February/March 2012 Newsletter
ALPHA IS COMING!
Would you like an opportunity to share and discuss your questions about the Christian faith? You can do this in the Alpha Course which was designed for this very purpose. Alpha is coming to Grace Church starting Wednesday, February 29 at 6:00 pm. All are welcome to participate, especially newcomers to the parish. Please feel free to bring friends and visitors. For those who would like to be confirmed in the Episcopal Church, Alpha is suggested as a preparation.
The course will take place every Wednesday evening from February 29 through May 16. Alpha will not meet during Holy Week because of the Maundy Thursday service.
If you are interested and have questions, please call the church office (860 388-0895) and leave your name, telephone number, and the best time to reach you. You can also speak with Grace Bates, Alpha Coordinator (860/575-1103), or the clergy for more information. A sign up sheet is posted on the bulletin board. Please sign up with your name and telephone number.
6:00 - 6:30 pm Supper
6:30 - 6:45 pm Worship
6:45 - 7:30 pm Teaching
7:30 - 8:30 pm Small Group Discussion
February
29 Who is Jesus?
March
7 Why did Jesus die?
14 How can I be sure of my faith?
21 Why and how should I read the Bible?
28 Why and how do I pray?
April
4 No Meeting (Holy Week)
11 How does God guide us?
14 Holy Spirit Saturday (9:00 am to 3:00 pm)
Who is the Holy Spirit?
What does the Holy Spirit do?
How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?
May
2 Does God heal today?
9 What about the Church?
16 Alpha Celebration Supper
How can I Make the Most of the Rest of My Life?
ALL PARISH DINNER WELCOMES
BISHOP GERARD MPANGO BACK TO GRACE CHURCH (FRIDAY, MARCH 30)
On Palm Sunday weekend, we will welcome a long time friend of Grace Church back for a visit. Bishop Gerard Mpango, along with his wife, Margaret, and two daughters, Rose and Bwiza, will be visiting Grace Church. On Friday evening, we will have an All Parish Dinner at 6:30 in Merrill Hall. Bishop Mpango will be preaching at both services on Palm Sunday.
Bishop Mpango is the retired Bishop of the Diocese of Western Tanganyika in Tanzania. Grace Church has sent three teams to this Diocese on mission trips during the years of 2000, 2005 and 2006. We have had a wonderful partnership with this Diocese and known Bishop Mpango for fifteen years. Mission funds from Grace Church have been used to build several churches in this rapidly growing Anglican diocese. During these three mission trips, teams visited newly built churches, getting to know the people from these parishes, speaking and teaching during pastoral visits with the Bishop. Grace Church members have been warmly received in the Diocese of Western Tanganyika.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Gerard Mpango joins us at Grace Church in his new capacity as full time director of the SECO Trust, a faith based humanitarian organization based in western Tanzania. Some of the outreach activities of this humanitarian organization include addressing issues of poverty and disease, providing education scholarships for secondary and college students, assisting local farmers with gifts of seeds and livestock, and building wells for fresh water. Bishop Mpango is being sponsored by African Team Ministries as he visits churches throughout the United States in this new role.
We hope you will join us for an All Parish Dinner on Friday, March 30, 6:30 pm, in our Parish Hall.
LESSONS FROM NOAH
Lucky Dog
Noah, our seven year old Portuguese Water Dog, is currently vacationing on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where the winter temperatures drift from 50s to 60s to 70s and Christmas comes and goes without a touch of snow. While winter snowstorms buffet those we’ve left behind in New England, beach sand is the only white stuff Noah experiences during the months of January and February on Hilton Head.
Last winter a friend helped us find a dog-friendly condo a short walk from the beach here on the island. Dogs are welcome on Hilton Head beaches at any time of day during the winter months. We ride our bikes down the long expanse of beach and Noah lopes along beside us. After a while we stop and throw his ball for him. He cools off with quick dips in the surf. Pelicans fly overhead and dolphins swim parallel to the beach. Noah meets new canine friends both at the beach and at the popular local dog park. Hilton Head is surely a paradise for dogs.
Noah’s male human, Bill, recently spent a week on a mission trip to Honduras. The word “Paradise” was not in Bill’s vocabulary as he described the capital city, Tegucigalpa.
