To the Christians of Grace Church, an Episcopal Community in the Southern Berkshires, Greetings and Blessings! I am writing to you from a place of vision and what I see for our community in the future.
Why Grace?, because we are new, we are on the beginning of who and what we will become. The possibilities are only limited by our imagination—we can become anything we can envision, we can try new things, we can and should think outside the box. IF we have never done it that way….lets DO it that way. Be BOLD. We have been charged with a recreation of something that has been a part of the Berkshires for 250 years, the Episcopal Church. Do we have to do what we have been doing for 250 years, somewhat, should we move with the times … absolutely! We have seen that doing what we have always done, is no longer good enough or relevant to people today. Many still live with that God shaped hole in their lives, do we have what it takes to fill that hole—I think we do. The question I pose to you…how do we let the community know that we would be willing to help them find what they need to fill that hole. I don’t have that answer, but I do want us to think about, dream about, share with each other our thoughts and dreams. We did the visioning exercise earlier this year, lets visit those cards, lets dream a little.
Why pledge? This I could go one about for some time. Why will I pledge? Because I have much to be thankful for and pledgeing is the way we Christians show and practice our thankfulness. I want to be a founding member of Grace Church and I want you to join me. I and the other leaders of St. George’s made a commitment to our members—we will not let our dreams fade away, we will be part of an Episcopal Community, we will faithfully move into a future with our pledges and that commitment. I will stand by my commitment. I will increase my pledge. I invite you to do the same! Together we can make our dreams come true.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
A Letter from Mary and Ian Booton to the Congregation of the “Soon to Be” Grace Church
Why Grace church?
We have attended St. James for a few functions when it was downtown in the past. So we decided to try it and see what it was like at Chrissy Farm. We both felt comfortable and welcome upon entering the church. All the people of then church where warm and friendly. We enjoyed the handbook and liked that it had the whole service in it and included all the songs that would be performed that day. We very much enjoyed the choir and their enthusiasm. We enjoyed the structure and rhythm of the service. We felt that not only was Francie informative in her sermon, but she gave us a feeling of acceptance and comfort. It was nice that she explained the previous readings of that day in her sermon, helping us understand what was being read. Our favorite part was at the end of the service where Francie blessed the children. Our children are adults now, but we very much enjoy children and thought this was lovely. We also liked the announcements and some of the humor that was included in them. It was also nice meeting some of the people attending the church and enjoyed some of the wonderful items offered at coffee hour.
So why Grace church?
We care that all are welcomed and that all are accepted to Grace church. We know that God loves all of his children and that Grace church promotes this. We feel that Grace church has the right Sheppard for its flock with Francie. Lastly we feel comfortable and embraced by all at Grace church.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
A Letter from Dorreen Hutchinson to the Congregation of the “Soon to Be” Grace Church
Chapter 1
What a privilege to write the first few verses in this new and exciting chapter of our future church lives together. When I think of the image of Grace, I am brought back to a time in my adolescent life when my family (mom, dad, sister) dedicated our lives to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The central image was the Heart, with lots of light emanating outward. It wasn’t the ritual, but the concept that I recall best. That was when we were committed to being the reflection of Christ’s Heart in our world.
What a privilege to write the first few verses in this new and exciting chapter of our future church lives together. When I think of the image of Grace, I am brought back to a time in my adolescent life when my family (mom, dad, sister) dedicated our lives to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The central image was the Heart, with lots of light emanating outward. It wasn’t the ritual, but the concept that I recall best. That was when we were committed to being the reflection of Christ’s Heart in our world.
It is that reflection of Christ that I see in each person here and why I wish to be an active participant in Grace. It isn’t just about our common worship, but the common values and spirit which is so palpable here. Others feel it when they come here – the Diocesan Committee felt it; the place in which we work, the groups we participate in, the Diocese and visitors – there is something very different here – something very alive, which emanates from each one of you and it is awesome. That is why grace for me. I want to be a part of this.
So, why do I pledge?
I see a tremendous focus on mission here. I feel that my pledge of time, talent and treasure is meaningful. Supporting Gideon’s Garden is so rewarding! I like being part of something that benefits so many in our community – feeding many with the bounty of the Garden; providing opportunity for many who wish to volunteer in a meaningful way (Kiwanis, Railroad Street Youth Project), or providing fresh food for community dinners at Breaking Bread, the Guthrie Church Dinner and the Pantries.
- And let’s not underestimate the opportunity to teach others about growing vegetables and caring for chickens – like BRIDGE elementary school groups and Brookside.
- And how do you quantify what it means to a special needs child to feel the soil under their feet, to finger new seedlings and to hold the bounty in their hands?
