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Next Sunday’s Readings

From Stephen's martyrdom to Peter's proclamation of Jesus as the "cornerstone" to Jesus teaching his disciples saying "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life", we are filled with the overwhelming strength of the Holy Spirit as we move forward with our daily lives today.  With such images of our Lord and Savior, how can we emulate the strength of Stephen and Peter's beliefs?

Read Next Sunday’s Lessons here.

Last Sunday’s Sermon

Last week’s sermon was provided by our guest priest, The Rev. Dianne Andrews. You can listen to this sermon or read other sermons at my sermon page:

http://revmarshall.com/sermons/

You can read daily reflections at my blog:

http://revmarshall.com/blog/

or by subscribing to my PodCast through iTunes. Simply search for “The Rev. David Marshall” in the iTunes store or follow this link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id424733629

We Are Bustling With Activity

Dear Friends,

This is a wonderful time of year at St. Dunstan’s Church. With so many activities going on, there is something for everyone.

Last Saturday, St. Agnes Guild held their annual tea. It was well attended, provided lots of fellowship and some delicious treats. A special thanks to Joe Hester, our artist in residence, for his poetry reading. Many creative ladies and their hats attended and a good time was had by all. Thanks to all the ladies who worked so hard to create a fun afternoon.

Our stained glass window project is on its way and some of the teams have already started their work. In fact, a couple of the teams are almost finished with their section. It is awesome to see the colors and the design come together and we have much to look forward to when the window is installed. God’s Light will truly shine through St. Dunstan’s. My family is planning on making a memorial gift and if you would like to do so, just make your check out to St. Dunstan’s Church, and mark “stained glass window” on the memo line. Someone will get in touch with you to get the information needed for the memorial.

This coming Saturday we will hold our first Family Game Night. All kinds of board games and card games will be offered, so grab your family members and friends and come join us. Delicious treats will be provided and we will have a silent auction with some fantastic items for you to look at.

This coming Sunday, May 22nd, is our Evensong at the Chapel. Please plan on attending this lovely service. Your choir, under the direction of Tim Drewes, has been working hard to provide you with an awesome afternoon of music.

As I said at the beginning of this article, there are all kinds of activities going on and I hope that you will take part in them. We worship together every week, and through that we deepen our fellowship with each other. We also grow in fellowship and love when we support each other and have fun together. May God bless you and keep you, now and always.

Blessings,
Mary E. Pacher

Vestry Corner

PLEASE KEEP PLEDGE PAYMENTS UP TO DATE!

Thank you very much for supporting St. Dunstan's!  We have so much to offer this tired, broken world, and your contributions to our ministries bless your fellow parishioners and our neighbors here in Shoreline. Pledge payments tend to go down over the summer and this can have a big impact on paying our bills and keeping our ministries going. Please keep your pledge payments current! Thank you!
 

Join our new Gardens and Grounds team!

Our Jr. Warden, Lyn Donivan, invites you to join the gardens team he is forming. A couple of times a month this team will meet to work on our various gardens and to do some of the other maintenance, like mowing our lawns. This is a great way to make a difference, have fun and make new or deepen old friendships. If you are interested in participating, please call the church office @206-363-4319.

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party was a huge success. Thanks to all who attended. This is such a fun event and the Mad Hatters were on a roll. A big thank you to our own Patricia Jaeger with her harp and violin. The beautiful music provided by Patricia is what makes this tea so special. Alice Marshall did a great job judging and creating clever categories for wild, crazy and beautiful "mad hats". The decision was tough, but we had some very deserving winners. The food and beverage was sumptuous. The decorations were fantastic, with Ann Patrice Riccardo providing all the hats from previous plays at her school. These were used as centerpieces for the tables. Many thanks to the ladies of St. Agnes Guild, who worked so hard cooking and preparing for the tea and clean up afterwards. Last but not least, thanks to Dennis Beals who set up the tables and chairs for us, then took them down at the end of the tea. Wow! Hard work! We are looking forward to next year and the Maddest of Hats!

Lu Gardiner, President of St. Agnes Guild 
 

A Special Thank you to St. Agnes Guild from the Vestry
 

Last Saturday, St. Agnes hosted the Mad Hatter's tea.  What a delightful event it was, from the delightful music provided by Patricia Jaeger, the bounty of delectable treats provided by many members of St. Agnes, to a Lewis Carroll reading by Joe Hester. What a fabulous array of tea sandwiches, cookies, scones, strawberries, cheesecakes, and petite fours! The fun and innovative mad hats were judged by Alice Marshall, with great wit, while sporting a house of cards on her head! What a blessing to have so many great bakers and cooks within our midst! The event was a warm and friendly gathering full of fellowship, making for a wonderfully pleasant afternoon. A special thank you to Lu Gardiner and Ann Patrice Riccardo for organizing the festivities.

Pilgrims at Prayer

Throughout the ages pilgrims have engaged in spiritual practices. There is the central act of worship that Jesus gave us of breaking bread and sharing wine. There is the ritual initiation of baptism that makes us brothers and sisters in Christ. Perhaps one of the most basic and important practices of spiritual pilgrims is that of prayer. This week I want to commend to you the practice of praying intentionally throughout your day.

Prayer connects us to God in a personal and intimate way. When my children were very young we had a ritual for bedtime. Each night, bedtime started with putting on pajamas and brushing teeth. Then came a bedtime story. Finally, and most importantly, came the kiss goodnight. I would tuck their blankets in snugly and give them a kiss. That time together each night was precious. When they were older my children knew that I loved them deeply because of the bond we formed over the years, including that good night kiss. When their lives became more complicated, and their problems more challenging, we had the strength of our love, formed by years of care expressed in part through that bedtime ritual.

Our relationship with God needs the same kind of attention. We pray to God each day to form and strengthen our relationship so that when life gets hard, we will have the assurance of that love. Like a good night kiss, daily prayers give us the experience of God’s love for us and our love for God.

There are lots of different ways we can pray but I recommend starting with something simple. Say grace before eating. Thank God for the food that you are about to eat and for the people you are eating with. Another simple and effective practice is to say the Lord’s Prayer at noon each day. Set a reminder on your phone or computer. When noon comes, take a minute to pray. Make that a priority. Let your prayer remind you that you are a pilgrim seeking to know God. Finally, at the end of your day, try thanking God for all the blessings of the day. What could be better than to end the day recalling all the good things that happened?

Let your prayer be the practice that connects you to God each day. Let your prayer be the good night kiss that forms your love and your relationship with God the Father. Let your prayer be the practice that makes your life a pilgrimage.

Your brother in Christ,

The Rev. David Marshall

Click here to respond to this posting in my blog.
 

Community Engagement