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Next Sunday’s Readings

When will the messiah come? How will the messiah be known? What will the messiah do? The lessons this week are all dealing with these questions. I love the way the Isaiah reading so clearly explains Jesus’ answer to John’s disciples. Jesus’ vision of the messiah is a realization of the prophesies of Isaiah. So when will the messiah come again? What will that mean? These are questions we will have to work on ourselves. James counsels patience.

Read Next Sunday’s Lessons here.

Last Sunday’s Sermon

The Rev. Jerry Garman preached a sermon about John the Baptist on Advent 2, ending with a great story about wealth and poverty. John revealed the poverty of the people in Jesus’ time with his prophetic teaching and acts. Jerry challenges us to see where we are poor today.

Listen to Last Sunday's Sermon Here.

My Christmas Wish for St. Dunstan's

Dear Friends,

We are all sharing in a beautiful, glorious time of year and we have much to celebrate. We at St. Dunstan’s are blessed with the love and fellowship that we share with each other, with our lovely music program, our outreach programs, our ministry to the children of the parish, our leadership of Fr. David, our Eucharistic Ministers, St. Agnes Guild and their gifts to the community, and the list goes on and on.

We are also blessed with the opportunity to work together to make St. Dunstan’s a place where others will want to join us. We have a great deal to offer. I am so pleased to see the new families that are here each Sunday and I know in my heart, that more will be coming. I thank God for that and for all of His blessings.

My Christmas wish is this:

that we all continue to work together, and to live the life that Christ has taught us to live. That each one of us searches their heart to find out how we may make a difference in the lives of others, and that we always keep in mind one thing: we are on a mission, a mission of love that will enable us to grow our congregation and in doing so, we will grow in Christ as well. This can be accomplished by working together, listening to each other, overcoming differences, and knowing in our hearts that we are here together because we love God.

God is here with us with infinite patience and love, and He will guide us through our future together.

Mary E. Pacher

2011 Stewardship and Budget Update

Many thanks to everyone who has turned in their pledge card. As of December 8, we have:

Target pledge goal for 2011 Budget: $228,902

Total amount pledged: 83 pledges totaling $181,879 

Projected 2011 Budget Deficit: $37,260. This includes pre-paid pledges already received.

If you've not yet submitted your pledge, please do so as soon as possible. We cannot finalize a 2011 budget until we know how much with which we have to work. We expect 2011 to be challenging in terms of finances so it is vitally important that we receive everyone's pledge as soon as possible.
We'd greatly appreciate pledge cards from folks who will not be able to pledge in 2011 because this information is crucial for our budget forecasting.

On behalf of the Vestry, thanks for your support!

Diana Rall, Stewardship Co-Chairperson

The Case for Change

I remember when the Americans with Disabilities Act passed, and Churches found themselves building ramps and new bathrooms. At that time I heard people say things like, “We don’t have any disabled members. Why should we spend this money and make these changes?” In the 1990s, St. Dunstan's Church built ramps and accessible bathrooms. Now, at most services there are three people in wheelchairs and several with walkers. At one recent service we had five wheelchairs. Sometimes you have to make changes that the people who are already present don’t need or necessarily even want so that people who are not already present can fully participate in our community, and become a part of the body of Christ.

The people who will be a part of St. Dunstan's Church as we grow are not here to tell us what they want or need. We will have to discover the changes ourselves. There is no formula or project plan that we can follow. The work of growing a congregation is the work of growing in Christ. We are given gifts to do God’s work in the world. The changes we will make at St. Dunstan's Church will be discovered through discerning God’s will in community. But why, you may ask, do we need to change at all? What’s wrong with the way we have always done things?

I think that’s a fair question. There is nothing wrong with the way things have been done in the past. After all, 20 years ago we had dozens of children in our Sunday School and three services on Sunday. 20 years ago there were somewhere around 200 families in the church. So, why should we change anything?

