Grace Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Grace Notes
28 August 2014
Tolle, lege. These famous Latin words were heard by St.
Augustine of Hippo (who’s feast is this day) in connection with his conversion
from Gnosticism and libertinism to faith in Christ. The words mean “take up and read”, and were
heard by Augustine in a childlike voice.
Augustine opened a bible to read the first words he saw, and ended up
reading chs. 12 through 15 of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, the same section
of the epistle which forms our New Testament readings from last week until the
third Sunday in September. In this
section of his letter, Paul switches from argument to exhortation, teaching
about how believers are transformed in Jesus Christ.
What was the verse or section in
Scripture that you first read on your own, or that you first remember being
read to, or taught? In my own case I,
like Augustine, opened a bible at random, and read Mtt. 25.31-46, after an
encounter with a dying patient in an emergency room kept me awake, and prompted
me to search for something to read in the middle of the night. I have never forgotten those verses (or
reading all of Matthew that night), and began the process that led to my
conversion to the faith that night.
God has many ways of speaking to
us, often in Scripture, but we need to pay attention. When we do we learn that the initiative is
always with God. (There’s even a fancy
theological term for this reality—“prevenient grace”.) Even when we focus on transformation, and,
like Augustine, pay attention to what Paul exhorts us to in Romans 12—15, we do
not transform ourselves, but are transformed.
No matter how diligent and faithful we may seek to be, the transformation
is effected by God, not by us, and takes place only to the extent that we make
ourselves available to God, and make our wills subject to His.
Augustine was probably one of the
most brilliant men who ever lived. As
such, he was often a proud man who had to struggle with how his own will was
subject to God’s, but when he subsumed his pride in real faith God used him to
teach doctrine which is bedrock to Christian belief and understanding. However brilliant and gifted any one of us
may be, this brilliance and these gifts are gifts from God. As such, God will use them when we make
ourselves available to God. We may never
write great works of theology, like Augustine, or give to the Church such great
prayers as the Te Deum, but God will use each one of us in the work and
mission He intends. Whether literally or
figuratively, when we “take up and read,” and pay attention to what God is
saying, He will transform us, and He will use us to transform the world around
us.
Grace Abounds: Please thank:
§
Paul and Andrea Aparicio for
setting up Sunday coffee hour.
§
Jon and Michele Whitford
for hosting the youth and family ministry brainstorming session and cookout,
with additional goodies from Bobbi and Kaleigh Kraft.
§ Julie Davidson, Shephard Gooenow, Scott Lubbers, and Jennifer
Pawlus for help with the floor refinishing project.
Call for
Contributions: If you have a spiritual reflection to share,
or want to point your fellow worshipers toward a resource, submit your
contributions to Fr. Karl (by email) by Wednesday in the week of publication.
Youth and Family
Ministries: This past Sunday at our brainstorming meeting
for Youth and Family Ministries, we had a great turnout and many ideas were put
forward to be considered for the direction, course, and future activities of
our ministries at Grace Church. Many of
the ideas that were put forward are ones that would be fun for a parish family
to participate in to create a larger sense of community, and let's be honest,
just to have some fun. Other ideas were specifically focused on community and
mission minded outreach. As we continue
to brainstorm separately and bounce ideas off of each other. P lease put
forward any ideas you have for any ministry in our church. If you don't know what ministries there are,
ask. If there something that you think
should be at Grace Church, but we don't have it, talk about it and maybe you're
being called to start something new! Stay
tuned to see what happens next, and don't forget to get involved!
Sheboygan County
Interfaith Organization (SCIO): With all of the discussion in the parish about the LoveINC initiative, let’s not
forget SCIO. The parish supports SCIO
with an annual donation, and members of Grace also work in SCIO-sponsored
ministries. Mary Ann N. attends SCIO
meetings for Grace, but in order to elevate the profile of opportunities to
serve we are specifically recruiting your interest. Get further details at www.sheboygancountyinterfaith.org . We need an in-parish champion
who can provide timely electronic media feeds for the blog, newsletter,
Facebook page, etc. If you are
interested, speak to Mary Ann and also to Fr. Karl.
