Grace Notes

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

A Laughing Matter?

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

14 August 2013

[Grace Notes publishes a day early this week.] God is transcendent and God is immanent. These two realities are not separated. God is both transcendent (above us) and immanent (one with us). If we think of ourselves as being in a swimming pool, God stands above us on the diving board, but He also dives in. “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us ...” (Jn. 1.14). The almighty Creator of all also comes to us.

As humans we want to make God more like us, because this makes Him more comfortable. And yet God remains the transcendent God. God’s “human” qualities, in fact, include the “image and likeness” in which we are created (Gen. 1.26), and perhaps we can see this best in something that we think of as uniquely human: laughter.

God laughs, and we laugh. The Bible describes God as laughing at Ps. 2.4 and Ps. 37.14. We are described as laughing both at Ecclesiastes 3.4 and at Psalm 126.2. We can conclude that Jesus—fully God and fully human—especially laughs. But what does God laugh at? In the psalms He is described as laughing at human folly (the folly of wickedness). We certainly laugh (for example) when a self-important snob slips on a banana peel. In other words, when that-which-is-not-godly (e.g., pride) is exposed it is seen to be absurd, and whatever draws us away from God is exposed as a sort of cosmic bad joke—the type of joke that may produce laughter but is far from funny, producing a laughter of discomfort.

The psychology of laughter (gelotology) and the philosophy of laughter (notably in Schopenauer and Bergson) both focus on contrast, on the contrast between that which is inflexible and that which is flexible (e.g., between the self-importance of the snob and the happenstance which produces his fall). These insights allow us to glimpse a little of the contrast between that which is godly and that which is not. Godliness and holiness are flexible in that they involve growth, cosmic movement, creation. God is alive. Evil is negation only; it is a rigid “no” to all that God calls us to be, and it is in this contrast that we see the laughter of God “at the wicked, because he sees that their day will come” (Ps. 37.14). God sees what will be—what will grow and flourish by His will—and knows the smallness, the negation, the rigid “no” of evil to be absurd and worthy of contempt.

God is alive, and faith must be. God sees what will come for the wicked because He is outside of time—past, present and future are all the same for Him. He sees the growth He wills and knows that what the wicked will results in a grand total of nothing. Hence, the laughter. But the laughter is coupled with love. God is not laughing at us when we fail. He laughs, and we laugh, in the joy of new life and growth, of triumph over evil.

Grace Abounds: Please thank Dale and Mary Massey for the coffee hour this past Sunday.

Faith Alive: Children Friday – Sunday (Sept. 20-22)

Children are included in Faith Alive. Jesus does tell us to bring the little children to him. We have two visitors committed to this Children’s Ministry coming to work with Pat Ford-Smith. It’s a wonderful gift that God gives some, the ability to minister to children when their minds are unencumbered & open. It's a precious time not to waste. Sometimes God even uses these children to reach their parents. May God bless these efforts.

Being the Body: On Saturday, 17 August, we reconvene from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. We are in the middle of our discipleship program, now focused on how we act to be the Body of our Lord. We will welcome The Rev. Dr. Marie T. Gray, Priest-in-Charge of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Plymouth. She will be leading a session on how a rule of life, and on how we may follow the pattern of study in prayer, immersing ourselves in Scripture and in the Benedictine understandings of silence, study, meditation, prayer, and contemplation to live into our vocation as members of Christ’ Body.

Episcopal Youth Community:

Music this week:

Prelude Chorale Preludes on O God, thou faithful God Max Reger and

Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Entrance Hymn 544 “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun” Duke Street

Offertory Hymn 366 “Holy God, we praise thy Name” Grosser Gott

Comm. Hymn 419 “Lord of all being, throned afar” Mendon

Closing Hymn 655 “O Jesus, I have promised” Nyland

Postlude Fantasia in E Flat Johann Pachelbel

Parish Notices

Free upright piano. A piano in playable condition is available. If you are interested contact Gene Wilhelm.

St. Mary the Virgin: Thursday is the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin also known as the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. We will celebrate with a Solemn Mass at 6:00 pm. We will continue the celebration with an All Parish Potluck Dinner. Please join in the fun. If you can stay and help clean up that would be wonderful.

Faith Alive is coming to Grace! On September 20-22 Grace will be hosting a Faith Alive event. Faith Alive is a church retreat for the entire family. Activities from nursery and children services, teens, and adults will provide a unique opportunity to grow closer to God through active sharing of faith stories in circumstances that are designed to not be intimidating but inviting. If you are not comfortable sharing, no one will pressure you and you will gain significant benefits from witnessing or participating. We feel very honored to offer this event to our church family and hope everyone can participate in the entire weekend. Please contact any of the committee members for more information.

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 8^th at 9:00am. Please watch for more information.

