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Discourse: Our Nation's and Grace's
"Opinions about candidates and the future direction of our nation vary widely. What I think nearly everyone agrees on, however, is that the tone of our discourse is not what it should be."
-Scott Gunn, Executive Director of Forward Movement
This quote from Scott made me think of Grace and our community life. I have been hearing people say that one of their concerns regarding our congregation is that we do not know how to talk with another. Take a moment to read the above quote with the congregation in mind. Or perhaps even a work place or family situation.
Grace is an amazing place. When we love each other, we love each other with abundance. At the same time when we disagree, we tend to do it in ways that break down community. This is a pattern that has been going on for years and years at Grace.
How is it that we enter into all of our times with great passion and in a respectful manner?
In this week's Forward Movement newsletter, Scott Gunn suggests a non-partisan prayer for our country and its leaders. Take a moment to turn this prayer into one for Grace (or other situations that are on your mind):
"Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
(From the Book of Common Prayer)
In the near future, Andrea Mysen (a diocesan staff member) will meet with the wardens and vestry to talk about where this community is together, and how we move forward in ways that allow us to celebrate successes and deal with areas of conflict.
I invite you to join me this Sunday, March 13th (after each service) in some conversations about moving forward together. We will gather around round tables in the Parish Hall and share our hopes and dreams for each other and the congregation.
Let us walk together in our death and resurrection experiences.
Peace,
Shawn
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The Vestry of Grace Church meets monthly, and the meetings are open to everyone. The Vestry will next meet on Wednesday, March 16th at 7PM in the St. Hilda Room on the 2nd floor of the Parish House.
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Daylight Saving Time Returns
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Daylight Saving Time will begin at 2 a.m., this Sunday (March 13). Clocks should be set ahead one hour before going to bed this Saturday.
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Contemplative Prayer During Lent
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 We hope you'll join us on Wednesday, March 16 for the final session of Washed in Quiet Contemplation. We'll offer a brief respite from your day - a still, quiet space to pray, reflect, meditate, or simply rest for a moment.
We'll gather for Centering Prayer Discussion at 7pm, followed by a Contemplative Prayer Service at 7:30.
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Ingathering this Sunday, March 13th
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 Thanks be to God through the UTO The United Thank Offering is a long-standing tradition in the Episcopal Church. Placing "thankful coins" in the Blue Box you have at home is also a tradition, one that is rich in spirituality and love. The United Thank Offering, or UTO, began as a part of missionary efforts of the Women's Auxiliary to the Board of Mission in 1889. Their goals that first year were to build a new church in Alaska and to send a woman missionary to Japan. They succeeded in both. Every coin from every Blue Box and Blue Envelope is given away in grants. Every cent you give, representing your thankful prayers today fulfills the dream for tomorrow's life and gives hope to people all over the world. A special UTO collection will be held this Sunday, March 13th (a second collection plate will be passed for this purpose). Your money and prayers have built churches, made needed renovations, fed the hungry, clothed the poor, provided shelter for the homeless and have provided care and support for those with physical, mental and emotional problems. You can pick up a UTO envelope in the back of church that morning. Please make your check payable to UTO or United Thank Offering. In our area, your offerings have enabled grants to be given to St. Paul the Redeemer and Messiah-St. Bartholomew, both in Chicago. At St. Paul's, the Supreme Bean, a coffee shop and youth center in the parish hall, provides a safe, healthy, clean and positive space for nearby high school students. Messiah-St. Bartholomew has used the funding to buy computers to start a technical learning center to help underprivileged youth and adults build skills for job readiness. The power of the Blue Box is unlimited. Keep one on the kitchen counter, on your dresser or in the car. It can be personal or shared by the whole family. Drop a coin or two in every day. It can make a difference in your life as well as the person receiving your offerings. |
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Holy Week & Easter at Grace
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 Palm Sunday - March 20
9:00AM - Palm Sunday for Kids 10:30AM - Choral Eucharist Maundy Thursday - March 24
6:00PM - The Last Supper, Kid-Style 7:30PM - Foot Washing & Holy Eucharist Good Friday - March 25
12:00 Noon - Stations of the Cross 6:00PM - Good Friday, Kid-Style 7:30PM - Good Friday Service including the Singing of St. John's Passion
The Great Vigil of Easter - March 26 (Saturday)
7:30PM followed by a festive reception
Easter Day - March 279:00AM - Kids Do Easter (followed by an Easter Egg hunt) 10:30AM - Festival Choral Eucharist |
The Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter) - Three Days *
The Three Days (or Triduum) slow down time as we move through the climax of the story of faith, Jesus' betrayal, death, and resurrection. Worship throughout the rest of the year skims the surface in some ways, whisking us through the story of Jesus' life. But in these three days we linger. There is so much centered here. We have to take our time to be able to receive it.