Caveat donor (Let the donor beware!) The
Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—Lou Gehrig’s
Disease) has “gone viral”. This serves
as a good example of how we all need to know what monies donated will be used
for. The challenge allows participants
to make no donation, or to donate to any organization conducting ALS research,
but the expectation involves a donation to ALS Association (ALSA). This would pose a problem if, for example,
you believe a moral issue is presented by research using harvested human fetal stem
cells, which ALSA supports. This is just
an example, but it reminds us that in dealing with charity solicitations it is
necessary to know who is soliciting, what they will use the funds for, and how
much of the funds go to the stated charitable purpose (as opposed to overhead). www.charitynavigator.org is a useful resource to look at financial
issues, and to provide links for further research. The websites of individual charities should
have mission statements and disclosures about activities. Make an informed decision. (If you wish to explore the moral issues
which relate to research using harvested human fetal stem cells, please see Fr.
Karl.)
A Project
Milestone: Our project to refinish the church floor
reached a significant milestone yesterday.
All of the floor within the rood screen has been
completed. Combined with the Lady Chapel
and the chapel of Christ the King, this represents about 1/3 of the total area
in the church. At this rate, the
complete project should be finished by early in the second quarter of 2015.
The next areas to be addressed include the vertical ceramic tiles at
the base of the rood screen, the entrance way, the chapel of St. Jospeh, and
the confessional/cry room. After these
separate areas are refinished, we will attack the main floor, starting at the
front on the pulpit side.
Music this week: Proper 17A
Prelude
Prelude on ‘Rendez à Dieu’ Geoffrey Vintner
Opening Hymn
477 “All
praise to thee” Engelberg
Offertory Hymn
450 “All hail the power of
Jesus’ Name” Coronation
Communion Hymn
302 “Father, we thank thee who hast
planted” Rendez à Dieu
Closing Hymn
555 “Lead
on, O King eternal” Lancashire
Postlude Voluntary in C William Croft
Parish Notices
§ Mass in the Grass:
Please join us Next Sunday, September 7, 2014 for an outdoor Mass and
All Church Picnic at Deland Community Center, 901 Broughton Dr., Sheboygan, the
Mass will begin at 10:15 a.m. with lunch following. There will be games and an
appearance by Hiccup the Clown for our children’s enjoyment. Inviting guests is
encouraged. There will be ONE MASS only that day. Please sign up
on the sheet on the Narthex table.
§ 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 14th at
9:00am. Please watch for more information.
§ Youth & Family News: This past Sunday at our brainstorming meeting for Youth and Family
Ministries, we had a great turnout and many ideas were put forward to be
considered for the direction, course, and future activities of our ministries
at Grace Church. Many of the ideas that were put forward are ones that would be
fun for a parish family to participate in to create a larger sense of
community, and let's be honest, just to have some fun. Other ideas were
specifically focused on community and mission minded outreach. As we continue
to brainstorm separately and bounce ideas off of each other. Please put forward
any ideas you have for any ministry in our church. If you don't know what
ministries there are, ask. If there something that you think should be at Grace
Church, but we don't have it, talk about it and maybe you're being called to
start something new! Stay tuned to see what happens next, and don't forget to
get involved!
§ Walsingham Music and Flowers: The Walsingham Pilgrimage is just around the corner and preparations are
being made. We will have a quiet day with meditations concluding with Solemn
Evensong on October 10th; and a Solemn Pontifical Mass with the
Gaudete Brass again this year on October 11th. Please donate so we
can once again offer beautiful music that has become so much a part of the
pilgrimage and the flowers that add so much to the beauty of holiness. Please
make you check out to Grace Church with Walsingham music or flowers or both in
the memo. Thank you.
§ SCIO – Sheboygan County Interfaith Organization: We have been a member of SCIO for many
years. We have donated time and money for the outreach to the community,
especially for women and children. There
is a sign up sheet on the table in the Narthex to receive the newsletter which
will give many ideas about how to help. If you have questions please talk to
Mary Ann Neuses.
§ “Before and After”:
The floor cleaning project to well underway! If you are interested in
participating, see Fr. Karl. This is tough, physical labor, so if you are
challenged in working on hands and knees, consider whether you want to help
with material costs, with a gift outside of your regular giving to the parish.
Thank you to all who are helping.
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