Giving Thanks

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

26 November 2015

Happy Thanksgiving!  It’s common at this time of year to hear people refer to “an attitude of gratitude,” and there’s nothing wrong with this.  It’s a little less common to encounter references to faith as “a posture of the heart,” but this phrase, too, has currency.  What happens when we compare the two?  Attitude and posture are both references to how we position ourselves in relationship to something or someone else.  Whatever or whomsoever I may be thankful for or to, this thanksgiving is based on my relationship to the thing or person.  How I live a life of faith is based on both who I have faith in (who I trust in) and what I choose to agree with.

I’ll go out on a limb and opine that one cannot be truly thankful without faith.  I can certainly say “thank you” (and at many levels mean this) to a person or for a thing, but absent faith my thanksgiving is difficult to distinguish from the pleasure I experience that I have received some material boon or that someone has pleased me by affirming my will.  But when I have faith in God, when I have a relationship with Him and agree that certain revealed truths about Him are true, then I know that whatever blessing I receive is not just because of mutuality in relationship (I can’t scratch God’s back)—I know blessing by experiencing it.  When I have faith in God I can experience that the many blessings in life—whether these be material or personal or spiritual—are not blessings because my will is being affirmed but because God’s will is being done.

When I have faith, thanksgiving becomes real because I have Someone to thank!  Even in secular culture, when we pause to call to mind what we can be thankful for, we often refer to “the blessings of this life”.  But life is blessed only because there is Someone who blesses it!

On this day of Thanksgiving, as you pause to call to mind what you have to be thankful for, remember first who is the source and summation of all blessings—God.  Thank God, and then give thanks to those whom He has given you to share thanksgiving and blessings with.

Grace abounds:  Please thank:

• Wayne and Pat Sather, and Elizabeth Schaffenburg (cleanup by the Crouse family) for the Sunday coffee hours.
• Mary Clabots for memorial decorations for the graves of military veterans in the columbarium, in commemoration of Veterans Day.
• All who have donated to the relief of Syrian refugees, and for the ongoing work of Dcn. Mike Burg, Pat Ford Smith, Barb MacEwen, and Mary Massey to pack and ship the donations.
• All those who showed up in the snow and raked leaves this past Saturday!:

Randie Barrows, John Davis, Ty Massey, Jennifer Pawlus, Elizabeth Schaffenburg, Tom Wright.

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.

Christmas/Spring Cheer:  In the announcements you will find details of how to participate in Christmas Cheer.  Here is a little history.

I began this ministry in the spring of 2006.  That year May Day (May 1^st) fell on a “convenient” date for me to do this.  Both my father and father in law had died just five months prior and I was relieved that neither one of them had to enter a nursing home.  I saw a need to bring some cheer to others and thus, along with help from Niki Kohler I began this project, starting at 9:00 AM and finishing my last delivery at 6:00 PM that day!  Over the years lots of people have helped and it has transformed into an established ministry for Grace Church, delivering not only to our parish shut-ins but to those elderly who would enjoy some joy and cheer and a short visit from a parishioner.  Thank you to everyone for making this happen. (Barb MacEwen)

Music this Week:         

Music for Thanksgiving Day

Entrance Hymn 290      “Come, ye thankful people, come”

Offertory Hymn 405     “All things bright and beautiful”

Communion Hymn 416 “For the beauty of the earth”

Closing Hymn 719        “O beautiful for spacious skies”

Music for Sunday, November 29, 2015

Advent I C

Prelude              Chorale Preludes on Savior of the Nations, Come       Reger

Entrance Hymn 58       “Lo, he comes with clouds descending”

Trisagion S-102                                                                Archangelsky

Offertory Hymn 61       “Sleepers, wake! A voice astounds us”

Sanctus & Agnus Dei    Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena                   Willan

Communion Motet       Come, thou Redeemer of the earth       arr. Willcocks

Communion Hymn 615 “’Thy kingdom come’ on bended knee”

Closing Hymn 66         “Come, thou long-expected Jesus”

Postlude                     Sleepers, wake!                                     J. S. Bach

