A Beauty Contest

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

28 February 2013

Even when people know each other very well (e.g., in marriage) it is possible that you can find yourself having a conversation with someone only to find that the person you are talking with is having a different conversation in his or her own mind.  People can “talk past each other”.  This reality is a real danger in our conversation—our testimony—about faith, with the world around us.  Are we engaged in argument, in apologetics, to convince others of the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ?  If so, we may find that the argument doesn’t address the issue that is in the mind of the listener, because he or she doesn’t think himself or herself in need of a savior.  Many people do not think of the world as fallen (despite ample evidence).

If our proclamation of the Good News by word often falls on ears that don’t seek any news at all, consider that we also promise at baptism that we will proclaim God’s Good News in action, by example.  What this means is that we often have to refocus from a model of winning an argument to one of winning a beauty contest.

What does this “beauty contest” look like?  What is on-show is no more and no less than the difference made in your own life by your practice of your faith.  At 1 Pet. 3.15 the apostle writes, “Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you ...”  This justly famous teaching is thought, in general, to enjoin that we have to understand our faith so that we can convince others of its truth.  This is a valid understanding, but it is a partial one, for in making a defense of the hope that is within us, we make this defense every day among those who watch us.  In watching us they are (in their own minds) calling us to account.  They are watching to see if the faith that we profess is a faith that is lived, and if this faith that is lived changes us, and how.

So, how does the scoring work in such a beauty contest?  You will be rated on a scale in which the observer looks for a positive correlation between your faithfulness in worship, in prayer, in giving—in all the outward marks of faith—with how you profess yourself to view the world.  We can all think of people who go to church and yet are notorious in how they treat others, but what about those who go to church and are known to be those who “go the extra mile” to help?  What about those who are known to be kind and generous?  When we are seen to live as people who others want to emulate, and are known to be followers of Christ, then we testify in the way that St. Tertullian recorded, when he quotes pagan skeptics saying of the Christians, “See how they love one another.”  The pagan world around Tertullian became a Christian society because of the testimony of those who “loved each other”.  We face the same task in conversion and evangelism.

Lenten Discipline:  If you have fallen out of the habit of Church-going, this is a great time of the year to refocus on worship and devotion.  It is all to easy to slide into complacency, and there are certainly other things that compete for time and energy, but we should always offer to God our first and our best efforts.  The last Sunday of the Epiphany Season, standing with Jesus on Mount Tabor in His full glory showed us clearly that we cannot stand still.  We cannot rest.  We might wish to stay on the mountain, but we are bidden to make the walk to Calvary with our Lord.

Grace Abounds:  Please thank Bobbi and Kaleigh Kraft for hosting the lenten supper last Friday. 

Please take the opportunity to notify the office of any member or friend of the parish to whom we owe thanks, in order that we can publicize this in the weekly newsletter.

A Swell Project:  A swell engine (a device which controls the volume of sound) in the organ needs to be replaced.  The approximate cost if $3,500, and this amount is not included in the 2013 budget.  Our goal is to raise the necessary funds, to allow for installation of the device prior to Holy Week, and the clergy and Vestry are leading the way in donations.  Update:  More than $1,200 has been raised!  If you wish to contribute to this project, please contact the parish office.

Episcopal Youth Community:  We had a great Youth Group meeting last week, and we did it in a different way. We met at the lunch hour leaving directly from church, and we went over to Paradigm coffee shop. There it was, while eating delicious sandwiches and coffee of varying sorts, that we talked about ourselves; the churches we've been at, the way we are involved, and what it means to us to be in a church. In a very real way we had a group testimony session, and it was really good to hear everyone's take on who they are in  the church and what the church means to them. I hope we can continue this conversation in the next few weeks. Thank you.

―Nick

Adult Christian Education:  Adult Education meets on Sundays at 9 a.m., in St. Nicholas Hall.  On 17 February we will begin a Lenten series of sharing our faith, on Christian Testimony.  The theology of this intersection between witness, evangelism and fellowship will introduced by Fr. John Ambelang, followed by a example of testimony by Fr. Schaffenburg, and the opportunity for small group discussions.  Throughout Lent we will hear the witness to faith from the leadership of the parish.

Lenten Friday program:  On Fridays we will gather for Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m., followed by a simple supper and a program in Christian testimony, in St. Nicholas Hall.  Featured speakers will be:

1 March           Mthr. Marie Gray, Priest in Charge, St. Paul’s E. C., Plymouth

8 March           Pastor Bill TeWinkel, Hope Reformed Church, Sheboygan

15 March         Pastor Ric Olson, St. Luke United Methodist Church, Sheboygan

22 March         Pastor Todd Smith, First United Luther C. (E.L.C.A.), Sheboygan
      We have guests.  Please come to listen to them, and to share in fellowship.  We need, as well, hosts/cooks for meals.

