What's Happening Now
What's Happening Now
Welcome to Grace's What’s Happening Now Page! Here you'll find a comprehensive showcase of all the exciting happenings currently unfolding within our vibrant community. From worship services to special gatherings, volunteer opportunities to outreach initiatives, this page is your go-to resource for staying connected and engaged with everything Grace Church has to offer. Check back frequently for updates and join us as we journey together in faith and fellowship.
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If you are one of the many folks who are finding joy hard to come by this Advent and Christmas season, then please join us this Thursday, December 18th at 5:30 pm in the Gathering Place for A Service of Comfort and Healing. We will be livestreaming this Longest Night Service via Zoom for those who are unable to make it in person. Please contact office@rvagrace.org for the Zoom link.
Join us each Wednesday at 12:00 pm for Midweek Manna, in the Gathering Place, where we’ll gather for spiritual nourishment and meaningful conversation. Starting Wednesday, December 3, Rev. Mary Ann Googins will begin a new series based on Dr. A.J. Levine’s, A Child is Born: A Beginner's Guide to Nativity Stories.
First Wednesdays: A New Dinner Series
The Adult Education Commission invites you to join us as we launch "First Wednesdays" which will be time to share a simple dinner together, have fellowship and Bible study. Dinner will be served starting by 5:30 pm. and we will begin Bible study at 5:45 while we share dinner together. We will end at 6:30 pm. The next dinner date will be January 7.
Important notes:
Dinner will be simple such as subs and salads. $8 for adults and $5 for children. Dinner sign-ups will be open for the two weeks before and close on the Sunday before so that food can be purchased.
Childcare will be provided.
We are hoping that through our fellowship and Bible study we experience scripture in new ways. We will base this on Professor Anna Carter Florence's ideas around rehearsing scripture--like someone in theater practices scripts.
Florence believes every faith community is its own repertory theater company. What does she mean?
Florence shares:
A repertory theater is a residential company that lives together, or at least in the same community, and puts on a number of productions over the course of a season.
Faith communities, when we’re at our best, do much the same work. When we enter texts -- Scripture -- together over time with people with whom we share a life, space and a community, we’re able to do the work better. We’re able to enter the text more deeply and ask harder questions and hang in there with each other better than we would if we entered the text just from a positional or a doctrinal standpoint.
For me, it has been a helpful metaphor, because it describes what I try to do as a teacher when I’m in a classroom or leading a workshop. It’s to create a space where, before we decide what we think a text means, all of us can gather around it as a group interested in what it might show us. Before we do that work, we have to be willing to experiment and hang in there and open doors and explore what’s possible.
That’s work that happens best over time in a community.
We hope that you will join us as we look for new ways to experience the spirit with each other.
The next Grace Book Club meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 13 at 6:30 pm in the Parlor. The discussion will be centered around The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish. If you are interested in joining this meeting or future book club meetings, please contact Sara Dimick and Jennifer Weston.
Nursery Volunteers Needed
One of the exciting parts of having so many births in this season is that we are preparing for our new babies to join us in the nursery! If you’d like to help care for our youngest, please reach out to Lauryn Everic (lauryn@rvagrace.org) or Kim Crowley (revkimcrowley@gmail.com)
Join Our Team of Ushers at Grace!
Do you love greeting folks on Sunday morning? Are you always offering a helping hand to those who need assistance? Do you take great pride in Grace's authentic welcome to all? Then, you may have a calling to be an usher at Grace!
The Worship Commission is looking for new ushers to be a part of our ushering team. We have several slots open where we need permanent folks (a once a month commitment) and volunteers to serve on an as needed basis. As an usher, you would be responsible for ushering one Sunday a month. Duties include welcoming all to Grace with a genuine smile, offering bulletins, assisting folks, as needed, in finding a seat in the pews, and helping to collect and lift up our offerings to God during worship.
If this is something that you feel called to do, please contact Freida Woodson at woodsonf@ril-va.org or freida.woodson@cloud.com and Theresa Steward, Church Administrator at office@rvagrace.org. Training will be provided.
