CLICK HERE to listen to sermons from previous weeks
CLICK HERE for Bible study resources.   

Reflection

Glorious Destiny  

from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander 

By Thomas Merton 

It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, though it is a race dedicated to many absurdities and one which makes many terrible mistakes: yet, with all that, God himself gloried in becoming a member of the human race. A member of the human race!

To think that such a commonplace realization should suddenly seem like news that one holds the winning ticket in a cosmic sweepstake. I have the immense joy of being a member of a race in which God became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.

CHURCH YOUTH SERVICE MISSION TRIP (CYSM)  "BREAKFAST BAR"  ON SUNDAY 

Members of the senior youth group will be on hand with scrumptious breakfast fare from 8:45am to 12:30pm this Sunday, so plan to stop by Memorial Hall and fill up on pancakes and all the fixings before or after attending services. Suggested donation is $5/person.Fair Trade coffee and other items will also be available for purchase. Proceeds will go to benefit this year's service trip to Beard's Fork, West Virginia.  

ANNUAL NOMINATIONS PROCESS CONTINUES  - Sunday last day to receive names 

The nominating committee is  receiving names of potential candidates for election to the following positions: three vestry persons (three-year terms), two delegates and two alternate delegates to the diocesan convention, and four persons to serve on the next nominating committee along with the retiring vestry persons. Nominating forms are available in the narthex. Names will be received until January 13, 2012, and elections take place at the Annual Meeting on February 10, 2013. Want to know more?   Talk to anyone on the Nominating Committee: Beth Paskowski, Chair, Tom Burns, Pat Cose, Cindy Cox, Peggy Gilbert, Jeanette Matthews, Emily Nevill, or to Mo. Alon. 

BOOK GROUP MAKES SELECTION FOR FEBRUARY MEETING

The Book Group has chosen, Eric Weiner's  Man Seeks God: My Flirtations With the Divine  for its next meeting, which will take place at 7:30pm on February 27.  Newcomers are always welcome! 

For more about the book, click here. 

Please note, due to HIPPA privacy regulations, hospitals do noty notify churches/clergy that their members have been hospitalized. Therefore, if you have been admitted through an emergency, have surgery, or would like a visit; please help us serve you by letting us know that you (or your loved one) are in the hospital! If you are hospitalized Friday - Sunday, please leave a message for Mother Alon on her voicemail (358.1297, ext. 11) or call her cell phone number (listed in her voicemail message).   The Nyack Hospital chaplain is also very good about contacting her if you ask him to do so.

We're recruiting folks who are willing to be trained to serve at the family service as ushers, chalice bearers, acolytes, sub-deacons....If you are interested, please fill out one of the forms located at the entrance to the church and leave it in the office, put it in the collection plate with your offering or speak with Mother Alon or Evelyn Lombardi.

HELPING HANDS - February 2013

After our coming January dates, Grace Church will next host approximately 25 homeless

Rockland County residents on Saturday, February 16, Sunday, February 17, and Monday, February 18. We need volunteers to provide a breakfast for our guests on Sunday morning at @7:30. We also need volunteers to be overnight supervisors. You can bring a sleeping bag and pillow and spend the night on the comfortable couches in Patterson Hall. If you can help, please contact Charlie Cross cjcross3ny@yahoo.com, 358-4599; or sign up on the bulletin board in the Narthex.

GRACEMUSIC PRESENTS GAIL ARCHER, organist

Sunday, January 27 at 4:00pm

GraceMusic presents international concert organist Gail Archer in the series' first solo organ recital in more than 15 years. Dr. Archer is Professor of Music at Barnard College, director of the Columbia-Barnard chorus, and College Organist at Vassar. Her program will be eclectic (Messiaen, Ives, Bach, more) - something for everyone's tastes. Come hear our Cassavant shake the rafters. Tickets $20; Seniors $15; $5 Students Meet the Artist reception follows each performance.

A hearty thank you to all who have pledged for 2013. We are nearing our goal of $320,000, but have a way to go. The vestry is about to put together this year's budget, so if you are still intending to pledge please do so ASAP. If you need a pledge card, call the office. Or, if you want to expedite things, you may email the pledge secretary, Sally Ann Mock with your intentions @ samock34@aol.com. Remember, in order to vote at the annual meeting, you must have made a pledge for this year.

MISPLACED YOUR PLEDGE PACKET?  

Your Stewardship Committee: Jim Gilbert, chair

Keep in Touch 

Parting Thought