Prayer Request

Grace Episcopal Church in Norwalk, Connecticut is home to a Haitian Baptist Church who have been worshipping and meeting and making church at Grace for at least fourteen years.

There is also an Episcopalian congregation, Eglise Epiphanie in Stamford, whose retired pastor worships with Grace, and for one of whose services I was privileged to read the Gospel in French.

These are people we know, with families and friends in Haiti. For us this is not a news story; it is reality.

Please pray for the people of Haiti, and pray for our brothers and sisters of the Haitian Baptist Church at Grace and Eglise Epiphanie in Stamford as they and other Haitian congregations in our area try to figure out how best to respond. May God bless and keep them and theirs, make his face to shine upon them and be gracious to them at this horrific time and lift up the light of his countenance upon them who have suffered more than enough darkness for many lifetimes.

Thought for the Day

In the United States, 10:00 Sunday morning is still the most segregated time of the week. But not at Grace Episcopal Church, Norwalk, Connecticut. Grace is diverse in economic status, background, race, culture, language and age.

Grace is now on the edge of an opportunity, in its conversations with a Latino/Hispanic Episcopalian mission, Iglesia Betania, to live even more fully into Grace Church's calling to reflect the kingdom of God more fully.

Opportunities, however, like the opportunity for racial equality for which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked so hard, come with a cost. So does the Gospel. To live for the kingdom of God, to live into making the dream of the kingdom real here on earth, is fraught with challenge, change, and fear of the unknown. Are we up to it? With God's help.

Xena Update

Xena Warrior Princess has now been with us for more than five weeks and she is settling in just fine. For those of you who don't know about Xena, we rescued her on Saturday, November 28. She's a one year old black lab mix. There's a picture below at this link (if it works).

She still shies from small things, like my turning the page in a book, but we have no idea what the first year of her life was like, having been rescued from life as a stray in South Carolina.

Her coat is now glossy, her eyes bright. She's had her physical and gotten high marks - only an ear infection to deal with and that's gone now.

We go to classes every Tuesday to learn how to teach her the things she didn't get to learn as a pup and she's doing great. However, what is this thing with the shoes?

She's not chewing them. She just collects them, and she knows it's wrong because she's sneaky about it. And she does it when we're in the house with her.

Overall, however, she's doing well and we can't believe we waited so long after the death of Miss Kate to rescue another dog companion. Miss Kate and the late great Black Bart can't believe it, either.

She has not started blogging yet, but she wrote her own thank you note to "Aunt Barbara" for her Christmas present, so I guess it won't be long. There she is, looking over my shoulder, watching my every move, as I post this. Very interesting...

Maybe she'll be a more faithful blogger than I've been!

After Christmas

Well, now that the press of the holiday/Holy Day is past, I have a piece of my mind to share and please know that this is my opinion, not a rant.

I have heard the cries of those who are in great anguish about the secularization of the month of December running up to Christmas. Many are angry that shop clerks are not permitted to say "Merry Christmas" because some customers might be displeased at the religious reminder. Many found it difficult to find greeting cards that included the word "Christmas" in them - instead, they found "Season's Greetings," "Happy Holidays" and the like. Children's school pageants had no Christmas carols in them, although through the ignorance of school officials regarding the holiday of Hannukah, the dreidel song, and song about these little candles was sometimes included.

I heard frequently, this year, for the first time, "If people don't want to celebrate Christmas, then they should voluntarily work that day and not take it off." Or, "If people don't want Christ in Christmas, then it shouldn't be a national holiday anymore."

My questions are these: What keeps a Christian from saying, "Merry Christmas" to the shop clerk? What keeps a Christian from writing in the words, "Merry Christmas" on a greeting card, or getting the ones that don't have any text and writing in your own sentiment? 

I have listened without comment to the distress of all. If I had said anything, I would have said this: I have no problem with the secularization of the season. It makes no difference to my faith, or to my celebration of the holy seasons of Advent and Christmastide. I have no desire to compel religion on anyone. If I were to say "Keep Christ in Christmas," it would be to my fellow observant Christians who get so wound up at this time of year. The rest of the world is welcome to celebrate the winter solstice, the ice holiday, the winter season. And if shop clerks can't say "Merry Christmas" to me, that's fine, too. 

Christianity no longer rules the world. We're better off for that. We've become lazy. We've taken our religion for granted. We take the presence of the church for granted. We assume it will always be there for our births, weddings and funerals. If it is not, it is because we ourselves have assumed wrongly its eternal place of primacy in society - and we all know what "assume" does.

