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Automatic Bill Pay for Pledge
If you have this set up to send to the church, this is a reminder to change the mailing address to:
107 S. Prospect St.
Thank you.
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The 2019 Flower Chart is on the bulletin board. Please choose a date to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or a loved one.
Advent Series: Journeying the Way of Love:
Await the coming of Christ with the Rector on Advent Sunday
 mornings at 8:45 am. These four sessions use excerpts from the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke as a pattern for understanding how we can live our Presiding Bishop's Way of Love
practices as individuals, as families and friends, as a community, and out in the world.
Dec. 9: Mary and Elizabeth: Journeying with Family and Friends
Dec. 16: The Birth of John the Baptist: Journeying with Community
Dec. 23: The Birth of Jesus: Journeying with the World
Christmas Family
Grace's annual Christmas family adoption f
eatures a family with four children: 10 months and 2, 8, and 10 years old. Ornaments are displayed on the small Christmas Tree in the Parish House with suggested items for the children. Please take an ornament and purchase items on it. For the family as a whole, household items such as Kleenex, toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, hand soap, toothbrushes, tooth paste, etc. are also welcome. If you can help, please contact Teresa Burke at
[email protected] or
608-732-8628.
Items can be left in the Narthex at church
by December 12
, or delivered to Teresa at the Galena Gazette office.
Steve Dowe's humorous and informative bulletin insert reminds us "It's Advent; it must be HEIFER time." Grace Church has raised funds for Heifer International every Christmas since 2002. Heifer International provides people all over the world with animals and instruction in the proper care of the animals. The recipients are expected to give the first off-spring of their animal to a needy friend or relative. Donations of any amount made in honor of someone
make great Christmas gifts. This year we have three styles of honor cards with envelopes. See Lynn Giles for details and to make a donation between now and December 23rd.
Canapé
s & Conversations
P
ete & Charlotte Stryker will host the December event on Friday, the 14th at their home at 3 Arcadia Court in the Galena Te
rritory from 5-7 pm. Please bring friends,
nibbles and beverages to share. All are welcome!
**Ne
w** The Longest Night Service -
Not all people
are feeling joyful during this holiday season. They may be experiencing loss or loneliness, pain, confusion, or fear. As the Full Cold Moon rises on this Winter Solstice, this service of prayer, reflection and lighting of candles acknowledges such feelings. It offers a safe space where warmth and light might bring hope and peace. Diane Luther and the Rector will preside. Friday, December 21, 6pm .
Worship Schedule
December 9, 16: Advent Worship with Eucharist, 10:30 am
December 21: Longest Night Service, 6 pm
December 23: Advent Lessons and Carols, 10:30 am
December 24: Christmas Eve Festival of the Nativity, 5 pm.
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There are certainly a feast of Advent devotional aids available this year! So many that it is hard to choose among them. Those that I have been sampling are all available online--they allow you to subscribe so that an e-mail automatically arrives in your mail box each morning.
In past years, we have had booklets from Living Compass available here at church. Booklets are still available for purchase, but online daily meditations can be received at livingcompass.org. There is also a Facebook page so that subscribers can comment.
Our Advent study group, "Journeying through Advent," is using a simple Advent calendar that assigns one of the seven Way of Love practices to each day of the week. The calendar, then, provides a simple suggestion about the day's practice. Thursday's practice of "Bless" suggested yesterday that "in the spirit of St. Nicholas, practice a random act of kindness today." If you are not attending the study group but would like a copy of the calendar, please contact the church office.
For the more visually oriented, there is a lovely option from Virginia Theological Seminary called "Advent Word." It consists of a beautiful photograph and the word of the day along with a reflection. If you click on the provided link, you will be taken to a page where you can find other people's responses for each word. Or you can contribute by adding your own photograph and reflection to any of the words. Words so far this week have included light, journey, night, focus, and sprout. The result is a global calendar. You may access this at adventword.org.
