This is a quick reminder of what is happening at Grace this week in Worship and in ways to connect and serve in the next seven days.
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A Message from Pastor Joanna Mitchell
Dear Grace Friends,
Our first Zoom Annual Meeting went well this past Sunday. It was good to see so many of your faces. I continue to say this each week, but it is true: You are missed!
There were 75 respondents that cast ballots for Vision Board during the Spring Annual Meeting, held May 31, 2020. Each respondent could vote up to three times which resulted in the election of Lori Ackerson, Joel Anderson and Brook Vanderleest. Each of these candidates will serve a three year term. Welcome to the new Vision Board members!
Our Call Committee for as Associate Pastor has been formed. The members are Johnna Rohmer-Hirt, Michelle Busitzky, Chad Hadler, Jennifer Kettering, Stacy Surratt and Dave Trapp. We have submitted a Ministry Site Profile to the Synod. On Tuesday night, the call Committee along with members of the Vision Board met with assistant to the Bishop, Pastor John Hulden about next steps. We ask for you to pray for the Call Committee and for the Spirit to lead them in the weeks to come.
The Reopen Team at Grace is planning on meeting weekly to put together plans about safety measures and how to reopen. We continue to wait for guidelines from our Synod. We do plan to have parking lot worship on June 28
th
at 9:30am and more details will follow soon. We know that many of you are anxious to worship together again in person, and while we would love to fling the doors of the church open in welcome, we know that this is not realistic. We need to proceed with caution and following guidelines. I ask you for your patience and your prayers as we figure this out.
My prayers continue to be with all of you, that you would be filled with God’s transforming love, work to be agents of peace in the world and allow God to lead you in service.
Blessings,
Pastor Joanna Mitchell
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Bible Study
Join us for Thursday Morning Zoom Bible Study at 10 am with Pastor Joanna (or the Sunday preacher).
Join us on Thursday mornings at 10 am for a bible study. Bring your bibles, yourselves and your questions. If you don’t have a bible, bring your phone or your computer and we will navigate through bible gateway to help you find the scripture.
The Sunday scriptures that we will be studying over the next couple of weeks:
June 4th: Matthew 28:16-20 and Psalm 8
June 11th: Acts 1:1-14
Join Zoom Meeting by clicking the link below.
Meeting ID: 824 9070 8973
Password: 981662
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This Sunday, we celebrate the Class of 2020. These graduates are a resilient group of young adults. They have grown up with so much turmoil. These graduates are hopeful, inventive and are beginning to make this world a better place. We hope that you will join during this weekend’s virtual service to celebrate and pray for these strong young adults.
Congratulations to the Class of 2020!!
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HELPING RESIDENTS OF NORTH AND SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS
Noisy Offerings
In Tuesday’s “Special Edition” of
Grace at a Glance
, I asked that you continue to send in your Noisy Offerings which will be directed at the end of June to one or more organizations helping those who have been impacted by the devastation in their communities. These offerings will help with a variety of needs - food, hygiene products, diapers, and household necessities. They could be used in other ways, too - for example, toward mental health resources to address the trauma that residents of both north and south Minneapolis have experienced.
While we invite you to write a check to Grace (with “Noisy Offering” written in the memo line), we know some of you may want to give via GraceLink. If that is the case,
click here below
and select “Noisy Offering.”
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Items Needed
For those of you wishing to donate items to address immediate needs, you are invited to bring them to Grace. We will be making regular deliveries to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis. These are the items that are currently most needed:
Diapers (all sizes but especially size 3 & 4)
Baby wipes
Baby food and formula
Baby/Children’s Tylenol
Laundry detergent
Hand soap/body wash
Toothpaste
Maxi Pads
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Non-perishable food items
Healthy (non-perishable) snacks
Cooking oil – smaller bottles, please – not the GIANT size from Costco
Watch for additional information in the weeks to come about current needs and volunteer opportunities. Please reach out to me directly with questions or if you are interested in volunteering.