We have failed to know the good news. We have failed to take our baptisms seriously, making Christ known to all people. We don't tell our faith stories. I'm not even sure we know why we are Christians and not something else.

If I worship God in Jesus Christ, there is no need for the rest of the world - shop clerks, greeting card manufacturers, or anyone else - to validate for me the celebration of the birth in Bethlehem.  The choices of the rest of the world have nothing to do with the joy of Christmas in my heart. If others choose not to keep Christmas, still I will keep it in my heart and in my life all the year long. 

Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year, filled with the love, joy, and peace of God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

On parole for charity - Muscular Dystrophy Lock up

Dear friends, I spent time in detention at the Tuscan Oven yesterday on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I have been released on good behavior but I still hope to raise another $500 to help people like the twin two year old boys I met yesterday, who have a form of MD that makes it impossible for them to hold up their heads.

Hold up your own head, dear friends. Visit my web page on the Muscular Dystrophy web site to contribute directly to the MDA. Use this link to get there. The site will be open for 29 more days.  

    https://www.joinmda.org/norwalklu2009/revlois 

OR

https://www.joinmda.org/MyLockup/MyHomepage/tabid/116588/Participant/revlois/Default.aspx

The website says I've raised $370.00. That doesn't count the two checks and one pledge that bring my total to $545. Help me get to $1,000. 

Or if you prefer, mail me your check, made out to Muscular Dystrophy Association, and I'll forward it. My address is Lois Keen, 12 Berkeley Street, Norwalk, CT 06850.

Or mail your check directly to MDA at Muscular Dystrophy Association, Hawthorne District Office - 3241, Seven Skyline Drive, 2nd Floor, Hawthorne, NY 10532.

Thank you to everyone who has already donated or pledged. And thank you all for your thoughts and prayers on behalf of those with muscular dystrophy. Peace be with you all.

With Firefox or Safari highlight text in order to read

WE HAVE A DOG! Her name is Xena, Warrior Princess. We adopted her from a no-kill animal shelter in Connecticut yesterday, Saturday November 28. She's a lab mix, about 45 pounds, a year old. She was a stray, rescued by the Connecticut shelter from someplace in South Carolina. She is so sweet.

She just had her first bath - that was an adventure! but she did great. Now she's getting a walk outside.

I'm not going to gush. I just wanted you all to know, it's been past time to honor the lives of Black Bart and Miss Kate of blessed memory, by giving a home and family to another dog. And I half believe they sent Xena.

So, rejoice. And please welcome, Miss Xena, Warrior Princess of all Connecticut!

The Octave of All Saints 2009

Dear Friend(s) of Grace Church:

Some say we are dying, but, look!, we are alive.

This paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 6: 8 sums up where we are at Grace Church in our 119th year. I can point to signs that our congregation is dying, but there is far more evidence that we are very much alive!

We have a core of parishioners who pray, worship, and work with great dedication to the glory of God and for the benefit of Grace Church.

Our priest is skilled at preaching, teaching, and pastoral care. We love her, and she loves us.

Our worship in enhanced by excellent music: choir, organ, and hand bells.

We hold services for the public each month: a healing service in the church and an outdoor service to which people without homes are especially invited.

Our kitchen has received high marks from the Norwalk Health Department.

Our buildings, including two houses on Berkeley Street (one of which now houses our priest), are in good repair; our church is handicapped-accessible.

We have a labyrinth for prayer and meditation.

We continue to support the FAWE girls’ school in Sierra Leone—and three of us have visited it.

We collect food and Christmas gifts and distribute them to those in need. We collect supplies for the children at Malta House; one of us tutors a young mother at Malta House.

We serve our community by opening our building to a variety of local organizations.

We are exploring the possible merger of our parish with the congregation of Iglesia Betania, and we have worshiped and socialized together.

Our new ministries were the subject of a full-page article with pictures in GOOD NEWS, the newspaper of the Diocese of Connecticut.

We all should be excited by and proud of the ministry and mission, which, with God’s help, our congregation is involved in. To accomplish all that we are doing we need the time, talent, and treasure of all of us. As a congregation we are blessed by God. As individuals and families we are blessed by God. A pledge card for 2010 is enclosed. In consideration of all that God has done for us and for you, please make your generous financial commitment to God by filling out and returning the card by November 22nd. Note that nine members of the Vestry have already made their pledges, totaling $$29,380, an average of $3164. A fine example for us all.

Your brother in Christ.

John Sutton, Senior Warden and Pledge Chairman