Parish Notices

• Adult Formation: At 9:00 am on Sunday, we will continue with the class on Anglican Identity.
• Holiday Parade: Sunday, November 29^th Grace Church will be selling hot coffee and cocoa, hot dogs, apple crisp, brownies, and popcorn, before and during the Holiday Parade. The money raised goes to outreach projects both near and far. Please come by the front of the church and enjoy a warm treat as you enjoy the parade and be sure to bring your friends!
• No Mass or Bible Study: Fr. Karl will be away on Diocesan business Thursday, December 3^rd. There will be no Mass or Bible Study that day.
• Salvation Army Bell Ringing: We still need volunteers for three slots of bell ringing on November 28^th at Pick & Save Southside –  9:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. Sign-up sheets can be found in the Narthex. For any questions please call Nancy Yurk at 453-9948.
• Advent Meditations: Will be available on the table in the Narthex on Sunday as well as on line.
• Youth and Children’s Choir: Youth and Children’s choir rehearsals for the Christmas Eve service are at 5:30-6:00pm beginning Wednesday December 2^nd, downstairs in the choir room. Additional rehearsals will be on December 9^th and 16^th these will be just before the Pageant rehearsals.  The final rehearsal will be Sunday, December 20th at 9:00am. The choir is open to 2^nd graders through high school, and will sing for the 4pm service on Christmas Eve. See the sign-up sheet in the Narthex.
• Christmas Pageant Rehearsals: will be on Wednesday December 2^nd, December 9^th and 16^th starting at 6:00p.m. The rehearsals will begin in the church and then go downstairs for costumes. Participation is open to youth of all ages. The Pageant will take place during the 4:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass. Please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex. If your child would like to participate but cannot make rehearsals, please note that on the sign-up sheet located in the Narthex or call the office. If anyone is interested in directing this event, please call the office.
• Advent Lessons and Carols: On Sunday, December 6th, a festival of Advent Lessons and Carols will be offered at Grace Episcopal Church, beginning at 4:00 p.m. The festival prepares us for the coming of the Messiah by following the scriptural record through nine lessons, each followed by a seasonal carol offered by choir and congregation. The choir will also offer seasonal anthems, and music will include Dr. R. Benjamin Dobey on organ. The service is followed immediately by a High Tea reception. Volunteers for food and clean-up, please see sign-up sheet in Narthex.
• St Nicholas’ Visitation: St. Nicholas will visit Grace Church on December 6^th at the 10:15 service. Please come and receive a treat.
• Christmas Castle Volunteers: On Wednesday, December 16^th Grace Church will participate in the Salvation Army Christmas Castle.  This gives those in need an opportunity to “shop” for Christmas gifts for their families.  We are in need of at least 6 people to help.  The location this year is the Salvation Army at 710 Pennsylvania Ave and there are two time slots:  9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Sign-up sheet can be found in the Narthex.  If you have any questions, please contact Nancy Yurk at 453-9948.
• Refugee Crisis in Croatia: Missionaries Aaron and Winnie Horvat are trying to help the Syrian refugee families flooding into Croatia. The stories of hardship, horror and desperation are hard to imagine. Most have had to leave everything behind, coming with only the clothes on their backs. Many have makeshift shoes. Aaron and Winnie’s main focus has been mothers with small children. Items needed: baby blankets, children’s socks & underwear, sweaters, hoodies, warm jackets, toothbrushes & small size toothpaste, individually wrapped sanitary napkins, children’s shoes, women’s underwear & socks. Please deposit donations in plastic bin in Narthex. Deacon Mike will box and ship the items. Donations towards shipping are also welcome. There is no deadline. For more information, please refer to bulletin board in the Narthex.
• Something Extra for Grace: Envelopes are available in the pews if you are moved to give an extra gift, beyond your pledge or regular plate donation, toward the life of the church.  Gifts are tax deductible if you write your name on the envelope.
• Help Needed! Books are piling up in the parish library:  What can you do to help? (1) You can volunteer to shelve books and reconcile the card catalogue. (2) We cannot accept any donations until further notice. If you want to become familiar with the organization of the library and card catalogue, please visit the office and we will walk you through what needs to be organized.

