Learning and Delighting

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

25 October 2018

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your father's pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”  Jesus tells us this in the Gospel of Luke.  It’s a precious promise. 

We can live in the Kingdom today, however imperfectly.  There is that idea that comes as somewhat of a shock; every morning I wake up in the King’s palace.  And I look around; it doesn't seem to be much of a palace.  I have to struggle to see my surroundings in that perspective.  But it’s true, if I can see through the eyes of Christ empowered by His Spirit.  And, of course, it will be true in its fullness in the resurrected life.  We hold on to that living hope in the resurrected One as Peter urges us.  It's in our relationship with Jesus, tenuous as it sometimes is, that we connect with this truth.

But there is fear.  Fear that is always lurking around the edges ready to take control of our being.  I was shocked a while back when I read that this world is a perfectly safe place.  My reaction was, as likely yours would be, a safe place? You've got to be kidding.  Tell that to survivors of the too common mass shootings.  Go try that out in the hospital oncology ward.  Or, go proclaim such in a Middle Eastern refugee camp. I don't think so. 

I think we need to spend more time with the One who said our Father is the one who has counted the hairs on our heads.  Is the Lord that bored?   No, He obviously knows us far better than we know ourselves.  So, when Jesus told his disciples that some of them would be put to death by their enemies but not to fear, not a hair on their heads would be lost, He didn't mean this literally. Rather they were to realize that nothing making them precious in His sight would be lost. 

However, we don't have to be executed by enemies to lose our lives.  Jesus promises us that those who lose their lives for His sake will save them.  We are to deny ourselves.  We will lose our selfishness and sin, but not the selves whom God had in mind when we were created.  In the Kingdom of God here, and more so in the future, we’ll approach our potential.  We will become those true, fully mature, Sons and Daughters of God. 

For example, think of the realm of music. Imagine the great composer, Handel, entering the Kingdom of God and being told he’s written his last note of music.  Really?  More likely he would be told:

Here’s five more talents; here are instruments you’ve never seen with sounds you’ve never heard; and here’s an orchestra whose talents have similarly been doubled, who likewise no longer suffers sin’s corruption, doesn’t miss a beat, makes its instruments sing; and soloists, whose voices effortlessly shatter glass.  Go, compose to the glory of God, then come back and lead us to heights of worship and awe we’ve never experienced before. 

To hear such a performance, much more play an instrument, brings us into one of heaven’s continuing and infinite joys.  Now granted, this is a figment of my imagination, but not beyond plausibility. 

That’s just a small part of the music world, much less innumerable other worlds: Mathematics, Architecture, Gardening, the Arts, and others yet undiscovered. Whether we lead or serve we’ll always be stretched; learning and delighting in new joy.   There in the Kingdom, we’ll fulfill the potential poured into us at our creation.  It’s likely that heaven’s perfection isn’t static, frozen.  But rather dynamic, active.  There’s today’s perfection and then a higher perfection tomorrow, if we can talk about days.  The goal posts, as is said, are always moving, but that can be a good thing. 

Thanks be to God.

Fr. John Ambelang

Grace abounds:  Please thank: 

§  Wayne and Pat Sather, and Dcn. Paul and Andrea Aparicio for the Sunday coffee hours.

§  Jack Britton for building maintenance.

§  For our lay delegates to diocesan convention:  Nicci Beeck, Katy Larson, Bobbie May, Elizabeth Schaffenburg, and Bryan Stenz.

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 Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 25B)

                                      Dr. R. Benjamin Dobey, Music Director

Prelude                           Offertoire                                          Charles Tournemire

Entrance Hymn 655         “All my hope on God is founded”                         Michael

Offertory Hymn 523        “Glorious things of thee are spoken”               St. Thomas

Communion Motet           Eternal Light, shine in my heart               Samuel Scheidt

Communion Hymn 336    “Come with us, O blessèd Jesus”                Werde munter

Closing Hymn 493           “O for a thousand tongues to sing”                        Azmon

Postlude                         Toccata in C                              Johann Gottfired Walther

                                                              

Parish Notices:

§  Operation Christmas Child: Our Annual “Shoebox” Drive begins:

