Come Grow in God's Love and experience Grace in all ways!

     Adult Formation    

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     Church School (Christian Formation: Youth)
     Church School will resume on Sunday, September 16, 2007
     Donita Duffee and Sue Schroder will be teachers this year along with Joan,
     alternating throughout the Sundays of the coming year. We will be using the
     "Living the Good News" curriculum based on the Episcopal lectionary readings
     so that parents and grandparents are hearing and learning about the same
     Scripture as the children to better follow-up at home for further Christian
     formation of their children with take-home activity sheets to encourage
     home involvement.
         - Cassie Hamand has agreed to assist the teachers in this ministry
            for our younger children.  
         - Children ages 4-12 (or until confirmed) are expected to attend
            Church School unless scheduled to serve as acolytes or remain with
            their parent or other adult for the entire worship service in the Church. 
  
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     Church School Summer Camp 2006
     

     Outreach: Children & Families
     Parents' Day Off - "Vacation Bible School Summer Camp 2007"
     - Wednesdays - July 11th through August 8th, 2007 (Ages 6-12)
    
     - Adult Teachers led classes preventing bullying, building our Christian
       character by growing in the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, planned dress-up skits,
       guitar led music sing-a-longs, plus fun times to play games, watch videos,
       play outside, fly kites in the park and make new friends. Teachers Donita,
       Sue, Karen, Alyssa, Rachel, Barb and Pastor Carolyn with Jr. Counselors
       Cassie and Stormy made sure each summer session was jam-packed from
       beginning to end in engaging fun learning opportunities. The children also
       learned more this year about plant growth for planting their sunflower and
       pumpkin seedlings and other seasonal potted flowers from U of I Extension
       offices Master Gardener, Paula Trainor-Rosenbaum.

     - Mary’s Homestyle Restaurant again provided  their delicious meat loaf
       luncheon entrees for the children,; others made cash contributions towards
       meals and fun field trips out bowling on a rainy afternoon and to the
       Bloomington Children’s Discovery Museum on another day. Nutritious meals
       and snacks were provided by Barb Post and Marie Pulliam; Marilyn and Jerry
       Shepard; Donna Brackney and Roberta Robinson and Sue Schroder.
        
       School Days Off - Spring 2008
       Friday, Last day of Spring Break on March 28, 2008
                
          
          
         9:00 AM to 5:00 PM for children ages 6 to 12 years old
       (Includes breakfast, lunch and snacks.)

       Offering Loads of Fun Activities!
       Arts & Crafts - Bible Stories - Dress-up Skits - Games - Computer Activities
       and more! Enroll Today - All are welcome! (Please register early before
       slots are full.) Fee - $5/child or max $10/family (Funding available.)

       900 Manlove at Torrance Avenue (across from County Health Department)
       (815) 842-1743 or gracepontiacepiscopal@earthlink.net
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     Livingston County Community Pantry at 420 N. Plum Street in Pontiac
     (815) 844-1039      

     Grace Episcopal Church is one of the founding partners with other Pontiac
     churches and organizations to launch the new Pantry that opened its doors
     to help those in need on Saturday, July 7, 2007. The initial plan started out
     during the summer months to have the community pantry open on Saturdays
     from 10 a.m. until noon, while building up resources and expanding in the
     fall to work towards full service by the holidays. Additional Wednesday hours
     of operation from 4-6 p.m. started 8/1/07 and on 9/10/07 the Pantry opened
     a 3rd day every week on Mondays from 6-7 p.m. Additionally, the Pantry is
     open to receive donations on Wednesdays 3-4 p.m.
 
     Donations of non-perishable food, paper products, cleaning items and clothing
     detergent can be dropped off during open hours, or call to arrange a drop-off.
     Monetary donations are greatly appreciated to purchase additional grocery
     and meat inventory to supplement donations. The LCCP is encouraging other
     organizations, churches, and businesses to collaborate with them to play an
     effective role to end hunger in Livingston County by partnering with this
     County-wide Pantry to serve our less fortunate neighbors within the
     community.
 
     Want to learn how you and your family can "connect" more with our
     church? Then be sure to contact us. Need directions? Click here.

