The Season After Pentecost |
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Late-November Sundays -- some think "Football!" while others grab a rake or head for the sofa with a book or perhaps a pillow and blanket. Episcopalians, who certainly consider all of the above a worthy use of time, add one more thing to their late fall activities: the Annual Parish Meeting.
This year’s meeting will be held at 4:00 p.m. via Zoom, so you can attend from home. Grab your favorite snack, beverage and computer/phone/tablet before you log in to hear about ministries and finance, offer gratitude to departing Vestry members and elect new ones. To join the meeting, visit www.zoom.us and enter meeting ID 867 3018 9752.
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Annual Parish Meeting (Zoom, 11-21)
A Note from the Treasurer
Thanksgiving Liturgy (11-23)
Invitation to Advent Quiet Day (11-27)
Children's Ministry -- Indoors on 11-21!
Adult Classes on Sunday & for Advent
Worship on Sunday
Walmart Cards for "Seraphim Bush"
Food Pantry
Gardens, Grounds, GreenGrace
Daily Worship
Lessons and Carols at Christ Church
A Passing of Note -- Bishop William Sanders
Parish Prayer List
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A Note from the Treasurer (Pledges for 2021 and 2022) |
As we near the end of the year, please take a moment to review your pledges. If you are not up-to-date, please make every effort to catch up; the pandemic, parishioner deaths and relocations have made money tight this year.
We also hope that you will make a pledge for 2022. You can do this online by visiting https://www.saygrace.net/pledge-969083-826068.html, by filling out a pledge card and mailing it or bringing it to church, or you can call the Paula Garner, the parish administrator, at 243-3253. Your pledge will help the vestry set realistic budget goals for the year ahead.
Thank you for your generosity!
Terry Burnett
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Celebrated seer Madame Czscoktoskis has rummaged through her tea leaves and fired up her crystal ball and foreseen that things will get hectic for you around Wednesday the 24th. You may find yourself in the presence of a large bird; she warns you to beware of a relative who, though a delivery driver at the local pizza parlor, believes himself to be an expert in contagious diseases and political science.
Before you face these looming challenges, take a moment for quiet worship with your fellow Gracers on Tuesday evening, November 23, at 6:00 p.m. Calm your soul with scripture, music, and prayer. Just you, your Grace community, and God -- and a lot to be grateful for in spite of the convoluted trip around the sun known as 2021.
In normal years, we've had a soup supper following the service, but we will forgo that this year for the sake of not creating an extra hazard of possible exposures just before numerous interactions with family and friends for the holiday. We fervently hope that this time next year we will be badgering you to make pots of soup and loaves of bread to share!
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Invitation to Advent Quiet Day (11-27) |
Saturday November 27, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Amid a global pandemic, perhaps we recognize in a greater degree the need for Christ to come again. Life in quarantine has exposed the complexities of pain and suffering in the world. As a result, we have uncovered the rich tension of hope-filled expectation. We feel the pain and suffering that exists in the world, yet we know that Christ is Lord. We grieve the current order of the world, yet we believe that Christ will deliver us.
We yearn for the day Christ will make all things new, but we cannot forget the pain and suffering of the crucified Christ, nor can we sidestep the aching of this world. We grieve and cry out to God; we lament. As we get set to begin the season of Advent, the time of hope-filled expectation for the birth of Christ, we will take time to explore the meaning of and call to lament. Using videos, scripture, and music we will take time to lament individually and in community, to join together and share our hope-filled expectations and our calls for God to act swiftly to bring forth God’s kingdom this day.
A light lunch of soup and bread will be provided. To help determine how much space will be needed please reserve a spot by letting David Stanislawski know before or after church on Sunday (11-21) or by emailing him at David.stanislawski@chattanoogastate.edu.
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Children's Ministry Comes Indoors for 11-21 |
Beloved, the temperatures this Sunday are predicted to be as chilly as the last, so we will do our best to physically distance in the Youth Room. Thanks!
Betsy
(Clearly the young had lots of fun for Halloween and All Saints!)
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Wherever the River Goes concludes its exploration of concerns about water and Christians as environmental stewards this Sunday. The group will meet at 9:30am in the undercroft, using a new curriculum called "Wherever the River Goes," developed by a Care of Creation grant from the Episcopal Church. All are welcome to join!