Commemoration of Blessed Charles Chapman Grafton is observed as a Feast Day of the Diocese of Fond du Lac at the Cathedral of St. Paul, Fond du Lac. It is included in "Holy Men, Holy Women" by the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music of the Episcopal Church. The Feast Day is August 30th, although the Commemoration liturgy may be translated to another day. The 2013 Commemoration will take place Saturday, August 24th beginning at 2:00pm. at the Cathedral of St. Paul the Apostle, Fond du Lac. For more information and to register go to diofdl.org/grafton.

Education for Ministry: How do I learn to make the Bible stories become my stories? How do I learn how God wants to bless me with more than I can imagine? Join an EfM (Education for Ministry) group that is starting on Tuesday, September 9th. The 9:00-11:45 am group will meet at St. Paul’s in Plymouth. A 6:00-8:45 pm group is also forming with starting date and place to be determined. Scholarships are available, so don’t let the cost of $350 for this college credited class, stop you from joining. This year starts the use of all new materials and textbooks, so anyone who has taken any of the classes before can repeat them. Registrations are due by August 10^th so materials can be received before the first class. Contact Barb Drewry-Zimmerman at bzimmy@excel.net or 920-893-5189 for registration materials.

If you have a desire to help: The Salvation Army Red Shield Free Clinic needs you!! Of urgent need are on site medical professionals- Doctors, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses. If that's not you, but you have great people skills, we are also looking for volunteers to help patients with paperwork and in the evangelism area. Clinics are open every Thursday evening, two Monday evenings and two Thursday mornings each month. Volunteer commitment is typically three hours each at each session. Please consider this opportunity to help your community. Contact Pam Sandee, Clinic Coordinator at 694-1262 if this is for you!

Bishop Search: For all information concerning the search for the eighth Bishop of Fond du Lac please go to bishopsearch.info.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Proper Focus

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

8 August 2013

It can be dangerous and depressing to troll through the blogosphere as it relates to the Anglican expression of the Christian faith. Examples abound of statements of belief or of practice that cause one to pause and ask, “And how is this an expression of the faith-once-delivered? How does this proclaim the Good News of God in Christ Jesus?” Rarely, however, are those things we might question motivated by evil intention; the issue is misplaced focus.

Misplaced focus is evident in the recent “Seusscharist” held at St. George’s Anglican Church in Guelph, Ontario, in which the Sunday worship was observed using a liturgy in which characters from Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat acted out worship. (This is not a joke!) See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7rIbNCJGpI . As observed by St. George’s rector: “The intention of this service is to create an experience for children and give them the language to make sense of that experience. So that's why we're doing the Dr. Seuss Eucharist.” Compare this experience to what we have practiced at Grace, in which the youngest children have gathered around the altar during a solemn celebration of the holy mysteries. They appear to have “made sense” of the experience, in that they were focused. They knew something important was happening.

When we seek “relevance” only, our focus is only on the immanence of God—that God is very much with us. And yet we cannot forget the transcendence of God—that He is above us. This past Tuesday we celebrated the feast of the Transfiguration, the revelation of Jesus’ glory (Mtt. 17.1-8; Mark 9.2-8; Luke 9.28-36). The same Jesus who has been with His disciples, who has traveled and lived and eaten with them, is the same Jesus who appears on the mountain top, His face shining like the sun, accompanied by Moses and Elijah, and the voice of His Father which says, “This is my Son, my Beloved; listen to him!” The man who has been accessible and “relevant” to His disciples is revealed as the God who is far beyond them.

And yet this “beyond,” transcendent God comes to the disciples, and to us! A focus like that in the “Seusscharist” is one in which we try to make God more like ourselves, and forget that He calls us to be more like Him—that He calls us and equips us; that He pays the price of our redemption. Let our focus ever remain on all that is holy.

Grace Abounds: Please thank Zack and Dee Whitford for the coffee hour this past Sunday.

Faith Alive: Faith Alive: “Follow Up” Friday – Sunday (Sept. 20-22)

What happens after Faith Alive? We’ll have a meeting for those who participated in the weekend….those who want to reflect on what happened, & where they want to go or what they want to do next. Faith Alive doesn’t have any program they are pushing. But typically some people may want to meet in small groups to pray & study the Bible. Some may feel that God is leading them to some new outreach project or to join something that is already going. Bob Hanlon has a committee that is working on facilitating this meeting, & the Prayer Committee will be praying that we will hear the Holy Spirit & carry through.

Episcopal Youth Community: Inspiration Hello everyone, grace and peace. This week I struggled greatly finding something to write. Lately my submissions have been revelations I've encountered either recently, or recently became revealed to me in a new way; or simple informational posts regarding some activity or other. This week I didn't have anything. I looked and waited, and found interesting things online, but nothing seemed to stand out as the thing I should share with you.