The leaves are beginning to change colors, temperatures are finally beginning to drop, and before we know it, we will be upon the Christmas season!  This year, the Sunday School classes will once again be filling shoeboxes for the annual Operation Christmas Child program powered by Samaritan’s Purse.  As you shop over the coming weeks, consider adding a few items to bring to church for our drive, including shoebox size plastic bins, stuffed animals, small toys, deflated soccer balls with air pumps, hair accessories, children’s outfits and socks, school supplies, craft and art supplies, and personal care items.  Just a note: we cannot include food including candy or gum, used items, war related items such as toy guns, liquids or lotions, or breakable items such as snow globes.  Please bring any items to the office.  Find additional ideas here: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/what-goes-in-my-shoebox-suggestions/

§  Blessed Trinity Parish Autumn Blessings Parish Fundraiser on Saturday, November 3: Mass at 4 PM, Autumn Blessings will start at 5 PM in the parish’s Church Hall (basement). Free Admission, Appetizers, Cash Bar, Musical Entertainment by “The Honeygoats”, Raffles, and Silent Auction all evening. For more information on the Autumn Blessings Parish Fundraiser or directions to the parish, please visit our website: www.btsje.org

§  Annual Sheboygan County Caregiver Conference: The Dementia Care Network and the Alzheimer’s Association partner to announce that 'We're All in This Together' on Thursday, November 15 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at Acuity. Family and professional caregivers are invited to attend. The event only costs $5 if you sign up before November 1 and $10 after that date. The price INCLUDES LUNCH. Contact Ginny Nyhuis at 800.272.3900 or gnyhuis@alz.org for additional information.

§  Coats For Kids: Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home, in conjunction with The Sheboygan Press, for the past 27 years, runs from September through November 1st. Area residents are asked to donate clean coats in good repair. Accepted are: coats of all sizes for people of all ages, with the need being greatest for children’s coats.

Location:	Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home,1535 S. 12th Street, Sheboygan, WI
Dates/Times:	Tuesday, September 4 to Thursday, November 1, 2018 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Monday – Friday)

§  Raffle to benefit Bridgeway: Choose Your Own Adventure 2018:

The goal of this raffle is to support Women and Children living at Bridgeway and assist them in gaining the skills and support that will allow them to become independent. 

The winner can choose between a $3000 gift certificate to Fox World Travel, or $2500 cash payout.

What is Bridgeway? It is a residential transitional living program for single women with children who are homeless or living in vulnerable situations. Upon entry into our residential program, mothers commit to living at Bridgeway for 3-6 months, and are able to reside at Bridgeway for up to two years.

§  Coats For Kids: Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home, in conjunction with The Sheboygan Press, for the past 27 years, runs from September through November 1st. Area residents are asked to donate clean coats in good repair. Accepted are: coats of all sizes for people of all ages, with the need being greatest for children’s coats.

Location:	§  Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home,1535 S. 12th Street, Sheboygan, WI
Dates/Times:	§  Tuesday, September 4 to Thursday, November 1, 2018 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Monday – Friday)

§  Bulletin Prayer List and our Grace Church Prayer Team: The Episcopal Church believes in the power of prayer. Grace Church regularly prays for the needs of our own members, as well as the needs of the country, and our world.  We would be honored to pray for your needs, and the needs of your friends and relatives if they or you are in a state of trouble, sorrow, pain, or are experiencing any other adversity. Please call the Parish office at (920) 452-9659 or email office@gracesheboygan.com.

Beloved Physician

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

18 October 2018

Today is the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, the “beloved physician” (Col. 4.14) and companion to Paul.  Not surprisingly, Luke is remembered as the patron saint of medical doctors, but what about his identity as the patron saint of iconographers (and, more broadly, artists)?

From the eighth century a tradition has been common in the Church that Luke painted (wrote) the first icon, an icon of the Virgin Mary.  This image was long known in Constantinople as Our Lady Hodegetria, (from the Greek, “she who shows the way,” and so called because in the image Mary points to the child Jesus), and served as the prototype for the premiere Russian traditional image, Our Lady of Vladimir, and the western tradition image of Our Lady of Częstochowa.  This teaching about Luke is consonant with the even older (early 2^nd C.)tradition that his primary source in the writing of his gospel was the Virgin Mary.

To be fair, we might consider Luke to be a patron of historians, for he makes clear in the prologue to his gospel that his testimony is derived from the eyewitness experience of others.

Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first,[a] to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.  (Luke 1.1—4)

In fact, Luke wrote more than one quarter of all the New Testament, his “first book” (his gospel) and his second, The Acts of the Apostles, in which narrative Luke refers to how “we” (Paul and himself) came to various places and events.  Paul, in turn, refers to Luke, including referring to him as being his only companion after (Paul) has been otherwise abandoned (2 Tim. 4.11).

