Announcements
Mardi Gras Lunch and Talent Show February 19th!
Time: After 10:30 worship – around noon.
Place: Nolt auditorium
How do I sign up? Sign up with Kath, the church office, or on the sign-up sheet available in the Narthex.
What should I bring? Please bring a yummy dessert to share – the main dishes will be provided.
Do I need to share my talent? No, bring your laughter and appreciation if you would rather just be part of the audience.
Why does Grace church have it on a Sunday instead of on Shrove Tuesday? We get our sillies out in order to acknowledge that a serious season is about to begin. We do this on Sunday because it is more convenient than on a Tuesday evening. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent.
A Note From Our Editor
The deadline for Grace News articles is 4 PM the Thursday before the issue is printed. For example the deadline for the Tuesday, February 21st Grace News is Thursday February 16 by 4 PM. Thank to everyone who has been submitting articles and updates! If you have anything you want to include please contact me at gracechurch517@gmail.com or call the church office at 717-397-2748.
Grace Book Group
The Grace Book Group will be meeting Tuesday February 14th at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Please read a book by or about a US President or First Lady. For our March meeting on 14th the please read a book by an Irish author. If you would like to join our book group please contact Brenda Hayasaka at bkhayasaka@gmail.com.
Outreach
Souperbowl Sunday
Join us on February 12th for Souperbowl Sunday! We will be collecting monetary gifts and non-perishable food for the Lancaster County Food Hub. We will have collection sites in the Nolt Auditorium and the solarium.
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
God’s Global Barnyard
We raised 1, 315.50 for God’s Global Barnyard! That’s enough money for 1, 315 chicks! Thank you all for contributions!
Grocery Cards
The Lutheran Camping Corporation will received a $500. donation for debt reduction from Grace thanks to your purchase of shopping cards. THANK YOU!
Christian Formation
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 21st Grace 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
Reading the Bible In A Year!
As we come to the end of our year-long practice of reading the Bible in a year Kath and Angie have a few questions for you:
· What did you learn?
Was this discipline beneficial to your faith journey?
· In terms of the resources we provided, what worked well for you? What didn’t work well for you?
Please let us know if you have been participating in this year-long bible reading! You can text Kath or Angie, email Kath or Angie, or call the church office.
We’ve had a lot of folks say that they want to read the Bible again! Some of these folks have wanted to do the chronological order like we did this past year and others have asked for something different. With that in mind we will be offering three separate options for reading the Bible this year. We will begin our journeys on March 2. Resources will be provided for chronological reading, continuous reading (Genesis– Revelation), and a reading plan that includes the Apocrypha. The chronological plan will continue with The Bible Recap Podcast. The plan that includes the Apocrypha will use YouTube videos from Father Mike Schmitz’s The Bible in a Year. The continuous plan does not have a podcast or a video. We will continue to post the resources on our website. We will be sharing reading plans in the Grace News. Hard copies of the reading plans and additional materials will be provided in the Narthex. If you are interested in doing the Fr. Mike reading plan and don’t have access to YouTube and/or don’t have a Bible with the Apocrypha please let Angie know. If you need a hard copy of the materials mailed to your home please contact Angie at the church office or gracechurch517@gmail.com.
Lent 2023
We have a number of Lenten faith formation and learning opportunities being offered this year (more information will be provided shortly.
Lenten Paths: We will be offering Lenten paths for kids, teens, and adults this year!
Lent Trivia Cards: We be providing our Sunday School families with a set of trivia cards packed with questions about Lent!
Lenten Devotional Books: We have ordered copies of Water and Spirit from Augsburg Fortress. This devotional begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Saturday.
Mindfulness Group: We have a small group of folks who are ready to explore with others the spiritual practices grouped under the heading of “mindfulness” – prayer, meditation, contemplation. Tom Santosusso would serve as the convener of this group; let him know of your possible interest here: rymsir@aol.com
Neighborhood Cleanup: Our neighborhood could use some TLC! Would anyone like to make a Lenten commitment to walking a block or two after church, or during the week, praying for our neighborhood and neighbors and just picking up trash and recyclables “that the wind has blown in?”
A Time for Discovery: Primarily for those new to Grace or interested in refreshing some of the Christian Basics, I will be teaching this class at the usual Adult Education and Formation hour at 9:00 a.m. Sunday mornings in the Nolt Auditorium.
Come Follow Me: This would be a midweek/evening course led by Pastor David Bushnell (retired from Hamilton Park UCC church) in 10 sessions, beginning in Lent and continuing through the Easter Season. This course helps us frame our identity as the Body of Christ in the midst of our call to care for the earth amid the many challenges to the environment and sustainable life: pollution of earth air and water, changing climate, the status quo of political and economic systems, the need for energy, the creation of stuff. Would bringing the resources of hope and faith to the challenges of living on and caring for the earth today interest you? Let Pastor V know!