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

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grace-church-sheboygan/id982836791 

Genuine Interest

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

19 November 2015

Curiosity and genuine interest:  I can be curious about something for a wide variety of reasons.  For example, I might just be bored, and might find something to be “interesting” because nothing else at that time holds my attention.  Or, I can be curious for reasons of intellectual exploration, realizing I know nothing about the subject at hand, and making the decision that maybe I should know something (and then hoping that once I know something, it will be of enough interest to warrant further enquiry).  But to be genuinely interested in something, I need to know something about it.  Genuine interest may be born from an initial curiosity, but such interest goes beyond curiosity because it requires a separate act of will.  I have to decide that I want to know more because of what I know already.

This past weekend I attended my 40^th high school reunion.  I had never been to a prior reunion (of any kind).  I was meeting people I had not seen in 40 years.  What struck me was that people I had no real interaction with in high school, or who even might have been unfriendly, acted friendly.  But I soon found that I could distinguish between a friendliness of curiosity (“What have you been doing for 40 years?”) and friendliness of interest (“Tell me why you became a priest, etc.”)  This experience made a little clearer to me the difference between the everyday civil discourse and politeness we expect in society and the way we are supposed to take a genuine interest in each other and in all people as an act of faith.

The genuine interest we are supposed to take in each other and in all people is Christian love.  We promise “to seek and serve Christ in all persons” and to “respect the dignity of every human being” (BCP 304).  This means that we already know enough about each other (that Christ is present; that each person has an innate God-given dignity) to take a genuine interest in each other.  But this genuine interest is about more than intellectual enquiry and information; it is about caring.  When I take a genuine interest in my neighbor I care about who he or she is, what he or she feels and believes and thinks, how he or she relates to God and to me.  I don’t want to just know about the person, but to know the person, and in knowing the person I find that I can share God’s love in both directions.

In church congregations we expect each other to be polite.  We expect each other to know ourselves well enough to notice what may change in our lives.  But such expectations are far too low.  We should expect to act out of genuine interest—love—and to receive this love.  We should expect and practice that in Christ, God is not “curious” about us, but so utterly committed to us that He gives all.  A “genuine interest” in faith is a way of life, an identity.  It involves not only seeking Christ but embodying Him.

Grace abounds:  Please thank:

• Bob and Anne Hanlon, and Steve and Mary Gallimore for the Sunday coffee hours.
• Mary Clabots for memorial decorations for the graves of military veterans in the columbarium, in commemoration of Veterans Day.
• All who have donated to the relief of Syrian refugees, and for the ongoing work of Dcn. Mike Burg, Pat Ford Smith, Barb MacEwen, and Mary Massey to pack and ship the donations.

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.

Music this Week:          The Feast of Christ the King, Proper 29B2

Prelude                      Benedictus                                                 Rowley

Entrance Hymn 544      “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun”       

Offertory Hymn 483     “The head that once was crowned with thorns”

Communion Motet       King of glory, King of peace                          Walker

Comm. Hymn 383        “Fairest Lord Jesus”

Closing Hymn 494        “Crown him with many crowns”

Postlude                     Allegro from Symphony in D                          Boyce

Parish Notices

• Adult Formation: At 9:00 am Sunday we will recommence our class on Anglican Identity.  This week we will be discussing Sacramental Theology.
  
  
• Thank you! To all who donated both items and money for the Samaritan’s Purse Shoe Boxes. This is a tangible way for us to see gifts given to children around the world and to celebrate a Merry Christ’s Mass through mission.
  
  
• Tripartite Thanksgiving Eve Worship: Join the Celebration on Wednesday, November 25^th at 7:00pm at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. Join in the Tripartite Combined Choir and enjoy fellowship and deserts following the worship. The Thanksgiving Offering will benefit the Salvation Army. We still need one more person to serve as an usher; if you can help please call the office. Thank you.
  
  
• Salvation Army Bell Ringing: We still need volunteers for three slots of bell ringing on November 28^th at Pick & Save Southside –  9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. Sign-up sheets can be found in the Narthex. For any questions please call Nancy Yurk at 453-9948.
  