In celebrating the life and witness of Luke, let’s return in our own lives to what he began his narrative with:  That what we testify to has been handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and to share this testimony that all who we encounter “may know the truth about” the faith.

Grace abounds:  Please thank: 

§  Bob and Anne Hanlon, and Bryans Stenz and Joyce Wessel for the Sunday coffee hours.

§  Jack Britton and Ethan Massey for building maintenance.

§  Bill and Deb Gagin for lawn care.

§  For the flawless execution of The Walsingham Pilgrimage:

o   Julie Davidson, Bev Evans, Claudia Fischer and Elizabeth Schaffenburg for much extra duty for The Altar Guild

o   Bobbie May and Bernie Markevitch for flowers and decoration

o   Dr. R. Benjamin Dobey and the Choir

o   Scott Fabiano and The Acolyte Corps of Thomas Crouse, Thomas Sanders, Zach Sorensen and Bryan Stenz.

o   The Hospitality Committee for meals: Polly Schmeiser and Mary Snyder, with food presentation, serving and cleanup assistance from Ed and Mary Clabots, Bob and Anne Hanlon, Katy Larson, Bobbie May, Cathy McGuire, Joann and Zach Sorensen, and baking by Mary Clabots, Deb Gagin, and Katy Larson.

o   Nicci Beeck for a myriad of logistical details on top of four extra service bulletins.

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 Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24B)

                                      Dr. R. Benjamin Dobey, Music Director

Prelude        Invocation                                        Alexandre Guilmant

Entrance Hymn 477         “All praise to thee, for thou, O King divine”       Engelberg

Offertory Hymn 444        “Blessed be the God of Israel”                         Thornbury

Communion Motet           God be in my head                                       Philip Wilby

Communion Hymn 475    “God himself is with us”                                          Tysk

Closing Hymn 655           “O Jesus, I have promised”                                  Nyland

Postlude                         Processional in E flat                              David N. Johnson

                                                              

Parish Notices:

§  Walsingham Pilgrimage 2018 THANK YOU! The Walsingham Pilgrimage was a blessed encounter of joy and holiness for so many.  Thank you to everyone who worked tirelessly to make it so special.

§  Operation Christmas Child: Our Annual “Shoebox” Drive begins:

The leaves are beginning to change colors, temperatures are finally beginning to drop, and before we know it, we will be upon the Christmas season!  This year, the Sunday School classes will once again be filling shoeboxes for the annual Operation Christmas Child program powered by Samaritan’s Purse.  As you shop over the coming weeks, consider adding a few items to bring to church for our drive, including shoebox size plastic bins, stuffed animals, small toys, deflated soccer balls with air pumps, hair accessories, children’s outfits and socks, school supplies, craft and art supplies, and personal care items.  Just a note: we cannot include food including candy or gum, used items, war related items such as toy guns, liquids or lotions, or breakable items such as snow globes.  Please bring any items to the office.  Find additional ideas here: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/what-goes-in-my-shoebox-suggestions/

§  Annual Sheboygan County Caregiver Conference: The Dementia Care Network and the Alzheimer’s Association partner to announce that 'We're All in This Together' on Thursday, November 15 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at Acuity. Family and professional caregivers are invited to attend. The event only costs $5 if you sign up before November 1 and $10 after that date. The price INCLUDES LUNCH. Contact Ginny Nyhuis at 800.272.3900 or gnyhuis@alz.org for additional information.

§  Coats For Kids: Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home, in conjunction with The Sheboygan Press, for the past 27 years, runs from September through November 1st. Area residents are asked to donate clean coats in good repair. Accepted are: coats of all sizes for people of all ages, with the need being greatest for children’s coats.

Location:	Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home,1535 S. 12th Street, Sheboygan, WI
Dates/Times:	Tuesday, September 4 to Thursday, November 1, 2018 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Monday – Friday)

§  Raffle to benefit Bridgeway: Choose Your Own Adventure 2018:

The goal of this raffle is to support Women and Children living at Bridgeway and assist them in gaining the skills and support that will allow them to become independent. 

The winner can choose between a $3000 gift certificate to Fox World Travel, or $2500 cash payout.

What is Bridgeway? It is a residential transitional living program for single women with children who are homeless or living in vulnerable situations. Upon entry into our residential program, mothers commit to living at Bridgeway for 3-6 months, and are able to reside at Bridgeway for up to two years.

