Grace Episcopal Church  
In This Issue
Sunday Ministers
Birthdays

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Sunday Services
 
8:00 AM
Celebrant: 
The Rev. Dr. Maggie Arnold 
Preacher: 
The Rev. Noah H. Evans  
LEM: June Pietrantoni
Usher:
John Schlesinger 
Altar Guild: June Pietrantoni
10:00 AM
Celebrant: 
The Rev. Dr. Maggie Arnold 
Preacher: 
The Rev. Noah H. Evans 
Minister of Music:
Ruth Roper   
LEM I:
Dennis Hale 
LEM II:
Mia Benjamin 
Lector I*:
Sandra Eriksson-Ellis   
 Lector II*: 
Butch Edgecomb
Acolytes:
Tim Lwanga, Catherine Woodbury and Elizabeth Woodbury 
Ushers:
Kristen Spence and Aram Smith 
Altar Guild
Adele Travisano and Marie Glynn 
Vestry Person of the Day:
Catherine Smith 
Coffee Hour Hosts:  
Steve Duggan, coffee and The Maganzini & Folta family 
food hosts. 
Counters:
Tom Hamel and Jane Scherban

5:00 PM 
Celebrant and Preacher: 
The Rev. Noah H. Evans 
Musician: Nicholas Hayes
Altar Guild:  Mia Benjamin and Carolyn Rogers
 
 
  
*click on link to prepare for this week's readings  
Birthdays
 
Doris Johnson and Joan Williams (10/4); Andrea Caterine McCurdy and Harold Pankowski, III (10/6);Noli Jensen (10/7); Matthew Anderson, Kayleigh Brawley, Don Capuccio, Jonathan Jourdan, Alan Maltz, Alan Novaes and Jenn Woodward (10/8).
 
If we do not have your birthday, please contact the church office at 781-396-7215 or office@gracemedford.org  

Welcome.
Please join us at 
Grace Church!
We celebrate the Holy Eucharist on Sunday at 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM.  The Rev. Noah H. Evans is the preacher at all services on Sunday and the celebrant at the 5PM service.  The Rev. Dr. Maggie Arnold is the celebrant at the 8 AM service and at the 10 AM service.  Sunday School begins promptly at 9:45 AM.

Blessing of the Animals, Sunday at 5 PM
Come join us for a Blessing of the Animals! In honor of the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, we will be acknowledging our relationship with creation, especially those animals who are a part of our daily lives! Bring your dogs, cats, fish, and sheep, stuffed animals, or a picture of animals, for a special blessing at Grace Church.

Read about the the organ restoration at the "Restoring Grace" blog.   

 

For the first time since its installation, the organ was completely dismantled piece-by-piece and sent to David E. Wallace and Co. organ builders in Gorham, Maine for a complete restoration. We anticipate the return of a fully restored organ back at Grace Church by Christmas

 The organ restoration project is the final project to be paid for by the 2011 Grace Church Capital Campaign along with additional fundraising being done to help support this effort. Please consider a contribution to help us reach our fundraising goal. 
Outreach Corner 

The next opportunity to help at St. Luke's Community Dining in Chelsea is October 31.  Please contact Lisa Carson with any questions or to volunteer to help on October 31!
 
Food is needed for the food pantries that Grace Episcopal Church supports. Food items may be placed in the baskets just outside the main entrance to the sanctuary (an usher can help you locate them).   The items for October 4 are tuna or cereal.  The item for October 11 is canned soup.

Semi-Annual Clothing Pantry
This fall our pantry will be held on Saturday, October 24 from 9:00 AM to noon.
We need volunteers to help with sorting and set-up, during pantry hours and to help clean up. Whatever time you have available to help, even if it is just an hour, would be greatly appreciated. Adults only are needed on Saturday during the clothing pantry.
 
Wednesday, October 21, help is needed getting clothing from storage area above the office.
Thursday, October 22, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM we sort clothing in the church.  Friday, October 23, we work from 6:00 until set up is done.  Families are welcome to help with sorting and folding!
Kid's Corner  
 
Register for Fall youth education programs
Please register now for our September Sunday School and Wednesdays at Grace programs.  Click here for the online registration form.
 

