Grace Notes Weekly Update

GRACE NOTES

December 13 - 20, 2022

For Worship services please visit our YouTube channel.

Advent Mid-Week Worship Services with Holden Evening Prayer

Wednesdays:

December 14 & 21

Join us at 7pm on the Wednesdays of Advent for a brief worship service.

What's Going On At Grace

+Wed, Dec 14 - Advent Mid-Week Worship will be each Wednesday at 7

+Sat, Dec 17 - Grace Christmas Festival, 4-6pm

+Sat, Dec 24 - Christmas Eve Services at 5, 7, and 11pm

+Sun, Dec 25 - Christmas Day Service - 10am (one combined service)

+Sun, Jan 1 - Lessons & Carols Services at 8:30 and 11am

+Sun, Jan 8 - Tour of Grace at 10am (for anyone who'd like to know the building better!)

+Sun, Jan 15 - Sunday School resumes

Many of these events have more details in other sections. This section is updated each week, so keep checking in. You can also see the full church calendar HERE.

Make plans to join us for our annual Christmas Concert THIS Saturday, December 17!

And consider inviting a friend to join you!

Children’s Choir to perform in the annual Christmas Concert and in worship on Sunday, December 18!

The children are ready to celebrate the gift of Jesus through their gift of music. They will be singing songs showing how important animals were in the simple manger and the miracle birth. They are so excited to be costumed in various animals made by Sabrina Blanks and I wanted to share a sneak peak of Sabrina’s sketch of the Donkey. We will also have cows, sheep, doves, roosters and more. Such fun in our manger! Make sure to have December 17, 4 pm at Grace on your calendar for our Christmas Concert. Music presented by all of our ensembles will surely put you in the Christmas Spirit. - Irene Pointon

A Letter about Staff Gifts this Advent Season

Click HERE to read a letter from Dawn Hartman, Grace's Council President.

Christmas Poinsettias

Poinsettias will be placed in the Sanctuary for Christmas Eve services. You have an opportunity to either purchase one or more poinsettias. Please click HERE to sign up. The price per plant is $11.00. Please order your poinsettia by THIS Sunday, Dec. 18.

Christmas Eve at Grace

We will have 3 opportunities to worship together on December 24th:

5pm, 7pm, and 11pm

Each is a Service of Holy Communion

The 5pm service includes an extended Children's Message which serves as the sermon

Christmas Eve Worship Assistant Roles are Still Available for 7:00 and 11:00 pm !

We invite you to be part of leading our services to welcome Christ, the Newborn King!

Click on the service times below to add your name to the worship assistant schedules for Christmas Eve. Click HERE for the current schedule.

7:00 PM

11:00 PM

Thank you to everyone who sponsored gifts for this year's Giving Tree & Angel Tree!

Grace collected gifts for 73 recipients.

END OF YEAR GIVING

As the year comes to a close, we look back on the wonderful ministry we have done together in 2022, and we give thanks for the financial gifts that were given to make this ministry happen. Your continued faithful support of our ministry will enable us to finish this year’s work strong and position us well to begin next year’s ministry in January.

At our Annual Meeting, we announced our intentions for offerings received over and above our Missional Spending Plan expenses in 2022.

These funds, up to $10,000, will be designated as follows:

10% as a tithe to the SC Synod

90% toward our 100th Anniversary Celebrations in 2023

Thank you in advance for you gifts which support these two endeavors!

Please remember that for financial donations to be counted towards 2022 tax

deductions, they must be received in 2022. Grace will make its final 2022 deposit on Friday, Dec. 30, so please have your giving to the Church Office by 5pm on Thursday, December 29 if you would like to make it count for this fiscal year. Thank you!

OUTREACH UPDATES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Grace will be hosting Family Promise guests Jan. 1-8, 2023!

We need YOUR help to make this a success!

Your time and effort given to host Family Promise make a concrete difference in the lives of our guests. Creating a safe and welcoming home for a week is a blessing, and we are grateful for your participation. You can sign up to help by clicking HERE.

Volunteer opportunities include:

-Sunday, Jan. 1, 11 am - four volunteers are needed for about an hour to transform Sunday School rooms into bedrooms for families for the week; tasks include moving tables & chairs, inflating mattresses, making beds, putting down rugs, etc.

2 volunteers still needed

-At 6 pm every night (except Tuesday) a meal is needed for up to 15 people and Grace guests; two or three people are asked to plan, prepare and serve the meal, cooking offsite or in Grace’s kitchen. Volunteers and their families are encouraged to be present and eat with our guests. Beverages and ice cream along with serving/eating utensils, plates, cups, napkins, etc. are furnished by the church.

2 meals still needed

-From 6-8 pm each night (except Tuesday) one or two volunteers are needed as evening hosts to eat dinner with the families and stay to visit, play games, walk around the block, watch TV, etc.

