Announcements

Announcements, January 19

THIS WEEKEND…

Reminder: Congregational Survey about Music at St. Dunstan’s. Thanks to all who have shared their thoughts. If you haven’t yet, please do. You should have received links to the survey via our weekly E-news. The survey will close on January 29.  If you didn’t get the links, or prefer to share your thoughts on paper or in person, contact the office at 238-2781 or .

Annual Parish Meeting, Sunday, January 22, 9am: Come to hear parish updates, including the 2016 budget, and help elect our parish leaders. All are welcome to attend!

Bake Sale for Haiti! Sunday, January 22: Our Sunday school students are trying to raise money to cover school fees for a child in Jeannette, Haiti. They’d like to hold a bake sale in January. Please consider baking or making a treat with your child (sweet or savory) and bringing it on Sunday morning to contribute to the sale. If you are that parent who would rather just donate $10 than bake something, that’s cool too. :-) Questions, ideas, offers to help? Contact Sarah Errington.

Sunday School, Sunday, January 22, during the 10am liturgy: Our youngest class will explore baptism, while our Elementary classes read about Jesus calling his first followers.

Christian Formation Committee Meeting, Sunday, January 22, 11:45am: Our Christian Formation Committee will meet to review and plan programs, especially for Lent, Easter and beyond. All interested people are welcome to attend and participate.

Grace Shelter Dinner, Sunday, January 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.

Survival Backpacks: Thanks to all who have taken slips to buy items for backpacks for homeless teens in Madison! Please return your items by Sunday, January 29. Questions? Contact Bonnie Magnuson.

Looking for Coffee Hosts for 2017! Consider being a coffee host and talk with Janet Bybee  for more information.

NEXT WEEK & BEYOND…

Ladies’ Night Out, Friday, January 27, 6pm: We will kick off 2017 by meeting up at Oliva, 751 N. High Point Road, Madison (in the same shopping center as Alicia Ashman Library). Come join us for good food and good conversation among women of all ages from St. Dunstan’s.

Church Book Club meeting, Saturday, January 28, 10am: The book is La Rose by Louise Erdrich. In this literary masterwork, Louise Erdrich wields her breathtaking narrative magic in an emotionally haunting contemporary tale of a tragic accident, a demand for justice, and a profound act of atonement with ancient roots in Native American culture. For more information, contact Jim Hindle.

Your Favorite Lecture: Dr. Mariana Hewson – Sunday, January 29: “Your Favorite Lecture” is an occasional 9am opportunity for some of our many members who are scholars, educators, and thinkers of deep thoughts to talk about things they love to talk about. Mariana Hewson, a scholar of indigenous healing traditions, will read a story she has written. All are welcome!

Candlemas Last Sunday Worship, Sunday, January 29: We will celebrate Candlemas with a brief story and candle-lighting prayers at the end of our 10am liturgy. Bring your flashlights and emergency candles from home to be blessed! We also plan to have a candle-making station set up for people to make a small set of candles to take home.

Falk Food Friends Special Project: Packing Medical Kits, Sunday, February 5, 11:30am: We have learned that some families with kids at Falk Elementary, our partner school, lack basic home first aid supplies. So we’re packing 15 simple medical kits to send home to the households in greatest need. The supplies are all ready, we just have to put them together! Gather in the Meeting Room after church to help out.

Gospel of John Study Group: Nicodemus, the Samaritan Woman, the man born blind, Martha & Mary of Bethany: just some of the witnesses the Gospel according to John assembles to enrich our own encounter with Jesus. This year the Daily Office Lectionary has us reading that Gospel from the last week of Epiphany through the second week of Easter. If you’d like to read it and reflect on it with others, St. Dunstan’s is offering a seven-session Wednesday night series (March 8 – April 26, omitting Holy Week, 6:30-8:30 PM), hosted by the McAlpines in Fitchburg. There’s a sign-up for the study so we know how many manuscripts to prepare and how much coffee to brew.

Madison-Area Julian Gathering, Wednesday, February 8, 1:00 to 2:45 PM (Note new time): Julian of Norwich was a 15th Century English mystic and anchoress. Nearly forgotten for 600 years, Julian’s insights and gentle wisdom are becoming ever more widely known and appreciated.  The monthly Julian Gatherings, supported by the Order of Julian of Norwich (www.orderofjulian.org), are open to all who want to deepen their life of faith through the practice of contemplative prayer. Each meeting begins with brief instruction in the practice of contemplative prayer, and includes time for contemplative prayer, fellowship, and reading/discussion of Julian’s book. We meet the second Wednesday of each month from 1:00 to 2:45 PM. For additional information, contact Susan Fiore.

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN DISCERNMENT PROCESS: OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE…

Seeking Hosts for Wondering Conversations! Would you like to host a group of 8 – 10 people in your home, to talk about ideas for our capital campaign? You don’t have to lead the conversation, just offer a space (and perhaps tea and cookies, or whatever you please!). These Wondering Conversations will take place in late February and early March. If you’d like to be a host, sign up in the Gathering Area or contact Inquiry & Input Team co-leader Mary Ann Fraley.

Seeking Facilitators for Wondering Conversations! The heart of our work as a parish discerning whether we are called to undertake a capital campaign at this time, and what projects would be the focus of that campaign, will be a series of small group conversations held in late February and early March – our “Wondering Conversations.” The Inquiry & Input Team is seeking a few willing folks to serve as facilitators for these conversations. Facilitators will need to attend a training on Saturday, February 18, and are asked to facilitate at least two gatherings between February 19 and March 7. (Gatherings will be held at many different times, to accommodate everyone’s schedules.) If you’d like to serve as a Facilitator, please sign up in the Gathering Area or speak to Inquiry & Input Co-Chairs Celia Fine & Mary Ann Fraley, or to Rev. Miranda.

SUMMER DATES FOR PLANNING….

Camp Webb 2016 (June 18 – 24) is accepting applications now! Camp Webb is an outdoor ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, for children and youth grades 3 through senior high. It is held at a camp outside Elkhorn, WI. Camp tuition is $375 if you register before January 15, with a deposit of $75 due at the time of registration. St. Dunstan’s offers $150 in aid to all our campers, with additional assistance possible; contact Rev. Miranda for financial assistance.  Visit http://www.diomil.org/forming-disciples/camp-webb/ for registration forms. Camp Webb IS EXPECTED TO FILL this year, so apply soon!

Vacation Bible School 2017, July 30 – August 3: Our Vacation Bible School this summer is planned for Sunday, July 30, through Thursday, August 3. We’ll meet in the evenings – likely 5:30 to 7:30pm, as in previous years. Keep these dates in mind as you make your summer plans! Kids ages 3 to 10 are welcome to participate; middle school and older kids will be involved as actors and helpers.

