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Posts by Michael Strachan

Posts by Michael Strachan

Lent and our Baptismal Vows

The church calendar invites us to view our journey as disciples of Jesus Christ cyclically. Having anticipated the arrival of our King, celebrated his birth, and given thanks that his kingdom is good news for the whole world, we arrive together once again at the season of Lent. Lent is “a time of penitence, fasting, and prayer, in preparation for the great feast of the resurrection” (BCP19, p. 542), and Lent begins tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. This season was originally…

Spiritual Communion

In his last encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Pope John Paul II discussed spiritual communion. He said, The Eucharist thus appears as the culmination of all the sacraments in perfecting our communion with God the Father by identification with his only-begotten Son through the working of the Holy Spirit. With discerning faith a distinguished writer of the Byzantine tradition voiced this truth: in the Eucharist “unlike any other sacrament, the mystery [of communion] is so perfect that it brings us to…

SDAC & COVID-19

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6–7) Dear Brothers and Sisters,  After a time of deep prayer and studying and in consideration of the increasing concern about the spread of the coronavirus and the fact that many members of our church family would…

Envisioning Our Future

At the Vestry meeting in January, our Vestry established the Vision Committee. This committee is led by Fr. Michael and Michelle Cullum, and Mary Lou Hayes, Bryan Dolan, and Pat Moore also serve on the committee. The purpose of this committee is to craft a vision and mission statement for the church as well as to clearly articulate our values so that our vision, mission, and values can help us chart a path forward into the future that we believe…

Thank you!

I wanted to take a moment to tell you all thank you for your incredible generosity over the past few weeks. Between the money raised for Hurrican Dorian relief, the funds given today in the special offering for the stranger in desperate need who just happened to walk into our sanctuary, and donations towards the Diocesan Mission Fund, you all raised a bit under $5,000 in a couple of weeks! The fantastic thing about that generosity is that it’s all going…

October 2018 Town Hall Meeting and Picnic

Thank you to everyone who came out today for our quarterly town hall meeting and church picnic. It was beautiful to see our whole church together worshipping Jesus and enjoying each other’s fellowship and company. Two people, in particular, deserve special mention: Mary Lou Hayes, our Event Coordinator, and Fr. Luis Diaz. Most of you don’t see the hard work they do behind the scenes to pull off events like the one we enjoyed today, but without them, none of…

Project Greta

Let me introduce you to Greta. Greta is the daughter of Andrew and Joanna Hayes (Andrew played James the Greater in the Living Last Supper last year), who live in Littleton, CO, and the granddaughter of John and Mary Lou Hayes, members of St. Dunstan’s. Greta is two years old and has undergone a complicated surgery to disconnect the hemispheres of her brain. The surgery was necessary to stop her from having seizures upwards of fifty times a day. The…

Eastertide Letter 2018

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! On most calendars, Easter is a single day. On the church calendar, Easter (or Eastertide) is a season. For the believer, we live every day (and especially every Sunday) in the light of the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Some things are too important to limit to a single day. Just as we celebrate the incarnation not for one day but twelve, so we celebrate the resurrection not…