Spiritual Formation for All Ages

Grace St Paul's Episcopal Church

Programs in Jan & Feb 2017
Get Rooted and Grow at GSP in 2017!
There are lots of good things happening for folks of all ages. We welcome and encourage everyone to participate in the wide range of opportunities to get rooted and grow at GSP!
Amy Cormode , Children, Youth & Family Ministry
Catherine Penn Williams , Adult Spiritual Formation Team  
Programs for Children,
Youth & Families (& Everyone Else!)

February Gathering of the People of God:  Love's Avenue of Expression
Saturday, February 11 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Giving and receiving Valentine's cards and gifts...does it stress you out, make you sad, or juice you up?  Maybe the reason this holiday is so commercial and overboard is that it taps into our deep hunger to express our love for specific people and our equal hunger to receive those expressions of love.  Let's get together and explore creative ways to let the love in our hearts out into the lives of those around us.  Potluck as usual.

Questions? Contact Amy Cormode here.
Sundays at 9:00 am & 11:45 am @ GSP
There are no classes for adults on Jan 22 & 29.
Please attend the panel to meet the Vestry candidates
on Jan 22 and the Annual Parish Meeting on Jan 29.
Classes for adults will resume on Feb 5!
Free Online Class!
Free Online Course!
What Would Luther Do Today? with Elizabeth Eaton
This course will open for free between January 16 - January 30

“Jesus is asking the Church to pay more attention to the issues of poverty, climate change, human rights, and ecumenism - and Martin Luther offers a profound message to us in this regard,” says Eaton, “My hope is that Christ will use this class to inspire and invigorate Christians to follow Jesus more closely, engage in positive social change, and enter the next 500 years with a renewed faith in God’s grace and providence.”

Elizabeth A. Eaton is the fourth Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She was elected on Wednesday, August 14, 2013.

C lick here for more information or to register now, for free.
Film & Fellowship in January
Winter Film Series: Building Bridges
Friday, January 20 at 7:00 pm in the Bloom Room (Potluck begins at 6:30 pm)

Deeply moving, The Good Lie (2014), is a film that portrays the real stories of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” starring Reese Witherspoon along with many actual refugees from Sudan’s brutal war. The film did not enjoy major release because of its role in fundraising for UNICEF and other refugee-focused charities, so this is a great time to see it on our big screen!

Eric Carr and Kitt Leonard are hosting this winter trilogy in Dec, Jan and Feb with three powerful, but hopeful, films that speak to the challenges of being an outsider while celebrating those who build bridges between disparate cultures. Also, for the winter, the potlucks resume at 6:30 pm, with a theme of cultural foods!

See the entire Film & Fellowship Winter Series here.
EfM Revisited @ GSP
EfM Revisited (EfM Alumni Group) is a small group that meets monthly for a variety of activities during the fall, winter and spring. All persons who have participated in Education for Ministry, for any length of time and in any location, are welcome to attend!

Saturday, January 21, 2017 at Redemptorist Renewal Center, 7101 W. Picture Rock Road, Tucson, AZ 85743
Group members will attend "Contemplation & Creativity: Recognizing, Affirming and Healing the Creative Heart, a retreat with Fr Greg Wiest.
Cost is $45.00, includes lunch. Call 520-744-3400 to register or go to www.desertrenewal.org.

Thursday, February 16th at 10:30 am in the Bloom Room
We will finish up our discussion of Eager To Love by Richard Rohr and continue our Mezuzah project. Bring a sack lunch and we will enjoy each other's company.

For more information, contact Karen Kelly at 520-429-3637.

Book Discussions @ GSP
GSP Readers Group: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Friday, February 10 at 9:30 am
in the Bloom Room

Muriel Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog takes place in an elegant Parisian apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. Then there's Paloma. A twelve-year-old genius and the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, she is a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu moves into the building. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.

All are welcome. No registration necessary. For more information, please contact the church office at 327-6857.

