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April 2005
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Contents
I turned on the news this morning just as the announcement was being made, “Terri Schiavo has died.” My immediate reaction was “thanks be to God.”
Terri Schiavo’s struggle to die (or to live, depending on your perspective) has been the backdrop of our Holy Week and Easter celebrations this year. And I must admit that as immersed as I was in the drama of Holy Week, I was also caught up in the drama being played out in the halls of Congress, the federal courts, and a small hospice in Florida .
Much of the rhetoric that has flooded the airwaves in this tragic case has been couched in religious language. And as often seems the case when religious issues are in the news, I found myself recoiling in disgust or squirming with embarrassment over much of what was being presented as “Christian” values. There was the simply inane, such as the “Jugglers for Christ” who entertained the crowds outside the hospice. And then there were the religiously toxic, those who spewed out hate and lies and misinformation in the name of Christ.
What I did not hear was the message of Easter – that death is not the enemy or the final word, that it no longer needs to be feared, that the God who loves and created us will continue to care for all of us when this life is over.
We’ve heard a lot in the last two weeks about “erring on the side of life.” We’ve heard it from politicians who govern over a country where one in eight children live in poverty, where millions have no access to health care, where guns are easily accessible even to children, where capital punishment is carried out with alarming frequency.
“I came that you might have life and have it abundantly,” Jesus said. Abundance of life does not simply mean the number of one’s days on earth. An abundant life is one that is lived fully, one that makes use of God’s gifts and shares them with others, one that works to help all of God’s people to live in justice and peace, one that treats all people with dignity and respect.
During the 18 months that I was a hospice chaplain, family members or patients often confided to me that they were praying for death. That confession was usually made with some guilt. But I always assured them that such a prayer was a statement of faith, a recognition that death is not always the worst thing that can happen, and a strong belief that death is not the final answer. There are times when praying for death is a very pro-life statement.
Terri Schiavo was alive for the last 15 years, but hers was more a mere existence than an abundant life. And although we now sympathize with those who mourn for her, we also rejoice that abundant life is now, at last, hers.
My favorite Easter hymn puts it this way:
“The strife is o’er, the battle done,
the victory of life is won;
the song of triumph has begun.
Alleluia!”
Annual Parish Meeting
And Potluck Luncheon
Sunday, April 24
After the 10:30 a.m. service
All are welcome
We will begin with a potluck lunch. Then childcare will be provided in the parish hall while the meeting is going on in the church.
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Save the Date: It was 40 years ago that nine pilgrim families from St. Anne’s Episcopal Church came together to found St. Dunstan’s. The first services were held at Tuxedo School on Northside Drive in January 1965. Mark your calendars now for the 40th Anniversary Celebration on Pentecost Sunday, May 15. Pentecost is traditionally thought of as the birthday of the universal church, and this year it falls the same week as St. Dunstan’s Day on May 19.
Lenten Lunches: Thanks to all of the women who provided lunches following the Wednesday Lenten services: Helen Keaten, Helen Branch, Mary Linss, Ann Reece, Priscilla Davis, Nancy Young, Betty Whittier, Caroline Dandridge, Jeanne Taylor and Virginia Skinner.
Choir Director Search Update: The search committee is still in the process of interviewing candidates for this position. Much to our delight our interim choir director Bert Landman, originally contracted to be with us from Ash Wednesday through Easter, has agreed to stay with us a while longer.
In Memory of Former Parishioner Susan Hyde: Gilda Morris is participating in a 10 week in-door cycle program culminating in a long 6 hour endurance ride (the approximate time it takes to complete a century).on May 14. Gilda is riding in memory of Susan Hyde who died of ovarian cancer. Please go online and support this effort to find an early diagnosis for this deadly cancer. www.ovariancycle.org If you do not feel comfortable donating on line, you may make a check out to Ovarian Cycle and mail to The Ovarian Cycle, 5881 Glenridge Dr. Suite 140 , Atlanta , GA 30328.
Short-term Rental Available: Do you know someone who is coming to Atlanta for a temporary assignment? Or perhaps must move to Atlanta , but needs a place to live while house-hunting? Four-bedroom house with screened porch, 2-car garage and finished basement, fully furnished, in the Jackson elementary school district, pet allowed … available starting June 1 for 6 months for $2,000/month. Contact Nancy Elliott at 404/256-0499.
Additional books requested by Natalie Land, Maggie Harney and others have been added to our Pat Hart Library. Our Nat Land Library Fund
allows us to continue to acquire books of interest to our church family.