I like this one because you can spend just a few moments reflecting on the words and images or, if you have time, you may explore many of the responses--or even post your own, molding it into your own practice. I have not been able to go out with my iPhone to take my own photos that correspond to the daily words. But I can easily bring an image to mind and enjoy a few moments of quiet reflection in my day. For example, today, with the word "sprout," my first thought was the pretty flowers that emerge from the cracks between the blocks of limestone around Galena. I didn't even have to go out to take a picture (wrong season, anyway!). Because I did so back in the spring--several photos of the stone wall next to the old Parish House that was blooming with yellow blossoms. I pondered their cheeriness and their tenacity and strength, being able to grow and thrive even amongst rocks. And how that relates to faith that may have sturdier roots than we know. Well, you get the idea!
I hope that your Advent is going well and that you have opportunities for some quiet reflection either within your work and play or in time specially carved out for it.
See you in church,
Gloria+
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READINGS:
Malachi 3:1-4: God is sending God's messenger to prepare for God's coming, and God's people and God's priests will be refined and made pure.
Luke 1:68-79: Zechariah's song of thanksgiving for God's rescue of Israel, and his proclamation of his son, John, as the messenger who will prepare the way for God's coming.
Philippians 1:3-11: Paul's prayer of thanksgiving for the Philippians, his desire for them to grow in love and purity, and his assurance that Christ will complete the work begun in them.
Luke 3:1-6: John travels throughout the region of the Jordan River calling people to repentance and baptising them as a sign of their willingness to change, and of God's forgiveness. In doing this John fulfils Isaiah's prophecy of the voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the Lord.
This week the focus is on prophecies of God's coming, God's restoration, and God's justice and peace. Yet, in each reading there is a call to prepare to receive the promise in some way. In Malachi, there is the purifying work that will happen when God's messenger comes, and the people are to seek for, and take delight in, the coming one. In Zechariah's song, John is to be the one who prepares God's people for the coming salvation, and to lead them into forgiveness, which implies that they will respond to John's message and follow him into the restoration he promises. In Paul's prayer for the Philippians he expresses his desire for them to grow in love and wisdom, and to trust that God will complete the work that God has begun in them. Finally, the Gospel narrative of John's coming speaks of John's call to the people to repent and be baptised in preparation for the coming one. The message this week, then, is this: God is always coming, always available to God's people, and always working for restoration. But, receiving God's coming takes preparation, and so God sends a messenger to do this work, to prepare God's people for God's coming. The challenge is for us to embrace the work of preparation for ourselves - opening ourselves to God's restoring, cleansing and disturbing work, and making our hearts ready for us to become, in turn, messengers of God's restorative justice and mercy to the world.
The thumbnails
and reflections excerpted from sacredise.com
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Hopefully the steel parking lot posts and rail will go in this week. This is the plan.
The main room TV is installed - Thanks to Len with some most important assistance from Richard.
Some of the interior design team has figured out the large rug for the conference room and it is ordered from Knautz. This will help control the sound bounce.
Got the table cloths in but interior folks want wider diameter / size so I will handle reorder and return.
Am going to order bulletin board for wall facing bottom stair. On the list.
My request - please ask your ministries or others using the conference room to put all back like it was when they are through. It is more polite for the next group in and we like the room to get a lot of use but not look like everyone walked out and left the tidy up to someone else. And, please do not use tape to hang things on the wall unless it is painters tape. Please take the posters and tape down at the end of the meeting. I am not much on rules but am big on courtesy to the next users of the room.
Thanks all.
Pete Stryker
Cell 312 504 8268
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Cooking with God's Bounty
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Garlic Parmesan Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- Fresh thyme
Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Peel and cut sweet potatoes into thin slices.
2. Place garlic, oil, butter, salt, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning in a Ziploc bag and mix well. Throw in sweet potatoes and shake until well coated.
3. Lightly butter a baking dish and arrange coated sweet potatoes into a spiral. Sprinkle with a little parmesan if you like.
4. Bake for 18-22 minutes. Serve the garlic parmesan roasted sweet potatoes warm and sprinkle with thyme if desired.
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Vestry Liaisons
V
estry Liaisons' primary purpose is to assure two-way communications between the various groups and the
Vestry,
to represent the groups for resources
or
policy issues, and to
support
their
events
an
d activities.
