Grace News January 17, 2023

Announcements

Save the Date for Mardi Gras!

Join us February 19^thfollowing the second service for lunch and a talent show!
Let’s celebrate and have some fun together before the season of Lent begins. If there is a talent you would like to share or a joke you would like to tell, sign up for the talent show! You can sign up by texting Kath or calling the office. More details to follow.

New Office Email

Please update your contact information for the church office, the new email address is gracechurch517@gmail.com

Outreach

Thanks for your generosity!

ELCA Good Gifts 2022
So far we have raised $1, 290!!!
Sunday School Kids— please return your banks !
All chick money must be in by Sunday January 22, 2022!

World Cup of Sharing
The total collected for the World Cup of Sharing is $16,320.
$8,160 will go to LHANDS, Grace’s non-profit low income housing work.
$8,160 will go to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS).

Souperbowl Sunday

Join us on February 12^th for Souperbowl Sunday! We will be collecting monetary gifts and non-perishable food for the Lancaster County Food Hub.

The Food Hub is currently in need of:

peanut butter
brown rice
whole grain pasta
shelf stable ready to eat meals (things like SpaghettiOs)
unsalted nuts
low-sodium soup
canned meat packed in water
sugar free jello
individual cups of unsweetened applesauce
fruit cups in 100% juice (snack size) (NO grapefruit)
100% fruit juice (NO grapefruit)
low-sodium or salt free canned vegetables
Cheerios or low sugar cereal

Christian Formation

Adult Sunday School

Our Adult Formation Group,will meet this week in Nolt Auditorium starting as close to 9:00 a.m. as we can to view the video, but we will move to the chapel for discussion to allow preparations to continue for Vicki’s retirement party! The learning and discussion made a good beginning last Sunday—come and join in!

Led by some short videos and a book called The Way by Pastor Adam Hamilton, these sessions before Lent help us see the interplay between the geography of Jesus’s journey and the deeper spiritual journey into which he leads those who follow. Those who would like to read the book may easily find used copies on Amazon, but it will not be necessary to enjoy the class! I look forward to seeing you there.

Looking ahead, I hope to gather a group of Grace folks along with those who are new to our congregation since last Easter for this year’s edition of “A Time for Discovery,” as we refresh our Christian basics in the context of our ministry here at Grace Church.

– Pastor Verkouw

Volunteers Needed to Write Devotions and Prayers For Lent

Dear members and friends of Grace, As you may have noticed in last week’s Grace news we have a new section for a weekly devotional. We would love for volunteers to write short (around 200 words) devotionals or prayers during Lent.

The first Lenten devotion or prayer would be for the February 21^stGrace News. Anyone can write for this section! It would be a great activity for families and friends. If you don’t want to write an original piece you can submit something written by someone else. If you do this please provide the information needed to cite the text. If you are interested in writing please contact me at gracechurch517@gmail.com. Peace, Angie Rabbe

Sunday School Presentations Understanding Autism

Deanna (dee-na) LaMaster is an advocate and mother who dedicates her time to educating adults and children alike about Neurodiversity, specifically Autism. Her work began in a single classroom within the School District of Lancaster’s Carter & MacRae Elementary School and has been rapidly expanding ever since.

She has presented as far as Washington state (Kent School District) and is very proud to have presented in every classroom within Carter & MacRae this past year. She is slated to be a presenter for the School District of Lancaster’s Education Conferences this coming March.

Deanna will be discussing Neurodiversity: the unique ways the human brain works relating to cognition, social and learning settings, attention and mood. Her knowledge base is rooted in understanding Autism and listening to the Autistic community. Within the course of the presentation, she will discuss different ways to relate to peers with unique minds and how to better understand our own diverse brains!

Deanna will be joining the Kindergarten/Younger Children’s class on January 22^nd. Sunday School is at 9 AM in the Nolt Auditorium. Hope to see you there!

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!

Weekly Reflection

The next winter I sat in Army fatigues somewhere near Anniston, Alabama, eating my supper out of a mess kit. The infantry training battalion that I ad been assigned to was on bivouac. There was a cold drizzle of rain, and everything was mud. The sun had gone down. I was still hungry when I finished and noticed that a man nearby had something left over that he was not going to eat. It was a turnip, and when I asked him if I could have it, he tossed it over to me. I missed the catch, the turnip fell to the ground, but I wanted it so badly that I picked it up and started eating it anyway, mud and all. And then, as I ate it, time deepened and slowed down again. With a lurch of the heart that is real to me still, I saw suddenly, almost as if from beyond time altogether, that not only was the turnip good, but the mud was good too, even the drizzle and cold were good, even the Army that I had dreaded for months. Sitting there in the Alabama winter with my mouth full of cold turnip and mud, I could see at least for moment how if you ever took truly to hear the ultimate goodness and joy of things , even at their bleakest the need to praise someone or something for it would be so great that you might even have to go out and speak of it to the birds of the air.
(from “The Need to Praise,” Listening to Your Life Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner, Harper Collins 1992, pg. 18.)