    
     Pastoral Perspective article by the Rev. Carolyn Bavaro as published in the
     Pontiac Daily Leader newspaper for the October 20, 2007 Religion Page:
 
     Autumn Days
     Autumn days have finally arrived with the cool crisp chill in the air seeming
     to point us towards winter fast-approaching. We can’t deny the sudden
     plummeting of overnight temps underscoring the reality that the lushness of
     lazy summer times are long gone as we experience the length of our daylight
     hours shortening and an increasing load of activity with school in full swing,
     and a hectic spectrum of other events looming ahead. Remaining in the
     moment of this week though, it was a pleasure to see the trees starting to
     display a riot of fall color with the changing of the leaves indicating the official
     change of seasons. And possibly a change of heart for us as well, that might
     be instructive for us to interpret as God beckoning us to turn over a new leaf.
     So we took the hint and took the time for the rare pleasure of spending
     leisurely hours with family this past weekend. I’ve been musing about the
     lessons of life learned with them while we enjoyed the “fruits of the farmers’
     labors” as we picked apples from the orchards and pumpkins in the fields
     with the littlest ones in our clan happily skittering about. Like the sweet
     sensation of enjoying the flavor of fresh apple cider donuts, we felt blessed
     with peaceful times to savor the sweetness of the simple joys of life that
     make for lasting memories with loved ones that deepens the interconnections
     of our relationships.

     Unfortunately, this privilege of idle moments in peaceful times does not hold
     true throughout most of the globe in our war-torn and conflicted world. Nor
     even for many segments of every day living in our American society. This
     reality took on a personal form and really hit home for me when I read of the
     experience of one of the American Muslim women who writes on a blog for
     the times union website. These women hope to act as a bridge between
     Muslim, and (non-Muslim) American audiences to “discuss their thoughts,
     hopes and beliefs as they face the daily challenge of maintaining their
     religious and cultural identities while interacting positively with society.” This
     sentiment certainly highlights the common ground all people of faith share
     with our Muslim brothers and sisters in this regard, because we recognize
     this as a challenge for us also who follow Christ as our Savior and struggle
     to maintain our Christian values and identity in our increasingly secular
     society. The blog writer is Sofia Chaudry, a school teacher in Schenectady,
     NY and a trained speaker for the US Dept. of Justice’s “Connecting Cultures”.
     Last week, Chaudry wrote in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar,
     Ramadan, while in the last stretches of this very spiritual and reflective time
     of year. Their religious observance calls Muslims “to observe a month long
     period of daytime fasting from all food and water, to seek forgiveness from
     God, to improve oneself in training for the rest of the year to be better than
     before in relationship with God and others, and to give generously to charity
     for the less fortunate.” Sofia mused that in the fall season of the year on the
     east coast, autumn certainly seems like an appropriate time to be undertaking
     a more rigorous spiritual discipline to turn over a new leaf. As she drove
     home from work thinking about the need to get out in her community and do
     more to clear up misunderstandings about Islam, she passed a diverse group
     of youth skateboarding together and thought how nice it was to see them
     enjoying a fun activity together. “Terrorist!” she heard shouted out, and knew
     it was meant for her. After all, she was the only car driving there at the time
     and the only one wearing a scarf for maybe miles. Her first instinct was to
     stop and turn around to talk to them, but thought better of it having seen
     about a dozen of them, and not expecting to get the warmest welcome. As
     great as it was to see young folks of various backgrounds getting along, the
     whole scene is very disconcerting because these pre-teens/teens are the
     future of our country. Yet they treated her with disdainful disrespect, racially
     targeting her as a person of a more marginalized group. The disquieting
     thing is that they most likely accurately reflect their parents’ prejudices in
     light of recent statistics that find more Americans hold a negative view of
     Islam and Muslims now than right after 9/11. What to do? How can we be
     more proactive before the divide shreds our society further and tramples the
     rights we hold most dear as Americans? Chaudry writes that some American
     Muslims feel the “guilt of association” involved in terrorism, even though they
     know Islam has nothing to do with terrorism. She says they maybe feel it’s
     too hard to persuade others of that fact, so would rather sit back and be
     quiet. She came to the realization though, after that incident while trying to
     live a peaceful and God-fearing life, “Muslims need to also be more involved
     in the communities they live in to uphold equality, truth, justice through
     volunteering, lobbying for just causes, standing up for the rights of others
     (not just for Muslims), and just being good citizens by also getting to know
     their neighbors socially in a personal way to develop relationships of trust
     and respect for one another.” The kernel of wisdom in Sofia Chaudry’s
     musings might well be taken up to be lived into more fully by all who decry
     destruction and death, especially for those of us who proclaim an Easter faith
     in the assurance of Christ’s resurrection hope to transform each of us and all
     of us together to shape a future in line with the kingdom values and purposes
     of God.
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     Yours in our Lord’s Love,
     Reverend Carolyn Bavaro, Rector
   
   

Weekly Worship Services

Sunday 9:30 AM
Celebration of Holy Communion
with Church School for children.
Healing rite is on the last Sunday
of the month.

Wednesday 10:30 AM
Celebration of the Eucharist
followed by Bible study.
Monthly: 1st Wednesday evening
5:30 PM Potluck; 6:30 OT Bible Study

Saturday
- Last Saturday of the month:
4:00 PM Sacrament of Reconciliation
5:30 PM Contemporary Evensong
(check calendar for exceptions)











 

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