Grace Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Grace Notes
18 December 2014
As we draw closer to the end of
the calendar year, it is natural to think about what will happen in the year to
come. We like to make plans, albeit
realizing that whatever we intend to be different will have to wait until after
the busyness of the Christmas holiday season.
But in planning we must remind ourselves that God’s purpose is best
accomplished when we get our own wills out of the way and allow God’s will to work in us. The initiative is with God, as recognized in collect
for the fourth Sunday of Advent:
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by
your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in
us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Notice that the
Collect doesn't describe us as active but God as active. Like Joseph in the nativity story we are to make
ourselves available to God, to hear His message and respond to it. We need to be ready to receive the message of
the Gospel. We need to open our hearts
and minds to allow God to enter into and dwell within us, to allow the message
of hope that we receive in this season of Advent to become the hope that lives
within us; the hope that life is everlasting in Christ Jesus.
How do we do
this; how do we open our hearts and minds to God? Again, the Collect tells us that it is not by
our own power and of our own will alone that we can be open to God. We pray that our conscience—that is our
heart and mind—may be purified by God. Purified
how? By God’s daily visitation; by the
fact that at all times God reaches out to us and calls us to Him. To the extent we don’t resist that touch,
that call, we can then receive God, and in receiving Him come to know His
truth: that Jesus is the Way, and the
Truth, and the Life.
As we prepare
for our annual celebration of the incarnation of God, let’s focus on one plan
that does very much involve our individual wills. This plan is to make ourselves each more
available to God. We can do this by
inviting God into a “daily visitation,” in prayer, in the reading and study of
Scripture, in attendance on worship, in the offering of thanksgiving and
praise, in inviting others to know God in worship. Let God’s will be done by giving Him your
will.
Grace abounds: Please thank:
§
Bob and Hanne Hanlon, and
Paul and Andrea Aparcio for the Sunday coffee hours.
§
Jane Hanson for help in the
office.
§ Pat Ford Smith for work to put visitor crosses together with
parish “leave behind cars”.
Small
bookmark shaped cards are available for you to give to friends when you talk
about the church. These cards list the
times of all of our prayer and worship serives, how to get mor einformation,
when Bible study and adult education meet, etc.
The cards are available in the office or in the Ontario Avenue entrance
to the nave. The supply in the office is
packaged with small olive wood crosses.
These “leave behind cards” should always be offered to visitors, but
also take a supply with yoiu to share in outreach.
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 Ministry: This
Saturday we are going to be having a Family Movie Night. Everyone is invited to
join us as we watch The Santa Clause starring Tim Allen. Our evening begins at
6:00 pm and will end right around 8:00 pm. Theater style popcorn, juice, coffee
and tea will be served. Feel free to bring a snack for yourself, a seat if you
want to a different type of chair (bean-bag chair, etc...), or to wear
comfortable clothing (pajamas are perfectly acceptable).
Plans for a Family
Game Night are in the works to take place in January. More information about
this as plans develop.
Thank you for your support, and participation! ―Nick
Ministry
Opportunities: At a recent parish forum questions were
raised about how people are asked to serve in specific ministries. The long and short answer is that people are
not asked; rather, they ask to serve. A
complete list of parish ministries is found on the parish website, www.gracesheboygan.com.
Ministry opportunities are listed under the following headings (found in
the pull-down menu in the top banner):
- Worship: Ministry
Opportunities Descriptions include those of lector,
acolyte, altar guild, greeter, lay eucharistic minister, usher, verger.
- Outreach: Separate headings are found for Our
Community, Our Nation, and Our World. Under each heading ministries are
described, such as work with The Salvation Army. Contact information is provided, or, if
it is left undefined you can always contact the parish office.
- Grace Ministries and Spiritual Gifts:
A lengthy menu allows you to explore an inventory and description
of spiritual gifts and how these gifts relate to ministries of the parish.
Don’t forget the choir! Singers are needed. You can contact Dr. Benjamin Dobey for more
details about the music ministries of the parish.
What’s not on the list? What is not on the list is what Our Lord is
calling you to offer as a ministry. If
you believe you are called to a ministry not listed, please come forward so
that we can recruit others to serve with you.
Who are the
unchurched? These are people in the community around us
who profess some degree of faith; they speak some langauge of faith, but are
not affiliated with any church. These
are the “low hanging fruit” in outreach.
Chracteristics of this group can be reviewed here:
Music this week: The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Prelude Three
Verses on Creator of the Stars of Night Titelouze
Entrance Hymn 72 “Hark!
