Announcements

Announcements, November 16

TONIGHT…

Sandbox Worship, 5:30pm: We’ll share sung prayers for evening, then an exploration of praying together through art. Dinner is provided.

Revelation Study Group, 7pm: (Rev 17-20) When we look at Madison, Washington, Beijing, what do we see? Rev 17-20 looks repeatedly at “Babylon”. Do these chapters have any contribution to make to our vision? All are cordially invited to the study of Revelation this Thursday at St. Dunstan’s after Sandbox, 7-8:30pm. Extra copies of the book in manuscript format will be available. There will be some historical orientation, but we’ll mostly focus on trying to hear the text together today. Fr. Tom McAlpine is facilitating.

THIS WEEK…

Ladies’ Night Out, Friday, November 17, 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 the Nile, a Mediterranean restaurant located at 6119 Odana Road in Madison. For more information, or to arrange a ride, please contact Kathy Whitt or Debra Martinez.

What Does Racism Look Like, and What Can We Do About It? Saturday, November 18, 10 – 11:30am, at St. Dunstan’s: Eliot Smith is a cognitive scientist who studies and teaches about prejudice and stereotyping. He’ll help us understand what racism is from the perspective of social science, and how we can begin the work of change. All are welcome!

Eucharist with Holy Baptism, Sunday, November 19, 10am:  We will celebrate the baptism of a new member of Christ’s Kingdom, Austin Michael Viste. We rejoice with Jess and Nate!

Piece Be with You! Fall Giving Campaign Celebration Pie Brunch, Sunday, November 19 at 9am: Please join us between services for an all-parish potluck brunch celebrating the ingathering of pledges for our prayers, hopes, and financial pledges for our parish life in the coming year. We will enjoy fellowship, delicious pies, quiches, and other offerings. Please sign up in the Gathering area to bring your favorite pie or quiche. Thank you!

Sunday school, Sunday, November 19, 10am: This Sunday, our 3 year olds to kindergarten class will learn about the Exile and Return, while our Elementary classes will wrestle with the Parable of the Talents.

United Thank Offering, Sunday, Nov. 19: Bring in your United Thank Offering Little Blue Box this Sunday. UTO has been a program of the women of the Episcopal Church for 126 years and has granted millions of dollars over the years – all coming from coins of thanksgiving being given over the year – then gathered together by parishes and forwarded to the national UTO Board for granting. If you do not have a box, there will be some on the entrance table as you go into church. If you would like more information about the program, contact Connie Ott.

Rector’s Discretionary Fund Offering, Sunday, November 19: Half the cash in our collection plate, and any designated checks, will go towards the Rector’s Discretionary Fund this day and on every third Sunday. This fund is a way to quietly help people with direct financial needs, in the parish and the wider community. Please give generously.

Spirituality of Parenting Lunch, Sunday, November 19, 11:30am: All who seek meaning in the journey of parenthood (at any age or stage) are welcome to come for food and conversation. Childcare and a simple meal provided.

Evening Eucharist, Sunday, November 19, 6pm: Join us for a simple service as the week begins. All are welcome.

Young Adult Meetup at the Vintage, Sunday, November 19, 7pm: The younger adults of St. Dunstan’s are invited to join us for conversation and the beverage of your choice, at the Vintage Brewpub on South Whitney Way. Friends and partners welcome too.

Christmas Cards for Jail Inmates:  Christmas is a bleak time for those who spend the holiday as inmates of the Dane County Jail. Even a simple message of kindness can bring some joy and hope. Our card-writing Station is now set up opposite the kitchen. You can take a moment to write a message while at church, or take home a couple of cards and the card-writing guidelines, and write at home. These cards will be delivered to inmates through an initiative of our sister parish Grace Church. Our goal is to complete at least 100 cards by mid-December.

Military and College Student Care Packages: The Youth Group is collecting donations during November to be included in care packages for military personnel and college students. There is a list of suggested items by the donation box. If you have a college student or service member who you would like a care package sent to, please provide name and address to Sharon Henes. The youth will be assembling and mailing the care packages the first week of December. Thank you for your support!

Thanksgiving service, Wednesday, November 22, 7pm: There will be a simple Eucharist service on Wednesday evening. All are welcome.

No Revelation Study Group on Thursday, November 23 as it is Thanksgiving. This gives everyone an extra week to prepare for the last session on November 30, focusing on Rev. 21-22 and the book as a whole.

Black Friday Craft-In, Friday, November 24, 1 – 4pm: This year we’ll hold our fourth annual Black Friday Craft-In, a free public crafting event. If you’re in town, come, and bring friends!

Attending to Scripture in the Anthropocene, 9am, Nov. 26: Between services in November, Biblical storyteller Pamela Grenfell Smith invites you to listen and reflect on a key Biblical story with her as people of the Anthropocene Age, in which human activity is shaping our environment as much as the great natural forces. What happens when we pay careful attention to these stories? How do they sound to us now?

Last Sunday All-Ages Worship, Sunday, November 26, 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.

Grace Shelter Dinner, Sunday, November 26, 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.

Help Feed the Students! Sunday, December 3: St. Dunstan’s is providing dinner for the St. Francis House community in a few weeks. We are asked to provide food for up to 15 people, and we are invited to attend worship with the students at 5pm. Rev. Miranda will be in touch to work out whether you want to drop off your food Sunday morning, or deliver it to St. Francis House and meet the students. Thank you! The students really enjoy the home-cooked meals supplied by area parishes or individuals!

Bring Christmas Cheer to St. Dunstan’s! Celebrate what’s important to you with a gift that helps us decorate for Christmas and honors a loved one or a special event. Please see the red Christmas Flowers sign-up sheets in the Gathering Area. Write “Christmas Flowers” on the memo line of your check or on the envelope containing cash. Suggested donation is $25.

THE WEEKS AHEAD…

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.

Las Posadas Party, Saturday, Dec. 16, 5pm: Las Posadas (Spanish for “the inns”) is an Advent celebration practiced in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, revolving around the concept of hospitality. We learn from the Posadas that by welcoming the poor and the needy, we are welcoming Jesus in our midst. Our Posadas will be an opportunity for learning and fellowship, and will have food, music, (small) fireworks, and a (real) donkey! All are welcome!

 

Capital Campaign, Giving Campaign, Sermons

Sermon, Nov. 12

Note: This sermon is based on Joshua 3:7-17, the Old Testament text for November 5 (Proper 26A), which we did not use last week because we celebrated the Feast of All Saints. 

What do these stones mean to you?

The people Israel, the people God has named and called to be God’s people, are at a turning point in their history. Back on September 17, the lectionary gave us the story of the Exodus, when God and Moses led the people through the Red Sea on dry land, and out of bondage in Egypt. In our schedule of Sunday readings, the Israelites have been wandering in the wilderness for about six weeks. But for the Biblical narrative, it’s been FORTY YEARS. People who left Egypt as babies have grown up, married, had children of their own, and could even be grandparents.

Just two weeks ago we shared the story of the death of Moses, at the end of the book of Deuteronomy. Now we’re beginning the book that bears Joshua’s name. This means we’re at the end of the Torah – the first five books of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, which hold the great origin story of the people Israel and lay out how they are called to live. Moving from the Torah to the books of Joshua and Judges and beyond is a little like moving from the Revolutionary War era into early 19th century national history – if Moses is Washington and Jefferson, then Joshua is more like Monroe and Van Buren.

