Announcements
Advent Fair
Join us after the second service on December 4th for our annual Advent Fair! There will be lunch and crafts for all ages!
Hamburger barbeque and beverages provided by Grace. Please bring a side or dessert to share (last name A-L Dessert & M-Z Salad/Side)
We are in need of volunteers to help with crafts!
If you are interested in volunteering please contact Angie Rabbe at graceelcaapd@gmail.com.
If you plan to attended please contact Angie or contact the church office (717-397-2748) or on the sign up sheets in the Narthex and Nolt Auditorium.
Advent Wreath
Our Advent observance includes a large wreath for the nave, suspended from the ceiling, and a smaller one in St. Peter Chapel, made by a varying group of volunteers. We will meet Saturday Nov. 26 from 9:00 a.m. until noon.
Please bring gloves, pruners, old clothing, and your holiday spirit! It is easy to do and the results look professional. Call Murray Foreman (717-847-7556) to indicate your indicate your interest. Join us! (Kids 12 and over are welcome.
Christmas Play
Christmas Play Rehearsal has begun!
Dress rehearsal Sunday December 18
in the Nave during Sunday School
Advent Devotionals
Advent Devotionals are available in the narthex.
Prophets and Promises is a daily devotional that begins on the first day of Advent and ends on Epiphany. The ELCA World Hunger devotional has weekly devotions for the four Sundays of Advent. There are also Advent Calendars from World Hunger. Fling Wide the Door from Luther Seminary has daily reflections for the first day of Advent through Christmas.
“Let the coming of Christ remind us to cherish the good in the human family and in ourselves. Let us find joy in acknowledging and supporting people of all ages.”
(Prophets and Promises, December 3)
Grace Book Group
We met in November and discussed cozy mysteries! Our next meeting is December 14 at 7PM on Zoom. We will be discussing YA books at the December meeting. If you are interested in joining us please contact Brenda Hayasaka at bkhayasaka@gmail.com. Click here for our November selections.
Outreach
Hope For The Holidays
Grace is participating in Hope For the Holidays for the second year! Last year we sent over 100 Christmas cards to immigrant and refugee families at the US Mexico border.
Christmas cards and Spanish translation guides are available in the Narthex and must be returned to the church by Sunday November 27th. Please do not place cards in individual envelopes.
If you have any questions please email Angie at graceelcaapd@gmail.com
Grace’s World Cup of Sharing Halfway to Goal!
After just ten days since the official beginning of this year’s “God’s Work, Our Hands” ingathering, Grace’s World Cup of Sharing is already halfway to our $10,000 goal through gifts and pledges made to date! As noted in last week’s issue, the November 13th Kickoff Event was a great success. Now let us keep our momentum going, as we support the ministries of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) and our congregation’s community outreach via L-HANDS.
How will your gifts be used? Locally, Lancaster is known for its welcome of refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers. Currently, several of our L-Hands apartments are home to refugee families. 50% of the monies given will go toward maintenance of our L-Hands properties and help support the work accompanying that being done through the lead abatement grants that Grace is receiving. Nationally and globally, our gifts to LIRS will help in its ministry of welcoming and supporting newcomers to the United States, who are seeking safety and finding their part of the American dream. LIRS has been walking with refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants since 1939. It is one of nine refugee resettlement agencies in the US and one of only two that our federal government entrusts with serving unaccompanied refugee minors.
In Matthew 25:35, it says in part, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Together we can play
a part in this kind of welcome. With almost five weeks to go before December 18th in Grace’s World Cup of Sharing, and with your prayerful and generous support, we can reach and surpass our $10,000 goal. If you wish to make a gift via check, please put “World Cup of Sharing” on the memo line. Please put a similar note on your envelope with any cash gifts. You may also give online by clicking on the GIVE button on the church’s website and following the prompts to “World Cup of Sharing”. Thank you!
