Spring Diaper Drive, May 8 – June 19: Imagine having to choose whether to pay rent, pay utilities, buy food, or buy diapers for your baby or toddler. Nearly 1 in 3 American families struggle to afford enough diapers, which cannot be purchased with food stamps. For several years St. Dunstan’s has done a spring Diaper Drive from Mother’s Day through Father’s Day to help provide diapers to local food pantries. Sizes 4, 5, and 6 are always especially in demand! Volunteer diaper shoppers in the parish buy and deliver diapers to organizations who can get them out into the community, such as Middleton Outreach Ministry, the Allied Drive Pantry, Karen’s Essential Center, Healing House, and others. This year’s Diaper Drive will run from Mother’s Day through Father’s Day. Please write a check to St. Dunstan’s with “Diapers” in the memo line, or make a gift through our donation website at this link: donate.stdunstans.com . Thank you for your support! New volunteers to help with shopping and/or delivery are also welcome – contact Mary Rowe.
Celebration of New Ministry, Good Shepherd, Sun Prairie, Saturday, May 14, 3PM: The people of Good Shepherd–Buen Pastor, Sun Prairie and St Luke’s, Madison invite you to a joint celebration of new ministry. The Rt. Rev. Bishop Lee will preside and the Rev. Canon Scott Leannah will preach at a liturgy to mark the beginning of a shared ministry covenant between the two parishes. The Rev. Don Fleischman has been called to oversee both parishes. The liturgy will take place at 3 pm and will be followed by a reception. This celebration will take place at St Luke’s Episcopal Church, 4011 Major Avenue, Madison WI 53716. All are invited. The festal color for the day for clergy is white.
Spring Grounds Work Day, Sunday, May 15, 11:30 – 1PM: Come help tend St. Dunstan’s grounds! Most work is outdoors, though we have some potential indoor tasks too. Please wear a mask when indoors, and outdoors when close to people from other households. We will have a task list to direct folks to things that need doing. There are tasks for people of all ages and abilities. We’ll also be starting to line up volunteers who’d like to tend particular garden beds now and then, over the summer. We plan to offer some hearty snacks, and end with a treat at 1PM. If you’d enjoy helping out on the grounds sometime but can’t make it that day, contact Krissy Mayer , Adam McCluskeyor Rev. Miranda know and we’ll loop you in on other plans!
The Outreach Committee Meeting, Saturday May 21, 9:30AM: All are welcome to attend and discuss hands on ways to serve our neighbors and connect with local organizations who work to welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, house the homeless, and comfort the afflicted. We will be focusing on connecting with local organizations supporting refugee resettlement as well as local organizations supporting people living on the streets and public areas in Dane County.
Weekly Scripture Reflections Available: Father John Rasmus writes weekly reflections on the Sunday lectionary texts and sends them out to those who would like to receive them. If you’d like to join his email list, contact him and he’d be glad to add you! If you would like to receive the reflections by postal mail, or know someone else who might appreciate them, contact the office at or 608-238-2781. We have sent them out by mail in the past and would be happy to return to that practice if it would be helpful to anyone.
St Dunstan’s Day & Rogation Day, May 22: St. Dunstan’s Day, the feast day of our patron saint, is May 19; we will celebrate it on Sunday, May 22. Rogation Days are special days for praying for crops, farming, and the health and fruitfulness of the land in general. We will observe Rogation Day with a brief (optional!) procession around the grounds, punctuated by prayer, at the end of our 10AM in-person service.
Saturday Book Club, June 4,10 AM: Our book this month is The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story created by Nikole Hannah-Jones
Though this is a long book, each chapter is self-contained, written by different authors, and focused on different issues, e.g., democracy, citizenship, punishment, inheritance. So even if you only read a few chapters, and not necessarily in sequence, do come and share your views on what you have read.
The Wednesday Group is also reading the book and we hope they will join us. They meet weekly and read a chapter or so at a time.
Those at the last meeting all preferred to continue meeting on Zoom. If, however, you’d rather meet in person at St Dunstan’s for the June meeting, we can arrange this as a hybrid meeting. Join by using this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81731129473
At-home Rogation prayers available: Rogation Days are special days for praying for crops, farming, and the health and fruitfulness of the land in general. Rev. Miranda has a lovely set of Rogation Day poems and prayers for individual or household use, developed in 2020 as a pandemic resource by a parish in Connecticut. If you would like this document emailed to you, to use at your leisure, let Rev. Miranda know.
Funeral for Sue Lloyd, Saturday, June 11, 1PM: The funeral for Sue Lloyd will be held on Saturday, June 11, at St. Dunstan’s. All friends of Sue are invited to attend. A light reception will follow; contact Connie Ott to contribute to the reception or help with setup or cleanup.