Grace Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Grace Notes
18 September 2014
We recently celebrated the Feast
of St. Cyprian of Carthage (13 September, d. 258), a saint who reminds us of
the importance of the Church. While it
is true that the only really interesting thing about religion is God,
Cyprian reminds that focusing of God cannot really happen unless we are
gathered. In his famous phrase, “You
cannot have God for your Father unless you have the Church for your Mother.”
The Church matters. In our wider world she is considered very
much optional even among those who profess to believe in Jesus Christ. And there is a creeping tendency for members
of churches to consider the Church optional.
It is in the Church, however, that we are bound together to Jesus, who
tells us that it is in our gathering that He is present. It is in our gathering that sacramental
Presence is manifested to us. This point
is emphasized by one of the spiritual progenitors of this parish, Bl. Edward
Bouverie Pusey, whose feast is today.
Pusey (the early Tractarians, or
Anglocatholic Ritualists who started the revival of catholic piety in the
Church of England, a revival which spread to Nashotah House and from thence to
Grace Episcopal Church, were often referred to mockingly as “Puseyites”)
focused above all on the mysteries of faith, and the sacramental presence
embodied as the bedrock of who and what the Church is. He wrote:
God give us grace more and more to seek Him; so, if we find Him, we
shall in Him find each other who shall have sought Him our common Centre; shall
in His light and love at length understand one another; shall see in one
another the work of His Grace, and love one another in Him, and Him in one
another. (“Preface to Sermons
Preached at St. Saviour’s, Leeds, 1845”)
As we find God (together) we find
each other, understand each other, see in each other the work of God’s grace,
love one another as we love God. As
written by St. Paul in our epistle lesson from this past Sunday, “If we live,
we live to the Lord ...” (Rom. 14.8). In
this new season of our life together, may we grow in faith as we grow in life
together. And what is the fundamental
thing we must do to allow for this growth in faith, growth in the
Spirit? We must gather. There is simply no concept in all of
Scripture of being a member of a church.
The word for church is gathering, and if one is not gathered with
fellow believers s/he is not a member of the Body of Christ. This does not mean that if I cannot be
present for worship on a given Sunday that I am no longer in Christ. It means that to live into the fullness of
what it means to be in Christ I must gather consistently; I must grow into the
fullness of life in Christ, and this is something that can only happen when I
gather with fellow worshippers often.
And when I do, I find that my faith increases, and that whatever it is
that has made worship a lesser “priority” is revealed to be just a distraction.
Focus on God. When we gather together each one of us is a
necessary element in the “Light-gathering lens” by which God and His will come
into focus. The Light is always there,
but to focus this Light in ways that allow us to see clearly requires that we
act together.
Grace Abounds: Please thank:
§
Kevan and Traci Revis, and
Scot Lubbers for the Sunday coffee hours.
§
Paul Aparicio and Bobbi
Kraft for organizing the Vestry retreat, and to Vestry members for their time
and talents!
§
Hannah Sanders for work on
the floor refinishing project.
§
Barn MacEwen for cleaning
the kitchen.
§
Jane Hanson for helping in
the office.
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.
Youth and Family updates: Making tides out of waves.
Sometimes when you're going through your life, and you're thinking
about how to change your situation for the better, God comes along and pushes
you forward without warning. This happened to me this week. As of Monday I no
longer have a full-time job.
Going through the hoops that you're required to go through whenever you
have a life-changing event is never really fun, but it does help you clarify
what your short term future looks like. It also shows you that you are not
alone. There are people around you all of the time who are either there to help
with their support, stories, experiences, even their hospitality and cooking,
or they are there with you walking the same road you are, looking and praying,
asking for guidance and wisdom.
I believe that God loves us, and cares for us and puts things in our
path that will ultimately lift us up, rather than beat us down.
Sometimes we look at what's happening to us and we only see the tide
rolling in over us, when in fact, what we ought to be seeing is the waves
washing over our feet. Sometimes we need to be overwhelmed, or shall we say
baptized, in change, in order to live the life we are called to live. Other
times we need to have our feet washed, to clean off the dirt of the road we
were walking, in order to step into the hospitality of those who support us,
and ultimately go back and get our feet dirty again walking a different road.
To you my church family, thank you for your support, pray for me and my
family as we find ourselves walking on a new road. My time with you is not
changing, but change can be hard even with steady rocks to cling to.
In Christ's steady hand,
Nick
Music this week: Proper 20A
Prelude The
Winds of Worship Flute Choir
Lynn Walford, director
Entrance Hymn 408 “Sing
praise to God, who reigns above” Mit Freuden zart
Mass Setting Deutsche Messe
Franz Schubert, arr. Richard Proulx
Offertory Music Winds
of Worship Flute Choir
Communion Hymn 660 “O
Master, let me walk with thee” Maryton
Closing Hymn 541 “Come,
labor on” Ora labora
Postlude Winds
of Worship Flute Choir
Parish Notices
§ Alan Dobey’s Funeral: will be at 11:00am, Saturday, September 27, 2014 at Holy Name Parish, 807
Superior Ave. Sheboygan. Everyone is invited back to St. Nicholas Hall for a
luncheon beginning at noon. All are welcome.
