The Ambassador

The Newsletter of

St. Matthias'

Episcopal Church

Minocqua, Wisconsin

Whoever you are, wherever you find yourself on the journey
of faith, we welcome you.


	MARCH 2014
Click here to view the entire event calendar

Mark Your Calendars

March 30 - 3:00 pm

Evensong at St. John's

(Wausau)

April 8 - 8:15 am

St. Matthias' Volunteer Day

at Lakeland Pantry

April 13 - 2:00 pm

Palm Sunday

Community Messiah

Serving?

Please remember to check the server list on the bulletin board at church (or click here to see the latest monthly schedule online).

Also, if you are going to switch dates with someone, please inform either Bill Kane or Michael Tautges at the church office.

Thank you!


	Trig's Receipts 23 B
Total amount raised October-December: $195.25 Thank you for continuing to support our church by saving your Trig's receipts!


	Ambassador Archives
Want to read a recent issue of the Ambassador? Just click on the links below. (older archives can be found on our website)

November Ambassador

January Ambassador

February Ambassador

The Clarion

Curious to see what else is going on in the Diocese of Fond du Lac? Click the logo below to view the most recent Diocesan newsletter.

Holy Week and Easter Schedule

Palm / Passion Sunday, April 13

Liturgy of the Palms, 10:00 am

We begin in the Parish Hall with the distribution of palms, then form a procession into the church.

Holy Eucharist, 10:00 am

The Passion according to Matthew is read.

Community Messiah, 2:00 pm

Singers are invited to join Director David Baar and Organist Beverly Baar in singing selections from Handel's Messiah. Students from Lawrence University Conservatory will be featured as soloists.

Singers are asked to bring their own scores, although copies are available.

Monday in Holy Week, April 14

Diocesan Chrism Mass, 11:00 am

Blessing of Oils, Renewal of Ordination Vows

St. Paul's Cathedral, Fond du Lac. Everyone is invited. Lunch follows.

Wednesday in Holy Week, April 16

Holy Eucharist with Unction, 12:00 noon

Maundy Thursday, April 17

The Lord's Supper, Agape, Foot Washing, Holy Eucharist, 5:30 pm

The service begins with the Agape meal (potluck) in the parish hall and ends with the stripping of the Altar in the church. The Reserved sacrament is taken to the Altar of Repose.

Watch at the Altar of Repose, 7:30 pm - 12:00 midnight

You may sign up for a half hour or hour.

Good Friday, April 18

Good Friday Liturgy, 12:10 pm

St. John's Passion

Veneration of the Cross

Holy Communion

Holy Saturday, April 19

Holy Saturday Prayers, 10:00 am

Following this very brief service, we will clean and decorate the Church for Easter.

Choir Rehearsal, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

Easter Eve, 7:30 pm

Easter Vigil

Lighting of the New Fire

Readings

Renewal of Baptismal Vows

First Mass of Easter

This beautiful service is celebrated jointly with Ascension Lutheran Church. Bring a bell to ring during the Easter Fanfare. An Easter Party will follow.

Easter Day, April 20

Festival Choral Eucharist, 10:00 am

Flowering of the Cross. Children are invited to help decorate the cross of flowers.

The Church Office will be closed Easter Monday & Tuesday

Saturday. April 26

Ordination & Consecration of the Eighth Bishop of Fond du Lac, 11:00 am

Appleton Alliance Church, Appleton, WI

The Risk

You take a risk when you invite the Lord

Whether to dine or talk the afternoon

Away, for always the unexpected soon

Turns up: a woman breaks her precious nard,

A sinner does the task you should assume,

A leper who is cleansed must show his proof:

Suddenly you see your very roof removed

And a cripple clutters up your living room.

There's no telling what to expect when Christ

Walks in your door. The table set for four

Must often be enlarged and decorum

Thrown to the wind. It's His voice that calls them

And it's no use to bolt and bar the door:

His kingdom knows no bounds of roof, or wall, or floor.

- Marcella Marie Holloway

Parish Updates

Palm Sunday Community Messiah

The final notes of the Hallelujah Chorus -- in Handel's own handwriting.

