notes June 2014

Grace on Tap, 2013

Grace

OUR TEAM

OFFICE OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

Bay GreenHill COMMUNICATIONS ADMINISTRATOR

Hope Johnstone FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATOR

Anne Jones INTERN

Mark Harris

CHILDREN 9 A.M. CHILDRENS CHAPEL COORDINATOR

Ben Bergstrom GODLY PLAY DIRECTOR Meredith Bergstrom

KITCHEN AND NURSERY COORDINATOR Angie Chaney

11 A.M. CHILDRENS CHAPEL COORDINATOR Travis Chaney

MUSIC ASSISTANT CHOIRMASTER

Liesl Dromi DIRECTOR OF MUSIC & ORGANIST

Dr. Jan Wubbena CHILDRENS CHOIR SCHOOL DIRECTOR

Terri Wubbena

MINISTRIES Altar Guild Outreach

Episcopal Peace Fellowship / G.A.P.P. Meals on Wheels

Prayer Chain

VESTRY Meredith Bergstrom

Andy Bossler Ben Hill

Rob Lambert Amanda Orcutt

Debi Selby Curtis Smith Robert Smith

Mike Moss, Treasurer Hope Johnstone, Clerk

COMMITTEES Building & Grounds Christian Formation

Community Life Finance

Outreach Worship

Stan McKinnon RECTOR

stan@gracesiloam.org

Lora Walsh CURATE

lora@gracesiloam.org

Larry R. Benfield BISHOP

bishopbenfield@mac.com

WORSHIP SCHEDULE SUN Holy Eucharist, 9:00 A.M. Christian Formation (all ages), 10:00 A.M. Holy Eucharist, 11:15 A.M. WED Holy Eucharist & Healing, 12:10 P.M. MON-FRI Yoga Morning Prayer at Studio, 7:00 A.M.

CHURCH OFFICE HOURS Monday Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

TEN QUESTIONS THAT ARE TRANSFORMING THE FAITH Grace on Tap begins next Wednesday, June 11, at 7:00 p.m. in the side conference

room at 28 Springs in downtown Siloam Springs. Childcare is available at Grace

Church from 6:45-8:30.

Last year we had a great turn-out throughout the summer discussing Phyllis Tickles

ideas about the Great Emergence of Christianity in our time. This year we will continue

that theme as we engage with one of the most important voices in the emergent

movement of Christianity, Brian McLaren, and his book A New Kind of Christianity.

Hailed widely as one of the most significant religious leaders of our time, compared

by some to the leaders of the Protestant Reformation McLaren strikes a chord with

many. The Christian Century

McLaren spent over 20 years as a pastor of a church near Baltimore, but found that

his congregation began asking questions that he had not been prepared to answer by

his evangelical background. These questions along with others he has encountered in

the last several years from his travels all over the world speaking to diverse Christian

groups including Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox, and Pentecostals, will

form the basis of our discussions this summer.

Each week we will address one of the ten big questions about Christianity that

McLaren writes and speaks about from his experience. Questions like, What is the

overarching story of the Bible? and How should the Bible be understood? to Who

is Jesus? and What is the Gospel?

While these questions may sound simplistic, they are at the core of how we can come

to better understand and relate our faith to the times in which we live. And better

understanding our faith can enable us to live out that faith more meaningfully in our

everyday lives.

I believe our discussions can be transformational and I look forward to sharing some

of McLarens ideas with you as we examine together Ten Questions that are

Transforming the Faith.

See you next Wednesday!

Peace,

I NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT WE SING by Jan Wubbena Last month we posed the question What do you do once you have taken your seat and said

your pre-service prayer? What follows is an extended article based on this thought.

* * * * *

If you regularly attend the late service, have you noticed a change in the ambience in the

nave before the 11:15 service in recent weeks? Its quieter, and its quieter for a longer

period of time prior to service time. I attribute this to moving the service to 11:15. Christian

Formation still ends at 10:45, but now there are 30 minutes for the fellowship time AND for

quiet time in the nave. The parish hall is now mostly empty as the choir and acolytes gather

in a circle for our pre-service prayer. Most of the fellowship crowd is already in the pews

by the time the choir and I move to our places.