Being the Body:  Don’t forget!  Being the Body (Knowing, Being, Doing)—our discipleship program—will gather again on this Saturday, 2 March (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)  We will finish up our “knowing” trimester with a program led by Bp. Edward L. Salmon, retired Bishop of South Carolina and President and Dean of Nashotah House, who will speak on our identity as Anglican Christians, and the unique gifsta an challenges associated with being an Anglican.

Music this week:

Prelude                        Meditation on ‘O God, unseen yet ever near’             Sowerby

Introit                          My eyes are ever looking toward the Lord                  Plainsong

Offertory Hymn 401   “The God of Abraham praise”                                    Leoni

Communion Motet      O God, unseen yet ever near                                       Gower

Comm. Hymn 684      “O for a closer walk with God”                                  Caithness

Closing Hymn 344      “Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing”                          Sicilian Mariners

Postlude                      Prelude & Fugue in G Minor                                      Fischer

Parish Notices

Scout Appreciation "Pancake Breakfast": Sunday, March 3^rd after each service, please stay to savor a down home Pancake Breakfast. The Boy 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.

Adult Christian Education in Lent: In Lent our Sunday morning Adult Education program will focus on Christian Testimony. We have heard from Deacon Mike Burg, Deacon Michele Whitford and the Senior Warden Bobbi Kraft. Come and join in the fun and listen to more faith stories. We will hear each week from members of the parish leadership team (ordained and lay) about how a person came to be a Christian, and Episcopalian, a member of Grace. We will then have opportunity in small groups to reflect on our own faith journeys and testimonies. We will share by doing it, as we grow in our appreciation of how we are formed by each other. 

Stations of the Cross, Simple Suppers and Teaching:  We will meet each Friday at 5:30 p.m. for Stations of the Cross, followed by a simple supper and Christian formation. Our formation program this year will focus on testimony in faith. How do we share our faith with each other? Lent allows us to focus on how we have separated ourselves from God, but in this context we need to look at how we are separated from each other, when Jesus wills that we be one. (What He says at John 10.16 is not merely a suggestion.) We are blessed that we will be joined each Friday by the pastor of another church in Sheboygan. Each pastor will testify to his own or her own experience of the Christian faith, and what it is about his or her identity in a particular faith tradition (e.g., Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed) that informs their faith and the practice of their faith. We will then have the opportunity to share with each other our own reactions to such testimonies, and to learn how to testify to faith by experiencing the testimony of others.

A Passover Seder Meal: You are Invited to a Passover Seder Meal Wednesday, March 27, 6:30 pm. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Plymouth. “The Passover is the oldest and most important of the Jewish festivals, commemorating God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.  The Passover meal is known as the Seder, which means ‘order’, because the meal and the service are done in a prescribed sequence.  This sequence is presented in the Haggadah (telling) which outlines the steps of the meal as well the readings and the songs for the participants.”  --Dennis Bratcher. Please RSVP by Sunday, March 24 by calling the Grace Church office at 452-9659.

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

The Challenge of the Word

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

21 February 2013

Using the example of my personal Bible, the corpus of Scripture extends for 2012 pages of 10 pt. text.  Having started on the First Sunday in Lent in 2012 (26 February), we are now to the point where there are at least 9 members of this parish who have read all 2012 pages by participating in The Bible Challenge.  They have read all of Scripture, aided (it is to be hoped) by some 96,000 words of outline instruction found on the parish website.  All of this sounds like an awful lot (and it is a major accomplishment), but it works out to about just 6½ pages a day (considering that the reading schedule does not include Sundays).  Even with careful study, the time involved averages about an hour a day, but the gains realized in understanding better who God is and what His will is for us is without measure, for whenever we immerse ourselves in His holy Word, the Word acts in our lives and we are changed.  In the words of one participant, “In reading through all of the Bible, I not only got to ‘connect the dots’ better, but I found all kinds of ‘dots’ and pathways that I didn’t even know exist, and I say this as someone who has been in church every Sunday.”

How can your life be changed by knowing God’s Word?  The Bible Challenge is designed to be user-friendly.  You can start on any Monday of the year, and even if you miss a week, you can restart at any time.  The spiritual discipline to sit and read Scripture every day is something that we can focus on well in Lent, so why not start now?  In a year you will find that you know God better.  You will know His will for you better.  You will find that what God’s Word “means” is what it does in your own life and in the life of the world.

The technical challenges in reading the Bible—issues of the differences between the cultures of biblical times and our own, of differences in languages, etc.—are discussed in the study outline provided with the schedule of readings.  Once you dive into Scripture, you will find that in listening to God’s Word in worship, and in offering your own worship, you will be participating in a more active way in the life of God in the world.  (Full disclosure:  This will change you!)  Ask those who have completed the challenge how this spiritual discipline has changed their own life of faith.  Listen to their testimonies, and then dive in yourself.