New books include:
- Saint Francis, Brian Wildsmith (children's book)
- Adult manuals for prayer throughout the day:
- The Divine Hours, Prayers for Springtime , Phyllis Tickle
- The Divine Hours, Prayers for Summertime , Phyllis Tickle
- The Divine Hours, Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime , Phyllis Tickle
- This Far By Grace, J. Neil Alexander
There is a check out sheet on the desk in the library. We invite you to examine some of our fine offerings. ~The Library Committee
Coming in May…..
Adult Education Class
“The Christian Ethics of Death and Dying”
taught by Dr. Joe Monti |
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Adult Education in Easter
Sunday mornings promptly at 9:30 a.m. in the Founders Room
April 3: The Rev. Maggie Harney, Director of Mary & Martha’s Place, will lead a discussion on Simplicity as a Spiritual Practice. Christians have always been called to a life of simple abundance. What are the historical roots of Christian simplicity and how can 21st century Christians practice it?
April 10: Dottie Albright, founder of Overall Transitions, facilitates the transition of seniors from their homes to downsized living space. She will address our emotional attachments to our “stuff” and present practical advice about how to get started clearing the clutter in our lives.
April 13: A Ritual of Letting Go—At the Village Supper, on Wed. April 13
We will have a Ritual of Letting Go to bless donated items that we will release back into the community for use by those who need them. We will donate some items to The International School for Refugee Children. Please bring children’s books and educational toys, as well as any other items you are ready to release to worthy organizations.
Nanette will be presenting “A Vision for Christian Formation at St. Dunstan’s” in Adult Formation class on April 17th and 24th.
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Mary and Martha's Place
Thursdays 11:15 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Cost: $20 per class
Thursday, April 14th - Ritual of Releasing
Releasing both material possessions and personal issues can be difficult. This session will provide participants with support for letting go and a Ritual for Releasing. Leaders: Rebecca Parker, Program Director, and Maggie Harney, President, of Mary & Martha's Place will design and lead the ritual.
Thursday, April 28th - Simplicity and Gratitude
Gratitude lies at the root of our spiritual life. This session will explore the foundations and sentiments of gratitude. Leader: Lynnsay Buehler is the Director of the Spirituality Center at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church and an Episcopal priest. Lynnsay has served as spiritual director for many years and is well versed in the ways of gratitude.
Thursday, May 5th / Free of charge - Eucharist and Picnic
Gather in the Beech Grove for a potluck lunch and a Celtic inspired Eucharist service. There will be time for quiet reflection and sharing. There is no cost for the picnic, but a love offering will be accepted. Please bring a dish to share.
Writing Workshop: Saturday, April 9th 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Write What You Hear, and Hear What You Write:
A Proprioceptive Writing Opportunity with Sandra Deer
Proprioceptive writing provides the writer a way to listen to their interior and write from the heart as well as from the head. Space is limited to 15. Please call for a reservation. Leader: Sandra Deer is a playwright (The Subject Tonight is Love) and teacher. For the last twelve years she has taught her proprioceptive writing class for the Evenings at Emory program. Cost: $75
Simplicity Evening Program
Thursday, April 21 st 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Feng Shui - Connect With Your Environment
Feng Shui is the art of creating harmony and balance in an environment by aligning with the natural cycles of life. Come learn to recognize how your space affects you and how to make adjustments to better support well-being in your home and work environments. Leader: Jenna Boyd is the founder of Elements of Harmony Feng Shui. She is a certified Feng Shui practitioner, graduating from the Western School of Feng Shui in San Diego , CA . Cost: $25
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Christian Formation for Youth and Children
As we have noted before, Christian Formation for youth and children is comprised of education, spirituality, worship, outreach and fellowship. This month, our children’s stewardship outreach project is to collect peanut butter and jelly jars for Midtown Assistance Center (MAC). This organization helps out families in need who are generally financially sound, but are going through a crisis due to job loss, or overwhelming health care expenses, etc. This project connects to our Rotations theme of Feeding the 5000. Miracles happen when we share! Please send a jar of peanut butter and jelly to be collected at Children’s Chapel during April. Our guest speaker, Mitch Parsons, will join us on April 24th to help us worship and to teach us about MAC.
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During the last week of April, (April 26, 27 and 28), from 3 – 5 pm, St. Dunstan’s will be hosting 10-12 children from the Emmaus House After School Program for a Wilderness Days program. We will need at least three drivers to help transport the children to and from Emmaus House. Drivers are welcome to stay and assist with the program. We have also invited the children and their chaperones to stay for Village Supper. We will provide snacks, and then the children will do their homework for an hour, followed by an outdoor nature program. Please call Nanette if you can help with transportation or the program!