Above all,
please pray
for all those impacted and all who are trying to help them in this time of great need.
Thank you!
Debbie Jorgens
Director of Outreach Ministries
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Join the Conversation
On Wednesday nights starting on June 10
th
, you are invited to “Conversations on Race” where we as a Grace Community start to talk about race and our faith. We will meet at 7 pm over Zoom. Please come with your questions and your willingness to learn.
Contact Pastor Joanna Mitchell with questions at joannam@graceandover.org
Our format: Introductions (of each other and the topic), a learning experience (either a short article to read or a video to watch), a time of conversation and prayer.
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New Church Administrator
We are excited to welcome to the Grace Staff, Frances Fernandez. Frances will be our new church administrator. Frances is a member of Grace Lutheran, an assistant minister at our 8:45 am worship and a member of our SALT team. Frances has exceptional experience in administration in non-profit and health-care systems. Frances, husband Carlos and daughters Samantha (15) and Stephanie (14) reside in Andover. They also have an adult son, Alek, and daughter-in-law, Sierra, who reside in Florida. Frances enjoys gardening, photography, hiking, sightseeing and scrapbooking. We are blessed to have her as a part of the Grace team.
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The Darkest Night of Your Life Virtual 4K Walk/Run
Sponsored by HOPE 4 Youth
Friday, June 5, 2020
7:00 - 9:00 PM
In your own home or neighborhood!
On any given night, there are more than 6,000 youth experiencing homelessness in Minnesota. When darkness sets in, these youth are staying in their cars, couch-hopping or sleeping on the streets. HOPE 4 Youth, a nonprofit that provides pathways to end youth homelessness, is hosting
The Darkest Night of Your Life VIRTUAL 4K
to raise awareness of what these youth experience and to raise funds so they never have to experience it again.
Whether you run on a treadmill, jog around the neighborhood or walk around the block, you’re invited to participate in this year’s virtual event for all ages! Register online at
https://www.hope4youthmn.org/4k/
and invite others to join you! This is a great way to stay connected with family and friends (while social distancing) and to make a positive impact together! Once registered, you are ready to help HOPE 4 Youth raise additional funds to end youth homelessness.
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Send Us Your Photos
Send us your photos. We would love to have new and updated photos of you all. While we would love to see photos of you in red, like Pastor Hahn here in this picture, we really don't care what color you wear. Please email in your family photos to
grace@graceandover.org
so that we can update your photos in our system. We still don't have 10 photos submitted, so if you are in the first 10 you can receive a prize.
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Worship
Worship will be posted by 5:00 pm on Saturday. Please join us for worship on our webpage, Youtube channel, or on our Facebook page. We invite you to take pictures of your family worshipping together and posting them in the comments, so that we can see you and imagine being together.
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Devotions
The staff at Grace Lutheran are providing daily devotions through our website and Facebook page.
If you would like to write a devotion to share with the community at Grace please contact Pastor Joanna Mitchell at
joannam@graceandover.org
Thank you!
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Zoom Connect Time and
Prayer Gathering
New Zoom Page on our website:
We have created a new page on our website with all the Zoom opportunities that are happening regularly at Grace. This site is your go-to website to join the Sunday Prayer Gathering, Thursday Morning Bible study, and much more. Click below to check it out
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Consider electronic giving on GraceLink. It’s a convenient way to give consistently throughout the year. If you have any questions, contact Kate or Marie in the Church Office or Click on the GraceLink logo below.
If you are wondering where your giving is for the year, please log in to GraceLink. Find Giving on the tool bar. Then select My Giving History.
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To minimize the spread of COVID-19 and out of love and concern for our church family and community, all worship services, program organizations and activities are cancelled until further notice.
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Links to Grace Lutheran's YouTube Channel
and Daily Devotion Posts
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Virtual Worship will be posted online at:
www.graceandover.org
and on our Facebook page at
Grace Lutheran Church@graceandover by 5:00 pm on Saturday.
We hope that you will join us at a time that works best for you.
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