Grace Notes Weekly Update

GRACE NOTES

June 22 - 29, 2021

This Saturday, June 26th, the 2021 SC Synod Assembly will be held virtually. We invite you to keep the Synod staff, volunteers, and voting members in your prayers as they do the work of the Synod in God's name.

Pr. Gregg & Pr. Rachel will attend as voting clergy, and Pr. Rachel will also be serving in-person as co-chair of Elections. Walker Stockley & Lori Brown will attend as our Grace voting delegates. We thank Lori & Walker for sharing their time and effort.

Everyone is able and invited to attend as a visitor by watching the live stream of Synod Assembly from 9am to 4pm on the Synod's Facebook page or YouTube channel.

Thank You for supporting the Blood Drive!

We partnered with Oakland Avenue Presbyterian to host a Blood Drive yesterday.

It was a great success!

Thank you to those who gave blood, and a special thanks to those who volunteered to help run the drive!

Click the video image for the

worship service for The Fourth Sunday After Pentecost -

Sunday, June 20.

Click here for the worship guide.

Click the video image for the Children's Sermon

We invite you to "like", comment on, and share these videos!

On June 6th, we celebrated the Baptism of Skylar Guffey, daughter of Hope & Dave and sister of Harper. We invite you to celebrate with us and welcome her into the family of faith and the ministry we share in Christ's name!

On Saturday, we held Ed Miller's Celebration of Life Service and commended him to God. Click the video to watch this service.

Worship Assistants at Grace

Worship Assistants return to in-person worship.

If you are interested in leading us with a reading, creed, prayers, serving as a greeter, or usher,

please click here to signup. All slots refer to

in-person worship services at Grace.

Thank you for being a part of our worship experiences at Grace!

Sundays with Grace

We are currently worshipping in-person and online!

Service of Holy Communion:

Sundays at 8:30 and 11:00 am (no sign-up required)

Facebook Premiere worship begins at 11am on Sundays and is available any time afterward on the Grace Facebook page and website.

To read our most current COVID protocols, including worship protocols, please click here.

We look forward to worshipping with you!

The Endowment Committee invites you to participate in our brief Planned Giving Survey in celebration of Grace Lutheran's 98th birthday!

On June 21st, 1923, this congregation adopted the ULCA (United Lutheran Church in America) model constitution and chose the name "Grace". While they could not have known what the world would look like 98 years later, they did know they wanted to make an impact in the world in God’s name. 98 years later, that is still true! We continue to work for God’s glory here at Grace and intend to continue that work for many years to come.

Part of our ability to support ministries comes from our Endowment. The Endowment provides grants for unbudgeted ministries here at Grace and in our community, allowing us to follow the Spirit’s guidance where it blows!

The Endowment Committee is tasked with overseeing and growing the Endowment on Grace’s behalf, and we need your input to continue to do this work well. We want to know your thoughts related to matters of estate planning and leaving a legacy through a gift to the church.

The facts don't lie…

+35% of members want to leave a gift to the church but never get around to doing it.

+70% of people who establish charitable giving in their wills end up not giving any donations to those charities, due to improper will setup.

+The ELCA provides a Regional Gift Planner free of charge to assist with your estate plan.

Please provide feedback on our Planned Giving Survey today. The survey takes less than 5 minutes to complete and will be available through July 4th. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and helping us support Grace’s ministry for years to come! If you’d like to learn more about Grace’s Endowment Fund, please click here.

Partnership Update

We're already at the 3 month mark of our yearlong Outreach Partnerships! This week, we have an update from Community Café

Community Café is a non profit organization which strives to feed people. All are welcome and no one is ever asked why they are there. Prior to the pandemic Community Café was open to the public and people were served as if they were in a restaurant. The idea is to make them feel at home. People are encouraged to meet and get to know their neighbors as well as make new friends. It is a time for fellowship. At this time, people come and take the prepared food home. Fresh made meal menus are changed weekly, providing nutrition and variety. They also deliver meals to the homebound. Community Café has a food truck which goes out into the neighborhood and hands out free hot food.

