Grace
Episcopal Church
Sheboygan,
Wisconsin
Grace
Notes
17 September 2015
In identifying
Himself at the Good Shepherd, Jesus tells us that He has come that we might
have life abundantly (Jn. 10.10-11).
Translating this teaching into our everyday life as those who follow Our
Lord means that when we cannot be joyful this is a time to question ourselves,
not God’s promise.
In his 2013
apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis I addresses the issue of what is known in theology as acedia, spiritual
“dryness,” that state in which we can take no joy, in which we feel God is not
present.
In extremity dryness become sloth, and thus
sinful. A less advanced form of this
condition is, however, indifference. In
Francis’ words:
[T]he biggest
threat of all gradually takes shape: “the gray pragmatism of the daily life of
the Church, in which all appears to proceed normally, while in reality faith is
wearing down and degenerating into small-mindedness.” A tomb psychology thus
develops and slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a museum.
Disillusioned with reality, with the Church and with themselves, they
experience a constant temptation to cling to a faint melancholy, lacking in
hope, which seizes the heart like “the most precious of the devil’s potions.”
Francis is
direct because the threat is direct. Few
consciously rebel against God; more become indifferent, and even as members of
a worshiping congregation can come to view faith as a sort of pointless
“whatever”. The life of faith can become
diminished and “... undertaken badly, without adequate motivation, without a
spirituality which would permeate it and make it pleasurable.” Consequently,
our work as culture makers and redeemers results not in the “content and happy
tiredness” of work done well but “a tense, burdensome, dissatisfying and, in
the end, unbearable fatigue.”
The work of
faith is never done, but when we are not renewed we fall in danger of wanting
faith on our terms, not on God’s, and so we come to view faith through the lens
of consumerism, of “What’s in it for me?”
But when we focus on our risen Lord’s Presence in our midst, on the life
giving Presence of the Holy Spirit, and on the constant renewal of Creation by
the Father, it is then that we can better experience joy regardless of life
circumstance, and regardless of the work that is set before us.
In this season
of newness in the parish—new education programs, new outreach and evangelism,
new communication, new works in service of God’s people—be renewed. Take joy!
Show joy!
Grace
abounds: Please thank:
§
The
Burg and Whitford families for the Sunday coffee hour.
§
Pat
Ford Smith for help in the office.
Music
this Week: The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost,
Proper 20B
“Mass in
the Grass” and picnic, Deland Park Center
Prelude Winds of
Worship Flute Choir
Entrance Hymn 390 “Praise to the Lord, the
Almighty” Lobe den Herren
Mass Setting Deutsche Messe Franz Schubert, arr. Proulx
Offertory Music Winds of Worship Flute
Choir
Comm. Hymn 482 “Lord of all hopefulness” Slane
Closing Hymn 473 “Lift high the Cross” Crucifer
Postlude Chorale Joseph
Jongen
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
Notices
§ Sunday
School registration: Yea,
it’s time for Sunday School to begin! The teachers have missed those
familiar faces and are looking forward to some new ones, too. If you missed
registration, just come to the class and we can start the appropriate
process. 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!
o
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 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 first class, on the 29th
will begin immediately following St. Michael and All Angels Solemn Mass. 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.
§ 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.
§ 25th
Annual Coats for Kids: is a community service
campaign that over that last 24 years the community has donated 20,000 coats to
those in need. 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, Tuesday, September 1st – Thursday, October
22nd, Monday–Friday 8:30am–4:00 pm. Distribution Location: Salvation
Army, 710 Pennsylvania Ave. Sheboygan, Friday, October 23rd, from
1:00 – 7:00pm.
§ 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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