On Palm Sunday from 2:00-4:00pm, please join us in a community-sung version of Handel's Messiah. The event will be conducted by David Baar and accompanied on the pipe organ by his wife, Beverly. The vocal soloists will be four Lawrence University voice students: soprano Graycie Gardner, alto Zoie Reems, tenor Ian Koziara, and bass Alex York. This performance will include 30 excerpts from the entire score, including the most well-known pieces. Ten chorus pieces will be performed by a chorus comprised of singers from our community. Anyone who would like to sing can just show up on Sunday; however, there will be an optional rehearsal on Saturday, April 12 at 2:00pm. Please invite any and all who may be interested! Singers should bring along as many copies of the score that they may have, although extra copies will be available for those who don't own a score. For non-singers who are interested in attending the (perhaps first annual?) Palm Sunday Community Messiah, they are of course welcome!

Bishop's Consecration: Bus trip from St. Matthias'?

The Ordination and Consecration of Matthew Alan Gunter as the Eighth Bishop of Fond du Lac has been set for 11:00am on Saturday, April 26th at Appleton Alliance Church (directions / map).

In preparation for the installation of the new bishop, we are considering renting a bus to facilitate travel for anyone interested. However, it would certainly help us officially decide if we had a relative count of those who are interested in going. If you are interested and haven't already done so, please sign up on the bulletin board in the Narthex, or call the Church Office (or even just reply to this email) so we can determine if it is feasible to rent a bus for the day.

We will also be turning in our invitation (pictured right) by April 1st, and will include all who have signed up in our "additional attending" box.

Know Your Vestry: Laurie Glowac

When Laurie and Ron retired to Lac du Flambeau the only people they knew here were Barbara and Bill Kane. Barbara invited Laurie to an Equinox Auction at St. Matthias while their husbands were in Canada fishing together. Chris Clark wrote Laurie a note after that event thanking her for coming. She was impressed. Ron and Laurie later attended an Evensong and wanted to come back. Immediately, they began to make friends and enjoy Edgar's sermons.

Laurie has served on the Vestry for four years, first finishing Diane Diederich's term and continuing to serve until May 2015. Laurie likes being on the Vestry. She says, "I like having a role in helping steer this wonderful congregation in a direction that provides opportunities for fellowship and spiritual growth. It's been an honor to get to know my fellow Vestry members and work toward a common purpose. It's been rewarding to see us move towards more financial stability and growth. I'm so proud to tell people that I belong to St. Matthias' - a church that lives its social justice charge.

Laurie and her husband, Ron, have two children and two grandchildren. Her son lives in Boston and her daughter lives in San Francisco. Fortunately, she loves to travel. She also enjoys knitting, needlepoint, gardening, reading, drawing, painting, sewing, and writing prose. She says she's happiest in her kayak but that she also loves to bike, snowshoe and walk.

Before retirement, Laurie worked in healthcare, recruiting doctors for rural parts of Wisconsin, and later, for a medical group of 250 physicians where she was one of 6 administrators. Her last position was an Executive Recruiter of national healthcare insurance company executives.

She was active in her church in Madison, Wisconsin, served as a PTO president, and was an elected Village Trustee where she lived. She was also involved in Junior League and several other similar organizations.

Since retirement, she has volunteered at the Lakeland Pantry and is a member of NSTA. Laurie appreciates the opportunities to "do good" at St. Matthias'. Most of her volunteer time is currently devoted to St. Matthias' initiatives such as the St. Francis Project and Caritas. Always interested in helping those who in need, her approach is not to provide a hand 'out' as much as a hand 'up'.

Laurie states, "I know St. Matthias' will continue to have challenges in the coming years, but I feel very confident that the leadership we have in place will guide us through in a prayerful, conscientious way, always keeping the integrity of our parish a priority."

In Other News...

Sunday, September 7, 4:00pm
- Retirement Party for Fr. Wallace

Please save the date -- Sunday, September 7 -- to commemorate Father's 25 amazing years at St. Matthias'. As difficult as it is to think of him leaving, we have 25 years of memories to celebrate, and no one celebrates quite like the people of St. Matthias'! More information will follow, but do mark your calendar for Reulands, 4:00 - 7:00 on September 7!

