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Thursday, October 1, 2015

Live más!

Grace Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes
1 October 2015

Live másEvery now and then you encounter an advertising campaign that makes clear why some ad executives are so well paid.  The current campaign for Taco Bell is one of them.  Think about the message:  (1) It combines English and Spanish to remind you of the heritage of the product; (2) It appeals to your desire to affirm life; and (crucially) (3) It makes you think that maybe there is something more to life (más means “more” in Spanish), and that the product will give this to you.  The campaign appeals to emotion, appetite, and aspiration.  You end up both feeling and thinking, at some subconscious level, that Taco Bell is the answer to something you have been seeking.  Advertising genius.
But why is the campaign so clever?  It’s because many in society are missing something.  They’re not sure what they are missing, but they are sure that they are owed something more, and if they can just buy it, or take it, or learn it, or do it, they’ll be happy.  More is equated with happiness, and when we don’t have more, we think something’s wrong or that we have been cheated.  Some respond by self-medicating in ways ranging from shopping to substance abuse.  Some respond by making sure that they will take more, and that they will not care who else has to be hurt in order for them to get it.  Regardless of the response, if we think that there is more to be had—whatever more is—we will both worry about how to get it and pay less attention to what we do have.
In speaking of His sheep, Jesus tells us “... I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10.10).  We have God’s presence, His blessing.  When we pay attention to the world around us, we also experience the blessing of all Creation (as testified to in the column contributed below).  What more may there be?  We can strive, of course, to know God better, and to better do His will.  We can strive to better follow Jesus, that we may become more Christ-like.  But when we become closer to God it is not that we get more, but that we experience what He gives already.  He gives Himself.
How might we communicate to people who are seeking something more?  Should we use a slogan?  Try your hand at advertising.  How about Live abundantly!  (Too abstract?)  Live blessing!  (This combines the concept of being blessed and of giving blessing.)  Live grace!  (A similar combination to blessing.)  Live joy!  Live faith!  Live salvation!  (These all have the strength of making what they speak of more about present life and less about something thought of only as future.  They do, however, tend more to the theological end of language.)  Live prayer!  (Problematic:  Sounds too much like an injunction, and like all of the other examples except “abundantly,” may be mispronounced to yield a different meaning.)  Live blessed! (?)
You see the challenge.  Try your own hand.  Just as Got milk? can be Got prayer?, how do we extend the aspirational message of Live más! in ways that people want to know more because they think that what is offered answers their seeking?

Grace abounds:  Please thank:
§  Kevan and Traci Revis, Brian Heck, Bob and Barb MacEwen, and Joyce Wessel for the Sunday coffee hours.

Music this Week:                   The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 22B

Prelude                 Chor. Prelude on Lord, forever at thy side   R. Vaughan Williams
Entrance Hymn 495        “Hail, thou once despised Jesus”                             In Babilone
Mass Setting                             Deutsche Messe                       Franz Scubert, arr. Proulx
Offertory Hymn 448        “O love, how deep, how broad, how high”     Deus tuorum
                                                                                                         militum
Communion Motet           O Salutaris Hostia                                    Charles Gounod
Communion Hymn 704   “O thou who camest from above”                       Hereford
Closing Hymn 637           “How firm a foundation”                                         Lyons
Postlude                         Prelude & Fugue in G Major                Dietrich Buxtehude

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.

Creation:  If you were fortunate like my husband & I were last night to watch the lunar eclipse, you got to be part of God & His magnificent Creation.  The sky was so filled with all the stars & the stillness of the night, allowing us to feel His presence in the uniqueness of it all.  My grandmother had a sign that said to “take time to stop & smell the flowers.”  She knew that if we would take the time to just be in nature, view nature or smell nature, we would relax more & get rid of a lot of the stress of everyday life.  Weeding & planting, also gave her time to pray for all the people she loved & knew.  Many people loved coming to her gardens & she always welcomed them & offered Jesus’ love through her hospitality to them.  I remember sitting in her sunroom, viewing all the birds when they came to the feeders.  As a child, I never understood why people enjoyed it, but now I can’t wait to see who will come to our feeders.  I just enjoy their beauty, their songs & their antics.  Both Mark & I love to sit in the morning, reading & praying while the day awakens looking out our windows.  There is a sameness to the view, but all of a sudden you notice a change.  Or like yesterday morning, Mark saw 2 eagles that are living in the area.  We are waiting for the corn to be harvested for then the animals of the woods & swamp will pass by at all times of the day & night.  You don’t have to live in the country to find God’s beauty in creation.  Even a house plant or a bouquet of flowers can help bring God a little closer.  The important thing is to just sit & relax & allow God to come & give you His peace.  Creation, like God is always there & just waiting for you to come & enjoy & relax!  Just be with God & His creation.                                                                    
         ―Barb Drury-Zimmerman
Parish Notices
Parish Notices

§  A blog worth visiting:  If you enjoy The Living Church you will enjoy the blog supported by the magazine, http://covenant.livingchurch.org  The blog is updated daily.

