Dear friends,
I have some good news to share. The Rev. Colin Brown is joining us as a priest associate. What is a priest associate? They are either retired priests or priests whose primary job is not in a parish. Generally, they are not paid staff members. For example, Maggie has been (and will continue to be) a priest associate at St. Dunstan’s for 30 years. Her primary job was as director of Mary and Martha’s Place.
Colin, his wife Christie, and daughters Mary Grace and Frances, are familiar faces to some of you. Colin and Christie were members of St. Dunstan’s for about 10 years, from 2005-2015. They were then parishioners at St. Benedict’s for a few years, until Colin went to seminary at Candler (Emory). He was ordained in the summer of 2020, and was the associate rector at St. Martin’s in Brookhaven for four years. He is now the chaplain at the Lovett School.
Colin will preach about every six weeks, and will also share in celebrating and occasionally will teach Sunday School. He will be preaching this Sunday. I am so happy to welcome the entire Brown family to St. Dunstan’s, and to have Colin join Maggie and me as colleagues in ministry.
This Sunday is one of the favorite services of the year. The last Sunday before Lent begins we celebrate with one service at 10 a.m. with a Dixieland Jazz Band, followed by a pancake brunch. We invite you to bring a side dish to share. To add to the festivities, our refugee families will be joining us for the service and brunch. And we will have a baby shower for Leila, whose baby girl is due in late March. If you’d like to give her something take a look at the baby registry that Katy Pierre has put together. Here is the link. https://my.babylist.com/baby-leila-kombete If you have any questions or ideas of other things they may need contact Katy
If it is the last Sunday of Epiphany it means that Lent is on the immediate horizon. It begins a week from today, on March 5. We will have Ash Wednesday services at noon and 7 p.m. I’ll have more to say in the next few days about a Lenten project and some ideas of how to observe these 40 days of penitence this year.
Finally, I want to share news of something that is happening across the country. This Friday, February 28, is being observed by many as an economic blackout. Those who are interested in participating are urged not to buy anything that day, in person or online. The purpose of this day is to protest rising prices and rising corporate profits, and to show that ordinary people coming together still have the power to be heard and make a difference. Boycotts have long been part of protests for social justice. They were a highly effective form of protest during the civil rights movement. I am not advocating for people to do this. But I’m sending the information for anyone who wants to participate. There will be a second blackout on April 18, which is also Good Friday. That is a very appropriate day to disengage from worldly things.
Hope to see you all on Sunday.
With love,
Tricia