Grace: the DowntoWn Abbey for Oak Park

 

This Sunday we will have our exciting fundraiser, where we will show our face to the Grace community and others who come to, or go by this gathering.  It is a time where we get to know each other and meet new friends.  Hopefully it will help us reach our goal of $10,000 for fundraising.

 

On Sunday, I mentioned that there is a great opportunity in living into the title, Grace: Oak Park's Downtown Abbey. What does mean to be a place of grace?  What do we mean when we say that we are a Downtown Abbey?  What ministries come with this?  What sense of welcoming comes with that title and claim?

 

When we first came up with this we were having fun planning a fundraiser with a theme around the very popular TV series, Downton Abbey.  Now I think it is time to see what it means and if we can live into the idea of being a Downtown Abbey.

 

-Shawn

The Sixth Annual series of concerts held on Thursday evenings throughout the summer at exactly 6:26PM is now history.  Some 494 people attended the 13 concerts.  In all $1,086 were collected, meaning that $543 will be going to the Outreach Ministry Fund.  In addition, 188 people attended Evensong throughout the summer.  Nine of the seventeen performers were at, or under, the age of 27; for those who attended, I think you will agree, classical music has a bright future here!  We can be proud as a congregation that seven of our young performers are members or close friends of Grace Church.  These include Kipp Cortez, Charlie Carpenter, Madeleine Woodworth, Samuel Clark-McHale, Adam Gruber, Jacob Lessing and Nicholas Jefferey.  I would like to especially thank Adam Gruber for being the Officiant at Evensong and Karen-Jo Mensch and Suzanne Haraburd for their welcoming hospitality and able assistance!  Thanks also to all who joined us for Evensong or for the concerts, or both!

 

And a splendid time was had by all!

 

Faithfully,

 

Dennis Northway

Parish Musician

 

P.S. We received the following note from one of our attendees:

 

I would like to thank you for a great season of summer concerts at Grace. This year was even better than ever! All the performers were terrific. All of the young people who performed were outstanding. Their dedication and skill are very impressive, but most of all, it is very inspiring to see how much they truly love what they are doing. With all of these outstanding young musicians, the future of classical music and organ performance is secure. As always, it was truly a pleasure to attend the concerts this summer, and I look forward to next year's concerts at 6:26.

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet

 

Our first discussion for this book will be Wednesday, September 11, at 7 PM at the home of Bets Howland and Dennis Zavac.   

 

More information is at this link.

 

To join the group, contact Bets and Dennis. 

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will perform at Morton East High School in Cicero on September 18 at 7:00p.  The program will led by CSO music director, Riccardo Muti and will feature Brahms Symphony No. 2 as well as several works by Giuseppe Verdi in honor of the 200^th anniversary of his birth.  The concert is free and open to the public, but tickets are required.

 

Full details are available at the CSO website.

 

September 22nd 10:30am Service:
ACOLYTES: Natalia Reniszewski
MC/LEMS:  Nadia Stefko; BobVogler, Sue Wells, Lascelles Anderson
LECTORS: Jim Prescott, Sally Prescott
INTERCESSORS: John Seaton, Grace Coberly
ALTAR GUILD: Joan Anderson, Heather Bovell, Flora Green, Hansi Kess, Kathy Onayemi, Al Papillon, Willie Polite, Sally Prescott, Natalie Ratz, Marie Rock, Jane Shirley, Mary Ann Urbashich
BREAD BAKER: Barbara Larsen
USHERS: Laura Morgan Day, Sam Love, Alan Harvey, Donna Anderson
GREETERS: Ade Onayemi, Gloria Rayburn, Jane Shirley
COFFEE HOUR HOSTS: 9:00am:
10:30am: