Grace Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Grace Notes
4 September 2014
This coming Sunday we will
celebrate a return to full scheduling with our Fall kick-off, “Mass in the
Grass” at Deland Park. The one
service (10:15 a.m.) will be very much like a regular Sunday service with
hymns, and will be followed by a picnic and games. This is an ideal time to invite friends,
neighbors, co-workers, etc. to experience worship together with us.
When we think about inviting
others to worship, we often stumble over a fear that we won’t “do well” in
explaining who we are, in defending faith, and in calling others to know, love
and serve God. Such fear is misplaced. It is based on the false premise that we need
to “know enough” about our faith in order to be able to offer and defend
it. So let me comment on why the model
of testifying through apology (the defense of faith) is not helpful.
I am a seminary-educated priest
who has served in parish ministry for eight years. Prior to seminary I was trained in philosophy
and the law. In seminary I was educated
in biblical languages and studies, theology, history, liturgics, ... etc. I preach each week, and prepare bible study
each week, and have prepared and published a study guide to the whole Bible. I have taught biblical languages to others,
and have served as a canon law consultant in church trials. But I don’t “know enough” to convince anybody
to have faith. No one does. If leading others to Christ was about intellectual
brilliance and education, I guess we would all be Roman Catholics, given the
indisputable brilliance and wide-ranging erudition of John Paul II and Benedict
XVI. But, despite the learning, the
communications skills, the personal saintliness of the last two popes we are
not all Roman Catholics, in part because we did not make a personal connection
with God by and through a personal connection with them as people. No one “knows enough” to convince
anyone else to seek God.
So what do we do? We plant seeds which God will water. These seeds of faith involve personal
sharing. They involve each one of us
testifying not to why (for example) a given proposition in the Creed is true,
but about what God is doing in our lives. I can talk about who I am. I can talk about my own relationship with
God, about how I speak and listen to Him in prayer; about how I gather with
others to offer Him worship, praise and thanksgiving; about how I receive Him
in my body; about how in gathering I live in community with others and know God
better because of this community.
Gather. Invite.
Invite especially this coming Sunday.
You can bring others to Christ by bringing them to just be with us as we
gather with Him. Whatever seed is
planted it is God who will provide the growth.
Grace Abounds: Please thank:
§ Ann and Bob Hanlon for setting up Sunday coffee hour.
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.
Parish
Discernment: Bobbi (Roberta) Kraft has completed the
diocesan “Circles of Light” process to discern whether she is called to further
ministry, and of what kind. The result
of this process is that she has been identified to have a vocation to
ordination to the priesthood. Pursuant
to diocesan procedure, the parish will now form a committee to engage in a
formal discernment process with Bobbi.
Recommendations from this process (and a Vestry vote) will be made to
the diocesan Commission on Ministry (COM) in December, for a review by the COM,
the bishop, and the Standing Committee of the diocese in January 2015. If the diocese approves Bobbi advancing in
the ordination process, she will begin seminary training in August 2015.
Two members of the committee will be from outside the parish (per COM procedure)—one from St. Peter’s, Sheboygan Falls, and one from St.
Mark’s, Waupaca. Three members of the
parish will serve on the committee, which will be lay-led. Final agreement on names is pending, and will
be announced on Sunday, 7 September.
Sheboygan County
Interfaith Organization (SCIO): With all of the discussion in the parish about the LoveINC initiative, let’s not
forget SCIO. The parish supports SCIO
with an annual donation, and members of Grace also work in SCIO-sponsored
ministries. Mary Ann N. attends SCIO
meetings for Grace, but in order to elevate the profile of opportunities to
serve we are specifically recruiting your interest. Get further details at www.sheboygancountyinterfaith.org . We need an in-parish champion
who can provide timely electronic media feeds for the blog, newsletter,
Facebook page, etc. If you are
interested, speak to Mary Ann and also to Fr. Karl.
Sunday School
registration: YAY, it’s almost time for Sunday School to
begin! The teachers have missed those familiar faces and are looking
forward to some new ones, too.
Look for the Sunday School table at Mass in the Grass on Sunday,
September 7th. Registration paperwork, classroom lesson schedules,
Christmas pageant practice schedules, Operation Christmas Child information and
snack ideas will be on hand. See you for sign up there!
Grace offers
classes to children 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!
Music this week: Proper 18A
(Guitar accompaniment for hymns and anthem; service music a
capella).
Prelude Hymn Jars
of Clay
Entrance Hymn 8 Morning has broken
Offertory Seek
Ye First (choir-led round)
Communion Motet “I Need You More” Lindell Cooly & Bruce Haynes
Comm. Hymn 488 Be Thou My Vision
Closing Hymn 376 Joyful Joyful
Postlude “Open the eyes of my
heart” (guitar)
Parish Notices
§ Mass in the Grass:
Please join us Next Sunday, September 7, 2014 for an outdoor Mass and
All Church Picnic at Deland Community Center, 901 Broughton Dr., Sheboygan, the
Mass will begin at 10:15 a.m. with lunch following. There will be games and an
appearance by Hiccup the Clown for our children’s enjoyment. Inviting guests is
encouraged. There will be ONE MASS only that day. Please sign up
on the sheet on the Narthex table.
§ Sunday School Begins: We are getting excited about Sunday School! The teachers have met and
plans are being made for another wonderful year of learning about the love of
Jesus Christ! Sunday School will begin on September 14th at
9:00am. Please watch for more information.
§ Youth & Family News: At our brainstorming meeting for Youth and Family Ministries, we had a
great turnout and many ideas were put forward to be considered for the
direction, course, and future activities of our ministries at Grace Church.
Many of the ideas that were put forward are ones that would be fun for a parish
family to participate in to create a larger sense of community, and let's be
honest, just to have some fun. Other ideas were specifically focused on
community and mission minded outreach. As we continue to brainstorm separately
and bounce ideas off of each other. Please put forward any ideas you have for
any ministry in our church. If you don't know what ministries there are, ask.
If there something that you think should be at Grace Church, but we don't have
it, talk about it and maybe you're being called to start something new! Stay
tuned to see what happens next, and don't forget to get involved!
§ 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.
§ 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.
§ “Before and After”:
The floor cleaning project to well underway! If you are interested in
participating, see Fr. Karl. This is tough, physical labor, so if you are
challenged in working on hands and knees, consider whether you want to help
with material costs, with a gift outside of your regular giving to the parish.
Thank you to all who are helping.
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