  
• Holiday Parade: Grace Church will be selling drinks and snacks, before and during the Holiday Parade, Sunday November 29^th. The money raised goes to outreach projects both near and far. Please come by the front of the church and enjoy a warm treat as you enjoy the parade, be sure to bring your friends!
  
  
• Youth and Children’s Choir: Youth and Children’s choir rehearsals for the Christmas Eve service are at 5:30-6:00pm beginning Wednesday December 2^nd, downstairs in the choir room. Additional rehearsals will be on December 9^th and 16^th these will be just before the Pageant rehearsals.  The final rehearsal will be Sunday, December 20th at 9:00am. The choir is open to 2^nd graders through high school, and will sing for the 4pm service on Christmas Eve. See the sign-up sheet in the Narthex.
  
  
• Christmas Pageant Rehearsals: will be on Wednesday December 2^nd, December 9^th and 16^th starting at 6:00p.m. The rehearsals will begin in the church and then go downstairs for costumes. Participation is open to youth of all ages. The Pageant will take place during the 4:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass. Please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex. If your child would like to participate but cannot make rehearsals, please note that on the sign-up sheet located in the Narthex or call the office. If anyone is interested in directing this event, please call the office.
  
  
• Advent Lessons and Carols: On Sunday, December 6th, a festival of Advent Lessons and Carols will be offered at Grace Episcopal Church, beginning at 4:00 p.m. The festival prepares us for the coming of the Messiah by following the scriptural record through nine lessons, each followed by a seasonal carol offered by choir and congregation. The choir will also offer seasonal anthems, and music will include Dr. R. Benjamin Dobey on organ. The service is followed immediately by a High Tea reception. Volunteers for food and clean-up, please see sign-up sheet in Narthex.
  
  
• Salvation Army Adopt a Family Gift tags: Twelve names are left. Please take a name or two and follow the instructions on the table next to the tree. Please return all gifts unwrapped, with value attached, to Grace Church by December 8^th. If you have any questions, please call Nancy Yurk at 453-9948.
  
  
• Refugee Crisis in Croatia: Missionaries Aaron and Winnie Horvat are trying to help the Syrian refugee families flooding into Croatia. The stories of hardship, horror and desperation are hard to imagine. Most have had to leave everything behind, coming with only the clothes on their backs. Many have makeshift shoes. Aaron and Winnie’s main focus has been mothers with small children. Items needed: baby blankets, children’s socks & underwear, sweaters, hoodies, warm jackets, toothbrushes & small size toothpaste, individually wrapped sanitary napkins, children’s shoes, women’s underwear & socks. Please deposit donations in plastic bin in Narthex. Deacon Mike will box and ship the items. Donations towards shipping are also welcome. There is no deadline. For more information, please refer to bulletin board in the Narthex.
  
  
• Something Extra for Grace: Envelopes are available in the pews if you are moved to give an extra gift, beyond your pledge or regular plate donation, toward the life of the church.  Gifts are tax deductible if you write your name on the envelope.
  
  
• Missing Tables: Six rectangular tables have gone missing since Mass in the Grass. If anyone has knowledge of where they might be, please call the office.  Or, if you have these tables in your possession, please return them as soon as you are able.  These tables are used for set up in meetings.
  
  
• Help Needed! Books are piling up in the parish library:  What can you do to help? (1) You can volunteer to shelve books and reconcile the card catalogue. (2) We cannot accept any donations until further notice. If you want to become familiar with the organization of the library and card catalogue, please visit the office and we will walk you through what needs to be organized.
  
  
  Like Grace Church on Facebook
  Follow Grace Church on Twitter: @GEC_Sheboygan
  We Are on Itunes! Check out the new podcast!!!
  https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grace-church-sheboygan/id982836791 
  
  
  
  

Flying Glass

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

12 November 2015

  On this date forty-nine years ago I was with my family, returning from a harpsichord concert at a prominent Episcopalian church in Philadelphia.  We were in a serious head-on automobile collision, and I ended up going through the windshield, but ending up essentially unhurt, with a large goose egg on my head.  What I remember best about the accident—even better than the serious injuries suffered by others—was what it looked like as the windshield shattered around me.  In my perception, everything happened very slowly.  I could watch the glass break and fly, with time to speculate about how badly cut I might find myself.

