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Thursday, June 2, 2016

Many Pillars

Grace Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes
2 June 2016

My week in Alabama at a CREDO conference for clergy was time well spent.  It allowed for both personal and in-community focus on the priestly vocation, with long term goals stated with reference to vocational, health, psychological well-being, financial and spiritual dimensions.  It also allowed me to experience the very wide diversity that makes up The Episcopal Church.
I have experienced the Church and her congregations in many different settings.  Every diocese and parish has its own charism, and to label any as “right” is to dismiss that the Holy Spirit draws different people in different ways according to God’s plan, not the plan of any one of us.  My own views on many things tend to be those now in the minority, and it is possible, therefore, to at times feel like an “invisible man”.  But that didn’t happen at CREDO, because in discussing expectations I named the possibility that people can just agree among themselves and not even be aware of differing viewpoints, differing ways in which others experience God.
I am certain that there are many in the parish who disagree on a number of issues.  (Sometimes you tell me!)  That’s OK.  The reality is that so long as we are grounded in the common bond of seeking to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we can disagree, and when we disagree respectfully this strengthens the Body. 
There is a wonderful “$20” word in theology, adiaphora, which basically means “that which is not necessary to salvation”.  Most of the disagreements in any church, and between churches, fall into this category.  How I experience God will by definition differ from how you (any of you) experience God, but that we experience God together, in an intentional community of believers who have gathered to affirm our faith in God and each other, to offer Him worship and thanksgiving and praise, allows any differences to become secondary.  Gather and give thanks for the reality that each person around you experiences God in some way different from the ways in which you do.  God’s blessing is manifold, to all persons in all stations, and we are sometimes so blessed as to be able to witness another experience God in a way we do not know, and so come to learn.  The faith remains unchanged; how we live this faith together is in constant evolution.

Grace aboundsPlease thank: 
§  Bobbie May for the Sunday coffee hour, and for help in reorganizing the parish library.

Call for ContributionsIf 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.

When I am able I visit a priest in a nursing home who has no way to attend Mass, on the Visitation, or any other day.  He once wrote the guide book for liturgy in the Episcopal Church … for all the proper ways to celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection.  He has MS and is relegated to a wheel chair. 
Summers I attend another Grace Church in NW Wisconsin.  They have to the best of my knowledge never had a Solemn Mass, although several parishioners come from more high Anglican backgrounds.  Their priest is a retired Dean of a Cathedral, and although he knows how, the numbers and expertise are not there for solemn ceremonies.
So, Tuesday for the Visitation, the Clergy pulled out the stops, the Priest and both Deacons were vested.  There were 5 people in the Altar party.  Ben and the Choir had prepared a lovely “Mary” anthem, and we had other special songs for the occasion.  Counting Ben, there were 7 people in the choir loft.
Mass was at 6 o’clock.  The total number in the pews was five (5).  Yes, FIVE!
Many Christians, many Anglicans or Episcopalians, would give their eye teeth to attend as lovely a service, as uplifting, with fine music and a serious sermon, and never have such a chance.  Where were the members of our Parish?  Did they all have to work that night?  Or were ill?  Or what excuse was there for their absence?
Next time remember Father Dennis and all those in simple, small country churches, and pray for them when you have the opportunity for such a glorious evening. 

Mary Kohler

Music this Week:  The Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 5C)

Prelude                            Prière                                                                  Jongen
Entrance Hymn 616   “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed”                    Es flog ein kleins
                                                                                                    Waldvögelein
Offertory Hymn 448   “O Love, how deep”                          Deus tuorum militum
Comm. Hymn 693      “Just as I am, without one plea”                      Woodworth
Closing Hymn 411     “O bless the Lord, my soul”                             St. Thomas
Postlude                    Prelude & Fugue in G Major                                J. S. Bach

Parish Notices

§  Coffee Hour: Currently we have hardly anyone signed up for coffee hour for the Sundays on 6/26 through 8/28. If you feel moved to serve in this capacity, please see the sign-up book on the table in the Narthex.
§  Elkhart Lake Chapel: The Chapel will have services every Sunday through Labor Day weekend. We are in need of help for each Sunday. 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.
§  Parish Music Survey:  We have concluded our open forums and the Music Committee is working towards forming a proposal of what this ministry is called to be after Dr. Dobey's retirement.  An additional aid in that effort is the following survey:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RDMKWB8.  Please take a few minutes and offer your thoughts so that we as a family can best listen to how our Lord is guiding us.  
§  Thank you: To the Boy Scouts for cleaning out our gutters!
§  Like Grace Church on Facebook
§  Follow Grace Church on Twitter: @GEC_Sheboygan
§  Follow Grace Church on Instagram: @GEC_Sheboygan
§  We Are on Itunes! Check out the new podcast!!!


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