The Back Page
News, art, ideas from the back page of Grace's bimonthly newsletter, Grace Notes.
March 10, 2010
A Giant Has Fallen From Our Midst
Pastor Dean Lueking
Since the late l970’s, how often have we sung “This is the feast of
victory for our God” as part of our full Sunday liturgy at Grace!
Relatively few of us are aware that this soaring music was composed by
the modest man who sat with his wife, Gloria, on the center aisle, a
half dozen rows back, week after week, year after year. Nor did we
associate this quietly dignified man with snow white hair with the
composer of 24 hymns in our green Lutheran Book of Worship, as well as
other liturgical music within its pages.
Richard Hillert was hardly one to stand up on the church pew and
declare, “You know, folks, I’m the composer of the music you just
sang!” His manner was the polar opposite of self-promotion. Yet this
rarely gifted church musician, a faculty member at Concordia from 1959
till 1993 and Grace member for 50 years, is known worldwide – literally
– as simply peerless for the quality of his sacred music. His
compositions appear in hymnals of every denomination, in a variety of
languages.
His death on February 18 moves a uniquely gifted musical genius from
the church militant to the church triumphant. When giving thanks for
his faithful stewardship of his gifts, let’s be more mindful that Grace
congregation is blessed like no other congregation, anywhere, not only
with Richard Hillert, but with Carl Schalk, Paul Bouman, Carlos
Messerli, the late Paul Bunjes, and other church musicians whose work
is widely known and respected.
As our cantor, Michael Costello, and our choirs stir us with inspiring
music Sunday after Sunday, we have so much to be grateful for! Please
don’t miss the wealth in worship our dear Lord gives us in our
congregation so well named – Grace.
February 24, 2010
Take Me to the Water
Pastor Michael Costello
Our theme for mid-week services this year during Lent is “Take Me to
the Water: Singing the Spirituals through Lent.” For some it may seem
odd to sing spirituals during this very somber season of the church’s
year, but to those who suffered and were persecuted during times of
slavery, the journey toward freedom was often intimately associated
with Israel’s journey out of slavery and deliverance into the Promised
Land. Interestingly, many of the spirituals make reference to and
proclaim hope in God’s saving power through water for bringing new life.
As God’s people, freed from the slavery of sin and baptized into the
promise of Christ’s death and resurrection, we journey with those who
first sang these spirituals to the font at the great Vigil of Easter.
It is there, at the celebration of Christ’s pascha (passage) from death
to life, that we will sing a spiritual of faith once more. Candidates
for baptism will become partakers of Christ’s pascha as their old lives
are drowned and their new lives in the risen Christ begin.
May we be there to celebrate with them as they become members of
Christ’s body. And may we sing with them along the way, “Take me to the
water… to be baptized.”
February 10, 2010
Lent 2010
by Pastor Faulstich
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness;
in your great compassion blot out my offenses. Psalm 51:1
On Wednesday, February 17, we will begin our observance of Lent, the
season preceding Easter during which we reflect on our lives as
followers of Christ. In the early church, Lent was a season of
preparation when people new to the faith prepared for their baptism
during the vigil of Easter. It was a time of instruction in the faith.
New members would fast and pray as they prepared for their entry into
the community.
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. As the most solemn of days
during the church year, Ash Wednesday begins with Psalm 51 and the
imposition of ashes. Our foreheads are marked with the ashes made from
last year’s palms to remind of us our mortality and our baptismal
identity when we were marked with the cross of Christ and sealed with
the Holy Spirit.
During Lent, we will gather on Wednesday evenings for a time of
fellowship and worship. Lenten dinners will be served at 6:30 p.m. and
worship is at 7:30 p.m. We will also gather for worship on Wednesday
mornings at 10 a.m. Our midweek theme this year is “Take Me to the
Water: Singing Spirituals Through Lent.”
I hope you will consider making this midweek worship a part of your Lenten disciplines.
January 27, 2010
What Does Stewardship Mean to You?
From the Stewardship Committee
What does stewardship mean to you?
