December 2007 Contents
Anyone with children knows that waiting is not a very popular activity. But the truth is, it’s not just children who find waiting difficult. Our whole culture seems averse to the idea of waiting for anything. If it is worth having, we want it now. This time of year waiting seems even more difficult than usual. And yet, it is in this very time of year, when the world rushes ever faster around us, that the Church calls us to wait quietly for the coming of God. Spiritual writer Henri Nouwen writes that waiting is even more difficult in our time because we are so fearful. “One of the most pervasive emotions in the atmosphere around us is fear,” he writes. “People are afraid – afraid of inner feelings, afraid of other people, afraid of the future. “Fearful people have a hard time waiting because when we are afraid we want to get away from where we are. Many of our destructive acts come from the fear that something harmful will happen to us. People who live in a world of fear are more likely to make aggressive, hostile, destructive responses than people who are not so frightened. The more afraid we are, the harder waiting becomes.” And yet, our Advent stories in scripture are all about people who are waiting. Zechariah and Elizabeth are waiting for the birth of John. Mary is waiting for the birth of Jesus. Simeon and Anna are waiting to see the Messiah. And all of them, in some way or another, are told, “Do not be afraid.” All of these scriptural figures are waiting with a sense of promise. They know that a seed has been planted; they have faith that the promise they have received will come to fulfillment in due time. They engage in what Nouwen calls “active waiting.” Active waiting means “to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment.” A waiting person is a patient person, Nouwen adds. “Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else. The moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are. Patient living means to live actively in the present.” Scripture offers us a model of waiting – that we wait together. When Mary receives the words of promise that she will bear the Messiah, she immediately goes to her cousin Elizabeth, who has also received the promise of new birth. They wait together, and affirm one another. “I think that is the model of Christian community,” Nouwen writes. “It is a community of support, celebration, and affirmation in which we can lift up what has already begun in us. The visit of Mary and Elizabeth is one of the Bible’s most beautiful expressions of what it means to form a community, to be together, gathered around a promise, affirming that something is really happening. “The whole meaning of the Christian community lies in offering a space in which we wait for that which we have already seen. Christian community is the place where we keep the flame alive among us and take it seriously; so that it can grow and become stronger in us. “In this way we can live with courage, trusting that there is a spiritual power in us that allows us to live in this world without being seduced constantly by despair, lostness, and darkness. “That is how we dare to say that God is a God of love even when we see hatred all around us. That is why we can claim God is a God of life even when we see death and destruction and agony all around us. “We say it together. We affirm it in one another. Waiting together, nurturing what has already begun, expecting its fulfillment – that is the meaning of friendship, community, and the Christian life.” As we begin this new Church year with the season of waiting, I invite you to do so with your Christian community of St. Dunstan’s. Every Sunday morning we gather together to hear the promise, to keep the flame alive and growing, to give each other strength and courage, to share our joys and sorrows. Come wait with us.
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Announcements
Table of Contents | Return to top Adult Christian EducationPraying with Icons of Jesus and Mary in Advent
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| 1. Jesus is Condemned to Death | 8. Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem |
| 2. Jesus Takes up his Cross | 9. Jesus Falls a Third Time |
| 3. Jesus Falls for the First Time | 10. Jesus is Stripped of his Garments |
| 4. Jesus Meets his Afflicted Mother | 11. Jesus is Nailed to the Cross |
| 5. The Cross is Laid on Simon of Cyrene | 12. Jesus Dies on the Cross |
| 6. A Woman Wipes the Face of Jesus | 13. The Body of Jesus is Placed in the Arms of his Mother |
| 7. Jesus Falls a Second Time | 14. Jesus is Laid in the Tomb |
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Christian Education For Youth and Kids
Making Christmas Bright for the Kambabazi Family
This will be the Kambabazi family’s first Christmas in the United States. The family are refugees from Rwanda that St. Dunstan’s helped to resettle. To help make this Christmas a special one, we will be giving the family a tree, ornaments, and a basket of goodies. The elementary Sunday school class will be making “Eyes of God” ornaments for the trees. Pat Berman will be baking something for them that will undoubtedly be delicious. If you would like to offer an ornament, small gift, or baked good, please bring them to the church by Friday, Dec. 7th. Lucy Kaltenbach will be bringing our gifts to the family on Dec. 8th or 9th. Also, if you have a Christmas tree stand or some lights that you are no longer using, please let Ellen know.