Lenten Discipline:  If you have fallen out of the habit of Church-going, this is a great time of the year to refocus on worship and devotion.  It is all to easy to slide into complacency, and there are certainly other things that compete for time and energy, but we should always offer to God our first and our best efforts.  The last Sunday of the Epiphany Season, standing with Jesus on Mount Tabor in His full glory showed us clearly that we cannot stand still.  We cannot rest.  We might wish to stay on the mountain, but we are bidden to make the walk to Calvary with our Lord.

Grace Abounds:  Please thank John Davis for installing a restroom partition in the men’s room; Dcn. Mike Burg for fixing the garbage disposer in the kitchen; and Dcn. Michele Whitford and Jon Whitford for hosting the lenten supper last Friday. 

Please take the opportunity to notify the office of any member or friend of the parish to whom we owe thanks, in order that we can publicize this in the weekly newsletter.

Which Rite in right?  On Sunday, the First Sunday in Lent, we switched to Rite I for our liturgy of Holy Eucharist.  (We will switch back to Rite II at the end of Lent.)  This Rite follows more closely the language patterns of earlier prayer books, and expresses better a theology which focused on how we stand before God (an appropriate focus in Lent!)  No matter how familiar you are with worship at Grace, pay attention to your bulletin.

A Swell Project:  A swell engine (a device which controls the volume of sound) in the organ needs to be replaced.  The approximate cost if $3,500, and this amount is not included in the 2013 budget.  Our goal is to raise the necessary funds, to allow for installation of the device prior to Holy Week, and the clergy and Vestry are leading the way in donations.  Update:  More than $1,200 has been raised!  If you wish to contribute to this project, please contact the parish office.

Bible study will meet this Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

Episcopal Youth Community:  Spending time with our families can be some of the best, and most meaningful times we have with our loved ones. How we do that can take many shapes: Dinner together, a movie, maybe a family night at church, or even a hockey game in Milwaukee. These are things we do in our homes, and things we do together with our families as a larger family in Christ.

I am hoping to have more family events on the calendar, including but not limited to game nights. Even the hockey game is currently under investigation. If you have ideas, or suggestions, please let me know!

Nick

Girl Scout Cookies Are Here!  The Girl Scouts of Grace Church will be hosting a "Delivery Booth" on Sunday, February 24 to deliver cookies.  We will be ready to deliver after the 8 a.m. service through coffee hour after 10:15 a.m.  We will have "extra" cookies for sale, in addition to the pre-ordered boxes.  Cookies are $3.50 per box.  We will be accepting cash or checks made to the Manitou Girl Scout Council. If you are unable to pick-up your cookies or would like to pre-order the "extras," please contact Katy Prange at 920-889-1252 or katyprange@gmail.com.  Thank you for supporting our Girl Scouts!

Adult Christian Education:  Adult Education meets on Sundays at 9 a.m., in St. Nicholas Hall.  On 17 February we will begin a Lenten series of sharing our faith, on Christian Testimony.  The theology of this intersection between witness, evangelism and fellowship will introduced by Fr. John Ambelang, followed by a example of testimony by Fr. Schaffenburg, and the opportunity for small group discussions.  Throughout Lent we will hear the witness to faith from the leadership of the parish.

Lenten Friday program:  On Fridays we will gather for Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m., followed by a simple supper and a program in Christian testimony, in St. Nicholas Hall.  Featured speakers will be:

February 15     Fr. Phil Reifenberg, St. Dominic R.C. Church, Sheboygan

February 22     Pastor Diane Loberger, St. Peter Lutheran Church (E.L.C.A.) Sheboygan

1 March           Mthr. Marie Gray, Priest in Charge, St. Paul’s E. C., Plymouth

8 March           Pastor Bill TeWinkel, Hope Reformed Church, Sheboygan

15 March         Pastor Ric Olson, St. Luke United Methodist Church, Sheboygan

2     2 March         Pastor Todd Smith, First United Luther C. (E.L.C.A.), Sheboygan

We have guests.  Please come to listen to them, and to share in fellowship.  We need, as well, hosts/cooks for meals.

Being the Body:  Don’t forget!  Being the Body (Knowing, Being, Doing)—our discipleship program—will gather again on Saturday, 2 March (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)  We will finish up our “knowing” trimester with a program led by Bp. Edward L. Salmon, retired Bishop of South Carolina and President and Dean of Nashotah House, who will speak on our identity as Anglican Christians, and the unique gifsta an challenges associated with being an Anglican.