Women’s Mini-Week, August 10-13: The mission of Women’s Mini-Week is to provide an annual retreat event for adult women, offering refuge, friendship, relaxation, and fun. Mini-Week combines opportunities to learn with fellowship, spiritual exploration and delicious food as we invite all women to participate as much or as little as they would like and need. Mini-Week is held at a beautiful lakeside camp in northern Wisconsin. Many members of St. Dunstan’s have attended, planned, and led, over the years. Visit womensminiweek.org to learn more and make Mini-Week part of your summer plans.

 

Church Seasons & Holy Days, Sermons

Homily, January 15

This sermon accompanies the lessons for the Feast of the Epiphany, to correspond with our Epiphany Pageant, offered on this date. 

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, an empire feared for its power.

For a lot of people my age and younger, the word Empire may bring to mind images of Darth Vader and the ominous sameness of the Storm Troopers, in their white armor. But of course Star Wars has always been an allegory. George Lucas’ imagined Empire is the science-fiction version of something that’s been a feature of human politics for five thousand years or more.

An empire is a group of nations or people ruled over by an emperor or other powerful ruler and government. An empire begins when the king in one nation decides that they have the power to take over their next-door neighbor, and succeeds in doing so, and thinks, “Well, that went pretty well; now we have more territory, and we have control of more people, and we make them give us stuff; let’s keep going.”

By definition, many of those nations and peoples who are part of an empire are not willing participants. Even if their leaders decide that cooperating with the empire is in their best interest – like King Herod, who ruled Judea under the authority of the Roman empire – the people feel the rub of outside rule.

Therefore also, by definition, empires rule by force. Military, political, economic, cultural. In the great span of human history, there have been more and less humane empires; there have been good outcomes of empire – the Romans built roads and water systems everywhere they went. But empire always means dominion and subjugation. It always means that the person with authority over you is more interested in your cooperation than in your wellbeing.

Empires are always insecure. Always anxious. Their forces are always stretched; their presence and power is always resented. And so empires have tendency to use excessive force. To make an example of those that challenge their power, in hopes of intimidating and discouraging any other would-be resisters. The Empire in Star Wars built a Death Star, a weapon that could literally destroy a planet in an instant. The Empire in Matthew’s Gospel sends soldiers to murder the baby boys of a whole village, lest one of them spark a popular movement that would upset the apple cart of Herod’s cozy relationship with the Roman occupying forces. (A quick aside with some good news: that particular massacre probably never really happened… but empires do terrible things, to protect their power, whether that particular terrible thing is history or myth.)

Empire is a political form. But it’s also a mindset. A mindset of uniformity and control. A mindset that fears difference and dissent, seeing them as threats to its power. A mindset that fears the freedom of people or ideas. A mindset that demands submission, and acceptance of its norms and truths. And that responds with violence – verbal or physical – to any perceived threat.

We love stories about rebels thwarting the brutal power of empire. Whether it’s Luke Skywalker and Jyn Erso, Paul Revere and George Washington, Jesus and Paul, Martin Luther King Jr. leading that march across the Pettus Bridge towards a line of policemen ready to beat back their dreams, or the ragtag bunch of misfits in detention in the Breakfast Club, pushing back against the divide-and-conquer regime of a public high school and a sadistic assistant principal.

We root for the little guys, the scrappy underdogs. We root for the freedom of people and ideas. We root for dissent and difference… at least, in our stories. At least, when the empire in question is a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

In the latest Star Wars movie, Rogue One, the characters face a great moral choice in the face of an empire’s dominating power: whether to keep your head down and just try to survive, or to risk, and even to sacrifice, yourself in the hope of destabilizing the oppressive power of empire.

In the Gospels, and in the first centuries of Christianity taking root under Roman rule, Jesus and those who followed his Way faced a great moral choice: whether to keep your head down and just try to survive, or to risk, and even to sacrifice, yourself in the hope of destabilizing the oppressive power of empire.

What will we do when we hear the tramping boots of Herod’s soldiers? What will we do when the mindset of empire demands our compliance?

Announcements

Announcements, January 12

THIS WEEKEND…

Your Favorite Lecture: Dr. Mariana Hewson – POSTPONED to Sunday, January 29: “Your Favorite Lecture” is an occasional 9am opportunity for some of our many members who are scholars, educators, and thinkers of deep thoughts to talk about things they love to talk about. Mariana Hewson, a scholar of indigenous healing traditions, will read a story she has written. All are welcome!

Epiphany Pageant, Sunday, January 15: The children of St. Dunstan’s will present a pageant telling the story of Jesus’ birth and the visit of the Wise Men on Sunday, January 15. All kids are welcome to participate! All kids with speaking parts: PLEASE BE AT CHURCH by 9:20 to rehearse the pageant once more before we offer it during 10am liturgy.

Spirituality of Parenting Lunch, Sunday, January 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.

Rector’s Discretionary Fund Offering, Sunday, January 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.

Evening Eucharist, Sunday, January 15, 6pm: Join us for a simple service before the week begins. All are welcome.

Young Adult Meetup at the Vintage, Sunday, January 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.

Music Survey: We are seeking congregational input about our choir and music ministries, as we begin the process of seeking a new Organist & Choir Director in anticipation of Martin’s retirement later this year. If you’re on St. Dunstan’s e-news list, you should have received a message this week inviting you to take a simple survey. If you didn’t get the message, or prefer to share your thoughts on paper or in person, contact the office at 238-2781 or .

Survival Backpacks: We are collecting items to fill backpacks for homeless high school youth in the Madison school system. These are youth who have run away from or been kicked out of their homes and families. They need basic necessities in a simple form that they can carry with them. Please check the window in the Gathering Area for items still needed. Take a slip, buy the items, and bring them back by Sunday, January 29. Thanks for your generosity! Questions? Contact Bonnie Magnuson.

Looking for Coffee Hosts for 2017! Consider being a coffee host and talk with Janet Bybee.

2017 Pledge Envelopes: If you would like pledge envelopes and haven’t already ordered them, please contact Val McAuliffe.

NEXT WEEK & BEYOND…

Annual Parish Meeting, Sunday, January 22, 9am: Come to hear parish updates, including the 2017 budget, and help elect our parish leaders. All are welcome to attend!

Bake Sale for Haiti! Sunday, January 22: Our Sunday school students are trying to raise money to cover school fees for a child in Jeannette, Haiti. They’d like to hold a bake sale in January. Please consider baking or making a treat with your child (sweet or savory) and bringing it on Sunday morning to contribute to the sale. If you are that parent who would rather just donate $10 than bake something, that’s cool too. :-) Questions, ideas, offers to help? Contact Sarah Errington.

Sunday School, Sunday, January 22, during the 10am liturgy: Our youngest class will explore baptism, while our Elementary classes read about Jesus calling his first followers.