Christmas Pageant
Little angels, joyful shepherds, regal magi… lambs, a donkey, and a couple of hams…yep, it’s pageant time again! It’s a great way for both young and old to enjoy the Christmas story, so please plan to attend or, better yet, participate in this year’s pageant. Perhaps you have family members or neighbors who would like to join us. Of course, they are welcome! Our Christmas Pageant will take place in the church on Sunday, Dec. 23rd, during the Sunday school hour (9:30-10:30). There will be a walk-through for all who are in the pageant during Sunday school on Dec. 16th. There will also be a short rehearsal for those who have speaking parts on Wed., Dec. 19th, immediately following the Village Supper.
Camp Kanuga Information
A brochure about Camp Kanuga, an Episcopal camp in N.C., has been posted on the Christian Ed. bulletin board. Also posted is info about working at the camp as a counselor and staff person.
Christmas Greens here on December 2
Thank you to all who ordered wreaths, garlands, and trees. The profit from these sales will go to support the program for our youth. The middle school students will also be donating some of these funds to a charity of their choice. Thanks, too, to Keith Latimore for helping to transport the greens from All Saints.
6 days to create ... 6 ways to care
Thanks to the efforts of the middle school students, Sarah Hancock, Ginny Ruhmkorff, Tim Black, and many others, St. Dunstan’s has been graced with a ‘stained glass window’ for a time. Putting up the Creation window was a way to learn the first Creation story in Genesis and a fun way to celebrate all of Creation. The middle school students – Grace and Emma Hancock, Piper Ruhmkorff, Andrew Young, and Sophie Goldwasser – also prepared a bulletin board meant to spark our thinking about how we can take care of the Creation. Here are 6 simple things that we can do:
1. LET THERE BE energy-efficient LIGHT bulbs in our homes! And let there be darkness…turn out lights when not using them.
2. RECYCLE cans, bottles, papers…Yes, recycling one bottle CAN make a difference, but think what could happen if EVERYONE recycled!3. BUY ORGANIC.
4. DRIVE SMART: make your next car a hybrid, carpool, combine trips, use public transportation, bicycle.5. AVOID EATING OVERFISHED SPECIES: see the Seafood Savvy Program at www.georgiaaquarium.org for more information.
6. ADOPT AN ANIMAL: form bonds between humans and animals; donate to animal shelters; participate in the Heifer Project; be kind to others.
We hope that a slide show of the window and bulletin board will be up and running on our website soon.
~Ellen Gallow
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From the Organist and Choirmaster
Music and the Season of Advent
The liturgical season of Advent has for centuries provided profound inspiration to composers of sacred music. The joyous anticipation of the coming of Christ has been translated innumerable times into musical compositions of great beauty. On Sunday, December 9 at 4:00PM, the Choir will offer An Advent Procession with Carols. (The Organ Prelude will begin at 3:30PM.) In this unique annual event, the congregation of St. Dunstan’s and the community of Atlanta will have the opportunity to experience this ancient and beautiful candlelight liturgy. Throughout the Service, lessons from the Prophets and Gospels alternate with carols and hymns in a moving and dramatic portrayal of the world awaiting the Savior.
The Advent service in the old English liturgies made a vivid preparation for the coming of Our Lord to earth. Much of this carol service is drawn from these sources. The liturgical season of Advent is traditionally a time of preparation for Christmas, and its observance dates from the sixth century in Gaul. It stretched from St. Martin’s Day (11 November) to Christmas Eve, and was known as “The Lent of St. Martin.” This title suggests the parallel between Advent and the Lenten fast, and meditations on the themes of judgment and the last things were developed for each of the four Sundays.
The season suggests reflection on God’s kingdom from two standpoints: that of Jewish hopes for renewal, fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ; and that of the mission of the Church in the world today. We hear of the human condition of sin, but also forgiveness in Christ and his coming again. The use from Scripture, Liturgy, and music of things both old and new expresses our sense of continuity with the past and our feeling for the new demands of the present.