Sunday School at Grace Church 
We offer a Nursery. Children from preschool to 7th grade can participate in Sunday School classes, learning Bible Stories and community activism using the Shine Curriculum or engaging theology and ethics with the Re:form video series.
Classes begin at 9:45. The children join the 10AM service for the Peace and the Eucharist.
 
Find your classroom:
"Seedlings" (pre-readers in preschool and kindergarten) blue toddler classroom
"Fishers" (young readers in grades K-2) Pre-K classroom
"Sowers" (grades 3-4): Common Room
"Disciples" (grades 5-7 youth-group) downstairs kitchen
 
Wednesdays @ Grace
Come for dinner, education, fellowship, and family fun! See below for class times and adult education topics. 

Our children will be learning Bible stories using the Montessori-based Godly Play curriculum. Response activities include art materials, yoga, dramatic play, and tending our parish garden. The children will also participate in preparing and serving our community dinner. 

All are welcome! We hope to see you there!

Dates to remember:
There will be no Sunday School on October 11, Nov. 29, and Dec. 27. Children's homilies will be offered on those Sundays.

Our famous Christmas Pageant will be on Saturday, Dec. 19th, at 5pm, with a community dinner to follow. Rehearsals are Saturdays, Dec. 12th and 19th, at 11am.
Wednesdays @ Grace begins again on 9/23! 
Godly Play 1-Preschool-Kindergarten, 5:30-6:15
Godly Play 2-Grades 1-2, 5:30-6:15
Dinner, 6-6:45
Godly Play 3-children up to and including 4th grade, 6:45-8
Rite 13 youth group (grades 5-7), 6:45-8
J2A youth group (grades 8-9), 6:45-8
Adult Education classes, 6:45-8

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
September 30 and October 7 at 6:45PM
The Reverend Noah H. Evans
Embedded in Matthew's Gospel, the "Sermon on the Mount" contains some of the most radical teaching of Jesus which are meant to dramatically re-shape the world view of way of life of Jesus' followers.   Gandhi was said to meditate on Matthew 5-7 each day and called it a handbook on non-violent living. St. Francis saw this section of scripture as his "rule of life." Come and explore with our Rector, the Reverend Noah H. Evans, these amazing teaching of Jesus, and how they can shape our living for peace and justice in our lives and world today.

October 7: The Sermon on the Mount and our Non-Violent Lives

Journeys of the Heart: Four Medford Victorians and a Passion for Education
Wednesday, October 14 at 6:45PM
Dee Morris, local historian
Four highly-motivated residents of our town embraced the concept that education is essential to the well-being of a community. Timothy Cotting (1793-1872), a baker with a sense of civic responsibility, worked zealously on the early development of Tufts University. His bequest of 20 acres of land helped the institution to establish an important local presence. Ship builder James O. Curtis (1804-1890) used his business acumen to guide the fledgling college through the financial perils of its first years. Keenly aware of the needs of her deaf daughter, Mrs. Louise Brooks (1831-1892), founded the Sarah Fuller School for Little Deaf Children in West Medford while her contemporary, Anna C. Davis Hallowell (1838- 1913), not only served on the executive board but also went on to champion women's rights and literary gatherings such as the Medford Shakespeare Club. These diverse men and women left us a brilliant legacy. The talk is also part of CACHE's Arts Across Medford program.

Wednesday Night Compline
Wednesdays at 8PM
October 7 & 14
We will be doing an experiment closing Wednesday at Grace with sung or said compline. Compline is in our Book of Common Prayer and is a short and beautiful nighttime prayer service. We will do it as a sung or said service depending on the musical gifts of those gathered any given evening. Stay for compline at the end of Wednesdays at Grace, or come for just the service! After this four week experiment, we will decide how and if to continue this regular service.