The phenomenon of “time standing still” is common in incidents of trauma, shock, etc.  Our senses are heightened, no doubt as part of a primal survival adaptation related to the “fight or flight” instincts in our lower brains.  But the phenomenon is notable, for it should make us wonder more about all the details we are missing on a daily basis.

In faith we recognize that we live in eternity.  We are, of course, time-bound creatures of flesh and blood, and yet we confess that we are timeless, eternal, in who and what God has created us to be.  Indeed, we confess a resurrection not of spirit only, but of flesh as well.  And so the question becomes, How do we recognize eternity now, while we still experience time?  This question was brought to the fore in a recent conversation I enjoyed, in which an elderly widower, still in fresh grief, described his heightened awareness of eternity, of God’s plan and of God’s blessing.  Perhaps an increased awareness of mortality gives rise to an increased awareness of immortality?  The mortal and the immortal at some point (in time) meet, and when they do life does not end, but assumes a new and continuing beginning.  If, in the “meantime” we can better learn to pay attention amidst changes in life that placed against the eternal are even more fleeting than the flying of broken glass, it will be in these details of life that we can better understand God’s presence in all.

May God forbid that it should require trauma to pay attention!  Rather, can we not heighten our own awareness through the simple and yet oft-repeated practice of the faith.  It will be in the little and seemingly boring details of daily prayer, daily thanksgiving, attendance on worship on days convenient and not, that our spiritual perception will be heightened.  And as this happens, flying glass will be as nothing compared to flying angels, to the glimmers of God’s glory.

Grace abounds:  Please thank:

• Kevan and Traci Revis, and the Aparicio family for the Sunday coffee hours.
• Dcn. Mike Burg, Pat Ford Smith, Barn MacEwen and Mary Massey for packing clothing shipments for refugees in Croatia.
• Please thank Ben Dobey for gardening.

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.

Help needed!  Books are piling up in the parish library.  What can you do to help?  (1) You can volunteer to shelve books and reconcile the card catalogue.  (2) We cannot accept any donations until further notice.

If you want to become familiar with the organization of the library and card catalogue, please visit the office, and we’ll walk you through what needs to be organized.  Thank you!

Advent meditations:  For several years the parish has prepared and published a booklet of Lenten meditations, in which parishioners have reflected on the prayer and scripture lessons appointed for each day in Lent.  This year we will begin an additional meditation series, with meditations offered for each day in Advent.

Advent, sometimes called “Little Lent,” begins on 29 November (First Sunday in Advent) and concludes at sundown of the Vigil of the Nativity, 24 December.  For each day a prayer and scripture lesson will be provided.  Those who participate will offer a brief meditation (up to 400 words) in response to the prayer, meditation, and progress of the season as we each prepare to receive Our Lord become flesh.  These meditations will be published in print and online, and can be submitted for attribution or anonymously.  In addition, meditations can be read aloud on Grace Abounds, as part of our podcast series.

If you wish to participate, please sign up for a day, and have all meditations completed and submitted to the parish office not later than 16 November.

Grace Abounds Developments:  New hardware and software is arriving as this is written, which will allow video and audio live streaming within the month.  In addition, effective now the hearing aid loops are active in the church nave and in St. Nicholas Hall.  If you wear a hearing aid, and set the T-coil switch, the loop will automatically feed into your hearing aid.  This is independent from the speakers in the nave and hall; it feed directly into the hearing aid.  If you want to try the system, and do not use a hearing aid, headsets are available.