§  Coats For Kids: Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home, in conjunction with The Sheboygan Press, for the past 27 years, runs from September through November 1st. Area residents are asked to donate clean coats in good repair. Accepted are: coats of all sizes for people of all ages, with the need being greatest for children’s coats.

Location:	Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home,1535 S. 12th Street, Sheboygan, WI
Dates/Times:	Tuesday, September 4 to Thursday, November 1, 2018 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Monday – Friday)

§  Bulletin Prayer List and our Grace Church Prayer Team: The Episcopal Church believes in the power of prayer. Grace Church regularly prays for the needs of our own members, as well as the needs of the country, and our world.  We would be honored to pray for your needs, and the needs of your friends and relatives if they or you are in a state of trouble, sorrow, pain, or are experiencing any other adversity. Please call the Parish office at (920) 452-9659 or email office@gracesheboygan.com

A Prefiguring

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

11 October 2018

“A Prefiguring”

While sitting in church one morning, I noticed a woman holding a little baby in her lap.  The baby was looking into the woman’s face.  As I watched, I could almost see the substance of love moving from the one to the other. The little child, who was only a few months old, would look a moment and then its face would spread out in a great big grin.  Of course, the woman was looking back into the eyes of the child.  A little child can look endlessly into your eyes without any self-consciousness or uneasiness. 

Dallas Willard, A Life Without Lack

In jail, sometimes, I tell the prisoners of the two passages in Revelation, both prayer book funeral options.  Each has the Lord coming down from his throne and wiping away the tears from the eyes of the redeemed.  And I suggest that in order to wipe away those tears it’s only to be expected that your eyes will lock, looking into each other.

Now, I can’t imagine what that’s going to be like.  It’s only a metaphor, for God has no eyes. What then does it mean to look into the eyes of the Living God? I tell the prisoners we can make some guesses and, if not accurate, it’ll be even better. Regardless, they will feel fully accepted.    Furthermore, they will feel fully loved.  How could it be otherwise?  And they will feel fully known and forgiven.  Nothing, anymore, do they need hide.  Not surprisingly, things get awfully quiet as I’m telling this. 

Isn’t this what we have longed for all of our lives and never known?  To be fully known, fully loved, and fully forgiven?  It will be the most intimate time ever experienced, better than any pleasure or joy experienced on this earth.  What a start to the life eternal.  No wonder it’s recounted twice in this last book of the Bible. 

Now, to be clear, this isn’t said in so many words in the two accounts.  Instead, what is emphasized in the first, is that in the kingdom there will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore; death will have passed away.  In the second, the emphasis is no more hunger, thirst, or scorching heat.  All wonderful things, but I’d claim these assertions about being fully known, loved, and forgiven aren’t new but are found throughout Scripture. And there’s more, much more.  What did Jesus say in the Gospel of John, “If I tell you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”  We have so much yet to experience as God expresses his love for us. 

Now lest I be accused of being too sentimental, I end with the question, “Why the tears?”

Fr. John Ambelang

Grace abounds:  Please thank: 

§  Bill and Deb Gagin, and Steve and Polly Schmeiser the Sunday coffee hour.

§  Jack Britton for building maintenance.

§  Bill and Deb Gagin for lawn care.

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 Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 23B)

                                      Dr. R. Benjamin Dobey, Music Director

Prelude        Alma Redemptoris Mater                Léonce de Saint-Martin

Entrance Hymn 408         “Sing praise to God who reigns above”     Mit Freuden zart

Offertory Hymn 680        “O God, our help in ages past”                           St. Anne

Communion Motet           Angelus                                                      Edward Elgar

Communion Hymn 488    “Be thou my vision, O lord of my heart”                  Slane

Closing Hymn 438           “Tell out my soul”                                          Woodlands

Postlude                         Le Salut à la Vierge: Ave Maria, Ave Maris Stella 

Saint-Martin

                                                              

Parish Notices:

§  Choir rehearsals have begun: All voices are welcome, but we especially need tenors and basses. You don’t need to be a trained singer, an opera star, or a Broadway sensation -you just need a desire to share the love of Christ through music! “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:19

§  Catechumenate has begun: Catechumenate is a nine-month course in the basics of the Faith and its practice. It is a period of training and instruction in Christian understandings about God, human relationships, and the meaning of life. It includes the Sacrament of Baptism, if you are not already baptized, and culminates in Confirmation, Reception, or Renewal of Baptismal Vows. The class meets on Tuesdays from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. in the Church’s Lower Level. For more information, please call the office 452-9659 or email Mother Michele at mwhitford@gracesheboygan.com.

