Announcements, December 26

Ladies Night Out, or in reality, Ladies Dinner Out, is held on the fourth Friday of the month.  We meet at a restaurant for dinner and conversation. The next gathering is December 27, 6:00 pm, at Nani Restaurant at 518 Grand Canyon Drive.  NaniRestaurant.com.   Any questions about joining us at the table, please contact Marian Barnes.

Sunday, December 29, 10am: Carol Sing: We will sing favorite Christmas hymns in place of a sermon.  Father John Rasmus will lead worshipo. All are welcome!  There is also Holy Eucharist without music at 8am.

Calendar Notes: The church office will be closed on December 24 & 25. Rev. Miranda will be away from Dec. 27 – 31. Father John Rasmus will be available if anyone needs to speak with a priest during Rev. Miranda’s absence.

THE WEEKS AHEAD…

Call for Annual Reports: Every year in December/January, we invite our ministry leaders to submit a paragraph or two about what their ministry is and what they’ve done in the past year. We then compile those reports into an Annual Report, and share it with the congregation in advance of our parish Annual Meeting (9am on Sunday, January 20). If you have something you’d like to share, as a special moment, thanksgiving, or success to share, whether from a particular ministry of just something from the life of this household of faith, you’re welcome to submit it to . The deadline for all Annual Report materials is Monday, January 14.

Epiphany Pageant, Sunday, January 26: The children of St. Dunstan’s will present a pageant telling the story of Jesus’ birth and the visit of the Wise Men on Sunday, January 26. There will be rehearsals after church on January 12 and 19. All kids and youth are welcome to participate; please let Rev. Miranda know if your child would like a speaking role!

Birthday and Anniversary blessings and Healing Prayers will be given next Sunday, January 5, as is our custom on the first Sunday of the month.

Madison-Area Julian Gathering Wednesday, January 8, 1:00 – 2:45 PM: St. Julian’s era was one of turmoil and crisis. Contemporary reports indicate that at least half the population of Norwich died from the Plague; the clergy and undertakers could not keep up with the dead bodies. Meanwhile, disease killed the cattle, and harvests failed. In 1381, when Julian was thirty-nine, people became so desperate they rose up in a revolt, looting the churches and monasteries. Meanwhile, the larger world beyond Norfolk and England was also in a state of upheaval. Five years before Julian was born, in 1337, the Hundred Years War between England and France had begun, and it would continue throughout her lifetime. The Great Schism split the Church in 1377, with one pope in France, the other in Rome. And in the midst of all this, 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.

Epiphany Service of Light, Friday, January 10, 7:00pm: Join us as we share the story of the Wise Men who came to honor the infant Jesus, and of how the light of Christ has spread through time and space all the way to here & now! All are welcome.

Inviting Prayers for Diocesan Search Committee: Back in August, Bishop Miller announced his planned retirement in November 2020. Our Diocesan Standing Committee has now appointed a Search Committee, to begin discerning the needs and gifts of our diocese in preparation for seeking our next bishop. Debra Martinez, of our parish, will serve as one of the members. Please keep the Search Committee in your prayers as they begin their important and demanding work in the months ahead. If you don’t receive email news from the Diocese of Milwaukee, you can join the mailing list by emailing your request to  .

Folks with Sewing & Prototyping Skills Needed! In the new year, we hope to make some kneelers/hassocks, and new cushions for the benches at the front of the church, in the same green wool fabric as our pew cushions. We need one or two folks skilled enough to use an old pillow cover as a template to make a new one (OK to destroy the old one). Rev. Miranda could use a couple of people to help develop kneeler prototypes, so we can move that project forward as well. Talk to Rev. Miranda if you’d like to help out!

Vestry nominations are open! Would you be interested in serving on our vestry, our church’s governing body? Is there someone else you think would be a great candidate? Job descriptions and a box for nominations are in the Gathering Area. Open nominations will run throughout December.  We will be electing two new vestry members in January 2019. Wardens and Diocesan Convention deputies must be elected every year, so candidates for Junior and Senior Warden may also be nominated.

Reading Genesis In Babylon, Thursday evenings, starting Jan. 16: Genesis 1-11 is the prelude for the Bible’s story, and in regular dialogue with the stories of Babylon. Abraham is said to have come from that region; Jews spent a generation in exile there. So, after Epiphany youth & adults are invited to a six-week study, reading three Babylonian stories (Atrahasis, Enuma Elish, Gilgamesh) and wondering about how  Genesis 1-11 interacts with them. Thursday evenings 7-8:30 at St Dunstan’s, Jan 16 – Feb 20, Fr. Tom facilitating. Texts: Gen 1-11, Myths from Mesopotamia translated by Stephanie Dalley, revised edition (Oxford University Press, 2000) – available cheaply online; we’ll also have several copies available to borrow.

Book Club, Saturday, January 18, 2020 at 10 am: Out selections for January will be: Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell and Confident Pluralism by John D. Inazu. We chose both books as two takes on a common issue. Since it’ll be 2 months before the next meeting due to the holidays, at least some of the group were confident they’d have enough time to read both. The public library does not have these books available, but two copies of each will soon be available in our church library.  Talking to Strangers is all about what happens when we encounter people we don’t know, why it often goes awry, and what it says about us. Confident Pluralism addresses the question: With such seemingly irresolvable differences in beliefs, values, and identities across the country, how can the people of this nation ever live in peace together?

Witnessing Whiteness workshop series to be offered Spring 2020: Are you looking for an opportunity to begin, support, and deepen racial justice work? Would you like to take part in building a community with a shared understanding of privilege, whiteness, and  racism? There will be a workshop series based on the book Witnessing Whiteness: The Need to Talk About Race and How to Do It by Shelly Tochluk on Wednesday evenings from 5:45-8pm March 4-May 13 in the Parish Center. This is a free, open to the public, 10-week, sequential series designed for white people to begin and/or continue anti-racism work, facilitated by Nichole Fromm, Julia Cremin & Thomas Williams. One past participant summed up the experience: “I honestly believe that every white person in Madison needs to take this class before attempting to step up and interrupt racism in our community. I cannot recommend the class highly enough!” For information or to register, email by February 14, 2020. For more information about the book, visit http://witnessingwhiteness.com.