Music this Week:          Pentecost 25, Proper 28B2

Prelude                      Alla Sarabanda                            Vaughan Williams

                                Musette

Entrance Hymn 598      “Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth”

Offertory Hymn 665     “All my hope on God is founded”

Communion Motet       God be in my head                                      Rutter

Communion Hymn 615 “Thy kingdom come”

Closing Hymn 594        “God of grace and God of glory”

Postlude                     Fantasy in C                                                Byrd

Parish Notices

• Christmas Shoe Boxes: This Sunday we plan to assemble the shoe boxes and we would like to pair each child in our classes with an adult. Feel free to meet in Ms. Andrea’s Sunday School Classroom at 9:00 a.m. to participate in this unique opportunity for fellowship with our youngest members.  Should you still have items you would like to add to the shoeboxes (small toys, school supplies, non-liquid hygiene products – toothbrushes, soap bars etc. – craft supplies and accessories – hair bows, socks, hats or jewelry) we will continue to pack these boxes throughout the coming week.  Collection dates at Sonlight Books are November 16^th through November 23^rd.
• Fall Clean-up: Saturday November 21^st there will be a Fall Clean-up – outside only – commencing at 8:30 a.m. for 3 hours.  Breakfast and snacks will be provided.  The Boy Scouts will help us at the beginning of what will be their own leaf cleaning campaign.
• Tripartite Thanksgiving Eve Worship: Join the Celebration on Wednesday, November 25^th at 7:00pm at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. Join in the Tripartite Combined Choir and enjoy fellowship and deserts following the worship. The Thanksgiving Offering will benefit the Salvation Army. We will need two people to serve as ushers and a reader, if you can help please call the office. Thank you.
• Israel Pilgrimage:  Please continue to hold our pilgrims, who are returning this week, in your prayers for safe travel and enrichment. For further information go to https://stthomas2israel.wordpress.com/
• Refugee Crisis in Croatia: Missionaries Aaron and Winnie Horvat are trying to help the Syrian refugee families flooding into Croatia. The stories of hardship, horror and desperation are hard to imagine. Most have had to leave everything behind, coming with only the clothes on their backs. Many have makeshift shoes. Aaron and Winnie’s main focus has been mothers with small children. Items needed: baby blankets, children’s socks & underwear, sweaters, hoodies, warm jackets, toothbrushes & small size toothpaste, individually wrapped sanitary napkins, children’s shoes, women’s underwear & socks. Please deposit donations in plastic bin in Narthex. Deacon Mike will box and ship the items. Donations towards shipping are also welcome. There is no deadline. For more information please refer to bulletin board in the Narthex.
• Salvation Army Bell Ringing: Volunteers are need for hourly slots of bell ringing on November 28^th at Piggly Wiggly Northside 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. and Pick & Save Southside 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Sign-up sheets can be found in the Narthex. For any questions please call Nancy Yurk at 453-9948.
• Something Extra for Grace: Envelopes are available in the pews if you are moved to give an extra gift, beyond your pledge or regular plate donation, toward the life of the church.  Gifts are tax deductible if you write your name on the envelope. 

• Missing Tables: Six rectangular tables have gone missing since Mass in the Grass. If anyone has knowledge of where they might be, please call the office.  Or, if you have these tables in your possession, please return them as soon as you are able.  These tables are used for set up in meetings.
• Adult Formation: Adult formation will not meet this Sunday.  Fr. Karl will be travelling.  Please welcome Fr. John Cell as the celebrant the Sunday.
• Lindsay Fischer is the solo cellist: at the next Sheboygan Symphony Concert on November 14th at the Weill Center, in their performance of the J.S.Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. The concert also features Ana Sinkovec Burstin playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.  For more information go to weillcenter.com or call 920 208-3243. The Symphony Office number is 920-452-1985 and their website also has information at sheboygansymphony.org

Like Grace Church on Facebook

Follow Grace Church on Twitter: @GEC_Sheboygan

We Are on Itunes! Check out the new podcast!!!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grace-church-sheboygan/id982836791

Happy Anniversary

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

5 November 2015

By calendar date, today is the fourth anniversary of my service as rector of this parish.  It’s tempting at any anniversary to reflect on what has changed over the years—the changes in people, programs, etc.—but I believe it more important to focus on what has remained the same.  What has remained the same at Grace has been the underlying charisms (gifts of the Spirit) by and through which her people witness to the glory of God. 

Different faces are seen in particular ministries, but in each ministry what remains is what abides.  God’s Word does not change.  His beauty is everlasting.  His truth is eternal.  His holiness and love are beyond time.  His goodness and blessing abides in all.  To the extent that we have “made progress” as a congregation this is because of how we have remained faithful, and to the extent we face challenges this is because we have focused more on our own resources than on God.

