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Stewardship Begins with God's Abundance and Our Response to It
JR Lander describes stewardship in the following ways:
- Stewardship is living out our lives with the belief that all we are and have is God's, entrusted with us to share.
- The starting point for the stewardship conversation is the individual recognizing that we need to share what God has given us.
- Stewardship includes vocational discernment.
- It includes care of creation.
- It includes formation of our young people.
- The starting point for stewardship is not the need and mission of the institution.
- Stewardship begins not with the mission of the church, nor the needs of its institution, but rather with God's abundance and our response to it.
Grace Church is about generosity. We are about encouraging people to live with their money in a way that is rooted in our faith, and our understanding of God's abundance.
-Shawn
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Thanksgiving Potluck Lunch
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Sunday, November 22, 2015 at 11:45AM
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 Our Annual Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner the Sunday before Thanksgiving is almost here. Join in this simple (yet extravagant), casual potluck lunch.
All are invited to bring a dish to share. Main dishes, sides and desserts are all welcome. We serve buffet style.
We'll need people to help with set up and clean up the day of the event, Sunday, November 22, 2015. The potluck will take place immediately following the 10:30AM service (approx. start time 11:45 AM).
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Working on Your Christmas Shopping List?
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Please don't forget to add one more special name . . .
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 Through the ReVive Center for Housing and Healing (formerly Cathedral Shelter) Christmas Basket program, Grace Church will supply Christmas gifts for 6 large families (a total of 50 individuals) this year.
HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE:
- The names and gift requests of the members of Grace's families will be available in the Parish Hall after the 10:30 am service this Sunday, November 8 and after each service on Sunday, November 15. Simply choose a member of one of the families and fill out your name and contact information on the list next to the person's name. You can also contact Heidi Lukas to receive a name(s) and gift requests.
- ReVive guidelines state that you should plan to spend $30-$40 per person for gifts. This is only a guideline and, of course, the amount you spend is at your discretion. Please do not feel obligated to buy everything on the person's list. We recommend buying two gifts per person - one "practical" item (such as clothing, etc.) and one "fun" item (such as a toy for a child or bubble bath for an adult, etc.). You may also wish to confer with those Grace members who have chosen members of the same family in order to equalize gifts purchased.
- Wrap your gift(s) and clearly mark the outside with the recipient's name and family number. Please place your gifts in a packing box (left open) so that we can more easily coordinate our packing and delivery to ReVive Center.
- Bring your gift(s) to the Parish Hall on Sunday, December 6. Please note that this is the last day for drop-off; if you need to make arrangements to drop-off sooner than this, please contact Heidi Lukas, Sue Wells or Emily Costello.
- Volunteers are needed to help load the Grace's gifts into ReVive's truck on Tuesday, December 8 (exact time to be confirmed). If you are available to help, please contact Heidi Lukas or Sue Wells.
- ReVive is also asking for volunteers to acts as "elves" at their location (1668 W. Ogden Ave., Chicago) during the two weeks of Christmas Basket distribution (December 1-13); volunteers are needed during the hours of 8:30 am and 3:00 pm to receive boxes from all churches/organizations participating (to help unload, sort and distribute gifts to the families). If you're interested in this volunteer opportunity, please contact Heidi Lukas.
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Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's Installation Sermon
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Here is the sermon Presiding Bishop Michael Curry preached at his installation last Sunday: |
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J2A Collects Medicine Bottles for Malawi
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 Anyone on prescription medicines finds themselves a bit uncomfortable when throwing away so many empty medicine bottles. It is obvious our landfills do not need these plastic containers; there is enough trash going into the landfills already.
While first world nations throw away perfectly good medicine bottles, medical pharmacies and hospital facilities in Malawi often find themselves with nothing except torn pieces of paper in which to wrap medicine for their patients.
This is often seen in rural hospitals and villages where the poorest of the nation try to live and survive.
We can help to change this.
The Youth of J2A are collecting empty medicine bottles for the Malawi Project. A collection box will be in the Parish Hall starting on Sunday, November 1st.
Please remove the labels and all traces of label adhesive.
Collecting these medicine bottles will help families in a third world country keep their medicines clean, out of reach of small children, and safe while they are being used. Once collected we will send the bottles to the Malawi Project for shipment to Malawi.
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We Make the Road by Walking
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In Brian McLaren's book, We Make the Road by Walking, we are reminded that we are not finished yet. McLaren claims that individuals and communities are "still in the making." He states that we have the capacity to learn, mature, think, change and grow and that we also have the freedom to stagnate, regress, constrict, and lose our way. McLaren invites us to think about which way we will go.
