Christmas Offering As is tradition, Grace Church divides its collections made at Christmas between a local charity and a more global charity. This year, Grace’s Outreach Commission has chosen Craig’s Doors and Save the Children. We hope that you will once again give generously to help those in need. Winter is especially hard on those in our community that are currently unhoused. Craig’s Doors is a human services organization that provides vulnerable and unhoused members of our community with emergency shelter, food, and safety, as well as access to the resources they need to achieve physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. Children have no part in starting wars but are victims of their violence. There are more children living in conflict and war zones now than at any time in the past 20 years, as well as more child refugees. For over 100 years, Save the Children has worked to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm.
Important Year-End-Note: If you would like your end-of-year donations to count as a 2023 tax deduction, checks must be dated 2023 and received no later than Monday, January 1, 2024. Anything received after that date will count towards your 2024 deductions. However, pledges for 2023 may still be paid after this date; they will just be recroded as being received in 2024. Jaana Cutson, Bookkeeper
Calendar Donations Please bring extra 2024 calendars to the food basket for the Survival Center.
The Church Office will be closed on Monday, January 1st.
Calming the Mind meditation workshop, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 6 and Feb. 3, 2024 (attend both Saturdays if possible) Learn how meditation can transform the way we relate to stressful situations and challenging emotions, and how to embrace all aspects of life with mindful awareness. For more information, contact Kell Julliard, 917-648-7695, or click here.
The Grace Church Stewardship campaign for 2024 To date 129 pledges have come in totaling $ 449,587 – most encouraging, we have 2 new pledges. We 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 2024. If you need a pledge card, they are available as you enter the church or you can contact the office (413) 256-6754 or Bruce Stebbins at (413) 530-3805.
2024 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.
Save the Date
Cantabile Vocal Ensemble Benefit Concert, January 7, 2024 at 3 pm Cantabile Vocal Ensemble will present “The Prince of Love and Death” featuring sacred and secular music by the Italian renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa. The program will also include thoughts on Gesualdo from Dennis Costa as well as an essay by Anna Smith. The concert is free but donations will be gratefully accepted to support Safe Passage Northampton.
Joy of Living Group, 7:00-8:30 p.m., 2nd and 4th Mondays This group combines meditation, practices integrated in the flow of life, and discussion. Led by certified mindfulness instructor Kell Julliard and practice leader and licensed acupuncturist Claudia Citkovitz, it meets in the Connector. Next meeting: Jan. 8, 2024
Iconography workshop January 10-12, 8:30 am to 4 pm, Parish Hall. Participants will work on icons using traditional techniques and materials rich with symbolic meaning: egg tempera, ground pigments, clay and gold leaf. The underlying theology will be explained 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.
Botany for Gardeners and Cooks Have you ever wondered why some plants turn red in the sun? How fall mums get so bushy? Why cooked beans get mushy? Then you’ll want to come to Botany for Gardeners and Cooks, offered in four sessions in the Grace Church Connector on January 13 & 20 and February 10 & 17 from 9:30-11:00 am. The course will cover plant structure and function as they relate to gardening and cooking, led by John Horn, a retired botany professor and Episcopal priest.
A Series on Death and Dying
- On January 21st, Kell Julliard will lead a talk and discussion related to scientific research into dying, consciousness, and spirituality, to be held after the 10:30 service in the Parish Hall.
- On January 28th, Brown Kennedy will lead a discussion considering death in the context of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, to be held after the 10:30 service in the Parish Hall. She recommends reading or watching the play, but if you don’t get around to it, come anyway! (The Kenneth Branagh film version is a fine adaptation.)
Grace Church Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, February 4th following a single service at 9:30am. All commission and committee reports should be sent to the Parish Administrator no later than Monday, January 15th.