§  Walsingham Pilgrimage Music and Flowers: The Walsingham Pilgrimage is just around the corner and preparations are being made. Music will once again include the Gaudete Brass. As you are able, prayerfully consider contributing so that we can once again offer beautiful music that has become so much a part of the pilgrimage and the flowers that add to the beauty of holiness. Please make your check out to Grace Church with “Walsingham music” or “flowers” or both in the memo.

§  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.

§  Raffle to benefit Bridgeway: Choose Your Own Adventure 2018:

The goal of this raffle is to support Women and Children living at Bridgeway and assist them in gaining the skills and support that will allow them to become independent. 

The winner can choose between a $3000 gift certificate to Fox World Travel, or $2500 cash payout.

What is Bridgeway? It is a residential transitional living program for single women with children who are homeless or living in vulnerable situations. Upon entry into our residential program, mothers commit to living at Bridgeway for 3-6 months, and are able to reside at Bridgeway for up to two years.

§  Coats For Kids: Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home, in conjunction with The Sheboygan Press, for the past 27 years, runs from September through November 1st. Area residents are asked to donate clean coats in good repair. Accepted are: coats of all sizes for people of all ages, with the need being greatest for children’s coats.

Location:	Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home,1535 S. 12th Street, Sheboygan, WI
Dates/Times:	Tuesday, September 4 to Thursday, November 1, 2018 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Monday – Friday)

§  Bulletin Prayer List and our Grace Church Prayer Team: The Episcopal Church believes in the power of prayer. Grace Church regularly prays for the needs of our own members, as well as the needs of the country, and our world.  We would be honored to pray for your needs, and the needs of your friends and relatives if they or you are in a state of trouble, sorrow, pain, or are experiencing any other adversity. Please call the Parish office at (920) 452-9659 or email office@gracesheboygan.com.

Use Words

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

4 October 2018

“Preach the Gospel at all times.  Use words if necessary.”  This is a quotation often ascribed to St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast we celebrate this day.  The problem is that Francis never said this, and was himself a gifted preacher.    Furthermore the statement is itself problematic.

If we take these words to mean that we are to live  the Gospel, well and good, for too often it is a fair criticism of Christians that they may talk about the faith without showing real evidence of living the faith.  The problem with the supposed quotation is that it implies (if I am the one making the statement to you) that, while I may be happy to receive your ministrations, I don’t have to examine my own life in the light of truth which may be imparted to me.

Our own baptismal vows include that we shall “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ” (BCP 305).  But note the order:  word and example.  This is because we are to allow God’s word to convict those who must turn to Him.  Our own actions, however gracious and inspired, will not bring about the self-examination that another may require in order to open his or her heart to God, that the Holy Spirit may bring about new creation in the one who turns to God.  What will bring about conviction and a call to conversion of life is God’s word, the Good News, and we are bound to proclaim this word.

Again and again Scripture enjoins upon us the duty not only to live according to God’s word, but to share it.  We mainly shy from this duty, for the culture around us has made faith a private matter.  But we are not living the Gospel if we are not sharing it, and this requires words.  Perhaps the best way to begin using words is to begin building relationships.  It is only when we have established meaningful relationships with anyone that we can, in fact, share.  Real sharing requires trust.  We can begin, therefore, with words of welcome and of enquiry; words which express a desire to learn more about those whom we encounter, and to learn from them.  Once we have established a level of trust, and an openness to learn, it is then that words can also be used to testify to who God is in our own lives; to use the words of the Good News.

Preach the Gospel at all times, indeed.  Use words, God’s words, words that are dear to you in all the ways you live them.

A Vacation Reflection

Jon and I had a wonderful vacation. We travelled nearly 5200 miles, through 15 states. We saw the beauty and majesty of our country. Everything from corn fields literally as far as the eye can see, to the steep mountains and valleys where there is mystery around every corner. We experienced the high desert with sage brush growing in the most unlikely places, and the great Virginia Oaks of the deep south covered in Spanish Moss. We saw balancing stones and the gravity defying stone arches; and the aptly named Grand Canyon, which neither words or pictures can do justice. We experience the grandeur of nature and we stood next to the most powerful manmade object to date the Saturn 5 rocket that propelled humans to the moon. We experienced the cultures of the First Nations and we got to spend time with our bestie, Bobbi.

