Grace
Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Grace
Notes
3 March 2016
It is not every day that one gets to hear
Nahuatl (also known as Aztec) spoken, particularly in a parish church in
Wisconsin, but this past Sunday a couple seeking help came to the church. I spoke with the woman, who spoke with me in English
mixed with Spanish, but who communicated with her husband in Nahuatl, the
language of about 1.5 million people living in central Mexico. Modern Nahuatl is not the same language as
that spoken in New Spain following the 16th century conquest of
Mexico, but on returning to those earlier language roots one finds that a
principal challenge faced in matters of faith was how to translate between a
language like Spanish and one like Nahuatl.
The solution reached was what is known in
linguistics as “calquing,” loan translation.
And so we find the following examples (rendered here in English) used in
early manuals instructing in the faith:
Word Nahuatl equivalent
Miracle tlamahuiçolli = that which is
marveled at
Chapel teo-cal-tzin = god-house-littleQueen of Heaven Ilhuica-c Cihua-pilli in-sky woman-noble
Why is any of this of any interest? How does this relate to our faith? As a parish rector, I was certainly flattered
to be referred to as the teo-cal-tlatoani (god-house-ruler), but what is striking
about loan translation relates to how we must be able to do this in
communicating the faith to those around us who do not know it.
When you are seeking to share the faith with
a 21st century, English-speaking, unchurched American, if you just
refer to a “miracle” your listener might:
a) Dismiss what you are talking about as private experience only, i.e., having no application to his or
her life; or b) Dismiss the subject, because he/she listens with a mind attuned
to dismiss that which cannot be proven by science as irrational. (Other possibilities exist.) In referring to the “Church” what are the
chances that you will be understood to be referring not just to an institution,
a gathering of people, even a place, but also to a place where God is
present? To reach your listener you must
be able to share something that can be related to his or her own
experience. How will you do this? Miracles may be dismissed as “irrational,” but people deeply want to be touched by something outside of themselves that they can’t just “explain”. Communicating the experience of wonder starts to act as a “loan word,” as does sharing how in gathering with other believers you experience a connection with something (really Someone!) timeless and yet intimate, just like love. Sharing the experience of being loved can be a beginning to sharing Jesus’ fulfillment of all of God’s promises (or, in classical Nahuatl “in oc achtopa itotiyaque in prophetas … that which the prophets have foretold”—and notice the borrowed Spanish word for prophets!)
Grace
abounds: Please thank:
§ Wayne and Pat Sather, and Ed and Mary Clabots for the Sunday
coffee hours.§ John Davis for emergency plumbing repairs.
§ Ellen Aparicio, for providing the Friday night Lenten meal, with cleanup help from
Michelle Abrashinsky, Julie Davison, and Jennifer Pawlus.
§ Bobbie May for work in the parish library.
§ Dale and Mary Massey, Sutton Cecil, and Pat Ford Smith, for providing the meal to break the fast of
the 30 Hour Famine of the diocesan youth.
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.
Music
this Week: The Fourth Sunday in Lent
Prelude Three
Elevations Boellmann
Introit Rejoice,
Jerusalem Plainsong
Kyrie Missa ‘Alme Pater’ Plainsong
Offertory Hymn 690 “Guide me, O thou great Jehovah” Cwm
Rhondda
Sanctus,
Benedictus &
Agnus
Dei Gregorian Mass X Plainsong, adapt. Wildman
Communion Motet O, for a closer walk with God Stanford
Communion Hymn 470 “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy” Beecher
Closing Hymn 411 “O bless the Lord, my
soul” St.
Thomas (Williams)
Postlude Prelude & Fugue in G Minor” J. S. Bach
Parish
Notices
§
Music
Ministry Surveys: Our
beloved music minister, Dr. R. Benjamin Dobey, will retire effective 1
August. A Music Committee has been formed to consider how to plan for this
transition. This coming Sunday, 6 March, and on 13 March,
the committee will hold listening and feedback sessions in St. Nicholas Hall
from 9 to 10 am. The purpose of these sessions is to hear from you
about what is important to you in music ministry, and in how the music ministry
of this church supports the mission of the church. Please plan to
participate, so that we can have the broadest input.
§
Stations of the Cross and Simple Suppers: We
will continue this program on Friday, March 11th meeting at 5:15
p.m. for a prelude of Lenten organ music followed at 5:30 p.m. with Stations of
the Cross. Afterwards a simple supper will be hosted in the parish hall with a
presentation by the pilgrims who went to the Land of the Holy One. Please sign
up on the sheets in the Narthex so we will know how much food needs to be
prepared.
§ Scout
Appreciation "Pancake Breakfast": Sunday March 13th
Please mark your calendars to stay a few minutes, after each service, to savor
a down home Pancake Breakfast. Scouts will supply all the know-how for the
event. As an added bonus, Maple Syrup will be supplied by the Drewry Farms of
Plymouth. This award winning Maple Syrup is served at all the major restaurants
in the area and beyond. The Scouts will also have available Maple Syrup gift
assortments.
§ Easter
Flowers and Music:
Please donate for Easter Flowers and Music. We enjoy the Beauty of Holiness in
both the flowers that adorn the church and the special music which includes
brass at the Easter Vigil and strings at the Solemn Mass on Easter morning.
Please be generous at you are able. Please call the office or fill out a slip
to indication your wish for memorials and/or thanksgivings. The deadline is Monday, March 21st
at noon.
§ Easter
Vigil Dinner: The first Mass of the Resurrection is on
Saturday, March 26, at 7:00 p.m. The Easter celebration then continues at
Trattoria Stefano, 522 South 8th Street, at 9:30 p.m. The actual
cost of the meal is a gift to the parish, so you not only get a delicious meal
but you help the church by purchasing a ticket for the dinner. Tickets can be
bought in the parish office or in the narthex after mass for $50 a person.
Everyone is invited, but seats are limited. There are scholarships for anyone
wishing to attend but are unable to donate.
§
First Communion Lessons: Pat Ford Smith will be providing
Communion Lessons during the month of April in preparation for the Bishop's
visit on Sunday May 1st, 2016. If you or your child are interested,
please contact the office to sign up. Dates have been set for each
Thursday in April (April 7, 14, 21 & 28), times are still being determined.
§
Sunday School Snacks: Ms. Nicci and Ms. Andrea's Sunday
school classes are in need of donated non-perishable snacks. Each class consists of a prayer
around our classroom altar followed by snack and craft time. Having snacks to offer during this
time is a wonderful opportunity for the classmates to serve each other and come
together in fellowship. It would be
wonderful if anyone who is willing could place non-perishable snack options
such as applesauce, goldfish cracker bags, fruit cups, as well as juice boxes,
in our craft room to replenish our supply. Thank you!
§
Horvats in Hrvatska: Their most recent newsletter, which
includes their prayer requests, has been posted on the notice board in the
Narthex. Additional copies can be found on the table in the Narthex.
§
SCIO
Program Top 3 In-Kind Needs: SCIO is in need of (1) Spaghetti sauce,
chicken/vegetable broth, (2) Tampons, Conditioner, and (3) Pledge, Windex,
bathroom cleaner. SCIO is a spiritually
based organization of faith communities in Sheboygan County. If you would like
to learn more about SCIO, please see the brochure on the noticed board in the
Narthex.
§
Something
Extra for Grace: Envelopes are available in the pews if you are
moved to give an extra gift, beyond your pledge or regular plate donation,
toward the life of the church. Gifts are
tax deductible if you write your name on the envelope.
§ Like Grace Church on
Facebook
§
Follow Grace Church on Twitter: @GEC_Sheboygan
§
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