Grace Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Grace Notes
6 March 2014
I am sometimes asked by fellow
clergy about my opinion of the spiritual state of the parish. Whatever words I may have used in making an
answer, they have been inadequate. All I
need to do is to point to the booklet Parish
Lenten Devotions, which we distributed beginning on Ash Wednesday. (The devotions project is the front page
story in the March edition of the diocesan newspaper, The Clarion, found here: http://diofdl.org/clarion/2014-03.pdf
).
In the devotional booklet there
are collected forty prayerful responses, forty statements of faith in response
to the Gospel. These forty statements
speak to a developed awareness of and response to our Lord’s presence in our
midst. The spiritual state of the parish
is that the parish is filled with Holy Spirit!
The responses to the Gospel found
the devotional booklet vary in perspective and expression, but each speaks to a
lively faith. Just as we have shared
faith with each other in writing, so will we share faith with each other in
discussion and prayer, as we come together in Adult Education on Sunday
mornings in Lent to journey together using the devotional booklet as our
template. This journey will be augmented
by Friday evening simple suppers, following Stations of the Cross, in which we
will relate the way of the Cross using the words and experiences of fellow
parishioners. On both Sunday mornings
and Friday evenings we will use small group discussion formats to explore our
faith together. For example, a parishioner
might start a discussion of the station in which a woman in the crowd wipes
Jesus’ face by relating how he/she once witnessed an unexpected act of kindness
undertaken at risk to the person providing the kindness, and how this made him
or her experience God’s presence.
Join us in a lively faith! Join us as the Spirit uses each of us to help
this Body to grow!
Grace Abounds: Please thank:
§
Tasha Crouse for collating and preparing the
devotional submissions for our Lenten
Devotions booklet.
§ Bernie
Markevitch and Mary Ann Nueses for preparing the brat fry for our Shrove
Tuesday supper, and Mary Snyder for clean-up.
Call for
Contributions: If you have a spiritual reflection to share,
or want to point your fellow worshippers toward a resource, submit your
contributions to Fr. Karl (by email) by Wednesday in the week of publication.
Messages and Meaning: This past Sunday was my “flower” day. You may have wondered what was meant by the
dedication included in the mass booklet: “Flowers in the church are given to
the greater glory of God by Bobbi Kraft in anticipation and thanksgiving for
Psalm 27:5.”
I often include passages with my
memorials or thanksgivings. It’s great
fun to engage in conversation with those who have looked the passages up and
shared with me. This past Sunday was no
different…especially since it became apparent quickly that Psalm 27:5 is not
the same in all versions of the Bible.
In fact, in many versions, the passage that I meant is actually found in
verse 4 not verse 5! You’d really be
left to wonder what I meant if you read from a bible that included my verse in
the wrong order.
What a wonderful illustration for
life! Often times, we know EXACTLY what
message we’re trying to convey. Often times, our message is misunderstood
because we lack a common frame of reference.
In those moments, we can choose to get embarrassed, frustrated or
angry. OR, we can choose to identify the
discrepancy, provide clarity, and move on from there. What a relief to know God has given us the
choice! All we must do is choose wisely.
In the meantime, it is my hope
that we can all embrace Psalm 27:5 as it is stated in the Book of Common
Prayer: “One thing have I asked of the Lord; one thing I seek; that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” I will…with anticipation and
thanksgiving! Hope to see you there! ―Bobbi Kraft
Episcopal Youth
Community: Son of God
This past weekend the movie Son of God was released in theaters. The
youth group went to see it and by the end of it were just as silent as the rest
of the people in the crowd (in a good way). The movie is the story of Jesus
from the perspective of St. John's account of the Gospel, starts with the
famous opening of "In the beginning was the word" and carries through
Jesus' ascension. The storyline follows three groups: Jesus and his followers,
Pilate, and the religious leaders including Caiaphas the high priest.
For myself, personally, I found the
movie to be overall a really great way to share the gospel and bring it to life
in a meaningful way. I had a couple of aha moments throughout the movie, where
watching the scenario play out with real people in a real space made the gospel
make more sense. The only parts that distracted me from the story at first was
the fact that all of the actors speak really great English, with almost no
regional accents at all, and there was a moment in the first couple of scenes
with adult Jesus where I worried that the movie was going to get cheesy. In the
end, I was able to accept the accents as they were, and the cheesy-ness
disappeared as the greatest story ever told was brought to life and the
miracles that Jesus did seemed no less miraculous on the silver screen than
they do between the covers of the Bible.
