In the fifty days of Easter we anticipate the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The way Luke tells the story, Jesus told the disciples to stay in Jerusalem, prayerfully awaiting the gift of the Holy Spirit. The disciples did not know what to expect, but they loved and trusted in Jesus, so they went to that upper room each day in prayerful anticipation.
We have a lot to look forward to at St. Dunstan’s as we enter this Easter season. On Mother’s Day, May 12th, our Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Greg. Rickel, will visit St. Dunstan’s Church for a regular diocesan visitation (he comes once every three years). This service will have special offerings from the Sunday School children and the choir and five candidates for confirmation. Bishop Greg will preside and preach at both services, he will meet with candidates for confirmation between the services, and then he will visit with all of us after the second service.
Bishop Greg has been very active in Creation Care for the Episcopal Church. You can see a video he helped produce here (click on the “Take the Pledge” video) that describes the Creation Care Pledge, plus several other excellent video messages from our bishop. We will have a chance to talk with him about this and more when he visits.
The vestry will meet with the bishop after the services and social time. We plan to share the exciting results (so far) of our Imagine the Ways Capital Campaign and our plans to build improvements to our worship and music, accessibility and functionality, and to the capacity of our kitchen.
Prayerful anticipation, like the disciples waiting in the upper room for Pentecost, can be both a challenging and wonderful time. God continues to bless us at St. Dunstan’s Church. Our capital campaign has already been a great success, and we hope for more contributions between now and Pentecost on June 9th. We will celebrate this success and our plans to build this congregation with the bishop when he visits on May 12th.
Yours in Christ,
David+