One Bread, One Body: News From St Nicholas July 4-10

Naaman Washing Clean

But his servants approached and said to him,
“Father, if the prophet
had commanded you to do something difficult,
would you not have done it?
How much more,
when all he said t you was,
`Wash, and be clean’?”
So he went down and immersed himself
seven times in the Jordan,
according to the word of the man of God;
his flesh was restored like the flesh
of a young boy, and he was clean.
— from the Second Book of Kings

10 a.m. worship, drawing this Sunday

We begin our summer schedule this Sunday, July 4, with worship at 10 a.m. through the Labor Day weekend.
Also, those who participated in our worship survey — either on paper forms, or electronically — will have a chance to win a $25 gift certificate in a drawing that will be held that day. The only catch is that you must be present to win.

So, come, enjoy some special music — Paul Brouillette will be bringing his guitar — and a great Independence Day!

Bishop’s Committee report

Extended meeting held 27 June 2010
Present: Val Gruenwald, Pat Kalicki, Steve Raftery, Mary Anne O’Rourke, Paul Swanson, Jessica Tamaski, Manny Borg, Steve Martz
Not present: Bill Barlow, Karen Martin

The meeting focused on planning for the 2010-2011 program year. No official actions were taken. Here is a report on the areas discussed:

Opening week-end(s).

Our next Rummage Sale will be Saturday, September 11, with Sunday, September 12 as the “unofficial” opening of our program year.

The “Grand Opening” of the year will be the following weekend as we hold our first Saturday liturgy. Our primary means of publicity for that liturgy will be doorhangers that we will distribute over three weekends in August and September. The doorhangers will invite our neighbors to come and see St. Nicholas.

More evangelism

We also will be doing doorhangers again in November as we invite neighbors to join us for a celebration of the Feast of Nicholas. We will hold a community dinner as part of that celebration. Our intent is to take full advantage of our patron, St. Nicholas, considered by many to be the world’s most popular saint, and we will make this an annual event. The dinner and St. Nicholas celebration will be held on Saturday after worship. In 2011, we will inaugurate another annual evangelism event that will be focused on Sunday.

Having Fun

We agreed that one of the major strengths of our community is the genuine affection we have for one another. Unlike many parishes, we do not focus much on hot-button issues or differences. We want to build on, and celebrate, this strength. Denise Butera and Anna Stefaniak are working with Steve Martz to plan some social events, including a movie night in August. We also discussed a chili dinner this winter, which we may tie to the Super Bowl. Also discussed were International Dinners — think of it as a potluck on steroids — where we invite people to bring dishes they especially enjoy cooking, and that reflect their ethnic heritage.

Adult formation

The approach during 2010-11 will involve three elements. First, the contemporary issues/reading group that Steve Gruenwald leads will continue.

Second, we will have Fall and early Spring Saturday/ Sunday adult education series before or after the liturgies. One series will focus on biblical subjects, including Major Figures of the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as infancy and passion narratives. The other will center on spirituality subjects.

Finally, we will inaugurate Fall and Spring midweek series with outside presenters. As we do not usually draw well during midweek, we will also be inviting neighboring churches from the Elgin Deanery of our Diocese, and from other denominations in Elk Grove Village. The Fall series, on “Courage,” will be led by Jeffrey Ediger, an independent scholar and former college professor who has taught this and other courses at the Church of the Atonement, where he is a member.

Children’s formation

We had an extended discussion of formation, and agreed the Val, Jessica, and Pat will head a team that will recommend an approach — or approaches — that will more effectively meet the needs of our children and their families. The sentiment was for an integrated program that involves the children in the liturgy, service, and learning.

LGBT

We agreed that our LGBT outreach needs reinvigoration. Steve Martz will work with LGBT members to develop a mix of social, movie, and discussion events during the coming year.

Sunday liturgy

We reviewed the survey results that have been received so far. We were heartened that the majority of those responding will continue to worship on Sunday. (Heartened because the point of the Saturday liturgy is to attract new people to St. Nicholas.) At the same time, we noted that it appears the Saturday liturgy will draw enough of our Sunday participants to make it difficult to continue two Sunday liturgies. We agreed unanimously that, if the numbers continue in the final stage of the survey to be what they are to date, it would make most sense to hold one liturgy on Sunday.

SEE YOU SOON

by Father Steve Martz

I’m going to be taking the next couple of weeks off, returning to work on the evening of the 10th when Carla and I host a party for the choir and our music director to thank them all for a wonderful year of music, and for everything they do to make St. Nicholas such a special place. And they do quite a lot — as I was reminded again this past Sunday as I listed to Tim Black and Mary Fletcher-Gomez sing a wonderful anthem.

It’s going to be a lay-low vacation for me, as I read, rest, exercise, and do a few things around the house. If anything comes up during this time that requires a priest, please contact Manny.

See you soon,

— Steve

PS, as always, Let me know what you think… about whatever is on your mind (and I’ll respond after the 10th).