Dear friends,
What a wonderful kickoff to the new program year we had yesterday! We started with the Adult Forum with our guest teacher/preacher Dr. Beth-Sarah Wright, executive director of the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing. We had too many people to meet in the Founders’ Room, so we had to move to the sanctuary. That’s a nice problem to have. The service was joyful with a packed church, fabulous music by the choir, Steve Hauser’s saxophone, and Brian’s students who sang a Ghanaian hymn at the postlude, followed by Ghanian drumming in the Beech Grove. There was definitely, as the old gospel song says, “a sweet, sweet spirit in this place.”
The service was followed by a lunch in the parish hall, with plenty to feed all of us plus the 25-30 guests with us. Thanks to all who put it together, especially our hospitality chairs Mary Jane Hannah and Suzanne Van De Mark, and John Gimson. It was St. Dunstan’s hospitality at its best. Most of our guests were part of the 2027 pilgrimage to Ghana, which Beth-Sarah will lead. They were not only from the Diocese of Atlanta, but also South Carolina, Newark, New York, Oklahoma, Central Florida, and Georgia. What I heard over and over from them is how much they loved the service, and what a welcoming community we have. Well done, everyone!
Next Sunday we are fully back to our program-year schedule with services at 8:30 and 10:45, with the adult class at 9:30.
The following Sunday, October 4, we will have the blessing of the animals at both services. More on that later.
With love,
Tricia