Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

Online Tidings

The Second Sunday after Epiphany, January 20, 2008

P.O. Box 548, Colorado Springs, CO 80901
www.graceepiscopalcolosprings.org
grace.episcopal.church@gmail.com
719/328-1125

The potluck dinner will begin at 5:00 pm. We are asking parishioners to bring a side dish, salad or dessert. The business meeting will begin at 5:45 pm.

The annual parish meeting is for parishioners of Grace Episcopal Church only. Visitors and non-members will be asked kindly to refrain from attending.

Table of Contents

Prayer of the Week

For a Church Meeting

Book of Common Prayer page 818

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To see this in a printable calendar layout, click here.

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This upcoming weekend will be an exciting one—with two baptisms planned for the 20th and the approval of our financial goals for the future on the 19th; what better way to start the New Year?

Speaking of the New Year… Some have asked about Rite II and its recent use on Sunday mornings. The Worship Committee and I thought that since Rite I represented those who originally attended our 11:00 am Choral Eucharist on Tejon street and Rite II represented those who originally attended our 9:00 am Choral Eucharist, that is was only fair that—since we’re having one combined Choral Eucharist at 12:45 PM at First Christian Church—we’d mix up the Rites a bit; thus, giving each group an opportunity to hear their favorite Rite on Sunday mornings. (We will return to Rite I during Lent. An article for Tidings about the very real differences between Rite I and Rite II, both from our approved 1979 Book of Common Prayer, will be laid out in an up-coming article that will also present a schedule for such services by our Liturgical Resident Expert, The Rev. John Pahls.)

A BIG thank you to Mrs. Carol Nuss who has again agreed to help "man" our Visitor Table on Sunday mornings—complete, with a new crop of member assimilation brochures, visitor information, and various sign-up sheets, etc. (I hope you’ll check it out.) Since we had 500 at our Christmas services, we thought we’d had better get on the ball and provide some much-needed information for our first-time visitors to take home with them. Already, we have a number of families who have placed membership with our parish for 2008. One of those families received by me into Grace and St Stephen’s Episcopal Church is The Rev. and Mrs. Marty (and Mary) Pearsall—Marty is an Episcopal priest in semi-retirement.

This is going to be a wonderful year, as together, we help to build God’s kingdom one member at a time!

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To which we add: Hear! Hear!

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As many know Linda's life has been full of trials in recent years but she says this has given her the experience of "discovering the many ways that grace shows up in our lives." Linda has always been able to give hearers the gift of combining her intellectual approach to faith deepened by her own spiritual approach to life. The atmosphere at Mt. St. Francis is very informal and participants are asked to bring Prayer Books with them. Let us rejoice and be refreshed. For further questions call Deacon Sally at 648-9350.

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We are beginning a series of exciting new program initiatives as we work toward meeting our goals of reaching more of the low-income and working poor of Colorado Springs. Our emphasis is on improving education and training to increase self-sufficiency for our clients.

In our Jobs Program, we have begun job skills classes and will be adding GED certification training and ESL classes in the near future. We will also begin offering nutrition classes to help teach clients how to stretch their grocery dollars. Future trainings will focus on similar topics designed to enhance skills and education in all programs. The Housing Program has already been very successful with its budgeting workshop, which is a mandatory requirement for clients to receive rental assistance.

As always, we gratefully accept in-kind donations of food, clothing, toiletries, hygiene items, linens, and small household items. Men's clothing is a particularly high need. Goods may be dropped off between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Please contact Christine at 228-6781 with questions.

Thank you for your continued support! We are proud to be an extension of our founding churches and part of your mission and outreach work in the community. Blessings for a Happy New Year!

ps. Check out our recently redesigned Web site at www.ecusocmin.org to learn more about our programs, volunteering, or to donate online!

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