Christian Formation Committee Meeting, Sunday, January 22, 11:45am: Our Christian Formation Committee will meet to review and plan programs, especially for Lent, Easter and beyond. All interested people are welcome to attend and participate.

Ladies’ Night Out, Friday, January 27, 6pm: We will kick off 2017 by meeting up at Oliva, 751 N. High Point Road, Madison (in the same shopping center as Alicia Ashman Library). Come join us for good food and good conversation among women of all ages from St. Dunstan’s.

Church Book Club meeting, Saturday, January 28, 10am: The book is La Rose by Louise Erdrich. In this literary masterwork, Louise Erdrich wields her breathtaking narrative magic in an emotionally haunting contemporary tale of a tragic accident, a demand for justice, and a profound act of atonement with ancient roots in Native American culture. For more information, contact Jim Hindle.

Candlemas Last Sunday Worship, Sunday, January 29: We will celebrate Candlemas with a brief story and candle-lighting prayers at the end of our 10am liturgy. Bring your flashlights and emergency candles from home to be blessed! We also plan to have a candle-making station set up for people to make a small set of candles to take home.

Gospel of John Study Group: Nicodemus, the Samaritan Woman, the man born blind, Martha & Mary of Bethany: just some of the witnesses the Gospel according to John assembles to enrich our own encounter with Jesus. This year the Daily Office Lectionary has us reading that Gospel from the last week of Epiphany through the second week of Easter. If you’d like to read it and reflect on it with others, St. Dunstan’s is offering a seven-session Wednesday night series (March 8 – April 26, omitting Holy Week, 6:30-8:30 PM), hosted by the McAlpines in Fitchburg. There’s a sign-up for the study so we know how many manuscripts to prepare and how much coffee to brew.

SUMMER DATES FOR PLANNING….

Camp Webb 2016 (June 18 – 24) is accepting applications now! Camp Webb is an outdoor ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, for children and youth grades 3 through senior high. It is held at a camp outside Elkhorn, WI. Camp tuition is $375 if you register before January 15, with a deposit of $75 due at the time of registration. St. Dunstan’s offers $150 in aid to all our campers, with additional assistance possible; contact Rev. Miranda for financial assistance.  Visit http://www.diomil.org/forming-disciples/camp-webb/ for registration forms. Camp Webb IS EXPECTED TO FILL this year, so apply soon!

Vacation Bible School 2017, July 30 – August 3: Our Vacation Bible School this summer is planned for Sunday, July 30, through Thursday, August 3. We’ll meet in the evenings – likely 5:30 to 7:30pm, as in previous years. Keep these dates in mind as you make your summer plans! Kids ages 3 to 10 are welcome to participate; middle school and older kids will be involved as actors and helpers.

Women’s Mini-Week, August 10-13: The mission of Women’s Mini-Week is to provide an annual retreat event for adult women, offering refuge, friendship, relaxation, and fun. Mini-Week combines opportunities to learn with fellowship, spiritual exploration and delicious food as we invite all women to participate as much or as little as they would like and need. Mini-Week is held at a beautiful lakeside camp in northern Wisconsin. Many members of St. Dunstan’s have attended, planned, and led, over the years. Visit womensminiweek.org to learn more and make Mini-Week part of your summer plans.

 

Church Seasons & Holy Days, Sermons

Christmas Day Sermon

Preached by the Rev. Thomas McAlpine. 

“Be not afraid” the angel of the Lord tells the shepherds. “Be not afraid,” for by all accounts the appearance of the angel of the Lord and the glory of the Lord “around them” would fill anyone with fear. “Be not afraid” also speaks to us as hearers, for after the first two readings and the psalm, so full of joy and good news, our Gospel reading opened “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus…” and we fear that the party’s over before it started. We’re back—we fear—to the real world of governments, bureaucracies, taxes. (Those of us looking at our year-end financial situation with an eye on April 15 are participating in a not entirely welcome way in the Christmas story!) But no: God’s plan continues, and it turns out that God has used Caesar’s decree to place Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem—to make good on that promise through the prophet Micah. “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus…” but that year is soon remembered not as the twenty-somethingeth year of Augustus’ reign, but as the first year of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Back then the smart money would have been on Augustus rather than on that Jewish couple and their yet unborn child en route from Nazareth to Bethlehem. We may periodically fear that God’s promises are too weak to survive what we’re taught to call “the real world.” At such moments we can remember and be strengthened by the beginning of this Gospel.

Luke doesn’t tell us much about what Mary and Joseph made of all of this. But if they had their share of normal human hopes, fears, and doubts, then it was probably all a bit much. It was enough to deal with Mary’s premarital pregnancy. Would they have even tried to explain it to any of their neighbors? Then there was Caesar’s decree, so they’d be traveling in Mary’s ninth month. They arrive in Bethlehem and of course all the inns are full. The imperial census takers and their assistants need to stay somewhere, of course! So Mary gives birth in a barn. I suspect that she and Joseph looked at each other at multiple points and wondered if they were both delusional. That’s one of the reasons, I suspect, that God sent the shepherds to the barn. No, Mary and Joseph, you’re not delusional. You’re both tired from the journey, Mary beyond exhausted from giving birth, you’re in a barn, and God is more than well-pleased with your faithfulness. We sometimes look at our circumstances to determine whether God’s well-pleased with us. We need to remember tonight’s Gospel: they’re tired from the journey, who knows when they’d last bathed, any motel would be a step up, and God’s pleased enough to have sent out the whole heavenly host to celebrate.

We’re gathered here because of what happened some 2,000 years ago. It happened once—and forever changed our world. But the patterns in the story: these reflect the God we serve and the world we live in, and there’s more than a little to learn.

One more example, this time with the shepherds. Did you notice the seemingly extraneous phrases Luke throws into his story? “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” Luke could have left that last bit out and we would never have missed it. Or at the end: “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” Luke wants us to notice, I think, how the life of faith works. It’s not a spectator sport. The shepherds are given the news—and they have to act on it. When they act, they see—as promised—and are in a position to glorify and praise God. Many times it’s like that with us. God’s word comes to us. We’re not sure what to make of it. It calls on us to act. The action may sound odd: Look for a babe wrapped in cloths and lying in a feed bin! Love your enemies! But if we do it, we discover reason to glorify and praise God—to rejoice.

So rejoice. This day is more than a match for the Roman Empire, for any empire. Whatever our circumstances we are not alone, and God will mobilize the entire heavenly host if needed. As with the shepherds—as with Mary and Joseph—the faith we’re called to is not a spectator sport. Hear the word, act on it, and you set yourself and the world on a trajectory that ends in joy. The most merry of Christmases to you.

