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Grace Episcopal Church Newsletter
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Celebrating 150 years of Ministry 1859 - 2009
Grace Episcopal Church
104 North Washington Street
North Attleboro, MA 02760
508-695-5471
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December 25, 2009
Grace Church E-Newsletter
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Reflection for the week of Christmas 2009
Delight is one of the words that I often associate with Christmas. Those who were fortunate enough to be in church when young Kevin discovered that there were animals under the Altar heard and witnessed his delight of finding something he did not expect to find. We heard him say, animals, animals and the wonder and smile on his face said it all.
Our God is a God who loves to delight us, but as we get older we can often become a bit jaded and not so easy to delight. For me this Christmas season has brought a delight that I did not expect. The delight has come in the way of a kitten named Muffin. She is not our kitten, she is Baron's kitten and usually lives with him at college, but they close the dorms during the holidays so Muffin needed a home.
 John has been utterly clear that there would be no more pets in our house. Over the years we have had dogs, cats, mice, a bird or two, rabbits, frogs and even a horse. Of course the horse did not live indoors with us but the rest of the pets found residence inside our home. John is fully convinced that we have had our share of furry and some not so furry friends, but so now Muffin has found her way into our hearts.She is delighted in the wrapping paper, especially loves the ribbon, played the whole weekend with our grandson, Mikey and continues to find no end of things to wrestle in her small paws. We have moved our breakables from shelves, covered all of my knitting, placed only unbreakable ornaments on the bottom half of the tree and tried our best to make our home kitten proof if that is even possible.
I am delighted as I watch her play and chase after whatever is moving. I laughed last evening as we heard this small noise, which sounded like the lapping of water, what could it be? Well it was the lapping of water as Muffin helped herself to a drink from the glass John had placed on the table next to our bed. She walks on our heads in the middle of the night and purrs so loud that it does sound like an engine running. She is pure joy and as cute as she can be. She is bringing new life into our home.
So what is Christmas anyway? Why did Jesus come? There are many answers to that question, but for sure Jesus came to be our light, to fill our lives with love, hope and peace, to help us to see beyond this present moment in time and to reach for the good.
I will long remember the worst Christmas sermon I ever heard. It was from a newly ordained priest, he was young and obviously morning the death of his grandmother. There we were all ready to be reminded about the birth of this wonderful baby, named Jesus who by the way is our God and instead we heard about the empty place at his dinner table. He elaborately described how the table was set and how the chairs were place and where each person in his family sat. He told us how one chair would be empty and I am afraid he left most of us feeling empty. I think by the time we left that late Christmas Eve Eucharist we were all morning the loss of his grandmother.
Christmas is like that, it can bring about memories that flood us with sadness. I wish that he had gone on to tell us that Jesus came because Jesus knows how we humans feel pain and that we know loss and we know suffering. He came to remind us that we are loved, so loved. He came to bring us joy and hope and he came in trust that we would see, seek and find that hope. This year for the Sullivan family one symbol of that hope is a small kitten named Muffin, for this parish it is the voice of Kevin and all of our children who see something so wonder filled in the stable scene under the Altar and take such delight in the wonder of it all. It is the anonymous gifts that come into the parish, unexpected. All of these gifts remind us of the grace of God, the Holy Spirit swirling around, stirring us and giving us renewed sense of Our God.
Maryalice
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 Christmas Eve Service - Thursday, December 24th
Holy Eucharist at 4:30pm
Children's Choir
Liturgical Dance
Holy Eucharist at 10:00pm
Christmas Concert begins at 9:30pm
Christmas Carol Sing-a-long
Grace Church Hand Bell Choir
Christmas Day Service - Friday, December 25th
Holy Eucharist at 9:00am
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What's Happening at Grace:
Holy Eucharist Worship Schedule:
Thursdays at 10:00am
Saturdays at 4:30pm
Sundays at 7:45 and 10:00am
Sunday School - Sundays at 9am
Hand Bell Choir - Mondays at 7:00pm
Working for Work Meeting - Wednesdays at 10:00am
Adult Education - Wednesdays at 7:oopm
Adult Education - Thursday at 1:30pm at Claire Minor's house
Adult Choir - Thursdays at 7:30pm
Common Cathedral - Sunday, December 27th
Epiphany Pageant Practice - Saturday, January 9th from 10am-12:30pm
Epiphany Pageant - Sunday, January 10th during the 10am service
Outreach Meeting - Wednesday, January 13th at 7:30pm
Annual Meeting - Sunday, January 24th following the 10am service
Adult Education Movie Night - Sunday, January 31st at 4:30pm
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Common Cathedral - Sunday, December 27th
Items are needed for Common Cathedral service that will take place in Boston on Sunday, December 27th. All donations can be left in the Common Room marked for "Common Cathedral. Needed are:
Fresh Oranges
Individual bags of cookies
Bottles of water
Paper goods: Napkins, dinner plates, cups for hot drinks, plastic forks
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Annual Meeting - January 24, 2010
 The Annual Meeting of Grace Church will be held following the 10am service on January 24th. All parishioners are encouraged to attend. Reports are needed by committee chairs and are due no later than, Sunday, January 3rd. Please email your report to sherryatgrace@yahoo.com
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Stewardship Campaign - "Living our Covenant with God"
We ask you to please pray as you fill out your Stewardship pledge card. Please know that we are praying with you and that all of us together have been working hard to balance our budget and with God's help, finding a way to pay down past debt.
