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The Fourth Sunday of Advent (12/23/12)
GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
WEEKLY UPDATE: December 21, 2012
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Janet, Thomas Humeston, Bob and Donna Weber, Yasso Herath, Peter Lubeck, Catherine Lubeck, Al & Carol Lalli, Barbara Harris, Richard Parsekian, Marianna Quinn Parsekian, Elaine MacPhee, Bob Williams, Tankert Mahler, Harte Mahler, Anne Huntington, Marie Haynie, Mary Stierlen, Tim Brady, Marianne Kagan, Teri Caserto, Peggy Lehrecke, Ron & Pat Mapstone, Gloria Greene, Fran, Barbara Bischoff, Bernadette Polizzi, Phil Bunton, Peggy McCann
The prayer list is refreshed monthly please call the office to add a name, or to request that a name be carried forward. There is a book in the narthex where -- before the service begins -- you may add names to be read during the Prayers of the People for the day.
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READINGS
CLICK HERE to listen to sermons from previous weeks |
COLLECT OF THE DAY
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Ame
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CLICK HERE for Bible study resources.
UPDATED FOR ADVENT: To listen to a wide variety of Episcopal "faith stories," CLICK HERE to open I AM EPISCOPALIAN. Be patient, it takes forever to load!
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"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary," and that is the beginning of a story - a time, a place, a set of characters, and the implied promise, which is common to all stories, that something is coming, something interesting or significant or exciting is about to happen. And I would like to start out by reminding you that this is what Christianity is. If we whittle away long enough, it is a story that we come to at last. And if we take even the fanciest and most metaphysical kind of theologian or preacher and keep on questioning him far enough - Why is this so? All right, but why is thatso? Yes, but how do we know that it's so? - even he is forced finally to take off his spectacles and push his books off to one side and say, "Once upon a time there was...," and then everybody leans forward a little and starts to listen.
We want to know what is coming next. There was a young woman named Mary, and an agnel came to her from God, and what did he say? And what did she say? And then how did it all turn out in the end?
The story Christianity tells is one that can be so siimply told that we can get the whole thing really on a very small Christmas card or into two crossed pieces of wood. Yet in another sense it is so vast and complex that the whole Bible can only hint at it, a story beyond time altogether.
Yet it is also in time, the story of the love between God and man. There is a time when it begins, and therefore there is a time before it begins, when it is coming but not yet here, and this is the time Mary was in when Gabriel came to her. It is Advent: the time just before the adventure begins, when everybody is leaning forward to hear what will happen even though they already know what will happen and what will not happen, when they listen hard for meaning, their meaning, and begin to hear, only faintly at first, the beating of unseen wings.
from The Magnificent Defeat
by Frederick Buechner
The Presiding Bishop's Christmas Message 2012
From the Diocese of New York: A Pastoral Letter
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Are you on the worship ministry schedule this weekend? CLICK HERE to find out. (Corrected Link!)
CLICK HERE for Christmas Schedules.
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Friday, December 21 - Pageant rehearsal & pizza (5:00pm, Memorial Hall)
Saturday, December 22 -Acolyte rehearsal for 4:00pm Christmas Eve service (10:00am)
Brass polishing & church preparations for Christmas - (9:00am to noon)
Sunday, December 23Holy Eucharist at 8:00am and 11:00am - there is no 9:30am serviceChristmas Pageant at 12:30pm Greening of the Church at 2:00pm
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CHRISTMAS SERVICES AT GRACE
Monday, Dec. 24-Christmas Eve
Holy Eucharist at 4:00pm
With the Joyful Noise & St. Cecilia Youth Choirs
For young and old alike
Holy Eucharist at 6:30pm
With the Parish Choir
Carols for Choir at Congregation at 10:30pm
Choral Eucharist at 11:00pm
With the Grace Church Choir
Tuesday, Dec. 25 -Christmas Morning - Holy Eucharist with carols at 9:00am
Sunday, Dec. 30 - The First Sunday After Christmas
Holy Eucharist at 8:00am and 11:00am - There is no 9:30am service
Farewell reception for Mother Emily following 11:00am service.
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PREPPING THE CHURCH FOR CHRISTMAS
Polishing - Saturday, December 22 from 9:00am- 12 Noon
Come one, come all - let's make the sanctuary bright, shiny and clean for the Christmas celebrations. Spend an hour or spend three. All are welcome - we'll have fun!