Sermons

Sermon, January 8

Here in the church it’s been the new year for six weeks now – but out there it’s still just a week into the New Year. It’s a season when many people spend a little time in self-examination and reflection, and set some goals or intentions – wise or foolish – for how they want to live and who they want to be in the world. As Christians, of course, we often take our cues from Jesus. From his actions and teaching, made known to us in the Gospels. We claim him both as a Rabbi, a Teacher, who has shown us a life-giving Way; and as a Savior who has called us out of bondage to the world as it is, and into the hopeful mystery of the world as it could be. But let’s be honest: sometimes trying to follow Jesus feels like a tall order. He could heal people with a touch. He could bring a dead child back to life, and give her back to her parents. He shared a heart with God the Creator, Source of all things. When I think about all of that, it becomes abundantly clear to me that, however committed I am to following him, I am not and never will be Jesus.

You know who else wasn’t Jesus? John the Baptist. He said so, in the Gospel of John: (1:20) “He did not deny it but confessed it freely: I AM NOT THE MESSIAH.”  I’m overdue to give John a little attention. He’s always present in our Advent readings, hanging out by the Jordan River and hollering about repentance and preparation. And this year the liturgical calendars we order for people to take home feature John’s story: … John is a significant figure in the Gospels; putting together the pieces from all four books, we actually know a lot about him – his teaching, his followers, his practice of baptism. From Luke, we know his parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth; that his birth and prophetic calling were foretold by an angel; and that he was Jesus’ cousin. From Mark we have the story of his untimely, senseless death – imprisoned by an insecure king, murdered as an act of vengeance by the will of someone fearful of his truth-telling.

Today’s Gospel brings us Matthew’s account of John baptizing Jesus. This is John’s big moment, as far as the Gospels are concerned – when Jesus chooses to begin his public ministry by receiving this rite of cleansing and renewal from John’s hands. An event that becomes the foundation of the church’s practice of baptism as our rite of full belonging. What cues can we take from John the Baptist, for our life as people of faith and conscience and courage? In this season of setting intentions for the year ahead?

The first thing I appreciate about John the Baptist is his sense of perspective. His sense of his role in the story. I’d call it humility but we tend to think of humility as timid, quiet, and John was not timid or quiet. He had something to say: Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Change your hearts. Change your lives. John raised his voice. He shared his message, loudly and assertively. But he also knew that it wasn’t about him. I’m not the Messiah, John says. I’m nobody’s savior. He tells Jesus, YOU should be baptizing ME. He tells his followers, Somebody greater than me is coming soon. He must increase, and I must decrease.

In modern jargon we might talk about John as an example of decentering. The concept of decentering originally comes from developmental psychology: it refers to the capacity, developed in late childhood or young adulthood, to conceptualize multiple perspectives at once. To understand that one’s own view isn’t the only view, or the truth. Today the word “decentering” is often used in the broad movement for racial equity: white folks like me are asked to decenter our opinions, our needs, our priorities, to make space for people of color to take the lead and set the agenda. Decentering involves accepting that this is not about me. That there’s something big going on here, and sometimes I may be called to a supporting role.

John the Baptist willingly de-centers himself. He has a clear vision of what’s broken in society, and some ideas about how to begin to fix it. But he keeps the focus on the message, not on himself; and when another leader, a new message come along, he points people towards Jesus. He says, This is bigger than me; go learn from that guy. May we be blessed by John’s wisdom as we use our voices and pursue the work that calls us in today’s world.

The second thing I appreciate about John the Baptist is his integrity. He was the real deal. He didn’t just tell people to turn their backs on the corrupt systems of the status quo; he did it himself, and proved it was possible. By living in the wilderness, wearing a camel-hide tunic instead of proper woven clothing, and living on grasshoppers and honey and whatever else he could find to eat in the rocky waste outside Jerusalem. Traditional icons of John show him with wild hair, to emphasize his uncivilized, unbound way of life. John was off the grid.

In the eleventh chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus talks about John the Baptist. He says, What did you all go out to the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind, fragile, momentary, meaningless? Someone dressed in fine clothes? Nope, that’s not John’s style, he didn’t go into the crazy preacher business to get rich quick. What then did you go to see? A prophet, and more than a prophet. One who speaks God’s truth, regardless of how it will be received. In John’s case, it eventually got him killed. It happens, with prophets.

Whatever you think of the camel-hide outfit, you can’t claim John didn’t practice what he preached. May we, like John, live what we believe, and what we hope. May we strive to be the change – or in some cases, the stability – that we want to see in the world. We don’t have to have it all figured out. But we need to try.

The third thing I appreciate about John the Baptist is that he kept it real. (Maybe this is only relevant to me as a preacher!…) He had a big overarching message: Repent. Terrible times are coming. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the tree. Turn your hearts and your lives towards righteousness, towards God. NOW. Pretty scary stuff!

But in Luke’s Gospel there’s more – the people ask him, what do we do? And he said, Well, if you have two coats, give one of them to somebody who has none. And if you have extra food, share it with the hungry. If you handle other people’s money, do so fairly. If you have authority over other people, don’t use your power to take from them, and be satisfied with what you have. He gives people seeking guidance some real, concrete, achievable things they can do, NOW, to start turning their daily lives towards justice and mercy.

I get the sense that despite his big fierce words – Repent! Brood of Vipers! Unquenchable Fire! – despite all that, by Luke’s account at least, John was a pragmatist, not a purist. He wouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. He’s telling people, Look, just start somewhere. Look around your house, think about the things you do every day, and find a way to help somebody.

May we, like John, stay grounded. May we live gracefully in the tension between the big picture and the small action, the epochal and the everyday, knowing that it’s by the small and the everyday that the great and epochal are formed. Whatever calls, challenges, or confronts us in the year ahead, whether in our career or vocation, in our personal life or our civic sphere, may we see our way clear to a place to simply begin.

Announcements

Announcements, January 5

THIS WEEKEND…

Epiphany Service of Light, Friday, January 6, 5:30pm: Join us as we share the story of the Wise Men who came to honor the infant Jesus, and of how the light of Christ has spread through time and space all the way to here & now! A simple meal will follow the service; feel free to bring something to share. All are welcome. Talk to Rev. Miranda or Sharon Henes if you’d like to be a reader for this service.

Sunday School, Sunday, January 8, 10am: This Sunday, our 3 year olds to kindergarten class will learn about Epiphany, while our Elementary classes will reflect together on the baptism of Jesus.

Epiphany Pageant Practice: There will be a rehearsal after church at 11:30am this Sunday the 8th.  All kids are welcome to participate!

Looking for Coffee Hosts for January 2017 and Beyond! Consider being a coffee host and talk with Janet Bybee for more information.

Vestry nominations are open! Would you be interested in serving on our vestry, our church’s governing body? Is there someone else you think would be a great candidate? Job descriptions and a box for nominations are in the Gathering Area. Open nominations will run throughout December.  We will be electing two new vestry members in January 2017. Wardens and Diocesan Convention deputies must be elected every year, so candidates for Junior and Senior Warden may also be nominated.