§  Simple Potluck Supper and Compline: Sunday, October 4th we will have our first Sunday of the month Simple Potluck Supper at 6:30 p.m. Come and enjoy the fellowship then stay for Compline at 8:00pm. The Schola Cantorum will be singing Compline which is the night time prayers said or sung just before retiring. It is a wonderful and peaceful way to end the day.

§  Adult Formation: Continues a four week series at 9:00 a.m. on Giving Faith a Voice. We are molded by language, by what we call things. How we “process” information about life affects how we understand these data. This can determine, for example, how we experience the reality of faith, but also how we share this reality. We will explore how we understand our own experiences in ways that allows us to share them with others, to let them too know how God is present in their own lives and the life of the world. Join with us as we explore the connections between experience and understanding, and how to give faith a voice. Come prepared to listen and to share.

§  No Mass Tuesday, October 6th: There will be no Mass on Tuesday, the Pre-convention meeting will take place for delegates to Diocesan Convention on Tuesday, October 6th at St. Anne’s in DePere. If you would like to carpool please speak with Fr. Karl.

§  Volunteers needed for cleanup on Saturday, October 10th: This will be an interior cleanup only lasting for two hours.  9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.

§ Presentation on the refugee crisis: On Sunday October 11th at 11:45 a.m. in the Parish Hall, Deacon Mike Burg will give a presentation on the refugee crisis.

§ 25th Annual Coats for Kids: is a community service campaign that over that last 24 years the community has donated 20,000 coats to those in need. Area residents are asked to donate clean coats in good repair. We accept coats of all sizes for people of all ages, with the need being greatest for children’s coats. These coats will be distributed to Sheboygan county residents who would otherwise go without. Drop off location: Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home, 1535 S. 12 St. Sheboygan, Tuesday,  September 1st – Thursday, October 22nd, Monday–Friday 8:30 a.m. –4:00 p.m. Distribution Location: Salvation Army, 710 Pennsylvania Ave. Sheboygan, Friday, October 23rd, from 1:00 – 7:00 p.m.

§  Walsingham Pilgrimage Music and Flowers: The Walsingham Pilgrimage is just around the corner and preparations are being made. Music will include the Gaudete Brass again this year. As you are able, 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 your check out to Grace Church with Walsingham music or flowers or both in the memo. Reservations are required for lunch at a cost of $15 per person and will be served at noon on Saturday. Deadline for reservations is October 12th.

§  Walsingham Volunteers Needed: There are many opportunities to help with hospitality for the Walsingham Pilgrimage. We will need volunteers to greet pilgrims as they arrive for both the quiet day on Friday as well as Saturday morning for the Solemn Mass and for the musical offering, healing prayer and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. We will also need help with clean-up after lunch. Please sign up on the sheet on the Narthex table. There is also a need for a driver for Fr. Brown. He will need to be picked up and dropped off at the airport as well as driven to Windway House and back to Church as needed. If you can provide transportation please sign up on the sheet on the Narthex table.

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Our Lady of Walsingham Pilgrimage

Friday, October 16, 2015

Quiet Day of Prayer and Meditation.

12:00 p.m. Service for Noonday and Meditation
3:00 p.m. Service of Prayer and Meditation
5:00 p.m. Holy Rosary
6:00 p.m. Solemn Evensong and Meditation
The Meditations will be led by The Rev. George Wilcox Brown,
Rector of the Church of the Holy Cross, Dallas
Musical offering by Nashotah House Seminary choral scholars.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Pilgrimage

10:30 a.m. Solemn Pontifical Mass with procession of Our Lady
Celebrant is The Right Reverend Matthew A. Gunter,
Eighth Bishop of Fond du Lac.
The preacher is The Rev. George Wilcox Brown,
Rector of the Church of the Holy Cross, Dallas
Choral and organ music will include Dr. R. Benjamin Dobey                                          Organist and Choirmaster
and the Gaudete Brass Quintet of Chicago.
12:00 p.m. Harvest Lunch. The cost is $15.00.
Please make reservations by October 12, 2015.
2:00 p.m. Anointing with Walsingham water and Healing Prayer,
musical offering, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

To register and for more information:
(920) 452-9659 office@gracesheboygan.com www.gracesheboygan.com

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