Lectionary Class -- This class, which looks at and discusses the lectionary prescribed for each Sunday, has resumed after a pandemic-induced hiatus. The group has moved its meeting to the Barth Room since the weather has cooled; bring your mask!
During Advent, the Sunday Lectionary class will be looking at lament through videos and scripture, in particular the psalms of lament and Lamentations. Lament moves us beyond mere grief for the world we live in, the pandemic, the political divide, racial injustice not to mention personal grief for lost friends, broken relationships, etc. It moves us to trust in the Lord, that his kingdom will come. Therefore, it seems like an appropriate way to prepare for Christ’s birth. Join us Sunday mornings at 9:30 in the Barth Room.
If Sunday morning is not a feasible time for you but you would like to learn more about lament and try this practice during Advent I will hold a Zoom discussion group on Thursday evenings from 6:30 – 7:30 if there is enough interest. Please let me know if you are interested in this option by catching me before or after church on Sunday or emailing me at David.stanislawski@chattanoogastate.edu.
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This Sunday, we celebrate Christ the King and the last Sunday of Pentecost! Both the 8 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. services are currently being held in the Nave. Please stop by the courtyard on your way in to assure it you still love it; it may feel lonely after so many weeks of hosting weekly gatherings!
Though the numbers in Chattanooga are improving, we are still firmly in the era of COVID and thus a need for caution, so we are asking that all who attend either service wear masks. The 10:45 a.m. service will be streamed online for those who are unable to attend. You can access the service at Grace's Facebook page , and you can find the bulletin for that service HERE.
Children's activities may be outdoors if the temperatures are warm enough; if they're too cold, their activities will move to the fourth floor where there's plenty of room to spread out. Betsy will offer activities at 9:30 a.m. and Sunday School for preschool and elementary-aged children at 10:30am.
Even though vaccinations are not 100% effective against virus transmission, they still remain our best option for reducing illness and death. These vaccines are safe, accessible, and comprehensively tested. Regions where high numbers of individuals are vaccinated are seeing far fewer COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths. It is the best way we have to show love for our neighbors right now, and loving our neighbors is our gospel mandate. If you are eligible to receive a COVID vaccination, but have not yet done so, please do so as an act of community care. Raising the vaccination rates in Hamilton County is essential to the health of all in our community, and essential to our common life at Grace.
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Walmart Cards for the "Seraphim Bush"
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Grace is again taking a group-home under its wing for the Christmas season, and instead of sending you all out to look for slippers and gloves and other such items, we're requesting $25 Walmart gift cards. Tom Carroll and Jerry Evans, in their infinite cleverness, came up with that idea during last year's dark pandemic winter,
and the folks in the group home loved it and requested that we choose that path again.
If you'd like to provide some necessary goods for those in the group home, please bring one (or more!) gift cards to the church no later than Sunday, December 19. You can tuck them in the almsbags; Tom has also planned to put a receptacle in the Narthex. You may also send them via mail or bring them to the church during normal operating hours.
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Though the Beijing Olympics don't start until February of 2022, the Food Pantry Olympics took place last Wednesday at Grace, when Saints Phaen Stone and Richard Hyatt took care of 20 visitors and sent them home with food for 76 -- 44 adults and 32 children. Gold medals for both of them! And for all the parishioners and neighbors who donated the supplies that fed them!
After the flood of clients, we need pretty much everything. Here's our list:
* canned chicken
* Spam or similar (1 can left)
* canned hams (none left)
* beanie weenies (none left)
* Vienna sausages
* hearty soups (chicken, beef)
* beef stew (5 left)
* chili (4 left)
* 15-oz. cans of fruit (none left)
* canned pinto beans (2 left)
* canned baked beans (2 left)
* Chef Boyardee pastas (2 left)
* canned peas (getting low)
* packets of instant grits and oatmeal
* pudding cups (none left)
* pop tarts
Blessings on all who so regularly give us the means to help those who ask for it. Both Grace and Belvoir are the most generous and steadfast communities on earth, keeping us stocked and ready to help. We and those who come for help have much to be grateful for in this season of Thanksgiving.
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Gardens, Grounds and GreenGrace
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Gardens & Grounds: Thanks to the parishioners and community garden members who helped support the purchase and delivery of the 'gold standard' Black Gold garden soil from Winwood Bulk. We appreciate your donation! Meanwhile, we continue to renovate the Free, U-Pick Garden 'down the hill' outside the choir room; stay tuned!
