Order of Worship: Sunday February 19th


Prelude

Welcome


Call to Worship


Unison Prayer


Opening Songs

"How Great Thou Art"

"Majesty, Worship His Majesty"


Scripture

Exodus 24:12-18

Psalm 99

Matthew 17:1-9


Song of Praise

"Ancient Words"


Message "More than a change"

Pastor Jen Matthees


Song

"Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus"


Offering, Doxology, Prayer


Prayers of the People

Lord's Prayer


Song

"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise"


Benediction



This Week at Grace:


Tuesday-- Bible study 9am

Wednesday--

Ash Wednesday service-6pm

Thursday--Men's study 730am



If you are planning to meet at Grace UMC, you MUST call ahead of time to reserve space and get your meeting on the church calendar. As our building is used more, we must communicate even more!


Church Office Phone:

218-568-5755


Grace Office Hours

Monday - Friday

9 a.m. to noon


Worship

Online--available to view any time after 10:15am

Sunday morning.

In-Person--Sunday mornings at Grace

9am

Prayer:



Mighty God, you spoke words of blessing from the cloud to Moses, words of blessing for your beloved son, Jesus. Speak your blessing to us this day as we gather to praise you. Lift us up and fill us with your blessing,

so your presence might pour forth through us to encourage our weary and dis-spirited world. AMEN



Call to Worship:



Leader: Come! Let’s worship the Lord our God!

People: God’s name is mighty!

Leader: God establishes equity.

People: So we come to praise God, who is lifted up over all peoples.

Leader: Remember! God both avenges wrong-doing, and forgives.

People: We offer our hearts to this One who is holy!

 

Monthly Missions


In February, our missional giving goes to the Sharing Bread Soup Kitchen in Brainerd. Our church has supported this mission for many, many years, and a few volunteers from Grace continue to help there on a monthly basis.

There are envelopes labeled for this mission on the back table or you can simply put any special giving into the offering plate with a note on your gift that it is to be designated to this mission.

At the end of the month, after Ash Wednesday, the final Sunday will begin our designated giving for the Lakes Area Food Shelf.

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Grace email changes


 Pastor Jen -- jenmatt20@gmail.com


Ann--Grace office email--graceumcpequotlakes@gmail.com




The old email addresses are no longer being checked, and/or forwarded to the new boxes.

Reminder--the office is open 9-12 Monday through Friday, if you are in need of assistance from Ann, please reach out or stop by during these scheduled hours.


The building/office will be closed on these holidays.


New Year’s Day - January 2, 2023

Martin Luther

King's Birthday - January 16, 2023

President's Day - February 20, 2023

Good Friday - April 7, 2023

Memorial Day - May 29, 2023

Independence Day - July 4, 2023

Labor Day - September 4, 2023

Thanksgiving Day - November 23, 2023

Day After

Thanksgiving - November

24, 2023

Christmas Eve - December 26, 2023

Christmas Day - December 25, 2023

New Year's Eve (1/2

day) - January 2,

2024

 

SPRC asks that we all respectfully honor these days off for our staff.  Thank you.



Volunteer Choir Opportunity........ During Lent, we plan to have Sunday morning opportunities for the congregation to join us up front during worship for a familiar song. We will gather at 8:30 on February 26, March 5, 12 and 26 to practice the song a couple of times. Dust off those vocal cords, warm up those pipes and join us at 8:30 on Sundays at Grace!

Bells of Grace


The Bell Choir has been practicing on Tuesday mornings.


Rehearsal will not be held on Tuesday the 21st. There will be a special practice on Saturday the 25th at 2:30pm.


They will be playing for us during our worship service on February 26th.




Many thanks to Nancy Soderstrom for designing and putting together the beautiful banners in the sanctuary. Thanks also to Betti Settevig for her help. These banners tell a story about God's wonderful gift of creation. Take a closer look at the banners when you get a chance, look for the eagle, the stream that empties into the lake, the trumpeter swans, and the many up-north evergreens.


On Saturday, February 11 Pastor Jen, Laurie Prinsen and Peggy Johnson spent the afternoon at Alexandria UMC attending a worship service welcoming Bishop Lanette Plambeck as the new Resident Bishop of the Dakotas/Minnesota Area. It was a time of praying, singing and getting to know this woman who is our new Bishop. She shared her extraordinary "faith journey" with us - including knowing that she would be a pastor at the age of 10, serving in the Army during Desert Storm, and falling in love with the United Methodist Church in college.  



Beloved of the Dakotas-Minnesota Episcopal Area:

 I greet you in the precious and powerful name of Jesus.

 

 I am so grateful to be among you and look forward to the days, months, and years ahead as we live as disciples, share our faith, and engage God’s invitation to live out kingdom—kindom—on earth as it is in heaven, laboring together for the transformation of the world.

 

I have appreciated the ministry and mindset of the Appointive Cabinets in both conferences; your conference leaders love God, love The United Methodist Church, and love you—the clergy and laity of the Dakotas-Minnesota Episcopal Area. Since my on-boarding began on Nov. 13, I have sought to listen well to the work and witness of both conferences and the journey you have been on to grow in love of God and neighbor, reach new people, and heal a broken world. While there is still much for me to learn about these two conferences, I want you to know what will ground my leadership and that of the Appointive Cabinets as we live into our vision and embody the mission and ministry of Christ in the now and future United Methodist Church.