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This year Vacation Bible School will be held from June 27 through July 1, for children age 3 through 5th grade. Please join us for a program called Safari Adventure from Concordia Press. If you are able to volunteer (rising 6th graders and above) please let me know as soon as possible. We need teachers, assistant teachers, shepherds, snack providers, pianists, artists, and outdoor guides. Teachers are needed in art (scenery and masks), outdoor activities, storytelling and music. Planning Meeting: April 20th 5 pm Sign up list on kiosk in foyer
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For the next school year we are seeking teachers in the following areas. Please prayerfully consider teaching in one of the following areas. Teacher Training will take place in August during Education Hour.
Youth
10th – 12th grade: J2A (Journey to Adulthood)
We need one more teacher for the Society component of the four segments of the curriculum (the other three have already been filled): Society; Spirituality; Self/Sexuality; Bible and BCP Study. Teachers would therefore rotate through the lesson plans, teaching once a month, over a one-year period.
7th – 9th grade:
We need six teachers to cover one theme each (see below). These themes will be taught in succession over a one-year period. Images of God and Self Image, Prince of Peace, Christmas: Gospel Comparisons, How the Bible Came to Be, Acts of the Apostles, Messengers of the Covenant
Rotations 1st-5th Grade
We are seeking rotations teams for the following topics for one year. Each teacher teaches one Sunday in a four-week period in either storytelling, video, computer, cooking, art, music, science or drama. Esther the Queen, Samuel Listened to God, The Christmas Story, 12 Who Changed the World, World Missions
The Adventures of Paul
PreK/Kindergarten Godly Play Program
We need teachers to replace Jessie Morris who is stepping down, and to whom we are grateful for faithfully teaching the program this year. Godly Play is a curriculum which is designed to teach both Bible stories and spirituality and an art response to them. Parents of children in the class will be assigned dates to teach, and training will take place in August during Christian Formation Hour, date to be announced. ************************
Please Place on your Calendar!
Youth Fellowship Dates
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We are Assessing interest for a Summer Girls’ Club For rising 2nd– 5th graders - Issues addressed through talk and crafts: How can I live a life of faith through overcoming gossip? jealousy? rejection? temptation? fear? through friendships? by standing up for what is right? Sign up list in Foyer!
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We are Assessing interest for a Summer Youth Group Series Using the Soul Survivor Youth Curriculum. Check it out at www.soulsurvivorencounter.com
There is a sign up list on the youth bulletin board! Let Nanette or Michelle know if you are interested … You do not have to be there every time – just when you are in town!
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Vacation Bible School – June 27 – July 1, 2005
Special This Month
Adult Formation - Art and Spirituality Workshop - Monday, April 11, 2-5 p.m.
Come make clay prayer jars! No experience necessary!
This workshop will be co-led by Nanette Woodworth and potter Paula Buford of Earthen Vessels. When we meet we will discuss scriptural connections between working with clay and the spiritual life. Then we will make clay jars that will hold scripture cards. The jars will be fired in a kiln and returned to participants. There will be a $10 fee for materials. Please join us!
Yet, O Lord, thou art our Creator;
We are the clay and you are the potter;
We are all the work of thy hand.
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Opportunities for Service
United Thank Offerings ~UTO 
UTO – Putting our thankfulness to work: When we feel a special surge of thanks for our family, our career, a beautiful Spring day, or perhaps a good grade on a test- we feel moved to share. The United Thank Offering (UTO), a ministry of the Episcopal Church USA, provides a very special way to share. UTO funds are put to work through one-year grants for ministries at home and overseas. These grants have helped provide kitchen equipment for a homeless shelter, an after-school program, a library for an African Seminary, and many other needs. Locally, the UTO purchased computer equipment for Work of Our Hands, and an elevator providing handicap access for Holy Comforter Church .
Use a blue UTO box to put in money when you have a thankful moment, knowing that your thankful gesture will help someone in need.
The UTO ingathering will be held on Sunday, May 1. ~Ann Reece
St. Dunstan's to Participate in Interfaith Habitat House Build
Excitement is building about the upcoming Habitat House build, where St. Dunstan's parishioners will work side by side with volunteers from other faiths and denominations. While the final date is not set, the build will start either in mid-May or in the fall, and will be held on Sundays over 7-8 consecutive weeks as in the past. In order to participate, St. Dunstan's has made a financial commitment to help underwrite the cost of building materials, will provide breakfast and lunch to 30-40 volunteers on a designated Sunday, and must provide at least 4 volunteers for each build day. Steve Hauser is organizing the group this year. Look for details on the Stewardship bulletin board, and please speak to Steve for details or to express your interest in participating. ~The Stewardship Committee
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OOPS!