So Israel has survived years in the harsh, dry wilderness, and their future home lies spread out before them. Awesome. Wow. But it turns out there are people living in the Promised Land. So what comes next? A lot of war. While Moses was a prophet and spiritual leader, Joshua is a general. There’s a lot in this portion of Biblical history that we, rightly, find difficult to swallow – God’s word to Joshua is to kill everyone they meet, while God’s word through Jesus Christ is to love our enemies.

For today, though, let’s focus on this threshold moment. Listen, I’ve been to the Judean desert. It’s an incredibly harsh environment. Hot and dry and rocky, with minimal vegetation and only the most hardy and elusive animal life. And after far too many years out there, sustained only by miraculous manna, the Israelites are standing on the banks of an honest to God river. The Jordan river. Which is just a trickle in the dry season, but right now, it’s the rainy season, and the river is overflowing. The way ahead for Israel lies through a huge stretch of muddy shallow swift-flowing water. And it must have been so beautiful to them. All that water.

But the problem remains: How to get across? Israel’s journey to freedom began with a miraculous journey across a body of water; it’s time for another one. God tells Joshua, I’m going to make sure Israel respects you as the leader I have chosen. Call on the priests of the people, and have them carry the Ark of the Covenant into the Jordan River.

The Ark of the Covenant was the holiest object Israel owned. It was an elaborate golden box that held the Tablets of the Law, the Ten Commandments, written in stone by the very finger of God. It was a powerful symbol of God’s presence and God’s favor.

So the priests take the Ark and walk before the people into the Jordan, into all that muddy mess. And as their feet touch the water, the river… stops. Instead of continuing to flow downstream, the waters begin to pile up, as if a wall of glass were holding them back. The priests carrying the Ark walk ahead, into the center of the river bed, and stand there, on dry ground. And the people Israel follow them and pass them, crossing the Jordan without getting their feet wet.

Let me take the story a little farther than our lectionary text. When everyone has crossed over, God says to Joshua: Choose twelve men from the people, one from each of the twelve tribes. Have each of them find a stone, here in the middle of the Jordan, in the riverbed. Carry the stones out of the river, take them with you. And when you make camp tonight, make a pile of those stones, to help you remember this day. So Joshua summons twelve men, one from each tribe, and tells them what to do. And they take their stones; and then, finally, the priests carry the Ark out of the riverbed, and the waters of the Jordan return to their place, flowing and overflowing as they were before.

When the people made camp,  at a place called Gilgal, the twelve stones were set up as a monument. And Joshua told the Israelites, ‘When your children ask their parents in time to come, “What do these stones mean?” then you shall let your children know, The Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea,* which was dried up for us until we crossed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty… These stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial for ever.’

The Israelites are on brink of a new chapter in their history. They’re uncertain what lies ahead, what they’ll be able to carry forward from their past into a new way of life, whether they are really many enough and strong enough and bold enough and faithful enough to go where God is leading. And in this moment, God gives them a saving act – that miraculous crossing of the Jordan – and says, Remember this. And build yourselves a nice pile of rocks, to make sure you remember it.

What do these stones mean to you?

There are several times in the Old Testament when people raise stones to commemorate important events. Later in the Book of Joshua, Joshua will ask the people, As you settle in this new land, are you going to stay faithful to God, or start worshipping the gods of other nations? And Israel says, We will serve our God! And Joshua raises a stone to remind them of their decision, their commitment, saying, ‘This stone shall be a witness against us, if you are unfaithful to God.’ Much earlier, in Genesis 28, Jacob raises a stone at the place where he had the dream-vision of angels going up and down a ladder from heaven – a vision of the active presence of the Divine on earth. Several generations after Joshua, the prophet Samuel raises a stone as a monument to celebrate a victory against Israel’s neighbors and perennial enemies, the Philistines. This stone is given a name, Ebenezer, meaning “Rock of Help,” for as Samuel says, Thus far has God helped us.

This practice of raising stones has several purposes. It marks a moment as significant. You don’t raise a stone for just any old thing. Raising a stone says, What has just happened, or what we have just done, is important. It matters. And raising a stone, creating a physical landmark linked to an event or moment – it proclaims something to the future. It says to the people, Remember this day. In Joshua 4, that’s made explicit: Joshua tells the people, When your children ask you, What do these stones mean?, tell them. Tell them how God stopped the river so that we could end our long wandering, and enter a new land and a new life. Raising a stone is both celebration and commitment. The stones raised in Scripture mark victory, revelation, covenant, deliverance. The stones say, Remember – and live accordingly.

The stone monument in Joshua 4 is all this, and a little more. Because unlike those other stones, this isn’t one large stone but a pile of stones, a cairn. A representative of each of the twelve tribes contributed to the cairn, choosing a rock from the riverbed and carrying it to Gilgal. The monument represents both a significant moment in salvation history, and the people’s unity in experiencing and responding to that moment.

Our Gospel story today is a provocative parable that a lot of people have questions about. I preached about it in 2014 and when I looked back at that sermon, I didn’t have much to add; if you’re worried about the girls who didn’t get to go to the party, I’d love to hand you a copy of that sermon, or point you to some other great commentaries on that text.

But I’m preaching on Joshua today because this text is speaking to me. I’m laying this story before us today – spending perhaps a surprising amount of time talking about rocks – because I feel like this year this story is a little bit about us.

What do these stones mean to you?

This story makes me think about our stones – the literal ones. Having this year’s fall giving campaign happen within the frame of our parish conversation about a capital campaign has made me particularly aware of the history inscribed in the buildings and land around us. The rocks of our walls – piled up in 1964 as the church was built – they’re rough blocky golden native stone of Wisconsin. These granite boulders – one, two, three – they’re glacial erratics, brought to Wisconsin from somewhere farther north by the Great Ice, and left when the ice melted away, about 10,000 years ago. I don’t know whether the one outside sits where the glacier left it. The two that form our altar base and our baptismal font were moved here from Turville Point, over on Lake Monona, the home of one of the founding members of this congregation. Visible signs of the generosity and commitment of Henry Turville and of all that first generation of Dunstanites, who piled stones together, both literally and metaphorically, in this place, to say, God gave us this beautiful place. God called us to be a church together here. Thanks be to God.

And this story makes me think about our metaphorical stones too. All the ways we each bring contributions and pile them up to build something together. Our pledges of financial support, sure, in this giving campaign season. We’re still in the middle of our campaign – hoping to gather in all pledges by next Sunday – but so far a whopping 68% of you have increased your pledges. I’m just staggered by that, and really hopeful about what that means for our budget and our ministries next year.

But there are so many other ways we pile our stones together, friends: All the people who will bake and decorate and set up and clean up for our much-anticipated Pie Brunch next Sunday. All the time and energy and art supplies and warmheartedness and commitment – on the part of teachers, parents, kids – that allows us to have Sunday school. All the voices of people and instruments raised in beauty and praise in our worship today. All the hopes and ideas and intentions and observations that have gone into our discernment and visioning work towards a possible capital campaign to improve our property. In so many ways, we become greater than the sum of our parts, by the alchemy of God’s grace.

I’ve said it before: In some ways this is just another year at St. Dunstan’s, and in other ways it’s a very unusual year. We’ve been growing slowly for a while but suddenly we’re at the point where some Sundays, we actually have to sit next to each other – and we might even have to start sitting in the front row! And we’re thinking big thoughts together about our identity and our future and our mission. This is a really exciting time to be rector of St. Dunstan’s. And also, a little nerve-racking.