Through all our travels we saw people. We experienced the wonderful diversity of nationality and language and culture and the absolute sameness in all the differences. We found the people of this nation and those who were visiting from other lands to be patient, kind, generous and polite. Even in the most crowded tourist places, there was a congeniality among everyone, waiting for a picture to be taken, giving someone a bit of time to take in the vast beauty from the best vantage point, knowing that the same curtesy would be granted to us.

Watching all those strangers we realized that we really all are the same. If you watch long enough in the crowd you can pick out familiar personalities and feel as if you know them. Moms and dads with their children experiencing the awe of creation. Young lovers seeing beauty around them and in each other. Seniors ticking things off their bucket list. Everyone has the same wants and desires, to be seen and loved. When you are on vacation it is easy to relax and let life flow around you. It is easy to enjoy the differences and wonder of it all.

The glory of vacation is you get to do just that, vacate, put your life on hold and clear your mind. I knew our vacation was long enough when I wanted to get back to all that is familiar, back to my loved ones, back to real life.

In His Mercy,

Mother Michele and Jon Whitford

Grace abounds:  Please thank: 

§  Bobbie May for the Sunday coffee hour.

§  Luke Fitzsimmons for lawn maintenance.

§  Jack Britton for building maintenance.

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 Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22B)

                                       Dr. R. Benjamin Dobey, Music Director

Prelude        Adagio from Suite in F Major                           G.F Handel

Entrance Hymn 495         “Hail thou once despised Jesus”                      In Babilone

Offertory Hymn 448        “O love, how deep, how broad how, high”     Deo gracias

Communion Motet           O Salutaris                                             Charles Gounod

Communion Hymn 704    “O thou who camest from above”                       Hereford

Closing Hymn 637           “How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord”          Lyons

Postlude                         Prelude & Fugue in G Major                 Dietrich Buxtehude

                                                              

Parish Notices:

§  Choir rehearsals have begun: All voices are welcome, but we especially need tenors and basses. You don’t need to be a trained singer, an opera star, or a Broadway sensation -you just need a desire to share the love of Christ through music! “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:19

§  Catechumenate has begun: Catechumenate is a nine-month course in the basics of the Faith and its practice. It is a period of training and instruction in Christian understandings about God, human relationships, and the meaning of life. It includes the Sacrament of Baptism, if you are not already baptized, and culminates in Confirmation, Reception, or Renewal of Baptismal Vows. The class meets on Tuesdays from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. in the Church’s Lower Level. For more information, please call the office 452-9659 or email Mother Michele at mwhitford@gracesheboygan.com.

§  Walsingham Pilgrimage Music and Flowers: The Walsingham Pilgrimage is just around the corner and preparations are being made. Music will once again include the Gaudete Brass. As you are able, prayerfully consider contributing so that we can once again offer beautiful music that has become so much a part of the pilgrimage and the flowers that add to the beauty of holiness. Please make your check out to Grace Church with “Walsingham music” or “flowers” or both in the memo.

Harvest Lunch will be served at noon on Saturday, October 13; the cost is $20 per person and reservations are required by October 10. For more information or to make reservations, call 920-452-9659 or email office@gracesheboygan.com.

§  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.

§  Raffle to benefit Bridgeway: Choose Your Own Adventure 2018:

The goal of this raffle is to support Women and Children living at Bridgeway and assist them in gaining the skills and support that will allow them to become independent. 

The winner can choose between a $3000 gift certificate to Fox World Travel, or $2500 cash payout.

What is Bridgeway? It is a residential transitional living program for single women with children who are homeless or living in vulnerable situations. Upon entry into our residential program, mothers commit to living at Bridgeway for 3-6 months, and are able to reside at Bridgeway for up to two years.

§  Coats For Kids: Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home, in conjunction with The Sheboygan Press, for the past 27 years, runs from September through November 1st. Area residents are asked to donate clean coats in good repair. Accepted are: coats of all sizes for people of all ages, with the need being greatest for children’s coats.

Location:	Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home,1535 S. 12th Street, Sheboygan, WI
Dates/Times:	Tuesday, September 4 to Thursday, November 1, 2018 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Monday – Friday)

§  Bulletin Prayer List and our Grace Church Prayer Team: The Episcopal Church believes in the power of prayer. Grace Church regularly prays for the needs of our own members, as well as the needs of the country, and our world.  We would be honored to pray for your needs, and the needs of your friends and relatives if they or you are in a state of trouble, sorrow, pain, or are experiencing any other adversity. Please call the Parish office at (920) 452-9659 or email office@gracesheboygan.com.