Making Front Porch Music is enjoying a surge these days. Uke Group-our ukulele choir will begin fall practices on Wednesday, Sept. 9. We have been meeting at 4pm. If you are 10 or many multiples of 10 years old, join us. We're playing and singing "Amazing Grace," "Come to the Table," and other songs for worship, as well as front porch favorites. We have room for beginners and welcome advanced players! Bring the family. And, if there's a better time, or if you are a beginner who wants one-on-one time, let me know! Uke Group: led by Martha Burford and Judy Schram

 

In the Book of Proverbs we are advised: "Trust in God with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding." This fall will be different for the choir, as we continue to sing, praise God, learn, and support each other. Our songs will be mostly recorded. Our virtual rehearsals (for the time being) will focus on skills: vocal technique, theory, sight reading, ear training, and will also offer some music history and theological delving into hymnody. Zoomtime will open at 7 on Thursdays with "checking in," followed by some focused work. Focused time will end around 8:00 and the zoom room will remain open for a while for those who wish to talk.Thursday, September 10 is fall start up for rehearsals. 

Sacred Ground is a race dialogue series developed by the Episcopal Church and is framed as a spiritual journey, grounded in the Christian faith - in the example of Jesus Christ and the power of scripture, prayer, God's grace, and the Holy Spirit to help us step closer to the dream of beloved community. The focus of the materials is the history of race and racism in the US.

The 10 part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories. This is a race dialogue series designed for these times. It is an attempt to be responsive to the profound challenges that currently exist in our society. It is focused on the challenges that swirl around issues of race and racism, as well as the difficult but respectful and transformative dialogue we need to have with each other about them. It invites participants to walk back through history in order to peel away the layers that brought us to today, and to do so in a personal way, reflecting on family histories and stories, as well as important narratives that shape the collective American story.

 

Sacred Ground is a Becoming Beloved Community initiative of The Episcopal Church, a long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society.

 

Grace Episcopal will offer this series starting September 23. If you are interested in joining this class please see the registration form above.

 

For more information about Sacred Ground please see

Marc was raised Mennonite in the central valley of California and came into the ordained ministry through Bishop A. Heath Light of Southwestern Virginia, who met Marc already at work in 1981 as an artist and teacher in Sudan. Marc was ordained as deacon at Grace Memorial Church, Lynchburg and ordained as priest in the chapel of Bishop Gwynne College, Mundri, Sudan in 1987. Later that year Marc was abducted by the Sudanese Liberation Army and began to know firsthand the loss and suffering which millions of Sudanese have endured through seven decades of war.

 

Through Marc's letters sent from Sudan, his speaking and preaching in Southwestern Virginia and throughout the Episcopal Church in the United States and Canada, and his visit to the General Convention of 2000, many of us came to know and care about Sudan. Some of us came to share the palpable love Marc felt for the Jieng and other ethnic groups he lived with in Sudan. When considerable numbers of Sudanese unaccompanied minors from African refugee camps began arriving in American cities,many parishes, including St. James, Roanoke, and Grace, Lexington were prepared to open their doors and hearts.

 

Over the past seven years, the hope for a prosperous, religiously tolerant, and sovereign South Sudan has turned to ashes in the mouths of its citizens. The churches of South Sudan, including the strong Episcopal Church, have bravely labored to reconcile revenge seekers and to hold soldiers and elected officials to account. Friends of the now two Sudans have grown weary of helping - including the African Union; the governments of Norway, UK and the United States; and American companion dioceses linked to dioceses in the Sudans.

 

Grace Church has not grown weary. Grace Church has remembered

	Sara Cleto Rial

. On Labor Day weekend one year ago, Grace Church welcomed Justin Badi Arama, Archbishop of South Sudan, and members of the South Sudanese diaspora from around theU.S. to meet with you here in Lexington. One of those Diaspora leaders, Sara Cleto Rial, has recently returned home and assumed the office of governor of one of the ten states of South Sudan.Sarah embodies our hope for integrity in government.  

When you pray for the one holy catholic church throughout the world, remember Sarah. Remember Archbishop Arama. In Christ, we belong to them. In Christ, they belong to us. I know you will remember Marc Nikkel, who belongs with the saints.