Grace Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Grace Notes
5 February 2015
Judge now, that ye be not judged. Yes, you read that correctly. We are very used to the verse (Mtt. 7.1; Lk.
6.37) in which Jesus tells us not to judge others, perhaps because this is the
one verse of Scripture quoted by people who otherwise don’t know a thing about
or in the Bible. It’s a little funny to
have people say “Do not judge,” when all the time in our culture we make
judgments about what is good or bad, including the near universal judgment made
in our popular culture that “being judgmental” is bad. Judgment involves making a decision about
something; about how it may be classified, reacted to, desired, etc. So what do we do with the injunction Jesus
gives us?
The first thing we need to notice is that Jesus makes a
distinction between judging conduct and judging people. He tells us, He tells the Church, to judge
conduct, saying “[W]hatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ...”
(Mtt. 18.18). But notice that He says
this in the context (Mtt. 18.15-22) of teaching His disciples how they are to
conduct themselves as between each other (i.e., in the Church), and that
when two or three are gathered in His Name, that He will be present. In other words, we cannot automatically
expect that the standard of the Church binding and loosing conduct can apply in
all the world—except that it is Jesus’ will that all the world come to Him and
know Him in His Church! For all
people—inside and outside the Church—Jesus also teaches that what we need to
know about conduct and behavior is revealed in Scripture, when He teaches of
the particular judgment of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk. 16.19-31), saying
“They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (v. 29). In other words, God’s will is revealed in
Scripture, and we are given a standard by which to judge conduct.
But what about people?
The conduct we may judge in an unbeliever includes, for example, his or
her judgment that the Bible is not normative—that he or she need not heed
Scripture. This default in conduct, in
human will, is a failing as judged by the standard of the Bible, but as
revealed in this same standard all persons—both believers and unbelievers—are
neighbors whom we are commanded to love.
Which brings us to the challenge of “tough love”. We can judge conduct, but not whether the
person is in right relationship with God and will ultimately be saved by Jesus
Christ. This means that we must love
even those whose conduct we rightly judge to be ungodly. And remember, in Scripture love is a
verb. We are to act in love
toward those whose conduct we rightly judge to be ungodly. This will never be popular, but it raises the
question implied by the pun with which this column began: If we do not judge (conduct) will we (as
persons) be judged for a failure in love?
What Jesus teaches is that we cannot be indifferent to others, that
indifference to them is indifference to God.
Grace abounds: Please
thank:
§
Ann and Bob Hanlon, and
Dale and Mary Massey for the Sunday coffee hours.
§
Dale and Mary Massey for
clean-up following the pot luck supper on Presentation.
§ Julie Davidson for serving as crucifer at the Presentation Mass.
“Leave behind” cards: Small bookmark shaped cards are available for
you to give to friends when you talk about the church. These cards list the times of all of our
prayer and worship services, how to get more information, when Bible study and
adult education meet, etc. The cards are
available in the office or in the Ontario Avenue entrance to the nave. The supply in the office is packaged with
small olive wood crosses. These “leave
behind cards” should always be offered to visitors, but also take a supply with
you to share in outreach.
A Lenten Tithe of Time: Lent begins in less than two weeks. Many people ask themselves what they are
called to do or what they are called to give up in Lent. Positive works are obviously good, but the
practice of renunciation is also strengthened when it is tied into the positive. So here is a suggestion. For Lent, give one tenth of the time you
would otherwise spend exposed to electronic media (like this blog!) Figure out all of the time you spend in a day
on your computer, on your smart phone, watching TV, etc. Then dedicate one tenth of this time, every
day, to a spiritual practice such as prayer, meditation, the study of
Scripture, or just to silence (listening to God). You might want to use the lenten devotional
booklet which will be distributed in the parish prior to Ash Wednesday. You might want to use the lessons for Morning
Prayer or Evening Prayer. If you are
like the average American, you will have close to 45 minutes to devote to prayer,
study, meditation, silence. This could
allow you to start The Bible Challenge, but whatever you do, you will be doing
it because you have renounced what you were otherwise drawn to or used to, a
good first step in connecting better with God.
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.
REFLECTIONS OF SOME SUPER BOWL ADS
One of the main things we do in EfM is “theological reflections”. TR’s help us look at the world around us to
see how we can connect the secular world with our spiritual world. I would like to share some of my reflections
on the Super Bowl ads. The #1 winner was
Bud’s lost puppy & the Clydesdales rescuing the puppy from the evil wolf, showed
me the importance of friendship and love and going the distance to whatever it
takes, to rescue others faced with evil.
We don’t have to look far for scriptural reference for this one, for we
have Jesus’ example of searching for the lost sheep. Who do we know that we love & care about
that needs our help? The #2 commercial
was “run like a girl”. Our perception of
others can certainly, like this commercial, be different than how they view
themselves. How do we view others &
how do we close the gap between perception and reality? Listen to each other? Talk to the other person & hear their
story? The only enemies we have are those
whose stories we haven’t heard. The
disabled little boy learning how to use his new legs caused me to reflect on
how do I help & encourage others to become all that God has made them to
be. How do we empower others to use the
gifts & talents they have & sometimes don’t even recognize within
themselves? The focus of a number of
commercials was on relationships, especially the relationships between dads
& their children. How can we
encourage dads to love their children like Jesus loves us? What can I do to be Jesus’ example of love to
others? Finally, the ad about the man in
the airplane trying to find the “right” person to sit in the seat next to him,
can speak to many of us & our body language to others. How do we react to others when we first meet
them? Does our body language reflect what
we are saying or is there a gap between the two? With the football season over, I would also
like to comment on Thomas Davis, the winner of the Walter Payton award who
challenged ALL professional athletes, who have been given so much, especially
money, to use it to help others. We also
need to take up this challenge, for each one of us have been blessed with so
much & we have to continually ask ourselves, how can we use what God has
given us to bless others. We know Jesus’
love, have food, clothing & shelter in abundance & I challenge each of
you during Lent to examine your generosity & see what more you can do. God has blessed us. How are we a blessing to others?? (B. Drury-Zimmerman)
Youth and Family
Ministry: This month there is a diocesan event being
held at St. Anne's in De Pere on February 27-28. The event is called 30 Hour
Famine and is a lock-in that brings awareness about world hunger. Those who
attend will be volunteering to fast as a group for approximately 30 hours.