§ Please Welcome: The
Rev. Andrew Grosso, PhD. and his lovely wife Diana. Fr. Grosso will be the
preacher and celebrant this Sunday while Fr. Karl and Elizabeth are away. Fr.
Grosso, is the Director of Distance Learning at Nashotah House and is
canonically resident in the Diocese of Kansas. Please welcome them to Grace
Church.
§ Fr. Karl and Elizabeth in Vacation: Fr. Karl and Elizabeth will be celebrating
the wedding of their son William beginning Thursday, September 18th
and will return on Monday, September 22nd. If you have a pastoral
need please do not hesitate to contact Deacon Michael Burg at 918-9944 or
Deacon Michele Whitford at 918-1230.
§ Sunday School!
It is not too late to sign up! Registration paperwork, classroom lesson
schedules, Christmas pageant practice schedules, Operation Christmas Child
information and snack ideas will be on hand. Grace offers classes for
children of all ages at 9 am on Sundays:
― 4-k through 2nd Grade with Mrs.
Pat (Ford-smith) and Ms. MaryAnn (Portz)
― 3rd through 5th Grade
with Mrs. Nicci (Beeck) and
― 6th-12th with Mr.
Nick (Whitford)
If you don’t have children to register, how about your
grandkids? How about your neighbors’ kids or grandkids? Help us teach
the little children how much Jesus loves them, by bringing them to Grace’s
Sunday School!
§ Sunday School Snacks: If you would like to provide snacks for our children during Sunday
School, please see Pat Ford Smith, Nicci Beeck or Nick Whitford.
§ Adult Formation: On
21 September the adult education hour will be dedicated to a
walk-through of the church, reviewing the history and symbolism of windows,
statues, door carvings, etc. Join us to learn more about the beauty and history
of this place, and the “cloud of witnesses” surrounding you.
§ On 28 September
we will be joined by a priest active in mission in areas of the world in which
Islam is the dominant faith and culture, and militant Islam is active. This
priest (who cannot be named in a public communication) had his church burned
last year, and will be with us following a mission planned to an area subject
to ISIS attack. He will speak about witnessing to the faith in an alien and
hostile environment.
§ Coffee Hour:
Thank you to all who have volunteered for coffee hour and all who have stepped
in and made coffee and put out snacks. We do have a sign-up sheet in the white
binder on the Narthex table. Several of the upcoming Sundays have taken but we
are in need of more volunteers. The weeks that are open are 8:00am:
9/28, 10/5, 10/19, 11/2, 11/9, 11/16, 11/30, 12/21 and 12/28. For 10:15am:
9/28, 10/12, 11/2, 11/16, 11/23, 12/28. If you can help please sign up on the
green sheets in the white binder on the Narthex table. Thank you so much.
§ Coats for Kids:
is a community service campaign. Area residents are asked to donate clean coats
in good repair. We accept coats of all sizes for people of all ages, with the
need being greatest for children’s coats. These coats will be distributed to
Sheboygan county residents who would otherwise go without. Drop off
location: Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home, 1535 S. 12 St. Sheboygan. September
2 –October 3 Monday–Friday 8:30am–4:00 pm. Distribution Location: Salvation
Army, 710 Pennsylvania Ave. Sheboygan, Tuesday, October 7th, from
9:00am–1:00pm and Thursday, October 9th from 2:00–6:00pm.
§ New Time for Men’s Everyone’s Breakfast: The new default day and time for parish
breakfast will be Tuesdays at 7 a.m., Fountain Park. This is open to
everyone to gather for a bite of breakfast and conversation before the day
begins.
§ Walsingham Pilgrimage Music and Flowers: The Walsingham Pilgrimage is just around the
corner and preparations are being made. We will have a quiet day with
meditations at 12:00 and 3:00pm concluding with Solemn Evensong at 6:00pm on
Friday, October 10th. The meditations will be led by Mother Miriam,
CSM, Superior of the Eastern Province of The Community of St. Mary. On
Saturday, October 11th the Rt. Rev. Matthew A. Gunter, eighth Bishop
of Fond du Lac, will celebrate at the Procession and Solemn Pontifical Mass at
10:30am. Mother Miriam, CSM, will preach. Music will include the Gaudete Brass
again this year. As you are able, please donate so we can once again offer
beautiful music that has become so much a part of the pilgrimage and the
flowers that add so much to the beauty of holiness. Please make you check out
to Grace Church with Walsingham music or flowers or both in the memo.
Reservations are required for lunch at a cost of $15 per person and will be
served at noon on Saturday. Thank you.
§ SCIO – Sheboygan County Interfaith Organization: We have been a member of SCIO for many
years. We have donated time and money for the outreach to the community,
especially for women and children. There
is a sign up sheet on the table in the Narthex to receive the newsletter which
will give many ideas about how to help. If you have questions please talk to
Mary Ann Neuses.
No comments:
Post a Comment