We are planning the Christmas Eve Pageant right now with the Sunday School, Youth Group, and Choir. We have 2 children confirmed to participate in the pageant. We have more volunteer Sunday School teachers than children in our Sunday School classes. What we used to do, and the way we used to be a congregation, has led us to where we are today. We have gone from 200 families to about 90 when I was called. What worked well 20 years ago may not work well today, in our current cultural context.

We need to learn to be Church again for a new generation of Christians. St. Dunstan's Church has many gifts that will allow us to offer Christ to new generations, but we can’t do that the same way we did in 1980, 1990, or even 2000. We will need to dedicate ourselves to welcoming and including people of different ages and backgrounds. We will need to offer Christ to people who have never been to Church or read the Bible.

If we keep doing the same things on Sunday, offering the same dinner events and fundraisers, we can expect the decline of the past years to continue. The worship we had 20 years ago was good and the events we do now are wonderful, but they appeal mainly to the people who are already here. We need to ask ourselves, how can we, with the gifts God has given us, offer Christ to people who are not already here?

The answer to that question is going to take the form of beautiful worship, beautiful music, and meaningful ministry to our community and to one another. We are learning to effectively use the Internet and mail to invite, welcome and engage new people in the Gospel. We are learning new ways to offer Christian Hospitality. We will live as Christians and by our lives, witness to the power and difference a life in Christ can make. St. Dunstan’s will still be St. Dunstan’s, with the same essential values and identity that God has given us today, and we will express our identity and use our gifts in new and creative ways.

In 1990, St. Dustan’s didn’t need ramps or accessible restrooms. The people who needed them weren’t here yet. Today we can’t imagine St. Dunstan’s excluding people in wheelchairs. We will make changes today that will allow new people to find Christ at St. Dunstan’s Church. The changes we endure today are building ramps for people who will come in the future and join us in bringing God’s Kingdom to our corner of the world.

Your brother in Christ,

The Rev. David Marshall

Click here to respond to this posting in my blog.

Lessons and Carols with Wassail Reception Sunday December 12 at 4 pm

Christmas Worship Schedule

Community Engagement

Last Chance to Paricipate in Matthew House Christmas Outreach!

Time is getting short to make a donation for the Christmas Outreach program. If you plan to donate a gift for a child or Mother, please bring it to St. Dunstan's on or before Sunday, December 12th. Ideas for gifts include clothing such as hats, gloves, scarfs, coats, and sweaters. Gift cards for teens and to grocery stores are wonderful as well. No time to shop? Cash donations are greatly appreciated. Please make your check out to St. Dunstan's and mark it "Matthew House". If you have any questions, please contact Kathy Newman at 206-365-0677 or tokathynewman@gmail.com.

Donations Continue for the Greenwood Food Bank!

Let's fill up our wooden box every Sunday to help those in need have a wonderful holiday season. Ideas for donations are posted on the table beside the box.  For cash donations, please make checks out to "St. Dunstan's Church" with a memo note "Food Bank".

Upcoming Events in our Congreational Life     

Final Request for Christmas Decorations at St. Dunstan's

A special flower envelope will be included in this Sunday's bulletin for parishioners who wish to make a donation to the decorations for St. Dunstan’s Church and Florence Henry Memorial Chapel in the form of a memorial. As most of you know, a list of memorials and donors are listed in the bulletins used at the 4:00 pm service at St. Dunstan’s and the bulletins at the midnight service at the Chapel. Sometimes these donations are given as a thanksgiving.

Please send in your donations with memorial or thanksgiving designations by December 15th this year so that we will know how much we will have to spend. We will buy only those decorations that we can fund. We are aware of the declining economy and plan to adjust accordingly.

We realize that requests for money are numerous this time of the year, but we have had many positive comments on the look of the church during this season and we hope to be able to continue the festive look for the Twelve Days of Christmas! Thank you for your help.

St. Marys Altar Guild. 

Handel's Messiah Sing Along