Members of the Stewardship Committee are interested in knowing. For us,
as we regularly contemplate the meaning of stewardship, we have come to
see that it can mean different things, depending on where Christians
are in their faith journey. We see stewardship as an act of worship, an
expression of our faith and a discipline for spiritual growth. For
many, stewardship has become a way of life.
In practicing stewardship, many people tell us, their faith has been
strengthened. Here’s what one Grace member says about stewardship:
“Put your faith in God”
It was in 2007 that my life took a downward spiral. My father died; I became divorced. I lost my job and on that same day I had to put down one of my two dogs. My former job required me to work most Sundays, so often I was unable to come to church. This presented a problem for me, as I am a lifelong member and my family has had a long, rich heritage at Grace. However, once I was no longer working Sundays, I was able to return to Sunday worship and reconnect with God and Jesus Christ.
By January 2008 I had secured a part-time job that became full-time in June. During the time I was out of work, I continued my offerings to Grace. When the job became full-time, I readjusted my donations to the tithing level and even a little beyond that. Although life looked dismal and bleak for a while, I kept faith in God and even increased my giving. In turn, God blessed me. I have a roof over my head, I can attend church services more frequently, and I have a job that, although it pays only a fraction of my former salary, provides me with benefits and allows me to tithe. Life looks a whole lot better now.
Put your faith in God; He will bless you in return.
The Stewardship Committee is interested in publishing your giving story. Do you have one to share? Please contact Kathryn Jandeska of the Stewardship Committee (kjandeska@sbcglobal.net).
January 13, 2010
Checking In
by Pastor Dean Lueking
The Lueking Ministry Fund was established - can it be?- nearly twelve years ago to support our continuing ministry in retirement abroad and at home. Whoosh! is the word for how time flies as I tell you highlights of the dozen years past.
- Twice yearly air travel to eastern Europe, l998-2005, fall and spring semesters, to teach seminarians in Bratislava, Slovakia, plus leadership seminars in Russia, Romania, Albania.
- Scholarships for 18 deserving students I've met and mentored along the way. The six women and twelve men are now in Lutheran teaching and pastoral ministries in Africa, Asia, and eastern Europe.
- Global travel, 2005-9, to Africa, South America, Asia, Oceania and Europe to teach master's degree candidates of World Vision and Habitat for Humanity organizations. During these past four years, we've met with lay and clergy Lutherans in 32 countries for the book on global Lutherans due out later this year. With Beverly's essential partnership, we've helped deepen the Christian vocations of over 250 people serving people in five continents. Your LMF dollars paid for our travel and lodging - some of which were real doozies.
- Now in 2010 our overseas teaching is less. I continue to direct your LMF offerings to worthy causes abroad and at home. Example: this week, $5000 went out to AIDS orphans in Malawi, Lutheran schools in Palestine, Lutheran Deaconess Association, and micro-enterprise projects in Russia and Colombia.
LMF works this way: every contributed dollar of yours that I requisition is first approved by the Board of Elders, with whom I document every expense item and to whom I report. Your primary stewardship, please remember, goes to our total Grace ministry. Thanks greatly for supporting this additional outreach for Christ. God willing, we'll keep it up.
December 30, 2009
Good News People for a Bad News World
by Pastor Dean Lueking
The daily bad news about the state of the world is depressingly old hat. How we need the authentic Good News about what God is up to in his church in our world in these very times!
It's been a great privilege for Beverly and me to meet and learn from many overseas Christians these past years and bring you occasional mini-reports via Grace Notes. We're glad every time we hear people say they read them with interest.
Come Sunday, January 3, the Adult Ed Committee has asked us for an hour's overview of global Christianity today. We'll try to do that in the 9:45 hour as we bring you our Show and Tell account of fellow Lutherans we've met in Ethiopia and Finland, China and Nicaragua, Palestine and Papua New Guinea. These must be selectively brief, to be sure, but the goal is to illustrate global church trends through real people whose life stories inform and inspire.
