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.