Author Archives: ginny

The Readings for The Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

Posted on by
Reply

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Psalm 71:1-6

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Luke 4:21-30

The Collect

Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


The Old Testament

Jeremiah 1:4-10

The word of the LORD came to me saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” But the LORD said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you,
Do not be
afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the LORD.”
Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me,
“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”

The Psalm

Psalm 71:1-6 Page 683, BCP

In te, Domine, speravi

 

1
In you, O LORD, have I taken refuge; *
let me never be ashamed.

 

 

2
In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; *
incline your ear to me and save me.

 

 

3
Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; *
you are my crag and my stronghold.

 

 

4
Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, *
from the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.

 

 

5
For you are my hope, O Lord GOD, *
my confidence since I was young.

 

 

6
I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
from my mother’s womb you have been my strength; *
my praise shall be always of you.

 

 

 

The Epistle

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete
comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

The Gospel

Luke 4:21-30

In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and began to say, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'” And he said, “Truly I
tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They
got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Good News!

Posted on by
Reply

OneBreadOneBody
News from St. Nicholas with the Holy Innocents
1.21.07

Poverty

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Report from the Bishop & Trustees meeting.

I met with members of “B & T” on Tuesday the 16th and was warmly received. During the time I was with them, several members of the group – including both bishops! – offered support for what we are doing. Jarrett Kerbel, co-chair of the Congregations Commission attended and introduced the proposal as having the full support of his body. Randall Warren spoke about the transformation he has seen in the congregations, particularly at Holy Innocents. Lesslie Keller, our longtime diocesan treasurer,
told me before the meeting that she had been hearing great things about what I was doing and even said we might be developing a model for other diocesan parishes. I wish each of you could have been there with me, because this is your accomplishment as much or more than mine. They reached three decisions.

  1. They approved immediate purchase of our organ. This means we will have our organ by Easter!
  2. They told us to pay our own moving expenses, which is fine (we’d asked for $1,000).
  3. Most importantly, they postponed approval of our fund requests for the building addition until they get the property appraisals.

I expect once they receive those that they will approve our requests and we will be able to go forward with the building. I was particularly intrigued by the sentiment, voiced particularly by Bishop Persell, for selling the vicarage and using those proceeds to build a bigger program space. It reminded me of Randall Warren’s mantra, “Let’s do it right the first time.” I didn’t have the guts to go in asking for so much and was pleased by their response. I feel like I’ve died and gone to a new diocese!

Bishops’ committee meets this Sunday after the later liturgy.

We will begin no later than 12:10 and be done by 1:15. Bring a non-perishable food item to church.

Rides to church needed

Help needed to transport a family of 4 from Hoffman Estates to St. Nicholas with the Holy Innocents. The Bollyn family – two adults, two children — does not have a car and will need a ride to get to the new building. They live just a couple of blocks from the Holy Innocents building. Let me know by email ASAP if you can help — onebreadonebody@sbcglobal.net.

Additionally, two women who live near Alexian Brothers Hospital need rides to church on Sunday. Pam lives at Alexian Village Assisted Living, and Dorcas lives in a condo down the street. Frank and Suzie Pleticha have generously offered to give them a ride, but would like to alternate with some others so that they can attend adult ed on Sundays. If you can help out, please let Mary Anne O’Rourke or Frank and Suzie know.

Visit to Buddhist Temple on February 3rd

A discussion during a recent Team Awesome teen education class revealed a desire by many to learn more about Buddhism and, in particular, to visit a Buddhist temple. On Saturday, February 3rd at 11 a.m., St. Nicholas with the Holy Innocents will be visiting the Shinnyo-en Japanese Buddhist Temple in Elk Grove Village for a service to celebrate the coming of spring. We will be throwing beans around the temple, but you’ll have to come to find out why! The service at will be followed by a tour of the temple, during
which visitors are invited to ask questions. The temple is located at 120 E. Devon Avenue in Elk Grove. For more information on Shinnyo-en Buddhism, and the religion in general, you are encouraged to visit http://www.shinnyo-en.org.

Anyone wishing to attend should contact Ethan Jewett at jewett_ethan@yahoo.com, so that he can give the temple a final count of participants. Adults and children, as well as teens, are more than welcome to attend.

Bring one or more food items each Sunday.

Our food pantry will benefit greatly if we all remember to do this each Sunday. Place it on or beneath the table just inside the worship space.

Regular schedule now underway.

  • Worship at 9am – the more formal liturgy
  • 10am – Education hour for children, youth, and adults
  • Worship at 11a – the more informal liturgy

Given the tightness of this schedule, we are going to try very hard to start everything on time. You can help make this possible by arriving a few minutes early. Thanks.

Make yourself a name tag whenever you worship.

It will help us get to know one another faster, and it’s a great way to make guests feel welcome.

onebreadonebody.org

Be sure to check out our new combined and simplified web site – and to thank Ethan and Mike for a superb job on it.

Adult education at 10.

This week, as part of our series on Growing Our New Church, we’ll be looking at mission and outreach. Children and youth who would like to share ideas are welcome to attend this session in lieu of their regular church school programs.

Our two liturgies.

I was pleased that several people last week tried both liturgies and encourage others to do so, too. I also appreciated the more contemplative and quiet feel before and after the ltirugies. Thanks!