There will be more information soon, but I strongly encourage all youth to sign
up for this unique experience.
Also Happening #69 will be held March 13-15 at All Saints in Appleton.
Any high school youth who have not been
a part of Happening are encouraged to participate. Happening is an experience
that changes lives, and is one of the best things we do in the diocese! If you
have questions please contact me or the office for information.
―Nick Whitford.
Music this week: The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Prelude Chorale
Partita on All glory be to God on high Walther
Entrance Hymn 1 “Father,
we praise thee” Ratisbon
Offertory Hymn 135 “Songs
of thankfulness and praise” Salzburg
Communion Motet Lord God, you now have set your servant free Gibbons
Comm. Hymn 324 “Let
all mortal flesh keep silence” Picardy
Closing Hymn 493 “O
for a thousand tongues to sing” Azmon
Postlude Prelude
& Fugue in G Major Kuhnau
Parish Notices
§
Psalms class: Adult Education in February will begin a two week
class on the theology of the psalms, on the psalms as the “prayer book of the
Bible” (in Bl. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s phrase). How do we use the psalms? What is
revealed of God, and of our relationship to Him? What do we do with the
troubling emotions sometimes expressed? The class will meet 9th and
16th of February.
§ Office Closed – Clergy Retreat: Diocesan clergy
meet in Retreat Monday, February 9 through Thursday, February 12. Please note:
There will be mass at 12:10 on Monday. There will be no celebrations
of Holy Eucharist or Daily Office Tuesday—Thursday. The office will be
closed from noon on Monday. In the event of a pastoral emergency Mon—Thu,
please contact Fr. Karl or Dcn. Michele at the Norbertine Center for
Spirituality, St. Norbert’s College, DePere, 920-337-4315. The normal Friday,
Saturday and Sunday schedules will be in place.
§
Lenten Booklet: Grace Church will prepare our own parish book of
Lenten meditations, written by parishioners. For each of the forty days of Lent
season, a Gospel lesson taken from the Eucharistic lectionary for the weekdays
in Lent, plus the Sunday Eucharistic lectionary, are provided on a clip board
on the Narthex table. Following each Gospel lesson will be the Collect prayer
for the celebration of Eucharist on each day. The Collect “collects” our
prayers as founded in the Scripture appointed for each day. The method
envisaged for use of this booklet is that parishioners will read the Gospel
lesson– perhaps more than once, perhaps underlining the words or phrases that
resonate with them on that day–then reflect on the Collect, and then
write down their own reflections on the page appointed for the day. These
reflections will be gathered no later than February 12th to allow
for production lead-time. The publication of a parish devotional will be
published to the whole parish, in print and on our website. Please submit your
meditations to the office at mwhitford@gracesheboygan.com.
§
Shrove Tuesday Feast before the Fast: Shrove Tuesday is February 17th
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 on
the table in the Narthex.
§
Ash Wednesday:
February 18th 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.
§
Stations of the Cross,
Simple Suppers and Teaching: Beginning on the first Friday in Lent
(February 20th) 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 be looking at the Parish Meditations for the
week. Please sign up to attend on the sheets in the Narthex so the people who
are providing the meal will know how much food needs to be prepared.
§ 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 open. Thank you for your
willingness to serve in this manner.
§
Lakeshore Coral Presents “Where is Love?”: This Valentine's Day, we
invite you to Lakeshore Chorale's annual Valentine concert and gala,
"Where is Love?". Enjoy this popular evening of beautiful choral
music, solos, ensembles, plus an outstanding gala prepared by Bernie
Markevitch, featuring sweets by the The Cookie Jar Girls. You won't want to
miss this exceptional Valentine evening! The evening will be directed by Neil
Bubke and accompanied by Johanna Schilling. Saturday, February 14, 7:00 pm,
Grace Episcopal Church, 630 Ontario Avenue, Sheboygan. Tickets: $20.00. Tickets
need to be reserved before Sunday, February 8. Seating is very limited. While they last,
tickets are available from any Lakeshore Chorale member, or from our website:
http://www.lakeshorechorale.org/Tickets.html.
§
Soup-d’-Do: Pizza Soup is back and available for purchase!! The
single $4.00 and double $7.00 serving containers are frozen and are ready for
purchase. The soups offered are Sicilian Chicken, Pizza, Bean & Ham and Vegetarian
Vegetable.
§ Coffee Hour Schedule: There is a new sign-up sheet for hosting coffee hour in 2015. If you
would like to host please sign up for either 8:00am or 10:15am. We are in need
of someone to oversee the schedule and be the point person for questions. If
you would be able to spend a few minutes a week double checking the sign-up
sheet and giving reminders or if you have questions please see Deacon Michele
or Bobbi Kraft. Thank you so much.
§
Flower Schedule for
2015: Giving the gift of flowers is a wonderful way to remember a loved one
or to offer thanksgiving for your blessings. If you wish to sign up for a
specific Sunday, the Flower Schedule is available on the table in the narthex.
More than one person can sign up for each Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment