This Ash Wednesday Grace will be joining ecumenical partners across Chattanooga for “Ashes to Go,” a nationwide movement to share God’s love and pray with people in the streets and neighborhoods of our towns. You are invited to join Fr. Zack in “ashing” folks from on the Walnut Street Bridge after the noonday service from approximately 1:15 - 3pm. Contact Fr. Zack ([email protected]) if you would like to participate or have questions.  You can learn more about Ashes-to-Go locally at http://tinyurl.com/ashes2go  You can also learn more about the nationwide movement at http://ashestogo.org

Before you settle in for an evening of chips, dip, gowns by Chanel and Vera Wang and the social significance of La La Land, avail yourselves of an oasis of high beauty and the unquestionable good taste of Episcopal liturgy at its finest and head for St. Paul’s for a service of Choral Evensong on Sunday (February 26). The service will begin at 4 p.m., and donations will benefit Metropolitan Ministries.  

This special Choral Evensong will feature St. Paul’s Senior Choir joined by several area Episcopal choirs and clergy.  Childcare will be available, and a reception follow the service. 

Join Grace newcomers Allison Kendrick and Meredith Garrett Sunday, March 5 at 9:30am in the Undercroft to hear about their experience joining the Standing Rock Water Protectors in North Dakota this past November and learn about how this kind of work might intersect with Christian spirituality and the life of faith. Meredith and Allison are both committed Episcopalians who together bring great gifts of writing and photography. An Advent reflection on their experience at Standing Rock was recently featured by the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama: http://www.dioala.org/dfc/newsdetail_2/3182671

A recent purge of items well past their expiration dates has left the church’s cupboard looking a bit bare. As you visit the grocery in the next weeks, please consider picking up some of the items listed below to supplement our supplies.  

Please note these few prohibitions: do NOT donate the exotic items from your own pantry that you bought for the quail-egg custard tart you meant to make for Aunt Bertie’s birthday but didn’t: if you can’t use them, it’s likely that the needy and homeless can’t either. Cake mixes, bottled sauces, maraschino cherries, condiments and pie fillings certainly have their place in the grand panorama of American dining, but the fact that many of our clients are living without access to ovens and refrigerators and perishables such as milk and eggs make such things unusable. Even chicken broth and “cream of” soups, staples in many households, aren’t helpful because those who come to food pantries for help don’t have the supplementary items to turn them into meals.  

Here are items that will help fill the gaps in our shelves:  

• Soups that are ready-to-go out of the can (pop-tops preferred, since can-openers aren’t always available)
• Chili
• Vienna sausages
• Mac and Cheese (boxes fine, but some individual servings are good, since the container can be used for heating other items in a convenience-store microwave)
• Canned tuna, chicken
• Peanut butter
• Breakfast bars
• Oatmeal in individual packets
• “kid-friendly” meals like Spaghettios and other Chef Boy-ar-dee meals

MANDATORY Brainerd by Grace (B2G) Community Garden seasonal start up meeting 4:00 pm, Sunday, 5 March. Preceded by 2:00 pm work session with Black Gold to fill beds. 

General Grace Grounds Work Day Saturday, 11 March, 10:00 - 3:00, RAIN OR SHINE. Digging irrigation lines for the Free Garden and both butterfly gardens is on the agenda.

SOS from the Good Ship ROTA!
An Open Letter to the Grace Church Community from Dick McGee

For three years now I have been boring the Worship Ministry Team with a constant concern about how few Acolytes we have to cover our services. But, in truth, what can a committee do about this?  We have now reached the point where we can no longer keep the duty slots populated for each of the thirteen services we have at both 8:00 AM and 10:45 AM during each three-month ROTA period. Our Creator made things to run in cycles: the sun, moon, and stars, and the seasons of the years, all move through our conscious experience in cycles. The same is true of the ROTA of the Liturgical Ministry of the Laity at Grace Church! And at present, we are experiencing a new low phase. We need help! Not just with Acolytes but with the other ROTA duties as well.  

The New ROTA for March, April, and May will be published on Wednesday, February 22. We will be going into the new schedule with three fewer family units than served in the last three months. These three retiring families all served at 10:45. They included: SIX acolytes, THREE lector/intercessors, FOUR oblations presenters, and ONE Chalice Bearer.  At the 8:00 AM service we lost two adult acolytes, both of whom had served for years, and needed a break.   In addition, remember that our youth acolytes are talented, intelligent, well- rounded students, who, as they mature, become more involved in extra-curricular activities, like music lessons, and athletic competitions. Some are even about to graduate from High School, move off to college life, and continue their Spiritual Journeys as adults that began here at Grace in the Liturgical Ministry. How cool is that?   And, there are other factors: Because there have been so few servers, relative to the need that exists every 13 weeks, we have over-worked – even taken advantage of - their loyalty to the service. They need a well earned rest. Most of them have told me they “…just need a break!”  They want to “…enjoy the worship services from the pews for a while.”  

I am one who believes that God does not give us a problem without suggesting a solution, if we but go to God in prayer. So, I am going to share with you to the two solutions that have been suggested to me thus far. First, beginning March 5, there will be several unfilled duty slots in the next three months. Expect to see fewer ROTA participants at each service. We will ALWAYS have a Crucifer and two Chalice Bearers, at 8:00 Services, AND we will ALWAYS have two Crucifers and two Chalice Bearers at 10:45. The Torch Bearers may be a luxury on some Sundays.  At 8:00, we may break our Golden Rule, and allow one Lector to read both Lessons, plus lead the Psalm.  Instead of having a Crucifer and two Torch Bearers that we wanted for the Stations of the Cross services during Lent, we will have two Acolytes sharing the Crucifer duties at the five services.   The Second possible solution is to recruit new members for the Liturgical Ministry of the Laity. Here is what we need:  

1. At 8:00, we need at least four new acolytes, six new lectors/intercessors, and Four new Chalice Bearers.
2. At 10:45, we need at least six new acolytes, and at least four new Chalice Bearers.

So, I am asking all members of the Grace Church family, who might be interested in adding the Liturgical Ministry to their Spiritual Journey, to give serious consideration to joining this group. Our goal is to get to the place where no person – young or old – has to serve more than twice in every three-month period.  

In addition, I am pleading with you, if you have children, or grandchildren, or nieces, or nephews, or children of neighborhood friends, who are not yet but might be Episcopalians, invite them to come and experience the ritualistic beauty of our Faith Tradition. (Truth: I was confirmed at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, at age 12, because a friend invited me to go with him to his church, and told me I could become an acolyte if I were Confirmed. That was 70+ years ago, and I have been thankful ever since. )  

If this “status report” of our situation has triggered an interest in your spiritual consciousness, please let that be known, either to me, or to Fr. Ken, or Dabney. We will get you started. (And, above all, remember that both Adults, and Youth, communicants make equally good acolytes and lectors.)  

Thanks for listening to, and considering, this situation that impacts our weekly church life.