The glad sound! The Savior comes” Richmond
Offertory Hymn 56 “O
come, O come, Emmanuel” Veni Emmanuel
Communion Motet Ave Maria Arcadelt
Comm. Hymn 60 “Creator
of the stars of night” Conditor alme siderum
Closing Hymn 436 “Lift up your heads, ye might gates” Truro
Postlude Prelude on Venez Divin Messie Benoit
Christmas: Music will be offered at all three Christmas
services (4 and 10:30 p.m. on 24 December, and 9 a.m. on Christmas Day), but as
of the publication of this update we only have details for the late service on
the 24th:
Prelude at 10:30pm
Organ Prelude on God rest ye merry Wilbur
Held
Cello Adagio
cantabile; Largo (Sonata in E) François
Francouer
Lindsay Fischer, cello
Flute duet Pastorale
from the Christmas Concerto Arcangelo
Corelli
Sandie Palmer and Sutton Cecil, flutes
Lindsay Fischer, cello
Hymn 81 “Lo, how a rose e’er blooming” Es
ist ein Ros
Choir Still, still, still
Austrian carol, arr. Norman Luboff
Hymn 105 “God rest ye merry,
gentlepersons” God
rest ye merry
Choir Christmas Night 16th
century French melody, arr. John Rutter
Unto us is born a Son Medieval Scandinavian carol, arr. David
Willcocks
Solemn High Mass at 11pm
Introit (sung in Latin)
Dominus dixit Medieval Plainsong
Antiphon: The Lord hath said unto me: Thou art my
Son, this day have begotten thee.
Psalm: Why do the nations so furiously rage
together: and why do the people imagine
a vain thing?
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and
to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: The Lord hath said unto me: Thou art my
Son, this day have I begotten thee.
Hymn 83 O come all ye faithful John
Francis Wade
Offertory 79 O little
town of Bethlehem Phillip
Brooks
Agnus Dei (choir, sung in Latin) Missa de Angelis (Mass of the
Angels) Medieval Plainsong
Lamb of God, who
takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, who
takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sin
of the world, grant us thy peace.
Communion Motets O little one sweet Old German melody, harm. J. S. Bach
Infant holy, infant
lowly Polish carol, arr. David
Willcocks
Comm. Hymn 111 Silent night, holy night Joseph Mohr
Closing Hymn 96 Angels
we have heard on high French carol
Postlude
Allegro giocoso from the Christmas Concerto Ricardo Liberti
December 25th
at 9am
Entrance
Hymn 83 “O come, all ye
faithful”
Gloria
in excelsis New
English Folk Mass
Offertory
Hymn 87 “Hark! the
herald angels sing”
Sanctus
& Agnus Dei New English
Folk Mass
Communion
Hymn 115 “What child is this”
Closing
Hymn 96 “Angels we
have heard on high”
Parish Notices
§ Christmas Flowers: If you would like to donate for
Christmas flowers please fill out the slip of paper in the mass booklet,
include a designation for memorials and/or thanksgivings. Deadline to be
included in the list of donors in the Christmas mass booklets is this Monday,
December 22, at noon. Please make checks out to Grace Church with
Christmas flowers/music in the memo.
§
Youth and Children’s
Choir: The final rehearsal will be Sunday, December 21st at
9:00am. The choir is open to 2nd graders through high school, and
will sing for the 4pm service on Christmas Eve.
§
Christmas Pageant
Rehearsals: Participation is open to youth of all ages. The Pageant will
take place during the 4:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass. Please sign up on the sheet
in the Narthex. If your child would like to participate but cannot make
rehearsals please note that on the sheet or call the office.
§
Christmas Joy: is
scheduled to meet on Monday, December 22 at 11:00am in the church kitchen. At
that time we will assemble winter greens and flowers and bag cookies, and then
make deliveries (there is a sign-up sheet in the narthex.) We need helping
hands and money (to buy for packaging supplies and flowers.) Can you bake, make
a delivery or help arrange? Please join us for this fulfilling and fun ministry
to our shut-ins. They will appreciate it. If you have questions please call
Barb MacEwen at 467-6909.
§
2014 Pledge Statements: Please make every effort to pay the
remainder of your pledge before the end of the year. If you need to know your
balance, please call the office at 452-9659. If you want tax credit for your
pledge paid in 2014, you must have the payment in the office by Tuesday,
December 30th. A check dated the 30th, but arriving later
cannot be counted as paid in 2014. All payments received after the 30th
will be credited in 2015. Thank you so much.
§
Directory Update: We will be printing a new directory to be
finished in time for the Annual Meeting on January 25th. Please
check your entry to make sure your address, phone and email are all correct.
The draft can be found on the narthex table. Thank you.
§
The Feast of the
Epiphany: We will celebrate the Feast of Epiphany Tuesday, January 6th.
Parishioners and their guests are invited to Solemn Mass beginning at 6:00 p.m.
followed by a gala reception. Please sign up in the narthex or by calling the
church office at 452-9659.
§ Flower Schedule for 2015: Giving the gift of flowers is a
wonderful way to remember a loved one or to offer thanksgiving for your
blessings. If you wish to sign up for a specific Sunday, the Flower Schedule is
available on the table in the narthex. More than one person can sign up for
each Sunday.
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