Welcome to the weekly e-newsletter of Grace Episcopal Church. Read about what's happening at Grace, and use the quick links to the left to find other helps to our life with God. 

To share Grace's news with a friend, click the "forward email" link at the bottom of the page. This could be a simple way to let someone know about our life and work, and to communicate our welcome.

See you Sunday!

We celebrate the Eucharist at 10:00. It's the Last Sunday after Epiphany and before Lent. Every year on this day, we hear an account of the Transfiguration of Jesus. This year it's Mark's version.

Jesus appears to an inner circle of disciples in robes "of dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them." Swathed in light, covered in glory, his deepest identity revealed or unveiled? The disciples had some kind of numinous, out-of-the-ordinary experience of Jesus, and everyday, rational language can only hint at what it meant to them. 

To prepare for Sunday, you might consider when or if you've had such an experience, and if so, how it has shaped you. I wonder what we would say if we considered that question as a group: How does our community at Grace experience Jesus swathed in light?

Images of light suffuse Sunday's Scripture readings;  one place they point is to the other end of Lent: the Holy Triduum, those Three Days in which we celebrate our passing, with Jesus, from darkness to light, through death to life. (This year, April 5-8.)

After the Eucharist, we will launch immediately into the Annual Meeting in the church. Sandwiches from Subway have been ordered, so when our meeting is over, we can all have lunch. (A basket will be on the food table for contributions to the cost, which will be around $150.)

The Transfiguration image above is copyrighted and used with permission of jesusmata.com. A French artist has created images of Biblical scenes for catechetical use, and this is one of them. (All rights reserved. Vie de Jésus MAFA, 24 rue du Maréchal Joffre
F-78000 Versailles.)

When Grace has another group of new folks, we'll do it again. 

When you see faces at church that you can't put names to, please introduce yourself before or after the service. 

 

Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent. We will celebrate the Eucharist at 7:30 PM. As usual at the shift of seasons, parts of our corporate prayer invite us deeper into the season. During Lent, each service will begin with a Penitential Order. We hear the two great commandments, to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, then we kneel in silence to consider how we have and have not kept those commandments. As always, when we confess, we hear an announcement of God's mercy in a text called the Absolution. 

This year, during the Prayers of the People, we will use a form that invites more silent prayer than we have experienced recently in these Prayers. The leader will bid us to pray for a particular need in the church or world or our local community, and we will keep a time of silent prayer. After the silence, the leader will read the next bidding, and again invite us to silent prayer. The pattern of the leader saying "For what else shall we pray?" and people naming loved ones or particular situations aloud will stay the same. 

Our Book of Common Prayer encourages variations of the Prayers of the People; in the Prayer Book this version with more silence is called Form II. Form II is a slight variation from our recent pattern of Ieader ending each bidding with "Let us pray to the Lord," and the assembly responding "Lord, hear our prayer."

When we gather on a Sunday during the Easter Season to evaluate our liturgies for Lent and the Triduum, we can discuss how we experienced Form II and how we think it helped or hindered our communal prayer in Lent. 

During Lent, our music during the Great Thanksgiving also shifts from the more celebratory acclamations we've been using to the simpler and starker chant versions. 

. . .You know it must be time for the annual Pancake Supper. David Moyer organizes this event for Shrove Tuesday evening, Feb. 21, a feast of fatty food before the fasting of Lent. Mardi Gras beads for all! 

Pancakes, fasnachts (doughnuts), sausage, and applesauce are on the menu. Prices: Adults, $8; kids 6-12, $4; kids under 5, free. All are welcome. The supper is in Hadesty Hall (the lower level of the church building--the entrance is on Fifth Street), from 4:30-7:00.

 

Learn more about downtown Allentown and consider how downtown redevelopments may affect us and our neighbors on Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Congregational Forum (around 11:30, after church). Joshua Chisholm, executive director of Congregations United for Neighborhood Action (CUNA) will present information his organization has gathered about downtown poverty and unemployment. He will lead a conversation about how this information relates to the city's plans for the building and operation of the hockey arena and other redevelopment projects. This is important information for us, as our school is in the Neighborhood Improvement Zone and our church is one block outside it. I (Beth Reed) hope many people will be able to participate. If you'd like to learn more about CUNA, check their website. 

Grace Church is the home of a local Narcotics Anonymous (NA) group called We Do Recover. The group meets on Tuesday evenings at 7:00 in our multipurpose room. The meeting is open to anyone. People who attend try their best to rely on each other and God to help them in their recovery and completely abstain from addictive substances such as drugs and alcohol. 

Recently, two neighbors connected with NA approached the church office about hosting another meeting. They are forming a group focused on the 11th Step of NA, which invites participants to improve their conscious contact, through prayer and meditation, with the God of their understanding. The name of the group will be the Serenity Group of NA, and they plan to meet at Grace on Saturday evenings from 7:30-9:00 beginning in mid-March. 

We talk of our pantry, Grace Community Foundation, as a "food bank plus. . ." The "plus" is the other ways we can engage with neighbors who come to the pantry. 

Last week was a good example. An insurance agent had a table with materials in English and Spanish, and she talked with interested clients to see if they qualify for a United Health Care plan that not only covers basic health care but also covers up to $1200 of other health-related expenses per year. Covered expenses include things like some medical supplies and over-the-counter medications whose cost could be prohibitive to people with low incomes ($8 cough syrup, for example).