This service is constructed upon the themes indicated by the Collects (the “gathering prayers”) for the four Sundays of Advent. The first Sunday urges the people of God to put on “the armor of light,” after warning of God’s judgment. The second Sunday is concerned with the fulfillment of God’s Word in Scripture and the promise of eternal life in Christ. The third shows the prophetic call to service which God’s people are commissioned to give. On the fourth Sunday, we sing of Mary, the pure and lowly Christ-Bearer, and the glory that awaits us all in little Bethlehem.
In addition, each of the four Advent Collects is preceded and followed by verses of the seven Great “O” Antiphons, sung by the Choir. These ancient responses, dating from the sixth century, were traditionally said on successive days at Vespers before and after the Magnificat, or “Song of Mary,” from December 17th to 23rd inclusive. Each of the Antiphons salutes the coming Messiah, under one of the many titles ascribed to him in Holy Scripture, and closes with a petition based upon that salutation.
The Procession, starting in darkness at the rear of the church and ending in brilliant light at the Altar, symbolizes the movement from a prophetic expectation of Christ to the very brink of Messianic fulfillment, both in the birth of the Son of God and in his final coming in judgment and glory. The service begins with the Advent Matin Responsory, followed by the great hymn, “Come, Thou Redeemer of the Earth.” As the Procession moves forward “from darkness into light,” readings from the Prophets and Epistles alternate with carols and hymns, and the Light spreads symbolically to the four corners of the world. Finally, as the Procession reaches the Altar, the triumphant words of the Gospel boldly proclaim the Advent of Christ.
Faithfully,
Steve
Sundays at Four continues. . . .
An Advent Procession with Carols: December 9, 2007 - 10:00 A.M.
Traditional Anglican candlelight service with music by the St. Dunstan Choir. Scriptural Lessons from the Prophets and Gospels alternate with carols and hymns in a moving and dramatic portrayal of the world awaiting the Savior. Carols by G. R. Woodward, George Guest, Patrick Hadley, Charles Wood, Herbert Howells, Morten Lauridsen, and others.
Please feel free to contact me at any time.
STEVE FURCHES
Organist and Choirmaster
404-266-1018
Treasurer's Update
Here are a few things to think about as we near the end of calendar year 2007:
Stewardship DriveAnyone who has not already turned in a pledge card for 2008 is asked to do so ASAP. We cannot write a budget for next year until all pledges are in … it is your pledges – that is, promises – that “pay the bills” for St. Dunstan’s.
Prepaid Pledges
If you are pre-paying any of your 2008 pledge, please be sure to make a note on your check saying “2008 Pledge.”
Gifts of Stock
If you wish to make a gift of stock to the church, please be sure to contact Nancy Elliott for the information required to do so by electronic transfer. If you have done this before, please remember to advise Nancy when it’s done so she knows to sell the stock.
Year-end
At this time of year, many people are taking a final review of their charitable gifts for 2007. Some of you have already over-paid your pledges – THANK YOU! Others may be considering making additional charitable gifts as the year closes. Please consider making St. Dunstan’s one of those gifts.
In order to be included as a 2007 contribution on the final 2007 pledge statement, end-of-year contributions must be dated December 31 or before and postmarked or hand-delivered to the church office by December 31. The same is true for gifts made to pre-pay all or part of a 2008 pledge.
~ Nancy Elliott
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Thanks to James Millikan and his fellow musicians who provided wonderful music for our All Saints’ Jazz Eucharist.
Thanks to Nancy Dillon, James Millikan, Josh Taylor, Richard Stansbury and Rick Beard for speaking on Stewardship during our November services.
Continuous thanks to Nancy Elliott, Bob Adams, Virginia Skinner, Nancy Knight Latimore, Chris Smith, Dan and Sheila Woodard, Bill Pruett, Janice Goldwasser, Helen Branch, and Margaret Michaelides, our St. Dunstan’s Folding Fingers committee. Without the help of these people who knows how I would ever finish The Bellows or the weekly Bulletins on time. ~Kim Branch
Helping One Another At Christmas: Kathy Blankinship has made us aware of a family in need. Please see the outreach bulletin board for details. Kathy has outlined many needs for the family. Please take a flyer with you next time you are at the church. Kathy’s email and phone are on the flyer.
