The Rev. Dn. Gayle (Gay) Blundell
The Rev. Dn. Gayle Blundell was born and raised in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. She received her Bachelor's Degree from Syracuse University in New York and her Master's Degree in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. She was ordained as a Vocational Deacon in the Episcopal Church in 1999.
The call and ministry of a vocational Deacon is to make Christ known in the world, and the world known to the Church. One wise Archdeacon summarized the work of a Deacon as "being a small pebble in the shoe of the Church." "I have found that it is often easier to make Christ known in the world than it is to awaken the Church to the needs of the world around them," she said.
The Deacon in the Church
We first see the Deacon carrying the Gospel Book into the congregation during the processional...spiritual food to feed the spiritually hungry. When the Deacon reads the Gospel, the words of Christ are being offered to all who hunger for them. The Deacon bids the prayers, guiding the people to pray not only for their own needs, but to broaden their prayer focus to include the world's people and concerns, even praying for those who wish to hurt us. At the Offertory, the Deacon receives the food (not the money!) that will go out to the hungry. The Deacon is the servant who prepares the table for the Eucharist and afterwards, clears the dishes. At the end of the service, the Deacon, along with the congregation, sends out the Lay Eucharistic Ministers, carrying holy food to the sick and homebound. Finally, at the conclusion of the service, the deacon calls for the people to go forth into the world to serve.
Fr. Fred is the first to say that St. Paul's is truly blessed to have such a fine Deacon. Great Deacons are hard to find, and she is invaluable support and assistance for him. She has many behind-the-scenes chores and is the authority regarding liturgy and tradition both for the Church and St. Paul's.
Fr. Fred is the first to say that St. Paul's is truly blessed to have such a fine Deacon. Great Deacons are hard to find, and she is invaluable support and assistance for him. She has many behind-the-scenes chores and is the authority regarding liturgy and tradition both for the Church and St. Paul's.
In the '60s and before she was ordained, she and a friend started a school for illiterate adults in New Jersey. She also served on the Council for Peaceful Race Relations in New Jersey at that time. While in Los Angeles, she volunteered at Teen Challenge, a halfway house for teens there, and she was the Diocsan Consultant to a mission church in Watts for two years.
In the La Canada area, she was a weekly lecturer in a large community Bible Study for seven years, and she was the half-time director of Adult Christian Education at St. George'sEpiscopal Church. Training clergy and lay missionaries with the Bishop of the Littoral Diocese in Guayaquil, Ecuador took her out of the country for almost a month.
The Rev. Dn. Gay is a member of the Outreach Committee, is a volunteer at Loaves and Fishes in Paso Robles, and serves as a facilitator of a Caregivers' support group for the Alzheimer's Association that meets at St. Paul's. After serving as Hospital Chaplain at Twin Cities Hospital, she became the head of the Chaplaincy Program.
After the church service, the work of the deacon begins, often with taking flowers to someone we've prayed for in the service, and visiting people in their homes and especially visiting those in hospitals. In an average month, she makes four or five such visits, and also makes home visits and dozens of phone calls, and sends notes.
One of the Deacon’s main activities is being a spiritual director about 12 hours a month. The term "director" is really misleading. The work is to be a "holy listener", helping people to recognize what the Spirit is already doing in their lives.
Our Deacon is alert to and connected with unseen areas of poverty, need and even injustice in our own community and beyond and tries to match needs and resources. With her help, St. Paul's connection with Habitat for Humanity raised money to rebuild two homes destroyed by the tsunami in Asia, helped to build a house here in town, and helped with the cost to build two duplexes in Atascadero. We responded to Katrina through the ERDF and to the earthquake in Pakistan though the Direct Medical Relief Fund.
The Deacon says two questions guide her: "What is the need, and what are the resources?" The two questions are linked. Whenever someone is in need, there is a corresponding person who needs to give, and she sees it as her job is to bring these two needs together.
In the La Canada area, she was a weekly lecturer in a large community Bible Study for seven years, and she was the half-time director of Adult Christian Education at St. George'sEpiscopal Church. Training clergy and lay missionaries with the Bishop of the Littoral Diocese in Guayaquil, Ecuador took her out of the country for almost a month.
The Rev. Dn. Gay is a member of the Outreach Committee, is a volunteer at Loaves and Fishes in Paso Robles, and serves as a facilitator of a Caregivers' support group for the Alzheimer's Association that meets at St. Paul's. After serving as Hospital Chaplain at Twin Cities Hospital, she became the head of the Chaplaincy Program.
After the church service, the work of the deacon begins, often with taking flowers to someone we've prayed for in the service, and visiting people in their homes and especially visiting those in hospitals. In an average month, she makes four or five such visits, and also makes home visits and dozens of phone calls, and sends notes.
One of the Deacon’s main activities is being a spiritual director about 12 hours a month. The term "director" is really misleading. The work is to be a "holy listener", helping people to recognize what the Spirit is already doing in their lives.
Our Deacon is alert to and connected with unseen areas of poverty, need and even injustice in our own community and beyond and tries to match needs and resources. With her help, St. Paul's connection with Habitat for Humanity raised money to rebuild two homes destroyed by the tsunami in Asia, helped to build a house here in town, and helped with the cost to build two duplexes in Atascadero. We responded to Katrina through the ERDF and to the earthquake in Pakistan though the Direct Medical Relief Fund.
The Deacon says two questions guide her: "What is the need, and what are the resources?" The two questions are linked. Whenever someone is in need, there is a corresponding person who needs to give, and she sees it as her job is to bring these two needs together.
Gay and her husband Bill, a retired journalist, were married in 1957. They have 2 adult children and 5 grandchildren.