What do these stones mean to you? We stand on the brink of a new chapter, uncertain what lies ahead, what we can carry forward from our past and what new gifts and new challenges we’ll encounter, wondering whether we are really many enough and strong enough and bold enough and faithful enough to follow where God is leading. The stones piled up by those who built this place, stone by stone, year by year, tell me, We have come this far by God’s help. And we’re still building – and building anew: piling together our contributions, literal and figurative, to mark this strange, holy, joyful moment of celebration and commitment. To remind ourselves to remember, and to tell the story of this time. And to be a sign to us that God keeps making a way.

Announcements

Announcements, November 9

Tonight – Revelation Study Group, Thursday, November 9: (Rev 8-16) What are all these divine judgments for? What, if anything, does martyrdom accomplish? These are among the many questions we might wonder about in chapters 8-16. All are cordially invited to the study of Revelation this Thursday at St. Dunstan’s after Sandbox, 7-8:30 PM. This week focuses on Rev 8-16. Extra copies of the book in manuscript format will be available. There will be some historical orientation, but we’ll mostly focus on trying to hear the text together today. Fr. Tom McAlpine is facilitating.

THIS WEEK…

Childcare, Saturday, November 11, 9am-12:30pm: Looking for some child-free time? The middle school youth group would love to spend time with your child this Saturday at St. Dunstan’s. There is no charge, however, any tips will go towards our summer trip.

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.

Fall Gospel Fest, High Point Church, Saturday, Nov. 11, 7:00pm: Chris and Marian Barnes invite any St. Dunstan’s members to meet at their home at 6pm for snacks and fellowship, then continue on to this local concert. Tickets are $30 ahead or $40 at the door. Contact Chris Barnes at with questions, and read more about the event or buy advance tickets here: fallgospelfest.com.

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?

Sunday School, Sunday, November 12, 10am: This Sunday our 3 year olds to kindergarten class will learn about the Ten Best Ways, while our Elementary classes will explore the meanings of the parable of the bridesmaids who didn’t have enough oil for their lamps.

Christmas Cards for Jail Inmates:  Christmas is a bleak time for those who spend the holiday as inmates of the Dane County Jail. Even a simple message of kindness can bring some joy and hope. Our card-writing Station is now set up opposite the kitchen. You can take a moment to write a message while at church, or take home a couple of cards and the card-writing guidelines, and write at home. These cards will be delivered to inmates through an initiative of our sister parish Grace Church. Our goal is to complete at least 100 cards by mid-December.

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 email Rev. Miranda at office@stdunstans.com .

Revelation Study Group, Thursday, November 16: (Rev 17-20) When we look at Madison, Washington, Beijing, what do we see? Rev 17-20 looks repeatedly at “Babylon”. Do these chapters have any contribution to make to our vision? All are cordially invited to the study of Revelation this Thursday at St. Dunstan’s after Sandbox, 7-8:30pm. Extra copies of the book in manuscript format will be available. There will be some historical orientation, but we’ll mostly focus on trying to hear the text together today.

Ladies’ Night Out, Friday, November 17, 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 the Nile, a Mediterranean restaurant located at 6119 Odana Road in Madison. For more information, or to arrange a ride, please contact Kathy Whitt or Debra Martinez.

What Does Racism Look Like, and What Can We Do About It? Saturday, November 18, 10 – 11:30am, at St. Dunstan’s: Eliot Smith is a cognitive scientist who studies and teaches about prejudice and stereotyping. He’ll help us understand what racism is from the perspective of social science, and how we can begin the work of change. All are welcome!

Piece Be with You! Fall Giving Campaign Celebration Pie Brunch, Sunday, November 19 at 9am: Please join us between services for an all-parish potluck brunch celebrating the ingathering of pledges for our prayers, hopes, and financial pledges for our parish life in the coming year. We will enjoy fellowship, delicious pies, quiches, and other offerings. Please sign up in the Gathering area to bring your favorite pie or quiche. Thank you!

Sunday school, Sunday, November 19, 10am: Next Sunday, our 3 year olds to kindergarten class will learn about the Exile and Return, while our Elementary classes will wrestle with the Parable of the Talents.

United Thank Offering, Sunday, Nov. 19: Bring in your United Thank Offering Little Blue Box next Sunday. UTO has been a program of the women of the Episcopal Church for 126 years and has granted millions of dollars over the years – all coming from coins of thanksgiving being given over the year – then gathered together by parishes and forwarded to the national UTO Board for granting. If you do not have a box, there will be some on the entrance table as you go into church. If you would like more information about the program, contact Connie Ott.

Rector’s Discretionary Fund Offering, Sunday, November 19: Half the cash in our collection plate, and any designated checks, will go towards the Rector’s Discretionary Fund this day and on every third Sunday. This fund is a way to quietly help people with direct financial needs, in the parish and the wider community. Please give generously.

Spirituality of Parenting Lunch, Sunday, November 19, 11:30am: All who seek meaning in the journey of parenthood (at any age or stage) are welcome to come for food and conversation. Childcare and a simple meal provided.

Evening Eucharist, Sunday, November 19, 6pm: Join us for a simple service as the week begins. All are welcome.

Young Adult Meetup at the Vintage, Sunday, November 19, 7pm: The younger adults of St. Dunstan’s are invited to join us for conversation and the beverage of your choice, at the Vintage Brewpub on South Whitney Way. Friends and partners welcome too.

Thanksgiving service, Wednesday, November 22, 7pm: There will be a simple Eucharist service on Wednesday evening. All are welcome.

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.

Help Feed the Students! Sunday, December 3: St. Dunstan’s is providing dinner for the St. Francis House community in a few weeks. We are asked to provide food for up to 15 people, and we are invited to attend worship with the students at 5pm. Rev. Miranda will be in touch to work out whether you want to drop off your food Sunday morning, or deliver it to St. Francis House and meet the students. Thank you! The students really enjoy the home-cooked meals supplied by area parishes or individuals!

Military and College Student Care Packages: The Youth Group is collecting donations during November to be included in care packages for military personnel and college students. There is a list of suggested items by the donation box. If you have a college student or service member who you would like a care package sent to, please provide name and address to Sharon Henes. The youth will be assembling and mailing the care packages the first week of December. Thank you for your support!

Bring Christmas Cheer to St. Dunstan’s! Celebrate what’s important to you with a gift that helps us decorate for Christmas and honors a loved one or a special event. Please see the red Christmas Flowers sign-up sheets in the Gathering Area. Write “Christmas Flowers” on the memo line of your check or on the envelope containing cash. Suggested donation is $25.

THE WEEKS AHEAD…

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Sermons

Sermon, Nov. 5

There’s a word that shows up sixteen times in today’s Scriptures. The word is “will” – the future tense of the word “be.”  “The one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more… and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” “When he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Will is a word that points towards a future.  Towards a fulfillment yet to be achieved. It’s affirmative, assertive: The things proclaimed ARE GOING to happen. But it also acknowledges that it hasn’t happened yet. The word – and all those sentences that hang on it – the word “will” asks us to trust. It asks us to hope. I think that hope – trusting in that future – is one of the things that defines a saint.

Somebody asked me last week, So when you say “saint,” Do you mean somebody who’s dead? It’s a great question.  The New Testament uses the word “saints”  the way we might use “members.” Saints, hagioi in Greek, Sanctum in Latin, means, Holy and set apart. People or things dedicated to God. The people in the church are saints, because they, we, are trying to follow Jesus together and live in God’s ways.