Bill was part of a team of people from St. Luke’s on Hilton Head who travelled to the central region of Honduras to work at two orphanages outside Tegucigalpa. The team worked on a soccer field, built an enclosure for an outdoor cooking stove, and laid the foundation for a chicken coop. The team from St. Luke’s worked alongside a committed Christian staff and volunteers to help make life a little better for the children being served by the missionaries’ efforts. Bill wrote in his nightly e-mails about high walls topped with razor wire, armed guards, trash in the streets, open sewage, roaming chickens and skinny stray dogs.
People back home in the States who read Bill’s e-mails were reminded that most of us have things that many others lack: clean water, sufficient food, elementary sanitation, safe roads, adequate housing, safe and efficient public transportation, even shoes. And the list goes on.
One of Bill’s e-mails prompted the following comment from a friend of ours. “Americans ought to see how the rest of the world lives. We need to wake up and smell the coffee. As a nation we are beyond privileged. We are spoiled rotten. And the big shame of it is so many don't even realize it. Most don't have the sense of appreciation and gratefulness for all the advantages we enjoy. Instead they demand more, bigger, better.”
At one of the orphanages where they were volunteering Bill met a retired general who is trying to find a solution to the orphanage’s water problem. Currently their water is being trucked in from another area because the well that was drilled a number of years ago has gone dry. During one of their conversations the general mentioned to Bill that anyone making over $30,000 a year is in the top 1% of the people in the world. That speaks volumes about the overall poverty on our planet.
In Colossians 3:16 St. Paul advises: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”
And it is out of gratitude for what God has bestowed upon us (salvation, grace and mercy) that we step out to help others.
Just as the Good Samaritan carried the half dead man who’d been beaten and robbed into the inn, Jesus has “carried” us back to God. So, too, we can carry others to God. As we help meet peoples’ earthly needs, we can also share God’s salvation, grace, and mercy. One of the daily devotions used during Bill’s mission trip to Honduras says that when we reach out to others “we bring the lame, the halt and the blind to Him for healing. How we do that is completely up to God.” We step out in gratitude and faith; God takes care of the rest.
Noah is neither stray nor skinny. Unlike the street dogs in Honduras, Noah has never had to survive on filthy scraps of food, scavenged from the dirt. Nor has he ever been abandoned to the outdoors without protection from the cold, the rain, the sun. He naps on his LL Bean monogrammed bed and enjoys three meals a day, plus treats from his biscuit jar. Sometimes he’s even been known to be a little overweight, although he’s looking good lately -- probably due to his long runs on the beach.
Noah is blessed. And so are we.
How will we demonstrate our gratitude? Here and now? Every minute of every day?
The answer for each of us will be different.
Perhaps the prayer the members of the St. Luke’s team prayed on their last day in Honduras can become our prayer as well.
Lord God, father of our savior Jesus Christ, You are awesome. You are our all in all. You are everything. Oh, how we love you Lord and we thank you for loving us. Fill our hearts with love for You and give us the grace to be obedient to Your call on our lives. We ask this through the precious name of our Savior and Lord, Jesus. Amen.
Julie Peace
NEW MISSION COMMITTEE
Julia Bjornberg, one of our parishioners, is convening a newly forming Mission Committee to explore grants for funding mission trips. Julia grew up at Grace Church. Her parents, Phil and Sue have been a part of our parish community for many years, serving in a variety of capacities. Julia is exploring ways that young adults, ages 18 through 30, could serve God on short term mission trips.. The purpose of these mission trips would be to serve God, share His healing love, and for young adults to grow in their own faith through service. Julia has connected with a non -profit group called Simply Smiles, especially their orphanage in Mexico. Her goal is to find funding through grants and other fund raisers which would cover the cost of these mission trips, then begin by sending a small team to the orphanage in Mexico.
If you are interested in talking with Julia, or being a part of this mission committee, you can speak with her at church or read the information on the bulletin board about Simply Smiles. More information will follow. Below, is a testimony from Julia about her involvement with this outreach mission project.
Dear Members of Grace Church:
I was first drawn to Simply Smiles by its name and the use of the word Simple. Founded by a 20 something year old resident of Connecticut, I became further intrigued by their tagline, “dedicated to each child’s today and tomorrow”.
I participated in an initial fundraiser where the opportunity to travel and volunteer on site was offered as a prize for being a top fundraiser. I was not one of the top fundraisers, but did receive an email with a follow-up offer to participate in a mission trip.
After Bishop Ian Douglas attended our church and talked of mission trips, I became even more interested in how to attract and involve youth to our church. After attending a Youth and Family Services Healthy Community Healthy Youth Panel meeting, where the focus was on youth and relationship building, the time has arrived to take action.
