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Next Sunday’s Readings

There is a great reversal of expectations in the Gospel. God does not demand sacrifices. God uses the poor, lowly and foolish to do great things. Blessed are the poor, the meek, and the peacemakers.

Read Next Sunday’s Lessons here.

Last Sunday’s Sermon: The Golden Cord

Jesus began his ministry by proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” How do we hear this today? How can we experience the presence of the kingdom of heaven in our lives here and now? This sermon makes the bold and hopeful assertion that God is present and available to us today.

Listen to Last Sunday's Sermon Here.

Moving Forward with a Mission

Dear Friends,

We are at the threshold of another new year at St. Dunstan’s and we have a great deal to look forward to. It is almost spring, and with spring comes new life and new energy. We will continue to follow the teachings of Christ, as we embrace our future together.

This month, our new Mission Statement will be introduced. This has been developed by a group of your fellow parishioners who have worked long and hard to discern who we are, and who we want to be here at St. Dunstan’s Church. There will be many opportunities for you to be involved in learning what this statement is saying and what God is calling us to be. As we live into the words and what they mean, we will be guided by God and learn how we can be a blessing to each other, and to those in our community. More information will be coming soon so please look for it and search your hearts to find out how these words can enrich your life and the lives of others.

I want to say a hearty “Thank you” to our four vestry members whose terms are up this month. Joan Baker, has served on the Community Engagement Committee, the Communications and Marketing Committee, and has been a member of the Christian Education Committee. She has also helped with our Vacation Bible Camp. Mary Sweeney, has served on the Stewardship Committee. Chris Johns, chaired the Communications and Marketing, and was also a member of the Building and Grounds Committee. Glen Pacher, chaired the Building and Grounds Committee, was on the Columbarium Committee and was our Junior Warden. He was also a member of our Executive Committee.

We at St. Dunstan’s are grateful to these four people for their tireless energy and commitment to our church. Each one of them has brought energy and ideas to the vestry and the congregation, and their gifts and leadership have helped us to grow. Please say a “thank you” to them when you get the chance.

I wish each one of you a very happy Valentine’s Day and look forward to visiting with you in the near future.

Blessings,

Mary E. Pacher

Vestry Nominees 

Lynford Donivan

Currently residing in Shoreline with partner Joe Waltz, I relocated to Seattle 10 years ago from Pennsylvania. I operated a modular home building business for 20 years before currently working in home restoration and real estate for resale doing fix-up and repair jobs. Joe and I have been attending services at the Highlands Chapel for the past 2 years. We have both felt so welcome and thank you all for allowing us to part of your church congregation and family! At the chapel, I serve on the Altar Guild, and would be honored to be part of the church vestry.

Dawn Friend

I began attending St. Dunstan's in 1967, attending Sunday School and singing in the Children's Choir. I have been involved in many activities and offices while a member of St. Dunstan's including Altar Guild, Secretary, Vestry member and clerk, and choir member. St. Dunstan's is my second home. I was married in the Florence Henry Memorial Chapel.  My husband Bob is also a member and in 2009 we welcomed our granddaugher Freyja into our lives. She was baptized at St. Dunstan's in 2010 and enjoys the Nursery. I am currently employed full time and travel about once a month. I am looking forward to working with Father Marshall and the vestry to build St. Dunstan's for future generations.

Liz Hinkofer

My family began attending St. Dunstan's when we moved to Edmonds in the late 70's. At that time, we usually attended services at the Chapel and that is where my husband and I were married by Father Webb. It is also the place where my son was baptized and where we had the services for my Dad when he passed. St. Dunstan's is our spiritual home and St. Dunstan's has had it's part in all these passages and milestones in my life. In recent years, I have really enjoyed helping out with some of the Vestry and St. Agnes Guild events and projects. Whether being able to take an active part in helping set up and prepare some of our dinners, pruning bushes at a work party, or helping in the book room for the Canterbury Faire has enabled me to see how rewarding putting some effort into the church, which has given us so much, can be. That is why I am looking forward to serving on the Vestry. 

Paul Holt

Sunny and I moved to Shoreline from Chicago in 2007 to be near our daughters and their families. We were active at Church of Our Saviour in Chicago for many years, where I served on the Vestry, led a Saturday lunch for the homeless for 5 years, hosted the annual Fall Play dinner along with Sunny, and helped out on the Altar Guild.  Sunny is involved in the Altar Guild here at St. Dunstan's. Before living in Chicago, Sunny and I were active at Church of the Holy Communion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where we chaired the annual Antique Show, a major fundraiser for the parish. 

Don Riccardo

Don will be rotating from serving as volunteer Treasurer to serving out the remaining year of Dawn Miller's term on the Vestry.  Dawn had to resign from the Vestry due to the increased responsibilities of her internship at the University of Washington.

A Note of Thanks

On Sunday we will hold our annual meeting after the 9:30 AM service and I hope to see you there. This will be the last day of service as a vestry member for Joan Baker, Chris Johns, Glen Pacher and Mary Sweeney. Each of these people has made a contribution to St. Dunstan’s and I want to take this opportunity to thank them.

Joan Baker has been a willing and enthusiastic leader in the areas of communications, Christian Education and Community Engagement. Joan attends our weekly staff meeting as the editor of the Highlights Newsletter. We have repeatedly turned to Joan for new graphics, for posters, and for photographs for bulletins, brochures, postcards and banners. She is always learning new skills and she has been a great contributor to the work of the vestry and this congregation.

Chris Johns was the leader of our communications committee and helped to get the new web site launched. Chris shows up. He is there to help with financial decisions and he is there to help move chairs. In several situations at vestry meetings Chris has been the one to help us find the best path forward. I appreciate his kindness, insight and commitment.

Glen Pacher stepped in to fill a two-year term as Junior Warden. Little did he know that our sexton would be retiring and we would not be hiring a replacement! Glen has done a great job keeping our facilities in repair. Our buildings, their systems, and the grounds are in better shape for Glen’s careful and energetic care. In the next year we are going to replace Glen with three people. That’s what it will take.

Mary Sweeney has shown herself to be tirelessly committed to the careful oversight of the St. Dunstan’s budget. Every month she goes through the Treasurer’s report with a fine-tooth comb, making sure we have not made any errors in accounting. This has been particularly important in the first year we work with a new accounting system. Finance is one of the key responsibilities of the vestry, and I thank her for her attentiveness.

St. Dunstan's Church is growing and thriving because of the work of these people. Their faith, vision and energy have seen us through the transition to a new rector. We have just finished our second consecutive year in the black, and the first year in which we were able to pay all our bills on time throughout the year. We are seeing more visitors to our services and we have a dozen new members in just the past year. I thank Joan, Chris, Glen, Mary, and all the members of our vestry who make this possible as members of our vestry.
 

Your brother in Christ,

The Rev. David Marshall

Click here to respond to this posting in my blog.

A New Highlights is Coming!
 

Next week your Highlights will be delivered in a new way. For some time we have been e-mailing your copy of the Highlights. It is large and often difficult to open in that format. Sometimes the news is old, has already been in the weekly message or the weekly announcements, or is so far ahead of the event that it is easily forgotten.

Next week you will begin receiving your Highlights each week! You will receive part of the usual content each week as a separate section in the "Weekly Highlights". The Weekly Message and the Highlights are merging to become the "Weekly Highlights". This way you will have a smaller file to open and the news will be fresher and more appropriately timed. All the old features will still appear. We hope you will enjoy this new format.
 

Community Engagement