Regardless of which service you attend, what do you do once you have taken your seat and

said your pre-service prayers? This time for quiet meditation might be spent in paying

attention to what we are about to sing. Worshippers could profitably use this time to reflect

on the text of one or more of the hymns to be sung within the next hour.

You might arbitrarily choose a number posted on the hymn board and turn to it. The

opening hymn is often one of praise, although sometimes it has a different sort of text. E.g.,

on Easter Day it was a narrative of the gospel for the day (the resurrection of the Lord), and

on the following Sunday it was the story of Doubting Thomas this past Sunday).

Or you might turn to the hymn between the epistle and the gospel (11:15 only). Often

closely related thematically to one of those two lessons, this hymn could be devotional in

content, it could be a prayer, or it could be unabashedly noisy. The text may offer hints

about the musical treatment it will receive.

The communion hymns (11:15 only) are usually quiet, reflective

settings of contemplative texts. Many come from the designated

Holy Eucharist section of the hymnal (nos. 300-347) or The

Christian Life (nos. 635-709).

When we sing the closing hymn, we have just left the altar refreshed

and re-fortified, and we are about to re-enter the world for another

week. This hymn usually ends the service on an up note, but

there are exceptions to this general rule, as there are to all

rules.

My point is, your worship will be broader and deeper

and far richer if you pay attention to what you sing.

And every week you might do well to study just one

of the hymns in those few minutes between your

taking your seat and the processional hymn. A

hallmark of Episcopal worship is an atmosphere of

quietude and reverence before the service. What

better time to reflect on a hymn text? Youll be

paying closer attention to what you sing.

History of Grace House

Thanks to all who contributed at the

housewarming reception on Sunday, June

1st, donations are still being accepted.

Grace House has had a long journey: The

house was built in the late 1890s and is

Queen Anne style. A Circus Barker, Fred

Moulton and his wife lived there in the

early 1900s. During the 1940s the house

was remodeled and by 1970 it had been

made into 2 apartments; one on the first

floor and the other upstairs, with a

separate entrance from outside. Over the

years the home fell into disrepair.

The Benjamins bought 605 N. Mt Olive in

1979. This purchase was to protect Grace

from having a run-down house on the side

yard. They also thought in time, they

would be able to donate the property to

Grace Church, which is what they did in

2013.

Mary worked with Alfred Snawder,

Contractor, to take out any wall that was

not original, and to put in new plumbing,

electricity, heat and air, and to patch the

walls, or sheetrock where needed, and

restore the old wood floors and paint the

wood trim. The exterior entrance to the

upstairs was removed and a window

placed at the stair landing, as would have

been originally. A new kitchen was

installed, and the old chimney covered up

inside, and taken off above the roofline.

The house was rented out for over 30

years, and was freshened up with new

paint and carpet upstairs before the

church received it as a gift.

The property on which the house was

constructed was larger, but over the years

when the church built on the parish hall

and education wing, the Benjamins gifted

a strip of land so the church could build

and add a play yard. When they had the

property resurveyed, they squared up the

property lines on the parking lot east of

the home.

There was a huge oak tree in the backyard

behind the kitchen that was believed to

have been over 200 years old. It was over

15 feet in circumference. It started dying

in 2011 and had to be removed in 2013.

There were a few other trees that also had

to be taken out, so the yard looks very

different from the early years.

The carriage house serves as a garage or

workshop/storage area and believed to be

as old as the home.

Welcome Mark Harris

Grace Member Mark Harris

just graduated from John

Brown University in May and

has joined the Grace staff as

an intern. Mark Harris has

served in various ministry

roles at Grace over the years

and will be a wonderful

addition to our team. Mark

will marry fiance Leticia

Warren on July 26th.

Center for Psychology, June 7th

The Center for Psychology will host psychoanalyst, author, and

teacher, Kenneth Kimmel (Eros and The Shattering Gaze: Transcending