Life With Grace | February 6
- Grace Episcopal Church
- 15 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Dear Friend,
Last weekend clergy and lay delegates in Diocesan convention elected the Reverend Karin MacPhail as 7th Bishop of Southwestern Virginia and conducted all other business including the budget and elections to various committees. In addition we voted to pray for several leaders of the Episcopal Church in South Sudan as that country suffers through the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and a resolution expressing grief for those killed in Minneapolis and commitment to work for just immigration laws.
The spirit of the convention was extraordinarily congenial, constructive, and forward looking. I was especially happy to see Sarah and Harrison Edgar singing with the youth of the Diocese on Sunday morning.
This Sunday we hear Jesus tell us we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The we is all who are trying to live in the kingdom of the Father as taught by the Son - doing unto others (friends, strangers, even enemies) as we would have them do unto us, striving to do the will of the Father on earth as in heaven. Matthew 7:12, 6:10
Salt and light are always only good for others. Light doesn't illuminate itself. It does no good to look at it. But it does a great deal of good to shine it into dark places where suffering is often hidden, covered over. Salt is no good on its own. No one eats a mouthful of it. Salt enhances the flavors of other foods. So the salt of God's love and justice restores dignity and goodness to each creature.
After convention I gathered with over a hundred people from our community for a little salt and light at Randolph Street United Methodist Church in an interfaith vigil to transform grief into hope and action. The names of people who have died in ICE detention over the past six months were read with dignity and votive candles were lit in their honor. Martha Burford led us in songs that unified and lifted spirits. Mohammed Kamara and Adam Schultz offered inspirational reflections. We left with a bit of clarity about our next steps as people who are loved by God.
Let us keep praying for our elected leaders, including our Bishop elect, Karin. And keep praying for everyone suffering in the shadows. And keep praying that the people of God can bring the salt of dignity and the light of justice to a world that always needs full draughts of God's grace and love.
With Gratitude,
Tuck Bowerfind (he/him)
Rector | Grace Episcopal Church
Worship Services | The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany | Sunday, February 8th
Holy Eucharist Rt I | 8 a.m. | Zoom and In-Person
Christianity and Culture | 9:15 a.m. | Zoom and In-Person
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8th - Churches of the Valley - Katharine Brown - The Church of England was extended to the Virginia colony in 1607 when Jamestown was settled and became the established church, with a parish church for each county (sometimes two,) and chapels of ease for convenience of worshippers, with a settled Anglican minister on a glebe farm. Most colonists were English and a part of this official church. This was NOT the case west of the Blue Ridge, when settlers began coming into the Great Valley of Virginia from Pennsylvania in the 1730s. Most of them were not Anglicans, as they did not come from England. They were dissenters. Their origins were in various German principalities where the Lutheran or Reformed churches were established, or Scotland where the Presbyterian Church was established, or were anabaptists or Quakers who dissented from any established church. The religious dynamics of the Valley differed sharply from the rest of Virginia and afforded an interesting study when the established church came on the scene. This session will look at how the established church functioned in the colonial Valley, the role the Valley played in the development of religious liberty and disestablishment of the Church in the Revolutionary era, and how the new Episcopal Church learned to be just one denomination in a pluralistic society in the years before the Civil War.
Upcoming Christianity and Culture Session
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15th - Cecil Francis Humphreys Alexander - Katharine Brown - Cecil Francis Humphreys Alexander, wife of William Alexander, Bishop of Derry and Archbishop of Armagh, was one of the leading hymn writers in the Anglican Church in the 19th century, several of whose hymns are familiar to every Episcopalian as well as to most Protestants and even some Roman Catholics. The opening line of her best-known hymn, "All Things Bright and Beautiful," has become a commonplace phrase in our language. A Dublin-born member of the Anglo-Irish gentry, she was raised in a strongly evangelical family with a service ethos, yet married an Oxford-educated clergyman influenced by Keble and Newman and the Tractarian Movement. Fanny, as she was called, founded a school for deaf children, was involved in relief efforts in the Great Famine era, and was a pioneer in the religious education of children with her book "Hymns for Little Children" that teaches the Christian year through some classics such as the Christmas hymn "Once in Royal David's City." There is much more to this interesting woman, whose life in her beloved Ireland mirrored the movements and passions of a tumultuous century in that divided land.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd - 1st Sunday of Lent - Focus on Faust - Roger Crockett - Roger will speak about the Faust legend in German literature from the middle ages to the nineteenth century with most of the emphasis on Goethe's monumental two-part drama completed in 1831. Goethe uses a primarily Christian framework for the pact Faust makes with the devil, but the work transcends the boundaries of any one religion, or even religion at all. Its surprising ending mixes the Christian reliance on God's love with humanistic ideals and a heavy dose of mysticism.
SUNDAY, MARCH 1st - 2nd Sunday of Lent - Sermon on the Mount - Anne Hansen
SUNDAY, MARCH 8th - 3rd Sunday of Lent - Sermon on the Mount - Anne Hansen
SUNDAY, MARCH 15th - 4th Sunday of Lent - Christianity & Roots of Common Law - David Partlett
SUNDAY, MARCH 22nd - 5th Sunday of Lent - American Church/Changing Beliefs, Practices and Affiliations - Jon Eastwood
Holy Eucharist Rt II | 10:30 a.m. | YouTube and In-Person
The nursery is available during our services.