- And, most of all, to watch the support and mentoring of young people like Brendan, Kyle and now Matt. I have observed firsthand the delight in my granddaughter’s face as she watched the chickens, the goats and the ducks. And when Kyle and Matt took her so lovingly to see the huge pumpkins and watermelons they grew, I saw her positive response to them as young people teaching her, which was nothing short of amazing.
My pledge helps support all of this tremendous work. I may not be there each day, but I trust Sue and Penny and Dan and Paul and Keith to use their skills and knowledge to make it happen.
This is my way of being the reflection of Christ’s Heart in my part of the world.
Friday, October 12, 2012
A Sermon Preached on Oct.21, 2012, the Sunday after Diocesan Convention
by the Rev. Jennifer Gregg, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church,
Pittsfield
James and John, two ordinary men, one extraordinary call: a call to follow Jesus. And when Jesus first uttered their names, on the Shores of Galilee, what felt like many moons ago, they immediately said, “yes”, dropping their nets leaving their father, Zebedee still sitting in the boat, to finish the days work.
It was call that initially seemed pretty easy. Here, these two lowly fishermen were being invited to follow and be part of the inner circle of someone who was quickly growing in popularity, or at the very least, he was the talk of the town. Young and old, rich and poor, sick and healthy were flocking to him from all sides for a word, a touch, an acknowledgement.
And as Peter and others began to acknowledge that he was the Messiah, the anointed one, surely the one to return the Jewish people to a place of political power. Then, they too, would also be great, especially as part of this elite group.
But things lately had become more difficult, nothing was what it seemed. Now for the third time Jesus had told the disciples of his passion and death.
James and John, completely petrified about what Jesus is saying, are trying to hold on to what they know. They are trying to find security in what feels like an ever changing dynamic with Jesus. What glory, honor and power will come from dying? Surely there must be another way. So they try to secure their position and place, and ask Jesus, if they can sit one on his right hand and one on his left?
But this was not who Jesus was calling them to be. The greatness that Jesus had in mind for them, since he first called them off the shores of Galilee, would never be found in places of honor or a secured position. Jesus vision for them was greater than they could have asked or imagined. What James and John didn’t know on that quiet morning on the Shores of Galilee was that their nets were the first of many things that they were going to have to leave behind. And yet, it would only be found in dying to themselves, of who they thought they were, so that they could be born anew. The road to life that Jesus was inviting them to travel on, was actually a road that looked like death.
A road that we too are invited to travel.
After an assessment, the building was no longer considered structurally sound and was condemned.
Nothing was what it seemed, nothing was what they could have possibly expected. They went from having a home, to no home, of having prayer books, hymnals and choir robes at their disposal, to Rubbermaid boxes, easily packable for the road, from having an office to print bulletins, to printing and working from home, bulletins showing up on the door step of Francie’s home the night before Sunday worship.
The eventually ended up in a unexpected place – the Pub at Crissey Farms – transforming a banquet room and bar into a worship space - learned to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary – a testimony to what God was doing in their life together.
In a moment of crisis, rather than clinging to what they knew, the tradition, their building, and re-securing their place in the community – the continually put before themselves the question, “Who is God calling us to be?”
At the same time this was going on, St. George’s, Lee was wrestling with their own set of questions. With such a small congregation 25 or less, the realized the building they were in was becoming more of a financially strain and liability….and yet to close completely was not a viable answer. The too were deeply wrestling with the question,
Who is God calling us to be? How can we be a viable presence in the community without a building in which people can identify us by? How can our mission with others tell people more about who we are, rather than our building?
The answer has not come easily but it has come faithfully.
The process of rebirth for these two congregations was a continued process of self-emptying of redefining what it meant and what it means to be church, of moving beyond who they thought they were when located on Main Street in Great Barrington, and downtown , Lee to who God was calling them to be with and alongside the people of Great Barrington and Lee.
It was a process that was filled with a hopeful spirit, deep grief, and the grace to continue to answer the question, Who is God calling us to be?
Detrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him….it is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”
Yesterday at our annual Diocesan Convention, as of January 2013 they will officially be Grace Episcopal Church of the Southern Berkshires, still without a building but witnessing to God’s grace and love to that part of the Berkshires and beyond. Their greatness now found together in what they can be and do as one body.
Like James and John, St. George and St. James, we don’t always know what we are getting into when we say “yes” to Jesus. We do not know where it will lead us, we don’t know what shifts and turns it will take… we certainly don’t always know the cost, of what it will ask us to let go of or what it will ask us to take-on, so that our truest identities can be formed.
And so God keeps calling again and again and again, to let go and to take on, to serve and be served, beckoning us into a greater fullness, into greater places of love and compassion, as we are shaped into who, God, is calling us to be…moment by moment…
May we too be filled with the grace to answer the call.
“Will you come and follow me?”