Music this week:

Prelude                        Chant chérubique                                                        Tcherepnin

                                    Élévation                                                                     Saint-Saëns

Introit                          Call to remembrance                                                  Plainsong

Mass Setting:              Missa ‘Alme Pater’                                         Plainsong, adapt. Wildman

Offertory Hymn 448   “O love, how deep, how broad, how high”                Deus tuorum militum

Comm. Motet              Dear Lord and Father of Mankind                             Parry

Closing Hymn 142      “Lord, how throughout these forty days”                  St. Flavian

Postlude                      Fantasia & Fugue in C Minor                                     Bach

Parish Notices

Adult Christian Education in Lent: In Lent our Sunday morning Adult Education program will focus on Christian Testimony. We will hear each week from members of the parish leadership team (ordained and lay) about how a person came to be a Christian, and Episcopalian, a member of Grace. We will then have opportunity in small groups to reflect on our own faith journeys and testimonies. We will share by doing it, as we grow in our appreciation of how we are formed by each other.

Girl Scout Cookies Are Here! The Girl Scouts of Grace Church will be hosting a "Delivery Booth" on Sunday, February 24 to deliver cookies.  We will be ready to deliver after the 8 a.m. service through coffee hour after 10:15 a.m.  We will have "extra" cookies for sale, in addition to the pre-ordered boxes.  Cookies are $3.50 per box.  We will be accepting cash or checks made to the Manitou Girl Scout Council. If you are unable to pick-up your cookies or would like to pre-order the "extras" - please contact Katy Prange at 920-889-1252 or katyprange@gmail.com.  Thank you for supporting our Girl Scouts!

Scout Appreciation "Pancake Breakfast":    Sunday, March 3^rd after each service, please stay to savor a down home Pancake Breakfast. The Boy 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. 

Cooking on Friday Evenings in lent: If you are interested in cooking and hosting a dinner on the Fridays during Lent, please sign-up on sheets in the Narthex. Many Fridays are still open. Thank you for your willingness to serve in this manner.

Stations of the Cross, Simple Suppers and Teaching:  We will meet each Friday at 5:30 p.m. for Stations of the Cross, followed by a simple supper and Christian formation. Our formation program this year will focus on testimony in faith. How do we share our faith with each other? Lent allows us to focus on how we have separated ourselves from God, but in this context we need to look at how we are separated from each other, when Jesus wills that we be one. (What He says at John 10.16 is not merely a suggestion.) We are blessed that we will be joined each Friday by the pastor of another church in Sheboygan. Each pastor will testify to his own or her own experience of the Christian faith, and what it is about his or her identity in a particular faith tradition (e.g., Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed) that informs their faith and the practice of their faith. We will then have the opportunity to share with each other our own reactions to such testimonies, and to learn how to testify to faith by experiencing the testimony of others.

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

Sharing Faith and Fellowship

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

14 February 2013

In our Baptismal Covenant we each promise to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ”.  This sounds a little dramatic, but in reality this proclamation can best be made and understood in terms of how we share our own journey to faith and journey in faith.  When we can share how it is that we came to believe, and how we practice our faith, this personal communication can have a profound effect on others, and in most cases such sharing will take place in a one-on-one or small group situation.

Despite the simplicity of sharing faith, it is not something that many of us have a lot of experience in, and so it can seem to be foreign, and maybe even a little bit daunting.  But consider the fact that we are used to sharing—sometimes with perfect strangers—anecdotes and details of family life, where we were raised, what we enjoy in recreation, what bothers us, how our career path has formed ... the list is a long one.  Sharing faith involves nothing more complicated than telling someone else how it is that we came to have a relationship with God, and what this relationship is like.

Some of us grew up in families or environments “that put the ‘fun’ in ‘dysfunctional’,” and so we are more concerned about privacy than about sharing.  But even allowing for such “baggage” we can each speak about how we experience faith now.  In Lent we are going to participate in what this looks like.  On Friday evenings, following a 5:30 liturgy of Stations of the Cross and a simple supper, we will be joined by other pastors in the county, who will testify to how their identity in a particular faith tradition has formed their relationship with God.  This form of witness will be complimented by what we do on Sunday mornings.

Sunday mornings in Lent will feature adult education which is focused on Christian testimony, and on getting to know something about the faith an experience of the spiritual leadership in the parish.  We will begin this on 17 February, following an all day retreat for the Vestry on 16 February.  The retreat (to be led by Dr. Garwood Anderson, Professor of New Testament at Nashotah House) will focus on how the spiritual leadership of the parish is both lay and ordained—on how members of the Vestry have a role far beyond that on management.  Throughout Lent we will hear from the leaders of the parish, about their own identities and faith journeys, and about their vision for what it is that God is calling us to be at Grace.  Join us, to learn about the faith of those around you, to participate in sharing in small group discussions, and to live into the vision which God is articulating for His Church.