Over the centuries, the Church got pickier about who to call a saint. It started to keep the title of “Saint” for the very best, the purest, the holiest, the ones with remarkable, even miraculous deeds. The calendar filled up with days to honor and remember assorted Saints-with-a-capital-S, who had preached or healed or suffered or died for Jesus Christ. Finally the Church had so many Saints-with-a-capital-S that the calendar was FULL; so All Saints Day was created, as the overflow day, the day to celebrate ALL the saints who maybe didn’t have a day of their own.

And then the Church created All Souls Day, the day after All Saints Day, a day set aside to remember and honor the faithful departed, their beloved dead, who were NOT Saints-with-a-capital-S. Because people kept insisting that Aunt Mildred’s long life of kindness, commitment, and generosity was worthy of remembrance and honor too, even if she didn’t happen to get thrown to the lions.

What’s happened over the past few decades in the Episcopal Church, at least, is that we’re trying to get back to the New Testament sense of the word “saint.” We are trying to put All Saints Day and All Souls Day back together again. We still name and hold up certain saints, holy people who shined the light of Christ in their time and place by the way they lived, the things they said and did.

But as we hold up those named saints, we affirm the capacity for holiness, for extraordinary faithfulness, in the life of every Christian. They lived not only in ages past, friends – there are hundreds of thousands still. The world is bright with the joyous saints who love to do Jesus’ will. You can meet them in school or in lanes or at sea, in church or in trains or in shops or at tea, for the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too.

So to return to the question, When you say “saint”, do you mean somebody who’s dead? – Well, yes and no. One important part of All Saints is remembrance – calling to mind and honoring those who have gone before us to be with God, and celebrating the way their lives have touched ours. But another part of All Saints is affirming our own call to holiness – that we mean to be one too. That’s why we affirm our baptismal vows today.

So when I say Saint, I mean people both living and dead; I mean people who lived extraordinary lives and ordinary lives. But there is a common thread: being called to holiness – and responding to that call, by living a life marked by love of God and love of neighbor. By being a person of justice. Of mercy. Of peace. Of hope.

I’ve been thinking about hope, lately – in fact I preached about hope just a couple of months ago. I said, Hope is different from optimism, the assumption that things will probably be fine, whether I do anything or not. Hope means that you believe some kind of good outcome is possible, and you’re going to orient your life and work and prayers towards that good. I said, Hope isn’t weak or fluffy. Hope can be solid like a rock or fierce like a flame. When the worst happens, Hope says, Oh yeah? The story isn’t over yet.

Well and good. But all these “will”s in today’s lessons – these big, bold, beautiful visions – they seem always to recede into the future. How can you draw line from present reality  to those holy and redemptive possibilities? The future of God’s promises often seems impossible, or at the very least, exceedingly improbable. There is good reason for discouragement. It’s easy to talk about hope. It’s harder, sometimes, to feel it. Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn has said,  Hope is important because if we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. But what happens to hope, then, when we don’t – can’t believe that tomorrow will be better? Or that the tomorrow that will be better is a long, long way off?

Christian hope, the hope at the heart of our faith, is different from ordinary everyday hope. Christian hope insists on the long view – clings to the conviction that one day, all things WILL BE restored and redeemed. And Christian hope takes comfort and courage from that promise, even though we know full well we won’t see it in this life. Christian hope insists that there’s always something we can do, however small – even if the only difference it makes is keeping our hearts and souls pointed in the right direction. Christian hope shines on even in the face of death and loss.

I’m not claiming a firsthand understanding of the fierce tenacity of Christian hope. For all the troubles of our times, my life has been pretty good. What I know about Christian hope, I know from the witness of the saints – those I’ve met firsthand, and those I’ve read about. Saints like Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoeffer was a young priest and theologian, 27 years old, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. He became one of the organizers of a movement called the Confessing Church, which insisted that the charismatic Hitler was NOT the fulfillment of God’s intentions for Germany, as many German Christians believed. He was an early and vocal critic of the Nazi movement, including the persecution of the Jews, declaring that the church must not simply “bandage the victims under the wheel, but jam the spoke in the wheel itself.” Bonhoeffer’s life and writings have been an inspiration to many; I’m sure there are a few people here who know his work well – I am not among them. But I read an essay recently that contrasted how Bonhoeffer wrote about Advent – and about hope – in 1933 and 1943.

In 1933 – roughly nine months after Hitler’s election – Bonhoeffer preached an Advent sermon at a church in London, where he was serving at the time. In that sermon he evokes the image of a prison: Imagine the humiliation and punishment, the heavy forced labor, the inmates weighed down with chains and tears.  He continues, “Then suddenly a message penetrates into the prison: Very soon you will all be free, your chains will be taken away, and those who have enslaved you will be bound in chains while you are redeemed!”

Bonhoeffer is still young, still free, still placing hope in human history. His language of redemption here points towards the otherworldly and the ultimate.

That prison; the imminent approach of liberation and redemption – it’s all metaphorical, or at least spiritual rather than historical.  There’s nothing wrong with all that.  It’s the kind of thing I would say in a sermon. But it’s also the kind of preacherly language that quickly loses its power, its credibility, in the face of real evil, real suffering.

In Advent of 1943, ten years later, Bonhoeffer was in prison. He’d been arrested in April of that year, for his involvement with the German resistance movement. Back in 1933, he probably hoped it was still possible to turn the tide of fascism and violence in Germany, his home country. Back in 1933, he could still afford the luxury of metaphor.

By 1943, he has seen so much of the worst happen, in the violence and inhumanity of World War II.  So many lives lost, military and civilian. Evil is ascendant in the world. No metaphors are needed to call to mind bondage, pain, and loss. But Bonhoeffer hasn’t lost his Christian faith, his Christian hope. The focus has shifted, though. Otherworldly and ultimate hopes still matter – how could they not, when this world seems so marred and mired? But those distant, someday hopes can look thin and brittle from a prison cell. He writes about the hope of faith in a different way.

Bonhoeffer writes in a letter to a friend: “Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent; one waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other… the door is shut, and can be opened only from the outside.” And looking ahead to Christmas, he wrote, “From a Christian point of view there is no special problem about Christmas in a prison cell. For many people in this building it will probably be a more sincere and genuine occasion than in places where nothing but the name is kept. That misery, suffering, poverty, loneliness, helplessness and guilt mean something quite different in the eyes of God from what they mean in the judgment of human beings – that God will approach where humans turn away – that Christ was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn – these are things that a prisoner can understand better than other people; for her they really are glad tidings, and that faith gives her a part in the community of the saints, a Christian fellowship breaking the bounds of time and space.”

The author of this essay, Jennifer McBride, actually read this text with women in prison. One of them looked at her and said, “He’s talking about us!”

(All of this quoted in McBride, Lived Theology, 220-21)

God’s redemptive love isn’t out there somewhere. It’s right here beside us, among us, in darkness and pain, in humiliation and the helplessness. And that’s where hope lives, for Bonhoeffer in his final years: Not in the shining transcendent tomorrow but in God’s imminence, God’s presence in the ache of today.