Call for Annual Report Submissions: Every year in December/January, we invite our ministry leaders to submit a paragraph or two about what their ministry is and what they’ve done in the past year, and compile those reports into an Annual Report, shared with the congregation in advance of our parish Annual Meeting (9am on Sunday, January 22). This year we thought we’d cast the net more widely. If you have something you’d like to share, as a special moment, thanksgiving, or success to share, whether from a particular ministry or just something from the life of this household of faith, you’re welcome to submit it to . The deadline for all Annual Report materials is Friday, January 13.

NEXT WEEK & BEYOND…

Madison-Area Julian Gathering, Wednesday, January 11, 1:00-3:00pm (NOTE time change): St. Julian of Norwich: 14th Century psychologist? Sort of . . . she understood the human heart and, through her sixteen revelations of Jesus, she understood the heart of God. Come to one of our monthly meetings and learn about St. Julian and contemplative prayer. We meet the second Wednesday of each month. We’d love to see you.

Your Favorite Lecture: Dr. Mariana Hewson, 9am, Sunday, January 15: “Your Favorite Lecture” is an occasional 9am opportunity for some of our many members who are scholars, educators, and thinkers of deep thoughts to talk about things they love to talk about. Mariana Hewson, a scholar of indigenous healing traditions, will read a story she has written. All are welcome!

Epiphany Pageant, Sunday, January 15: The children of St. Dunstan’s will present a pageant telling the story of Jesus’ birth and the visit of the Wise Men on Sunday, January 15. All kids are welcome to participate!

Spirituality of Parent Lunch, Sunday, January 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.

Rector’s Discretionary Fund Offering, Sunday, January 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.

Evening Eucharist, Sunday, January 15, 6pm: Join us for a simple service before the week begins. All are welcome.

Young Adult Meetup at the Vintage, Sunday, January 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.

Annual Parish Meeting, Sunday, January 22, 9am: Come to hear parish updates, including the 2017 budget, and help elect our parish leaders. All are welcome to attend!

Christian Formation Committee Meeting, Sunday, January 22, 11:45am: Our Christian Formation Committee will meet to review and plan programs, especially for Lent, Easter and beyond. All interested people are welcome to attend and participate.

Church Book Club meeting, Saturday, January 28, 10am: The book is La Rose by Louise Erdrich. In this literary masterwork, Louise Erdrich wields her breathtaking narrative magic in an emotionally haunting contemporary tale of a tragic accident, a demand for justice, and a profound act of atonement with ancient roots in Native American culture. For more information, contact Jim Hindle.

Candlemas Last Sunday Worship, Sunday, January 29: We will celebrate Candlemas with a brief story and candle-lighting prayers at the end of our 10am liturgy. Bring your flashlights and emergency candles from home to be blessed! We also plan to have a candle-making station set up for people to make a small set of candles to take home.

 

Big Questions, Church Seasons & Holy Days, Sermons

Sermon, Christmas Eve

It’s good to be with you, this Christmas night – all of you: visitors and guests and familiar faces too, whether you’re here to recapture the feeling of childhood Christmases, or wondering if the Church has anything to say in these times, or you’re just here to make Grandma happy. Welcome, everyone.

It’s Christmas, finally, but I’m going to rewind a little to the season of Advent, in which the Church and her people prepare for Christmas, the season we’ve just completed, or fulfilled. Advent comes from Latin words – Ad plus Venire, meaning, To come towards. And that really is the keyword of Advent: Come, Lord Jesus. Our hymns and prayers and Scriptures say it again. O come, O come, Emmanuel. Come, thou long-expected Jesus. Stir up your power, O Lord, and come to help us. Be patient, beloved ones, until the coming of the Lord. Veni, veni, Emmanuel.

What are we invoking, inviting, calling for, in all those Scriptures and songs and prayers? What arrival or fulfillment are we anticipating, and yearning for, in the season of Advent? Well, first and most obviously: Christmas. Our yearly celebration of God coming to us, among us, as a human infant, humble and vulnerable. Jesus, born of Mary, God with us.

Second: we are praying for the Second Coming, for Christ’s promised return to earth in glory, at the end of history. I think we tend to forget or set aside this aspect of Advent because it’s a little uncomfortable for a churchful of modern enlightened people like ourselves to be actively praying for the end of the world. But what the Church invites us to pray towards, in Advent, isn’t some Left Behind nightmare or zombie apocalypse. Instead, our Scriptures teach us to anticipate a day when this world will pass away, and God’s new world will be born. An ending that’s also a new beginning, a time of transformation and renewal, when God will restore the world to the way it was meant to be, full of beauty and kindness and wholeness. A new world of peace and plenty. A new world in which no child goes hungry, no elder dies alone. A new world in which God wipes away all tears. I won’t claim it doesn’t scare me a little to pray for that world; there’s a lot that’s good for me in the world as it is. But in faith, and in hope for a better world for all God’s children, I pray the prayer of Advent. I pray for Christ to come again. For the dawning of God’s new world.

And I would say there’s a third thing, too: when we pray, Come, Lord Jesus, in Advent, we are asking for God to show up in our individual lives. We’re praying to see and feel God’s presence not in the past or the future but NOW. We give voice to our need and longing for reconciliation in situations of conflict and division; for hope in situations of despair; for peace and joy in situations of grief; for trust and clarity in situations of fear and uncertainty. We pray for light and grace and hope and peace to show up already! – or maybe for our eyes and hearts to open, to see the holy possibilities that are already there.

So the prayer of Advent – Come, Lord Jesus! – it can be weighted with real yearning. We long for the reassuring sweetness of the Nativity story. We long for God’s promised renewal of all that’s tarnished and broken in our world. And we long for God’s grace to show up in the sadnesses and struggles of our lives, right now.

And then it’s Christmas. December 24 rolls around, as it always does. And the Church says, The waiting is over! Jesus is here! God has arrived! Celebrate! But: there’s an incompleteness here. Let’s name that. Christmas offers us, again, the story of God’s arrival in the past. But we’re still waiting on the fulfillment of God’s future. And we are still waiting on God’s grace in so many shadowed places of our lives, and our present world.

Maybe, if you’re lucky, tonight, and tomorrow, will be a time of peace and warmth. With family and friends wrapped around you like a cozy blanket, sharing happy memories and making new ones. But that’s not what tomorrow holds for everyone here. Some of you will be alone. Some of you will be struggling with family dynamics that make you wish you were alone. For some of you, the happy memories cast the shadow of loved ones lost, and good times gone by.

And even for those who are going to have a lovely Christmas Day, the next day, or the day after that, you’ll wake up and read the news, or get phone call or email from somebody angry or in pain, or someone close to you will hit a rough patch in life, and all the brokenness will flood back in.