Lisa Lemza & Kristina Shaneyfelt
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GreenGrace
1. Got bluebirds? The first bluebird box systems have been installed in the Free Garden on the East Side of the Church. Jerry Evans is the trail captain, coordinating the weekly documentation of nestlings once the breeding season begins mid- March. We need several more volunteer monitors for what will be our 7-box trail at Grace. It is a fascinating and easy bit of citizen science to monitor these nesting habitats, provided by the Tri-State Bluebird Society. Contact Jerry Evans (jevans1958@epbfi.com) if you'd like to help.
2. We are still roughing out the schedule to start a GreenGrace Group. Thing. Movement. We are currently projecting the following dates:
- Sunday, 12 December meeting of interested persons, 9:30 in the Rebecca Merritt Room.
- Advent Quiet Walk, Sunday, 19 December at 2:00 pm, meeting at Thai Basil on Brainerd Road to walk north on the Brainerd Levee. The path is paved and level; leashed dogs are welcome.
- Sunday, 16 January, meeting at 9:30 in the Rebecca Merritt Room.
3. Upcoming zooms of potential interest:
· “Mission Joy: Finding Happiness in Troubled Times” movie featuring Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. Register at https://interfaithpowerandlight.salsalabs.org/missionjoygroupscreening/index.html to view the film anytime between Nov.18 and Dec.
2. A gift from Interfaith Power and Light.
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Monday, November 22, 7:00 pm EST Cherokee Sierra Club Public zoom meeting. Zoom Meeting link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81321458819, Chattanooga Director Sustainability will discuss the Chattanooga Resiliency Study:
o “In the light of climate change impacts, how do we prepare? A new Chattanooga Resiliency Study has been in the works for some time. Now Lara Freeman of Santek and Erik Schmidt, Chattanooga Director of Sustainability will tell you what the plan tells us and what we might do.”
o Erik Schmidt writes: “ Over the past few years, the Chattanooga area has experienced record rainfall and flooding, excessive heat and wildfires, and the impacts of tornadoes and a global pandemic. In recognition of the impacts that previous climate-related events have had on the region and on the City’s municipal operations, and in recognition of future climate changes, pandemic and community challenges, the City of Chattanooga embarked the resiliency project in April 2020. The potential for future climate impacts to interrupt or impact the operation of City assets and regional services was explored through a series of workshops held with the Regional Resilience Stakeholder Committee (RRSC). These workshops explored potential climate-related risks and vulnerabilities for City controlled asset categories and ancillary transportation, and utility asset category partners through a collaborative assessment process. Risk profiles were created for each asset category by considering the probability of climate events and the severity of impact should they occur.”
4. GreenGrace draft mission and action areas will be discussed at the meetings as scheduled above. See draft mission and intent, below.
Draft GreenGrace Mission Outline
November 2021
I. GreenGrace is an umbrella effort dedicating Christian love for, dedication to, and protection of the Earth. It is
- based on Creation Spirituality, maintaining that Creation is not fallen, but rather, enjoys God's original blessing. Genesis 1: 31 “and God saw everything that he had made, and that it was good, very good;”
- ecumenical;
- local/regional/state;
- inclusive, bridging across disparate regional faith, racial, and economic communities;
- demonstrating and coordinating a range of solutions, large and small.
- bringing a voice of faith to speak publicly to politicians and policy-makers.
II. We are looking for parish members who want to be a part, whether large or small, of an environmental advocacy group at Grace. We have 4 main and overlapping focus areas:
1. Green Grounds: [Kristina, Lisa] Establish this prominent, high traffic location as our 'green witness', demonstrating Biblical principles of caring for the Earth and embodying Creation Spirituality. Love and care for God's Creation. This in addition to providing a welcome and calming sanctuary and respite for not just people, but also birds, pollinators, and all possible urban wildlife.
- Deliberately increase habitat for urban wildlife through structured plantings, retention of leaf litter, and attention to habitat requirements. Provide a permanent water source.
- Increase tree cover and maintain care for existing trees.
- Retain maximum stormwater runoff on site: slow, calm and absorb it. Address erosion.