The saints the Church names as our models for holy living were not pie-in-the-sky Christians. They lived in the tension between the big picture – all will be well in the end; if it isn’t well, it’s not the end yet – and the real, nitty-gritty, demanding present. The hope that sustained them – sustains them; they lived not only in ages past! – that hope, that profound senseless Christian hope, hangs in the paradoxical space between transcendence, the holy gleam of the that distant City undimmed by human tears, and immanence, incarnation, God-with-us in all the struggle and hurt we bring upon ourselves and each other.

The word “will” asks us to trust. To hope. This All Saints Day, as we honor the faithful departed, that Christian fellowship breaking the bounds of time and space, may that profound senseless unshakeable Christian hope warm our hearts and strengthen our souls, and make us ready for the work of God’s kingdom that is always before us.

Announcements

Announcements, November 2

Tonight:  Revelation Study Group, Thursday, November 2: “To whom does the earth belong? Who is the ruler of this world?” Fiorenza thinks that’s the question that drove the production of Revelation, and it’s certainly front and center in chapters 4-7. All are cordially invited to the study of Revelation this Thursday at St. Dunstan’s after Sandbox, 7-8:30 PM. This week focuses on Rev 4-7. Extra copies of the book in manuscript format will be available. There will be some historical orientation, but we’ll mostly focus on trying to hear the text together today. Fr. Tom McAlpine is facilitating. 

THIS WEEK…

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.

Piece Be with You! Fall Giving Campaign Celebration Pie Brunch: Please join us on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 9:00 between services for an all-parish potluck brunch celebrating the ingathering of pledges for our prayers, hopes, and financial pledges for our parish life in the coming year. We will enjoy fellowship, delicious pies, quiches, and other offerings. Please sign up in the Gathering area to bring your favorite pie or quiche. Thank you!

Naming our Saints: In anticipation of All Saints Day, please fill out one or more Saint Slips, available in the Gathering Area. Tell us about a saint, well-known or known only to you, whom you remember with love.

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.

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

MOM Special Offering, Sunday, November 5: 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: toilet paper; heart healthy cooking oil; canned chicken; ketchup and mayonnaise; baking soda & powder, salt & vanilla; boxed meals; cake, brownie & muffin mixes; toothbrush, paste, & floss; laundry detergent; size 4, 5 & 6 diapers. Thank you for your generous support!

Falk Friends Pantry Prep, Sunday, November 5, 11:30am: Our partner school, Falk Elementary School on the southwest side of Madison, now has its own food pantry which is serving families well! However, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene items are still in need, as in most pantries. This year we’ll partner with Falk by providing toilet paper, feminine hygiene items, detergent, and other similar items for their pantry. Helpers of all ages are welcome to help pack our Falk Friends Pantry bags after the 10am liturgy!

Evening Eucharist, Sunday, November 5, 6pm: Join us for a simple service as the week begins. All are welcome.

 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.

Childcare, Saturday, November 11: Looking for some child-free time? The middle school youth group would love to spend time with your child on Saturday, November 11, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at St. Dunstan’s. There is no charge, however, any tips will go towards our summer trip.

Military and College Student Care Packages: The Youth Group is collecting donations during November to be included in care packages for military personnel and college students. There is a list of suggested items by the donation box. If you have a college student or service member whom you would like a care package sent to, please provide name and address to Sharon Henes. The youth will be assembling and mailing the care packages the first week of December. Thank you for your support!

Bring Christmas Cheer to St. Dunstan’s! Celebrate what’s important to you with a gift that helps us decorate for Christmas and honors a loved one or a special event. Please see the red Christmas Flowers sign-up sheets in the Gathering Area. Write “Christmas Flowers” on the memo line of your check or on the envelope containing cash. Suggested donation is $25.

Coffee Hosts Needed for November 26: Please consider being a coffee host and talk with Janet Bybee for more information.

THE WEEKS AHEAD…

Madison-Area Julian Gathering, Wednesday, November 8, 1:00 – 2:45pm: St. Julian of Norwich: 14th Century feminist? 14th Century heretic? No, although a reader might at first think so. 14th Century psychologist? Sort of . . . she understood the human heart and, through her sixteen revelations of Jesus, she understood the heart of God. Thomas Merton called her “the greatest theologian for our time.” Come to one of our monthly meetings and find out why — and learn about contemplative prayer. We meet the second Wednesday of each month. We’d love to see you.  For more information, contact Susan Fiore.

Revelation Study Group, Thursday, November 9: (Rev 8-16) What are all these divine judgments for? What, if anything, does martyrdom accomplish? These are among the many questions we might wonder about in chapters 8-16. All are cordially invited to the study of Revelation this Thursday at St. Dunstan’s after Sandbox, 7-8:30 PM. This week focuses on Rev 8-16. Extra copies of the book in manuscript format will be available. There will be some historical orientation, but we’ll mostly focus on trying to hear the text together today. Fr. Tom McAlpine is facilitating.

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.

Fall Gospel Fest, High Point Church, Saturday, Nov. 11, 7:00pm: Chris and Marian Barnes invite any St. Dunstan’s members to meet at their home at 6pm for snacks and fellowship, then continue on to this local concert. Tickets are $30 ahead or $40 at the door. Contact Chris Barnes with questions, and read more about the event or buy advance tickets here: fallgospelfest.com.

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?

Sunday School, Sunday, November 12, 10am: Next Sunday our 3 year olds to kindergarten class will learn about the Ten Best Ways, while our Elementary classes will explore the meanings of the parable of the bridesmaids who didn’t have enough oil for their lamps.

What Does Racism Look Like, and What Can We Do About It? Saturday, November 18, 10 – 11:30am, at St. Dunstan’s: Eliot Smith is a cognitive scientist who studies and teaches about prejudice and stereotyping. He’ll help us understand what racism is from the perspective of social science, and how we can begin the work of change. All are welcome!

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 email Rev. Miranda at office@stdunstans.com.

Creating for a Cause, Holiday Art Fair for MOM, Saturday, December 2 (10am-5pm) and Sunday, December 3 (11am-4pm) in the MOM Food Pantry at 3502 Parmenter St. in Middleton: Come enjoy a wonderful art fair with local artists. The Brass Arts will perform holiday classics on Sunday from 1-3pm. Partial proceeds will go toward ending hunger. Entry is free! For more information go to artfair.momhelps.org.

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.

 

Announcements

Announcements, October 26

TONIGHT…

Revelations Study Group, starts tonight 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.

THIS WEEK…

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, please contact Kathy Whitt or Debra Martinez.

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.

Naming our Saints: In anticipation of All Saints Day, please fill out one or more Saint Slips, available in the Gathering Area. Tell us about a saint, well-known or known only to you, whom you remember with love.

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.

Coffee Hosts Needed for November: Please consider being a coffee host and talk with Janet Bybee for more information.

THE WEEKS AHEAD…

Revelation Study Group, Thursday, November 2: “To whom does the earth belong? Who is the ruler of this world?” Fiorenza thinks that’s the question that drove the production of Revelation, and it’s certainly front and center in chapters 4-7. All are cordially invited to the study of Revelation this Thursday at St. Dunstan’s after Sandbox, 7-8:30 PM. This week focuses on Rev 4-7. Extra copies of the book in manuscript format will be available. There will be some historical orientation, but we’ll mostly focus on trying to hear the text together today. Fr. Tom McAlpine is facilitating.

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.=

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

MOM Special Offering, Sunday, November 5: Next 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: toilet paper; heart healthy cooking oil; canned chicken; ketchup and mayonnaise; baking soda & powder, salt & vanilla; boxed meals; cake, brownie & muffin mixes; toothbrush, paste, & floss; laundry detergent; size 4, 5 & 6 diapers. Thank you for your generous support!