Grace Abounds:  Please thank Mary Clabots for collating the results of the spiritual gifts inventories used in the adult education course. 

Please take the opportunity to notify the office of any member or friend of the parish to whom we owe thanks, in order that we can publicize this in the weekly newsletter.

Which Rite in right?  On Sunday, the First Sunday in Lent, we will switch Rite I for our liturgy of Holy Eucharist.  (We will switch back to Rite II at the end of Lent.)  This Rite follows more closely the language patterns of earlier prayer books, and expresses better a theology which focused on how we stand before God (an appropriate focus in Lent!)  No matter how familiar you are with worship at Grace, pay attention to your bulletin.

A Swell Project:  A swell engine (a device which controls the volume of sound) in the organ needs to be replaced.  The approximate cost if $3,500, and this amount is not included in the 2013 budget.  Our goal is to raise the necessary funds, to allow for installation of the device prior to Holy Week, and the clergy and Vestry are leading the way in donations.  Update:  More than $1,200 has been raised!  If you wish to contribute to this project, please contact the parish office.

Bible study will meet this Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

Episcopal Youth Community:  As we enter this season of Lent, I, and many others, enter into a time of self examination. I have decided that the discipline I am starting this Lent is to “stay present” specifically when it pertains to my smart phone. I find that I will check my phone while speaking with someone face to face, just because I felt (or think I felt) a buzz in my pocket. I want to learn to not do that so I can stay in the moment with whomever I am with. I want to be a better steward of my time especially when I am with my family or any of you.

―Yours in Christ, Nick

Adult Christian Education:  Adult Education meets on Sundays at 9 a.m., in St. Nicholas Hall.  On 17 February we will begin a Lenten series of sharing our faith, on Christian Testimony.  The theology of this intersection between witness, evangelism and fellowship will introduced by Fr. John Ambelang, followed by a example of testimony by Fr. Schaffenburg, and the opportunity for small group discussions.  Throughout Lent we will hear the witness to faith from the leadership of the parish.

Lenten Friday program:  On Fridays we will gather for Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m., followed by a simple supper and a program in Christian testimony, in St. Nicholas Hall.  Featured speakers will be:

February 15     Fr. Phil Reifenberg, St. Dominic R.C. Church, Sheboygan

February 22     Pastor Diane Loberger, St. Peter Lutheran Church (E.L.C.A.) Sheboygan

1 March           Mthr. Marie Gray, Priest in Charge, St. Paul’s E. C., Plymouth

8 March           Pastor Bill TeWinkel, Hope Reformed Church, Sheboygan

15 March         Pastor Ric Olson, St. Luke United Methodist Church, Sheboygan

2     2 March         Pastor Todd Smith, First United Luther C. (E.L.C.A.), Sheboygan

We have guests.  Please come to listen to them, and to share in fellowship.  We need, as well, hosts/cooks for meals.

Being the Body:  Don’t forget!  Being the Body (Knowing, Being, Doing)—our discipleship program—will gather again on Saturday, 2 March (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)  We will finish up our “knowing” trimester with a program led by Bp. Edward L. Salmon, retired Bishop of South Carolina and President and Dean of Nashotah House, who will speak on our identity as Anglican Christians, and the unique gifsta an challenges associated with being an Anglican.

Music this week:

Prelude              Psalm Prelude: De profundis (Ps. 130, v.1)                         H. Howells

The Great Litany         (sung in procession)

Offertory Hymn 143   “The glory of these forty days”                                  Erhalt uns, Herr

Communion Motet      Savior, when in dust to thee                                        M. Carr

Comm. Hymn 301      “Bread of the world, in mercy broken”                      Rendez à Dieu

Closing Hymn 150      “Forty days and forty nights”                                     Aus der Tiefe rufe ich

Postlude                      Out of the depths I call to thee                         J. S. Bach

Parish Notices

Adult Christian Education in Lent:  In Lent our Sunday morning Adult Education program will focus on Christian Testimony.  We will hear each week from members of the parish leadership team (ordained and lay) about how a person came to be a Christian, and Episcopalian, a member of Grace.  We will then have opportunity in small groups to reflect on our own faith journeys and testimonies.  We will share by doing it, as we grow in our appreciation of how we are formed by each other.

Cooking on Friday Evenings in lent: If you are interested in cooking and hosting a dinner on the Fridays during Lent, please sign-up on sheets in the Narthex. Most Fridays are open. Thank you for your willingness to serve in this manner.

