It has been confirmed (and received and re-affirmed) that our Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Brian Cole, will be among us this Sunday.
Because he likes to see each church doing what it usually does, he will be preaching and celebrating at 8:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. alike
; the early service will be our usual service of Holy Eucharist, and the 10:45 service will combine Holy Eucharist with baptism, confirmation, reception, and reaffirmation.
[continue below]
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Bishop's Visit and Breakfast
Mothers' Day Outreach
Life Planning Fair (5-18)
Office Volunteer Needed
Gardens and Grounds
Summer Arts Camp
Food Pantry Needs
Floor Work on Memorial Day Weekend
Coming Soon -- Concert, RoundTable
Adult Vacation Bible School
Meetings This Week
Serving on Sunday
Lectionary
Hymns
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Breakfast will be served between the services, running from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m
. Come share table fellowship with your friends and the Bishop! And if you’d like to help set up or clean up, please come early or stay after the serving ends. Susan LaGraff, the brave soul heading up this enterprise, will be glad of the aid.
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Outreach for Mothers’ Day
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May 12 is a big day at Grace – the Bishop’s visit, breakfast, confirmation, and Mothers’ Day on top of it, which doubtless heaps further efforts upon your head. But if you can wedge in one more thing as you prepare for all these, please pick up a pack of diapers – any size – and/or feminine products – any sort -- for us to donate to Metropolitan Ministries and have some on hand in the food pantry for those who need them. Your support will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you from Outreach Committee
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Saturday, May 18, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Grace Pavilion
Bills! Groceries! Soccer games, laundry, school plays, the dog’s flea pill and car’s oil change! In the midst of the chaotic, sweaty scrum of immediate necessities, it can be nearly impossible to find time to look ahead. Yet look ahead we must, lest our heirs inherit the whirlwind and we ourselves come to the precipice of age and incapacity with no plan in place and little energy to put into decisions.
Grace’s Life Planning Committee has been gently broaching these topics in recent months, and their efforts to aid us all in thinking about these matters continues on Saturday, May 18, with a Life Planning Fair in and around the Pavilion. There you will find a number of people and organizations that will acquaint your with practical options for dealing with matters relating to aging and departing this life. Participants include the law firm of Chambliss, Bahner and Stophel, P.C., TDOT, Ponders Funeral Home and Strickland Funeral Home, Yoga and Grace, Amber McClane, Licensed Massage Therapist, Alexian Brothers PACE, Council on Aging, Donate Life Tennessee, Larkspur Conservation (natural burial options), and Assisted Living Locators. Whether you’ve got a detailed master plan with everything nailed down or if you haven’t yet had to time to spare a thought for any of it, you’ll find good ideas and sources of assistance at the fair. All ages invited and welcome!
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An office volunteer is needed for the 4
th
Monday of every month. Duties include answering the phones and letting people in the door with a clicker. Time: 9:00-noon. Please let Anne Curtis know if you are available:
annecurtis0290@gmail.com
. Someone is needed starting this month of May.
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1.
Lawns
. We've had some high -- about 2 feet high -- adventure lately with Grace lawns, as we've been adjusting to broken mowers, miscommunications, and a new scheduling system. Also, as every year, the great swaths of daffodils are left to replenish so that they'll photosynthesize enough food to return indefinitely. It gets very rough out there as we 'leave them alone'. We appreciate everyone's patience.
2.
The St. Francis Fountain.
We lost another chunk of disintegrating tray concrete last week. In spite of several consults and repairs this past decade, after at least 45 years' service, the fountain appears to be totally disintegrating. According to Grace's memoir, "Salty Christians", the St. Francis fountain was donated sometime in the 1970s as the Courtyard was constructed in the form we now see it, gifted by Clifford and Eileen Whittle (p. 77). We think this beloved piece of Grace has had a long and distinguished run.
We will shortly consult with a local water feature builder, David Manser of Ponds & Plants, whose highly specialized concrete and pond work is of international scope, including at the Atlanta Zoo. Our current options appear roughly as follows:
-- Exact rebuild with current dimensions. Not desired due to shallow trays and pool, with the high maintenance this causes.
-- Informal, 'mountain fall/stream' type feature. This is likely the cheapest option.
-- Formal, courtyard style fountain re-imagined, either in a modern or traditional Renaissance/Italianate style. This is the most expensive due to more precision cutting and fitting.
-- Regardless, any rebuild will need to deepen the bottom pool-- all its pools -- for cooler, healthier water with less of our current intensive maintenance. We expect to install a safety grate in the deep part of any pool.
Our hope is to show designs to the congregation for input. Our initial opinion is that a naturalized, mountain stream type feature would not look very natural in that highly formal setting, and that a more formal style would best suit this area.
We will need to raise money for this effort. Once we have even a rough design we can at least project an initial, 'ball park' figure.
Initial Fountain Committee will be co-chaired by Lisa, Kristina, and Jeff Workman. Any desiring direct input, please join the team at any time:
lemzala@aol.com
;
jkshaneyfelt@epbfi.com
. Congregational input will be solicited both formally and informally, throughout this process.
3.