I was looking for Christmas cards, a few weeks ago. The kind where you upload your photo and they put a pretty frame around it, with some peppy seasonal message. I looked a couple of different sites, and scrolled through pages and pages of designs. And it was the same words over and over again: Merry. Peace. Joy. Jolly. Happy. Bright. Fun. Cheer. And it just started to seem …. so false. Cruelly false.

I am absolutely one of the lucky ones. I have a healthy loving family and good friends and a job I love. And even I didn’t want to order any of those cards. How can I declare happiness when so many are hurting? How can I proclaim peace when so many are afraid? How can I trumpet merriness and cheer when what I really want for my loved ones and congregation is just to take good enough care of ourselves and each other that we’re able to keep doing the work of grace in our shadowed and weary world?

Now, I’m picking unfairly on the Christmas card industry. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with sending out wishes for joy and peace to your friends and family. Just like there is absolutely nothing wrong with claiming the next couple of days for happiness and warmth and fun, if you are able to do so. Do it. Absolutely do it.

But when the brokenness floods back in – when a health problem or a loss or a jerk coworker or a news story pops that bright bubble – when that happens, and it will, I don’t want our faith in God who loves us enough to come down and live among us to end up like the pretty Christmas cards that say Merry and Joy and Bright and Cheer in the recycling bin on December 30th.

It’s easy to suspect Christians of being delusional, or in denial. What are Christians – especially preachers – talking about, when we claim the event we celebrate tonight changed anything? It happened 2000 years ago; there’s been plenty of evil and pain in those two millennia. Come, Lord Jesus! Well – he came. Here we are; it’s Christmas. We told the story, and put the wooden baby in the wooden manger, and sang the carols, and sent the cards. But then what? What do we carry away into the week, the year, that follows? How can we say that the baby in the manger fixed the world? How can we claim that this story matters?

But it does. It does matter. Christmas matters. The Church sometimes gives it another name – the Feast of the Incarnation. Incarnation means, becoming a body. Becoming flesh. This is the sacred story of the moment when God became a human being. God became a human being to walk among us, and teach us and show us that there’s a better way. That we don’t have to live by the selfish cruel zero-sum rules of the world; that we can afford to be people of grace and mercy and justice, because God has our backs, and that the better way is the way of life. And God became a human being to share our lives, our experiences. To be footsore and weary, hungry and afraid and in pain. To eat a good meal, embrace a friend, walk on a beach. And by sharing our experiences, to show us once and for all that God is with us in all that we experience.

Stanley Hauerwas, one of the great theologians of our time, writes that the Church “is a gathering of a people who are able to sustain one another through the inevitable tragedies of our lives. They are able to do so because they have been formed by a narrative, [a story], … that claims nothing less than that God has taken the tragic character of our existence into God’s very life.” We are a people formed by a holy story – this story, and all the stories that lead up to it and flow from it – that claims nothing less than that God has taken the pain and grief and struggle of human existence into God’s very life. (Stanley Hauerwas, “A Community of Character”) 

We are not the material creatures of a spiritual god, who looks down at us across some cosmic gulf, who feels disinterested in, or contemptuous of, our bodily needs and experiences, hurts and delights. God is right here in this world with us.

So what we can carry away from Christmas is the trust that we are not alone. When we look at the great sweep of the world’s needs, or the smaller span of our own difficulties and griefs, and cry out for help, for solace, for guidance: Someone hears. Someone is with us, even if we can’t always feel the presence. Someone responds, even if it’s not always in the way we hoped.

In Advent, we pray, Come, Lord Jesus! Come in the beloved holy story of the babe in Bethlehem. Come in your might to transform and renew the whole world. And come in the here and now, because we need you. I need you. We are able to pray those prayers of urgent hope and trust because God IS with us, in the thick of it all. The witness of millennia of people of faith, including me, is that God shows up. That there’s a that gentle shining, a relentless love behind and beneath and above everything; and that it breaks through our distraction and self-importance, sometimes the crack in everything lets the light shine in. And not just in warm fuzzy ways either – hope and love and mercy and all that – but in the fierceness of spurring us to seek justice, which is always right up there with mercy on God’s priority list; in pushing us towards the strange awkward vulnerable places where we tell each other our truths and find new paths towards recognition and reconciliation; in the moments when we think we have given all we have to give, and then something calls to us, a need or a possibility, so bright and urgent that we find we have the strength to stand, after all.

Christmas, the Feast of the Incarnation, means that God has arrived. The Church sets aside the prayer of Advent, Come, Lord Jesus!, for another year. But Feast of the Incarnation means, too, that we can carry that prayer with us. We can keep right on seeking and demanding and expecting that God will show up, as we go forth from this feast as a people formed by a story that matters.

Announcements

Announcements, December 22

TONIGHT AND THIS WEEK…

The Longest Night: A Liturgy of Light in Darkness, Thursday, December 22, 6:30pm (dinner at 5:30pm): On December 22th, we will gather together out of the darkness of the season for a quiet, meditative worship service. Feel free to invite friends who might appreciate this time set apart to name the darkness in the world and in our lives, and prepare our hearts for the coming of the light of Christ. Contact Rev. Miranda at 238-2781 with any questions.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services:

Family Service with Pageant, Saturday, December 24, 3pm

Festal Eucharist, Saturday, December 24, 9pm

Christmas Day, Sunday, December 25, 10am (NO 8am service!)

 

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE NOTES…

The Parish Office will be closed on Friday, December 23 and will reopen on Monday, January 2nd.

Youth Group will NOT meet on December 23 or 30.

Sandbox Worship will NOT meet on December 29 or January 5th.

 

Grace Shelter Dinner, Sunday, December 25, 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.

Diaper Drive Update: Many families in our area are struggling financially, and they have to make tough decisions about whether to buy much-needed diapers or groceries or pay their rent. The FoodShare program (food stamps) does not cover diapers, other personal care items, or household cleaners. Imagine needing to change your baby’s diaper, but only having a couple left and no money for more.
Pantries are always looking for large-sized diapers. We held a diaper drive this year and raised $2100!  We have donated over 13,200 diapers—enough to diaper two children from birth to potty training—to pantries all over Madison and beyond.
Thank you all for your incredible generosity!

Vestry nominations are open! Would you be interested in serving on our vestry, our church’s governing body? Is there someone else you think would be a great candidate? Job descriptions and a box for nominations are in the Gathering Area. Open nominations will run throughout December.  We will be electing two new vestry members in January 2017. Wardens and Diocesan Convention deputies must be elected every year, so candidates for Junior and Senior Warden may also be nominated. 

NEXT WEEKEND & BEYOND…

Birthday and Anniversary blessings and Healing Prayers will be given next Sunday, January 1, as is our custom on the first Sunday of the month.

