Grace Notes Weekly is a newsletter of Grace Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, TN,
and is used to communicate the upcoming activities of this community.
The Season of Advent
DECEMBER 7 , 2018
Bizarre Bazaar
Are you ready to roast your Christmas shopping list over an open fire? Do you long to add some Sriracha sauce to the mayonnaise of your holiday season? Then come to the Brainerd Market’s season-finale on Saturday, December 8, when the Bizarre Bazaar spreads its strange and wonderful colors, textures and flavors throughout the Undercroft.

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IN THIS ISSUE
Bizarre Bazaar Tomorrow!
Group Home Christmas Outreach
(Seraphim Bush?)
Christmas Pageant
Poinsettias
Thanks from Parish Life
Epiphany Reflective Day (1-5)
"Continuing Ed" Notes for Liturgical
Servers
Joseph Campbell in 2019
Meetings This Week
Serving on Sunday
Lectionary
Bazaar (continued)
Myriad vendors will be on hand with an amazing array of arts, crafts, baked goods and other edibles that can enliven your gift giving and help you become a Christmas legend among your friends and family. Hours will be 10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; enter through the Undercroft doors for most direct access. Make sure to stop by the EYC bake sale to help them finance future missions!
Seraphim Bush? Archangel Shrub??
Some of you have asked if Grace is participating this year in the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Program; perhaps because of the early Thanksgiving date, we were not contacted and so did not get on the list of participating institutions this year. Our brilliant and generous Jerry Evans, however, has given us a wonderful alternative that will help an under-served population in Chattanooga – the residents of a group home.
 
What is a Group-Home, you ask? It’s residence in which care is given to a group of people with similar disabilities. This kind of treatment option can be offered for those with intellectual disabilities, mental illness, medical conditions, or a combination of both. Group home care is also frequently helpful for elderly people who cannot be left alone for safety reasons due to the risk of falls or other injuries.
 
Over 1,000 people in Chattanooga live in group homes. Most of these are adults 19-70 years of age who have no other place to live. Most of these individuals survive on SSI or SSDI each month. The average for those with SSI is $754.00 per month. The group home takes the majority of this income and gives the individual on an average $40.00 per month for incidentals.
 
Many of the individuals living in group homes do not have family to celebrate Christmas with. Grace Episcopal is supporting this population this year by purchasing needed items that many times are overlooked at the Group home. 
 
If you’d like to choose an individual in a home, you can find the information in the Narthex. Each envelope on the tree contains information on one resident; desired items and crucial information such as sizes are included. There are two copies of the notes in the envelopes; please take the top copy and leave the second with your name on it on the table. Purchase whichever item(s) you choose and bring them back to Grace -- items can be wrapped or unwrapped; just make sure they’re marked with the identifier number and initials. If you need more suggestions than are provided in the material, most residents could always use towels or an extra blanket.
 
Please return gifts to the Narthex or to the church offices by December 21 st .
 
If you have any questions please call Jerry Evans @ 423-645-9644.
 
Thank you!
Christmas Pageant on December 16
No sashes and tiaras in this one – but lots of juicy roles from the sublime (angels, Mary, Joseph) to the ridiculous (camels, sheep, and other residents of a Bethlehem stable): the annual Christmas pageant approaches, and a cast of thousands will be needed! Details below:
 
Christmas pageant practice is Saturday, December 15 th at 10 a.m., starting in the Undercroft and moving to the sanctuary. It should be over at 11:45 at the latest. The pageant is on Sunday, December 16 th during the 10:45 service. All children are invited -- child/children/grandchildren/random neighbor children are all welcome. And while attendance at rehearsal is encouraged, your child can miss the rehearsal and still be included, so don’t let conflicts with the Saturday rehearsal keep anyone from participating. Teens are encouraged to volunteer to help with shepherding the young children during rehearsal and the pageant.
 
Please let Maria know if your kids are participating. Email her at mhurt@saygrace.net or text her at 503-4531. 
Christmas Poinsettias
The time has come, gentle reader, to turn your thoughts to the mysteries of Christmas and all its trappings. One of said trappings at Grace is the wondrous poinsettia -- if you would like to donate one or more of these lovely plants for the season’s decoration, the cost will be $15.00 per plant . You may do this in honor of, in memory of, or in thanksgiving for someone. Please fill out the form below and either drop it in the offering plate or bring/mail it to the Church office. We must have these returned by end of day on Thursday, December 13 th , for inclusion in the Christmas Eve bulletins.
 
Your name: _________________________________________________________
 
Phone Number or e-mail address: _______________________________________
 
 Honor   Memory Thanksgiving          Name to list
 
  ¨                  ¨                ¨                  ___________________________________________
 
  ¨                  ¨                ¨                  ___________________________________________
                                                                                         
  ¨                  ¨                ¨               ___________________________________________
Thank You!
It has been a busy month in the kitchen with Parish Meeting, Thanksgiving Soup dinner, Altar Guild lunch and St. Nicholas visit. None of these events would be possible without a lot of hands contributing their time and talent. A big high five to Tessa Spaulding for cooking two great meals for Parish Meeting the Altar Guild luncheon. Once again, the cooks of the parish showed off their talents with a great selection of soups. We had a lot of help with clean up and I can't remember all who helped but want to especially acknowledge Barbara and Jim Harris, Terry Burnett, Pat and Bill Strang, Bill Boren and David Stanislawski.
 
Also, a shout out to Stone and Company for another outstanding breakfast!
 
