At Grace, we are called by God to be in the city for good! For those interested in volunteering this summer, we invite you to attend the orientation held in the North Room of Hope Hall on June 9th from 11:30a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP at outreach@graceinthecity.com or call Clottee Hammons at 602-817-8996 if you plan to attend. View PDF flyer.
At the center of our religion, love. What heals us, love. What heals our communities, love. Also, the stated motive of most religious people, regardless of actual outcomes, love. I agree with the Beatles: “All you need is love.”
As we expectantly wait for Christmas, one persona dominates the church world, another persona our culture at large. These two prominent figures both speak of how we should act, what we should do—and the consequences if we do not. The persona of our culture at large? Who can we find everywhere at malls and on cards and sung about in songs during the month of December? Santa Claus.
How about the persona of the church world? Who is it who dominates our Advent stories? Right. John the Baptist.
In the early 1500s in Germany, the Roman Catholic priest and professor Martin Luther, after reading and studying scripture in its original languages, after countless hours of prayer, after searching his soul, protested the exploitation of the common people of Germany by the church. He called out for theological reform, for an end to the church’s abuse of power, for deeper study and reflection on scripture made accessible to the German peasants.
In 2011, I attended my first meeting of CORA, the Council of Religious Advisors, for the downtown ASU campus. A table full of pastors and campus ministers, and we all wanted college students to be part of our ministries, me included. We gazed expectantly at the ASU liaison assigned to us, the gatekeeper for things like tabling space and event space and student email lists. She didn’t fulfill our wishes.
September 30 (Lectionary 26)
Read from the Revised Common Lectionary
First Reading: Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm: Psalm 19:7-14
Gospel: Mark 9:38-50
In response to a request from Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest (LSSW), Grace is gearing up to provide a respite care event on Saturday morning, November 3, 2018. A maximum of 24 children will be pre-registered by LSSW for this event. This is an amazing service opportunity for a very underserved community and will hopefully grow into a realized ministry here at Grace.
The cross is an ubiquitous Christian symbol. We wear it around our necks and on our tee shirts. We hang the cross on the walls of our homes, over our rearview mirrors, and on our car bumpers. We create cross crafts at church events and purchase greeting cards with cross-themed art. The cross appears everywhere in churches: on steeples, in chancels, in paintings, on and above altars, on paraments, on hymnal covers, embroidered on stoles, outlined by our own hands after we dip our fingers in the water of the baptismal font. We deeply associate the cross with Christianity.
The International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") is observed around the world each year on 21 September. Established in 1981 by unanimous United Nations resolution, Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace.
Join Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest to celebrate International Peace Day at this multi-generation event and create a culture of peace in our community. Click here for more info.
During September, our Wilbur emphasis is GLOW (Grace Lutheran on Wednesdays). Begun in 2001, GLOW is a meal and study program that runs on Wednesdays, 5:15-7:15 pm. All are welcome to participate in and/or volunteer with this ministry! We can always use help preparing the meal during the day on Wednesdays, help serving the meal at about 5:30 pm, or help with the programming.
September 23 (Lectionary 25)
Read from the Revised Common Lectionary
First Reading: Jeremiah 11:18-20
Psalm: Psalm 54
Gospel: Mark 9:30-37
For three years, Jean Vanier has echoed in my head. Vanier founded l’Arche, a global network of homes shared by people with developmental disabilities and people without developmental disabilities. While many adults with developmental disabilities live in group homes where staff work an eight-hour shift and then go home, in l’Arche homes, the resident assistants work their shift but then live in that same home. L’Arche stands out as a unique vision of community where people truly share the joys and sorrows, idiosyncrasies and pains of everyone in the community.
The church as we know it, including Grace, is changing. With a focus less on the institution of church and more on Christian community, our community building goal for September is to see how people help us and thank them every time—whether here at church or in other aspects of our lives. This intentional practice of gratitude may reshape how we see the world.
I had always imagined these passages where Jesus and the Pharisees spar as similar to what I imagine the WWF is. “And here comes Jesus, wise rabbi, God’s son, coolest kid in town. He’s so wise the Pharisees won’t know what hit them!” Screaming crowds, fancy outfits, and consummate professionals almost dancing through an exploration of God’s law, complete with swagger and showboating. Silly me.
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