Moving into year 5, I remain convinced that the best and only “strategic plan” for the Church and for the parish is to discern God’s will and do it.  It’s really that simple.  When we are faithful in prayer—in paying attention—and then, by God’s grace, act on the basis of prayer, God will both make clear what He desires and provide us with every blessing we need to accomplish His will.  His will may often be different from what we had in mind!  That’s the consistent witness of Scripture.  But equally consistent is the witness that when those who serve Him do what God purposes, it becomes reality.

Moving into year 5 we again face financial challenges, serious ones.  And yet the gospel lesson for this coming Sunday (Mk. 12.38-44—the widow’s mite) reminds us that the contrast that Jesus observes in the widow is not between prudence and a blind faith, it is between security and trust; it is between an offering of self and the preservation of self-protection.  Faith involves risk, great risk.  When Jesus speaks of the widow’s offering, where is He?  He is in the Temple, having come to Jerusalem, the place He has predicted to His disciples where He will be rejected, condemned, and killed.  He is in the place where He knows He will offer all, and seeing the widow offer everything she has, He sees one who too acknowledges the greatness of God.  May we offer of self.

I thank God, every day, for how He has called me to serve, and that He has called me to serve in this place.  I thank God for how He equips us to serve together. 

Grace abounds:  Please thank:

§  Pat Sather, and Andrea and Ellen Aparicio for the Sunday coffee hours.

§  Dcn. Mike Burg, Pat Ford Smith, Barn MacEwen and Mary Massey for packing clothing shipments for refugees in Croatia.

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.

Advent meditations:  For several years the parish has prepared and published a booklet of Lenten meditations, in which parishioners have reflected on the prayer and scripture lessons appointed for each day in Lent.  This year we will begin an additional meditation series, with meditations offered for each day in Advent.

Advent, sometimes called “Little Lent,” begins on 29 November (First Sunday in Advent) and concludes at sundown of the Vigil of the Nativity, 24 December.  For each day a prayer and scripture lesson will be provided.  Those who participate will offer a brief meditation (up to 400 words) in response to the prayer, meditation, and progress of the season as we each prepare to receive Our Lord become flesh.  These meditations will be published in print and online, and can be submitted for attribution or anonymously.  In addition, meditations can be read aloud on Grace Abounds, as part of our podcast series.

If you wish to participate, please sign up for a day, and have all meditations completed and submitted to the parish office not later than 16 November.

Grace Abounds Developments:  New hardware and software is arriving as this is written, which will allow video and audio live streaming within the month.  In addition, effective now the hearing aid loops are active in the church nave and in St. Nicholas Hall.  If you wear a hearing aid, and set the T-coil switch, the loop will automatically feed into your hearing aid.  This is independent from the speakers in the nave and hall; it feed directly into the hearing aid.  If you want to try the system, and do not use a hearing aid, headsets are available.

Music this Week:                   Pentecost 24, Proper 27B2

Prelude                           Lento                                                               Stanford

                                      Prelude on “Lead us, O Father”

Entrance Hymn 475        “Give praise and glory unto God”

Offertory Hymn 388        “O worship the King”

Communion Motet           Lead us, O Father                                             Gibbons

Communion Hymn 302   “Father, we thank thee who hast planted”

Closing Hymn 686           “Come, thou fount of every blessing”

Postlude                         Toccata in D                                                    Pachelbel

Parish Notices

§  Adult Formation: At 9:00 a.m. Sunday we will continue with a validation phase of live-streaming adult education on the web.  To do this we will start with a “rerun”.  We will offer a course first offered in early 2012, as updated, to test how existing educational materials can be adapted and expanded in a webcast context.  The course will be Anglican Identity, a four part series for which the written (from 2012) materials can be found already on our website. The Anglican Identity course focuses on what it means to follow Jesus Christ in the unique ways that are Anglican.  What is different about being an Episcopalian, for example, than about being a Christian in another tradition?  How is this identity manifested uniquely, and what strengths and challenges exist in being not just a Christian but an Anglican Christian?  This course can provide a good refresher or process check for lifelong Episcopalians, and a more complete grounding for new Episcopalians.  Come prepared to share!