Falk Friends Pantry Prep, Sunday, November 5, 11:30am: Our partner school, Falk Elementary School on the southwest side of Madison, now has its own food pantry which is serving families well! However, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene items are still in need, as in most pantries. This year we’ll partner with Falk by providing toilet paper, feminine hygiene items, detergent, and other similar items for their pantry. Helpers of all ages are welcome to help pack our Falk Friends Pantry bags after the 10am liturgy!

Evening Eucharist, Sunday, November 5, 6pm: Join us for a simple service as the week begins. All are welcome.

Madison-Area Julian Gathering, Wednesday, November 8, 1:00 – 2:45pm: St. Julian of Norwich: 14th Century feminist? 14th Century heretic? No, although a reader might at first think so. 14th Century psychologist? Sort of . . . she understood the human heart and, through her sixteen revelations of Jesus, she understood the heart of God. Thomas Merton called her “the greatest theologian for our time.” Come to one of our monthly meetings and find out why — and learn about contemplative prayer. We meet the second Wednesday of each month. We’d love to see you.  For more information, contact Susan Fiore.

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 email Rev. Miranda at .

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?

 What Does Racism Look Like, and What Can We Do About It? Saturday, November 18, 10 – 11:30am, at St. Dunstan’s: Eliot Smith is a cognitive scientist who studies and teaches about prejudice and stereotyping. He’ll help us understand what racism is from the perspective of social science, and how we can begin the work of change. All are welcome!

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.

 

Uncategorized

Sermon, Oct. 22

Let me tell you that story again, with a few details filled in. Because it’s a terrific story. The Pharisees are increasingly fed up with Jesus. Their movement taught that the Jewish people should return to to the traditional practices of their faith, following all the commandments, as a way to separate themselves from the unclean pagan ways of the Roman Empire and to earn God’s favor. Sometimes they’re on the same page with Jesus, who also wants ordinary people to feel they can approach God in faith, and has a healthy disdain for Rome and its ways. But Jesus is disturbingly irreverent about the Law and the Commandments. He seems to think that many of them don’t matter at all.

Meanwhile, the Herodians don’t think much of Jesus either. The Herodians would have been folks who were cozy with Herod, the king of Judea – a puppet king, supported by the Roman army, and allowed to have power on condition that he keep his people in line and make sure money keeps flowing from Judea to Rome. These are the people who are managing to get richer under Roman rule, while the rest of Judea gets poorer. Now Jesus has been saying some pretty disrespectful things about leaders who are only concerned with themselves, and he’s stirring up trouble.

The Pharisees and the Herodians don’t get along. The Herodians think the Pharisees are weird fanatics. The Pharisees think the Herodians are self-indulgent sell-outs. But sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your friend. They’d all like to take Jesus down a peg, and they stumble on a way to do it. They’re going to ask him about a hot-button issue: paying taxes to Rome.

The people of Judea were struggling under the burden of these taxes; they were wildly unpopular. And for the Pharisees and other observant Jews,  there was another problem: Paying taxes meant using Roman coins, which had an image of the Roman Emperor’s head on them, and text that named the Emperor as a god. The Emperor was very definitely NOT a god in the eyes of Jewish people, and these coins were tainted by idolatry. The question the Herodians and Pharisees pose to Jesus is a trap because either answer will get him in trouble with somebody. If he says, NO, we are God’s people and owe nothing to the Emperor, then he’s in trouble with the Romans – and maybe they’ll deal with him. If he says, YES, be a good citizen, pay your taxes, then the common people may turn against him, and the disruptive movement he’s started might lose steam.

Don’t you love their double-edged flattery? “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and you’ll always say what you believe is true no matter what the consequences might be…So tell us, IS IT LAWFUL TO PAY TAXES TO THE EMPEROR, OR NOT?”

Jesus is no fool. He sees the trap clearly, and calls them out: ‘You hypocrites! Show me one of the coins used for the tax.’ Somebody has one in their pocket, and they show him: Look, there’s the Roman emperor, probably Tiberius, with the inscription, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus.” Jesus says, So…. Whose head is this, here on the coin? And they say, Um. The Emperor’s. And Jesus says, Okay, well, then, give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and give God what belongs to God.

It’s such a good answer. He evades their trap by saying in one breath, Sure, pay your taxes, but the Emperor is a fraud. Because a crowd of Jews, no matter how religious they are, all know the answer to what belongs to God: Everything. Everything. Let the Emperor have his little bits of metal. Your lives, your souls, Judea, Rome, the whole wide earth: All God’s. And don’t you forget it.

One of the issues at the heart of this story is what money stands for.Money in itself is just a tool. It’s a way to trade one thing for another thing, at a distance of time or space. For example, money is what allows us to trade a portion of your work for electricity to heat this building. People often misquote Scripture – specifically, the first letter to Timothy – and say, Money is the root of all evil. But what that text actually says is, The love of money is the root, or source, of all kinds of evil. Some have wandered away from faith and gotten themselves into all kinds of trouble and suffering because they made money their goal and focus.  (1 Tim 6:9-10, Common English Bible, alt.)

Money in and of itself – if such a thing were possible – is pretty straightforward. It’s what money means to us that gets complicated. In this Gospel story, money is tied up with politics, with faith, with social status. That’s all true for us today, too, in various ways. How we feel about wealth, taxes, our community, our nation – all of that is bundled up with how we feel and think and talk about money. Moral assumptions about money, wealth, and poverty are at the root of our national debates over taxes, health care, and so much more. Money is also closely bound to our fears and anxieties. In uncertain times, money stands for security – and lack of money means vulnerability and struggle.

Charles LaFond, an Episcopal priest, writer, and stewardship consultant, says that despite our buying habits and reputation, it’s not true that Americans are greedy. The fact is that we’re overwhelmed and afraid, and consumerism is how we scream. I think he has a point; I know how it feels to read the news, feel my heart sink and my stomach clench, and then see an online ad for a children’s clothing company I like and think, Oh, that sounds like relief….! Let me go look at appliquéd hedgehogs for a while…

We’re coming into the heaviest shopping season of the year – when we all strive for balance between the momentary catharsis of buying a thing, and the longer-term security of clinging to our dollars –  just as St. Dunstan’s and other churches are asking their members to make financial commitments to the church for the year ahead. To give money away, getting little that is tangible in return.

Today we hand out our giving campaign packets. For those who are new to this system: during the fall giving campaign, we ask those who make St. Dunstan’s their faith community to look ahead to the next calendar year, decide how much they’d like to give to the church, and report that number to us. Those numbers – your pledges – are private; only our parish treasurers see them. But we add up all those pledges to give us an estimate of our expected income for the year ahead, which allows us to budget and plan. Nearly 90% of St. Dunstan’s annual budget comes from our members’ pledged giving.

There’s sort of an “Insert inspiring paragraph about where our church is going” slot in my sermon here. But I’m finding that this is a funny year for that kind of thing. In looking ahead to 2018, it feels like there’s simultaneously more and less to talk about, than in other years. More, because we are looking at so many possibilities. We may undertake a capital campaign, to raise funds to improve our main building and more, to better accommodate our ministries and everything else that happens here – or could happen here if we had a bit more elbow room! We will undertake a sabbatical together, using a substantial grant from the Clergy Renewal program to enable me to learn more about including children in worship, and you all to work on building intergenerational friendships. And even aside from those big, special projects, our full seats and full classrooms mean that in the year ahead, we may have to start getting creative about how to accommodate our overflowing life together as a community of faith…!

