Due to rising COVID-19 cases in the community, and in consultation with our medical advisory team, Grace Church has suspended all in-person gatherings for the time being. This includes our regular Sunday and Wednesday Communion services, Christmas Eve Communion services, Sunday Formation, and the Drive Through Journey to Bethlehem. Read the December 13 announcement from Fr. Stuart here.
Our family friendly Christmas Eve Service with Pageant will be held on Zoom at 4:00 PM. There will be some very special live music during the prelude and families have recorded the story of Christ’s birth from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke to share. Come experience this Journey to Bethlehem as a community, 2020 style. All are welcome!
Midnight Mass will be available on our website and on our Facebook page beginning at 7:00 PM on Christmas Eve. Watch with others as the service premieres or at any time following.
Our Zoom Compline service will not be held on Thursday, December 24 or Friday, December 25.
The Thursday Prayer Yoga group will not meet on December 24.
The staff and clergy will close their virtual offices and take some time for rest and family from December 24-25 and also on January 1.
It’s not too late to add an ornament to our Grace Family Tree – we will continue collecting them until Epiphany! If you haven’t yet contributed an ornament, or just want to contribute another (perhaps a tiny ceramic roll of toilet paper or a photo ornament of your family wearing masks – to commemorate this year like no other), please bring one by the church and put it in the box located by the red doors of the Grace Center facing Brenau Avenue. Be sure to write your name, and perhaps the year, on the ornament or on a ribbon attached to the ornament. At the end of the season, ornaments will be stored at Grace to be put back on next year. Don’t miss this chance to leave a small Christmas legacy at Grace.
I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for the incredible clergy team we have at Grace. I was so thankful that Cynthia could take these past three months for rest and research, and it was such a gift to also see the depth of our clergy team here at Grace.
The Rev. Mary Demmler’s presence was invaluable at Sunday services each week. Her sermons are always spot on and straight from the heart. The Rev. Dr. Betsy Powell was an incredible gift to the ongoing pastoral care ministry of the parish, and her contact with parishioners meant so very much. In addition, I want to extend my gratitude to the Rev. David Powell for his support and counsel during these days. To be able to call him and hear insights from a wise cleric in these tricky days is a privilege.
The Grace Community is blessed with such pastors, and I want to so thank them for their dedication.
Stuart+
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