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)
Raising The Questions: A Grace Church reading and discussion group meets to discuss basic questions of belief, language, and practice. We will meet on Thursday January 9th, 9:30 in the Connector.
Adopt-A-Family: Many thanks to everyone who “adopted “ a family or contributed money to the “Adopt-a-Family” program this Christmas. 99 children in 40 families were adopted. As always Grace Church amazes with its generosity!
The Grace Church Stewardship campaign for 2020 To date 149 pledges have come in totaling $433,548. We still have a ways to go but are off to a good start. 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.
SAVE THE DATE
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.
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 7:30 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!
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 15th.