Dear Friends,

I was walking Dublin the other day out to the Willows and noticed that the sky over the water at Dead Horse Beach was just striking. The colors and the way it shadowed the water fed me. It brought the line in Psalm 23 to mind, "He restoreth my soul."

This week's psalm is this familiar psalm. The fourth Sunday in Easter is often referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday. So it's probably not surprising that this is what came to mind. It's also Earth Day on Monday, so this too may have made me more aware of how the created world nourishes me.

So this week I ask you, "What restores your soul? To what are you being restored?"

In the Way of Love,

Debbie

This Sunday

Parish Prayer List

Please keep the following in your prayers:

For those battling cancer, especially Faith’s friend and the Princess of Wales, Heather and Prescott,, Ariana, Sheridan, Faith Aroko and Family, Jesse Hurst and Family, Angela Williams, Neal and Maureen Joyce, Arthur, Jane Jane Thompson, Deb Young, Cindy Rhodes, Ron, Gerald Tucker, Allison Mascolo, Melissa Glassman, Max Joyce, Inga, Henry, and Lucas, Mel, Corey MacNeil, Dianne, Michael Towey, Jenny, Loretta and Kris, Deb Papps, Derek Fuller and Family, the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and their ministries, Palestinian Families, for Ukraine and Haiti; the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Salem, the Salem Public Schools and for an end to racism, war, anti-Semitism, gun violence and oppression. In thanksgiving for the Creation Care Team at Grace Church. If you have prayer requests, please email prayerlist@gracechurchsalem.org by Tuesday at noon for publication in that week's e-news.

Social Committee Meeting

Next week, at 3:00 pm in the Common Room, there will be a meeting of our Social Committee. This group was formed to offer monthly opportunities for anyone who wishes to join with others in a purely social endeavor. We are aware of the need for connection and belonging and this is but one way we offer this opportunity to the community at large.

At the meeting, we will discuss who might offer to take a leadership role in one of the community events between now and the end of summer.

These include:

Karaoke- rescheduled time still to be determined

Red food potlucks - after each service Pentecost (mostly sign up sheets and table set up and break down)

Anti-racism craft June (tbd)

Church picnic - all day July 21

Ice Cream Social - Aug



If you would like to lead, or help coordinate any of these events and cannot make this meeting please reach out to Laura Beasley-Topliffe at either

Arakani@gmail.com or 717-712-7447.

Thanks everyone for your support for these events in any capacity.

Peace,

Laura

Peabody Essex Museum Exhibit

There will be a presentation on April 25th at 1:00 pm led by Maureen Bingham at the Peabody Essex Museum on the history of School desegregation in the Salem Public Schools in the 1830s that has modern day ramifications. The exhibit entitled "Let None Be Excluded: The Origin of Equal School Rights in Salem" provides original source materials for the history of school desegregation in the US and the role that such prominent families of Salem such as the Remonds played in this fascinating story.

Salem residents and PEM members are free with ID and Maureen can take 6 guests who do not fall into those categories. 

Bishop Candidates’ Meet and Greets

The Transition Committee, of which our own Kourtni Patten is a member, has announced the scheduling of a series of open meetings around the diocese May 7-11, giving the people of the diocese an opportunity to meet and learn more about the nominees for election as the diocese's 17th bishop diocesan. All in the diocesan community are invited to attend, particularly those who are voting members of the Special Electing Convention to be held on Saturday, May 18 at Trinity Church in Boston.

The meet-and-greet gatherings will be held on:

Tuesday, May 7 at All Saints' Parish, Ashmont in Dorchester, 7-8:30 p.m. 

Wednesday, May 8 at St. Mary's Church in Barnstable, 10-11:30 a.m.

Wednesday, May 8 at St. Thomas's Church in Taunton, 7-8:30 p.m. 

Thursday, May 9 at Christ Church in Needham, 2-3:30 p.m.

Friday, May 10 at Christ Church in Andover, 7-8:30 p.m. (with childcare)

Saturday, May 11 on Zoom, 10:30 a.m.-noon (with special Zoom rooms for youth and young adults, as well as for all others).

Additionally, there will be a "Coffee & Conversations with Clergy, Postulants and Candidates" session on Thursday, May 9, 10:30 a.m. to noon, at St. Paul's Church in Dedham.

Information about Zoom access and other details will be posted at www.diomass.org/bishop-search/meet-greets as they become available.

Welcome spring

Hi to all our green thumbs out there. 

The annual Grace Church Plant Sale will be held on Saturday, May 11 this year. Please think of us as you start your seedlings and set a few aside for the sale. Breaking up houseplants? Dividing annuals? We would be happy to take the extras for the sale. More information will be forthcoming as the date approaches.

Also we would love help with set up, sales and breakdown on the day of. If you don’t have anything on your calendar for that day pencil in Grace Church plant sale “help.”

Carson Cooman Concert

Sunday at 5 pm, Carson Cooman, Composer in Residence, Harvard University, The Memorial Church, Monastery Organist, Society of St. John the Evangelist and Organ Editor, Lorenz Publishing Co./Sacred Music Press will be playing an organ recital at St. Michael's Church in Marblehead on the 1975 C. B. Fisk organ.

The program features music by Karen Beaumont, Katia Farn, and Thomas Åberg as well as the first performance of Carlotta Ferrari’s “Il catalogo di ragni”—a set of musical sketches depicting Italian spiders.

St. Michael‘s Episcopal Church

26 Pleasant St.

Marblehead, MA