Jr. Warden's Report: Getting the Lay of the Land
and Noticing the Treasures Within (Part II)

Have you seen these stairs in our church? These are our basement stairs. Perhaps you already know this, but I've discovered that some members are unaware of their existence and the basement they lead to. The door to these stairs is in the hallway between the kitchen and the Narthex and it is kept locked unless access is needed.

Our basement contains panels for lighting, heating and air conditioning, fire protection, and the irrigation system that make our church comfortable and grounds beautiful.

(Fire sprinkler system)

(Furnaces)

It is unlikely that you will ever need to walk down these stairs unless you have items stored here or are changing device settings, making repairs or seeking refuge from a tornado, but, even so, it's good to know the basement's whereabouts.

Music Ministry Team News
Submitted by Le Ganschow

St. Matthias Episcopal Church's Music Ministry Team held a monthly meeting on February 23, 2014. Among the items for discussion were finalizing job descriptions and a performance evaluation process and guidelines for organists and choir director and updating our mission statement. Performance evaluations will take place in June of this year. Our revised mission statement is stated below. To date, we have received a number of requests from parishioners to include a "favorite hymn" in our Sunday services. We try to incorporate these hymns on Sundays that match the liturgy for that day. Forms are available in the church office.

MUSIC MINISTRY TEAM MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Music Ministry Team is to provide excellent music in the historic Christian church tradition, (including organ, piano, vocal, and instrumental) to everyone in attendance at St. Matthias Episcopal Church, such that worship is sacred, uplifting and God glorifying.

Duties and Responsibilities:

With the approval of the Rector or Priest-in-charge, as needed, the Music Ministry Team shall:

* Select music related to the worship service(s) that coordinates with the prescribed liturgy.

* Assist the choir director in the selection of anthems, as needed.

* Assist the organist, other instrumentalists, and singers in the selection of music, as needed.

* Select service music and hymns for each worship service.

* Oversee the choir director in the ordering, sorting, culling, and filing of choral music.

*Oversee the organist in the ordering, sorting, culling, and filing of organ and piano music.

* Work with the Rector or Priest-in-charge in the hiring and evaluations of all musicians.

* Develop an annual budget each year for the music ministry of the church in connection with the church wide budgeting process. Monitor all expenses within the budget and submit to the Finance Team any special requests outside the approved budget.

* Recommend to the Rector or Priest-in-Charge other musical events and activities ( i.e. concerts, recitals, etc.) for and at the church, and coordinate with the Communications Team for related promotion and publicity.

Touchstones: Our Physical & Spiritual Health

Written by Diane Diederich

Through the last months we have looked at the commitments that we are trying to keep. March marks the final and probably the most important and most difficult commitment to our own selves. We need to eat right, take care of our bodies, exercise and be all that we can be physically. In addition, we need to take care of our spirits with loving attention to ourselves as God's Creation. I have written before of the importance of the spiritual side of life along with the last months' columns spelling out just what we might commit to be healthier and psychologically fit...

All of the suggestions hopefully help us practice living a life that matches God's will for us: Recognizing the essence of love in others, forgiving ourselves and others, finding the power of love within ourselves, and using that power to enter relationships in a new and loving way.

Caring for ourselves physically and spiritually is a most precious and serious commitment because when we are physically and spiritual fit, we are equipped to do the work required for relationships. Under these circumstances, we can find the needed confidence to move within the relationship. We can adjust to changes necessary for growth. We can always look within to find the power to live in love.

Co-creating love is a mystery, a miracle of two physical beings joining spiritually. It takes great, deliberate and intentional actions and yet it arises spontaneously. It is hope, courage, silence, faith AND commitment.

What a grand plan God has for us. I pray that each of you has the courage to place yourself directly in the flow of the blessing and grace needed to be committed in all of these areas. Why do I write about this central meaning of our lives on earth? It's because that all of us must step in with their own piece of the truth - we would not be here if it wasn't Gods' design. In April I'll hope to start a series I call: "Triumphant Marriage". Hope we will all look forward to making what's good even better.

TTFN, Diane