Yellow Bags: August

Each month we invite you to participate in ‘yellow bag’ giving. This month our yellow bag donations go to the food pantry at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Wichita.

All non-perishable items are welcome, and these would be particularly helpful: canned fruit, applesauce, tuna, mayonnaise or miracle whip, ranch dressing, and ketchup. Take home a yellow bag when you’re in the building and bring it back with your donations.

Please remember to be aware not to donate open food packages, long out-of-date items, or items that do not have a long shelf life. Thank you to everyone who participates in this much needed mission of Grace.

 

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Grace Book Club: September 27

Grace Book Club 2022 Abuelta sept (002)

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Blessing of the Backpacks: August 14

backpack

On Sunday, August 14, we bless backpacks in worship at 9 am and 11 am. We take time in worship to offer a blessing to students, teachers, and school staff as they prepare for the new school year. This year we have water bottle stickers and backpack tags to share. Feel free to bring your backpack with you to worship on August 14!

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Grace Nominating Team

The Grace Presbyterian Nominating Team is at work! Do you know someone who would be a good elder, deacon, trustee, or Jacob’s Ladder board member? If so, place their name in the box in the narthex or email Elyse Scholl (Elyse.scholl@gmail.com) or Bill Vavra (VavraAvConsult@powwwer.net). We want to hear from you. Thank you!

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What Does the Church Have to Say About Race? Confession of Belhar Study

Some described the summer of 2020 as a summer of racial reckoning, others as a summer of racial unrest.  As individuals, as a church, and as a society we learned the names George Floyd and Brianna Taylor.  We saw protests nationally and right here in Wichita.  Members of our congregation committed to reading articles and books and watching movies related to race.  We gathered and discussed.  Corporately we have not talked much since then.

Yes, our book club has read and discussed books related to race and religion.  Individuals in our congregation have certainly done this.  This summer the Christian Discipleship Team invites you to a study of the Belhar Confession.

At first glance, a study of one of the confessions in the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) Book of Confessions may not sound like it has anything to do with race, but it does.  The Belhar Confession comes from the Uniting Reformed Church of South Africa.  It was written in the early 1980’s as a statement of faith and as a form of protest against the sin of apartheid.

We studied this confession after the PCUSA approved it and added it to our Book of Confessions in 2016.  This summer we do the same study but through the lens of what has happened in the United States since then.  Does the witness of the Uniting Reformed Church of South Africa have a word for us today?

The study takes place on Sunday mornings at 10 am in the Parlor.

The dates are:

  • July 17
  • July 24
  • August 7
  • August 14
  • August 21
  • August 28

There is a book for the class, and the cost is $5.  Books are available on Sunday mornings or in the church office.  If you can’t come to all of the classes, that’s okay.

Questions?  Contact catherine@mygpc.org.

 

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