Lenten Walk, Talk and Pray! : Take a Lenten Journey with us on Sunday. Phil Supeck will lead a devotional and give us questions to ponder and discuss while we walk with a partner. Invite a friend who needs some conversation and fresh air. Ages teen through 100 years of age recommended.2 pm on Sundays (beginning Feb. 26 through March 26)Meet at the Buchanan Park PavilionRSVP with Phil, Kath or church office.
A Note From Our Director of Music for Black History Month
Black spirituals have been part of our common hymnody for as long as I can remember, but over the last few years I have read articles that convince me I need to think about using this repertoire in a more thoughtful, historically-aware way.
At issue is the use of spirituals as hymnody and choral anthems. As we know, spirituals were created by black musicians. But it is also safe to assume that the right to publish and perform the music was never requested. Our current hymnals include music from a wide variety of faith traditions, and we can, for the most part, look to the bottom of each page if we want to know who wrote the text and music. And we can be sure those individuals received some payment for their work.
But we don’t know who wrote “Lord, I want to be a Christian,” or “Were you there,” or “Go, tell it on the mountain.” Although we love singing those hymns, and they have significant meaning for us, we should acknowledge that we “nonchalantly borrowed this music for hundreds of years and didn’t consider the fact that people wrote it and people created it and those people were never recognized.” (Susan DeSelms)
For some time, I have struggled with how I can, at least in some small way, acknowledge these past wrongs and do something to honor those who wrote these spirituals. What I decided (and what I invite you to also consider doing, if it feels meaningful) is that every time I use a spiritual in worship, either as a hymn or choral anthem, I will donate money to Music By Black Composers
The organization’s mission is three-fold:
To inspire Black students to begin and continue instrumental training by showing them that they are an integral part of classical music’s past as well as its future.
To make the music of Black composers available to all people regardless of background or ethnicity.
To help bring greater diversity to the ranks of performers, composers, and audiences, and help change the face of classical music and its canon.
This is a complex issue, and this brief article certainly doesn’t examine the many facets involved. But this has been on my mind for some time, and it feels important, as both a musician and a Christian, to address the issue.
I hope that we can continue to talk about this as Grace seeks to fully live its calling to do what is right and just.
Dr. Dave
Praying in Color
Sybil MacBeth is the author of the series of books called Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God. Sybil can’t remember a time when she didn’t pray; but sitting still and closing her eyes were not in her childhood-prayer skill set. She loved to memorize Scripture passages, the names of books of the Bible in order, and lots of traditional prayers and hymns. She carried those words with her as a growing vocabulary of faith and prayer.
As a kid in school, she loved math because she could do it watching television. Then she stopped watching television and discovered she could do math even better. She loved the visual and kinesthetic aspects of mathematics—the artistic display of numbers and symbols on the board and her hand moving and dancing around the page.
Sybil’s fifteen years of teaching experience as a community college mathematics professor prepared her for the Praying in Color® workshops and retreats she leads in person and on Zoom. Her workshops cater to multiple learning styles and focus on building community through prayer, movement, song, and play.
Sybil MacBeth loves to doodle, dance, sing, walk, read, and talk about God. When the pandemic calms down, Sybil and her husband Andy plan to spend a year in Jerusalem.
You can find more information about Praying in Color on the website https://prayingincolor.com/
Join Deacon Marsha Roscoe on Zoom on March 6th from 7-8:30 PM. Register at the Synod website
For more information please contact the Synod Office at 717-652-1852
Creation Care
Plastic Caps, Styrofoam, and Can Tab Collections
Kathryn Verkouw has been delivering a lot of Styrofoam to the Dart receptacle on Pitney Road. This is
wonderful!!! However, she has had to throw out a lot of Styrofoam that is brought to Grace because it is dirty. The Styrofoam can have a bit of stain on it but no grease or food can be left on it. Please check your Styrofoam before bringing it in. Thank you! If you would be interested in taking the Styrofoam to be recycled please contact Kath at verkouw@gmail.com or call the church office.
We are still collecting caps for the Earth Savers Club at Central York High. Roberta Myers has picked up to large loads of caps from us in recent weeks! If you would like to help, please drop off clean and label free caps in the collection area in the Nolt Auditorium. We have also had a number of metal lids come into the office– we are only collecting
plastic lids. Thanks, Kath! Please make sure your caps are clean and dry before dropping them off. If you have any questions please contact Angie at
gracechurch517@gmail.com or call the church office.
We are still collecting can tabs for Ed Krimmel. Ed takes the tabs to the Elks club and the proceeds from the tabs support hospice patients at the VA. Tabs should be dropped off at the collection are in the Nolt Auditorium. If you have any questions please contact Angie.
Our Grace Family
Thank You
Lou Garcia expresses his appreciation for all who shared love and prayers before and after his recent surgery. He hopes to be back at worship before long!
gracelutheranchurch.com 