Adults and older Youth trained in Safe Church are needed to assist in the nursery from 9-noon. We can pay $15/hour. Volunteers also welcome. Please contact James Keane for more information and to offer assistance.
First Sunday Lunch | Immediately following the 10:30 a.m. Service
Celtic Contemplative Service with Healing Prayers and Music | 5 p.m. | In-Person
Pancake Brunch
February 15 following the 10:30 am service in the Parish Hall. The Men's Breakfast Group will be serving a pancake brunch with all the fixins! This is our lead up to Lent which starts on Ash Wednesday, February 18.
Ash Wednesday Services
Join us on Wednesday February 18 at 8 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6:30 p.m. for our Ash Wednesday Services.
Lenten Programming
Our Lenten Programming on Wednesday evenings will begin on February 25, from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall. We will start with prayers, supper and fellowship, followed by a presentation. Please join us!
Invitation to Hear About a Family in Gaza
Members of the Lexington community—Oishani Basuchoudhary, Meghan Ferguson, Charlie Mayock-Bradley, and Tinni Sen—invite all church members to hear about a family in Gaza:Rawan and her husband, Ahmed, are displaced parents to their one-year-old son, Aboud, who is frequently ill due to malnutrition and scarcity of basic necessities. Despite exhibiting extraordinary resilience, the family continues to face terrible hardships every day. They move from place to place and struggle daily to secure food, diapers, and nutritional supplements essential to Aboud’s survival and health. Oishani has been in close contact with this family since spring of 2024, since before Aboud was born, communicating via WhatsApp phone calls and regular photographic updates. She is eager to introduce them to her friends and neighbors in Lexington and Rockbridge County.
They will be holding a presentation at Grace in the near future, we will keep you posted.
Morning Prayer | Monday–Friday 8:30 a.m.
In-Person & Zoom
Paws to Connect
Paws to Connect will pause for the cold weather. We'll see you soon!
Spaghetti Dinner With Bingo and Silent Auction!
To benefit CATE - Children Aspiring To Education, Our ministries in Haiti and South Sudan
Join your friends for a great evening in the parish hall
February 17, Shrove Tuesday
5:00 cocktails and silent auction
6:00 dinner with bingo to follow
Suggested donation, $50 per person
Tickets available: sign up in the narthex or by email with Anne Hansen.
Connections Plus
Connections Plus is now offering three 6-session educational groups in which the participants learn about and organize important documents; such as medical, property, finances, final wishes, and executor information, in order to make things easier for those who must settle our affairs after we are gone.
Cost: $30.00 for materials. Space is limited.
Class #1: 9:30-11:00 am, Thursdays at Sunnyside House at Kendal, 160 Kendal Drive, Lexington
March 12 & 26; April 16 & 30; May 14 & 28.
Class #2: 5:30-7:00 pm, Tuesdays at Manly Memorial Baptist Church, 202 S. Main St., Lexington
March 17; April 7 & 21; May 5 & 19; June 2
Class #3: 9:30 - 11:00 am, Wednesdays at Maury River Senior Center (VPAS) 2137 Magnolia Avenue, Buena Vista
March 18; April 8 & 22; May 6 & 20; June 3
For more information or to register, please contact Connections Plus at 540-463-1848 or info@connectionsplus.care
Prayer List
Please pray for the wider Church and intercessions requested by our congregants: Pray for Presiding Bishop The Most Rev. Sean Rowe. Pray for the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia and our Bishop-Elect The Rev. Karin MacPhial. Pray today for the people of Christ Church, Roanoke and their rector, the Rev. Alexander MacPhail. Pray for Brendon, Timmy, Laura Stearns, Lynda deMaria, Betty Cadden, Jeff Mason, Joe Irby, Kent Wilson, Jerry & Ann Nay, Paula Cooper, David Warne, Ned Henneman, Sharon Humphreys, Nancy Mastin, Elizabeth Klein, Carl Pattison, Dot Fogo, David Austin (friend of the Keanes), Buddy Atkins, Stan Driver, Chris Clayton Syrrist (cousin of David Sorrells), Glen Jones, Charlotte & Mike Murphy, Jean & Mike Walsh, Cullen Bahr, Lane Hewett, Susan Martin, Carolyn, Nancy Hellwig, Dennis Coughlin, Mike Haire, Chuck & Biddy Watson, Rob Fleming, Patricia Williams, Patty Irving Sensabaugh, Richard Partlett, Gerry Locher, Doug Ayer, Mo Littlefield, David Warne, and those we name aloud or in our hearts.
Pray for the people of Israel, Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, Ukraine, and pray for cessation of violence, and for reconciliation, and peace. Pray for those who have died.
In Thanksgiving for February Birthdays
2/9 Benjamin Huger
2/10 Glenn Szarzynski
2/12 Rowan Moles
2/19 Rose Rothermel
2/20 Sammy Eastwood
2/21 Steve Riethmiller
2/23 Beverly Tucker, Graham Hess, Becky Hall
2/24 Holt Merchant
2/25 Jeanne Passmore
2/27 Joseph Henson
2/28 Caitie Carrington, Erin Carrington
Please consider subscribing to The Episcopal Church Press Release Digest.
We're so glad you're here! If you or someone you know is new to Grace and would like more information about Parish life, follow the link below.
Comments