What does life at Grace Presbyterian Church look like in this time of the Coronavirus – Covid 19?  The answer will likely change from day to day.

Tim and Isaac, our custodians, are cleaning as vigilantly as ever.  Tim is in tune with what cleaning supplies are best equipped to kill the virus.  Jacob’s Learning Ladder is receiving regular updates from the state health department and follows all guidelines.

The other change to our common life is that on Sunday we ask you not to shake hands, even during the passing of the peace.  While some of you are completely comfortable with shaking hands, the people next to you might not be.  In addition our ushers will greet you with words of welcome but no handshakes.

We are exploring the possibility of video recording our services so that those of you who need to stay home may watch.  Right now, you may listen to sermons on our website.

[button url=”https://www.mygpc.org/sermons” target=”” size=”small” style=”orange” icon=”” popup=”” title=””]Listen to Sermons[/button]

If you are sick, we ask that you not come to worship.  If you are sick or choose to stay home because of your vulnerability to sickness, please let us know if you need anything.  Do you need someone to run to the store for you?

For the coming weeks look for updates like this in the Thursday email.

In Christ,

Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

What do you think of when you hear the word parlor?

Do you picture women drinking hot tea?  Or do you imagine a place where you go to meetings?

As part of our Deep Roots renovations we now have sights set on the Grace Parlor.  Chris Alexander, Ben Juhnke, and Kendall Price are working with me and Martin Burch on this project.  One of the early conversations the team had was about what our parlor is used for.  This is the list I came up with:

Monthly Grace Meetings

• GRACE Session
• GRACE Deacons
• GRACE Mission Distribution Team

Monthly Outside Group Meetings

• ALS Support Group
• Delta Kappa Gamma
• PEO – twice a month

Occasional Grace Fellowship Events

• Steamers
• Windjammers

Showers (wedding, baby)

• 2-3 a year

Wedding (bridal space)

• 1-2 weddings a year

Gathering Space for families before funerals

• Dependent on number of funerals in a year, lately 12-14

Funeral meals or small receptions

• 4-6 a year

Other

• Study groups, Sunday School, or team meetings
• Down Syndrome Society of Wichita – 4 times a year
• Small Congregational dinners (planned giving)

We envision a renovated parlor that works for what we use the space for.  We know that it needs to be quite flexible with room for various table configurations.  We also want it to be a comfortable space for people to sit and visit or relax.   Feel free to ask any of us questions.

In Christ,
Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

This month we started reading through the book of Mark in worship. The first two weeks there was a focus on healing stories.

In my sermon preparation, I focused on the history, and context, and connecting the stories to our month-long theme, “Why Church?”  Then I stood up to preach and looked at you and thought of your stories and the people in your lives who long for healing.  It occurred to me then how hard it might be to hear stories of Jesus’ healing miracles while those miracles are not realized in your lives.

I was grateful when one of you came to me and named this tension; how are we to understand these miracles in our lives today?

What I can tell you is that I believe the miracles in scripture. I believe that Jesus performed miracles. I believe miracles still happen. You’ve told me too many stories for me to believe otherwise. And I don’t know why they don’t happen more. I don’t know why God doesn’t heal more people. I know it’s not for lack of faith. I know that sometimes the healing comes through medicine, and sometimes it comes with death and wholeness in God.

When I sat down to write this, I kept hoping I’d come up with the perfect way to tie it up neatly, but I don’t have one. Only to say, know that you are not alone in asking these questions of scripture. This is one of the reasons why we read it together, so that we are not alone in our questions.

In Christ,
Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

I’ve said it many times, Advent and Christmas are my favorite times in the physical life of Grace.  The beauty of this space is somehow even more awe-inspiring with poinsettias, greenery, and lights.  I give thanks to God for the ways I catch my breath walking in the Sanctuary or the Great Room for worship.

Being inspired by beauty is a gift in this season, a gift I gratefully receive.  And like with any gift from God, I am moved to respond. The response piece is critical. When I am drawn closer to God, I am called to then share God’s love with others.

There is no exact formula for this. It’s not like I must receive X amount of God’ beauty and love before I share X amount.  Like with all matters of our faith, there is a mystery about it, a Spirit-inspired element that can’t be quantified.

What I believe is that if we pay attention, the Spirit will guide us. Our faith should never be entirely inward, about receiving, nor can it be only about giving. That’s not sustainable.

This fall your Session challenged you to read scripture each day. The scripture readings follow along with the Sunday readings, and the idea is to fill in the story during the week. I confess that I haven’t done the readings every day. I started strong, and then missed a day here or there, and then picked back up, and missed a day here or there, then picked back up. I’m always glad when I start back.

When the Session discussed this challenge, it was part of a conversation and initiative to encourage lifelong Christian discipleship in our congregation. We believe that in order to be disciples of Jesus, we must know scripture. There was some question about whether this challenge and this focus was too inward; should we also encourage some sort of outward mission?

Ultimately, we decided that knowing the Bible is one important step, and our hope is that response is the natural outgrowth of scripture reading. The hope is that as Christians we can’t just read scripture and not be changed. We read it to be transformed. We must respond to it.  In the new year I encourage you to pick up the Bible and read along in Mark with us. As you do, consider how the Spirit is moving in you to respond to God’s word.

In Christ,
Catherine

Dear Grace Community,

While technically not a Christian Holiday, Thanksgiving has the feel of a holy day.  Many times in the Psalms we hear the words, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.  God’s love endures forever.”  To set aside a day for giving thanks is a gift.  I hope it is that for you.

I am aware that Thanksgiving, or any holiday, can also be hard depending on life situations.  We’ve had 14 deaths in our congregation this year, and many of you have experienced loss.  Some of you may be spending Thanksgiving alone or without a significant person.

I hope that you have space this Thanksgiving to feel whatever it is you are feeling, be it sadness or joy.  I also invite you to our annual Silent Night Worship Service on December 9, at 6:30 pm in the sanctuary.  It is a quiet service that includes prayer and communion.

Around Grace we continue to give thanks for the Deep Roots campaign, and I want to update you on where we are.  The planned updates to Jacob’s Learning Ladder were done earlier this fall, but we’ve discovered new projects in the process. One goal of the renovations was to license a new room and re-license current room. (Licensing is with the state.)

When we went to re-license the two upstairs rooms, so that we could adapt the ages we take in those rooms, we learned that in order to get re-licensed we would have to install a new sprinkler system.  The Trustees approved this project and allocated funds from our building endowment and long-term maintenance funds.  This was not a small undertaking but is now done.

The new room downstairs is also done, but we are still in a waiting pattern with the health department and fire department.  We hope to get final approval and licensing soon and have children in there by the start of 2020.  However, it is out of our hands, and we are getting good at being patient.

The new room downstairs and new office configuration meant that we needed a new teacher work area, so we converted B-13 (formerly the gold room and also the purple room) into a workspace.  It is now up and functioning.

The extra projects (sprinklers and B-13) mean that we haven’t started on other Deep Roots projects.  Next on the list is the Parlor, and we plan to start on that soon.  Fell free to talk with me or Dr. Martin Burch with any questions you have about this process.

In Christ,

Catherine