A Message from The Rev. Tina Rathbone

Today I thank God for the clear thinking, deep feeling ones who help keep our hearts open and our vision clear. Alice Walker did this for me this past week with a single line from her novel, The Color Purple:

People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool in the world can see he is always trying to please us back.


Are you in touch with this truth right now? It can be hard to be, of course, especially during these short, late-winter days of Lent, when so much of the world is so buried in grief. But it is true nonetheless, I believe - always and everywhere and no matter what. So however you are, and wherever you are, is there some small thing you can think of that might help open you to God’s desire to please you today? Why not try it, and see….

PSALM WORKSHOP

Tuesdays through March 21

7:00 – 8:00 PM over Zoom


Discover again how

Joy, Gratitude, Grief, Rage, Lament,

Peace, Fear, and New Life

are all

aspects of a faithful life lived

in partnership with God.


For Zoom link:

Click Here

Meeting ID: 177 160 858

Passcode: 917937

Help us buy an icon written by Ukrainian iconographies on the lids of a wooden ammunition box. All proceeds from these beautiful works of life affirming art support the Pirogov First Volunteer mobile hospital which brings medical professionals into the war zone of eastern Ukraine to treat wounded soldiers. Since the Icons from Ammo Boxes project began, the mobile hospital has served 50,000 patients - saving or repairing many lives.


No donation is too small —or too large! Just make out a check to Grace Church and add Icons from Ammo Boxes on the memo line.


Thank you - and may peace soon reign again.

The Rev. Cristina Rathbone

GIDEON'S GARDEN

Stay warm!    

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

The People's Pantry


If anyone wants to volunteer at the People’s Pantry, there are shifts on Mondays from 3:30PM to 5:30PM, Thursdays from 8:30AM to 10:30AM and Thursdays 10:30AM to 12:30PM. Here’s the link:

https://www.thepeoplespantrygb.org/volunteer

Announcement from the Communications Office
Donate to Episcopal Relief & Development
MAKE AN URGENT GIFT-DONATE NOW Your immediate support will help Episcopal Relief & Development and other Anglican partners provide humanitarian assistance to people fleeing the violence in Ukraine. By contributing today you will join our online...
support.episcopalrelief.org

Welcome Mats Made by Refugees | Thistle Farms Global

Handwoven and handmade by refugees in Greece, these welcome mats serve as a symbol of welcome and acceptance for refugees. Perfect to use in your home as a wall hanging or floor mat. Feel good about the products you buy at Thistle Farms and support refugees. Order yours today!

Love Welcomes.

thistlefarms.org

Babies are placed in the Home when their mother has died and they cannot be cared for at home.

It costs about $1,500 to support a baby over the time needed for the child to grow old enough to return to their home. Many years ago we at Grace decided to support babies at the Mampong Babies Home in Ghana at the rate of $1,500 per year. Your donations help us reach that goal each year. You can bring money or checks to church on Sundays and place in the jar near the Welcome Table or send a check to:


Grace Church,

P.O. Box 114,

Great Barrington, MA 01230.

LEARNING AND DISCOVERY
Becoming Beloved Community

“I was born by a golden river and in the shadow of two great hills, five years after the Emancipation Proclamation…”

—W. E. B. Du Bois, born February 23, 1868, Great Barrington MA

On February 23, the birthday and Great Barrington Town Day of W.E.B. Du Bois, Grace Church sent $1500 with a letter and list of Negro Spirituals incuded in our 2022 worship to the Du Bois Freedom Center. For the second year in a row, this sum is donated in honor of our indebtedness for royalties never paid to enslaved Africans for the songs they sang to survive their experience. In 2022 we sang/played 44 Negro Spirituals in our worship, all of which strengthened us in our faith in God whose love for us and our worth always exceeds our own.

Daylong DISMANTLING RACISM Trainings by Zoom 2023

offered by the Diocese of Atlanta

Click here for more information

TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

 

Our reading for this week was on evil. There is a branch of theology called 'theodicy,' which seeks to respond to the challenge that if God is all good, all powerful and all-knowing then why is there evil in the world?  Our conversation led us to undertake a reflection on the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. 

 

Merciful and wise God 

Who gives us the freedom to choose,

equip us to discern the conflict between good and evil,

so we may uphold your Truth and work to build a healthy world for all, through the love of Jesus.

AMEN

 

Announcement from the Communications Office

Bishop Doug Fisher established a Compline community in 2020 that continues in faithfulness five nights a week. In addition to the Rt. Rev. Mark Beckwith and the Very Rev. Jim Munroe, Licensed Lay Worship Leaders will be added for Thursday and Friday evenings. Zoom info is available HERE.