Stations of the Cross, Simple Suppers and Teaching:  Beginning on the first Friday in Lent (15 February) we will meet each Friday at 5:30 p.m. for Stations of the Cross, followed by a simple supper and Christian formation.  Our formation program this year will focus on testimony in faith.  How do we share our faith with each other? Lent allows us to focus on how we have separated ourselves from God, but in this context we need to look at how we are separated from each other, when Jesus wills that we be one.  (What He says at John 10.16 is not merely a suggestion.)  We will combine an examination of separation with the experience of testimony, and are blessed that we will be joined each Friday by the pastor of another church in Sheboygan.  Each pastor will testify to his own or her own experience of the Christian faith, and what it is about his or her identity in a particular faith tradition (e.g., Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed) that informs their faith and the practice of their faith.  We will then have the opportunity to share with each other our own reactions to such testimonies, and to learn how to testify to faith by experiencing the testimony of others.

Women’s Bible Study: Believing God: Experiencing a Fresh Explosion of Faith - We are starting a women's bible study in February. We will be using "Believing God" a study by Beth Moore The study includes a workbook for individual study five days a week plus meeting together 1 day a week for in-depth discussion based on Isaiah 43:10 that explores what it means not only "to believe in God" but "to believe Him." "Believing God" challenges' women to take God at his word, believe his promises and as a result, live fuller lives. Join us and experience the great blessings this study offers as well as meeting each week with other women who want a deeper walk with God. The class will begin Monday, February 18. We will meet at Grace Church from 1-3 PM. This is a 10 week study. However, the women's Bible class will be a continuing class, as long as there is an interest. Pray and ask God for direction for you as a women of God and if this class might be a fit for you. Child care will be provided.

Songs of the Seasons Choral Concert: You are cordially invited to attend this year’s choral concert of music through the church year. The first concert will be held on Feb. 10 at 1st Congregational Church (310 Bluff Ave.) beginning at 2:00 P.M. accompanied by piano and organ. The second concert will be held at Bethlehem Lutheran Church (12th and Georgia Avenue.) on Feb. 17, also beginning at 2:00 P.M. This concert will be accompanied by orchestral instruments and a hand-bell choir. Directed by Sandra Kasten and accompanied by Bill Born, this concert specializes in unique, east-to-listen-to sacred music sung by a 48-voice choir. A free-will offering will be taken to help defray costs.

Love Bowls: will be held on Sunday, February 17^th from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm in The Commons at Sheboygan South High School -3128 South 12th Street. Love Bowls is a fun, family-oriented event where patrons buy a beautiful bowl for $20 and sample as many soups as they wish. Over 70 local restaurants donate their signature soups. Local talent will entertain throughout the day. All proceeds from Love Bowls stay in Sheboygan County and help defray the cost of meals for our elderly, homebound and disabled neighbors.

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

Of Snow and Masses

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

7 February 2013

During the week of diocesan clergy retreat, with the parish office closed Mon—Thu, and no Masses celebrated on those days, it is a good time to ask ourselves how we do things as a parish.  Do we participate actively, and “own” the ministries, or do we assume that someone else is going to take care of whatever is required?

There are many ministries and people in the parish which and whom we can celebrate.  Our Grace Abounds notes in this newsletter identifies some who serve, but this is not to ignore all of the many ongoing ministries and servants, including ministries like Altar Guild, Choir, Sunday School, Nursery, and those who serve in the community.  But we each need to ask ourselves, how am I participating?

Don’t assume that someone else will “take care” or provide.  Here is an example:  We have had a fair amount of snow and ice recently.  Every time it snows, the sidewalks are cleared and salted.  By whom?  Our parish budget is not paying anyone to come and do this.  It is being done as an offering by one parishioner, who sends employees from his business.  If he were not doing this, we would either have to have a well-run committee of parish volunteers to get it done, or add how much to a parish budget already in deficit?

Just as it is both tempting and comfortable when we are young to allow someone else (usually a parent) take care of the details of life, it is tempting and comfortable in a parish to assume that someone else is taking care of what is required.  Don’t make this assumption, but ask yourself what you are called to do.  This may be an offering in service.  It may be a monetary offering.  Is it acceptable that out of 145 potential giving units in the parish that we have 95 pledges?  Even assuming that there are those in the 50 units who do not pledge who are giving regularly in the offering plate, the number is still shocking.  If the current deficit were divided among 50 units, the giving required to eliminate the deficit would be less than $1 a day!

This is not an easy message to give.  But we each need to ask ourself about how we participate, and about what our participation reflects in faith.  God does not do anything partially, so what is keeping us from participating fully?  If you need more information, ask for it.  We are striving for transparency and “overcommunication”.  If you have concerns, express them.  If there is a ministry or program offering that you desire, let us hear the idea.  As we each participate fully in the life of this Body, the Body will grow.

Grace Abounds:  Please thank Ed Clabots for grounds clean-up. 

