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Save the Dates
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Grace at Noon:
Monday through Friday,
12:00 pm
Advent Evening Prayer:
Wednesdays,
December 11, 18,
at 6:00 pm
Church Cleaning,
Saturday, December 14, weather permitting,
9:00 am
Forum:
Racism Conversation,
Sunday, December 15,
after refreshments
Eucharist
with Bishop Paul:
Sunday, December 15,
St. Stephen's,
Wilkes-Barre,
at 3:00 pm
Finance Committee meeting,
Monday, December 16,
in the evening
Cookie Baking:
Thursday, December 19,
at church, 4:00-6:00 pm
Greening the Church:
Sunday, December 22,
after church
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It's Advent--a time of quiet as we stay alert and watch for signs of God among us.
I invite you to give yourself to the quiet of the season--it is counter to the messages in our culture. At Grace, there are daily opportunities for prayer (at noon) as well as Evening Prayer on the two remaining Wednesday evenings at 6:00.
The vestry, as leaders in the parish, has made a conscious choice to slow down and look and listen for God, and to find the quiet when we are available to God who looks and listens for us.
If you know someone who may be in extra need of quiet or calm this season, or who may looking for a spiritual community, consider inviting them to Grace on a Sunday or weekday or Wednesday evening. Or bring them to make cookies with our neighbors on December 19 in the evening. Or welcome them to celebrate Christmas at Grace (Christmas Eve at 7:30, Christmas Day at 10:00). It is a rich December at Fifth and Linden.
Advent Blessings on us all,
The Rev. Beth Reed
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Sunday, December 15, at Grace
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Eucharist, refreshments, forum
We celebrate the Eucharist at 10:00 and enjoy refreshments afterward. We light the third candle on our Advent wreath and hear the beautiful text from Isaiah about the lame leaping, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing. That is the kind of healing and restoration God envisions!
Read about the video presentation for the forum time below.
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Advent Invitations
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Prayer, learning, greening
Opportunities for prayer: Each day at noon there is quiet prayer in the church followed by an optional brown-bag lunch. On the two remaining Wednesday evenings, we will gather for Evening Prayer in the church at 6:00 in quiet candlelight (December 11, 18).
There is an activity after church the next two Sundays.
December 15: Video presentation from the Episcopal Church's National Forum Fifty Years Later: The State of Racism Today. "Where is there hope for change?" will be discussed by: - The Hon. Byron Rushing, Massachusetts State Representative, civil rights leader and vice president of the Episcopal Church House of Deputies
- Dr. Randy Testa, author, vice president of education at Walden Media LLC
- Dr. Erma J. Vizenor, chairwoman of White Earth Band of Ojibwe, educator and community organizer
- Tim Wise, educator and author of White Like Me, Colorblind and Affirmative Action.
December 22: Green the church to get ready for our Christmas celebrations--deck the large wreath frame with greens, set up trees and string lights, fluff up ribbons, hang wreaths, and set out candles. Everyone is welcome and needed--kids, adults, old folks--there is something for everyone to do! This is a fun gathering as we work together, enjoy music, and create a beautiful space for Christmas visitors and ourselves. Pam A is ordering sandwich trays, and we can money toward the cost of lunch in a basket that day. |
Cookie Baking
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Cookie Baking is around the corner: Thursday, December 19th, starting at 4:00 p.m. Bev Rickles is coordinating, and inviting students from her ESL (English as a Second Language) class. We will also be inviting others from the Grace Community.
Here's how you can join in Grace's holiday spirit and fun:
You can make cookie dough (recipe below), and bring it to Grace Church before 4:00 p.m. on the 19th. Dough can be brought as early as Sunday, the 15th, and stored in our refrigerator downstairs. Please mark it 'cookie dough' with your name and date of drop off.
Items to loan or bring with you on the 19th:
- Cookie cutters
- Cookie sheets
- Cooling racks
- Spatulas
- Cookie dough
- Cookie sprinkles and colored sugar
- Hot chocolate to share
- Containers to take cookies home and/or foil and plastic wrap.
Please put a note with your item(s) that identify you and them, for example:
- 2 black cooling racks loaned by Hillie
- 12 mixed-shape cookie cutters loaned by Bev
Options for helping: Arrive at 4:00 for set-up, stay for baking if you can, or come at 5:30 for clean up.
Please email information about how you can help to Bev Rickles at beverly@georgeretseck.com.
Christmas Cookie Dough 4 cups all-purpose flour (or "Cup 4 Cup" gluten-free flour) 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter (or Earth Balance vegan sticks!) at room temperature 2 cups sugar 2 large eggs 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract - Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
- Put the butter and sugar into a mixer with a paddle attachment, and mix on medium until pale and fluffy.
- Add the egg and the vanilla to the mixture; mix well.
- Add the flour to the mixture and mix until combined.
- Divide dough into 2 balls; flatten them into disks and wrap them in plastic and refrigerate.
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Nurturing Grace in the City
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Many parishioners have turned their pledges of financial support, and almost all of them reflect substantial increases. This is good news for the work of Grace in the city. People are showing with their checkbooks that they are investing in the parish's continued presence and work on this corner.
If you have not sent in a pledge, please do so as soon as possible. And please plan to complete your 2013 pledge this month.
If you are new to the parish or to pledging and need more information about supporting the parish financially, please talk with the priest or a vestry member.
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