Life With Grace | January 23
- Grace Episcopal Church
- 14 hours ago
- 7 min read
Dear Friends,
This Sunday the Gospel tells John the Baptist was arrested and Jesus withdrew to Galilee where he continues and expands upon John's announcement of the kingdom of God. God's strategy for revealing and illuminating the kingdom of heaven is often disappointing for us. We imagine that when Herod dares to arrest John it would be the perfect time for Jesus to strike Herod down and establish God's kingdom with power.
But as we will learn from his teaching, the power of God is love in action - it is mercy, healing, feeding, comforting, inspiring us to live in hope. It is not the power to arrest, to execute, to terrorize. That power God cedes to Satan, to evil, and to those who take up Satan's cause. God's champion, our Lord, will heal all who come to him, and he will teach them to fulfill all righteousness by loving even their enemy. He will show what true courage, and true obedience looks like.
True courage loves until death, and even beyond. True obedience follows the law of God, not the misbegotten evil orders of Herod who has been coopted by Satan, by hatred, by violence, and self conceit.
The Church in the end is not composed of people who say they believe this or that about Jesus. The Church is the community that obeys the commandments of God taught and practised by Jesus - overcoming evil by good, overcoming hate by love.
Jesus' withdrawal to Galilee is neither retreat nor avoidance. It is the first step in his courageous revelation of the kingdom of God which has always been present, always will be present, but which depends on our obedience to come to light.
Repent and believe. The kingdom of God is at hand. Heal the sick. Feed the hungry. Set the prisoner free. Proclaim hope to the poor. And do not do what Satan commands.
With Gratitude,
Tuck Bowerfind
Due to inclement weather, services will only be offered on Zoom, not in-person, this Sunday.
Worship Services | The Third Sunday after the Epiphany | Sunday, January 25
Holy Eucharist Rt I | 8 a.m. | Zoom only
Christianity and Culture
This Sunday's Christianity and Culture, Focus on Faust, will be rescheduled due to inclement weather.
Upcoming Christianity and Culture Session
TBD | 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. It’s surprising ending mixes the Christian reliance on God's love with humanistic ideals and a heavy dose of mysticism. |
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FEBRUARY 1st | Update on the Diocesan Convention | David Cox |
| David will share news from the convention and election of our new bishop. |
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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. |
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Holy Eucharist Rt II | 10:30 a.m. | Zoom only
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.
107th Annual Convention is next weekend, January 30 - February 1.
A livestream of Convention’s Opening worship, and Bishop election will be available on the diocesan YouTube channel www.youtube.com/DIOSWVA. Business sessions will not be livestreamed.
A diocesan-wide Eucharist service will occur Sunday, February 1 at 10:00 AM in Roanoke Ballroom. The service will be livestreamed for everyone in the Diocese to enjoy.
Grace Church will have regular Sunday morning services with on-line options at 8 & 10:30 am with David Cox presiding.
A Collect for the Election of Our Bishop
Creator God, whose Church lives beyond the walls of buildings and the boundaries of cities, we ask that you guide our work as the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia moves together through a transition of leadership. We pray for patience in dialogue and wisdom in discernment for the person who will be elected as our next Bishop, and that the work of spreading God’s love in southwestern Virginia and beyond will grow and flourish in the years to come. In the name of your incarnate son we pray. Amen.
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!
Support a Family in Gaza
To learn more about supporting a family in Gaza, please join Oishani, Meghan, Charlie, and Tinni in the church library after the 10:30am service on February 1.
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 & neighbors in Lexington and Rockbridge County. Their presentation will be in the church library on February 1st after the 10:30 am service. They hope to see you there.
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 Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe. Pray for the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia. Pray for the candidates for bishop: The Rev. Paul Canady, The Rev. Karin MacPhail, The Very Rev. Becky McDaniel, The Very Rev. Grant Stokes. Pray today for the people of Christ Church, Pulaski.
Pray for Brendon, Timmy, Gerry Locher, Laura Stearns, Lynda deMaria, Betty Cadden, Jeff Mason, Joe Irby, Kent Wilson, Jerry & Ann Nay, Paula Cooper, 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, 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, Virginia Poston (sister of Betsy Carter),
In Thanksgiving for January and February Birthdays
1/23 Virginia Cooke
1/26 Maille Carrington
1/27 Sean Carrington, Joseph Moles
1/29 Jane Brooke, Nan Partlett
1/30 Melissa Gladwell-Sayre, Cary Edgar
1/31 Tom Gosse, Don Robey, Stephanie Sandberg
2/2 Clarinda Carrington
2/3 Willy Nelson
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
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