Please take the opportunity to notify the office of any member or friend of the parish to whom we owe thanks, in order that we can publicize this in the weekly newsletter.

If you are sick we need to hear from you!  HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) rules apply to hospitals and medical caregivers, but not  to churches.  If you are hospitalized or sick, the hospital will not inform us that you are a patient unless you request them to.  Unless we are informed by you, the hospital (per your request) or a family member of friend, we will not know of your illness and cannot provide pastoral visitation.  If we are contacted, we will, of course, come to see you.  We will also need to know whether or not you will allow us to share the information that you are sick with others in the parish, so that they may pray for you.

Prayer Warrior recruiting:  When we offer the Prayers of the People at a celebration of Mass, people are prayed for under general categories, such as those who are sick.  Many people are uncomfortable sharing the particulars of their prayers needs at a public worship service (although we should feel free so to share, for we are members of the same Body).  Therefore, we wish to recruit people willing to serve in a dedicated prayer chain.  These prayers will be offered in addition to those which are included in the shrine of Our Lady.

If you are a member of the prayer chain, you will be contacted with details of a prayer request(s):  Who to pray for an for what, and for how long the prayers are to continue.

If you are called to this ministry, please contact Dcn. Michele Whitford.

The Bible Challenge:  The reading schedule is now independent of the Sunday lectionary, so as of 1 January you can start any Monday of the year.  If you began in 2012 (I Lent), 2013 will begin at week 50.  Study summaries for all 52 weeks are posted on the parish website (Christian Formation: The Bible Challenge).

A Swell Project:  A swell engine (a device which controls the volume of sound) in the organ needs to be replaced.  The approximate cost if $3,500, and this amount is not included in the 2013 budget.  Our goal is to raise the necessary funds, to allow for installation of the device prior to Holy Week, and the clergy and Vestry are leading the way in donations.  If you wish to contribute to this project, please contact the parish office.

Bible study will not meet this week due to diocesan clergy retreat.

Adult Christian Education:  Adult Education meets on Sundays at 9 a.m., in St. Nicholas Hall.  On 20 January a multi-week course began, facilitated by Dcn. Michele Whitford and Mary Clabots, focused on spiritual gifts—their identification and expression.

Music this week:

Prelude                        Chorale Prelude on O Lamb of God, pure, sinless                  J. S. Bach

Entrance Hymn 7        “Christ, whose glory fills the skies”                                        Ratisbon         

Alleluia (choir)                                                                                                            Plainsong

            Alleluia,

            This is my Son, my Beloved,

               with whom I am well pleased.

            Alleluia.

Offertory Anthem       Christ, whose glory fills the skies                                            T. Frederick Communion Motet            Nunc dimittis in B Flat                                                            C. V. Stanford

Comm. Hymn  137     “O wondrous type! O vision fair”                                          Wareham        

Closing Hymn 122      “Alleluia, song of gladness” (alternate tune)                         Dulce Carmen

Postlude                      Paean on ‘Divinum Mysterium’                                              John Cook

Parish Notices

§  Boy Scout Sunday: Please welcome Troop 801 (formerly Post 1, Troop 1) the first Boy Scout Troop in Wisconsin. They will be worshiping with us at the 10:15 mass on Sunday.

§  Potluck Dinner and Compline: Bring a dish to pass and join us this evening Sunday, February 3^rd at 6:30pm, for a potluck dinner and fellowship. At 8:00pm the Schola Cantorum will sing Compline, a beautiful restful service full of candles and music.

§  Office Closed: Next week Monday through Thursday, February 4-7^th is the Diocesan Clergy Retreat. On those days the office will be closed and there will be no Daily Office or Masses.

§  Rector’s Discretionary Fund: On the first Sunday of the month, any undesignated offering goes to the Rector’s Discretionary Fund which provides for the pastoral emergencies and other unplanned pastoral expenses. During the cold weather months, there is special demand on these funds. Please be generous as you are able.

§  Spiritual Gifts Class: We will continue this week and next with the Spiritual Gifts class. This course will discuss what Spiritual Gifts are, (and what they are not). You will get an assessment tool to do at home. The group will learn a little about each gift and how they can be used. We will discuss how our gifts fit into various ministries at Grace Church. This course is for those who have never considered their Spiritual Gifts as well as those who want to look at how their gifts match the ministries they are in. Please join us in St. Nicholas Hall at 9:00am.

§  Shrove Tuesday Feast before the Fast: Shrove Tuesday is February 12^th we will be having a Potluck dinner following a 5:30pm Mass. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend this festive occasion. There is a sign-up sheet in the Narthex, please indicate a dish to pass and please volunteer to help clean up.