Evening Eucharist, Sunday, January 1, 6pm: Join us for a simple service as the week (and the New Year) begins. All are welcome.

 MOM Special Offering, Sunday, January 1: 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 to-ten, most needed items: canned chicken, shelf-stable milk, whole grains; salt, pepper, spices; laundry detergent; vanilla or other extracts; low sugar dried/canned fruits; cooking oil; honey; nuts. Thank you for your generous support!

Epiphany Service of Light, Friday, January 6, 5:30pm: Join us as we share the story of the Wise Men who came to honor the infant Jesus, and of how the light of Christ has spread through time and space all the way to here and now! All are welcome. We’ll share a light dinner after the service; feel free to bring something to share. Talk to Rev. Miranda or Sharon Henes if you’d like to be a reader for this service.

Epiphany Pageant, Sunday, January 15: The children of St. Dunstan’s will present a pageant telling the story of Jesus’ birth and the visit of the Wise Men on Sunday, January 15. There will be a rehearsal after church on Sunday the 8th.  All kids are welcome to participate!

Call for Annual Report Submissions: Every year in December/January, we invite our ministry leaders to submit a paragraph or two about what their ministry is and what they’ve done in the past year, and compile those reports into an Annual Report, shared with the congregation in advance of our parish Annual Meeting (9am on Sunday, January 22). This year we thought we’d cast the net more widely. If you have something you’d like to share, as a special moment, thanksgiving, or success to share, whether from a particular ministry or just something from the life of this household of faith, you’re welcome to submit it to . The deadline for all Annual Report materials is Friday, January 13.

Looking for Coffee Hosts for January 2017! Consider being a coffee host and talk with Janet Bybee  for more information.

Church Seasons & Holy Days, Sermons, Stories

Sermon, Dec. 18

“Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”

That’s all Matthew’s Gospel has to say about Mary’s pregnancy. It’s Luke’s Gospel that gives us the stories that the Church tells in Advent and Christmas: the angelic appearances to Zechariah and Mary, the visit to Elizabeth, Magnificat, the journey to Bethlehem and the birth in a barn, the shepherds visited by an angelic host. Two more of the four Gospels, Mark and John, tell us nothing about Jesus’ birth. John focuses on Jesus’ cosmic nature as the Word that was in the beginning with God. Mark has Jesus as bursting on the scene as a full-grown adult.

And Matthew begins with a genealogy – sixteen verses of Jesus’ ancestors, from Abraham to Joseph. Those first verses tell you something about Matthew: he is intensely interested in Jesus as the continuation – and the completion – of the Old Testament story of God’s relationship with humanity. It’s a theme throughout his account of Jesus’ life, including in today’s Gospel, in which Matthew tells us – for the first time of many – that Jesus fulfills an Old Testament prophecy. “All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’.”

If you’ve been paying attention this morning, you know which prophet Matthew is quoting – this passage comes from today’s text from Isaiah, chapter 7. We hear a lot of Isaiah in Advent; the Church throughout the ages has followed Matthew’s lead and interpreted many passages from Isaiah as pointing towards Jesus. I think that’s okay; we believe that the Bible is inspired text that can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, speak in fresh ways, its meaning never locked down or exhausted. But I also think it’s pretty important for Christians to understand that these texts aren’t only ours. That they had a prophetic word to offer before Jesus was born, and that they continue to be holy texts of hope for people who do not see Jesus as the Messiah.

The gist of this passage from Isaiah 7 is that God is telling King Ahaz, through the voice of Isaiah, that their current crisis – an attack on Jerusalem by two neighboring peoples – is nothing to worry about and will be over soon. That image of the young woman and child is basically giving a timeline. Take a young woman who is currently pregnant – (the Hebrew word here is almah, a young woman of marriageable age; this is a perfectly normal, non-miraculous pregnancy) and by the time the child she bears is old enough to know good from evil – twelve years at most – the nations that currently threaten Judea will be empty. Utterly defeated by another enemy. And Judea will be living high off the hog, curds and honey for days. The child is to be named Immanuel, meaning, God is with us. Meaningful names like that are very common, in the prophetic books – I guarantee you that it did not even cross Isaiah’s mind that anyone would think that the child itself was God. Because the point of this passage, for Isaiah and his first hearers, wasn’t the child, but the promise that their deliverance would come soon.

Now, Matthew knows the Hebrew Bible well, and he reads this passage, and connects it with what he knows and believes about Jesus, whom he does believe is God. He interprets the text in a new way, becoming one of the first to read the Hebrew Bible through the lens of Christian faith. And he quotes this Isaiah text, as he begins his account of Jesus’ life and teaching.

I think Matthew is quoting another Old Testament story, too. It’s less obvious; there are no direct quotations, more of a narrative parallel. But given how well Matthew knew the Hebrew Bible, I think it’s not just a coincidence. The story I have in mind comes from the book of Judges, from the time when the people Israel were living in the promised land, but before their first kings, Saul and David. It’s the story of the birth of Samson, famous for his great strength; less famous for his poor impulse control and anger issues.

Judges chapter 13 begins with, well, with an annunciation. There was a certain man of the tribe of Dan, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Although you have borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now, be careful to avoid wine and unclean foods, and keep yourself pure during your pregnancy, for the boy shall be dedicated to God from birth. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.’ Then the woman told her husband, ‘A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like that of an angel of God, most awe-inspiring; I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name; but he said to me, “You shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be dedicated to God from birth to the day of his death.”

Then Manoah begged God, saying, ‘O Lord, I pray, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do concerning the boy who will be born.’ God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her. So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, ‘The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.’ Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man and said to him, ‘Are you the man who spoke to this woman?’ And he said, ‘I am.’ Then Manoah said, ‘Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy’s rule of life; what is he to do?’ The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, ‘Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her. She is not to drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. She is to observe everything that I commanded her.”

Is Matthew deliberately echoing this story from Judges? If he is, he’s probably doing so in order to evoke that sense of a baby dedicated to God from birth, a baby who has been seized by God’s holy and redemptive purposes, called to deliver his people from bondage, since even before he was conceived. Now, Samson went on to be a pretty ambiguous figure, but Matthew might still choose to play a few notes from his birth narrative.

Now, I believe – 100% – that the author of Judges intends this story to be funny, in an ironic way. What I can’t decide is whether I think Matthew is in on the joke. He describes Joseph as concerned about marrying Mary, when she turns up pregnant with no sensible explanation, and he seems to find that concern quite legitimate. (By way of contrast, Luke tells us exactly nothing about how Joseph made his peace with the situation.) But while Matthew seems sympathetic to Joseph’s need for his own angelic visitation to settle his fears, the author of Judges is poking fun at Manoah for not believing his wife, who is much more ready to hear God’s good news than her husband. When the angel comes a second time, in response to Manoah’s prayer, it disses Manoah and appears – again – to his wife. SHE has to go find her husband. And the angel’s words emphasize that it’s already been over this: “Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her… She is to observe everything that I commanded her.’

