June 2010
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Happy Reading

Summer is upon us, and with the season comes the annual reading list. Here are some of the treasures I have enjoyed in the past year. I hope you may enjoy some of them, too. If you’d like to add your comments, please do so at the St. Dunstan’s blog. I am also a big fan of mysteries and thrillers, although I have not included those on this list. Who are your favorite mystery writers? Let us know on the blog. And happy reading.

Fiction

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. This charming novel explores the theme of food and community by following the lives of eight students who gather in Lillian’s Restaurant once a week for a cooking class. Brought together by food and companionship, the lives of the characters intertwine, united by what can be created in the kitchen.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. This engrossing novel by Pulitzer Prizing winning author Geraldine Brooks tells the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a centuries-old manuscript that disappeared in 1992 during the siege of Sarajevo. When it is found, rare book conservator Hannah Heath is called to establish its provenance. Heath’s work takes her back through history, from Sarajevo in 1940 to Seville in 1480. Each chapter in the Haggadah’s history gives a glimpse of both anti-Semitism and the endurance of the Jewish people.

Handling Sin by Michael Malone. This book made me laugh out loud. It tells the story of a two-week odyssey of Raleigh Whittier Hayes, an upstanding citizen of Thermopylae, NC, and his friend, Mingo Sheffield, as they seek Hayes’ ailing father, who has escaped from the hospital, and left Raleigh a strange set of tasks to perform. While tantalized by the promise of a secret treasure at the end of the journey, Hayes uncovers family secrets and is granted a large measure of self-enlightenment.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver is one of my favorite writers, so I was thrilled when The Lacuna, her first novel in nine years, came out last fall. It took me a while to get into this story, but once I did it was riveting. The novel is the story of Harrison William Shepherd, who spends his formative years in Mexico in the 1930s in the home of artist Diego Rivera and Rivera’s houseguest, Leon Trotsky, who is hiding from Soviet assassins. After Trotsky is assassinated, Harrison returns to the U.S., where he becomes an author and is investigated as a possible subversive, ultimately defending himself before the House Un-American Activities Committee. A fascinating look at a dark period of American history.

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. In Paris in July 1942, 10-year-old Sarah is taken with her parents by the French police as they go from home to home arresting Jews in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard and promises to come back for him. Sixty years later, Sarah’s story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist writing about the roundup, who discovers that her life is linked with Sarah’s.

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen. No one writes more beautifully about the details of the everyday life of ordinary people than Quindlen. And when everyday life turns suddenly tragic, Quindlen captures that beautifully, too. Every Last One focuses on the life of Mary Beth Latham, a happily married woman devoted to her three teen-aged children. When an act of violence devastates the family, Mary Beth struggles to cope with loss and guilt, protect what she has left, and regain a sense of meaning in life. This book haunted me for days after I had finished it.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson. Major Ernest Pettigrew is the epitome of the Englishman with the “stiff upper lip,” who clings to traditional values even as the world around him changes. Much to his surprise he finds himself falling in love with a Pakistani shopkeeper, Jasmina Ali, a relationship that stuns and scandalizes his village. Will the Major be true to his heart, or to his old way of life?

Non-Fiction

The Late Homecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang. In the early 1980s I worked in a refugee camp in Thailand with Hmong refugees who had been forced to flee from Laos because they aided America in our war in Southeast Asia. I’ve often wondered how my former students adjusted to life in this country so very different from their own. Yang answers that question in this beautifully written story of her family’s struggles in Laos, their escape to Thailand and eventual resettlement to Minnesota.

The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs. Jacobs describes himself as being Jewish “in the same way that the Olive Garden is Italian.” But he decides to follow all the rules of the Bible as literally as possible for one year. Jacobs’ book is frequently hilarious and insightful, but ultimately makes us realize that being faithful means more than following the letter of the law.

