Grace
Episcopal Church
Sheboygan,
Wisconsin
Grace
Notes
10 September 2015
I have had
recent occasion to introduce a new participant to skeet shooting, a sport in
which clay pigeons are thrown at high speed between two fixed points, while the
shooter moves around a field, varying angle of approach and distance. The shooter I have been coaching grew up
target shooting with rifles and pistols, and initially experienced a lot of
frustration in skeet shooting. The
practice in skeet is very different, involving a shotgun. The target is moving at high speed, and so
the shooter must aim in front of the target by a distance that changes with
relative position. The shooter cannot
aim at the target, but must aim at where the target will be when the shot
stream reaches that point. All of this
has been well understood by the woman now learning the sport, but what has most
frustrated her is that she was taught as a target shooter to focus with one
eye, and in skeet and similar shooting it is necessary to keep both eyes open,
for depth perception, for better target acquisition and tracking, and for
general situational awareness.
How many of us
approach the life of faith without both eyes open, because we have been taught
to focus in a particular way? We have
been taught that the life of faith must be expressed in a particular prayer
practice, or worship style, or practice of study, or in good works, and we so
focus on how we “do” faith that we are in danger that our efforts and intentions
will lag behind and miss the target that God sets for us, or we are in danger
that we will so lack in depth perception and situational awareness that we
won’t even know that God has shown us His will, because what He is showing
isn’t what we are looking for.
Very particular
focus can be necessary (although even in target shooting the best practitioners
keep both eyes open). God may call us to
a particular focus, perhaps for a long time (lifetime in the case of a particular
spiritual vocation) or for a season. But
when our eyes are spiritual, and when both eyes are open, then God may reveal a
new calling, a new practice, to us. He
may, in fact, want us to aim in front of the target, that when our will is
projected it will intersect with where His will shall be when our will meets
His.
Spiritual eyes,
spiritual awareness include all of our senses, but particularly include making
ourselves present to God, who is always present and available to us. When we make ourselves available to God, He
will lead us. Our spiritual focus will
track God’s presence, that we may better discern and do His will. Sometimes we will even have to unlearn the
way we have approached faith, like unlearning the practice of closing an eye in
focusing on a target. This unlearning
does not mean that what we were doing was necessarily harmful or wrong. It means, just, that when God leads in a new
direction if we seek to follow Him using only the ways in which we have always
been comfortable, we might stay behind the target.
Open hearts will
allow the Holy Spirit to so enter and dwell that our situational awareness and
depth perception of the spirit will be constantly perfected, and our will shall
meet God’s. Then we may pray with the psalmist,
“This is the Lord’s doing, and it
is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps. 118.23).
Grace
abounds: Please thank:
§
The
Burg and Whitford families for the Sunday coffee hour.
§
Pat
Ford Smith for help in the office, and in pastoral care.
Music
this Week: The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost,
Proper 19B
“Mass in
the Grass” and picnic, Deland Park Center
Guitar
accompaniment
Mass
settings from An
English Folk Mass”
Prelude Jars of Clay
Opening
Hymn #8 “Morning has broken” Bunessan
Offertory
Hymn
#711 “Seek ye first” Seek Ye First
Comm.
Hymn #488 “Be Thou my vision” Slane
Closing
Hymn #376 “Joyful, joyful we adore thee” Hymn to Joy
Postlude “Open the eyes of my heart” (guitar)
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.
"He will reply, 'Truly I tell you,
whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
(Matt 25:45)
What shall we do?
Consider helping:
Episcopal Relief and Development
Save the Children Foundation
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| The shocking image of a drowned Syrian 3-year-old boy named Aylan Kurdi on a Turkish shore resonates around the world. |
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Mass in the Grass: Please join us Sunday, September 13, 2015 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 activities for our children’s enjoyment. Inviting guests is encouraged. There will be ONE MASS only that day. We will be asking for donations of cookies/bars, potato chips, water and monetary donations to defray the cost. Please sign up on the sheet on the Narthex table.
§ Sunday School registration: Yea, 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, Sunday, September 13th. 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!
Grace offers classes for children of all ages at 9 am on Sundays:
― 3-k through 1st Grade with Mrs. Andrea (Aparicio), Ms. MaryAnn (Portz) and
― 3-k through 1st Grade with Mrs. Andrea (Aparicio), Ms. MaryAnn (Portz) and
Mrs. Danielle (Whitford)
― 2nd through 5th Grade with Mrs. Nicci (Beeck)
― 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 beginning September 20th!
§ Adult Formation: Beginning on Sunday, 20 September (during the 9 a.m. education hour) we will begin a four week series on Giving Faith a Voice. We are molded by language, by what we call things. How we “process” information about life affects how we understand these data. This can determine, for example, how we experience the reality of faith, but also how we share this reality. For example, if you are overwhelmed in worship this may relate to “the beauty of holiness”. Or, how you identify as one sealed and “marked as Christ’s own for ever” can help you relate to another what “holiness” itself is. In our course we will discuss absolutes like love, truth, beauty, good, being—how we get glimpses of these eternal realities “as through a glass darkly” but shall one day see face to face. We will explore how we understand our own experiences in ways that allows us to share them with others, to let them too know how God is present in their own lives and the life of the world.
Join with us as we explore the connections between experience and understanding, and how to give faith a voice. Come prepared to listen and to share.
§ Catechumenate will begin: Catechumenate is a nine-month course in the basics of the Faith and its practice. It is a period of training and instruction in Christian understandings about God, human relationships, and the meaning of life. It includes the Sacrament of Baptism, if you are not already baptized, and culminates in Confirmation, Reception, or Renewal of Baptismal Vows. The Catechumenate will meet on Tuesday evenings each week starting at 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. The class will begin September 29th and will continue until May 1st when Bishop Matthew Gunter makes his annual visitation. The study is led by Deacon Michele Whitford, the Parish Catechist. If you would like to be a part of this exciting study and fellowship or would like more information, please call the office 452-9659 or e-mail Deacon Michele at mwhitford@gracesheboygan.com. There is a sign-up sheet on the table in the Narthex.
§ Fundraising for All Saint's Chapel: We are in the process of replacing the roof for All Saint's Chapel. In recent years its age has started to show where shingles are missing and some leakage is occurring. Our hope is that funding will be available from a private foundation but nothing is guaranteed especially if the funding will be available this year. Would you be interested in contributing towards this project? We are looking to start work on this project before winter before more damage occurs. If funding does come from the foundation your donations will be dedicated to other maintenance items at the chapel and St. Hubertus Hall. Feel free to make donations in the offering plate, noting “Roof” in the memo, or contact our main office at office@gracesheboygan.com. Thank you so much for your generosity.
§ Community Prayer Summit: Praying together, loving our neighbors Monday, September 28, 2015 beginning at 5:30pm with registration and fellowship continuing from 6:00-8:00pm with prayer. Southside Alliance Church, 4321 County Road A, Sheboygan. The evening will feature John Kieffer, Wisconsin State Facilitator of City/Community Ministries. All church leaders, congregational members and interested community members are encouraged to come and be a part of this intentional prayer time. This event is organized by Love INC. Register now at: www.evenbrite.com search: Community Prayer Summit.
§ Like Grace Church on Facebook
§ Follow Grace Church on Twitter: @GEC_Sheboygan
§ We Are on Itunes! Check out the new podcast!!!
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