Ellendale spoke in a recent sermon about doing “just one thing”. What can a group of “twenty-somethings” contribute and how can we representative health and spiritual well-being if we did “just one thing” together? I believe this kind of initiative will attract more youth to our church, to any church of Connecticut, and stimulate more participation in service. Although Simply Smiles is not directly related to a faith based organization, but it has worked with many churches in the past.
The first step is to create a committee dedicated to this cause, and have a representative from Simply Smiles come out and explain what they do, answer any questions you or parents may have and discuss past experiences and mission trips as well as possibilities for the future. I have contacted youth from surrounding areas involved in their church and will continue to spread the word to involve the community, and offer this opportunity for relationship-building.
The Bishop’s Fund for Children and the Millennium Fund are two grants that could be applied for to use toward this mission trip, but application deadlines are approaching. Using one major fundraiser, individual fundraising and current funds available for mission work, I propose to cooperate with local churches, and others, creating a team to travel to one of the two sites of Simply Smiles, and walk through an experience that will have an impact and be an impact, locally and abroad. It will establish relationships among churches of Connecticut, between communities’ youth and other churches of Connecticut and be an opportunity to be valued in the community.
Sincerely, Julia Bjornberg
LEARNING TO LISTEN
Our family came to Grace Church a little over 3 years ago. Other than as a young child, I really didn’t know what it was like to really enjoy Christian fellowship. How much I have learned!
Throughout the Alpha Course last year and in Bible Study, I have heard it said that we need to have a two way conversation with God. We shouldn’t just be yapping away praying for this and that, but to listen to what God has to say in return. I know what it is to look at a sunset or listen to my son’s laughter; one can feel these wonders of God’s creation. But I still did not understand how one listens for God.
I know that it takes quiet time. I know this because God recently spoke to me, and I want to tell you about both of these times.
I attended the first night of Phil Bjornberg’s meditative Advent Bible Study. While I enjoyed it and felt relaxed, I did not feel the Holy Spirit flow through me the way he does to us all from time to time. So I went home and hit the sack. I had a dream that night: I was in a meeting at work with several managers and the President of the Company. Betty Jo came into the room with our home phone in hand and said, ‘I’m sorry, but I need Matt, we have a problem at home. Feeling unhappy by being interrupted, she said, ‘It is the dog.’ I thought, ‘What is it this time?’
My Dad was on the phone and he said, ‘I am sorry, but Jake got hit. He got out when I opened the door and he got hit by a truck. He got hit pretty bad.’ ‘Is he gone,’ I asked? ‘Yes, I am sorry he is.’
I walked back into the meeting felling terrible and no one appeared to be in the room except Jake. He was lying on the floor wagging his tail! I ran up to him and got down on the floor. I could feel his body, his hair his skin, he licked me and I hugged him as hard as I could. A bright light shined through the window. I looked to my left and saw someone sitting at the head of the table. It was a variation of my President, but it was not him, his face was hidden by a mildly glowing Halo. The figure nodded to me as if to say, ‘You have some time.’ My heart felt so glad. I went back to loving the dog as hard as I could, taking in and relishing the feel of his body. This went on for a longer time than expected. Then the alarm clock went off. My thought was an exclamation, ‘God came to me in a dream!’
While the dream itself was remarkable, His voice the next day was more so. I needed to speak with an associate at work about some important issues that have really been bothering me lately. My plan was to ask him to get together after work. Each time I went to see him he was busy. It was getting close to the end of the day and thought that I would have to try another time. Just as that thought entered my mind, he walked through the door asking for my help and I was able to have the frank discussion I needed to have.
That night I was walking the dog, it was a clear cold night in the Christmas season and my mind was free from clutter. I looked up to the sky, at the stars and said, ‘Thank you. Thanks for the dream and thanks for sending Craig into my office.’ The response from Him was clear, definitive, but a whisper at the same time. He said, ‘I will take care of you.’ The tears began to flow as he said it. He said something else but I missed it in my surprise.
So I am learning to listen. I am learning to believe more and more. Thanks to all at Grace Church who help others in their journey in Christ.
Thanks for helping us listen.
Matt Stosse
MEMORIAL EASTER FLOWERS
If you would like to include a loved one (s) among those remembered this Easter, please contact Barbara Bowie at 860/399-9473. Suggested donation for an Easter Flower is $15.
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