Worship:
Rector
Building and Grounds:
Pete Stryker (Sr. Warden 2017-2019)
Worship Committee: Pam Malik
(class of 2019)
Formation and Spirituality:
Greg Serwich (Jr. Warden 2018-2019)
Fellowship &
Hospitality: Anita Sands (class of 2021)
Pastoral Care/
LEMs: Bonnielynn Kreiser
(class of 2020)
Outreach:
Tony Packard (class of 2021)
Deb Pausz (class of 2019)
Communications: Larry Poston (class of 2020)
Governance: Wardens & Rector
Officers:
Pete Stryker, Senior Warden
Greg Serwich, Junior Warden
R
ichard Luther, Treasurer
Elizabeth Ludescher, Clerk
Rect
or
: The Rev. Dr. Gloria Hopewell
Ad
ministrative Asst.: Fräni Beadle
O
rganist/Pianist: Robin French, Nancy Cook
Choir Director: Pat Terry
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December 9, 2018
Sunday Morning Eucharist
Second Advent
10:30am
For quick reference, find Sunday's readings by clicking here:
The Lectionary
Ministers of the
Service:
Lector:
Lynn Giles
1st Chalicist:
Cathie Elsbree
Bonnielynn Kreiser
Acolyte:
Elizabeth Ludescher
Vestry Coordinator:
Tony Packard
Greeter:
Charlotte Stryker
Altar Guild:
Alice Maffit & Fräni Beadle
Presider:
Very Rev. Gloria Hopewell,D.Min.
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Advent 3
December 16, 2018
Eucharistic readings
Canticle 9
Phillipians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18
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For a current prayer list, click on the following link:
Grace Prayer List
The
Request For Prayers notebook is in the Narthex/ Entrance area of the Church. Please feel free to request prayers for yourself or others at any time by filling out a form or contacting the office by either phone or email. May we first and always be "a people of prayer."
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7:30 am
Midweek Morning Eucharist
8:10 am
Community Breakfast at Victory Café
Cursillo Reunion
St. Francis Room
Morning Bible Study Parish House
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| Wednesdays at 7pm
Saturdays at 10am
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For current and
upcoming events, download a copy of the calendar with this link:
December OR check out the goog
le
calendar on the new website
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**
If you put out trash, please put in a secure trash can.
Thanks to all for your cooperation. **
12/9 - Serwich/Kennedy
12/16 - Banas
R
eminder for hosts:
Napkins and plates
are provided. Use
what you need from
our pantry to the right
of the coffee maker.
Remember: Keep it simple. We usually have about 20-25 attending.
**Coffee schedule sign up is on the bulletin board in the Parish House.**
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You can now get information on Formation Ministries directly from the new Grace website at the following links: Children and Youth Adults
Spiritual Practices
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If you are in need of assistance while ill or recovering: meals, transportation, visits, please contact the
Ministry of Care
facilitators:
o Carol Poston
o Charlotte Kennedy who can assist you and connect you with parishioners who have trained and commited to this ministry that includes Parish Visitors, Meals, Rides, as well as the ongoing Servants through Prayer, LEMs, and the Greeting Card ministry.
Ministry of Care Leadership
Team:
Facilitators : Carol Poston, Charlotte Kennedy
Clergy Advisors: Gloria Hopewell, Linda Packard
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DEADLINES !
News and prayer requests:
Sunday
Bulletin --
Wed. end of day.
e-Blast:
Thursday noon.
Anniversaries and Birthdays
Have your celebrations been missed in our bulletins?
Send to Frani.
Thank y
ou!
News and Photos
f
or e-Blast!
People
want to know
what's going on at Grace! T
here are places
here for your
event,
program, or
interes
ting tidbit.
Comments on this e-Blast may be sent here.
Audio files of sermons are posted on the Grace Church website as well as in the next week's e-Blast. They also may be found on the church's FB page.
Paper copies are available upon request.
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Grace Galena Sermon Christ the King 2018
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| Grace Galena Sermon-Advent 1C 2018 |
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