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Monday
| Prayer Group
12:10 p.m., Chapel
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Tuesday
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Food Pantry Open
10 - 11a.m.
(Spanish-speakers)
Food Pantry Open
1 - 3 p.m. (English-speakers)
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Thursday
| Choir Rehearsal
7:15 p.m., Choir Room
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Friday
| It's Friday and nothing's on the church calendar. Put on your "grow hats." What community-building program, event, or offering would you like to experience on a Friday night at Grace? In what creative ways could we use our available spaces of Grace to further the mission of Christ in the world?
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Saturday
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AA Meets
6 - 7 p.m., AA Room
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Sunday
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8 a.m.
Holy Eucharist, Rite I
9:40 a.m.
Family Gathering Time - a time for music and song before children go to Godly Play (Meets in the lower level under the church.)
10 a.m.
Godly Play
(Ages 4-10)
10 a.m.
Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Coffee Hour
Following the 10 a.m. service in the Guild Hall
Adult Formation
Episcopalian 101
Meets in the library shortly after the start of Coffee Hour
Noon
Holy Eucharist, Rite II
(In Spanish)
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This Week at Grace
January 23 - 29 |
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"I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Matthew 25:35)
In the great parable of the Last Judgment that Jesus relates in Matthew 25:31-46, when the king separates righteous from the unrighteous, he proclaims to those who are saved that "just as you did it to one of the least of these... you did it to me." Among the actions cited is welcoming the stranger.
Each Sunday, we encounter the stranger as we come to worship God. Each Sunday, at each of our services, there are strangers. Sometimes, they are visitors from afar, traveling to Madison for business or pleasure, and choosing to spend their Sunday morning with us. Sometimes, they are local residents who are "church-shopping." Occasionally, there is someone who has come this day because of some deep spiritual longing that yearns to be met. Some of those strangers are not newcomers. They have attended services before, several times, for several years, perhaps even for several decades. We may recognize their faces, we may have seen them dozens of times, but we don't know their names let alone anything else about them.
In this, Grace is like most churches. In fact, in many respects, we do better than many churches. We offer visitors delightful visitors' bags; some of us are aware of visitors and make sure to introduce themselves; in nice weather, I like to stand on the sidewalk before services, to welcome everyone who comes, and to greet passers-by as well. But we could do better.
A couple of months ago, I met a visiting priest, who responded to the email I send to everyone who signs our guestbook with a description of his experience. No one welcomed him. At the peace, he received perfunctory handshakes from those around him, and after the service, I was the only person who greeted him and asked him his name. How many others have had similar experiences? How many people have come to Grace, looking to connect not only with God but with other people, and went home disappointed?
"I was a stranger and you welcomed me." Do you know that person who is sitting in the pew in front of you? Have you seen them before? Have you seen them dozens of times and still don't know their name? Introduce yourself. Invite them to coffee hour. Welcome them.
Welcoming newcomers is one of the things we focused on in our Vestry retreat this past Saturday and we agreed that it will be one of the areas that will receive attention at Grace in the coming year. How can we be more welcoming as a congregation? How can our physical space be made more welcoming? How can we help newcomers become active in the life of our congregation and active in our ministries? We will explore these questions and others. We hope you will share your ideas with us and learn with us how to make Grace a truly welcoming congregation.
- Jonathan
Take it to another level: explore Scott Gunn's take on "Practicing our Slogan" here.
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Commitment to Grace
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Provide an overview of upcoming events. Generate excitement in your
This past Saturday the newly elected vestry and wardens attended a retreat to reflect on the Grace Church community and the contribution that the vestry might make to enhancing our common life in the coming year. We have much to be grateful for as we begin that venture -- most especially the generosity and gifts of this congregation. Your generous response to the pledge campaign provides the basis upon which planning and budgeting are built. All of our ministries are rooted in your gifts and your willingness to share them through the First Mondays, food pantry, altar guild, Christian formation, the pastoral care team., fishbowl, and more.
We continue to welcome your pledges, your ideas, and your participation in ministry. Opportunities for stewardship in many forms will continue throughout the year and not just in the fall pledge campaign.
Any member of the vestry will be pleased to hear your concerns and try to find answers when needed. Please call on me at any time.
Mary Ann Cook, Senior Warden
238-6974 or macook@charter.net
Pledge Update
Operating
Budget Pledges | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 as of 1/19/12 | | | | | | | | | Number of pledges | 123 | 125 | 123 | | | | | | | | | Pledges as % of active members | 69% | 70% | 69% | | | | | | | | Total amount
of pledges | $324,381 | $323,506 | $332,433 | | | | | | | | | Average pledge | $2,637 | $2,588 | $2,703 | | | | | | | | Pledges $2,000
or less | 75 | 78 | 70 | | | | | | | | | Pledges between $2,001 and $5,000 | 36 | 33 | 38 | | | | | | | | | Pledges over $5,000 | 12 | 14 | 15 | |
If you haven't yet made your pledge to support Grace Church in 2012, a member of our Vestry will give you a call within the next couple of weeks to make it easy for you to accomplish this important task of supporting our church. If you want to pledge now, please fill out your pledge card, which you can place in the offering plate or send to our financial administrator Janet Lubniewski at 116 W. Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 53703
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In God's Service
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Vestry on Call
If you have any questions, joys or concerns,
please feel free to contact:
Mary Ann Cook
macook@charter.net or (608) 238-6974
Linda Newman
lhnewman@wisc.edu or (608) 238-6356
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