§  Lindsay Fischer is the solo cellist: at the next Sheboygan Symphony Concert on November 14^th at the Weill Center, in their performance of the J.S.Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. The concert also features Ana Sinkovec Burstin playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.  For more information go to weillcenter.com or call 920 208-3243. The Symphony Office number is 920-452-1985 and their website also has information at sheboygansymphony.org

§  Christmas Shoeboxes: We are looking for the following items to fill the shoeboxes: toothpaste and individually wrapped toothbrushes, mild soap bars and wash cloths, pencils, colored pencils, erasers and pencil sharpeners, paper to write on. These items must be able to fit into a shoe box. Please deposit donated items in bin located on display table in the Narthex. Deadline for donations is November 16^th.

§  Fall Clean-up: Saturday November 21^st there will be a Fall Clean-up – outside only – commencing at 8:30 a.m. for 3 hours.  Breakfast and snacks will be provided.  The Boy Scouts will help us at the beginning of what will be their own leaf cleaning campaign.

§  Israel Pilgrimage: A group of 25 pilgrims from the Diocese of Fond du Lac, including Deacon Michele and Jon Whitford, Ed Clabots, and Leslie Kohler, as well as friends from other dioceses and other denominations, are traveling in Israel.  Please hold these pilgrims in your prayers for safe travel and enrichment. For further information go to https://stthomas2israel.wordpress.com/

§  Refugee Crisis in Croatia: Missionaries Aaron and Winnie Horvat are trying to help the Syrian refugee families flooding into Croatia. The stories of hardship, horror and desperation are hard to imagine. Most have had to leave everything behind, coming with only the clothes on their backs. Many have makeshift shoes. Aaron and Winnie’s main focus has been mothers with small children. Items needed: baby blankets, children’s socks & underwear, sweaters, hoodies, warm jackets, toothbrushes & small size toothpaste, individually wrapped sanitary napkins, children’s shoes, women’s underwear & socks. Please deposit donations in plastic bin in Narthex. Deacon Mike will box and ship the items. Donations towards shipping are also welcome. There is no deadline. For more information please refer to bulletin board in Narthex.

§  Tripartite Thanksgiving Eve Worship: Join the Celebration on Wednesday, November 25^th at 7:00pm at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. Join in the Tripartite Combined Choir and enjoy fellowship and deserts following the worship. The Thanksgiving Offering will benefit the Salvation Army. We will need two people to serve as ushers and a reader, if you can help please call the office. Thank you.

§  Salvation Army Bell Ringing: Volunteers are need for hourly slots of bell ringing on November 28^th at Piggly Wiggly Northside 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. and Pick & Save Southside 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Sign-up sheets can be found in the Narthex. For any questions please call Nancy Yurk at 453-9948.

§  Advent Meditations:  For several years the parish has prepared and published a booklet of Lenten meditations, in which parishioners have reflected on the prayer and scripture lessons appointed for each day in Lent. This year we will begin an additional meditation series, with meditations offered for each day in Advent. Advent, sometimes called “Little Lent,” begins on November 29^th (First Sunday in Advent) and concludes at sundown of the Vigil of the Nativity, December 24^th. For each day a scripture lesson will be provided. Those who participate will offer a brief meditation (up to 400 words) in response to the scripture reading. These meditations will be published in print and online, and can be submitted for attribution or anonymously. In addition, meditations can be read aloud on Grace Abounds, as part of our podcast series. If you wish to participate, please sign up for a day, and have all meditations completed and submitted to the parish office no later than November 16^th. Sign-up sheets and scripture readings can be found in the Narthex.

§  Something Extra for Grace: Envelopes are available in the pews if you are moved to give an extra gift, beyond your pledge or regular plate donation, toward the life of the church.  Gifts are tax deductible if you write your name on the envelope.

§  Missing Tables: Six rectangular tables have gone missing since Mass in the Grass. If anyone has knowledge of where they might be, please call the office.  Or, if you have these tables in your possession, please return them as soon as you are able.  These tables are used for set up in meetings.

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§  We Are on Itunes! Check out the new podcast!!!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grace-church-sheboygan/id982836791