When I asked the youth group for
their thoughts about the movie, all were very positive. In fact when we were
leaving the theater, one of the first things that was said (and repeated) was
"That was good." They felt that this was a good way to break the
barrier of telling the story of Jesus and the difficulty some people have with
reading the bible, whether it is the verbiage, the style, or a lack of
guidance, we all felt that this could be a good way to start off discussions
with our friends who weren't Christian, or even amongst ourselves.
I myself and the youth group as a
whole give this movie a thumbs up. And I know that I want to watch it again
―Grace and peace, Nick
A Lenten Discipline: Lent is fast approaching now and one can only
hope spring is not far off! Do you have a Lenten discipline in place? I do and I would like to share it with
you. Remember all those beautiful Christmas
cards and letters you received? And what
do you do with them? I gather them up
into a basket and starting on Ash Wednesday I randomly pick one out, read it
and the accompanying letter at leisure as well as enjoy thoughts of that person
and family and then I take a moment to pray for them. Sometimes I even write them a note or email
them to let them know they are in my thoughts and prayers. This is my card ministry and it doesn't have
to stop at Easter! All year long I collect correspondence (birthday cards,
thank you , get well, announcement cards, etc. and put in another basket and
then during Ordinary Time (after Pentecost) I begin the process again. After
all, we all can use prayers from others to lift us up.
―Barb
MacEwen
Music this week:
Prelude I call to thee, Lord Jesus Christ Pachelbel & Bach
Great Litany (sung in procession)
Psalm 32:1-8 Anglican
chant: Dobey
Sanctus & Agnus Dei Gregorian Mass X
(Alme Pater) Plainsong, adapt.
Wildman
Offertory Hymn 143 “The glory of these forty days” Erhalt
uns, Herr
Communion Motet Bread
of the world Hodges
Communion Hymn 343 “Shepherd
of souls, refresh and bless” St. Agnes
Closing Hymn 150 “Forty days and forty nights” Aus
der Tiefe
Postlude Lord,
keep us steadfast by thy Word Pachelbel
Parish Notices
§ Metropolitan
Opera: On Saturday, 15 March, we will gather at
11:45 a.m. for the live broadcast of Jules Massenet’s masterpeice Werther, in a new production starring
Jonas Kauffman and Sophie Koch. A review
of this found here:
§ Adult
Formation: on Sunday mornings at 9:00
a.m. will allow us to journey together through the Lenten meditations prepared
in the parish. For each day in Lent or parish devotional booklet includes the
collect prayer, the gospel lesson, and a meditation prepared by one of your
fellow disciples in this parish. The booklet also includes space for you to add
your own meditation. On Sundays, we’ll explore together the meditations for the
week, that together we can walk on our Lenten journey. We can experience our
journey together by offering our own insights in small group settings.
§ Soup
and Cinema: The movie series
continues on Wednesday, 12 March at 6 p.m. with the 1977 feature The
Duellists (Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel). Based on the
Joseph Conrad short story The Duel, the film follows the history of a
personal enmity, of an unjust search for vengeance, and of the need for
forgiveness.
§ Stations
of the Cross, Simple Suppers and Teaching: Every Friday in Lent we will meet each Friday at 5:30 p.m. for
Stations of the Cross, followed by a simple supper and Christian program. The
program will consist of facilitated discussion which will focus on particular
stations of the cross in the context of our own spiritual lives. For example, a
parishioner might offer a testimony relating his/ her life to the eighth
station (when Simon of Cyrene is given Jesus’ cross to bear), by relating how
in his/her life he/she was “blind sided” by the burden of somebody else, and
how in bearing this person’s burden with them, he/she participated in Jesus’ life
in the world. Such a testimony will be followed by facilitated small group
discussions. Please sign up to attend on the sheets in the Narthex so enough
food will be prepared. Thank you.
§ Cooking
on Friday Evenings in lent: If you
are interested in cooking and hosting a dinner on the Fridays during Lent,
please sign-up on sheets in the Narthex. Most of the Fridays are open. Thank
you for your willingness to serve in this manner.
§ All Saints' Chapel Ownership - Sunday services
at All Saints' Chapel will continue to be a shared ministry this year which
means volunteers will be needed to have ownership of opening and closing the
chapel. A sign-up sheet is located in the Narthex. If you have questions
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