Thoughts & Updates

Thanks to everyone who did such a great job on our Ice Cream Social and Silent Auction!  We raised $1,001 for our music ministry and everyone had a great time!  It was a huge success!

Grace Episcopal has the unique opportunity to serve as the Beta Church in our area for Project Resource (PR). This program is an holistic approach to stewardship that helps us define how we manage our resources and donations in terms of ministries, missions and impacts. Click on this link to learn more about PR and being a Beta Church.

Our Project Team has met several times including the Diocesan kickoff meeting in January and a direct meeting at Grace with Marlene Weigert, Canon for Administration. We are excited about participating in this program and feel it will helps us as a church and individually in growing in faith.

Sierra, Alex, Logan and Christine joined the St. Paul's, Cary, Appalachia Service Project to make homes warmer, safer and drier in Avery County, North Carolina this summer.  They made a difference and had a great time!  Check out all the pics from their week!

In 1985, Madonna released the hit song “Material Girl.” I thought recently, after rereading the feeding of the 5,000 in John’s Gospel, that the lyric “we are living in a material world and I am a material girl” summed up not only 1980’s excess but also materialism’s ageless allure. After the feeding, when the crowd pursues Jesus, he says, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me … because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (6:26-27).

The material without question is important. Everyone needs food. We followers of Jesus must feed the hungry today like Jesus in the wilderness, but we also must feed those who hunger for “the food that endures for eternal life.”

We had a joyful celebration with Bishop Anne, welcoming new members, giving thanks for fathers and rejoicing over the new organ.

We had a joyful celebration of the new organ Sunday.  The first hymn sung by the congregation appropriately was "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee!"  We were blessed to celebrate with Bishop Anne who has a beautiful voice among her many talents.

Sine the organ installers concluded their work Friday, Gayla practiced Saturday for Sunday's worship.  Watch the video below and hear the great sound!

Like some virulent epidemic, terror plagues our world. Every two or three days we hear of another deadly outbreak: Alexandria, Orlando, London, Manchester, Paris, San Bernardino, Berlin, Nice, Charleston …. While the motives range from politics, religion, and race and the means vary from rifles, knives, bombs, cars and trucks, the intent is always the same: terror. The attackers, for their different agendas, all want to instill fear.

The Romans wanted to do the same when they crucified Jesus. They reserved crucifixion for slaves and insurrectionists, placing crosses next to the busiest highways to cow any would-be challengers. While we view Jesus as a humble rabbi who taught love, Imperial Rome saw him as a rabble-rouser whose popular following posed a threat to its power. The cross constituted what today we would call state terrorism.

Learn more about gec's new organ and see pictures of the installation process by watching this 51 second video below.

After the video the Rev. Roxanne Gwyn and I did on why we don’t say a confession of sin during Easter season worship, a Facebook friend was concerned that people who only attend Christmas Eve and Easter Day miss out. They do, but not only on the confession but also the year-long rhythm of seasons, feasts, fasts, prayers and rites that help deepen our faith and strengthen our walk with Jesus. This Sunday we observe one of the most important holy days of the year – Pentecost. This day celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-6) and on us when we are baptized.

The Spirit unites us with the Father and the Son in heaven and with other believers on earth. The third person of the Trinity, who dwells in us, empowers our life in Christ. The Holy Spirit comforts, strengthens and guides us through the ups and downs of life.

“I myself don’t subscribe to any organized religion” writes Mick Mooney, author of An Outsider’s Guide to the Gospel, in a blog post. While Mooney’s view might sound radical, it is common today and not just about religion. Across the board, voluntary organizations have lost members since the 1960’s.

The Christian faith has always been essentially communal. Jesus calls the Twelve Disciples, symbolically recreating God’s people, the twelve tribes of Israel. The apostle Paul repeatedly refers to believers as members of the “body of Christ.”

One of the great gec traditions is giving a comfort wrap to graduating seniors and to young people moving away.  Becky presents the wrap on behalf of the women of the church who say a prayer and tight knots.  The wrap is a tangible reminder of God's and the congregation's love for them and that our prayers are with them.  The wrap has meant so much that some young people sleep with it when they first go away.  Becky presented this wrap to Sierra who is graduating from High School and going to Western Carolina University in August.  Congratulations to Sierra, and Thanks, Becky and the women of the church for such a moving and meaningful tradition!

The young people are not only important for the future but for the present!  We had a great service Sunday to celebrate them.

During our Youth Service Sunday, we had a great time celebrating the girls, their families and the leaders of one of the Girl Scout Troops.  Many joined us at the cookout, too.  Check out the picnic pictures here.  Thanks for being with us Sunday!

Everyone had a great time at our end of the school year cookout with the girls, parents and leaders of one of the Girl Scout troops that meets at GEC.

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!  Thank you for all you do and have done!  You are a great blessing!

This year the men gave a hydrangea to each mother at the service.  Thanks to Jack Bacheler, who arranged for the hydrangeas, and the men for this great gift.  

With Mother’s Day this Sunday, we naturally think of our mothers and the mothers of our children and grandchildren.  At Grace, Sunday we will recognize, thank and pray for all mothers during our service.  The men will also give a gift to all mothers in attendance.

While we generally think of God as our Heavenly Father, God is equally our Heavenly Mother.  It is true that most images for God in the Bible and the Christian tradition are masculine.  I believe this has more to do with the fact that throughout most of human history our society has been patriarchal.

Grace Episcopal Church has many ministerial outreach programs. One such program is the Interfaith Food Shuttle’s Backpack Buddies, whose motto is "Feed Teach Grow".

As Grace's Backpack Buddies coordinator, I assemble 34 bags of groceries that would feed a needy child through the weekend.  This is coordinated with First Baptist every other week and distributed to classrooms at Cooper Elementary in Clayton.  This provides low-income households with weekend nutrition for needy children.

We were thrilled to participate in Avery's baptism!  Here are pictures of the big day!

While everyone seems to have difficulty remembering them, at least when we bring them up at clergy conference!, the Five Marks of Mission (or mission activities) are an important statement of how Jesus calls us to serve in the world.  The Marks of Mission state,

The Mission of the Church Is the Mission of Christ