New Plants
. We expect arrival this week for 130 'plugs' -- small plants -- of native plants to begin restoration of the Welcome Garden on Belvoir Ave. We will post when work sessions pop up for any who may be interested and able to help plant them. THIS AREA NEEDS STABLE VOLUNTEER KEEPERS. Please help if you are willing to take on even a small portion of this long, 25 foot expanse along Belvoir Avenue.
Lisa Lemza
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Grace Episcopal Church Interfaith Arts Camp
June 10 - 14
Ages: preK4 through elementary
Time: 9:00-12:30 p.m.
If you’re looking for a prescription that will benefit both you and your family, consider a good dose of Grace’s Summer Arts Camp. Developed for grades Pre-K through elementary, Arts Camp gives kids – ones from Grace and anywhere else – a chance to explore music, visual art, and drama in a laid back and friendly environment. Some discover an unrealized aptitude or a seed of passion; everybody has fun, makes friends, and enjoys new activities. Side effects include better rested parents who have a bit of time for five lovely June mornings! You can register via Grace’s website –
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Even though we’ve been able to keep giving vouchers past our usual limit in May, we’ve had a number of visits from homeless people whose needs have seriously depleted a few crucial areas. At the moment, we need this items:
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Saltine crackers
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Pop tarts (we’ve got lots of breakfast/granola bars)
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Beanie weenies (pop-top cans)
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Mixed fruit or fruit cups (pop-top cans or the wee plastic cups)
·
Small cans of vegetables (corn, green beans) (pop-top cans)
Pop-tops are necessary for the homeless, since few carry or have access to a can opener.
Thanks to all who make keeping the pantry supplied part of your ministries!
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Floor Work and Memorial Day Weekend – FYI
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On Memorial Day weekend – still several weekends away on May 25, 26 and 27 – Grace’s second floor (Sunday School level) will be closed so that The Shiny Penny can strip and rewax the floors while it’s closed for the long holiday weekend. The nursery will move to the third floor that Sunday, and there will be no Sunday School classes.
Other than Sunday School participants, the only others who will be profoundly affected will be those who need the lift to access the elevator. Since the path from lift to elevator and back involves the second floor hall, you will need to plan an alternate route to the Nave that day.
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Coming Soon – Music, Mythology
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Music lovers, pay heed:
on the evening of Saturday, May 18 (not tomorrow but the next Saturday), the Chattanooga Bach Choir, under the direction of Grace Music Director and Choirmaster David Long, will present J.S. Bach’s
Mass in B Minor
at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $25 and may be purchased via the choir’s website (www.chattanoogabachchoir.org) or at the door. This enormous work is performed but infrequently, so don’t miss your chance to hear it!
Joseph Campbell RoundTable
-- On Monday, May 20, Suzanna Alexander, Emma Ford and Stephanie Jones will present
Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine
. All three have presented to the RoundTable before, and all three are active with reclaiming the feminine aspects of the divine.
The RoundTable meets at 7 pm at Grace Episcopal Church’s Merritt Room. Visitors and guests are welcome. There is no charge to attend, though small donations, which are shared between the Joseph Campbell Foundation and Grace, are appreciated.
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Adult Vacation Bible School
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Oh, the Bible… that glorious, unwieldy, maddening, inspiring and mysterious document at the root of all Christian traditions! We are urged to read it… we do read it… but how many are equipped to interpret it well? If you’d like to add some tools to your scriptural interpretation box, consider taking advantage of a four-day residential retreat at Dubose Conference Center. This singular opportunity for adults has been scheduled for June 19-22, and class size will be limited to 12 people. It will be led by The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Abts Wright, Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew at Sewanee’s School of Theology. “We will be diving deeply into a couple of familiar texts, using both familiar and new tools, to find even more meaning than you already know,” says Dr. Wright. “Everyone’s observations and questions are greatly appreciated.”
Tuition is $400, which covers lodging in Bishop’s Hall, meals, and any needed supplies. The noses of participants will not be held relentlessly to the theological grind-stone; there will be time to relax, participate in crafts and singing, and of course time for worship.
For more information or to register, please contact Michael Thompson, (423)987-2598.
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Finance Committee (Merritt Room) -- Tuesday, May 14, 5:00 p.m
Centering Prayer (Barth Room) -- Friday, 1:00 p.m.
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At the 8:00 a.m. service
: Lectors, Emily Evans, Thomas Evans; Intercessor, Judy Burnett; Chalice, Sean McEwen; Acolytes, Cindy Davidson, Ouisi Hamilton, Thomas Evans, Emily Evans
At the 10:45 a.m. service
: Skeeter Makepeace, Celeste Humphrey; Intercessor, Jane Pickering; Chalice, Sean McEwen, Anne Curtis; Oblations, Phaen Stone, Richard Hyatt; Acolytes, Jim Harris, Laura Bertrand, Jackson Ricketts, Jeff Bertrand
Lectionary Readings
Acts 9:36-43, Psalm 23, Revelation 7:9-17, John 10:22-30
Hymns
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
(Hymnal 390);
Jesus is Lord of all the earth
(Hymnal 178
); The King of love my shepherd is
(Hymnal 645);
Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless
(Hymnal 343);
O love of God, how strong and true
(Hymnal 455)
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