And then last night (tonight as I write this) I had an epiphany: my uninspired brain was in fact the inspiration I was waiting for. After I let my brain melt out of my ears for a little while from the surprise and suddenness of this thought (and after I quoted the movie 'Hook' to myself), I began to think about it. I spent my whole week waiting for something to happen, and finally in the absence of what I was looking for I found my answer.

There is a story in the bible that I want to share with you. It's from 1Kings 19:11-13:

"¹¹[The Lord] said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹²and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave."

Elijah is the man experiencing all of this chaos. But it is not in the chaos that God reveals himself. Instead, it is in the sheer silence that he speaks to Elijah. Wind, fire, and earthquakes are frightening forces that ought not be reckoned with, and we don't know how long Elijah was up there waiting for God to show up. It seems to me that it would have taken a bit longer than the line at the DMV. We expect God to stand out when being revealed. Something like a choir of angels, bright lights, glitz and glamor and trumpets blaring. Instead when the chaos around us (or of our minds) settles down, and we can hear the silence, we have a better chance to hear God in that moment of our day than when we are facing the winds, fires, and earthquakes of our day to day lives.

I feel now that I have been shown this in as mundane a way as only God can manage, that I feel a little bit like Daniel learning from Mr. Miyagi (from 'The Karate Kid') that by doing all of the chores for a week, I have laid the groundwork to begin my training without even knowing it.

May you find God's voice in the absences. May you find God's will in prayers that seem to go unanswered. May you find that God is present even in the sheer silence, whether because we have found a quiet place or because we have nothing left to say.

Here are youtube links to the two movie clips I referenced:

"Hook" (only the first 20 seconds) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsB2KGaX6bg

"The Karate Kid" (mild language) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K24jL-06H0

―Nick

Music this week:

Prelude Prelude on ‘Song 46’ Leo Sowerby

Entrance Hymn 637 “How firm a foundation” Lyons

Offertory Hymn 680 “O God our help in ages past” St. Anne

Communion Hymn 328 “Draw nigh and take” Song 46

Closing Hymn 436 “Lift up your heads” Truro

Postlude Chorale Prelude on St. Anne C. Hubert H. Parry

Parish Notices

Free upright piano. A piano in playable condition is available. If you are interested contact Gene Wilhelm.

St. Mary the Virgin: Thursday, August 15, 2013 is the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin also known as the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. We will celebrate with a Solemn Mass at 6:00 pm. We will continue the celebration with an All Parish Potluck Dinner. Please bring a dish to pass and join in the fun. There is a sign-up sheet on the table in the Narthex.

Being the Body: The second block of the Being the Body program will continue on Saturday, August 17^th. We will welcome Mother Marie Gray as the presenter. Being the Body involves an examination and experience of knowing (who God is and what His will is for us), being (experiencing and living who we are called to be as Jesus’ Body), and doing (doing God’s will as His people, and each as His son or daughter).

Faith Alive is a church retreat! On September 20-22 Grace will be hosting a Faith Alive event. Faith Alive is a church retreat held in the comfort of our own church and city. Witnesses, who are fellow Episcopalians, will be travelling here from around the country at their own expense to lead impactful activities and discussions to bring us to a greater understanding and appreciation of our relationship to God and the power of his love. We hope to have everyone at Grace participate and come closer as a church family and will be supporting this through activities for all age groups from nursery to adulthood consistently throughout the weekend.

The Commemoration of Blessed Charles Chapman Grafton is observed as a Feast Day of the Diocese of Fond du Lac at the Cathedral of St. Paul, Fond du Lac. It is included in "Holy Men, Holy Women" by the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music of the Episcopal Church. The Feast Day is August 30th, although the Commemoration liturgy may be translated to another day. The 2012 Commemoration will take place Saturday, August 24th at the Cathedral of St. Paul the Apostle, Fond du Lac. For more information and to register go to diofdl.org/grafton.

Summer Lunch Volunteers Needed: By day two, Sheboygan County Interfaith Organization’s summer lunch program had already served over 900 children in four Sheboygan Elementary Schools. They are in desperate need of volunteers to help as there are an additional 300 children who could benefit from the lunch program. They are looking primarily for individuals and families to help distribute lunches at the schools during the lunch hour from 11:15 – 12:30pm. June 24^ththrough August 15^th. You can register at the volunteer center website, which is: www.volunteersheboygan.com or please call Kristin Blanchard at 920-457-7272 x 12 or email www.sheboygancountyinterfaith.org if you are interested in helping.

