Grace
Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Grace
Notes
16 February 2017
What “lens” do we look
through at the world around us? In
looking at the world we can look through a lens that is colored more in shades
of fallenness and redemption or a lens that is colored more in shades of
justice. Those lenses color many debates
within the Church. If you look at things
in terms of fallenness and redemption, then you are going to be more ready to
call some things sin and some people sinners, and to focus on the need for
repentance. In this coming Sunday’s
lessons, you will focus more on the Gospel.
If you look at things in terms of justice, then you are going to be more
focused on the individual worth of a person as one created in the image and
likeness of God, and you are going to worry more about the need to affirm their
status as a child of God than about their need to repent. In this coming Sunday’s lessons, your will
focus more on Leviticus.
So, which is it for
God? God doesn’t need lenses. He knows Leviticus and Matthew equally
well! The One who sees all is also the
Truth (John 14.6), and so perspective doesn’t really matter. He sees the struggles and cross purposes in His
people, but He also sees the hearts which yearn for Him and seek Him. Fallenness is real, but so is
redemption. Fallenness is the measure of
how we have separated ourselves from God, but God redeems; He gives His only
Son for us. Justice is real. God hears the cry of the oppressed. The common element is holiness. We are called to be holy because God is
holy. We are called to the perfection of
God, because He has created us in His image and likeness. In Jesus, God became incarnate. In the Church, God is incarnate. The Church is God’s Body on earth (1 Cor.
12.13), into which each of us is baptized.
That’s why we do worry about redemption, but why we also worry about
justice. The two are not
incompatible. In the perfection of God,
perfect justice and perfect redemption are one.
When Jesus tells us (and remember, He addresses us as “y’all”) to go the
second mile, He also says that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the
good, and sends his rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mtt. 5.45); that our
failings and cross purposes are known by God, and yet He still calls us to a
higher purpose, to the higher purpose of making God and God’s will known
to all.
Grace
abounds: Please thank:
§ Jessica Ambelang, Ed
& Mary Clabots, Mary Massey, Kevan and Traci Revis, and Pat Ford Smith for
the Sunday coffee hours.
§ Jessica Ambelang,
Jennifer Pawlus, and Elizabeth Schaffenburg for pastoral care visits.
Call for
Contributions: If 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.
Don’t forget
“Something Extra for Grace”: Supplemental
giving envelopes can be found in pews.
If you want to give something extra, please use an envelope to ensure
that you are credited.
Music
this Week: The
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
Organist: Ben Dobey
Prelude: Chorale Preludes on Christ, thou art the Light and Day
George Boehm & J.S. Bach
Entrance
Hymn:
537 “Christ
for the world we sing!” Moscow
Offertory
Hymn: 518
“Christ is made the sure
foundation” Westminster
Abbey
Communion
Motet O Everlasting Light John
E. West
Closing
Hymn: 516 “Come down, O Love
divine” Down
Ampney
Postlude: Toccata in D Johann Krieger
Parish
Notices
Clergy Retreat: There will be a three day diocesan clergy retreat next week. There will be no Mass on Mon.—Wed., and the
Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer will only happen on those days if a
parishioner decides to say the prayers at the church. (The church will be open, as normal. The parish office will be open 9—3 on Monday
and Wednesday.) Fr. Karl can be
contacted on his cell phone, in the event of emergency. The number is in the parish directory.
§ Adult
Education: On Sunday,
February 19th, at 9:00 a.m., we will continue with the third class of a
four-week course on Sacramental Identity. This course will follow
the scheme set forth in the 2008 book of David A. deSilva, Sacramental Life:
Spiritual Formation Through The Book of Common Prayer, to explore how
liturgies of The Book of Common Prayer give us a language and a
context for encountering God. We will begin with a consideration of
Baptism and how we live into our baptismal identity through prayer.
§ Clergy
Retreat: Father Karl and
Mother Michele will be attending a clergy retreat in DePere on Monday February
20th through Wednesday, February 22nd. In the case of an
emergency, please call Father Karl on 920-889-7190.
§ 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. 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 eaparicio@gracesheboygan.com by Monday, February 20, 2017.
§ Mid-Winter
Ball: Everyone is invited
to Dance the night away! Top Shelf DJs featuring our very own Scott Bailey.
Friday, February 24th, 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. in St. Nicholas Hall.
A $5:00 donation per person is suggested.
§ Shrove
Tuesday Feast before the Fast: Shrove Tuesday is February 28th. We will be having a picnic on
a plate (brats & burgers, potato salad, baked beans, and coleslaw)
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. A
donation of $5:00 per person is suggested.
§ Ash
Wednesday: March 1st, Ash
Wednesday, the first day of Lent, 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 second Friday in Lent (March 10th) 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 Bishop
Matt’s Lenten series for parishes focusing on the Diocesan Vision for us to be
communities of God’s mercy and light. This is not a study but rather a time of
listening to God and one another; a time for storytelling and reflecting on our
stories; a time of beginning or continuing discernment, both for ourselves and
for our community of faith. Please sign up on the sheets in the Narthex so we
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.
§ Icon
Class: The
iconography class scheduled to begin February 26th has been
cancelled. Not enough people can commit to seven Sundays in a row. We are
investigating how to make this class happen in the evenings. If you want to
explore this, let us know the best timeframe that will work for you: late
Spring or early Fall?
§ Volunteer
needed to organize the Annual Bake/Plant/Rummage Sale: This annual event takes place, in conjunction with
St. Luke United Methodist Church Rummage Sale, on Friday, April 28th
(noon – 3:00 p.m.) and Saturday, April 29th (9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.)
– the first weekend after Easter. As well as an organizer we will need
volunteers to bake brownies (Jessica Ambelang will provide pans, ingredients
and instructions), help gather and sort rummage, and set-up and take down.
Anyone interested in organizing or helping in this event, please call the
office at 920-452-9659 or speak with Jessica Ambelang after the 10:15 a.m. mass
on Sunday.
§ Bible
Challenge: Videos for all 52
weeks of the year are now available on Grace Abounds. If you take this
challenge, you will find that in one year you will read all of the Bible! This
will require less than an hour of your time, six days a week. A schedule of
readings is provided on the parish website, along with weekly study summaries
and a weekly video summary of the readings. If you need a good study bible for
the challenge, contact the parish office. When we immerse ourselves in
Scripture, the mantle of the Lord does fall upon us. We are equipped to discern
God’s will and to lead others to know and love and serve the Lord.
§ Flower
Schedule for 2017: 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.
§ 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.
§ 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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