Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

Please forgive the times when we have allowed foolish pride

 Or a careless attitude to cause disunity to fester within our heart

towards our brothers and sisters in Christ.

 May we seek to be of one heart and mind with other believers,

 knowing that we are all one in Christ Jesus our Lord,

 In Whose name we pray,

 AMEN.



Call to Worship:

L: Beloved of God, enter this worship in thanksgiving, for God is among and within us!

P: God is our light and our salvation; whom shall we fear?

L: God is our shelter and refuge on the days of trouble, and our hope and joy on the days of celebration!

P: Day after day, we seek God’s face and the assurance of God’s holy love:

L: O God, do not turn from us or hide your face from us!

P: Be our guide and our light instead!

L: One thing we ask of God:

P: That we may live in God’s dwelling place all the days of our life,

 and never cease to behold the beauty of God’s home.

All: Thanks be to God!

There will be an "All Church meeting" on January 29th after worship. We will be discussing the budget needs for the coming year. We are hoping for input from everyone on ways to fulfill the work and mission of Grace UMC in 2023 and beyond.

If you cannot come to this meeting, we will be sending out a letter with all the information shared at this meeting, and a way for you to add your voice.

Monthly Missions

In January our missional giving goes to the Lakes Area Restorative Justice Program.

There are envelopes in the pews, or you can simply put any special giving into the offering plate with a note on your gift that it is to be designated to this mission.

Joy to Share!



Congratulations to Louis and Dorothy Rollins on the birth of their new granddaughter, Liliana Louise, born January 13th.

Your Staff-Parish Relations Committee wants you to be aware of the following: Grace UMC provides for paid holidays and observes the schedule of closing of the Church office on the holidays observed by the Minnesota Annual Conference. The following holidays are observed (dates inserted for 2023): 

New Year’s Day - January 2, 2023

MLK Day- January 16, 2023

President's Day - February 20, 2023

Good Friday - April 7, 2023

Memorial Day - May 29, 2023

Independence Day - July 4, 2023

Labor Day - September 4, 2023

Thanksgiving Day - November 23, 2023

Day After

Thanksgiving - November

24, 2023

Christmas Eve - December 26, 2023

Christmas Day - December 25, 2023

New Year's Eve (1/2

day) - January 2,

2024

We will post this on the bulletin board at church for future reference. SPRC asks that we all respectfully honor these days off for our staff. Please try to avoid scheduling meetings on the days that the church is closed. Thank you.

Grace email changes

 Pastor Jen -- jenmatt20@gmail.com

Ann--Grace office email--graceumcpequotlakes@gmail.com

Reminder--the office is open 9-12 Monday through Friday, if you are in need of assistance from Ann, please reach out or stop by during these scheduled hours.



Jan. 21, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Youth grades six-12 across Minnesota, come for a half-day of serving, learning, an epic large group game, and a hip-hop concert!



At this gathering our youth will be helping to create "blessing bags".

Thank you for your incredible support of this project!

Upcoming Events in 2023

Fun couple's night on February 4th, with author and speaker Phil Gungor dealing with keeping fun and laughter in your relationship!

Tickets are available at church for pre-sale now.

Plan to stay for lunch after worship on January 22nd. A group is organizing a "Souper Sunday" event of food and fellowship.

A new small group started on January 18th using the book--Sensible Shoes. There is an extra copy of this book available at church. It is not too late to join.

Trustees Monday January 23rd at 6pm

All-church meeting following Worship, January 29th

Sunday mornings we have returned to live streaming our Sunday services, but we realize that there are still some issues popping up many Sundays. On our website you can usually watch the recorded service after 10:30am or so. There is a link to our site at the end of this newsletter.



We continue to work on making the online experience better and appreciate both your grace and feedback as we make improvements. Soon, we will be updating our internet capabilities and are hopeful that this will fix some of the issues.

We are grateful to be able to offer our services online and appreciate any gifts received to help this ministry grow and continue.

*We are aware that we have had some streaming issues over the last few weeks, we are working on resolving the problem. We are getting closer!!!!

If you have something that should be added to this newsletter from your group or mission, please speak with Pastor Jen or email the details to her at jenmatt20@gmail.com. The E-Grace is generally completed by noon on Thursdays, so articles need to be received by Thursday 10am at the very latest.

If you wish to connect with me directly and it is not an emergency, please know that I will respond as needed during pretty regular office hours. I am in the church most weekdays from at least 10-12, call the office to be sure, as my weeks vary. Ann has my detailed schedule and can find me if needed. I check my emails frequently throughout the day, and this is the best way to contact me.

-Pastor Jen

Important note

If you are mailing something to the church, you must use our P.O. Box for the address. We do not receive mail at the church, and if you use the physical church address it will get returned and could delay your notices to us or offerings.

P.O. Box 276

Pequot Lakes, MN 56472