Finally, one bread, one body

All I have to say this week is thank you for your patience and kindness as we work through our chaos, make embarrassing mistakes, and figure out the way forward. I hope it will get a little better each week.

 

— Steve

OneBreadOneBody Sunday January 14

Posted on by
Reply

News from St. Nicholas with the Holy Innocents

cana

Regular schedule begins today.

  • Worship at 9 – the more formal liturgy
  • 10 Education hour for children, youth, and adults
  • Worship at 11 – the more informal liturgy

 

Bring a non-perishable food item to church.

Our food pantry will benefit greatly if we all remember to do this each Sunday. Place it on or beneath the grey table just inside the worship space.

Make yourself a name tag whenever you worship.

It will help us get to know one another faster, and it’s a great way to make guests feel welcome.

Lift every voice and sing…

Thanks to all who joined the choir this past Sunday and produced such a wonderful sound. If you’ve ever thought about joining the choir, now is a great time. Mary will be starting on February 11 as music director, and will be delighted to have you. In the weeks before Mary begins, Kris Abels (principal guest organist of the former Holy Innocents) and Amy Dolan (former music director at the former St. Nicholas) are filling in on piano to take some of the load off Betsy Swanson’s shoulders – although I currently
do not have an accompanist for January 28. Since this is such a hectic period, it will be helpful if choir members could arrive at 9 to run through the music. Betsy also has been holding choir practice on Wednesdays at 7 and will continue to do so until Mary arrives.

Visit to Buddhist Temple on February 3rd

A discussion during a recent Team Awesome teen education class revealed a desire by many to learn more about Buddhism and, in particular, to visit a Buddhist temple. On Saturday, February 3rd at 11 a.m., St. Nicholas with the Holy Innocents will be visiting the Shinnyo-en Japanese Buddhist Temple in Elk Grove Village for a service to celebrate the coming of spring. We will be throwing beans around the temple, but you’ll have to come to find out why! The service at will be followed by a tour of the temple, during
which visitors are invited to ask questions. The temple is located at 120 E. Devon Avenue in Elk Grove. For more information on Shinnyo-en Buddhism, and the religion in general, you are encouraged to visit http://www.shinnyo-en.org. Anyone wishing to attend should contact Ethan Jewett at jewett_ethan@yahoo.com, so that he can give the temple a final count of participants. Adults and children, as well as teens, are more than welcome to attend.

onebreadonebody.org

Be sure to check out our new combined and simplified web site – and to thank Ethan and Mike for a superb job on it.

Help needed to transport a family of 4 from Hoffman Estates to St. Nicholas with the Holy Innocents.

The Bollyn family – two adults, two children — does not have a car and will need a ride to get to the new building. They live just a couple of blocks from the Holy Innocents building. Let me know by email ASAP if you can help — onebreadonebody@sbcglobal.net.

Please join me for adult education at 10

We are going to spend the next several weeks discussing Growing Our New Church. Some of the discussion will be on the challenges of bringing our two previous congregations together as one new one. Even more of it will be on doing those things we need to be doing to grow. I will value greatly the participation of each of you. As I said Sunday, we have a great opportunity before us and, although I have many ideas on how to take advantage of this moment, the most important ideas are yours, because we can only do
this together, from the ground up. Children and youth who would like to share ideas are welcome to attend this session in lieu of their regular church school programs, which will also begin this week.

Our two liturgies…

Today we begin our regular schedule and I encourage you to try both the 9 and the 11 liturgies – maybe even in the same day. It’ll provide a chance to connect with different people, and give you a chance to feel your way into the two distinct styles of liturgy. As I said Sunday, they will be different, with the aim of meeting different needs in our new congregation, but even more importantly of reaching out to more new members. Rather than me trying to capture the differences in words, come and see…. …and a note
on contemplative quiet. One thing I hope will unite both liturgies is a warm, sacramental feel. Especially after Mary arrives, there will be preludes and postludes and I would be grateful if our conversations could be moved into the next room so that those who wish to enter or exit worship gradually and more contemplatively can do so. I realize especially for the social, extroverted St. Nicholas people that this will be a shift, and it will be made easier with a building addition. In the meantime, thanks for
trying. Finally, one bread, one body.

1. I was so proud of all of you on Sunday. What a great beginning to our new life together. It was a wonderful liturgy, with everyone letting go of some customary ways of doing things and opening their hands to accept the new things God is doing. The ice cream (thanks Karen, Mary Anne, and Ethan and Mike) and cake (thanks Manny and Douglas) and coffee (thanks Paul) were great afterwards. What made me proudest of all was that I heard absolutely no grumbling, grousing, or complaining about having to let go. What
an incredible and mature group of people you are!

2. This week we will move a little closer to establishing the norms and practices of each liturgy. With our space limitations and the chaos of coming together, it will be a few more weeks before everything is where I want it to be with each liturgy. Thank you for being so patient with the bedlam.

3. Finally, thanks to everyone who helped with the moving on Sunday. We have now moved everything from the Holy Innocents building that we want to come to this building. There remain items we intend to move to storage, but we will ask an Episcopal Charities agency to do that moving for us. Now we focus on the future, and what a bright future it can be.

— Steve