As a factual backdrop for January 3, think about this: in the past 60 years the explosive growth of Christianity south of the equator has marked the most dramatic change in the demographics of Christianity in the past 1700 years. I want to document that challenging claim through people we've met in our global journeys.
It's an exciting time to be alive! Not only can we hear about wonderful people of faith in far corners of the earth, but belong with them more genuinely in the worldwide family of God's people as all of us keep living the Good News in all kinds of bad situations. Please come, listen, learn, and be the better for it as we enter 2010, anno Domini.
December 9, 2009
On the Other Side of Christmas
Pastor Kelly K. Faulstich
We prepared for weeks now.
Four candles lit one by one upon the wreath.
Presents purchased and packaged with care.
Trees hauled home, lighted, trimmed.
WIth great self-control we opened the doors
of our Advent calendars,
to eat one little chocolate each day.
As soon as Christmas day concludes,
paper and ribbons thrown in the trash,
trees hauled to the curb,
after sales at stores commence.
But the twelve days of Christmastide begin.
A celebration longer than a few minutes
Of dismantled stockings and gifts unwrapped.
Carols and prayers continued,
Christ still our center,
Reverence and revelry coexist
As manger moves toward magi.
November 25, 2009
"Portraits of the Prophets: Daniel" by Benjamin Chandler, art teacher at Grace School
November 11, 2009
Serve One Another in Love by Kendall Grigg, Principal, Grace Lutheran School
On October 29, Grace students in grades three through eight worked alongside Concordia University students as they packaged meals with the organization Feed My Starving Children. The meals, packed in small pouches, are designed especially for severely malnourished children. Working in teams, Grace students measured ingredients, weighed and sealed the bags, and packed the meals into boxes to be shipped to starving children around the world. As the children participated in the event, they were reminded that their lives are enriched as they graciously give their own time and resources to help others in need. (“Give and it will be given to you,” Luke 6:28.)
As a team we helped the Concordia students pack an event total of 100,872 meals, surpassing their goal of 100,000! God, through his light reflecting off each of the children, led them to join hands and hearts in this task! Our hope is that this experience will encourage the children to put their faith into action as they begin to look for other opportunities to serve in our community, as we build relationships with one another, and seek to serve our neighbor.
October 28, 2009
German Spoken Here by Dean Lueking, Pastor Emeritus
Bucking the trend of elementary schools dropping foreign language study, Carol Ewald, aka "Frau," delivered quality German language instruction to Grace School children, K thru 8, from 1981 until 2008, while also teaching at Walther and Oak Park River Forest High School. Hundreds of GLS alums can still manage a respectable "Guten morgen" or one of the charming children's songs they learned at Grace's Oktoberfest, thanks to Frau Ewald's cheerful, exacting teaching style.
In more recent years, Carol and husband, Bill, have also escorted seven biennial high school student exchanges with German students and families in Hamburg. Each trip, high school youth from OPRF set out for several weeks of language immersion as guests of a German family. Carol and Bill then arrange for a similar number of German students to be received in homes here. Under the watchful eyes of the Ewalds, 288 high school youth have participated in the program. In the summer of 2009, ten of the twenty American students in the program were Grace members and/or Grace School alumni. That's notable, especially in an era when we Americans miss so much because we don't bother to learn how others speak and think.
Memorable events: always this - experiencing life in another culture and finding it exciting. Free lodging once in a gorgeous Bavarian Alps hostel when the scheduled hosts didn't come through. Losing an engine on a 747 over the Atlantic, resulting not only in a safe landing in Iceland but posh hotel accommodations plus a $400 voucher from the airline. The kids' summary comment: "really cool - better than learning more German, in fact!"
May Frau Ewald and Bill (a retired teacher of German and business at Concordia University) keep on steering us clear of language laziness, and may their bridges of international understanding between youth be well traveled into the future.
October 14, 2009
"Portraits of the Prophets: Hosea" by Benjamin Chandler, art teacher at Grace School
September 30., 20009
"Portraits of the Prophets: Isaiah" by Benjamin Chandler, art teacher at Grace School