The list of new members published in last month's Bellows contained several errors. We apologize. Here is a corrected list of those who have joined our midst since last summer.
- Tom and Bettye Schneider, from the Cathedral of St. Philip
- Bob Longino
- Jim and Carol Sue Ravenel, from St. Peter's Place, Roswell
- Paul and Cassie Templeton and their sons Jason and Turner, from St. Edward's Episcopal Church, Lawrenceville
- James and Highland Witzcak and son Grant, born in February
- Ginny and Paul Ruhmkorff and their daughters Peyton and Piper, from Holy Innocents
- Lynn and Wayne Hood, and their daughter Rebecca
- Antoinette Watts, from Church of the Atonement
- Clay and Trish Sills, and their daughter, Veronica, from All Saints
- Brett and Tina Lowe, and their children Paige and Ian
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Special Thanks
My first Holy Week and Easter at St. Dunstan’s was a powerful experience. The wonderful services of that week did not come together without a great deal of work from many people. Many thanks to Kim Branch, who produced seven different service bulletins for the week, and to those who helped fold them. To Nanette Woodworth, who provided meaningful worship experiences for our children during the week. To Maggie Harney, for her help in planning and carrying out services. To the altar and flower guilds for preparing the church for all the different services, and making Easter morning beautiful. And finally, a huge thanks to Bert Landman and the choir for extraordinarily beautiful music all through the week, but especially on Good Friday and Easter morning. I was intensely aware all week of how blessed I am to be here. ~Tricia
Thank You Too
- Thank you to Dick Harris, who is stepping down from years of faithful service as our webmaster. And thanks to Kieran Cannistra who has agreed to take over that important position.
- Thank you to Bob Longino and Eleanor Ringel Gillespie for leading and hosting the Lenten Film Series. Plans for the next series are already under way.
- Thank you to Michelle Searcy and Nanette Woodworth for providing an adult presence at Episcapalooza, the diocesan overnight youth lock-in held at St. Dunstan’s.
- Thank you to Beverly Booth, who has agreed to fill the vacancy on the vestry created by Daria Jones’ move from vestry person to treasurer.
- Thank you to Peachy Horne for organizing the grounds work day and to all who came and helped: Gilda Morris, Harrison Daniel, Claudia Gimson, Edward Robertson, James Robertson, Keith and Nancy Knight Latimore, Nancy Elliott and Bob Adams, Antoinette Wall, Bettye and Tom Schneider, Christine and Rick Beard, Lamar Booth, Bill Boyd, Betty Loud, Helen Keaten, Bert Landman and Beth Clinton.
- Thank you to the following Lenten Rotation teachers: Helen Keaten, Jane Hill, Sue Huff, Susan Hauser and Jane Lamkin.
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Passages
 Our sympathy to Beverly Hall on the loss of her mother,
Martha Peyton Hall McElmurray
April 26, 1927 – March 18, 2005
Congratulations to the newly Baptized:
Grant Norwood Witzcak, son of Highland and James Witzcak
Ian Wilson Lowe, son of Brett and Tina Lowe
Brett Wilson Lowe
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Deadline for articles for the May Bellows is April 15. Please email your articles to stdunstansatl@earthlink.net or leave them in Kim Branch’s mailbox in the church office.
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Our Schedule, Most Always
Sundays
Holy Eucharist at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Christian Education (Sunday School) for all ages at 9:30 a.m.
Wednesdays
| 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. |
St. Cecilia Choir: 2nd - 8th Grades |
| 5:30 - 6:00 p.m. |
Beginner Choir: 4 yrs. - 1st Grade |
| 6:15 - 7:30 p.m. |
Holy Eucharist and Village Supper
(Bring a dish, bought or home-made, to share.) |
| 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. |
Adult Choir |
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2004-2005 Vestry Assignments
| Geoff Walker |
Senior Warden |
| Bill Boyd |
Junior Warden / Buildings and Grounds |
| Susan Hauser |
Christian Education |
| Tonia Hopkins |
Marketing |
| Beverly Booth |
Membership |
| Jim Keaten |
Outreach |
| Bruce Lafitte |
Worship |
| Nancy Knight Latimore |
Fellowship |
| Wayne Lord |
Stewardship / Finance |
Our Staff
The Rev. Patricia Templeton, Rector
The Rev. Maggie Harney, Priest Associate
Nanette Woodworth, Director of Christian Formation for Children & Youth
Kim Branch, Parish Administrator
Bert Landman, Interim Organist / Choirmaster
Daria Jones, Treasurer
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