Easter and Holy Week Offerings As is the custom at Grace Church, the offerings gathered on Palm Sunday, at the services during Holy Week and on Easter Sunday will be distributed outside our church. This year these are the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem for its support of the Jerusalem Princess Basma Center and The Jewish Family Services of Western Mass for its work with local immigrants. The Jerusalem Princess Basma Center treats children with a wide range of disabilities and offers support to their families by providing an array of therapies and rehabilitation services, a residential program for mothers and children, and outreach services to community clinics across the West Bank. The Centre also runs an academic K-12 inclusive school that is a model for creating inclusive education programs to provide children with disabilities equal educational opportunities In the past five years Jewish Family Services has resettled over 500 refugees from around the world to Western Mass – their new home. It works closely with them to ensure that each individual achieves independence and is a productive member of our society. It helps refugees resettle here safely, learn English, gain employment and become valued, contributing members of our community.
Grace Communications Committee: Grace has recently established a communications committee. The goal of this committee is to share information about our church in order to expand our reach and publicize information about our many offerings. This includes sharing information via our current website, exploring opportunities for social media options, and marketing. If you have expertise or an interest in this area, please contact co-chairs, Sarah Chadwick and Patrick Kelly . We would welcome the opportunity to work with you!
Fundraising Committee Grace Church is forming a new committee to generate ways of closing a significant budget gap. Its charge is to envision additional fundraisers to join the Saint Nicholas Bazaar in meeting this year’s fundraising goal of $22,000, while also increasing community participation and incorporating fun. If you’d like to brainstorm with us and work to bring these ideas to fruition, please contact co-chairs Donna Devine (cell: 413-992-9151) or Suzannah Muspratt (landline: 413-256-6812). We need your ideas and your energy!
The Grace Church Stewardship campaign for 2023 To date 152 pledges have come in totaling $460,984 – most encouraging, we have 4 new pledges. We still have a ways to go but are off to a very 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 2023. 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) 549-5933.
Gospel Choir Concert to benefit Amherst A Better Chance (ABC), Grace Episcopal Church, Tuesday, April 11 at 7:30 pm. A benefit concert by local choirs including the Amherst Area Gospel Choir, Amherst Regional High School Chorale, the Hampshire Young People’s Chorus and the UMass Gospel Choir. Greet and congratulate our 2023 Local Hero Award Recipient, Talib Sadiq, and visit with the ABC Scholars and Resident Directors, Nancita Alejandro and Tem Blessed. Requested donation $20.00
Adult Confirmation Class Continues Wednesdays, April 12 and 19, 6:30 – 8:00pm via Zoom Bishop Doug Fisher will visit Grace Church on Sunday, May 7. In preparation for this occasion, there will be a 5 week course offered for anyone who is interested in being confirmed or received into the Episcopal Church. Confirmation is for anyone who desires to make a mature affirmation of one’s beliefs in the presence of a bishop. Reception is for anyone who has been confirmed in another tradition but who now desires to be received into the Episcopal Church. Explore the mystery of God and discuss Episcopal Beliefs and Practices. This course is open to all. Share your beliefs, thoughts, concerns, and even doubts. There are no questions that cannot be asked. This course will be led by Tom and Megan. For further information, please call the church office at 256-6754 .
Save the Date
Poets’ Theology: A Book Launch Event – Saturday May 6th, 2 p.m. Megan’s first full-length poetry collection, Jesus Merch: A Catalog in Poems, will be published this spring by Fernwood Press, the poetry imprint of a Quaker publisher based in Oregon. To celebrate and share with the congregation, Megan will offer a reading from her book alongside a poet whose work is also deeply theological, Boston-area post Matthew E. Henry. In Jesus Merch, Christian games and toys, Sunday School supplies, and religious home decor serve as springboards for meditations on a variety of topics, including both large-scale theological concepts and more personal experiences. Its poems seek to uncover the potential meanings of objects spanning several centuries, at times highlighting their troubling theologies and other times finding surprising depth or possibility. Matthew E. Henry is the author of the Colored page (Sundress Publication, 2022), Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020), Dust & Ashes (Californios Press, 2020) and the forthcoming The Third Renunciation (New York Quarterly Books), a book of theological sonnets. Henry holds an MFA, an MA in Theology, and a Ph.D. in Education and has taught at the high school, college, and graduate levels. His writing explores, among other topics, race, religion, relationships, and education. The event will be in the church at 2 p.m. Refreshments to follow in The Connector, where books will be optionally available for purchase and signing.