Vivian Dodds for Parish Life
“Stars, Companions, and Gifts” -- January 5 Reflective Day
Saturday, January 5, 2019
9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Grace Episcopal Church
 
We invite you to join us at the beginning of the Epiphany Season to reflect on the Journey of the Wise Men. Sister Elizabeth of the Community of St. Mary’s, Sewanee, TN, will be our guide as we consider how their journey might help us on our own.
 
Coffee, tea, bagels and fruit will be available in the morning and a simple meal of soup and bread will be served for lunch. 
 
                                   Please call for reservations.
                                   Br. Tyrone Sills: 423-602-1333
                                   Rebecca Williams: 423-843-0657
Continuing Education for Servers in the Liturgical Ministry
If you are a Chalice Bearer, do you ever get confused and wonder, “Where should I be standing now?” or “When do I leave the altar rail and return to my seat?” Some lectors who lead the Psalm have asked, “What is it I’m supposed to say to introduce today’s Psalm?”
         
Everyone has these uncertain moments, and there are several good reasons for it. For one, we have so many people participating in this ministry that no one gets to serve frequently enough to keep memory alive and sharp. For another, we have been through a lot of transitions in both clergy, and in the liturgies we use on Sunday mornings. How long has it been since we used a form of Prayers of the People out of the BCP? Thankfully, the transitions are over, and we can settle back into a consistent new normal.
 
Every change brings new expectations, and new habits have to become ingrained in our memory as Liturgical Ministers. In an effort to keep learning alive, or refreshed learning continuously available, a new feature will be added to the weekly and quarterly ROTA schedules that come to you from Jeff Bertrand. Beginning next week, each schedule will also include a single, specific instruction of interest to each person who serves in the relevant role. Hopefully, this will make periodic refresher classes unnecessary.
 
There are two major goals for this plan: First, to increase the degree of consistency with which each task is performed from Sunday to Sunday; and secondly, to increase the comfort and the confidence of every one of our Liturgical Ministers that they know what is to be done and that they are doing it effectively. 
 
So, if you serve in one or more capacity in the worship at Grace, look for, read, and inwardly digest these guidelines in every mailing of ROTA. Even if the current edition doesn’t apply to you, hopefully you’ll find it interesting and informative.
 
Dick McGee
Joseph Campbell RoundTable 2019
2019 is our tenth year as a RoundTable.  One of the suggestions/critiques of this program is that often people would like more of Campbell's work. So, this year, we're taking the theme: Return to the Source.
 
Teams of presenters will present on a book each month. Their presentations will still be their own Hero's Journey, but with the focus on this specific book. The book selections were not easy, but often with someone in mind, a particular book seemed a natural fit.
 
Several have asked for the book list in advance. If you would like to make an order of Campbell's books for the coming year (or others from his extensive list), please let me know; if we make a large order through the Joseph Campbell Foundation, we can receive a close-to 50% discount from the publisher. If all of the books are sent to one address, then we save there as well. Please let me know no later than December 10 is you’d like to order.
 
This seems to be a good time to delve into the depths that Campbell offers. He is very personable on videos. His writings are more challenging.  
 
Many thanks for your interest,
Diana
 
Current list for 2019:
January 21:  The Hero With a Thousand Faces  
February 18:   Myths of Light: Eastern Metaphors of the Eternal
March 18:    Romance of the Grail
April 15:  Thou That Art:   
May 20:  Goddesses
June 17:  Mythic Worlds, Modern Words: Campbell on the Art of James Joyce
July 15 (or Aug. 19):  The Ecstasy of Being (Dance)
August 19:  Asian Journals (Two books: Sake and Satori and Baksheesh and Brahman )
September 16:  The Inner Reaches of Outer Space
October 21:  Masks of God (four-parts, to be presented by different people)
November 18:  The Hero's Journey or The Mythic Image
 
Happy reading in 2019,
Diana Peterson
MEETINGS THIS WEEK
Finance Committee (Merritt Room) -- Tuesday, December 11, 5:30 p.m.
Centering Prayer (Barth Room) -- Friday, 1:00 p.m.
Serving This Sunday
At the 8:00 a.m. service:  Wreath Lighting, Cindy Davidson, Emily Evans, Thomas Evans; Lectors, Emily Evans, Thomas Evans; Intercessor, Katie Walters; Chalice, Jim Dorris; Acolyte, Cindy Davidson; Usher, Mike Revenig; Greeter, Vivian Dodds
 
At the 10:45 a.m. service: Wreath Lighting, Roberta Fish; Lectors, TBA, Paul Thomas; Intercessor, Will Benson; Chalice, Diana Peterson, Andy Belcher; Oblations, Frank and Ann Watkins; Acolytes, Mary Cooper, Ouisi Hamilton, Jeff Bertrand; Lead Usher, Jim Alverson; Greeter, Anne Curtis; Webcast (camera, sound), Adam Bryan, Bill Boren

Lectionary Readings
Baruch 5:1-9, Canticle 16; Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 3:1-6
(texts can be found at http://www.lectionarypage.net/ )

Hymns
Hark, a thrilling voice is sounding (Hymnal 59); Blessed be the God of Israel (Canticle 16 -- Hymnal 444); Prepare the way, O Zion (Hymnal 65); Comfort, comfort ye, my people (Hymnal 67); Savior of the nations, come! (Hymnal 54); On Jordan's bank, the Baptist's cry (Hymnal 76)
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