Bishop Search: For all information concerning the search for the eighth Bishop of Fond du Lac please go to bishopsearch.info.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Dialogue Centered in Love

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

1 Aug 2013

In the catechism found in our prayer book, we are instructed that Scripture is the Word of God “... because God inspired [the] human authors and because God still speaks through the Bible.” The question becomes how we hear this Word, and in this we find two diametrically opposed approaches in Anglican Christianity. Remember, this is within an Anglican prayer book understanding, and so these opposed approaches are not what might otherwise be characterized as biblical literalism (a Fundamentalist perspective) or mere literary criticism. The approaches may, rather, be characterized with reference to two verses found within Scripture, Jude 3 and John 16.13.

At Jude 3 the apostle writes that he is instructing regarding “the faith which was once delivered for all to the saints.” The “Jude 3 perspective” is one in which God has revealed Himself and His will for us to us. The boundaries of our discipleship and conduct are specified, and cannot change from how they are specified in Scripture.

At John 16.13, Jesus reveals that the Holy Spirit “... will guide you into all the truth. The “John 16.13 perspective” is one in which revelation is an ongoing process, and God can take us in a direction which is new, even when this newness is defined by being different from what has been revealed in Scripture.

The two approaches are not really compatible, and so many in the Church talk past each other, using the same words but understanding these words to mean different things. But—and this is a really crucial qualifier—this difference in our understanding of God’s will doesn’t really matter when all concerned remain Christ-centered. It matters, and is destructive, when we focus on an agenda (our own) or an issue (i.e., with each other). When we are centered on the presence of our risen Lord in our midst; when we abide in Him as He abides in us in the blessed sacrament of His Body and Blood, then our differences become secondary at best, and if I disagree with your understanding of the faith, I can still recognize you to be one who seeks to know, and love and serve the Lord. Let all dialogue be centered in this love.

Grace Abounds: Please thank Jennifer Pawlus and Jack Britton for providing coffee hour this week. We had a good turnout for clean-up, including: Ellen Aparicio, Paul Aparicio, Jack Britton, Sutton Cecil, Tom and Ben Crouse, John Davis, Ben Dobey, Scott Gedemer,Bobbi and Kaleigh Kraft, Steve Larson, Dale Massey, Bill Munns, Mary Ann Neuses, Pat Sather and Elizabeth Schaffenburg.

Faith Alive:

Faith Alive: “More About the Visitors” Friday – Sunday (Sept. 20-22)

A quick look at the visitors being initially invited reveals that we have 2 adults & a teenager from Wisconsin, 2 college students from Illinois, 2 adults from MI across the Big Lake, 4 adults from Indiana, 2 adults & a teenager from Ohio, 2 adults from West Virginia, & 2 couples both from far away, Florida & Colorado. Two are children’s coordinators, at least one a musician, a youth leader, and the two teenagers & college students to work with youth. Wow; this is going to be an impressive investment of time & effort.

John

Episcopal Youth Community:

Grace and peace to you.

Who wants to ride the roller-coasters? Or bash each other up on the bumper cars? Or maybe go to the water park, and get totally soaked (any hopefully not sun burned)?

This Tuesday (8-6-13) our Diocese is hosting the annual Diocesan Day at Six Flags Great America, and I wanted to make sure you were directly invited to join in.

There is a bus that will be leaving from Neenah at 6:30 am and returning at 11:00 pm. The bus will make a pick up/drop off stop in Fond du Lac also for anyone who would find that convenient. Otherwise we can drive ourselves.
The cost of tickets at the group rate is $40 with the bus and $32 without the bus. If you would like to go, but cost is an issue, please contact me, and we will try to make arrangements.

Here is the link for info and to buy tickets: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e7qtqnsg95a116a6&oseq=&c=&ch=

And here is the link to the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/650490624980220/?ref=22

If you can let me know if you have any interest or questions so I know who might be going along, and we can go from there!

Thanks,

Nick

Music this week:

Proper 13 C

August 4, 2013

Prelude Cantabile Joseph Jongen

Entrance Hymn 408 “Sing praise to God, who reigns above” Mit Freuden zart

Offertory Hymn 594 “God of grace and God of glory” Cwm Rhondda

Communion Hymn 302 “Father, we thank thee who hast planted” Rendez a Dieu

Closing Hymn 555 “Lead on, O King eternal” Lancashire

Postlude Prelude and Fugue in C Johann Krieger

Parish Notices

Transfiguration of Our Lord: On Tuesday, August 6^th at 6:00pm we will celebrate The Transfiguration of Our Lord with a Solemn Mass. Please plan on worshiping with the Grace Church family and meeting with Jesus as his glory is revealed on the mountain top.

Bishop Search: For all information concerning the search for the eighth Bishop of Fond du Lac please go to bishopsearch.info.

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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

A Laughing Matter?

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Proper Focus

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Dialogue Centered in Love