Daily Lenten Meditations

returns for Lent 2023

Lent invites us to reflect on our relationships with God, each other, and the Earth upon which all life depends. The Creation Care Leadership Circle invites you to sign up to receive an inspirational daily meditation during the Forty Days of Lent.


Our inaugural series in 2022 was so warmly received that we’ve prepared a fresh collection of quotes and images for 2023. The quotes come from many sources as we honor the wisdom of many voices and traditions.


Please join us as we contemplate the gift of the natural world and our calling to reconcile humanity with the rest of God’s creation.


Sign up here



Lent 2023: Resources, Opportunities

Online Retreat with the Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas

Healing judgment:

A Lenten online retreat



Led by the Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas

Saturday, March 18

9:30 a.m. – 12 Noon • Online (free)


Lent invites us to look deeply into our lives and into the society in which we participate. How is God stretching us to live at our best? How is God calling us to wake up from our dull habits of thought and behavior and to see clearly where love urges us to change? Many people dread (and avoid) the traditional Lenten practices of self-examination and repentance because we fear that these practices will drag us into harsh self-criticism and self-attack. This retreat will encourage us to question our kneejerk self-judgment and instead to open ourselves to the healing judgment of a loving God who sees our preciousness and seeks our wholeness.


Through silence, guided meditation, personal reflection, and small group sharing we aim to create a space in which we can grow in self-awareness, self-acceptance, and compassion for ourselves, each other, and our wounded, magnificent world.

Please bring a candle, Bible, paper/pen for journaling, art supplies (if you have some), and comfortable clothes for an optional walk outside. To register, visit here.


This retreat is sponsored by both Episcopal dioceses in Massachusetts and by Southern New England Conference, United Church of Christ.

REGISTER

REGISTER

Province 1: The Episcopal Church in New England

Conversations

with Noted Speakers


The Province 1 Christian Formation Network is hosting a series of online conversations. On the third Thursday of each month, participants will have the opportunity to hear from people at the forefront of Christian Formation. Registration required.


2023 Schedule


  • Mar 16 - "VBS on the go: How it worked in one church." - Sam Burton 
  • Apr 20 - "Interactive Family Church: an introduction to liturgy" - Dean Kristi Maulden and Becky Moseman
  • May 18 - "Confirmation: The Lost Sacrament Finds Fresh Purpose" - The Rev. Josh Hosler
  • Jun 15 - "Atrium for Everyone: Incorporating practices from Catechesis of the Good Shepherd or Godly Play into any program" - The Rev. Joyce Scherer-Hoock


Register here

I WANT SOME FRIENDS

THIRD SUNDAY SUPPER


Join us for lively conversation

and fellowship on

March 19, 6:00 PM

at

TBD

ALL are welcome!

Separate checks

For more information contact

George Raymond.




BOOKS AND BREAD

Will meet on Wednesday, March 8,

at 6:00 PM to discuss

Notes FROM A

SMALL ISLAND

by Bill Bryson


Join us. All are welcome!

Questions? Please contact Peter Kirchoff.


For Zoom:

Click Here

Meeting ID: 177 160 858

Password: 917937

or call 646 558 8656 US (New York)


MOVIE NITE


Watch at home at home then,

Join us for a discussion of

TBD

on April 6, at 7:00 PM on Zoom.


To join this Zoom meeting

Click Here

Meeting ID: 177 160 858

Password: 917937

PRAYERS AND CARES

Step into Grace 

Where strangers become friends 


We are an Open and Affirming church. Every one of every age, race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental ability, or economic status is invited to join us as together we live

out the Gospel message of love, forgiveness, service, and justice.

No matter where you are in your spiritual journey- you are welcome here.



Third Sunday in Lent

March 12, 2023

at 10:00 AM

In person & live-streamed

on ZOOM

Please visit our website: 

https://graceberkshires.org/visitor/

for up-to-date information and a link to the digital service booklet.


Celebrant and Officiant:

The Rev. Tina Rathbone


Click here for WEB site ROTA

ZOOM INVITATIONS 

FOR GRACE CHURCH


Third Sunday in Lent

March 12, 2023

at 10:00 AM

For Zoom

Click Here

Meeting ID: 177 160 858

Passcode: 917937

Or call:646 558 8656,

(New York)


Contemplative Eucharist

Wednesday at 10:00 AM

In person at Grace Chapel

and to join on Zoom:

Click Here

Meeting ID: 177 160 858

Passcode: 917937

Or call:646 558 8656,

(New York)


Psalm Workshop

Tuesdays through

March 21

at 7:00 - 8:00 PM

To join on Zoom:

Click Here

Meeting ID: 177 160 858

Passcode: 917937

Or call:646 558 8656,

(New York)