4 evenings still needed

-Beginning at 8 pm Sunday through Saturday, two volunteers (one female and one male) are needed to be a presence at the church until 7 a.m. the next morning. Air mattresses are supplied, and volunteers are housed in separate classrooms.

4 evenings still needed

-Sunday Jan. 8 at 7:30 am, three people are needed to prepare classrooms for Sunday School.

3 volunteers still needed

-Following Jan. 8 one or two volunteers are needed to launder church-owned bed linens for use the next time we host Family Promise.

Spots filled, thank you!

Thank you for your support of this ministry!

Questions about Grace hosting Family Promise? Contact Pr. Rachel

Opportunity to Support our Scout Troop: Zachary Zimba's Eagle Project

Zachary Zimba is a member of Troop 31, and is in the process of earning his Eagle Scout Award. For his project, Zachary is planning and constructing a 20’x15’ shelter for the Winthrop University Human Nutrition Department, inside the Rock Hill Educational Community Gardens. The Human Nutrition department at Winthrop will use the shelter as an outdoor classroom for students and community groups of all ages, hosting hands-on gardening, nutrition, and sustainability classes.

We asked Zachary to share a bit about himself and his project:

"I have been a part of the scouting program for about 12 years, starting in first grade and continuing to the present. Scouting has helped me develop my leadership and life skills while also allowing me to realize my love for the outdoors.

I currently attend Legion Collegiate Academy, where I just started playing lacrosse. Since LCA does not have a wrestling team, I am a part of the wrestling team at Northwestern Highschool and have been participating since 10th grade.

The project I'm doing now was different from my original choice; talking to the team in charge of scout projects at Winthrop and hearing how a new shelter in the garden would benefit students and staff at the school led me to choose this project. With that said, the shelter I am building will be used by the Human Nutrition department at Winthrop University to teach classes and grow food that goes into a pantry accessible to all students and staff at Winthrop for free.

The money I receive to support my project will go directly into the materials needed to build it, such as lumber, metal roofing, hardware, and perhaps a plaque to commemorate the hard work put into it."

Zachary's project will cost $850 to complete (this is in addition to discounts and donations made by material suppliers). If you'd like to contribute toward this project, please contact the church office for donating information.

OVERFLOW SHELTER PROJECT

From January 8-21, 2023, Grace will be hosting approximately 25 homeless men at the old Project Hope location on Park Street due to a shortage of beds at the Bethel Men's Shelter in these cold months.

You can take part in this mission by helping provide any of the following much needed items:

+underwear 3-pack black or grey

+hooded sweatshirts

+sweatpants w/pockets

+disposable rain ponchos w/hood clear one size fits all

+anti- perspirant deodorant

+crew t-shirts

+bathroom tissue

+black backpacks

Bins for these items can be found in the Fellowship Hall.

Thank you for your support!

Biggest needs at HOPE:

Feminine Hygiene Products, Laundry Detergent, All Purpose Cleaners, Peanut Butter, Jelly, Pull-ups (3T-4T, 4T-5T, 5T-6T), Diapers (4, 5, 6)

You can drop items off in the bin located outside the church offices when you're in the building, and a volunteer will take them over to HOPE. Please only place non-perishable items in the bin!

Congregation Connections

Click here for our current Prayer List

Click here for our Memorials & Honor Gifts

Click here for our December Birthdays

The Sanctuary candle for the month of December is given by Pat and Bill Yoos in honor of Bill's 80th birthday and in memory of our parents.

The Altar Flowers for December 18 are given by Sara and Steve Johnson to the Glory of God.

The Altar Flowers for December 18 are given by Pam and Floyd Ritchie in honor of all our family birthdays for the year.

Grace continues to keep our Sanctuary Candle burning every week, a sign of the continuing presence of Jesus Christ in our lives. Members are able to sponsor the candle in memory or honor of someone. The cost of the candle is $25.

Click HERE to sign up.

It has been a long-standing tradition at Grace for members to sponsor the weekly flowers. The cost is $45.00 for one (1) or $90.00 for both (2) vases. Each date on the sign-up form has two (2) spaces, check the number of vases you wish to sponsor, please check both if you are signing up for both vases.

Please click HERE to sign up.

Worship Assistant Schedule

Click HERE for the Worship Assistant Schedules.

Don't see your name? Want to be part of leading worship? Email the church office today!

Offering envelopes for 2023 are now available and may be picked up in the Fellowship Hall. At this point we have prepared sets only for those we expect to be using them. Therefore, those of you that have been giving electronically or are having your financial institution send checks directly to Grace will not find a set with your name. However, we do have extra sets and will happily provide them to anyone that asks. Just let us know (either contact the church office or Financial Secretary Bob Stonebraker or 803-980-1834) and we’ll get a set for you.

Offering Our Gifts to God

Your gifts to Grace allow our ministry to happen! You can give in several ways:

Give via the offering plate in worship
Give online by clicking HERE (you have the option to offset the cost of giving online)
Set up giving though your bank
Mail your offering to the church office.

Thank you for continued faithful giving!