and that’s where you come in! We are exploring whether St. Dunstan’s members would like to help with meals at Healing House. The commitment would be one week of dinners for 10-12 people, 3 – 4 times a year. We’re asked to send folks to Healing House to serve the meal three nights during the week, and to simply bring ready-to-serve meals for the rest of the week. Would you like to prepare a meal for Healing House, a few times a year? If you’re interested, please email Rev. Miranda or sign up on the interest sheet in the Gathering Area.

THE WEEKS AHEAD…

The Choirs are starting up again! Children’s Choir starts up again on the 15th after church (around 11:45am) and begins its rhythm. Adult Choir has already begun its rhythm, but we’d love to have more voices. If you play an instrument or if making rehearsals is difficult for you, let’s figure something out. Email Deanna at for more details.

Sunday School starts Sept. 15! Our Sunday school classes usually meet twice a month; we will meet on Sept. 15 and 22, during our 10am liturgy. Kids ages 3 through 6th grade are welcome to join one of our three classes. Parents are welcome to come too!

Memorial Service for Amanda Woods, Sunday, September 15, 2pm, Grace Episcopal Church: Friends of the Woods family (Karen, Katie Ping, and Danielle) are welcome to attend this memorial service for Amanda. Light refreshments will be served afterwards. Grace Church is on Capitol Square. St. Dunstan’s folk are welcome to leave cars at St. Dunstan’s and carpool downtown.

Practicing Holy Living, Fall 2019: A few years ago, St. Dunstan’s identified seven core practices by which we live out our faith in daily life: Welcoming, Abiding, Wondering, Proclaiming, Turning, Reconciling, and Making. (Read more by picking up a leaflet in the Gathering Area!) This autumn, we’re meeting some saints – those who loved and fought, lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew – who embodied each of these practices. We’ll begin on September 15 with Pauli Murray, and the practice of Welcoming. Come at 9am to talk about the practice of Welcoming in our lives!

The Wednesday Morning Book Group is meeting off campus during construction. The location tends to vary. If you are not on the email list and would like to, please call or email Valerie McAuliffe. The group is currently reading The Second Mountain by David Brooks.  You more than welcome.

Helpers Needed – Edgewood in the Community, Wednesday, September 25, 9:30am-2pm: Edgewood High School will be sending 20 students to St. Dunstan’s to do yard work as part of their community service. If you would like to work with a small group of students and help direct them, please talk to Rev. Miranda or email John Ertl. Thanks!

Saturday Book Club, September 28 at 10am: A Good American Family by David Maraniss. Elliott Maraniss, David’s father, a WWII veteran who had commanded an all-black company in the Pacific, was spied on by the FBI, named as a communist by an informant, called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, fired from his newspaper job, and blacklisted for five years. Yet he never lost faith in America and emerged on the other side with his family and optimism intact.

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!

Green Idea Fair, Sunday, October 6: Over the summer we invited one another to try out some new Green Habits, to reduce the environmental impact of our households and our daily lives. The Green Fair is an opportunity to share what has worked for you! We’ll have some tables set out where you can create some form of simple “show and tell” about what you did. We’ll also give out our Green Habit Challenge badges to those who completed 5 tasks from our list, between July and September. If you have something to share at the Fair but can’t attend, talk to Rev. Miranda; we’ll figure it out. Sign up in the Gathering Area to participate!

Blessing of the Animals Service, Sunday, October 6, 3pm: People and creatures are invited to a short service of song, story, and prayer.  Animals should be on a leash or in a carrier. Stuffed animals are welcome as well. Spread the word and invite a friend!

Did you read any good books this summer? We are seeking *brief* book reviews from members and friends of St. Dunstan’s, of all ages. If you’ve read something recently that you think others might enjoy, write up a short review and send it to . Reviews can be just a few sentences (and should not be longer than a short paragraph). Focus on telling us what you liked about the book and why you think others should read it! We’ll publish reviews periodically in our E-news and post them in the gathering area. So, read a good book this summer and tell us all about it!