The deacons are throwing a party for all Grace members who are 85 years and older. If that’s you, we hope to see you on Saturday, June 13, for lunch from 11 am-1 pm in the Great Room.
If that’s not you, but you know someone who is in this age category, please make sure they know about this event. Please RSVP to the church office, 684-5215, by Monday, June 8.
Join us Monday, June 15, at 8:40 am for worship and communion. We distribute bus tickets on the 15th of each month (or the Friday before if the 15th is on a weekend) to people in the community and all are invited to stay afterward for worship.
It is a brief service, and we are done before 9 am.
In early May I traveled to Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, for a preaching conference. It was fun to be back on the campus where I’d lived for three years, and it was invigorating to engage with scripture alongside peers. The conference was called Preaching the Verbs. It was led by two of the seminary’s preaching professors, one of whom, Anna Carter Florence, was a favorite professor of mine when I was a student.
Anna’s emphasis in teaching for the past few years has been to get students to focus on the verbs in scripture. One of her main points is that we share the same verbs with the people in scripture. Abraham and Sarah walked, talked, and prayed. We do the same. Thinking about the verbs gives us another way to enter into a text.
Another point that Anna emphasized with us was the importance of reading scripture in community. She suggests getting a group together each week to read the scripture for the coming Sunday’s sermon. The group is to focus on the verbs, not try to write sermon for the preacher. The preacher leads the group, and the participants engage with the text and share ideas.
This is not something I’ve done much of at Grace with any consistency, so I want to try it during the month of June. Each week in June you’re invited to read scripture with me. We meet for an hour, and we read and talk about the text. I hope you’ll join me. We meet:
We’re calling it Sermon Preview as those of you who come will engage with the sermon text for the coming week.
Speaking of scripture reading, our Disciple Class wrapped up its 34 weeks with the Bible on Thursday, May 21. For 34 weeks this group gathered for two hours each week to study scripture together. Seventeen people completed this intensive Bible Study.
One person summed up my thoughts when she said, “I’m ready for it to be over, and I’m really going to miss it.” I’ve loved co-leading this course, and yet it will be nice to have a break from the intense workload. I think Disciple is my favorite Bible Study that I’ve ever led. The daily readings and study fed me spiritually, so not only was I leading, I was growing through the process.
There is great value in reading scripture and studying it together. If you’re looking for a way to do this, join me during June.
In Christ,
Catherine
Laundry Love is Sunday, June 14, from 3-5:30 pm at the College Town Laundry on 17th Street between Oliver and Hillside. Laundry Love is a national grass roots effort. The idea is to ‘take-over’ a laundromat on the same day each month and to pay for everyone’s laundry.
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The Grace evangelism team received a grant from our presbytery to cover the costs of Laundry Love for one year. In May, we served 20 families/individuals and enjoyed time talking and hanging out in the laundromat. This is an incredible way for us to be the church in the community. There are no strings attached, and people can’t believe that a church would do this.
We need about 8-10 volunteers to do this each month. Sign up at the church or by calling Catherine at 684-5215.
Each month on the first Sunday you’re encouraged to take home a re-usable yellow grocery bag, put some non-perishable items in it, and bring it back the next week, or soon thereafter. This month our contributions go to the Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Food Pantry. All non-perishables are welcome, but consider bringing cereal.