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Thursday, June 18, 2015

Believe in Miracles

Grace Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes
18 June 2015

Let’s never forget miracles. A miracle is that which we cannot explain using any methodology of cause-and-effect; it is outside of natural explanation, literally supernatural.  And in a culture in which those things that cannot be explained using cause-and-effect reasoning, cannot be explained using the testable hypothesis model of the scientific method, are dismissed as unreal, miracles sometimes embarrass us in the Church.  We don’t like to point to them, because we are afraid that since we can’t “explain” them, we will be accused of engaging in magical thinking.
But miracles are important.  They demonstrate that there are things we can’t explain but that we can experience.  And this contrast is highlighted in a quirk of the lectionary for lessons on Sunday.  The old lectionary specified in The Book of Common Prayer for this coming Sunday included Mark 5.1-20 as optional verses in the gospel lesson.  The new (post 2009) lectionary omits these verses, and so the entire story of Jesus and the Gerasene demoniac is unheard in this lectionary cycle (or in any year’s cycle).
One can, of course, make endless arguments about the wisdom of selections for the lectionary, but I think it wise (in considering how we approach miracles) to point to another quirk in Sunday’s readings.  In the season after Pentecost we can follow track 1 or track 2 in lectionary selections.  These determine how we proceed through the Old Testament.  This parish follows track 2, and so the O.T. lesson is Job 38.1-11, in which the Lord comes to Job.  Job has spent the rest of the book seeking answers to his fate, even engaging in sophisticated debate with friends who offer insights in the tradition of Wisdom literature.  Now God comes to Job, and His first words are “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38.1).  God proceeds to ask Job questions best paraphrased as “Where were you when I established Creation?”  In other words, God points out that there are many things beyond human knowledge.
Miracles are beyond human knowledge, but the response to this is not to ignore them—to exclude the story of the Gerasene demoniac, for example—but to engage God on His terms, as those who accept that there are many things in life that mere humans cannot figure out.  Because, what is the alternative?  The alternative (and it is a popular one) is to say that we can possess all knowledge, we can figure everything out and command a solution to what troubles us, we can say that what we cannot know is not real.  In other words, the alternative points back to what the serpent said to Eve when she and her husband sought the knowledge of good and evil in the tree of this knowledge:  “... when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God ...” (Gen. 3.5).
A Bible without miracles is just so many stories and so much human wisdom and insight.  A Bible without miracles is a Bible without God.  A life without openness to miracles is a life which leads us away from God.  Believe in miracles.

Grace abounds:  Please thank:
§  Kevan and Traci Revis for the Sunday coffee hour.
§  Terry Kohler for providing for lawn care during the recuperation of our sexton.
§  Pat Ford Smith for providing office support.

What others are saying about web-based outreach:  As a timely follow-up to our parish forum from last Sunday, consider the following article found in The Living Churchhttp://livingchurch.org/google-or-god-both?utm_source=The+Living+Church+-+subscribers+only&utm_campaign=f4d8b659ec-Weekly_Newsletter_36_14_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0826f52b83-f4d8b659ec-108180589

Podcasts!   Podcasts are found on the website under “Media”.  You can also subscribe on ITunes or with RSS full feed at:

Music this Week:  The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, 21 June, Proper 7B

Prelude                           Adagio from Symph. No. 3                        C. Saint-Saens
Processional Hymn, 493  “O for a thousand tongue to sing”                        Azmon
Gloria, Sanctua, and Agnus Dei                                                     Timms & Warrell
Offertory Hymn, 379       “God is Love”                                            Abbott’s Leigh
Comm. Hymn, 587          “Our Father, by whose Name”                      Rhosymedre
Recessional Hymn, 563   “Go forward, Christian soldier”                       Lancashire
Postlude                         Carillon                                                             L. Vierne

It’s Time for Camp!
You’ve heard it said before and I’ll say it again, “Camp is one of the BEST things the Diocese of Fond du Lac does!”. Personally, I’m disappointed that I’m unable to be at camp this year. However, I’m SO excited that SO many from our parish WILL be there!!!
If you’re like me and are disappointed that you can’t attend, it’s not too late for you to participate in others ways.  First, please remember our campers and staff in prayer.  While you’re at it, I’m sure the good Lord wouldn’t mind a few extra words related to good weather, few bugs, and peace for any nervous parents. Secondly, kids young and old LOVE getting mail from “home”! A note, card or letter is always a welcome gift. “Mail call” can be bring an added bright spot to the day!
Listed below are the names of our campers and the dates for camp. I’ll be providing transportation on Sunday, June 14th and again Saturday, June 20th. If there is mail you’d like me to take to the Camp for distribution during any of the camps, I’d be happy to take it along. Otherwise, if you decide to use the postal system, please try to send mail well enough before the last day when the camper is supposed to depart. Note: from Sheboygan, I’ve seen it take as long as 3 full days to get to camp.
Here’s to our campers and staff. May they have a fantastic, Spirit-driven time at camp!!
By His love,
Bobbi Kraft

MAIL:
Camper Name, Session (Senior/Middler/Junior/Kinder)
Fond du Lac Camp
c/o Camp Lakotah
N1875 21st Ave
Wautoma, WI 54981

Senior Camp: Sunday, June 14th  - Saturday, June 20th
Emily Boland
Kaleigh Kraft
Michele Whitford - Session Director
Nick Whitford - Camp Staff

Middler Camp: Sunday, June 21st  – Thursday, June 25th
Ben Crouse
McKenna Schumacher

Junior Camp: Sunday, June 21st  – Thursday, June 25th
Rachel Boland
Maya McMillan
Josten McMillan
Katie Schumacher

