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Save the Date
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Triduum Review:
April 22, after church
Community Meeting about Downtown Development:
April 25, 7:00 PM
at Zion's UCC
Grace Montessori
Benefit Auction:
Friday, April 27, 7:00 PM
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Happy Eastertime! Grace celebrated a glorious Easter Triduum, and the celebration continues for the 50 days until Pentecost.
Do you know people who are longing for God or a spiritual community? Forwarding this newsletter could be a simple way to let them know of Grace's prayer and work.
See you Sunday! --Beth Reed, Priest-in-charge |
| Sunday, April 22, at Grace | |  Eucharist, refreshments, conversation
We celebrate the Eucharist at 10:00. The Easter scriptures invite us to consider Jesus' risen life among us: how do we live in the light of the resurrection? The second reading has these lines: "Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed."
After refreshments, we will reconvene in the worship space to consider our Easter celebrations. Read more below.
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| Triduum Review, April 22 | |  There was a fire in the city
The people of Grace did a lot of preparation--physical, mental, spiritual, musical, culinary--for the Triduum celebrations. As a person new to our parish remarked: "The amount of love and work that goes into this is just amazing."
While the experience is still fresh, we will gather to talk about it this Sunday, April 22, after the Eucharist and refreshments. We'll return to the chairs in church and converse about the liturgies of Holy Week (and Lent and Palm Sunday as time permits). What went well--what helped us experience God among us? What could go better next year? How can we deepen the resonance these celebrations have in our lives? How does the silence we keep before the service in Lent assist us to pray, and what about fasting from refreshments (coffee hour) during Lent? Is there fine-tuning of these practices we could do?
Reflection and evaluation and conversation are crucial parts of how we learn and grow, so as much participation from the assembly as possible will help us all. |
| Allentown's Development |
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Consider coming to a community meeting next Wednesday
We all know by now about the hockey arena slated to open next fall, just blocks from the church and across the street from our school. It's one piece of a bigger project called the Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ).
The project as a whole will have about 80 percent public funding. How will this public spending help with the persistent problems of concentrated poverty and unemployment in downtown Allentown? How will the development affect our church and school and our neighbors? These are important questions for Grace.
A local group called Congregations United for Neighborhood Action (CUNA) has organized a community meeting with Mayor Pawlowski for Wednesday, April 25, 7:00-8:00 PM, at Zion's UCC at 620 West Hamilton (doors open at 6:30). I (Beth Reed) participated in a planning session on Tuesday for this meeting, along with other area clergy and interested citizens. I will be at the April 25 gathering, and I encourage as many people as possible to attend so we can all learn and think more about how we can best embody grace in the city.
For more information on CUNA and its work on downtown development, click here.
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| Grace in the media | | Check out Wednesday's article
Wednesday's Morning Call had an article about Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to local groups that have been cut. The CDBG program disburses federal funds to cities, which then disburses them to local organizations. Grace Montessori applies for and usually receives one of these grants, and we have again this year ($10,000), though it is substantially less than last year's amount ($15,000). The grant we receive goes directly to fund scholarships. There was a happy picture of children at our school in the paper, with four more pictures on the paper's website. The article contained a quote from the Grace Montessori School's Executive Director, Mrs. Elizabeth House. |
| Grace Montessori's Annual Benefit Auction | |  Please support the scholarship fund
if you can
Grace Montessori is a key part of Grace's mission in Allentown: we serve 106 students ages 3-10. Our school prizes economic diversity. About one-third of the students in our school receive scholarship assistance from money we raise.
The annual benefit accounts for a sizable part of that scholarship aid. This year's goal is to raise $25,000. There is a silent auction and a live auction. The atmosphere is festive, with live music, food, and drinks. The event takes place this year on Friday evening, April 27, 7:00 PM, at Fegley's Allentown Brew Works (812 West Hamilton).
Tickets are $25 and will be available at the door. Please consider attending, as neighborhood families often need financial support for their children to come to our school. Another way to support the school is to purchase raffle tickets ($5 each) at the event or beforehand. The prizes are an iPad, a Kindle Fire, and a Nook Color E-reader. Executive Director Mrs. Elizabeth House and The Rev. Beth Reed will each make remarks at the event. |
| Grace's young people in the theatre | | They sang and danced
That's the White Rabbit (August Fegley) and Rose (Julia Reed) who performed in Alice in Wonderland Jr. at Allentown's Civic Theatre last weekend. Thanks to Merce Fegley for this photo.
Several parishioners supported this Civic endeavor by attending shows, including Lisa Figueroa, Joan Roy, Eleanor Tannous, and Charlotte Trumbower (and the Fegley and Reed families).
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