Bob Wasserman, Pastor Rachel, and I have met with Don Murfin who runs the program. Don is very excited about getting our church involved in this work and looks forward to collaborating with us. In the future, Don will come give us a presentation about this program; we’ll be sure to share when that date is set!

In the meantime, there is great opportunity for our congregation to volunteer and get involved. People are needed to cut and chop, cook, and package food. Community Café also need volunteers to help distribute food from the food truck. If you’d like to get involved in this way, please contact Linda Ranges, who can point you in the right direction.

-Linda Ranges, co-liaison

The Health and Wellness Committee is pleased to announce an update for the First Aid Kits and First Aid Stations at Grace.

The First Aid Kits have been refreshed and restocked. To find out more click here.

Camera Operators Needed

for

Growing the Reach of the Gospel!

Now that we have achieved our goal of installing a great camera in the Sanctuary, we need camera operators! We are continuing to add back music and participation to our in-person worship services, and we want to be able to capture those pieces well for our recordings and eventual live-streaming.

Much like our sound panel operators, camera operators will be scheduled to help on Sunday mornings. You will be trained to use the software to guide the camera and computer (we promise it's easier than you may think - mainly clicking buttons!).

In participating in this ministry, you are helping Grow the Reach of the Gospel, sharing our service and God's word beyond our walls.

If you'd like to be part of this Gospel-sharing ministry, please contact Craig Allen here.

As part of Youth Sunday, three of our High School Seniors shared their faith stories. We have recorded those testimonies, as well as the Quillow presentation at 11, in this video. We encourage you to watch, as their stories are powerful! The Quillow presentation at the 8:30 service is included in the full worship video for the day.

Camp is open this summer! If you're interested in going to one of our local ELCA camps this summer, click here to check out the programs and register.

We have scholarship funds available to help pay for camp as well! If you'd like a scholarship application, please contact Pr. Rachel.

Dear Grace Family,

The outpouring of care and concern and beautiful memories of Larry have been so appreciated by our family.

Though this is a difficult time, I have great faith that Larry is free from his earthly burdens and is now able to enjoy his new heavenly home.

God's Peace and blessings to you all.

With gratitude,

Kathy

Congregation Connections

Click the image for

our current

Grace Prayer List

Click the image for

our current

Memorials & Honor Gifts

Click the image

for our

June Birthdays

Click the image

for our

July Birthdays

The Sanctuary Candle for the month of June is given by

Julie and Max Elder in memory of Hazel Bagley and Myrtle Rollins.

The Altar Flowers for Sunday, June 27 are given by

Kathy Schwandt in loving memory of Larry Schwandt on our

53rd wedding anniversary, June 28.

AND

Jeff and Karen Waataja, Eric and Johnnie Waataja, and

Juan and Katie Romero in honor of Karlo and Sue Waataja's

60th wedding anniversary.

If you would like to sponsor Altar Flowers please click here.

Taking Faith Home carries the previous Sunday's themes throughout the week. These devotions include daily Scripture readings, prayers, hymn suggestions, milestones, conversation starters, service opportunities, and at-home rituals.

Click here for the week of June 20

Click here for the week of June 27

Men's Bible Study

Join us for conversation about one of the more fascinating books of Scripture: Revelation.

Using an overview written by Max Lucado, we will be talking about some of the themes present in Revelation and how they impact our lives. The group meets Sundays at 9:30 for about an hour. Contact Pr. Gregg to be added to our group.

Covid-19 Information and Updates

Click here for updated information regarding local sources for the Covid-19 vaccines.

Offering Our Gifts to God

Part of our worship is offering our gifts to God. You can give in several ways:

Give via the offering plate in the Sanctuary
Give online by clicking here (and you have the option to offset the cost of giving online)
Set up giving though your bank
Mail your offering to the church office.

Thank you for continued faithful

giving!