This Sunday’s Gospel • Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus said, “It is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away...[continue reading]. Lectionary scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible. You can watch all of our worship services at ghtc.org via YouTube.

Worship With Our Entire Diocese This Sunday, November 15 This Sunday, November 15, we will gather online, as the Diocese of Virginia, for a worship service led by your bishops, from Saturday's online Diocesan Convention. The preacher is the Rt. Rev. Phoebe Roaf, Bishop of the Diocese of West Tennessee, formerly Rector of St. Philip's Richmond. The worship service goes live at 8:00 a.m. this Sunday! Links to the worship service and bulletin can be found on the diocesan website. You can also tune in to the service on the GHTC homepage and YouTube channel.

Avoid Phishing Emails Remember, clergy members or staff members will not reach out by email and ask you to do them a favor such as buying gift cards. Valid emails from the church always have an email address ending in @ghtc.org so be sure to look closely. When in doubt, please call the church; although staff are working remotely, your voice mail will go directly to the individual staff member's email so that person can call you back or contact you.

Advent Activities Coming Up, Wreaths and Pageant Advent starts soon on November 29 and we have two annual traditions for families to participate in: Advent wreath making and the Christmas Pageant. Both will be taking digital formats due to continuing health precautions and wreaths are coming up first on Advent I (November 29). You can sign-up to receive an Advent wreath making kit to use with your own greens at home here; sign-ups close November 22. Sign-ups are also live for our digital Christmas pageant. Details about the pageant and the link to sign-up are available here with sign-ups closing November 27. If you have questions about at-home wreath making let Aaron Davis know, and questions about the pageant can go to him or to our pageant director, Nick Sollog.

Annual Campaign at 64% of Goal Have you turned in your pledge for 2021? We are grateful for your support! You can make your intentions known with an online pledge card in just two minutes. If you want to donate appreciated securities such as stock to the church please review this document with instructions for your broker. Remember, gifts of stock require extra processing time, especially during the holidays. Because of faithful and generous parishioners, virtual worship continues each week, as does the Red Door Ministry.

Christmas Ministry Gifts (COVID Edition)  Our partnership with Dumbarton Elementary School is continuing this Advent season. If you are interested you can contact Nancy Smith to sponsor a child. If you have sponsored in the past we will reach out via email to you in the next week. Details about the drive will be shared when you sign up to sponsor a child. Everything will be contactless. Gifts will be picked up between December 12-16 to be delivered on December 18 to the families. Even if you have not sponsored a child before, this fun activity can help get you in the Christmas spirit of giving!

Donations for Red Door Ministry Out of an abundance of caution we are suspending donation collections for the clothing closet. Many thanks to Peter Knecht and Roland Boone who have been working to be the coordinators for parish drop-offs and community donations. We will advise when it is safe to once again make donations. If you would like to contribute financially to the Red Door Ministry you can do so here.

Coffee Hour Continues on Sunday, November 22 We hope to see you on Sunday, November 22 at 10:00 a.m. for our next every other week coffee hour! The first 15 minutes are for fellowship, then 45 minutes of discussion. On November 22 we'll discuss religious ways to celebrate Thanksgiving in our homes. On December 6 Kim will lead a discussion about the Revolutionary Love Project. On December 20 meet the cast of this year's Christmas pageant and share stories of pageants past. We encourage the cast to attend in costume! Click this Zoom link for access.

Staying in Touch Over the past few months we have continued to stay in touch with our church family. If you’d like to join one of these fellowship groups, please contact the leader listed below or click here to learn more. Donna Campbell's group will include a weekly devotion and informal conversation with a focus on the positive. You can reach Donna at 804-389-0477. Chase Peak will be facilitating a six week faith-based personality study featuring I Said This, You Heard That conversation resources. Kathleen Thomas will explore Christian themes in art, music, poetry, and literature.

Race at Grace We promise at baptism to strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being. We do this with the expectation of having God’s help. Sometimes God’s help comes in the form of a friend, family member, or sibling in Christ sharing resources they found helpful. This is particularly true when we talk about race and racism in the institutions which we love. If you have a non-partisan resource that you would like to share with your GHTC family, please share it with Kim or Bill. See recommendations about Race at Grace here.

Ushers Needed! The Diocese has approved our plan to regather in church, however we are still waiting on the health markers in Richmond to reach safe levels. When the time comes to regather, we will need ushers to keep parishioners safe and follow new procedures.  If you would like to serve as an usher please contact Bill Perkins.

Vestry Nominations Due by November 30 Nominations are open for candidates for election to the Vestry class which will serve from February 2021 through January 2024. If you or someone you know would like to serve on the Vestry, please submit your recommendation to a Vestry member or Thomas Ewers. Before submitting a nomination, please consult the Vestry requirements and information online. Submit all nominations by November 30. If you have any questions you can reach out to a member of the Vestry, Bill, Kim or Thomas Ewers.