Dear Grace Community,
It’s fun to be your pastor. It’s fun for a lot of reasons including the interesting and passionate people in this church and that we engage in ministries that impact both our members and people outside the church walls. I love that Jesus is at the center of all of this.
The Session and I love serving with you, and we hope for the church to be even more vital than it is. We spent about nine months as a Session studying areas of church vitality. As we look to the next two years, we hope for Grace to be even more vital, to be stronger, and to be an even greater witness to Christ’s love.
There’s no big program that we think can make greater vitality happen. Instead, you’ll start to notice small initiatives related to this, and you’ll also notice some bigger things. One area that will change for the next nine months is related to worship.
From September 8 through Pentecost in May, we participate in something called the Narrative Lectionary. The Narrative Lectionary was developed about eight years ago by faculty at Luther Seminary in Minnesota. It’s based on the idea that Christians benefit from knowing the stories of scripture.
Often, we jump around from Old to New Testament on Sunday mornings, and we learn and grow, but it’s easy to lose track of the broad arc of scripture. The Narrative Lectionary takes us from the Old Testament to the New Testament throughout the year. There is no practical way to read all the Bible on Sundays, so this pulls out major stories and themes.
In the fall we focus on the Old Testament. In the winter and leading up to Easter we read from Mark, and after Easter we read from the Epistles. Sunday School classes focus on these same stories.
There’s only so much we can focus on during a Sunday morning, so the Session has a challenge for the congregation. Each week we provide daily scripture readings for you. We hear and study stories together on Sunday and then throughout the week read the scripture on our own.
A congregation that knows scripture is a strong congregation. We want to know and love God’s word as a community and hope you’ll join us in this. We’ll share the weekly readings in Grace this Week and also through our Facebook page.
Finally, it’s August, and that means that it’s my anniversary at Grace. I am grateful for nine years of serving God with you.
In Christ,
Catherine
On Wednesday, August 7, we presented a check for $7,500 to our neighbors at Robinson Middle School. This gift was made possible by your contributions to the Deep Roots Campaign. It was exciting to give Robinson the opportunity to acquire additional Chromebooks for the school. They will also use some of the money for things students need like school supplies and winter coats. Robinson has been a good neighbor to Grace for over 70 years, and it was a joy to share with them. Thank you for your continued generosity and gifts to the Deep Roots Campaign.
