Food for Coffee hour: An enjoyable part of our Sundays is the coffee hour after a worship service. The Coffee Hour Ministry relies on donations of food items for this special social time. If you can donate crackers, cookies, or other baked items, it would be very much appreciated. Also, vegetable and fruit plates are welcome. Coffee Hour volunteers will prepare coffee and tea and set the table with food donations.
Multi-Church Ice skating Party for the whole family on February 16. Arrive at 12:00; skate from 12:30-1:20 You’re invited to the Mullins Center for a multi church ice skating party. The whole rink is booked and skate rentals are free! Bring a friend and join us for an afternoon of fun on the ice. You can also bring a lunch to enjoy in the party room and we’ll have snacks and water on hand for everyone. Parking is available right next to the rink.
Contemplative Prayer Group is meeting on Mondays at 5:00 to 6:00 pm in the Parker Room. Please contact Michael Erard.
Burning of Palms for Ash Wednesday – Palms from the prior year’s Palm Sunday are burned to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday. We will burn palms Sunday, February 23rd, in the Columbarium at 9:15am, between the 8am and 10:30am services. Please remember to bring in your palms.
The Grace Church Stewardship campaign for 2020 To date 166 pledges have come in totaling $461,352.00. 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.
Sustain Earth by Composting – Up to 30% of our waste is organic material that can be composted and create beautiful, rich fertilizer for your garden. Composting is the process of taking your extra food, plants, paper products and other organic waste and facilitating the natural process of turning it back in to soil. When you send food and other organic waste to the landfill it ends up creating a powerful greenhouse gas called methane. However, when you compost the same organic material, it goes through a different chemical process that doesn’t produce methane. And, it creates a rich natural fertilizer that can improve your soil and reduce water use in the garden. In an apartment? You can buy composting bags at your town landfill and bring the compost back there to be used by a farm. Learn more at sustainislandhome.org. Courtesy of Greening Grace.
SAVE THE DATE
Next Over 60s Gathering will be Saturday Feb. 22, 3-4:45. Carol Dick will be leading an exploration of Lent — the enticing season of lengthening days.
Potluck with Lucio Perez: 5:30 pm on Monday, February 24 at First Church Amherst. Please bring food to share that does not require heating up at church and plan to participate in clean up! Many hands make for light work! For more information please contact Karen Levine
20s and 30s Bookmill Afternoon – Sat., Feb. 29th Local young adults are warmly invited to be part of Grace Church’s monthly gatherings, which are meant to give space both for social connection and spiritual conversation. This month, we’ll be going together to the Bookmill in Montague, followed with time at the Lady Killigrew Café. We will leave from Grace at 1:30 p.m.; people are also welcome to meet us at the Bookmill at 2 p.m. Please let Megan know if you need or can offer a ride.
High schoolers can now register for this summer’s Episcopal Youth Event! Anyone currently in grades 9-12 is invited to join the Western Mass. group attending this summer’s Episcopal Youth Event. We’ll travel to University of Maryland, College Park and stay there for three days of worship, speakers, and workshops alongside Episcopal teenagers from around the country. Departure date July 7th and return July 11th. For more information on EYE: https://events.episcopalchurch.org/eye/ or contact Megan who will be one of the chaperones.
Will you join us? Help plan the next steps in the ongoing work of Grace Church with St. Matthew’s School in Bayonnais, Haiti. Whether you see yourself as a part of the committee that meets monthly or as someone who would work on specific short-term projects, we promise conversations and working sessions that are efficient, interesting, and fun! Suzannah Fabing, John Stifler, Bonnie Vigeland, or any other member of the committee will be delighted to talk with you about how you can make a difference in this ministry.
Ash Wednesday Services
Holy Communion and the Imposition of Ashes
February 26, 2020
8:00am, 12:10pm, 5:00pm (Chapel Taize service), & 7:00pm