From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Grace Community,

A couple of weeks ago I sat at my desk making worship plans. I read through scripture and liturgies, and I thumbed through the hymnal. One of my favorite things about our hymnal is the online resource. The online hymnal lets us keep track of how many times we’ve sung a hymn and what dates we sang it. It also makes suggestions about hymns to go with scripture.

The best thing about it is that it plays 30-second samples ...

Dear Grace Community,

On Sunday, November 22, the Presbytery installed me as your pastor. Yes, I was your pastor before Sunday. In fact, this was the third installation. That’s a long story that I’m happy to tell you some other time. For now though I want to say thank you.

Over the summer when I learned that the presbytery would require a third installation for me, I rolled my eyes. I thought it seemed like overkill, that we really didn’t need to ...

Dear Grace Community,

In his book, As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner tells the story of the Bundren family. Addie Bundren, wife and mother, dies, and the family must transport her body from their home to its burial place. They plod across Mississippi with Addie’s casket in the back of their wagon. It is a punishing journey. At one point they cross a river, and catastrophe ensues. The casket floats away, living bones are broken, and whatever pride was left is ...

Dear Grace Community,

Please be at Grace on Tuesday night for the same-sex marriage program. Dinner begins at 5:45 pm ($7 for adults, $3 for children, family cap of $17), and the program is at 6:30 pm. Childcare is available.

Same-sex marriage is now allowed but not required in the Presbyterian Church USA. This means that each congregation may decide whether or not same-sex weddings are permitted on church grounds. In March, the Grace Session began to address the question about ...

Dear Grace Community,

“Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say Rejoice!” This was Paul’s message to the Philippians and a good message for us too.

This summer we introduced you to, “Rejoice,” the proposal to enhance our worship spaces at Grace. The church leadership set a goal of $65,000 in order to make updates and changes to both the Great Room and Sanctuary. I was hopeful, even confident, that we would meet the goal, but what happened was more than I ...