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The Third Sunday of Advent - December 15, 2013
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Collect of the Day
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
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Readings
CLICK HERE to listen to sermons from previous weeks
CLICK HERE for Bible study resources.
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Bob & Donna Weber, Yasso Herath, Peter Lubeck, Catherine Lubeck, Teri Caserto, Shirley Federico, Joseph Caserto, Janet, Thomas Humeston, Elaine MacPhee, Tankert Mahler, Marie Haynie, Pat Mapstone, Jack Seeman, Evelyn, Zell Schwartzman, Courtney Hoenveld, Miranda Pinckert, Bernadette Polizzi, Adele, Susan Northcutt, Clinton Taplin, Dominique Rhoklin, Ewan, Claire, Fred Teyan, Marie Stay, Marie Young, Janet Drury, Holly Bee, George Fee, Robert A, Miriam
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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It is no use saying that we are born two thousand years too late to give room to Christ. Nor will those who live at the end of the world have been born too late. Christ is always with us, always asking for room in our hearts.
But now it is with the voice of our contemporaries that he speaks, with the eyes of store clerks, factory workers, and children that he gazes; with the hands of office workers, slum dwellers, and suburban housewives that he gives. It is with the feet of soldiers and tramps that he walks, and with the heart of anyone in need that he longs for shelter. And giving shelter for food to anyone who asks for it, or needs it, is giving it to Christ. ...
If Mary had appeared in Bethlehem clothed, as St. John
says, with the sun, a crown of twelve stars on her head, and the moon under her feet, then people would have fought to make room for her. But that was not God's way for her, nor is it Christ's way for himself, now when he is disguised under every type of humanity that treads the earth.
Dorothy Day 1897-1980 Selected Writings, ed Robert Ellsberg
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Are you on the worship ministry schedule this weekend? CLICK HERE
to find out.
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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15 8:00am/9:30am/11:00am Holy Eucharist 10:10am Church School Classes/Refreshments 10:10am Parish Forum: Keeping Christ in Christmas (Memorial Hall) 1:00pm Gather for Caroling in Nyack (Choir Room) 6:30pm Senior Youth Group (Fenton Room) TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17 7:30pm Vestry Meeting (Patterson Hall)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19 7:30pm Advent Home Gathering At the Paskowki home in Blauvelt FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19 5:00pm Christmas Pageant Rehearsal & Pizza Party SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21 10:00am Run-through for Christmas Eve services 1:00pm Gather for Caroling in Nyack (Choir Room) SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22 8/9:30/11:00am Holy Eucharist 1:00pm Christmas Pageant 2:30 Greening of the Church |
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PARISH FORUMS THIS SUNDAY
Plan to grab your coffee and join us between the 9:30 and 11:00am services for these special presentations in Memorial Hall.
This Sunday, December 15
Hosted by Fr. Owen:
Keeping Christ in Christmas - Beyond the Bumper Sticker
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CHRISTMAS FLOWERS - DEADLINE IS SUNDAY
Each year as we gather to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, our worship is enhanced by poinsettias, trees and greens. Your generosity makes this possible. Please join in the time-honored tradition of making a donation for our Christmas Flowers in memory of loved ones and/or in thanksgiving for God's blessings
Envelopes are available at church on Sunday and in the office during the week and should be returned by next Sunday, December 15 for inclusion in the Christmas bulletins. You may also send us an email with names and mail/drop off your offering. |
 SPREAD SOME HOLIDAY CHEER WITH CAROLING!
Join members of the choir and friends in caroling in the heart of Nyack on Sunday, December 15 and Saturday, December 21. Simply meet in the Choir Room at the church on either (or both) days at 1pm, get some caroling books and festive garb, and head over to sing in front of the Grace Church Thrift Shop on South Broadway. We will carol from 1:30-2:30pm, hand out holiday treats, and spread Grace Church's Christmas spirit to all! For more information, please contact Brandon Beachamp at 845.358.1297 x13.
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PLEASE RETURN YOUR GIVING TREE GIFTS BY SUNDAY!
If you're one of the generous souls who took a tag for the Giving Tree for children at the Nyack Center, please return the tag with an unwrapped present by this Sunday to help brighten the holidays for a local youngster. Thank you!
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CHRISTMAS AT GRACE - CLICK HERE FOR OUR SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
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GIFTS FROM THE CONVENT OF ST. ELISABETH IN MINSK
This weekend we will have on hand a beautiful display of small handmade gift items available for purchase to support the Convent of St. Elisabeth in Minsk. If you're not here on Sunday, we'll also have the items in the office on Monday -- stop by and browse!
For more than fifteen years the sisters of the Convent have been rendering spiritual, social and financial assistance to the sick and the suffering who stay at the National Psychiatric Clinic, and the boarding home for children with special needs and mentally challenged adults in Minsk. You can find out more about the convent here.
We could a volunteer or two to help man the table on Sunday -- if you'd like to help, please
contact Fr. Owen.
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DON'T MISS THE ADVENT HOME GATHERING ON THURSDAY!
A festive crowd gathered at the Frelow home this week to enjoy a home Eucharist, games, bounteous potluck spread, and best of all, each other's company. We hope you can join the fun this Thursday evening at 7:30pm when the party moves to the Paskowski home in Blauvelt (note the changed time and location!) There's a sign up sheet in the narthex -- or send us an email to sign up and get full details.
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In the entrance to the church you'll find a tray with a variety of Advent reflection and meditation materials. Please take one for yourself, and perhaps another to bring to a friend or neighbor. There's a basket available if you're able to make a small contribution to cover our costs.
We hope you'll find the readings to be a meaningful addition to your Advent preparations.
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 PLEDGE 2014
Thank you to all of you who have already made a pledge for 2014.
If you haven't yet turned in your pledge card, please do so - we need your support.
Haven't received your pledge packet? Can't find it under that stack of papers on the desk? It's always available on the pledge page of our website, and at the back of the church. If you have questions, please be in touch with Fr. Owen, or pledge secretary Sally Ann Mock.
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Annunciation
by Denise Levertov
'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.
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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.
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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,
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.
This was the moment no one speaks of,
when she could still refuse.
A breath unbreathed,
Spirit,
suspended,
waiting.
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She did not cry, 'I cannot. I am not worthy,'
Nor, 'I have not the strength.'
She did not submit with gritted teeth,
raging, coerced.
Bravest of all humans,
consent illumined her.
The room filled with its light,
the lily glowed in it,
and the iridescent wings.
Consent,
courage unparalleled,
opened her utterly.
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GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
130 First Avenue.Nyack.New York.10960.845-358-1297
The Reverend Owen C. Thompson , Rector
Brandon Beachamp, Interim Organist and Choirmaster
www.gracechurchnyack.org |
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