Jesus Freak by Sara Miles. Miles wrote about her dramatic conversion to Christianity in Take This Bread, one of the most powerful books I have ever read. In Jesus Freak, Miles offers reflections on what it means for ordinary Christians to follow Christ’s instructions to feed, heal, and raise the dead. Drawing examples from her own life and that of her Episcopal parish, St. Gregory’s of Nyssa in San Francisco, Miles challenges us to be transformed by Christ.

Christianity For the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass. Bass challenges the conventional wisdom that the only churches that are flourishing in America now are conservative, evangelical ones. Bass identifies liberal mainline churches across the country that are thriving, and studies why that is so. This book has much to say to St. Dunstan’s – so much so that the vestry is reading it this summer, and it will be the topic of adult Sunday School in the fall. Read it now and be ready.

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Announcements

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Prayer for the Gulf Oil Spill

 

Oh Lord our God, creator of heaven and earth,
we pray to you for all life in and along the Gulf Coast
which has been harmed
by human carelessness and greed.

 

We pray for the vegetation and animals
who suffer from the oil spill
and whose habitats have been destroyed.

 

We pray for the people
whose homes and livelihoods are threatened.

 

We pray for the human and animal lives
that have been lost.

 

We beseech you to aid and guide those
who work to contain and clean up the spill
so that your healing work may begin.

 

And we pray that this disaster may prompt us
to examine our own lives,
to reduce our consumption,
and to better care for your creation.

 

Amen

 

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Healing Service

This summer at the 8:30 service we will be offering prayers for healing. After I give the bread at communion, I will go around the altar rail again with oil for anointing. Those who wish prayers for themselves or for another should signal to me.

Prayers for healing are not just for physical illnesses. Your prayer may be to mend a broken relationship, to ease a troubled spirit, to ease other problems or stresses. There is a difference between healing and curing. There are times when a physical cure does not occur, but healing does. Healing in those cases may be an acceptance of the limitations of an illness, a peace in facing sickness and death, a restoration of relationships with other people or with God.

A prayer for healing in the Book of Common Prayer puts it this way: “I lay my hands upon you and anoint you with oil in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, beseeching our Lord Jesus Christ to sustain you with his presence, to drive away all sickness of body and of spirit, to uphold you and fill you with grace, that you may know the healing power of his love. Amen.”

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Congratulations

Congratulations to Lindsey Reece on her graduation from North Springs High School.

Congratulations to Rebecca Hood on her graduation from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry with high honors. Rebecca is currently working in a cardiothoracic research lab at Emory.

Congratulations to Deborah Gimson on her graduation from the University of Georgia College of Education with a Masters of Education in Professional School Counseling program.

Congratulations to Tim Black on his graduation from Emory with a master of divinity. And congratulations on his new job as middle school chaplain at Holy Innocents.

Congratulations to Kathleen Whitten, who had an op-ed piece on international adoptions published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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St. Dunstan's on Facebook

Thanks to Steve Mark, St. Dunstan’s now has a Facebook page. If you are a Facebook user check it out and become a friend of St. Dunstan’s. If you have pictures of church activities to post on the page, please let Steve know. Facebook is a great way to spread the news about St. Dunstan’s.

And remember to regularly check out St. Dunstan’s website for up-to-date news about what is going on in the parish, and to read the St. Dunstan’s blog, which has new postings weekly, if not more frequently. All parishioners are invited to comment on blog posts, or to write their own.

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Episcopal Church Women

The Episcopal Church Women of St. Dunstan's have agreed to let the organization observe a sabbath year. Attendance has been dwindling, even with only four meetings a year, and the average age of women participating has gone up and up. It is thought that a time of lying fallow may produce creative thinking about the needs of the women of the parish and what a reconstituted ECW might be able to offer to a broader base of churchwomen. We ask the prayers of all members of the parish as we enter this time of reflection.

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When a large gift is received, it is sometimes a problem to decide whether or not to accept it all at once as income, or to dole it out to the income account monthly. When an entire pledge is received at once, this is easy. When a large percentage of a pledge, but obviously not all, is received, the situation is not so clear. So this month’s income is quite high because of just such a situation. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that this is anticipated income, and should all balance out with expenses by the end of the year.

~Dick Harris

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