The Greening Grace and Episcopal Peace Fellowship will meet at noon Sunday after the 10:30 service in the Parker Room. The agenda will include planning for a day in Boston to support a carbon fee and rebate bill, and planning for presentations by John Lent from the AFEDJ about his recent visit to the Middle East and/or by Sherrill Hogan, who visits the West Bank every fall.

Contemplative Prayer Group is meeting on Mondays at 5:00 to 6:00 pm in the Parker Room. Please contact Michael Erard at 413- 563-3676 (cell)

Potluck with Lucio Perez: Monday, January 13 at 5:30pm at First Church Amherst Please bring food to share that does not require reheating and plan to participate in clean up! Many hands make for light work! Patricia Hynes, Director of the Traprock Center for Peace and Justice, will give a presentation on climate refugees from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. These three countries are located in the Central American Dry Corridor, a region especially vulnerable to climate change, where drought, floods, deforestation and sea level rise are forcing many people, especially the poor, from their homes.

To date 156 pledges have come in totaling $445,000. To those who have pledged God Bless, to those who have yet to pledge please pray and pledge so our Vestry can budget for 2020. If you need a pledge card, they are available as you enter the church or you can contact the office (413) 256-6754 or Tom Dougherty at (413) 563-7321.

2020 Pledge Envelopes: If you requested envelopes, you may pick them up from the box on the table in the back of the church beginning this Sunday. They will (hopefully) be in alphabetical order. Note: if this is the first year that you have requested pledge envelopes, your pledge number may have changed.

Calendar Donations: Please bring extra 2020 calendars to the food basket for the Survival Center.

On Sunday, January 19th, our youth group for grades 6-12 will meet again with the youth group at South Church in Amherst. We will meet at their church, located at 1066 S. East St., from 4:30 p.m. through 6 p.m. Note: this is a change from our usual 6:30 p.m. end time! Join for fun, food, and further exploration of what the Psalms have to say to us today. Friends and newcomers welcome. Please be in touch with Megan at with any questions.

Iconography Workshop, January 20 – 25, 8:30 am to 5 pm, Parish Hall

Participants will create icons using ancient techniques and natural materials rich with symbolic meaning: carved wood boards prepared with gesso made from chalk and glue, finely ground clay, pure gold leaf, and ground mineral pigments in an emulsion made from egg yolk. The underlying theology of the icon will be equally emphasized, as each technical step has a corresponding symbolic meaning. No previous experience is needed and beginners are welcome. For more details, contact Sandy Lillydahl 413-549-2740.

Adult Education, Wednesday, January 22 7:00 pm in the Connector. “Dost thou think because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” Brown Kennedy will lead a discussion of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night–a play which serves up wit, laughter, loss of identity, the crazy-making folly of love and desire, along with the inversions of class and gender which often characterized post-Christmas celebrations in Elizabethan England. Those interested in listening to the play beforehand can find a BBC audio book recording from 1998 on YouTube. Twelfth Night cake will be served!

Bending Toward Justice: A Day of Prayer and Discernment, January 25, 2020, All Saints Episcopal Church, 7 Woodbridge Street, South Hadley, MA 01075.

Sponsored by the Social Justice Commission

· Join us as we pray and discern the work of justice in our time and place.

· Come, meet others who are passionate about the issues.

· Listen to the Word and discern how the Spirit is calling the Church to action.

To Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bending-toward-justice-a-day-of-prayer-and-reflection-registration-83264866457

Grace Church Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, February 2nd following a single service at 9:30am. All commission and committee reports should be sent to the Parish Administrator no later than Wednesday, January 15^th.

Anyone currently in grades 9-12 is invited to join the Western Mass. group attending this summer’s Episcopal Youth Event. Along with youth from other churches in the diocese, we’ll travel to University of Maryland, College Park and stay on campus for three days of worship, speakers, and workshops alongside other Episcopal teenagers from around the country. We will leave for the trip on July 7th and return July 11th. More information on EYE can be found on the event website: https://events.episcopalchurch.org/eye/. Megan will be one of the chaperones. Please email her for more details and/or to get registered.