Worship on these days will cover it all: creation and redemption, death and life, fire and water, desolation and celebration. These days enact the great Christian drama, and the liturgies are, in many ways, dramas that embody the story, the tensions, and the teachings at the core of our faith.
The Triduum liturgies are, in effect, one continuous rite spread over three consecutive days. Thus, there is no blessing or dismissal until the conclusion of the First Mass of the Resurrection on Easter Eve.
Maundy Thursday
This service marks the beginning of the Triduum. We reach back to the beginning of Lent to recall the confession we made on Ash Wednesday. This service is clearly different from the regular flow of the Eucharist as we celebrate it weekly, because what we commemorate this evening is different. Tonight we begin a celebration that will not end until the exultant conclusion of the Great Paschal Vigil. Tonight, we hear the words of forgiveness in a new way. It is only with the knowledge of being forgiven that we can engage the rest of the story. We watch and we eat a last supper with Jesus. We hear him offer all of himself to us, even his body and blood. We end the service with the stripping of the chancel. Adornment after adornment leaves the sanctuary as the words of the psalm drift through the air, and we are reminded of what this love will cost Jesus. We leave the service lingering. It is holy time.
Good Friday
When we return to the sanctuary on Good Friday, hours have passed. We hear about Jesus' betrayal, capture and trial. We hear of his humiliation, his interrogation. We know the night was long for him, and lonely. Our visual center is the cross. There is nothing else to distract us. The pace is slow, as those final hours must have been for him. We move relentlessly toward the end. We pray, interceding for the world around us, for our church, and ourselves. We are reminded that Jesus' death was paradoxically, the moment of his triumph. Through his death, he defeated death.
The Great Vigil of Easter
Now we are almost there, almost at the hour when Jesus' death itself was overcome, the death become life -- the victory we so need. Now time stands still for us to remember all that has gone before. No other service is so full of the heritage of faith; no other time in the year do we gather together all of the richest metaphors and symbols of faith. We gather around new fire, itself a sign of creation renewed. From it we light the paschal candle to illumine our way. As the pillar of fire led the people of Israel in the wilderness, so the paschal candle will lead us to Easter -- the light of Christ our beacon. In the silence from Good Friday, the light is rekindled. Gathered around the light, we wrap the great stories of faith like a blanket around ourselves. We recall our ancestors and God's saving work among us throughout the ages -- creation from a word, the earth washed clean in the flood, the deliverance at the Red Sea, dry bones given life again. The baptismal font beckons to affirm our baptisms, to remember our welcome into the community of faith, and to welcome others newborn into the faith. The Gospel reading draws us out of our holy recollections and into the events of the story again. Now we are prepared. We know where we have come from before we peek into the tomb with the women and Peter. When we hear the angel say, He is not here, but has risen, we know again that life is always God's way with us. Death is defeated. We dance through the holy meal, now each one confessing the truth of the story. Light the church! Shout Alleluia! Celebrate with high praise! He is risen! We continue our celebration in the Parish Hall with a gala reception.
*Adapted from Sundays and Seasons 2004 (Augsburg/Fortress, 2003), pp. 158-159.
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 If you would like to contribute toward the flowers that will adorn our sanctuary this Easter, please click this link to donate securely online. The deadline is Sunday, March 20. Thank you! |
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An Evening of Stories & Songs From Old Ireland
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Tuesday, March 15th at 7:30PM
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 Come join Gerry Dignan for an evening of Stories & Songs from old Ireland on Tuesday, March 15th at 7:30pm in Grace's Parish Hall. The evening will feature stories of the power of the Fairies, the pishogue, home remedies, the Banshee, (& more!) as told to him by his Great Aunt Ellen, over 40 years ago, in her cottage in the west of Ireland.
