Here's a opportunity for communal prayer in Lent: Wednesdays at 6:00 pm. Because it's Daylight Saving Time, it's still quite light out when we're finished! All are welcome to the service that lasts about 25 minutes.

We chant psalms, listen to a reading, meditate in silence, and pray for our needs and the needs of our city and world.

The photo is a sculpture from Matyas Church in Budapest. Lord, that I might see!, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54181 [retrieved March 25, 2014]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenr/2296612588/.

The Paschal Triduum is the center of our year, and we celebrate the liturgies as fully as we can. This year it's April 17-20.

There are many roles and tasks to share--washing feet on Maundy Thursday, carrying the cross during the Good Friday liturgy, arranging flowers on Holy Saturday morning, bringing beautiful food for the reception after the Easter Vigil, etc.

Sign-up sheets will be in the gathering space again this Sunday, with descriptions of each task and requirements (such as rehearsals). Please look over the sheets and see how you and your household can participate.

Some of our community have found Grace after belonging to other Christian denominations. In November, John Paul M was one such person who decided to become officially an Episcopalian; he was received by Bishop Nick Knisely at a service in Kingston, PA, along with about 55 other people being received or confirmed.

The process of becoming Episcopalian involves meeting with others in the same situation, reviewing our baptismal commitments and how we live them out, learning more about the Episcopal tradition within Christianity, and deciding that taking a next step into this community is appropriate.

The process is sealed or recognized or completed by participating in a service led by a bishop. Bishops are signs of our belonging to a wider communion than simply our parish.

For people who have been baptized and confirmed in another Christian tradition, the rite is called "reception." The bishop lays hands on the person's head and recognizes her or him as a member of this communion. For people who have been baptized in another tradition but never confirmed, the rite is called "confirmation." The bishop lays hands on the person's head and prays for the Holy Spirit to sustain him or her in keeping Christian commitments.

Bishop Sean Rowe will be leading such a service in our area on May 6 at 7:00 pm. If you would like to consider being confirmed or received, please be in touch with The Rev. Beth Reed. Folks from parishes in our region will participate. The service is at St. Andrew's, on the border of Allentown and Bethlehem.

 

For people who have not been baptized, the process of exploring and coming to a public commitment of Christian faith is a bit different. Speak to The Rev. Beth Reed if you know people who may wish to explore baptism for themselves or their children. Baptisms usually happen at Grace on particular days of the year (Easter Vigil, Pentecost, All Saints Day, Epiphany, for example).

Jack and Jean M hosted about 15 parishioners last Sunday for lively socializing and discussion of Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination.

The group will meet again to discuss chapter 5 this Sunday night at 6:00 at Kelly C's home. Everyone is welcome!  (Do the reading if you can; come and listen and socialize anyway if you can't!)

Please put Friday night, May 16, on your calendar--it's the Annual Scholarship Benefit Auction for Grace Montessori School. The event will be held at the Allentown Brew Works at 7:00. It features a silent auction, a live auction, hors d'oeuvres, beverages, and music. Admission tickets are available at the door.
 
All proceeds benefit the school's scholarship fund, which exists because our parish and our school value economic diversity. Our school offers scholarship assistance to about one-third of its students. Some money comes from grants from local foundations, and a sizable amount comes from a single fund-raising event, the Annual Scholarship Benefit Auction.  
 
Please plan to attend if at all possible and support early-childhood education for children in our neighborhood. Members of the vestry will be there, and previous participants can attest that the evening will be a delightful one!