"Anonymous People" screening.
October 21, 6:45PM
THE ANONYMOUS PEOPLE is a feature documentary film about the 23.5 million Americans living in long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Deeply entrenched social stigma and discrimination have kept recovery voices silent and faces hidden for decades. The vacuum created by this silence has been filled by sensational mass media depictions of people in active addiction that continue to perpetuate a lurid public fascination with the dysfunctional side of what is a preventable and treatable health condition. Just like women with breast cancer, or people with HIV/AIDS, courageous addiction recovery advocates are starting to come out of the shadows to tell their true stories. The moving story of The Anonymous People is told through the faces and voices of the leaders, volunteers, corporate executives, and celebrities who are laying it all on the line to save the lives of others just like them. This passionate new public recovery movement is fueling a changing conversation that aims to transform public opinion, and finally shift problematic policy toward lasting recovery solutions.
 
Other Announcements


"Sisters in Song" proudly present "A Beautiful Pair 4: What About Love"
October 2, 2015 at 7:30 PM at
Grace Church
The performance benefits the Ellie Fund which assists breast cancer patients while they undergo treatment. Tickets are $20 and are available at the door or at https://eventbrite.com. For more information visit their facebook page.

Diocesan Resource Day
Saturday, Oct. 3, 9:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m.,
at Bentley University in Waltham
Resource Day is designed to give congregations a variety of hands-on tools, practical helps and networking support for joining God's mission in the world. Gather a team and get ready for this day of workshops in areas including youth ministry and leadership, communications strategy and social media, financial stewardship, mission, parish life and more. For registration and information visit www.diomass.org. Maggie and Noah are both going, let either of them know if you would like to join us!

Book Club
The Women's Book Club meets every third Thursday (except in August) at 7 pm.  The meeting in October is a bit early, October 15. We're reading A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind. For more information, see Genita at the 10 am church service or email her at
 pawleyslegacy@verizon.net.
 
"The Virtue of Penelope: A Chinese Odyssey"
October 16-17, 7:30 PM
This multicultural and whimsical play adapts Homer's epic poems, "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey," into a Chinese theatrical translation including authentic Chinese
dance, kung-fu, and gorgeous costuming.  Premiering at Grace Church, this new play written by Laura Duggan takes you along for the adventures and journey of Odysseus as he tries to return to his virtuous wife, Penelope.  Tickets $16; available at Extreme Ninja Martial Arts & Fitness Center, 45 Riverside Avenue, Medford, and from Laura Duggan.  For more information, contact Laura.  Presented by Grace Episcopal Church and Remarkable Women Reenacted.

Women's Retreat
Grace Church Women: we are offering a Women's Retreat, October 9-11, at Rolling Ridge retreat center in North Andover. Join us for fellowship, beautiful fall scenery, and activities including tai chi, yoga, and meditation workshops, crafting & art classes, and Bible study. Staying for one or both nights (or just joining us for a day) is fine, so costs will vary. See Maria Fenn, fennways@verizon.net 
or Cheryl Woodbury to sign up.  Please sign up ASAP.

20/30's Sunday Night Discussion Group
Come to our weekly "Stone Soup Fellowship"! Join the Grace 20/30s fellowship for a simple meal and deep discussion with other engaging young adults. Bring whatever simple meal ingredients you can scrounge up--and a friend! We'll gather in the kitchen after the 5pm service (around 6pm) to create, cook, and then hangout for discussion and prayer together in the Parish Hall. 

Dancing through the Decades to benefit the Journey to Adulthood program
The date is Friday October 30th. Breaking news tells us that the Grace Church Bell Tower in Medford, MA was just struck by lightning. Suddenly...we are thrown back in time. The 1950's to be exact. Come celebrate with us as we try to dance our ways through the decades back to the present. This is a fun-filled night for all ages! Bound to please! Pizza and refreshments will be served. Come dressed in the clothes of your favorite decade! Or in your best Halloween costume! The cost is $5.00 per person or $15.00 per family.  All proceeds will go towards the Grace Church J2A class
October 30th from 6:30 --10:00                       50/50 raffle to be held!