Good Gifts 2022
Dear members and friends of Grace,
One of our beloved Advent hymns says, “As the moon reflects the sun until the night’s decrease, may we your healing light release…” as Christians, we are bound together in hope of a brighter tomorrow and as hopeful people, we have a sacred call to spread our hope to the world. As we enter the season of hope, I would like to take a moment of your time to talk about a way in which we at Grace can share tangible hope with the world.
Many congregations in the ELCA, including Grace, make donations around this time of year to ELCA Good Gifts. For those of you unfamiliar with Good Gifts, it is one of the ELCA’s many global outreach and empowerment programs.
Donations to Good Gifts provide those in need with livestock and crops for family farms, various health care services including trauma counseling, latrines, education, and Christian education materials such as children’s Bibles and Sunday School curriculum.
This year the Board of Ministries is encouraging our congregation to purchase as many chicks as possible! How much does a chick cost? Chicks are a bargain at 10 chicks for $10! As we have done in the past, our Sunday School children will be receiving Good Gifts banks to fill with spare change on Christ the King Sunday. You can also write a check payable to Grace Lutheran Church with Good Gifts in the memo line. All donations must be received by Sunday, December 18th, 2022. If you make a donation for chicks and would like a themed card to give to someone please let me know and I will get either a hard copy or an electronic card to you. Good Gifts envelopes will also be available on December 4th as well as bulletin inserts.
If you have any questions about Good Gifts, please contact me at graceelcaapd@gmail.com.
Yours in Advent hope,
Angie Rabbe, Assistant Program Director
ELL Update
Dear Friends of ELL,
I want to take a moment a share with you a few things that took place in our class yesterday that really touched my heart. As always, our students joined us with big smiles. We always welcome each other and as we were doing this one of our students noticed that one of our teachers was not feeling well. This led to an impromptu discussion on viruses and how to take of yourself if you are sick.
Right away one of our students told the teacher who was not feeling well that she should see a doctor. At the end of class he again reminded her again to make sure to see a doctor. How thoughtful!
At the end of class we always have a wrap-up where we share what we learned at class. As we were doing this, one of our students asked a fellow student about his newborn baby. He asked how the baby was and when he would get to see her. Big smiles all around!
A few teachers and a student will be away on vacation for several classes and everyone wished them a safe trip.The student was going away to see his sister, nephew and mother who he has not seen in a long time. He said he missed them and how important families are.
I am so thankful that I have met and shared many things with our new friends.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Mary Gentzler
Community Meal Winter Outerwear
Thanks to your generosity we packed twenty-seven outwear kits for men, thirty-two outerwear kits for women, 76 packs of feminine hygiene supplies, and fifty packs of personal care items. We also have extra items that we will be able to hand out as needed throughout the winter. Thank you to the volunteers who packed bags and distributed bags!
Christian Formation
Tapestry of Pages Update
Our discussion of The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore will begin on January 17th at 2:30 PM on Zoom. The Woman They Could Not Silence is the story of Elizabeth Packard whose husband had her committed to the Illinois State Hospital in 1860 because she was too smart for him. While institutionalized Packard began fighting for reform.
“Elizabeth’s refusal to be silenced and her ceaseless quest for justice not only challenged the medical science of the day and led to a giant leap forward in human rights….”
The Woman They Could Not Silence (inside cover) by Kate Moore
Kate Moore is also the author of The Radium Girls
Creation Care
Cap Collection Continues
We are still collecting caps for the Earth Savers Club at Central York High School. If you would like to help, drop off your clean/label free caps to the church office! (Dirty caps will be discarded—please wash caps before donating) Thank you for helping to protect our planet!
This Week’s Green Tip
Consider a heater fan…
These heat-powered circulating fans are designed to set directly on top of woodstoves or gas room heaters. They send the heat out horizontally, instead of letting it rise upwards, which results in much faster and more efficient room heating. Read more here
gracelutheranchurch.com 