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February 11, 2015
The Vicar's Corner
Come and get it!  Hot and temptingly tasty chili, fresh and home made.  Yep.  Our 5th Annual St. Nicholas Chili Supper is this Saturday, February 14th.  What a night it will be.  As if home made chili isn't enough...we'll also have a ton of fantastic raffle prizes available.  The invitation is there.  Mark it on your calendar, your cell phone app, tie a string around your finger if you have to.  Just be here and join in the fun, food and festivities.  It's so wonderful to see our Hall filled with happy people, eating their fill of chili and having a chance at some fun prizes. 

Next week, we have two opportunities to come together and celebrate our faith and our friendships:  Tuesday, Feb. 17 is Shrove Tuesday or if you will, "Mardi Gras," which is French for  "Fat Tuesday."  "Shrove" is the past tense of "shrive," which means to "hear a confession, assign a penance and absolve from sin."  This special Tuesday is a reminder that we are about to enter into a church season of penance,  meditation and interior examination.  Yet, before we begin this prayerful season, we are afforded some time to celebrate and feast...and we do so with a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper.  We'll gather at 6:30pm in Holy Innocents Hall for a breakfast-themed dinner.  The gentlemen will cook, serve and clean up.  And tell me, who doesn't like breakfast at dinner time?  I'm in!  How about you?  And if you think of it, bring along some Paczkis, too.  After all, Fat Tuesday is not complete without those gooey, sweet and delicious Polish doughnuts, right!

Ash Wednesday: the official start of our Lenten experience is February 18th.  After a day of feasting and celebrating, Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting, of prayer and the beginning our 40 day prayerful journey as we look forward to the great feast of Easter.  Before we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, we must have our own "desert experience," taking time to meditate and to pray.  Traditionally, Lent affords us the time to "give something up" for the next 40 days.  This is fine and certainly a tried and true Lenten discipline.  However, may I suggest we perhaps take on an activity, or 'ministry' that we may not have done in a while or maybe never done before.  How about baking bread for our weekend Services?  Maybe hosting Coffee Hour after our Sunday 10am worship?  Pay a visit to the Giving Tree and see if there's some thing you could share?  We have several community members who are sick and unable to prepare meals for themselves.  How about preparing a casserole or meatloaf for them?  We have some freezer space so we can have them "at the ready" for delivery.

True to form, there are lots of things going on at St. Nicholas.  Lent invites us to even more activities and opportunities.  Lent provides us the invitation to help grow our faith and draw closer to the Creator and to one another as well.  Look for more Lenten exercises to come.  Accept these invitations, please, and let us all strive forward into this holy season with joy, with anticipation and with renewed minds and hearts.   From chili and raffles, pancakes, bacon and doughnuts, ashes on our forehead, examination of our conscience, seeking forgiveness for our transgressions, praying the Stations of the Cross, renewal of our baptismal promises and ultimately, the full immersion into the holiest of all holy days...Easter. 

But, let's take it all one day at a time, shall we.  And we start...now!
 
Amen.

 

-Manny

5th Annual St. Nick's Chili Supper and Raffle
This Very Saturday, February 14th, 2015
Chili Supper
At long last, our church event has arrived. Hard to believe that this is our 5th Annual Chili Supper and Raffle.  Close your eyes and you can almost smell that lovely aroma of chili slowing simmering atop the stove.  We're hoping this is our best one yet.  Miss Jessica has been busy as a bee getting everything in order, not to mention so many others in the church community who called and visited on store vendors and shops throughout the area soliciting raffle prizes.  What a great job everyone has done!

The Supper will begin between 5:30 and 6PM.  We'd love for you to join us for our 4:30 Service and then just follow your nose to Holy Innocents Hall, pick up some raffle tickets, grab a seat and enjoy.  Bring the whole family and round up the neighbors and friends...all are welcome. 
Absalom Jones
A Saint in the Episcopal Church
Absalom JonesThe Union of Black Episcopalians Chicago will celebrate
the annual Absalom Jones Day observance at St. Thomas  Episcopal Church in Chicago on Sunday, February 15, 2015 at 8pm.  This year's speaker will be Dr. Eddie Glaude, the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies and Chair of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University.  All members of the Diocese of Chicago are invited to attend. 

Absalom Jones was the first black priest in the Episcopal Church.   His path to the priesthood was difficult and fraught with personal pain.  He was kicked out of a church for being too successful at evangelism.  That church's loss was the Episcopal Church's blessed gain.

We all rejoice and celebrate this remarkable man; for his accomplishments, for his steadfast faith and his sacred determination.
Shrove Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Pancake Supper at St. Nicholas
Pancake Supper There's nothing like breakfast for dinner, especially when bacon is involved!