James and John, two ordinary men, one extraordinary call: a call to follow Jesus. And when Jesus first uttered their names, on the Shores of Galilee, what felt like many moons ago, they immediately said, “yes”, dropping their nets leaving their father, Zebedee still sitting in the boat, to finish the days work.
It was call that initially seemed pretty easy. Here, these two lowly fishermen were being invited to follow and be part of the inner circle of someone who was quickly growing in popularity, or at the very least, he was the talk of the town. Young and old, rich and poor, sick and healthy were flocking to him from all sides for a word, a touch, an acknowledgement.
And as Peter and others began to acknowledge that he was the Messiah, the anointed one, surely the one to return the Jewish people to a place of political power. Then, they too, would also be great, especially as part of this elite group.
But things lately had become more difficult, nothing was what it seemed. Now for the third time Jesus had told the disciples of his passion and death.
James and John, completely petrified about what Jesus is saying, are trying to hold on to what they know. They are trying to find security in what feels like an ever changing dynamic with Jesus. What glory, honor and power will come from dying? Surely there must be another way. So they try to secure their position and place, and ask Jesus, if they can sit one on his right hand and one on his left?
But this was not who Jesus was calling them to be. The greatness that Jesus had in mind for them, since he first called them off the shores of Galilee, would never be found in places of honor or a secured position. Jesus vision for them was greater than they could have asked or imagined. What James and John didn’t know on that quiet morning on the Shores of Galilee was that their nets were the first of many things that they were going to have to leave behind. And yet, it would only be found in dying to themselves, of who they thought they were, so that they could be born anew. The road to life that Jesus was inviting them to travel on, was actually a road that looked like death.
A road that we too are invited to travel.
Story of St. James, Great Barrington and St. George’s, Lee
"In August of 2008, just eight months after calling their new rector, The Rev. Francie Hills, the outer wall of St. James, Barrington, part of the chancel area in their sanctuary, bulged out. The pieces falling on the parking lot behind the church, fell directly onto Francie’s car - not exactly the beginning they were anticipating.After an assessment, the building was no longer considered structurally sound and was condemned.
Nothing was what it seemed, nothing was what they could have possibly expected. They went from having a home, to no home, of having prayer books, hymnals and choir robes at their disposal, to Rubbermaid boxes, easily packable for the road, from having an office to print bulletins, to printing and working from home, bulletins showing up on the door step of Francie’s home the night before Sunday worship.
The eventually ended up in a unexpected place – the Pub at Crissey Farms – transforming a banquet room and bar into a worship space - learned to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary – a testimony to what God was doing in their life together.
In a moment of crisis, rather than clinging to what they knew, the tradition, their building, and re-securing their place in the community – the continually put before themselves the question, “Who is God calling us to be?”
At the same time this was going on, St. George’s, Lee was wrestling with their own set of questions. With such a small congregation 25 or less, the realized the building they were in was becoming more of a financially strain and liability….and yet to close completely was not a viable answer. The too were deeply wrestling with the question,
Who is God calling us to be? How can we be a viable presence in the community without a building in which people can identify us by? How can our mission with others tell people more about who we are, rather than our building?
The answer has not come easily but it has come faithfully.
The process of rebirth for these two congregations was a continued process of self-emptying of redefining what it meant and what it means to be church, of moving beyond who they thought they were when located on Main Street in Great Barrington, and downtown , Lee to who God was calling them to be with and alongside the people of Great Barrington and Lee.
It was a process that was filled with a hopeful spirit, deep grief, and the grace to continue to answer the question, Who is God calling us to be?
Detrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him….it is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”
- It was this grace that met them in their grief and disbelief when the wall first fell
- It was grace that allowed them to ask the hard questions about what to do with their buildings without easy answers…
- It was grace that met them in moments of exhaustion around conference room tables, at homes and in parking lots
- It was grace that met them in the voices and words of one another, offering consolation and encouragement
- It was grace that fed them through word and song, bread and wine,bringing them out of death into new and abundant life
Yesterday at our annual Diocesan Convention, as of January 2013 they will officially be Grace Episcopal Church of the Southern Berkshires, still without a building but witnessing to God’s grace and love to that part of the Berkshires and beyond. Their greatness now found together in what they can be and do as one body.
Like James and John, St. George and St. James, we don’t always know what we are getting into when we say “yes” to Jesus. We do not know where it will lead us, we don’t know what shifts and turns it will take… we certainly don’t always know the cost, of what it will ask us to let go of or what it will ask us to take-on, so that our truest identities can be formed.
And so God keeps calling again and again and again, to let go and to take on, to serve and be served, beckoning us into a greater fullness, into greater places of love and compassion, as we are shaped into who, God, is calling us to be…moment by moment…
May we too be filled with the grace to answer the call.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)