Thoughts from Lori +
It’s good to be home! We left McHenry three weeks ago while the leaves were still colorful, drove south where they had barely started to turn, and returned (as we expected) to bare trees! It is, after all, November in Illinois. Three weeks felt like an eternity and way too long to live out of suitcases. Again, it is good to be home.
Sadly, however, we got back just in time to say goodbye to our beloved George Boehlke. He received the Ministration at the Time of Death (see p. 462 in the BCP), also known as Last Rites, on Monday evening. He slipped away peacefully this morning at a little before 2am. You should have just received an announcement of his death, along with the funeral plans, but just in case you missed that announcement, we will print it again below.
I saw George just before Bill and I left on our trip and we talked about how long I would be gone. He acknowledged that he was “ready to go,” but I asked him, half-jokingly, if he would wait for me to get back. And by God, he did. As Carol and Diana, two of his daughters, said to me this morning, he hated to inconvenience anyone!
So homecoming is bittersweet. Nevertheless, I am glad to be back among you, knowing that together we will mourn the loss of George and celebrate his life. Thanks be to God.
Faithfully,
Lori +
Our beloved GEORGE WILLIAM BOEHLKE died this morning, November 5, 2014. The Burial Office and Holy Eucharist to celebrate his life will take place Saturday, November 29, at 11am here at St. Paul’s Church.
Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord; And let light perpetual shine upon him.Women’s Wednesday is tonight!
7:00 p.m.Please join the women of the parish (and their friends) for wine, refreshments, and conversation. There will be a special surprise tonight! (Hint…think thistle farms)
On the calendar….
Endowment Committee – Thursday, Nov. 6th, 6:30 p.m. Finance Committee – Tuesday, Nov. 18th, 6:30 p.m. Vestry – Thursday, Nov. 20th, 7:00 p.m. Pledge Sunday – Nov. 23rd Eve of Thanksgiving service – Wed., Nov. 26th, 7:00 p.m.Lessons and Hymns for Sunday, November 9th
(Pentecost XXII – Proper 27 A)
by the Rev. William McLemore
THE SCRIPTURE LESSONS:
The First Reading: The Track I readings are Joshua 24:1-3a,14-25 and Psalm 78:1-7; the Track II readings is a choice between Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16 or Amos 5:18-24 and Psalm 70. Joshua is told by the people of Israel they will turn from false gods and worship the Lord. The Wisdom of Solomon focuses on people who seek wisdom; Amos calls for justice rather than false worship. The Track I Psalm calls people to hear the word of the Lord, and the Track II Psalm reads, “O Lord, make haste to help me.”
The Epistle: I Thessalonians 4:13-18. Paul reminds the church at Thessalonica the “dead in Christ will rise first.”
The Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13. Here, Jesus tells the parable of the foolish bridesmaids who weren’t prepared for the coming of the bridegroom, and ends with these words, “keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
THE HYMNS:
PROCESSIONAL HYMN: No. 609, “Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life.” This hymn contrasts the passion of Christ with the desperate human needs and was written by a Methodist minister, Frank Mason North. It is set to an older tune composed by William Gardiner and is named after him. The son of an English hosiery manufacturer, he worked all his life in the mill, but with enormous gifts for music composed many sacred and secular songs. Though this hymn falls in our hymnal section for “Christian Responsibility,” it reveals the saving power of God in Jesus Christ moving from the “cries of race and clan” to “till glorious from thy heaven above, shall come the city of our God.” This hymn should be prayed as it is sung-it has a wonderful message that continues to survive through the years.
THE SEQUENCE HYMN: No. 620. “Jerusalem, My Happy Home.” This hymn is ancient in Christian hymnody probably dating back to the 6th or 7th century A.D. The image of a heavenly Jerusalem is a favorite medieval theme for hymns and this particular version has many lost and left out verses of the Latin original. It has been attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo, but this is purely conjecture. The tune, “Land of Rest,” is an American Folk Hymn, adapted and harmonized by Annabel Morris Buchanan (1889-1983).
PRESENTATION HYMN: No. 574. “Before Thy Throne, O God, We Kneel.” The author of this hymn is William Boyd Carpenter (1841-1918), the Anglican Bishop of Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. This forms a dramatic poem seeking forgiveness and reconciliation along with personal spiritual growth. “For lives bereft of purpose high, forgive, forgive, O Lord, we cry.” The tune, “St. Petersburg,” was composed by Dimitri S. Borniniansky (1751-1825) and traces its roots to an old Russian hymn.
COMMUNION HYMN: No. 712 “Dona Nobis Pacem.” This hymn was discussed earlier and will be our regular communion music for the month of November.
RECESSIONAL HYMN: No. 436. “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates.” This joy-filled hymn was written by Georg Weissel (1590-1635), a Prussian priest who is considered one of the most important hymnologists of his country. The words are based on Psalm 24. The text calls for us to open our hearts to Jesus and make it a holy temple “adorned with prayer and love and joy.” The tune, “Truro,” appeared anonymously in an Evangelical Psalmbook (1789). The words of the hymn were translated into English by Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878); and the music was harmonized by Lowell Mason (1792-1872).
November 9th Servants
Ushers: Bill Lang, Bobbi Fiali Lector: Judy Robel Intercessor: Terry Jaworski Eucharistic Ministers: Deb Lang, Charlie Boak Vestry Person of the Day: Al Robel101 Reasons to be an Episcopalian
Reason 84
“I love our church because we have poetry in our Prayer Book and in our hymnal.”
Barbara Cawthorne Crafton
Diocese of New York
From the cartoons created by the Rev. William P. McLemore
1965 – 2014