Greening of the Church - Many volunteers will be needed to help make the Sanctuary festive for our Christmas celebrations. Join us on Sunday, December 23 at 2:00pm, immediately following the Christmas Pageant.
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ANNUAL NOMINATIONS PROCESS CONTINUES
The nominating committee is now receiving names of potential candidates for election to the following positions: three vestry persons (three-year terms), two delegates and two alternate delegates to the diocesan convention, and four persons to serve on the next nominating committee along with the retiring vestry persons. Nominating forms are available in the narthex. Name will be received until January 13, 2012, and elections take place at the annual meeting on February 10, 2013. Want to know more? Talk to anyone on the Nominating Committee: Beth Paskowski, Chair, Tom Burns, Pat Cose, Cindy Cox, Peggy Gilbert, Jeanette Matthews, Emily Nevill, or to Mo. Alon.
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TWO DIOCESAN EVENTS TO NOTE:
Saturday, January 5 - Celebration of Bishop Sisk's Episcopacy
Saturday, February 2 - Installation of Bishop Dietsche as 16th Bishop of New York
Both events will take place at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at 10:30am, and will be followed by receptions in Synod Hall.
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HELP WANTED!
Our longtime hostess, Julia Ann Colt, will be taking a leave of absence from her Sunday duties here beginning in January. She has been a treasure in her role here, embodying the spirit of hospitality. If you, or someone you know, would like to discuss the possibility following in her footsteps, please speak with Mo. Alon, or contact the office for details on the position. |
THANK YOU to those who have made their pledge for 2013: In order for us to finalize a budget for approval at the February 10, 2013 annual meeting, it is vital for your pledge to be in by year-end! MISPLACED YOUR PLEDGE PACKET? Click here for the materials. Your Stewardship Committee: Jim Gilbert, chair
Tom Burns, Jennifer McCann, Debbie McGuiness, Sally Ann Mock, Rudy Knight
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ONLINE NEWS FROM THE DIOCESE OF NEW YORK CLICK HERE
WEEKLY BULLETIN INSERT FROM EPISCOPAL LIFE CLICK HERE
DIOCESE OF NEW YORK WEBSITE CLICK HERE
EPISCOPAL CAFE For daily Episcopal news/reflection/commentary CLICK HERE
ON FAITH conversations about faith and current events from all angles CLICK HERE
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DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUR FACEBOOK PAGE
Click here to go to our Facebook group page -- our cyber-bulletin board. Join in the discussion and remember to share items that you find of interest -- pictures, links, etc --make or ask for book or movie recommendations, etc.... Not into Facebook? Click here to send an email and we'll post your note to the Grace Church Nyack page. |
Annunciation
'Hail, space for the uncontained God'
From the Agathistos Hymn, Greece, VIc
We know the scene: the room, variously furnished,
almost always a lectern, a book; always
the tall lily.
Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a guest.
But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions
courage.
The engendering Spirit
did not enter her without consent.
God waited.
She was free
to accept or to refuse, choice
integral to humanness.
Aren't there annunciations
of one sort or another
in most lives?
Some unwillingly
undertake great destinies,
enact them in sullen pride,
uncomprehending.
More often
those moments
when roads of light and storm
open from darkness in a man or woman,
are turned away from
in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
and with relief.
Ordinary lives continue.
God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.
______________________________
She had been a child who played, ate, slept
like any other child - but unlike others,
wept only for pity, laughed
in joy not triumph.
Compassion and intelligence
fused in her, indivisible.
Called to a destiny more momentous
than any in all of Time,
she did not quail,
only asked
a simple, 'How can this be?'
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel's reply,
perceiving instantly
the astounding ministry she was offered:
to bear in her womb
Infinite weight and lightness; to carry
in hidden, finite inwardness,
nine months of Eternity; to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power -
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.
Then bring to birth,
push out into air, a Man-child
needing, like any other,
milk and love -
but who was God.
Denise Levertov
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GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.130 First Avenue.Nyack.New York.10960.845-358-1297
The Reverend Alon White, Interim Rector
The Reverend Emily Sieracki, Assistant to the Rector
Brandon Beachamp, Interim Organist and Choirmaster
www.gracechurchnyack.org |
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