Fall 2008
Summer's End

Schools are back in session! We have kids who come to Grace Church who are now starting a new grade. Then we have the teachers and other educational professionals. There's Skip Lee, Sally Baer, Debbie Duerst, and Peg Romanelli, some educators who come to mind. They are right back into another academic year. Pete Dillon, who's Vice President of the Sterling Schools Foundation, no doubt has a lot of new projects to think about. This is a busy time for all of them.

I don't know whether others have "the dream" that I still have even though I haven't taught for almost 30 years. But I'll bet our other retired educators, Sally Schuneman and Doris Dillon, have something similar. In my dream, I arrive at school and suddenly realize that it's the end of the school year and I haven't ever met with my classes. I wander up and down strange hallways trying to figure out where my classroom might be. All the while I'm worrying that the students have not had many lessons at all. All those people who think teachers aren't "accountable" have no idea. I can't imagine how powerfully my subconscious cares about accountability that I continue to revive that dream every year about this time. Fortunately, I wake up!

This is the fresh start everyone wants. It's a new year, and the sky's the limit. As students, we all go into September with a chance for perfect attendance, and a chance to live up to our potential. We get new clothes sometimes, new pencil boxes and backpacks. We are given new, more advanced textbooks and get to open them up and marvel at all of the exciting, challenging information they contain. Our new classmates may develop into new friendships. We meet new teachers and mentors, and we have a chance to convince them to invest in us by teaching us everything possible.

Teachers, librarians and nurses get new students - full of possibility. They may turn out to love learning. They may become excited about science, or math, art or music, or language. They may show talents nobody knew they possessed.

We should take a few moments to think about all of this promise. Soon enough you'll be bombarded with bad news that makes a person worry about failing grades, gang infested hallways, disrespectful kids who create all kinds of havoc, incompetent teachers, bad administrators and on and on...

Of course, a bit of it's true. But the larger truth is that the top students in our schools are doing as well or better than they've ever done before. Most teachers and school professionals are dedicated, hard working, child-centered and successful in their work. Kids thrive in their capable care, and people still contact teachers years later to say thank you for changing their lives.

This is the time of year to remember that, and add them to our prayers. It's a time to remember all those teachers who changed your life for the good. It's time to say a special prayer for our teachers, nurses, librarians, students and community leaders who contribute to the well-being of our young people. It's time to remember that those young people will be the ones who will be stepping up to leadership roles in the future, and we need every single one of them. May God bless them all!

               ~ Peg Williams

November 2008
Money? What Money?

I'm grieving quite a bit for Rock River Country Club. We haven't been members for as many years as some, but we've loved every moment on the fairways and greens. We've even enjoyed the times we've sacrificed golf balls to the ponds, and waded through the sand traps to whck wayward shots back into play. Now the doors are closing. Members are wandering away, wondering what in the world we'll do next spring when it's time to play again. But it's just another result of the troubled economy, and we all say things will get better.

These very hard times make it really hard to ask the parish to continue robust support for our church, but it's time for the annual stewardship drive (and it could hardly be a worse time for it). However, we have Fr. David and Elizabeth, Sheila and John to consider, and we have responsibility for the building and grounds, and the programs we feel are central to our life.

So, I think we need take a hard look at why it is so important to give to the church. At my sister's church, their priest asked them to think about the coins that belonged to Caesar and think about whose face they see there. They, of course, said, "Caesar's." Then he asked whose face they see when they think about the things that belong to God. Well, the face is yours and mine.

In my heart, I believe that is true. I belong to God. I look at my time and struggle because I seem to be taking away so much of what belongs to God. I think about my talents and wonder whether I'm always using them for God. I look at my bank balance and wonder if I'm spending His money the way He would want me to. Even in the midst of hard times, I know the church isn't the place to cut back - it is in fact a wonderful time to try to do more!

Here's why. God is the constant, one sure thing we can count on. He won't cut our jobs. He won't reduce our benefits. His love will be strong for us today, tomorrow and forever. Jesus won't shut down, or turn out the lights. He won't make us wait until next spring to see what happens.