So there is a lot in the works for 2018. And yet most of it is still unfolding, still subject to our shared discernment and exploration. I can’t draw you a map; this is brand-new territory, friends. It’s not that I and your Vestry and other leaders aren’t thinking about it – we could scatter a handful of ideas and possibilities around, but other possibilities will emerge as we all walk the road together, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance. There’s so much that is simply still TBD – To Be Discerned, “discerned,” that churchy word for the shared work of wondering together, exploring possibilities, listening to each other and to God, and allowing clarity and direction to emerge.

So while there’s more to say about 2018 than an ordinary year at St. Dunstan’s – it will assuredly not be an ordinary year – there’s also less to say because we still have a lot of discerning to do. (Beginning, in a few weeks, with whether to follow this capital campaign idea another few steps along the road…!)

Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God… We actually do need some of the stuff with dead presidents on it, to pay the bills and keep this place running. That’s why we ask for your pledges and gifts. But the reason there’s a church here – a loving, lively, seeking, serving, growing church – is because people are giving God what is God’s.  If we had twice the money but nobody was giving their heart, there’d be nothing here. You are giving yourselves, your time and labor, your skills and gifts, your hearts and spirits, to this church, and to the work God is doing among us and through us here.

In today’s Epistle, Paul names the three great gifts of faith, hope, and love, but he turns them from abstractions into actions – praising the people of the church in Thessaloniki for their acts of faith, their labor of love, and their persistence in hope. Your actions of faith, friends – your work of love – your persistence in hope – that’s why new things are becoming possible here; and indeed why we’re able to keep doing some of the old things with care and faithfulness. That’s why in the face of uncertainties about the season ahead – wonderful, exciting uncertainties, but uncertainties nonetheless – I am not afraid. I’m excited, curious, and joyful, so joyful, about the people with whom I have the privilege to share this journey into God’s future for St. Dunstan’s.

Announcements

Announcements, October 19

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 office@stdunstans.com, 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!

Sermons, Stories

Sermon, Oct. 15

I spend a lot of time trying to rehabilitate God in people’s eyes.  People who have heard about this God character – but what they’ve heard about Him makes Him sound like an angry, judgmental psychopath. And they can’t imagine why anyone would want to hang around with somebody like that. I spend a lot of time trying to explain that that’s not the God I know. That the destructive anger of God in many parts of the Bible reflects human understandings, and our sinful tendency to assume God hates whom we hate. That the God I follow is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, as the Bible says over and over again. That the God I follow understands, accepts, forgives, comforts, heals. That God is love.

But you know what? Sometimes love gets angry. As a preacher, as a Christian, I have to take God’s anger seriously.

Our lectionary texts today show us an angry God. In the book of Exodus, the people Israel are on their long wilderness journey. Moses is up on a mountaintop, having an extended conversation with God. And the people get bored and impatient. This God that Moses keeps talking about is too big and powerful and mysterious to even see. They want gods they can see and touch. Like the golden statues of gods they saw in Egypt. So they beg Aaron, Moses’ brother, whom he left in charge: “Make a god for us!” And Aaron gives the people what they want. Aaron tries to fudge things a bit – maybe the golden calf just *represents* the real god? – but he knows what he’s doing. When Moses comes down the mountain and demands to know what he’s done, here’s his explanation, straight out of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible:

Aaron said, ‘Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are bent on evil. They said to me, “Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So I said to them, “Whoever has gold, take it off;” so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!’

It’s hard to recognize because we get the stories in bits & pieces, and because we have this assumption that the Bible is Very Serious, but there’s a lot of humor in the wilderness stories. I think they were campfire tales told to a lot of laughter, for many generations, before they were written down. One recurring gag is that Moses and God do a lot of Parents-On-A-Road-Trip stuff throughout these chapters. For example, notice in today’s text, God says, “Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely…” And Moses comes right back with, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” God is saying, YOUR CHILDREN are driving me CRAZY, And Moses says, YOUR CHILDREN are just HUNGRY, maybe if you’d stop at Burger King…!

But like the best funny stories, the humor in Exodus has a real point. And the point of this story is to highlight how eager humans are to decide the whole God business is really too complicated, too strange, too much trouble. The name for the sin of the golden calf is idolatry – putting something else, something made and controlled by humans, in the place of God. Substituting a relationship with a thing for a relationship with a Person. Relationships with things are predicable, safe; relationships with people are alive, dynamic, demanding, especially if the Person happens to be God. Idolatry is a fundamental theme in the Old Testament – Israel’s proclivity for it, and God’s anger and dismay about it.

I’ve been trying to think of how to explain the problem. It sounds like this is about God’s ego, God’s jealousy – God flips out if Israel even gets a text from another god, right? But listen, I think this is a fair analogy for what’s happening here: Imagine a six-year-old child. She’s dissatisfied with her actual parents, she feels like they’re too demanding and she doesn’t always understand why they want her to do certain things, and they’re not always as nice as she would like them to be. So she makes herself a new parent. She tells her human parents, “Thanks, but I’m done with you guys. My new parent here will always buy me ice cream, and let me wear whatever I want, and ride my bike in the street, and never clean my room or do homework.” That six-year-old would learn pretty quickly that the parent she made was an inadequate parent; it wouldn’t do anything she didn’t like for simple reason that it can’t do anything at all. The same would happen with the golden calf, to be sure. But somehow the unresponsiveness of our idols has never really made a dent in the impulse towards idolatry.

God is angry in this story because the people God has chosen, freed, and called, want to opt out of the relationship. They don’t have the gratitude or the patience or the discipline to commit to being God’s people and see how that forms them and blesses them. They’d really rather make their own parent, thanks.

And then there’s the Parable of the Banquet. I’ve been talking about how Matthew’s Gospel often adds a layer of violence, compared to similar texts in Luke and Mark. This is a text where that’s particularly evident. Matthew understands Jesus’ life and witness through the lens of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Great Temple by the Romans in AD 70, as part of the brutal suppression of a Jewish rebellion against Roman rule. Hundreds of thousands of people died.The author we call Matthew probably composed his version of the Gospel between 10 and 20 years later.  The trauma, the violence and loss were very much still with him. In this parable, when the king sends an army to kill people and burn down a city – that’s Matthew working over what happened to Jerusalem.

This parable as told in Luke’s Gospel lacks the military images, and the perplexing attack on the inappropriately-dressed guest. Here’s the story as Luke tells it: Someone gave a great dinner, and invited many. When dinner was ready, he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, “Come, everything is ready.” But they all began to make excuses. One said, “I’ve bought some land and I need to go see it; please accept my apologies.”  Another said, “I just bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” Another said, “I just got married, so I can’t come.”

So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room in the banquet hall.” Then the master said to the slave,  “Go out to the roads beyond the city, and make people come in, so that my house may be filled! For none of those who were invited shall taste my dinner.”

That’s a very different story, isn’t it? It’s a story about people who have been honored with an invitation, and have a delicious meal waiting for them – free! – but they can’t be bothered. They’ve got other stuff going on. But the host is determined to feed someone. So the host gathers in all the people who were seen as lowly and dirty and unimportant, to be guests at the banquet. It’s one of many parables and Gospel stories about how the people who think they’re close to God, the people who assume they’re on God’s guest list, don’t actually show up for God, while those in the streets, those at the margins, do. The host’s anger isn’t murderous military might, as in Matthew’s account. It’s frustrated hospitality. Thwarted grace. The host wants to celebrate with friends, and the friends don’t show.

