9 Pentecost+July 25 to August 1, 2010
Our African Journey.
LEIGH AND I ARE GOING TO SOUTH AFRICA during the month of August. We leave on Sunday, August 8, from Atlanta for Johannesburg and arrive 30 hours later. The longest plane ride we’ve had up to this time is about a dozen hours, so if you have any advice let us know. We will travel to Pretoria SA, arriving in plenty of time to see the sights, recover from jet lag, and meet everyone before the wedding of Germari De Villiers and Filippo Armando Luigi Bianchi on Saturday, August 14, at Christ Church Arcadia.
AN AUBURN ALUMNA, Germari, or “Geri,” earned a Master of Science in Planetary Geology from Auburn, graduating in 2009. Geri grew up in the Dutch Reformed tradition and came to the Anglican Communion as a student member of St. Dunstan’s. She is Afrikaans, one of the descendents of the original Dutch settlers of the area in the 17th Century. As you might guess from her last name, Geri is also descended from French Huguenots, Protestants who fled Catholic France during the Reformation. The De Villiers family lives in Pretoria. Her fiancé Filippo is from Milan, Italy. While Geri was at AU, Filippo earned an MBA from Columbia University in NYC. Filippo is Roman Catholic. They both live in the Netherlands now, where Geri is a PhD student at the University of Utrecht, and Filippo is a business consultant for an international firm based in nearby Amsterdam. It sounds complicated, but I look at this as a wonderful story of Christ’s limitless, reconciling love for us all.
THEIR WEDDING will be celebrated in Christ Church Arcadia, with Holy Eucharist, using the Prayer Book of South Africa. I am to be the celebrant, and will likely share liturgical responsibilities with the Revd Dr Barney Pityana, Priest-in-Charge; and a Catholic priest named Father Marc de Muelenaere. The readings will be in Afrikaans, Italian, and English.
A SAFARI in the Kruger National Park will be our agenda for the three days following the wedding. Geri’s father will host this adventure, driving us through the veldt in a Range Rover, photographing wildebeests and lions, and providing us the experience of a lifetime.
WE WILL BE HOME on Friday, August 20, just in time for another wedding … the Marriage of Dr. Anna Vladimirovna Riehl and Dr. Craig Eugene Bertolet. Anna and Craig will be married at St. Dunstan’s at 4:00 pm on Saturday, August 21. And of course we will have Welcome Night and Holy Eucharist on Sunday, August 22, at 6:00 pm! Woo-hoo!
EDUCATION FOR MINISTRY or EfM is one of the best programs for out-of-school adults in the Episcopal Church USA. There are two EfM classes at St. Dunstan’s for the 2010-2011 academic year. The Wednesday night class is almost full. However, starting in mid-September and continuing through May, the Friday morning EfM class meets once a week from 9:30 am to 12:00 noon CST. Tuition is $350 per year. Year One is Old Testament. Year Two is New Testament. Year Three is Church History. And Year Four is Theology. You can go on-line to www.sewanee.edu for registration forms. Ask Father Wells about EfM!
AS YOU ALL PROBABLY KNOW BY NOW I have decided to turn my full attention and energy to St. Dunstan’s, finishing my second book (a Novel of the South with the working title, Holy Land), and visiting our out-of-town children and grandson. Leigh and I have enjoyed being with the good people of St. Matthew’s in-the-Pines in Seale for the past four years, and we thank them for their kind expressions of love and support. My last Sunday there will be St. Matthew’s Day, Sunday, September 19, 2010.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SERVE as Crucifer, Lay Eucharistic Minister, Reader, Intercessor for the Prayers of the People? Tell Dr. Craig Bertolet or Father Wells.
IF YOU MISS A SERVICE on Sunday night, or want to browse my sermon archives, just click on Holy Conversations with Father Wells
Visit us online at http://saintdunstans.net/ or the St. Dunstan’s Facebook Group. Call me on my cell phone at (334) 332-3222 or send me an e-mail at WellsWarren@msn.com if you need a priest.
See you this Sunday for Holy Eucharist II at 6:00 pm …
Wells+
The Rev. Dr. John Wells Warren ’74, ’79
Episcopal Chaplain to Auburn University
ST. DUNSTAN’S | The Episcopal Church at Auburn University
136 E. Magnolia Avenue
Auburn AL 36830
P.S. Pathum and Kanchana Mendis are preparing a Sri Lankan
feast for us this Sunday following Holy Eucharist!
A Biography of Bishop McDowell