Parish News For the week of May 9, 2021

Adult Forum, May 9, 9:15 am

A Look at Stories of the Extraordinary and the Forgotten Mother's of the Bible

with Sharon White. In-Person and on ZOOM

Spring 2021 UTO Ingathering

Thank you to Julia Littlefield who has so graciously served as the UTO chair of Grace since 2004.  She is ready to step down and Melanie Griffis Hooper and Drusie Milford will be taking the reins.

Grace will be holding their ingathering for the UTO on May 23rd. Congregants at Grace have been celebrating their blessings with UTO since 1938!  Please consider continuing the tradition of the “little blue box”.  Drop a coin in the box each day to give thanks to God for your blessings and to show your gratitude.  What a wonderful activity to do personally and as a family.   It is never too late to start!  (If you need a blue box, there will be some out in the parish hall or please contact Lisa.)

UTO distributes 100% of the intake to support missions and ministries in the Episcopal Church and Provinces of the Anglican Communion.  (Our own Grace church has been a beneficiary of grants from the UTO.)

Juneteenth Art Exhibition Together We Rise

Project Horizon invites local artists (Rockbridge area) to submit artwork on the theme of “Together We Rise” for an exhibition commemorating Juneteenth, the holiday honoring the emancipation of the Confederacy’s last slaves in Galveston, TX, on June 19, 1865. Artists may wish to create works with a literal interpretation or a more figurative response to the theme. Up to $2,000 in prizes will be awarded, including a People’s Choice award. For more information, call Project Horizon at 540-463-7861 or email ph@rockbridge.net Registration Form

A Successful Campaign

Grace Church can take great pride in our collective generosity and commitment to our parish through a very successful capital campaign that will provide funding for the renovation of the chancel and nave in our historic church. Eighty-one (81) parishioner “units” (meaning individuals or families) have made a contribution, either an outright gift or pledge over the next few years, to complete our renovation plans in full. We have substantially surpassed our “stretch goal” for the campaign, and we hope to receive a few more gifts before the campaign closes next week. Work on the renovation is on schedule, so we will be prepared for the installation of our new Casavant organ in August of this year.

We look forward with excitement to an enhanced worship experience that will be made possible by a new organ and a fresh new arrangement and appearance of the chancel and nave. Thanks to all parishioners who, by the grace of God, have made this possible.

Bob Glidden

Chancel Renovation Photo Album

(Click on photo to view)

Gathering on Sacred Ground (Episcopal News Service)

On April 27, thousands of Episcopalians gathered on Zoom to celebrate two years of the church’s Sacred Ground curriculum, a 10-part discussion series for small groups that traces the history of systemic racism in America, from its roots to its present realities. (Grace Episcopal Church hosted 3 Sacred Ground dialogue groups from September '20 to February '21 with 48 participants. If you are interested in participating in a Sacred Ground dialogue group please contact Sharon White)

“Gathering on Sacred Ground” was the first churchwide Sacred Ground event, hosted by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and members of his staff. It featured testimony from people who have participated in the series, as well as prayers, music and remarks from Curry. Noting the timeliness of Sacred Ground in the context of the past year’s reckoning on racial injustice in America, Curry thanked everyone who developed and implemented the series for being part of a momentous movement.

Click here to read entire article

Click here to view video

New Front Garden at Grace

After months of planning and in consultation with local landscape architect, Arthur Bartenstein, and Staunton garden consultant, Barbara Brothers, the Property Committee installed a new garden at the front of Grace Church on April 28th. In preparation, church volunteers removed old, overgrown plants and added new composted topsoil. The concept is to establish a fresh, open and inviting space which would appeal to churchgoers and passers by. This is mainly a white garden with bushes and flowers blooming from spring to autumn and includes:

● Clethra alnifolia (Summersweet, ‘Sixteen Candles’)

● Fothergilla gardenia (Small Witch Alder, ‘Mt.Airy’)

● Hydrangea paniculata (Little Lime)

● Itea virginica (Va. Sweetspire, ‘Henry's Garnet’)

● Magnolia stellate (‘Royal Star’)

● Phlox paniculate (Garden Phlox, ‘David’)

● Lilium (Oriental Lily, ‘Casa Blanca’)

● Iberis sempervirens (Candytuft)

And soon to be added:

● Clamentha nepeta (Calament Plant of the Year)

● Convalaria majalis (Lily of the Valley)

● Hermerocallis x hybrid (Daylily Heavenly Artic Ice)

● Anemone x hybrid (Japanese Anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ )

● Tiarella cordifolia (Foamflower)

● Paeonia (Peony, White variety to match existing peony)

And possibly Viburnum x juddii and Trillium grandiflorum Great White Trillium).

The garden around St. Francis will be thinned out, but we will maintain the hellebores (Lenten Rose) and narcissi.

When you stop by church, please feel free to sit on our new teak bench and chairs and enjoy the garden.

Elizabeth Boetsch

COVID-19 Vaccine Available!!!

The Rockbridge Health Center will distribute the COVID -19 Vaccine at the First Baptist Church, located 103 North Main Street in Downtown Lexington on Thursday, May 20, 2021 from 2pm to 6pm. Registration is encouraged and walk-ins will be welcomed.



Call the church: (540) 463-4854, Reverend McKinley A. Williams, Pastor.

Happy Birthday

Jim White (5/1) Elizabeth Harralson (5/2) River Hull (5/8) Kate Holston (5/8) Anne Hershbell (5/12) Caroline Russell (5/13) Jenny Mastin (5/15) Ginny Price (5/16) Elaine Price (5/16) John Dickerson (5/17) Cynthia Robertson (5/17) Emily Hellwig (5/18) Joan Crawford (5/20) Foster Pickett (5/20) Garrett Frascati (5/22) Lyle McClung (5/30) Anne Tyler McCabe (5/31) Ellie Mastin (5/31)