God gets angry sometimes. We shouldn’t make God so warm and fuzzy that we forget that. But we also have to be really careful about distinguishing God’s anger from our anger. Humans like to think we know what God is angry about. I find it really upsetting – as a preacher, as a Christian – when I see people attributing terrible events to God’s anger.  Earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, mass shootings: NOT GOD’S ANGER.

Look, how to make sense of that stuff is another whole sermon. Here’s the shortest possible version of how I understand it: Humanity is free and Creation is free. God couldn’t give us freedom and simultaneously protect us from the world and ourselves and each other – that’s not how freedom works. So bad stuff happens but God promises, promises, that God is with us in the bad stuff, and that the bad stuff is never the last word.

The destruction wrought by humans and nature is not God’s punishment.  And when people with authority name it as such, people who’d like to believe in God, people who’ve tried to believe in God, are apt to get right off that train, because with a God like that, who needs enemies? And I can’t blame them. But I can blame those who blame God for human actions…!

If God’s anger doesn’t look like wildfire or a hurricane wiping a whole town off the map, then what does God’s anger look like? Thwarted grace. Frustrated love. A banquet table lovingly prepared, dishes overflowing – and nobody there to eat and celebrate. The common thread between the Golden Calf and the Banquet parable is that God is angry when people walk away from relationship. Choose something else instead. Spending some time with the Gospels and the Prophets will quickly show you some of the other things that really get God’s goat. God gets pretty mad about leaders who shirk their responsibilities to those under their care. God gets pretty mad about those who enrich themselves at the cost of the poor. God gets pretty mad at those who judge others harshly without taking an honest look at themselves.

You know, I looked ahead at these lessons probably a month ago, and thought, Wow, the obvious theme here is the anger of God. And then about a week ago, I finally put two and two together, and realized, Oh, we’re doing a baptism today! Divine rage – a classic subject for a baptismal sermon.

But you know, it’s actually true that our relationships with the children and young people whom we love are one of the best windows we have into God’s anger.  The Bible and our liturgical texts name God as a parent Because God is a lot like a parent, or anyone who’s helping raise and teach and form a child. God doesn’t want us to do the right thing from fear of anger or punishment, but because we know what’s right and good, and we choose to do it. And God gets angry when God wants better for us, or from us.

Our fiercest loves give birth to our fiercest anger. And the angriest we get at the people we love is when they do something that puts them in danger, or when they do something that goes against our hopes for them, the person we believe them to be or want them to become. I remember that vividly from my own childhood; I see it in my own parenthood. And it helps me understand God.

Hear me: I’m not saying parental anger is pure and holy. Anger is important, powerful, and risky. Anger for good reason, expressed in healthy and constructive ways, can be a force for personal or public repentance,  amendment of life, and movement towards justice and righteousness.  But anger is often selfish or fearful as much as it is righteous, and we are, frankly, terrible at telling the difference. And anger can so easily become destructive, and have widespread and long-lasting consequences. Anger is like fire and water – necessary and life-giving, but also capable of terrible damage when misplaced or out of control.

Anger – or own or someone else’s – can be uncomfortable at best, and terrifying at worst. But we can’t simply say that anger is bad, is to be avoided. We can’t separate anger from hope, from justice, from love. Sometimes love gets angry.

And when we extend grace to a loved one and they don’t show up, when we seek relationship and the one we love turns away, the disappointment and frustration and grief we feel – the anger we feel – is a window into the loving, yearning, aching heart of God, the Parent of each of us and all of us.

 

Announcements

Announcements, October 12

THIS WEEKEND…

Diocesan Convention, Saturday, October 14, 9am – 4:30pm at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin:  Please hold our delegates and all delegates in prayer as we gather for prayer, sharing, and the legislative work of our diocese.

Eucharist with Holy Baptism, Sunday, October 15, 10am:  We will celebrate the baptism of a new member of Christ’s Kingdom, John Christopher Outrakis. We rejoice with Christina, JB, and brother Nicholas!

Sunday School, Sunday, October 15, 10am: This Sunday, our 3 year olds to kindergarten class will learn about the Exodus, while our Elementary classes will explore the story of the Golden Calf.

Youth Group Fundraising for GSAFE: Our Middle School Youth are creating a team to walk in the GSAFE Trick or Trot 5K on Sunday, October 15. GSAFE is an organization committed to support and leadership development for GLBTQ+ kids and allies, training educators, and other educational and advocacy work to ensure that GLBTQ+ kids are safe and supported. Our youth group hopes to raise $500 as a team. You can contribute by putting cash or a check in the envelope in the Gathering Area, or online here: https://runsignup.com/Race/34896/Donate/kWxUi9YS2zd7i5Wr

Bread for the World Sunday, October 15: We are invited to participate in Bread for the Word’s annual Offering of Letters, to advocate to our politicians for programs that will reduce hunger in the United States and around the world. This year’s legislative focus is our national budget.

Rector’s Discretionary Fund Offering, Sunday, October 15: Half the cash in our collection plate, and any designated checks, will go towards the Rector’s Discretionary Fund this day and on every third Sunday. This fund is a way to quietly help people with direct financial needs, in the parish and the wider community. Please give generously.

Spirituality of Parenting Lunch, Sunday, October 15, 11:30am: All who seek meaning in the journey of parenthood (at any age or stage) are welcome to come for food and conversation. Child care and a simple meal provided.

Candle-Lighting Service to Honor Infertility, Pregnancy & Infant Loss, Sunday, October 15, 6pm: October 15 is widely observed as Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day. We will hold a simple liturgy, with Eucharist and candle-lighting, to mark the day. All are welcome; feel free to invite a friend. NOTE: If you cannot attend, but have a name you would like to have read at the liturgy, please email Rev. Miranda.

Young Adult Meetup at the Vintage, Sunday, October 15, 7pm: The younger adults of St. Dunstan’s are invited to join us for conversation and the beverage of your choice, at the Vintage Brewpub on South Whitney Way. Friends and partners welcome too.

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. 

THE WEEKS AHEAD…

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.

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!

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.

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 office@stdunstans.com, and we’ll work on scheduling a Math Night at St. Dunstan’s.

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!

IN THE COMMUNITY….

PFLAG Madison meeting, Sunday, October 15, 2-4pm: Parents, families, friends and allies united with LGBTQ people are welcome to come to our monthly meeting at the Friends Meeting House, 1704 Roberts Court in Madison. The topic is “Our Lives”. For more information, go to www.pflag-madison.org.

LECTURE SERIES: The Legacies of the Reformation— the Continuing Relevance of the Protestant Reformation for Contemporary Christianity & Culture, 4pm, Grace Church: In this year when we commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, traditionally dated as beginning with Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses on October 31, 1517, Grace Church is sponsoring a lecture series at 4pm on Oct. 1, 8, and 29 reflecting on the continuing relevance of the Protestant Reformation for contemporary Christianity and culture. The lectures will be held in the Cornelia Vilas Guild Hall at Grace Church, and the series will conclude with a Choral Evensong at 5pm on Nov. 5 in the church. For more information, contact Peggy Frain at .

 

 

6205 University Ave., Madison WI

St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church