Quiet Day Retreat
Quiet Day Retreat
Saturday, February 11 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm in the Bloom Room

The theme for this year’s Quiet Day is “The Presence Within.” Many of us sense a form of disconnect and disassociation as we look at the world around us and within us. Perhaps we even consider social action for peace and justice that is found within the Episcopal tradition. We long to find the Presence within so that our action in the world is congruent with our inner spirituality. Join us for a day of centering prayer and lectio divina seeking the Presence within, no experience necessary. Please bring a brown bag lunch and we’ll supply water, iced tea, and coffee. Contact the church office at 327-6857 to reserve your space.

Facilitated by Rev Chris Ledyard and Karen Hansen. Chris is a deacon at GSP and Karen is active in pastoral care and social justice ministries. They also co-lead GSP’s grief support group.
Understanding Scripture @ GSP
For Everyone: Coffee, Bagels  and Bible Stuff
Every Thursday from 7:30-8:30 am in McBride Hall

Join a diverse group in a discussion of the 1 Timothy. In our second year many are attending their first bible study and are enjoying the attempt to put the weekly readings into historical prospective while finding current application.  All materials are provided. Drop-ins are welcome, and we start and end on time.

Facilitated by Bill Moore, GSP Junior Warden.
Bible Women
3 Fridays, Jan 20, Feb 3 & 17 from 10:30-11:30 am in the Weeks Room

What do the voices of women in scripture have to say to us about our own lives, regardless of our gender? This class studies the Bible through the words of women in the Old and New Testaments. The focus is on actual scripture and its contexts; an optional text, Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter by Lindsay Hardin Freeman is available through Amazon.

The group meets twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Friday. No registration is necessary and participants are welcome to join the group at any time.

For more information contact Vicki Stefani, 520-743-3978 or here.
Weekly Small Groups @ GSP
Sharing Our Spiritual Journeys
Every Monday from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm in the Bloom Room

Each week, in this small discussion group, we focus on a different intersection between spirituality, religion, and culture. We view short videos (10-15 min) by scholars and authors such as Richard Rohr, Marcus Borg, Diana Butler Bass, Christena Cleveland and other innovative church thinkers. The conversation is always a surprise and takes us where the Spirit guides.

Each session stands alone and all are welcome. No registration is necessary.

Co-facilitated by Brian Arthur, Jim Franks and Catherine Penn Williams.
Saturday Java Jive:
Coffee & Conversation
Every Saturday from 8:30-11:00 am
at Epic Cafe (745 N 4th Ave, at University Blvd)

Want to meet and get to know folks in a relaxed and friendly environment? All are welcome to join this long-running motley crew that meets every Saturday morning for coffee and conversation. We never know who will show up, the topic is always up for grabs, and hilarity often ensues.
Programs of Interest Outside of GSP
Sanctuary Art: An Interactive Workshop
January 20, 21 & 22, 2017
St Mark’s Presbyterian Church
3809 E Third St, Tucson, AZ 85716

Join a unique opportunity to explore connections between creativity, collaboration, and worship. Through a series of hands-on workshops, Lisle Gwynn Garrity will guide participants in creating mixed-media liturgical art to be installed in sanctuaries during the season of Lent.

For more information click here.
A Dream Workshop [Note date change from Jan 21]
Sunday, January 22, 2017 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Han University, 2856 E Ft Lowell Road, Tucson, AZ

Tucson's own Sylvia Simpson MD, Jungian Analyst, will offer a dream workshop in January. After a brief introduction to the Jungian approach to dream work, we will work with dreams in a confidential and respectful manner. Please bring one or two recent dreams you have had, with copies for other group members. There will be a short break every hour and participants ar encouraged to bring snacks and water.

There is a $50 fee, payable by check or cash to Sylvia Simpson. If you would like more information or are interested in participating, RSVP here.

Sylvia Simpson MD is a Jungian analyst with a private practice in Tucson AZ. Dream work serves as the basis of her analytic work with patients. She did her analytic training through the Interregional Society of Jungian Analysts when she lived in Denver. Prior to that, she trained in Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and was a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry for 14 years.