So, long live Grace Church! You can bring your energy and your ideas, your muscle and your mind, and whatever treasure you can afford. This is a good place to invest all of it, so please fill out your pledge card today.

               ~ Peg Williams

December 2008
Money

We are amazed at the mental agility of Jesus when he responds to the Pharisees, "Give unto Caesar's that which is Caesar's." We must keep in mind however, that it was merely a rhetorical device to put the religious conservatives in their place. The reality is quite different.

It is true that the coin of the realm was issued by Caesar in much the same way as Dollars are issued by our government. But the real value of money is not that it belongs to the Government but that it belongs to you and that its value is determined in large measure by the time, talent and treasure you put into earning it. Money is a convenient way to convert your time, talent and treasure into a simpler way of transacting business.

Not all of us has the time, talent and treasure to raise a herd of longhorns. Money allows us to take our time, talent, and treasure, and purchase just the amount of beef we need, all prepared and ready to cook.

So the demands for money are a demand for your time, talent and treasure. Knowing this, we are careful to be good stewards of our money so that we can use it effectively and not become slaves to the demands. When I was young there was a pop song that concluded with the truth by saying, "I owe my soul to the company store."

So money, in a very real sense, is your soul. You owe your soul to God so beware lest you owe it to someone or something else. Jesus noted that "where your heart is there will your treasure be also." Behavioral science has demonstrated that the reverse is also true. That is to say, you can put your money where you want your heart to be. This is the basis for giving to the Church. Your pledges and offerings are a means by which your heart can be more regularly and permanently focused on God.

On that basis, Grace Church is an important place through which your soul can be nourished. The sacraments are administered at least three times a week and formation opportunities are available 4 to 5 times a week. From a purely financial standpoint the budget committee last year planned on using $30,000 from our capital reserves to balance the budget. We've not had to dip into the reserves at all. So it would appear that those responsible for the stewardship of the Church itself, have done well and therefore are worth investing in and supporting again in the year to come.

We have received at least half of the pledges we expect to but time is running out on planning next year's budget so step up to the plate and pledge your financial support of the house of God so that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also!

               ~ Peg Williams

April 2009
Peg's Pottage

A few weeks ago, Fr. David mentioned that one of the Generals in the Civil War was an Episcopal Bishop (Polk of Louisiana). It really struck me as an interesting little factoid since I’ve been spending so much time down here in the South. While most of my time has been in Nashville, David and I have traveled around a bit on days that I’m not at the bargaining table with my clients. We visited Shiloh just the week before General Polk’s name popped out of Fr. David’s mouth. I immediately flashed back to the informational markers strewn around that bloody battle site, and knew that I had seen Polk’s name there.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the Civil War lately. It’s become obvious to me that northerners don’t have anything like the attachment that southerners have to study and understanding of that conflict. When I mentioned that curiosity to one woman, she said simply (and rather coldly), “Well, you won.” I couldn’t believe that people in the South still feel the loss, but obviously they do.

Her comment brought me up short, but gave me insights into human nature in general. Unless we suffer harm ourselves, we can pass through huge events without understanding. Maybe we are thoughtless and self absorbed, and maybe we’re just uninformed. In any case, we look at the world from our experience and can be oblivious to hurt that others feel.

Shiloh is a beautiful place with a name that means “a place of peace” from the Book of Samuel. It would be wonderful if we could all simply see the quiet beauty, but now I know some don’t. I’m very sure that this new knowledge adds to my Christian responsibility. I’m contemplating the horribly lasting effects of war, but also the weight of all the emotions humans carry in their hearts. What can I do to promote healing?

I’m not just thinking about our southern fellow citizens. I’m thinking about how little we may really know about people who are suffering in some way as we pass by them and move through our lives taking one thing at a time. I really can’t change the history of the Civil War, but I can start to think about “reparations” in my own relationships. What kind of reconciliation do I need with people I know?

— PEG WILLIAMS
Lay Preacher