Thanks to Meg Withers and Vicki Ledet for keeping the “Visitor Cards” in the pews! Each Sunday, Meg and Vicki refill the pew visitor card holders just before service.
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Our condolences to Paul Ruhmkorff on the death of his father, the Rev. David Ruhmkorff.
Congratulations to James and Highland Witczak on the birth of Brennan Andrew Witczak, Nov. 7.
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I work with a single mom who is really struggling financially. She doesn't make enough to make ends meet since her child support payments have stopped, but makes too much to qualify for food stamps and other assistance. Both she and her children need warm winter clothes, having moved here from southern California.
She has a 16- year-old- daughter, size 4 - 5 pants, and small or medium shirts who could use hoodies, sweaters, pants, jacket. Her son is 5, wears size 6 pants and 6 - 7 shirts. He could use sweats, sweaters, shirts, pants, jacket. Mom is a size 16, needs just about anything, but especially business casual clothes, not suits They could all use just about anything in the way of clothes, jeans, jackets, etc.
For work, she drives to Roswell from outside Canton. She owns a home (in conjunction with the mortgage company) so I'm not sure we can get help for her at North Fulton Charities or CAC. She's been able to find some clothes for the daughter at Plato's Closet in Roswell. She doesn't have time to shop at garage sales and there are few consignment shops left with boy's clothes. But…money is spent keeping the pantry stocked as best she can. It's the usual at her house, the little one losing and breaking glasses which need to be replaced, the daughter is participating in the drama club at school, babysitting on weekends for spending money. There is never enough money for necessities, much less any extras. Growing kids seem to always need clothes, then the next size, etc.
She is seeking a new job that will help her become more financially secure, as well as a part-time job to supplement the current salary until something else works out. So far she has tried Kroger, Publix, Costco, Lowe's with no results. She works as our office manager, is very computer literate and creative, prepares newsletters, brochures, flyers and does an incredible job of multi-tasking and keeping the office running smoothly. She would be an amazing office manager for a company who needs someone with her skills and who would reward her financially for her performance. Due to her physical location, she needs to work in the Roswell, Alpharetta, North Fulton, North East Cobb, Cherokee, Forsyth County areas.
It's a tough time for her, she works hard and is doing everything she can to be a responsible and caring mom. Holiday time doesn't seem promising for them. Could you help after cleaning out your closets or your kids closets and passing along things that are outgrown or no longer needed? Could you point her in the direction of a new job? For the sake of her family, she needs to move on since child support has become so uncertain.
Many thanks and please keep this family in mind.
~ Kathy Blankinship
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Deadline for articles for the January Bellows is December 15.
Please email your articles or leave them in Kim Branch’s
mailbox in the church office.
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Sundays
Holy Eucharist at 8:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.
Christian Education for all ages at 9:30 a.m.
Wednesdays
| 4:30- 5:15 PM | St. Cecilia Choir (ages 8 and up) |
| 5:30- 5:55 PM | St. Julian Choir (ages 4-7) |
| 6:00- 7:00 PM | Village Supper |
| 7:00- 9:15 PM | St. Dunstan Adult Choir (childcare available) |
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Nancy Dillon—Senior Warden |
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Bob Longino—Junior Warden |
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Andy Delfino |
Bruce Lafitte |
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Ruth Roser |
Richard Stansbury |
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Jeanne Taylor |
Craig Withers |
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Danny Woodard |
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Paul Ruhmkorff, Treasurer |
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Our Staff
The Rev. Patricia Templeton, Rector
The Rev. Maggie Harney, Priest Associate
Ellen Gallow, Director of Christian Education
Stephen L. Furches, Organist-Choirmaster
Kim Branch, Parish Administrator
Paul Ruhmkorff, Treasurer
Bruce Lafitte, Vestry Clerk