§  Ash Wednesday: February 13^th is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, it is a day of fasting and penitence. We will observe this day with Mass and Imposition of Ashes at 12:10 p.m., and Solemn Mass with Imposition of Ashes at 6:00 p.m. This is a holy day and a wonderful way to begin your Lenten observance.

§  Women’s Bible Study: Believing God: Experiencing a Fresh Explosion of Faith - We are starting a women's bible study in February. We will be using "Believing God" a study by Beth Moore The study includes a workbook for individual study five days a week plus meeting together 1 day a week for in-depth discussion based on Isaiah 43:10 that explores what it means not only "to believe in God" but "to believe Him." "Believing God" challenges' women to take God at his word, believe his promises and as a result, live fuller lives. Join us and experience the great blessings this study offers as well as meeting each week with other women who want a deeper walk with God. The class will begin Monday, February 18. We will meet at Grace Church from 1-3 PM. This is a 10 week study. However, the women's Bible class will be a continuing class, as long as there is an interest. Pray and ask God for direction for you as a women of God and if this class might be a fit for you.

§  Lakeshore Chorale Valentine’s Day Gala! “Isn’t It Romantic” will be held on Thursday, February 14th, 7:00 pm, at Grace Church. Featured will be love songs of “The Great American Song Book” including pieces from “My Fair Lady, “Camelot,” The King and I”, and (of course) “Isn’t It Romantic” by Rogers and Hart! The Chorale will present the first portion of the concert in the church’s nave, then move to the fellowship hall, where the evening continues with a cabaret of solos and ensembles, champagne punch, and an assortment of Valentine sweets and savories. Seating is limited Reserve/ purchase your tickets today! Tickets are $20.00 and are available from Chorale members, at www.lakeshorechorale.org, or by calling the chorale office 920-451-1863.

§  Songs of the Seasons Choral Concert: You are cordially invited to attend this year’s choral concert of music through the church year. The first concert will be held on Feb. 10 at 1st Congregational Church (310 Bluff Ave.) beginning at 2:00 P.M. accompanied by piano and organ. The second concert will be held at Bethlehem Lutheran Church (12th and Georgia Avenue.) on Feb. 17, also beginning at 2:00 P.M. This concert will be accompanied by orchestral instruments and a hand-bell choir. Directed by Sandra Kasten and accompanied by Bill Born, this concert specializes in unique, east-to-listen-to sacred music sung by a 48-voice choir. A free-will offering will be taken to help defray costs.

§  Love Bowls: will be held on Sunday, February 17^th from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm in The Commons at Sheboygan South High School -3128 South 12th Street. Love Bowls is a fun, family-oriented event where patrons buy a beautiful bowl for $20 and sample as many soups as they wish. Over 70 local restaurants donate their signature soups. Local talent will entertain throughout the day. All proceeds from Love Bowls stay in Sheboygan County and help defray the cost of meals for our elderly, homebound and disabled neighbors.

§  Adult Christian Education in Lent:  In Lent our Sunday morning Adult Education program will focus on Christian Testimony.  We will hear each week from members of the parish leadership team (ordained and lay) about how a person came to be a Christian, and Episcopalian, a member of Grace.  We will then have opportunity in small groups to reflect on our own faith journeys and testimonies.  We will share by doing it, as we grow in our appreciation of how we are formed by each other.

§  Stations of the Cross, Simple Suppers and Teaching:  Beginning on the first Friday in Lent (15 February) we will meet each Friday at 5:30 p.m. for Stations of the Cross, followed by a simple supper and Christian formation.  Our formation program this year will focus on testimony in faith.  How do we share our faith with each other? Lent allows us to focus on how we have separated ourselves from God, but in this context we need to look at how we are separated from each other, when Jesus wills that we be one.  (What He says at John 10.16 is not merely a suggestion.)  We will combine an examination of separation with the experience of testimony, and are blessed that we will be joined each Friday by the pastor of another church in Sheboygan.  Each pastor will testify to his own or her own experience of the Christian faith, and what it is about his or her identity in a particular faith tradition (e.g., Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed) that informs their faith and the practice of their faith.  We will then have the opportunity to share with each other our own reactions to such testimonies, and to learn how to testify to faith by experiencing the testimony of others.

§  Cooking on Friday Evenings in Lent: If you are interested in cooking and hosting a dinner on the Fridays during Lent, please sign-up on sheets in the Narthex. All of the Fridays are still open except the first one. Thank you for your willingness to serve in this manner.

§  Offering Envelopes: Please pick up your offering envelopes. If you do not see one with your name on it, it could be an oversight or you checked the box indicating that you did not desire to have envelopes or that you have not pledged yet. If it is the latter please feel free to take a pledge card and fill it out, it is not too late. You may return it to any of the clergy or send it to the church office.

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