 

First: We will not be timid about who we are as a people called United Methodist. We are a Spirit-filled people deeply rooted in the Wesleyan tradition. We are connected as those who practice personal piety and social holiness. At our very best, we are a disciple-making, justice-seeking, world-transforming people. As United Methodists, we recognize and celebrate God’s grace at work throughout our spiritual journeys: grace that prepares us (prevenient grace), redeems us (justifying grace), and continually shapes us into the people we were created to be (sanctifying grace). We will teach, preach, and reach unwavering in our identity as a people called United Methodist.


Second: As your Bishop and Appointive Cabinets, we are committed to leading in conferences where all are welcome and wanted. We celebrate the diversity and complexity of our people who have found a home in our Wesleyan heritage and affirm that we can indeed live together, relishing the gifts that come with our diversity of experience and understanding. We assert that unity in the Spirit does not demand uniformity of thought; even as we hold our doctrinal standards in common, our Wesleyan heritage reminds us that Christians are not called to be of one mind on all matters. In other words, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things charity.”  

We are and will always be grounded in Jesus and guided by our Wesleyan heritage. As John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, exhorted, “The world is our parish,” and we seek to extend the grace and love of God to all people in all places at all times.

 

Third: We choose connection. It was John Wesley himself who first organized his followers into a connexion; for Wesley there is no religion but social religion, no holiness but social holiness. To state it another way: The communal forms of faith in the Wesleyan tradition not only promote personal growth; they also equip and mobilize us for mission and service to the world. Ever since the days of John Wesley, The United Methodist Church and its predecessors have proudly called themselves a connectional church, working together across theological, social, and political divides; reaching out to the margins; committed to evangelism and faith-sharing; and confronting the biases and fears in our church and society that manifest as injustice, exclusion, and oppression.

 

Fourth: We commit to living the Wesleyan Way of discipleship. John Wesley formed societies, classes, and bands. He created the society to be a learning community, and to that end, each Appointive Cabinet is engaged in intentional learning and spiritual formation. Our first book in 2023 is “Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry” by Ruth Haley Barton. Each Wednesday at noon beginning on Ash Wednesday, we will meet for prayer, study, and development as disciples as we seek together to grow in our faith. Additionally, as part of our commitment to accountability with each other, we will divide into bands of three to five where we can go a little deeper with our struggles and our dreams, and answer the question many a Methodist has been asked throughout our history, “How is it with your soul?”

 

Fifth: We will lead creatively and courageously, leaning into a world that is wounded, weary, and longing for wholeness and holiness of heart and life. We understand our priority in making disciples, developing and deploying leaders, growing vital congregations, offering relevant ministry, and engaging our communities—rural, suburban, and urban—for the transformation of the world. We take seriously the charge to watch over one another in love even as we develop, empower, and encourage the clergy and laity of our conferences.


May we be empowered and guided by the Holy Spirit and may our work as missional strategists be achieved by connecting the means of grace with proven leadership practices in our charge to foster a culture of missional appointment-making, alignment around our strategic priorities, and clear focus on the biblical imperatives to grow in love of God and neighbor, reach new people, and heal a broken world. We would deeply appreciate your prayers and we offer ours in return as we make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

 

In Christ,


Bishop Lanette Plambeck and The Appointive Cabinets of the Dakotas and Minnesota

Camp Minnesota News - It's time to think about registering for a summer camp experience. Camp Minnesota information can be found by clicking the link below. Check out all the amazing opportunities that the camp staffs are planning for a safe camp experience again this year.


For many years the Grace Women in Faith (formerly Grace UMW) have offered a Marnie Luce Camp Scholarship to children, youth, families and adults who are affiliated with Grace Church and register to attend a Minnesota United Methodist Camp. The scholarship is named for Marnie Luce, mother of John Luce who was a huge supporter of camping.


The scholarship policy and applications are available near the display on the table in the Narthex, along with the 2023 brochures. Grace Youth and Confirmation students will be given camp information at their meetings. Other families with children will be mailed the information. FYI look at all the opportunities for "Adults" to go to camp, too!


Le Sears is the Grace Women in Faith treasurer and applications should be placed in her church mailbox. Email her at: sears.litta@gmail.com for additional information.


www.campminnesota.org


If you have something that should be added to this newsletter from your group or mission, please speak with Pastor Jen or email the details to her at jenmatt20@gmail.com. The E-Grace is generally completed by noon on Thursdays, so articles need to be received by Thursday 10am at the very latest.




If you wish to connect with me directly and it is not an emergency, please know that I will respond as needed during pretty regular office hours. I am in the church most weekdays from at least 10-12, call the office to be sure, as my weeks vary. Ann has my detailed schedule and can find me if needed. I check my emails frequently throughout the day, and this is the best way to contact me.

-Pastor Jen

Contact us concept with wood block and symbols at_ e-mail address and phone

Important note

If you are mailing something to the church, you must use our P.O. Box for the address. We do not receive mail at the church, and if you use the physical church address it will get returned and could delay your notices to us or offerings.

P.O. Box 276

Pequot Lakes, MN 56472

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Contact Information

 Grace United Methodist Church 

29318 Patriot Ave - P.O. Box 276

Pequot Lakes, MN 56472

Phone: 218-568-5755

Email: graceumcpequotlakes@gmail.com

Website: www.graceumcpequotlakes.org

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