St. Nicholas will once again host a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper.  Mark your calendar for Tuesday, February 17 at 6:30pm.  And remember guys, the men do the cooking and serving.  Volunteers are needed to help with food items, cook and clean up.  Let's make it another memorable St. Nicholas event.

All are welcome.  Come and get it!
Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2015
The Holy Season of Lent Begins
Ashes Nature has four season, all of which are very distinguishable one from another.  So it goes with the Church as the calendar is broken up into a number of "seasons."   Ash Wednesday begins the 40 day period of Lent.  This is a wonderful opportunity made gift to us for deeper, more intimate personal prayer and reflection. 

All are invited and encouraged to attend our Ash Wednesday Service at 7pm Wednesday evening, February 18.  Let us begin this most holy of seasons with the mark upon our forehead and the Spirit deep within our hearts.  All are certainly welcome.
Stations of the Cross
6pm Friday Evenings in Lent
Stations of the Cross The church season of Lent invites us all into deeper, more intimate prayer as individuals and as a community.  St. Nicholas invites all to come and join in communal prayer on Friday nights at 6pm, as we gather to pray the Stations of the Cross.  This time together provides moments of meditation and shared prayers as we recall the path Jesus took to Golgotha.  All are invited.  
Prayer Requests
The Community of St. Nicholas is praying
For the repose of the soul of Bishop William Wiedrich, suffragen bishop of the Diocese of Chicago from 1991 to 1997.  Bishop Wiedrich passed away on November 26, 2014 at his home in an assisted living facility in Michigan.  He was 83 and had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for some time.  May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.  Amen.

For the repose of the soul of Isabel Lozez, sister of Fr. Uriel Lopez of Church of the Redeemer Episcopal in Elgin:  Isabel passed away after a long and courageous battle with cancer.  May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.  Amen.

For those who are subjected to the horrors of war, crime and injustice:  pray that peace fill our world, equality reign and love conquers all.

For the Episcopal Church:  that we continue to be a home for all people.

For people who are alone, lonely and find life too challenging and demanding:  pray for peace of mind, comfort to the soul and the grace and strength to endure.

For our beloved pets and all God's creatures that are exposed to the cruel weather of winter:  pray they are cared for and protected.

For all our St. Nicholas community members who are under the weather and in need of healing and prayers:  may they find peace and be blessed with sound and better health:  Connie Nicholson, Pat Beahr, Joanne Mangiaracina, Kesha, Vernon Forde, Dick and Mary Gans, Eunice Dohra, Bob DeHaven, K.C., Dick Day, Dale Rickey, Paula O' Conner, Jim Laughlin, Jackie, Chris, Cathy Walters, Carrie and any one else in need of our continued prayers and well wishes.

 

***   "Pray for a better relationship with my brother."       
 

(***written prayer requests)  

Shout-Outs
To our Bishop's Committee as we met for the first time with our new members...lots of energy, excitement and unlimited enthusiasm.

To our smaller, yet just as energized Building Committee which met for the first time this new year...hats off to all the successes we accomplished in 2014 and forward we go into 2015 with high hopes.

To Eve Gatwood who hauled in a huge donation of goodies for our food pantry...your kindness is exceptional.
This Week at St. Nicholas
As a reminder, the full master calendar is always available online at this link.  Here is the schedule for the next week:
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
AA Meeting12:00 PM  
Choir Rehearsal6:45 PM  
Al-Anon Meeting7:30 PM  

Thursday, February 12, 2015
AA Meeting12:00 PM  
GA Meeting7:00 PM  

Friday, February 13, 2015
Vicar's Day Off 
AA Meeting12:00 PM  

Saturday, February 14, 2015
AA Meeting1:00 PM  
Worship Service4:30 PM  
Chili Supper & Raffle6:00 PM  
AA Meeting7:00 PM  

Sunday, February 15, 2015
Healing Weekend10:00 AM  
Varied Voices10:00 AM  
Worship Service10:00 AM  
Adult Bible Study11:30 AM  
Children's / Youth Formation11:30 AM  
AA Meeting7:30 PM  

Monday, February 16, 2015
AA Meeting12:00 PM  
AA Meeting7:00 PM  

Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Vicar's Day Off 
AA Meeting12:00 PM  
Pancake Supper6:30 PM  
AA Meeting7:00 PM  

Wednesday, February 18, 2015
AA Meeting12:00 PM  
Food Pantry4:00 PM  
Ash Wednesday Service7:00 PM  
Al-Anon Meeting7:30 PM