Centering Prayer

Thursdays at 5:00 PM

In person and on Zoom

To join on Zoom:

Click Here

Meeting ID: 177 160 858

Passcode: 917937

Or call:646 558 8656,

(New York)


Movie Nite

Thursday, April 6,

at 7:00 PM on Zoom

To join on Zoom:

Click Here

Meeting ID: 177 160 858

Passcode: 917937

Or call:646 558 8656,

(New York)


Books and Bread,

Wednesday,

March 8, 2023

at 6:00 PM

In person and on Zoom

To join on Zoom:

Click Here

Meeting ID: 177 160 858

Passcode: 917937

Or call:646 558 8656,

(New York)


Third Sunday Supper 

(Every Third Sunday)

March 19, at 6:00 PM

In person

More information in the

article found above.


PLANNING AHEAD?


April 2

Palm Sunday, 10 AM


April 6

Maundy Thursday, 7 PM

Worship and foot washing

St. Paul's Church

29 Main Street, Stockbridge


April 7

Good Friday Service, 7 PM

Grace Church Chapel,

67 State Road, GB


April 8

Holy Vigil of Easter, 7 PM

Christ Trinity Church

180 Main Street, Sheffield


April 9

Celebration of Easter, 10 AM

Crissey Farm



The Rev. Ray Wilson,

former Priest in Charge at St. James for 3 years, suffered a fall which resulted in a severe concussion last week at his home in Houston. Although now out of the ICU, he faces a long rehabilitation and recovery. Both he and his husband Clifford Rudisill would appreciate prayers and cards. No flowers please.


Ray Wilson

1204 Joe Annie St.

Houston TX

77019

Third Sunday in Lent

John 4:5-42


Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.


A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”


Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”


Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him.


Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”


Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”



Come thou fount of every blessing

Come thou fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing thy grace

Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above

Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it

Mount of God's unchanging love


Here I raise my Ebenezer

Hither by Thy help I've come

And I hope by thy good pleasure

Safely to arrive at home

Jesus sought me when a stranger

Wandering from the fold of God

He to rescue me from danger

Interposed his precious blood


Oh to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be

Let Thy grace now like a fetter

Bind my wandering heart to Thee

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it

Prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart, oh, take it seal it

Seal it for Thy courts above

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it

Prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart, oh take and seal it

Seal it for Thy courts above


Come thou fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing thy grace

Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above

Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it

Mount of God's unchanging love



Praying for each other and for the needs of the world is a vital mission of Grace Church. To add a prayer request to this list, please contact the Church Office 
office@graceberkshires.org or by phone 413-644-0022.

We supply this list so you may contact members of our congregation who are at home or in a nursing facility. Please hold in your prayers and reach out as you can.


BLAKELY, Rosemarie           


BOWENS, Marina             


BREASTED, John        


BROOKS, Jane        



FRYE, Vonnie          


GORE, Barbara        


HAIDER, Meredith                                       


McCURDY, Deborah


TURNER, Barbara     



Our Prayer Basket

We welcome you to use our prayer basket.

On Sundays you will find a basket near the Welcome Table with slips of paper available for you to write down prayer requests. Please ask for any prayers that are important to you and those you love. You may identify yourself and those for whom prayers are needed, but names are not necessary or required. These prayers will be offered by our healing ministers both during the service and during the week for a period of one month. Keep an eye out for the basket!!


To listen to Sarah Sieber explaining the operation of the Prayer Basket CLICK HERE

(K. Clausen)

GRACE

CHURCH 



Please include

in your daily prayers this week:

 

Members of the Parish Family:

Cathy Haywood, Margaret O’Clair, Mark Anderson, Dindy Anderson, Doreen Hutchinson, Anne Andrews, , Meredith Haider, Rosemarie Blakely, Marina Bowens, Charles Folger, Barbara Gore, and Barbara Turner.



Others we love: Michael Holmes, Debbie's grandson; Julie Mooney, Rick Gore’s sister; Kelly & Elijah ; Denise Chandler; James Driscoll; Livia Driscoll; All those grieving the death of Jack Stedman; Linda White; Stacey Thomas and her children, Claire, Mark and Johnny; All those grieving the death of Ed Hunt; all those grieving the death of Nelda Curry; Karen LaRocque friend of Sue Gore; Rosalind Haywood, Sue Gore's mother; Deborah McCurdy; Joy Milani, dear friend of Dindy Anderson; the Hardenberg family, friends of Lynn Walker; Conrad Harper, friend of John Ericson; Michael Pine, Pennie’s beloved Godson; Sophia, who is grieving the sudden death of her son; Linda Tornicelli.