Tickets: $12-in-advance/Seniors $15 at the door
To contact Gerry, or to purchase advance tickets:
Email: dignansong@aol.com Ph: 1-815-439-3701
Website: gerrydignan.com
Céad Míle Fáilte - A Hundred Thousand Welcomes!
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Young Adults at Connolly's!
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Participants in This Sunday's Service
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March 13th 10:30am Service:
MC/LEMS: Cyndy Reynolds; Julia Thomason, Sue Wells, Lascelles Anderson, Tony Dobrowolski, Cherryl Holt
LECTORS: Ade Onayemi, Marilyn Wardle
INTERCESSORS: Jen Cantrell, Cliff Hunt
ALTAR GUILD: Heather Bovell, Flora Green, Kathy Onayemi, Willie Polite, Sally Prescott, Natalie Ratz, Marie Rock, Jane Shirley, Chuck Tupta
USHERS: Paul Gervais, Jane Shirley, Paul O'Kelly, Cathy O'Kelly
GREETERS: Flora Green, Sarah Hunt, DeLacy Sarantos
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Support Grace while you shop!
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If you shop at Amazon, please use the link below to access Amazon.com. Grace will then get a percentage of any purchases made. It's a painless way to help Grace and costs you nothing. FYI, we never see who buys what.
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| Thursday, March 10, 2016 | | SLAA/SAA Meeting | 9:00 AM | | Evensong | 6:00 PM | | SAA 12-Step Group | 7:00 PM | | Adult Choir Rehearsal | 7:30 PM |
Friday, March 11, 2016 | | Rector's Day Off | | | SLAA/SAA 12-Step Workshop | 9:05 AM | | POSA Support Group | 7:00 PM |
Saturday, March 12, 2016 | | St John's, Chicago Vestry Retreat | 9:00 AM | | SLAA 12-Step Group | 9:30 AM | | St. Giles Communion Vessel Making | 10:30 AM | | Leyden Concert (reserved from noon - 5pm) | 3:00 PM |
Sunday, March 13, 2016 |
| | | UTO Ingathering | | | The Rite Place - A service for the child in us all | 9:00 AM | | Catechesis of the Good Shepherd / Encounter | 9:30 AM | | Coffee Hour | 9:30 AM | | Outreach Committee | 9:30 AM | | Lectionary Discussion Group | 9:45 AM | | Sung Choral Eucharist | 10:30 AM | | Coffee Hour | 11:45 AM | | R13 / J2A | 12:00 PM | | Madrigals Rehearsal | 1:30 PM | | Graceful Needlers | 3:00 PM | | SLAA Women's Group | 5:30 PM | | SLAA 12-Step Group | 7:00 PM | | AA 12-Step Group | 8:30 PM |
Monday, March 14, 2016 | | SLAA/SAA Meeting | 9:00 AM | | Education for Ministry (EfM) | 7:00 PM |
Tuesday, March 15, 2016 | | SLAA/SAA Meeting | 9:00 AM | | St. Giles Catechesis, Levels 1, 2 & 3 | 4:00 PM | | Finance Committee Meeting | 6:30 PM | | Property Committee Meeting | 7:00 PM | | SLAA 12-Step Group | 7:00 PM | | Evening of Irish Stories & Songs | 7:30 PM |
Wednesday, March 16, 2016 | | Wednesday Morning Eucharist | 7:00 AM | | SLAA/SAA Meeting | 9:00 AM | | Staff Meeting | 10:30 AM | | Schola/Scholars Rehearsal | 3:30 PM | | St. Giles Seder | 5:30 PM | | St. Giles Catechesis, Levels 2 & 3 | 6:00 PM | | Centering Prayer Discussion | 7:00 PM | | Vestry Meeting | 7:00 PM | | Contemplative Prayer | 7:30 PM | | PADS Overnight Shelter | 7:30 PM |
Thursday, March 17, 2016 |
| | | SLAA/SAA Meeting | 9:00 AM | | Choir Clinic | 4:30 PM | | Evensong | 6:00 PM | | Healing Prayer Group | 6:30 PM | | SAA 12-Step Group | 7:00 PM | | Adult Choir Rehearsal | 7:30 PM |
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Join the 20s/30s group of Grace and St. Christopher's at Connolly's Irish Pub in Oak Park at 5pm on Sunday, March 20th (Palm Sunday.) All are welcome (including kids!) 