- Establish certified gardens, with instructional signage. This includes the pivotal certification of our grounds as National Wildlife Federation urban wildlife habitat, providing food, permanent water, cover, and a place to raise young.
- Convert plantings to those native to our region
- Reduce grounds maintenance and water requirements as possible.
- Engage citizen science and teaching events to instruct and demonstrate.
- DELIGHT THE EYE, heal the soul, renew the spirit.
2. Green Buildings: Lower the church's energy and carbon footprint in an array of actions, large and small. Exemplify how small choices add up. Instruct congregants on how do the same in their own homes and businesses. This includes not just building improvements but practices such as recycling and eliminating the use of plastic water bottles.
- Lighting, modernize
- Check cleaning products
- Weather stripping
- Solar??? how? $$$$$$
- Windows. $$$$$$
- Improve recycling
- Improve stormwater runoff, retaining more off roof. How?
- Eliminate plastic water bottles, reduce plastic. How?
- Reduce spotlight and parking lot night lighting (and add some when needed!)
- ???
3. Green Neighbors: Act as a resource to neighborhoods, the city, and to other churches on the care of creation by incorporating fellowship, hospitality, events, and celebrations. Already: open to the public, park like grounds. Farmers Market. Community garden. Open to the public pavilion.
- Increase grounds access from Brainerd Road, Belvoir Ave?
- Free, U Pick garden, expand?
- Open Pavilion, swings, etc.
- Empty lot: VISION???? Labyrinth? performance venue/series?
- Brainerd Farmers Market: education tables and swap/giveaway events (?)
- Arboretum and other community projects, seminars, celebrations
- Coordinate joint action/practices with other churches, in and out of our denomination. (how?)
- Coordinate, advertise collections for hard to recycle items: batteries, glasses, medicine, home chemicals, ??
4. Green Justice: Environmental justice is social justice. Campaign for citizens to care for the Earth and advocate for environmental justice and access to parks and green spaces. Inform and interpret how government actions at state and local levels effect citizens. This includes zoning laws, land and water protection, increased tree canopy in poor urban neighborhoods, and access to parks and nature. Serve as an active witness for Creation Spirituality. Address heavily polluted neighborhoods, and their access to remediation.
- Participate—start?-- ecumenical forums and efforts locally. (how? Who?)
- Network with other churches to exchange information, alerts (how?).
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Contact political leaders as appropriate so that the faith community has a voice in policy.
- Continue, expand Double Snap funding at the Farmers Market
- Food Pantry. Expand? What's realistic? What can a congregation our size do? Clothing, coat swaps?
- Neighborhood/waterways cleanups, focusing on underserved areas (Citco Creek, Chattanooga Creek, South Chickamauga Creek. Heavily littered roads/corridors).
- Find out what underserved neighborhoods want. How? [Tree plantings? parks? Less traffic, traffic calming? Safe walkways? etc.]
Submitted by: Lisa Lemza, Brittany Williamson, Kristina Shaneyfelt
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Grace offers Compline services at 8pm each evening; you can join
& the password is: compline
Morning Prayer continues every day (except Sundays) via Zoom, beginning at 9:00 a.m.; click the link below or paste the URL into your browser.
For Morning Prayer, click here:
or paste this URL into your browser:
Meeting ID: 746 8859 6599
Passcode: amprayer
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Lessons and Carols at Christ Church (12-5)
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Celebrating Christmas carols, hymns, and poetry both new and old, this service of lessons and carols is sure to get you in the Christmas spirit! The nine lessons told as a part of this service walk through the Christmas story, from Earth's creation to the arrival of the Magi to witness the birth of Jesus Christ in the manger. Each choral carol and congregational hymn is meant to accentuate the stories told through these lessons, and to inspire joy and wonderment in the miracle of the Christmas story.
Featuring carols by:
- Morten Lauridsen
- Sarah MacDonald
- Ethan McGrath
- Dobrinka Tabakova
- David Willcocks
Sunday December 5, 2021 7:00pm
663 Douglas Street, Chattanooga TN
Masks Required. Admission Free. Donations Welcome.
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A Passing of Note -- Bishop William Sanders
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Dear East Tennessee Friends,
I write to you with the news that The Right Rev. William Evan Sanders died last evening, November 18th, at his home in Nashville. His family was present with him.
