SHROVE TUESDAY PANCAKE SUPPER, Tuesday, Feb. 21. Food, beads, and entertainment! Talk to Helen Lackore or Jim Hindle if you’d like to help make it happen.

ASH WEDNESDAY services will be at noon and 7:00 p.m.  Wednesday, February 22.

ASH WEDNESDAY services will be at noon and 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 22.

Thanks to all who participated in our Annual Meeting last Sunday, and congratulations to Shirley Laedlein, our new Senior Warden; John Ertl, our new Junior Warden; Kathy Whitt, returning to the vestry; Mary Ann Fraley and Robert Chappell, joining the Vestry; and our Convention Deputies Celia Fine, John Laedlein, Gail Jordan & Peter Hewson, and Alternates Valerie McAuliffe & Janet Bybee.

LENTEN SERIES 2012: Healing Democracy, One Heart At a Time

Our Lenten Series this year is based on Parker Palmer’s new book, Healing the Heart of Democracy. We’ll spend six sessions together creating safe space in which to talk honestly, strive to transcend partisanship and reconnect as human beings across the political gulfs that try to divide us. This is not a book study, but a series of conversations; reading the book is welcome but not necessary. In the course of our meetings, we’ll explore and experiment with five habits that Palmer believes will help heal our hearts and the collective heart of our nation:
1. An understanding that we are all in this together.
2. An appreciation of the value of otherness.
3. An ability to hold tension in life-giving ways.
4. A sense of personal voice or agency.
5. A capacity to create community.
Facing a year of contentious politics at the state and national level, we’re excited about this opportunity to engage in deep conversation and strengthen the ties connecting our faith, our hearts, our convictions and our communities.
We will meet at 6:30 p.m. for potluck supper and conversation (soup provided) for six Thursdays: Feb. 23, Mar. 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29. You don’t need to attend all sessions, but they are connected, and we hope you’ll want to!  We hope to provide childcare during meetings.
For more information, contact Kathy Whitt or Rev. Miranda.

MOM COLLECTION, Sunday, Feb. 5: The first Sunday of each month, our offerings support the Food Pantry at Middleton Outreach Ministry (MOM), our partner agency that serves those in need in Middleton and West Madison.  Gifts of non-perishable food items are very welcome and can be placed in the basket outside the double doors into the church. You may also designate a special contribution by writing “Pantry” on the memo line of your check. Thank you so much for your support.

EVENING EUCHARIST, Feb. 5, 6:00 p.m. will now be offered on the first and third Sunday of every month at 6:00 p.m., thanks to the involvement of Fr. John Rasmus. Upcoming dates will be Feb. 5 and 19, and March 4 and 19. This is a simple spoken service with a focus on healing. All are welcome.

VISION AND VISIBILITY: A NEW WEBSITE, Sunday, Feb. 12, 9:00 a.m.: We are beginning work on overhauling the St. Dunstan’s website in the hope of making it more useful for and (and useable by) members of are community, a better reflection of our parish, and a better invitation for people to join in the life and work of our community. As part of the redesign process, you are invited to come to a discussion about our web site, past, present, and future. No technical knowledge or experience is required, just your own experience (or lack of experience) with using (or not using) the St. Dunstan’s web site. You can help us understand the different ways our members make use of technology, what categories we use when we think about the life of the church, and what kinds of information we have (or would like to have!) to share about our community. Talk to Phil Hassett with questions or ideas.

EXPLORERS MEETING DATE CHANGE, Monday, Feb. 13, 6:30 p.m.: The Explorers group will meet on Monday, Feb. 13 (not the 20th as previously announced). Join us for a potluck supper and conversation about the “Kingdom” of God: is the metaphor of Kingdom and of a monarch still appropriate/helpful/useful?”

THE GAY-STRAIGHT EPISCOPALIANS group of Madison is hosting two showings of the influential documentary For The Bible Tells Me So in February. The film explores how five very American, very Christian families deal with having a gay child. It will be shown at St. Dunstan’s at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, February 12, and at St. Luke’s, Monona, at 7:00 p.m.  Wednesday, February 15. Feel free to invite friends; there’s lots to reflect on and talk about in this thoughtful and powerful film about love and struggle.