Farewell
We said farewell last Sunday to Deb Seles, who is preparing to head off to Twin Falls, Idaho, where she will assume her new duties as rector of Church of the Ascension.
This Sunday the 23rd we’ll say goodbye to Ethan Jewett, who is making his departure official as he prepares to do a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education this summer followed by a part time “field placement” at Church of the Atonement in Chicago while he completes his seminary studies.
|
|
Where did our prayer list go?
Refining One Bread, One Body
In an effort to make our parish newsletter as useful as we possibly can, several features of One Bread, One Body that tend not to change much from week to week are now going to be published monthly.
Beginning in June, we will be publishing a monthly prayer list as well as picking up any new prayers or pastoral needs in the weekly edition. The calendar also will move to monthly publication. Then, to increase transparency, we also will begin publishing a monthly report on generosity and finances.
One Bread, One Body will remain weekly, but will be more concise and readable. Let us know what you think.
|
| Calendar
Thursday, May 20
Noon AA meeting
7 pm GA meeting
Friday, May 21
Noon AA meeting
Saturday, May 22
9 & 11 am Worship
Noon Farewell reception for Ethan Jewett
7:30 pm AA meeting
Monday, May 24
Noon AA meeting
7 pm AA meeting
Tuesday, May 25
Noon AA meeting
7 pm AA meeting
Wednesday, May 26
Noon AA meeting
6:30 pm Choir
Thursday, May 27
Noon AA meeting
Friday, May 28
Noon AA meeting
Saturday, May 29
1 pm AA meeting
8:30 pm AA meeting
Sunday, May 30
Trinity Sunday 9 & 11 am Worship
7:30 pm AA meeting
|
Stephen Martz
St. Nicholas Church
|
|
|
And suddenly from heaven
there came a sound
like the rush of a violent wind,
and it filled the entire house
where they were sitting.
Divided tongues, as of fire,
appeared among them,
and a tongue rested on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.
— from the Book of Acts
|
|
This Week’s News
Go red for Pentecost
Many churches, including St. Nicholas, encourage parishioners to wear red — orange is fine, too — on Pentecost to remind us of the tongues of fire that descended upon the apostles. So if you are feeling playful…
Special Pentecost liturgy at 11 a.m.
On this Sunday, May 23, the 11 a.m. liturgy will feature the combined choirs of St. Nicholas. Music on this day will be more a bit more traditional than normally found at the later liturgy. There will be no choir — and no music — at the earlier liturgy on this day only.
Saturday adult ed group meeets May 22
The Plague, by Albert Camus, was selected as our May book. It is a moderate-length novel and gripping but not difficult reading. We will gather at the Panera on Biesterfield Road (just west of Arlington Heights Road) on Saturday, May 22 at 9:30 a.m.
— Steve Gruenwald
Parish meeting June 6
On Sunday, June 6, we’ll hold a parish meeting after the 11 a.m. liturgy. Rather than meet as a parish only for the canonically required annual meeting in January, we try to meet several other times during the year. This meeting will conduct a bit of business, include a potluck, and give us a chance to talk about how we can welcome newcomers to St. Nicholas — espeically during the Fall season.
Celebrating mothers
May is a traditional month to honor Mary, the mother of God, and we will be doing this through Sunday, May 23. Those who would like to honor their mothers — living or deceased — are invited to place a photo of her near our statue of Mary.
|
|
Signs & Wonders
HERE ARE SOME OF MY THEMES. WHAT ARE YOURS?
Recently a younger colleague asked me about preaching and whether the theme(s) of my preaching had changed over the years. What a great question.
It correctly presupposed that all of us who preach regularly have our theme or themes.
I’d be curious to hear what you think my themes are — or those of the other preachers at St. Nicholas. I’d name my own as inclusion, wholeness, and paradox. They all are related, but I can’t come up with a single word that would encompass all three.
Paradox is, for me, at the heart of the spiritual life. Our lives are, as you’ve heard me say in various forms, both-and. This past Sunday I picked it up in the homily on gates and doors, noting that because we live between Eden and the Second Coming, we both need open gates and closed gates.
For me, one of the salient features of our life in God is that we are both divine and human. That is our glory and our challenge. The tension of those opposites is what makes life fascinating and at time incredibly difficult and painful. No wonder I am always returning to this theme.
Wholeness very much relates to paradox, because I find it one of our quite human tendencies not to want — or be able to hold — the tension of the opposites at the foundation of our human nature.
We want to be good rather than bad, divine rather than human, Anglican rather than ________ (fill in the blank). At least I do. And I’ve had to learn over and over again that I’m good and bad, divine and human, Anglican and _______.
My prescription? Wholeness. Learning to accept all that I am rather than fleeing to one side and refusing to acknowledge the other. I don’t think I am alone in this. I believe it is a fairly common human trait. Certainly I see it play out at St. Nicholas from time to time.
Inclusion is much related to wholeness. On a personal level, we are most fully ourselves when we can consciously include all parts of ourselves in our personality.
On a social level, I see our failure to include, our tendency to split and divide one person or group from another, as intimately connected to the evil we humans create. And so in one form or another, I preach, and preach, and preach the importance of including all.
Human boundaries — whether around race or religion, age or sexual orientation — are pernicious, and I think that is why we see Jesus breaking them every chance he gets. We should, too.
Whether you preach or not, I bet you have your own fundamental themes, the principles by which you order your life and by which you believe in faith that we human beings should order our common and individual lives. Have you thought about what they are?
|
|
|