Those who have died: Claire White, Steve's mother; Jeanne Litterio, Steve White's aunt; Ellen Elizabeth Hilpl; 

Joe Merola; Jim Driscoll, father of Gideon's Garden intern, James Driscoll; Michael Rywkin, Monique Kirchoff's father; Wendy Reeve, Cathy Haywood’s sister; Jack Stedman; Queen Elizabeth II; Rino Aldrighetti, beloved friend of Steve White; Ed Hunt, brother-in-law of Anne Andrews; Faustino Gonzalez Nasario; Ruth Thornton, a dear friend Steve and Andrea White; Richard Edelstein, husband of Pat and beloved friend of our congregation; Hugh Pecon; Nelda Curry; Sam Raymond; Sara Keene; Vanessa Neves, daughter of Patti Poulos, friend of many in the congregation; Alan Sparks, brother of Debbie Holmes; Ruth Crawford; Neil Brandt, brother of Linda White; Jim Santolin, a dear friend of Rick & Sue; Larry Cheek, John’s brother; Patricia O’Hara.


Our world: For all places of violence and war around the world, that Peace may prevail, and human fear and suffering diminish. For all victims of gun violence in this country, and for those who inflict gun violence on others. For people who are suffering from COVID, Those who have died and those who mourn. For all who are alone, or afraid, or despairing. For prisoners, unhoused people, newly arrived immigrants and all our neighbors, near and far.


The many ministries of our local community and the Diocese of Western Massachusetts: For our partners at St. Paul's and the Revs. Libby Wade, Jane Tillman; the Rev. Sam Smith as he begins his ministry at All Saints, Worcester; Christ Trinity and the Rev. Erik Karas; our Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Doug Fisher; and the Mampong Babies' Home in Ghana; Grace Church, Great Barrington; Cathedral in the Light, Greenfield; Chancellor of our Diocese, Donald Allison CREDO;Covenant Relationship With the RC Dioceses of Springfield & Worcester


The Church's wider mission:

The Church of South India (United)


And we offer thanks: for all those celebrating birthdays or anniversaries this week: Jake Pinkston,3/7; Susan Gray, 3/9.

Join us for

Centering Prayer

now in person and on ZOOM



Every Thursday

5:00 - 6:00 PM



Encouraging a practice of silence and stillness we focus on practices of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina using scripture, art and music. All are welcome.

Click Here

Meeting ID: 177 160 858

Passcode: 917937

Or call:646 558 8656,

(New York)

WHAT ARE YOU

GRATEFUL FOR?

In this time of fear and anxiety, it can be easy to miss the daily blessings that are right in front of us. Being grateful is not just for good times. Being grateful is even more important when fear sets a place at your table and heartbreak seems to be in your every breath. Because by being grateful we become aware of all the ways God is working in us. Being grateful is a part of our healing and our deliverance. Being grateful is where our best selves reside.

SHINE YOUR LIGHT

Thank you for giving generously to support the ministry of Grace.  You may continue to mail your contributions to Grace Church, P.O. Box 114, Great Barrington, MA 01230.

WELCOME

TO CHURCH SCHOOL!

Church School Sunday


We all admired the special light coming into the room, reflecting on a dress to sparkle. “Look, God lights!.”


Dear God,

Thank you for the gift of wondering, listening, friendships, and your Love for every person. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

FLOWER DEDICATIONS!

Please place your dedications in an envelope and include the name of the person you wish to honor.


Please note that your $35.00 contribution toward the flower purchase can be sent to the Grace Office or placed in the Offertory Collection.

GRACE CHURCH

An Episcopal Community in the Southern Berkshires

67 State Road/P.O. Box 114, Great Barrington, MA 01230


Grace Church Parish Administrator: Ms. Andrea White

You can reach the church office by emailoffice@graceberkshires.org  and by phone 413-644-0022.

The Rev. Tina Rathbone
Rector
413-644-0022
revtina at graceberkshires.org

Ms. Andrea White

Grace Church Administrator

office@graceberkshires.org 

Mr. Joel Jorgensen
Director of Programs for Gideon’s Garden
413-644-0022
gideonsgarden at graceberkshires.org



OFFICERS

Senior Warden ........Pennie Curry

Junior Warden ........Laura Jordahl

Treasurer ..................Sue Gore

Clerk ...........................Mary Anne Grammer


VESTRY - AT LARGE

Class of 2024..........Anne Andrews, Dutch Pinkston

Class of 2025..........Cathy Haywood

Class of 2026..........Mary Booton, Gino Furio, Meredith Haider


Tuesday's Child Editor Monique Kirchoff 
Associate Editor Kathy Clausen
Please send comments by emailing tuesdayschild@graceberkshires.org
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