The angel in Matthew’s Gospel is much kinder to Joseph, but the fact remains that we’ve already been told that Mary’s child was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and yet an angel still has to come angelsplain the situation to a reluctant husband.

Maybe Matthew isn’t in on the joke. Matthew isn’t, generally speaking, a playful or humorous gospel. Perhaps he doesn’t realize that evoking the story from Judges casts the shadow of Manoah’s ridiculousness over Joseph. I have to admit that there’s a part of me that wants Matthew to be outside the joke. Because I don’t like how he tells this story. I don’t like that he gives a man’s concerns about paternity and honor more weight in the narrative than a woman’s risky Yes to God. And I don’t like that he displays what strikes me as an unnecessary and counterproductive level of interest in the state of Mary’s ladyparts.

But. But. Just when I’m ready to dismiss Matthew as a clueless misogynist, there are the grandmothers. You’ve been hearing their stories. Tamar getting the son Judah owed her, by any means necessary. Rahab using the only resource at her disposal to save her family and claim a new future. Ruth the vulnerable outsider, whose loyalty and love made her part of God’s story. These are not easy stories to tell, especially not with kids in the room. But Matthew evokes them, in those sixteen verses of genealogy, just north of today’s Gospel text. Among Jesus’ ancestors, he names: Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth. All women with messy histories of wife-hood and motherhood. Women are not usually named in Biblical genealogies. But Matthew names these women. Evokes their fierce, heartrending, hopeful stories.

It feels like a discovery, to me, to read this story of Joseph this year in light of the genealogy that precedes it, and especially the stories of those surprising women. Maybe what Matthew is up to here is putting Joseph in line with those grandfathers. With Judah, Salmon, Boaz, Manoah. All respectable Jewish men, of some standing and wealth, who had deep-seated cultural assumptions about manhood, marriage, and fatherhood. All men who had to loosen their grip on masculinity and mastery, paternity and propriety, control and comprehension, in order to let God’s purposes play out. All men who, graciously or reluctantly, quickly or slowly, opened themselves to fatherhood and family in ways that were not what they had expected or hoped for.

The midcentury theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, honor, vanity, pride, and reputation, before the manger.” Long before the baby in Bethlehem, Judah, Salmon, Boaz, Manoah, Joseph, were all called to lay down honor, vanity, pride, and reputation before the manger. Before the humble, perplexing, messy ways God chooses to step into our lives and change our stories.

In a few moments, we’ll sing a song that’s become a ritual of Fourth Advent for us: Cloth for a Cradle, cradle for a child… And you’ll be invited to come forward and lay a strip of cloth across our little manger, as a sign of our intentions to prepare our hearts to welcome God, at Christmas and always. May the rich stories of God’s people that we’ve gathered around us this season, stories of brokenness redeemed, emptiness filled, fears transformed and respectability transcended, inspire us to look for what we may be called to lay down before the manger, as a gift of gratitude and humility, and to make room for God to be born anew.

Announcements

Announcements, December 15

THIS WEEK…

Jesus’ Grandmothers – Ruth: In this Advent season, each week we’re hearing from one of the women in Jesus’ lineage – named in Matthew 1:1-17. Matthew names three surprising women in that genealogy – Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. This week we will hear from Ruth, whose story is found in the book that bears her name.

Rector’s Discretionary Fund Offering, Sunday, December 18: 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.

Caroling, 2 – 4:30pm, Sunday, December 18: If you know some familiar carols and have a warm heart, please come! We will meet at the church to warm up and share directions, then visit and sing for several members who live near the church, but aren’t always able to attend due to illness or mobility challenges. We also plan a second caroling expedition at 2pm on Friday, December 23rd; talk with Rev. Miranda for details.

Evening Eucharist, Sunday, December 18, 6pm: Join us for a simple service before the week begins. All are welcome.

Young Adult Meetup at the Vintage, Sunday, December 18, 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.

It costs about $370 to send an elementary-school aged child to school for a year in Jeannette, Haiti. Our elementary Sunday school students would like to raise funds to send at least one child in Jeannette to school next year. You can support the kids’ mission by buying chocolates (suggested donation $4 apiece) or just making a donation. If you donate $25 or more, you may take a Haiti Christmas card for someone on your list who’d appreciate a donation made in their honor. You can give by cash or check in the basket in the Gathering Area, or by making an Outreach donation at donate.stdunstans.com, with a note that says “Haiti” in the comment box on the final screen when you are checking out.

Christmas Flowers: 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 sheet in the Gathering Area. Write “Christmas Flowers” on the memo line of your check or on the envelope containing cash. Suggested donation is $25.

Christmas Service Helpers Needed! If you would like to be a part of the Christmas services, we need greeters, ushers and refreshments for each of the three services. Please see the sign-up sheet in the Gathering Area or contact Pamela at .

Vestry nominations are open! Would you be interested in serving on our vestry, our church’s governing body? Is there someone else you think would be a great candidate? Job descriptions and a box for nominations are in the Gathering Area. Open nominations will run throughout December.  We will be electing two new vestry members in January 2017. Wardens and Diocesan Convention deputies must be elected every year, so candidates for Junior and Senior Warden may also be nominated.

NEXT WEEKEND & BEYOND…

The Longest Night: A Liturgy of Light in Darkness, Thursday, December 22, 6:30pm (dinner at 5:30pm): On December 22th, we will gather together out of the darkness of the season for a quiet, meditative worship service. Feel free to invite friends who might appreciate this time set apart to name the darkness in the world and in our lives, and prepare our hearts for the coming of the light of Christ. Contact Rev. Miranda with any questions.

Call for Annual Report Submissions: Every year in December/January, we invite our ministry leaders to submit a paragraph or two about what their ministry is and what they’ve done in the past year, and compile those reports into an Annual Report, shared with the congregation in advance of our parish Annual Meeting (9am on Sunday, January 22). This year we thought we’d cast the net more widely. If you have something you’d like to share, as a special moment, thanksgiving, or success to share, whether from a particular ministry or just something from the life of this household of faith, you’re welcome to submit it to . The deadline for all Annual Report materials is Friday, January 13.

Looking for Coffee Hosts for January 2017! Consider being a coffee host and talk with Janet Bybee for more information.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services:

Family Service with Pageant, Saturday, December 24, 3pm

Festal Eucharist, Saturday, December 24, 9pm

Christmas Day, Sunday, December 25, 10am (NO 8am service!)

 

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE NOTES…

The Parish Office will be closed on Friday, December 23 and will reopen on Monday, January 2nd.

Youth Group will NOT meet on December 23 or 30.

Sandbox Worship will NOT meet on December 29.

6205 University Ave., Madison WI

St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church