I love that he reminds me and us that we play a vital role in choosing and creating our futures. His claim is that we make the road by walking.
Please will you join me in reading this book? Click here to email me with your interest. -Shawn
We Make the Road by Walking: A Year-Long Quest for Spiritual Formation, Reorientation, and Activation
by Brian D. McLaren by Jericho Books
Paperback ~ Release Date: 2015-06-09
List Price: $16.00
Our Price: $7.98
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Hurry! Make Your Reservation Soon!
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 You're invited to a special 75th Birthday Party to honor Lil Hohmann and to thank her for the zillions of hours she has spent helping Grace Church.
When: Saturday, November 21 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Parish Hall at Grace Church
Cost: $10 includes dinner and beverages. If writing checks, please write Lil's party on the memo line.
Sign up with Sue Wells or Leslie Atwood to both let us know you're coming and to volunteer to help cook, set-up or especially to clean-up!
Hope to see you all there to make this an especially wonderful evening.
-Sue Wells
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Support Grace while you shop!
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If you shop at Amazon, please use the link below to access Amazon.com. Grace will then get a percentage of any purchases made. It's a painless way to help Grace and costs you nothing. FYI, we never see who buys what.
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Participants in This Sunday's 10:30 Service
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November 8th 10:30am Service:
MC/LEMS: Steve Fanning; Sue Wells, Lascelles Anderson, Julia Thomason, Tony Dobrowolski, Cherryl Holt
LECTORS: Cyndy Reynolds, Fay Peters
INTERCESSORS: Jen Cantrell, John Seaton
ALTAR GUILD: Heather Bovell, Flora Green, Kathy Onayemi, Willie Polite, Sally Prescott, Natalie Ratz, Marie Rock, Jane Shirley, Chuck Tupta
USHERS: Paul Gervais, Jane Shirley, Paul O'Kelly, Cathy O'Kelly
GREETERS: Flora Green, Sarah Hunt, DeLacy Sarantos
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| Wednesday, November 4, 2015 | | Wednesday Morning Eucharist | 7:00 AM | | SLAA/SAA Meeting | 9:00 AM | | Schola/Scholars Rehearsal | 3:30 PM | | Handel Week Rehearsal in Choir Room | 6:00 PM | | St. Giles Catechesis, Levels 2 & 3 | 6:00 PM | | PADS Overnight Shelter | 7:30 PM |
Thursday, November 5, 2015 | | SLAA/SAA Meeting | 9:00 AM | | Staff Meeting | 9:30 AM | | Evensong | 6:00 PM | | Healing Prayer Group | 6:30 PM | | SAA 12-Step Group | 7:00 PM | | Adult Choir Rehearsal | 7:30 PM |
Friday, November 6, 2015 | | Rector's Day Off | | | SLAA/SAA 12-Step Workshop | 9:05 AM |
Saturday, November 7, 2015 | | S Groups business meeting | 8:00 AM | | SLAA 12-Step Group | 9:30 AM |
Sunday, November 8, 2015 | | The Rite Place - A service for the child in us all | 9:00 AM | | Catechesis of the Good Shepherd / Encounter | 9:30 AM | | Coffee Hour | 9:30 AM | | Outreach Committee | 9:30 AM | | Lectionary Discussion Group | 9:45 AM | | Madrigals Sing at Service | 10:30 AM | | Sung Choral Eucharist | 10:30 AM | | Coffee Hour | 11:45 AM | | R13 / J2A | 12:00 PM | | Madrigals Rehearsal | 1:30 PM | | Graceful Needlers | 3:00 PM | | SLAA Women's Group | 5:30 PM | | SLAA 12-Step Group | 7:00 PM | | AA 12-Step Group | 8:30 PM |
Monday, November 9, 2015 | | Landscape Maintenance | | | SLAA/SAA Meeting | 9:00 AM | | Education for Ministry (EfM) | 7:00 PM | | Heritage Chorale Concert Dress Rehearsal | 7:00 PM |
Tuesday, November 10, 2015 | | SLAA/SAA Meeting | 9:00 AM | | St. Giles Catechesis, Levels 1, 2 & 3 | 4:00 PM | | A Benedictine Experience | 7:00 PM | | SLAA 12-Step Group | 7:00 PM |
Wednesday, November 11, 2015 |
| | | Wednesday Morning Eucharist | 7:00 AM | | SLAA/SAA Meeting | 9:00 AM | | Schola/Scholars Rehearsal | 3:30 PM | | Handel Week Rehearsal in Choir Room | 6:00 PM | | St. Giles Catechesis, Levels 2 & 3 | 6:00 PM | | Book Study Group | 7:30 PM | | PADS Overnight Shelter | 7:30 PM |
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