watermark

Watermark Books Event: April 3

We welcome our neighbors and friends from Watermark Books back to Grace. On Tuesday, April 3, at 6 pm, New York Times bestselling author Lisa See talks about her book The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. The event is free and open to the public.

Watermark events are great ways for us to offer hospitality, and we enjoy sharing cookies and drinks with our guests before the event. We need volunteers to greet and set out refreshments. Let Catherine Neelly Burton (catherine@mygpc.org) know if you are available to help. You are also welcome to come to the event!

miles

Miles 4 Mission

Our IGNITE mission trip heads due south this year to Rockport, Texas.  This coastal area was hit directly by Hurricane Harvey, but it wasn’t talked about as much in the news.

Groups plan to repair and rebuild severely damaged homes throughout the community. We are teaming with TEAMeffort again along with other youth from July 6 – 15.

Miles 4 Mission is an opportunity to help support this year’s Mission trip. You can purchase miles at the Miles 4 Mission table located next to the coffee bar  All of your donations go directly to helping our youth take this incredible journey to serve others and help cover the cost of transportation.  We are selling 1,500 miles at $3 per mile. You can make a donation by cash, check or credit/debit card.  If you have questions, please ask any of our youth or sponsors located at the Miles 4 Mission table.

Gift of Life

The Gift of Life by John Rutter – April 22

Our choirs present John Rutter’s extended musical work, The Gift of Life, in the 11 am worship service on April 22, accompanied by instrumentalists from the community. Setting a variety of sacred texts and new words, this is a choral celebration of the living earth and its Creator. Our choirs have been working hard on this and invite all to join together in worship as we praise God and rejoice in our gift of life!

From the Pastor's Desk

From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Grace Community,

Every year Grace holds a Good Friday Prayer Vigil, and every year I ask myself, “Do I want to sign up?’”

The vigil begins at 12:30 pm at the end of our Good Friday worship service, and it ends at midnight. The time of the vigil is symbolic of the time of Jesus’ trial, beating, crucifixion, and death. Good Friday is a holy and hard day, and it is all too easy to skip over it, but spending time focusing on Good Friday is an important part of Christianity.

I know all of this, and yet I still ask myself, “Do I want to sign up for the vigil?”  It may surprise you to hear your pastor say this but praying in the chapel for 45 minutes on Good Friday isn’t the easiest thing for me. Long periods of extended prayer at an assigned time are not my greatest spiritual gift. So last year at the vigil I tried something else.

After about ten minutes of prayer I picked up the Bible and read through Jesus’ betrayal, trial, and crucifixion in each gospel. These stories are found in Matthew 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23, and John 18-19. Verse after verse, gospel after gospel, I was deeply moved by the scripture. Before I knew it my vigil time was complete, but I wasn’t ready to leave. On that holy day, reading those holy words, I experienced Good Friday in a new and powerful way.

As we approach Good Friday and Easter I encourage you to find a way to experience all of it. Come to Good Friday worship. Attend the vigil. And if you can’t do either of those things, sit down at home and read the gospel accounts of that day. Witnessing to the depth of sorrow and pain Jesus knew that day makes Easter Sunday all the more powerful. And do come celebrate with us on Easter.

In Christ,

Catherine

Fair Trade

fair tradeThis winter we ended our Grace Fair Trade sales. The ministry never made a profit, and any money received went to buy more products to sell. After the final sales, we had $1665.21 in our account and no plans to buy more products.

Wanting to honor the spirit of Fair Trade the Mission Distribution Team gave the money to two organizations that work with Fair Trade farmers and products. The first is Just Coffee, or Café Justo.

Just Coffee is located in Chiapas, Mexico and is an outreach of the PCUSA and Presbyterian Church of Mexico. Just Coffee works to pay farmers fair wages to grow and harvest coffee beans and then employs workers to turn the beans into coffee. We sent Just Coffee $1000.

We sent $665.21 to Alternative Gifts International for their work with Sustainable Harvest International which empowers local farmers in rural Central America. We are grateful for the Grace Fair Trade ministry and the way it now lives on through these two organizations.