KinderCamp: Thursday, June 25th- Saturday, June 27th
Leona Aparicio accompanied by Paul Aparicio
MaryGrace Boland accompanied by Susan McIntosh

Further camp notes!  Camp begins this Sunday, and for some of us, this is the time when we might start singing: "It's the most wonderful time of the year". There's something truly special about having a space that is so specifically set aside to be wildly, boisterously, Christian. To be a community for a little while that is set upon a rock of trust, faith, compassion and humility. To learn more about what it means to be a follower of Christ, and to practice being that person with others who have the same struggles in "the real world". We come together to be a community of people interested in bringing each other along on a journey of discovery. To find what it means to be a Christ-follower, what it means to love your neighbor, what it means to win a belly-flop contest in the lake.
Wait... what?
Oh yeah, while I stop myself from waxing rhapsodic over the church stuff, we also have 'camp' at church camp. fires, forests, prairies, cabin shells (an upgrade from the tent platforms), a delightful lack of electricity in certain areas, and of course the lake and beach. There is so much happening at camp all of the time, both scheduled and unscheduled, both in a group or by yourself in the beauty of creation, both in the loud times and the silent times. There is something for everyone at camp.
We are deliberately trying to be Spirit-lead, going where God sends us. That might mean that we need to spend extra time processing some heavy theological point in our small groups. Or we need to gather as a large group and vent our frustrations about expectations vs. reality. Perhaps we spend a lot more time in worship and instead of having a fire, and we just pray together. All of these things have happened, and often when it comes to the Holy Spirit, the only thing we can do (as a staff) is throw out the schedule and be open to God.
So!  Over the next two weeks we will have camp for everyone from 4 year-olds through high school graduates, setting aside time to learn about who God is and what it means to be a community of Jesus followers, and doing it in a setting that is to many a God space, a thin place. Please pray for all of those going as campers, as staff, and as parents of campers. 
Camp doesn't really end, we empower the students to "go forth" and take what they have learned and use it, explore it, expand on it. We encourage the students to be leaders in their churches, and to tell and teach others what it is we do and did. Pray also for open hearts and minds for the congregations of those who attend camp, very often it is a vital injection of faith and love and hope for the church, and we certainly don't want to miss out on it.

Grace and Peace,

Nick

Call for ContributionsIf 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.

Education for Ministry:  If you were at the late service the Sunday the bishop was here, you noted that four of us were recognized for completing the four years of Education for Ministry.  We learned a lot in those four years, both from the materials and from each other as we studied and discussed.  There was a lot to read but fortunately no tests!  Topics for the four years were:
Year 1—Old Testament
Year 2—New Testament
Year 3—History of Christianity
Year 4—Theology

This month’s Clarion (p. D) has more information about EfM.

If you would like to look at the materials to see if you would like to join the new group that begins in the fall, you can find them in a blue bin in Michele’s office.  They will be there through the end of July.  I would be very happy to talk with you further about EfM if you have questions. 

Pat Sather
920-452-4542         psather42@gmail.com 

Help needed!  If you have experience in house painting, please see Fr. Karl about a project to re-stain and seal the outside doors around the church.
         
Parish Notices

§  Community Thanksgiving Dinner:  The community dinner is planning to move forward in 2015 on a networked basis, using different churches to provide different parts of the meal.  For example, Grace could decide to provide potatoes (prepared here and delivered to the dinner site), but any such example can only happen if we have a team of people interested in owrking in this kind of service minisrty.  Interested?  See Fr. Karl for details, and also see www.gobble-gobble.org

§  Michele Gone: It is camp time again and I will be out of the office beginning Monday, June 15 – Friday, June 19th. If you are available to volunteer at the desk to answer the phone and take messages please call the office at 452-9659. You don’t need to know anything, just have time and willingness to sit in the front office. There may be time to read, or knit! Next week, when I am out, please be patient for a call back. I will have limited access to email and cell service but I will check and try to respond to urgent needs. Please pray for the councilors and campers all week.

§  Elkhart Lake Chapel: We are in need of help for the following Sundays: July 5, August 2 and 9. This would include: picking up the box of bulletins at Grace Church, arriving a little early to open the buildings, finding readers for the lessons and the prayers of the people, lighting candles, greeting the visiting priest, various other tasks, locking up at the end and returning the box to Grace Church. There are instructions printed and several people who would be able to help if you have questions. Please sign up for a Sunday or two by calling the office at 452-9659 with dates you are available. Thank you.

§  Adult Formation: We will continue a series on Prayer at Grace Church at 9:00am in St. Nicholas Hall on June 21st. We will discuss how Jesus prayed and how he healed; what the Bible says about prayer; the history of prayer here at Grace Church, including the Walsingham Pilgrimage and the healing ministry. This will be led by Deacons Michele and Mike.

§  Altar Guild: The Altar Guild is a very important ministry in the life of the church. This is the team that gets the vestments and the holy vessels ready for each service and then cleans up after each service. As the deacon, I will tell you that this team of people enables the clergy and people to worship in a seemingly effortless fashion. There are several members of the Altar guild who are moving away. We are in great need of a few more willing to take on a new ministry. This can be a weekday, or weekend, there will be training and support in all areas. Please speak with Claudia Fischer or Deacon Michele if you even think you may want to try it out.

§  It’s Coming! Save the date: Saturday, August 8, 2015, Brat Fry at Miesfeld’s!! (More news to follow, we need your help!) Brat fryers, stand attendants, baked goods attendants, bakers!! Contact Bob MacEwen at 467-6909 to lend a hand now!

§  Follow Grace Church on Twitter: @GEC_Sheboygan
We Are on Itunes! Check out the new podcast!!!




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