Bishop Sanders was the eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Tennessee and the first Bishop of the Diocese of East Tennessee. At the time of his election as Bishop Coadjutor in 1962, he was serving as the Dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Memphis. During his lifetime, his ministry included all three grand divisions of this state. At the time of his death, Bishop Sanders was the senior Bishop in the House of Bishops.
As Episcopalians, we share in ministry. The ministries entrusted to us now were stewarded well by those who served and have gone before us. Bishop Sanders, who served the Diocese of Tennessee and East Tennessee faithfully and well for decades, now goes before us to see God face to face.
At a later date, we will share details regarding the place and time for a Burial Eucharist. For now, keep the Sanders family in your prayers.
Almighty God, our Father in heaven, before whom live all who die in the Lord: Receive our brother William into the courts of your heavenly dwelling place. Let his heart and soul now ring out in joy to you, O Lord, the living God, and the God of those who live. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Peace,
Bishop Brian
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Please remember: Joseph, our President; the Senate, the House of Representatives, and our Courts of Justice; together with all elected officials, and the other leaders of our country and the nations of the world.
We pray for Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury; Michael, our Presiding Bishop; Brian, our Bishop; for April, our priest; for David, our Curate; for Sarah and Caroline, our seminarians; for our missionaries, and all other bishops and ministers.
We pray for the unemployed and underemployed, especially those in our congregation and community. We pray for the homeless and the hungry, and for those in special need of prayer, especially
Charles Evans, Wilma Laney, Bill Clark, Mary McDonald, Patricia Kelley Williams, Tony Hill, Jennifer, Scott, Julia, Tony, Mary Cooper, Russell, Susan Landis,
Martha Smith, Sue Sears, William Simpson, Neil Robinson, Ash Gunlock, Bill Strang, Sally Cauthen, Mary Lou Walden, Jennifer Thompson, June McEwen, Amy, Deborah, Jim Hinkle, Andrea, the Brown family, Reba, Niysah, Terrie, Alex, Angela, Dwight McMillan, Doris, J.R. Hicks, Libby Workman, Jean Williams, Barbara Reed, Jim May, and Ann Swint;
We pray for Wil Mabry, Jake Dorris, Kevin Kelley, Tripp Mouron, Mike Mabry, Alexander Ross, Russel Webb, Logan Roberts, Jim Makepeace, Sean Benson,
Evan Watkins and all of our Armed Forces, here and abroad;
We pray for Emily Brelsford and Katie Poulos Moore, who are with child.
We pray for this community: For our local leaders; for our schools and marketplaces; for our neighborhoods and workplaces, for protesters and for police. Help us to honor your image in one another. Give us courage to strive for justice and peace among all people, beginning here at home.
We pray for all whose homes are in peril or uprooted because of climate change, for all displaced because of hurricanes, fires or other disasters. We pray for the people of Haiti as they recover from the earthquake, and for the people of Afghanistan during political upheaval.
We pray for those who have died, especially The Rt. Rev. William Sanders, that they may share with all your saints in the full revelation of your eternal glory.
In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer: The Church of Bangladesh. The Anglican Communion has adopted a cycle of prayer called "From Aba to Zululand," praying its way alphabetically through its members on a daily basis between January 1, 2021 and September 2023. The newsletter and, in the future, the printed bulletin, will include the prayers for Sunday; if you would like to see the daily prayer requests, you can find them at ACoP.
In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: Pray for St. John and Emmaus House, Johnson City, TN; for Christ Church, Yankton, SD.
Those in need of continued prayer:
Valorie Lephart, Jeanette Cureton, Wanda Kirkpatrick, Emma Andrews,
Jim Strickland, Michael Conner, Helen Williams, Peggy Fugate, William Simpson, Timothy Penny, Donald Jones, Cooper Jones, Charles Smith, John Woodham,
Elaine Harrison, Marcia Magers, Major McCollough, John Cox,
Gayanne Silver, Heather Nelson, Robert Clark, Dexter and Helen Williams,
Cheryl McCurry, Ethel Rutledge, Lanie Lundgrin, Terri Harvey, Anne Getz,
Michael Roberts, Jeannie and Andy Williams, Jaime Cooper, Teresa Noel,
Tina Knowles, Joyce and Greg Snyder, Martha Killeffer, Robert Durham,
Jessica Ricketts
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