THANK YOU TO THOSE THAT HAVE ALREADY TURNED IN THEIR PLEDGE CARDS!
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Adult Education - January Movie Night
The Movie Night program previously scheduled for Sunday, January 10 has been moved to Sunday, January 31. The movie will be shown in the Common Room at 4:30 p.m. and will be followed by discussion over a pot luck meal, conclouding at approximately 7:30 p.m. The title of the movie to be shown will be announced in early January.
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Adult Education News
"TELL ME A STORY" - ADULT EDUCATION CONTINUES IN JANUARY WITH STUDY OF PARABLES
"Good Samaritan" and "prodigal son" have become common expressions in our society and, of course, come from two of Jesus' parables. But just what is a parable? Why did Jesus tell parables? Did he expect his hearers to understand them? Do parables really need to be explained or interpreted? Are there rules in the Bible for explaining or interpreting parables? Do the same rules apply to all parables? Can a parable have more than one explanation or interpretation?
On the four Wednesday evenings in January, as part of our adult Christian education program, we will be thinking about these questions and discussing four of Jesus' parables.
January 6: The parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)
January 13: The parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16)
January 20: The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27)
January 27: The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32)
We meet at 7 p.m. in the Common Room and are done by 9 p.m. at the latest. Light refreshments are provided. Each session is planned as a stand-alone Bible study in the hope that if you can not attend all the sessions you will benefit from those you do attend. And you don't already have to know a lot about parables in order to get something out of the discussion.
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A Special Invitation to Grace Church
Working for Work is hosting a program & all of Grace Church is welcome to join them.
Let's Laugh Today with Linda & Bill Hammaker
Yoga leaders specialinzing in humor as healing.
Wednesday, February 3rd at 7:30pm
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| A message from your Artist-in-Residence
My art studio will be closed to the public during January, February and part of March, except by appointment. During that time, if you would like to make a purchase, or just visit the studio, please call me at 508-699-2312 or e-mail me at dcruairc@aol.com or collagebydiane@aol.com to arrange a time. Watch for an announcement of my re-opening date and spring activities. In the meantime, you can see my work on exhibit at the Black Opal during February and at the Richards Library during March. Remember: if you make a purchase at my studio, 10% of the sale amount goes to Grace Episcopal Church. |
| Altar Flowers
If you'd like flowers placed on the altar in memory of or in thanksgiving for a loved one please call Joan Tinkham at 508-695-9346. Please provide your name, your contact information, date requested and name of person you are remembering. Please note: more than one person can be remembered on any Sunday. |
| Coffee Hour
PURA VIDA Coffee will be used for Sunday morning coffee hour. When we purchase PURA VIDA coffee we are saving lives and transforming communities through Episcopal Relief and Development. Coffee hour donations are appreciated as we continue our support of underdeveloped countries.
Bishops Blend Coffee - Buy a Bag, Change a Life.
Why Bishops Blend? When you buy Bishops Blend, you are saving lives and transforming communities. Your purchase of Bishops Blend provides Episcopal Relief & Development with countries around the world.
Website: http://www.puravidacoffeeshop.com/bishops-blend.html.
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| Relay for Life
They have set the dates for the 2010 Relay for Life. It will be June 11-12, 2010 at the North Attleboro High School track. We are looking for people who would like to participate. The participants:
1. raise money for the American Cancer Society
2. are part of a relay at the track (we have at least 1 person walking the track from 6:00 PM on Friday till 12:00 on Saturday. Team sign up for hour time slots. You only need to be at the track when it is your time to walk or you can spend the whole time and sleep over)
3. honor cancer survirors
We are trying to get an early start on fundraising. Hopefully to do some fund raisers together. We will have a meeting for anyone interested in learning more about it on Sunday, December 6 following the 10:00 AM service.
If you have any questions please call either Mickey Fournier (508)699-2445 or nallanf@aol.com or Debbie Werner (508)285-6804 or ddwerner@comcast.net.
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Staff:
The Rev. Maryalice Sullivan, Rector
Paul Deffely, D.Min., LMFT, Pastoral Associate
Roberta Thomas/Polly Keister, Christian Formation/Ed
Diane Ruark, Artist in Residence
Alisa West, Graceful Gourmet
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Vestry:
Lyle Pirnie, Co-warden
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Grace Episcopal Church | 104 North Washington Street | North Attleboro | MA | 02760
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Date and Time
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