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Grace for the Weak
Here you will find the weekly(ish) announcements of what’s going on in our family and our city.
- Wednesday Prayer Meeting: 5:30 PM – 6:15 PM. In the Grace Auditorium, we host an ecumenical and public time of prayer for ourselves, our city, our nation, and our world. We pray for Unity, Peace, and Healing. All are invited. All are welcome.
- 2023 Events and Equipping Class Calendar: You can get a preview of the 2023. This is a mostly firm calendar, but it could change if it’s too much for us or too much for me. Click here.
- Homeless Breakfast with Holy Cross: Grace is still involved with serving the homeless. We are just now partnering with Holy Cross. This year’s dates are:
- December 25th (Christmas Day)
- House Church: Mid City-Gather for fellowship and prayer on Tuesdays @ 5:30 at Grace in the Living Room. Contact Joseph or Carl for more information.
- 2023 Easter Theology Conference: April 28-29th. Friday evening and Saturday. James Hawkins, LPC, PhD will be leading us in a training on how to have conversations about race that heal instead of divide. Based on the marriage therapy model of EFT, Dr. Hawkins trains groups and individuals how to engage in constructive dialogue around the emotionally sensitive topic of racial healing. This conference is not just about the acquisition of information, but we will be trained on how to actually have these dialogues. You can learn more about Dr. Hawkins by clicking here.
- Advent Emotional Health Conference: December 3rd, Dr. Steele lead us through a conversation on spiritual & congregational abuse. You can access those videos on our YouTube channel. Click here.
- Spiritual Formation Resources: In 2023 we will intentionally focus on Embodied Mission. This means showing everyday hospitality and generosity to our neighbors in our city, nation and world through service and conversation. Mission without a vibrant life in Christ behind it is just dead religion. Listed on our website are various resources to help sustain an inward life of communion with God. Click here to access PDF.
- The Story Behind Our Kenyan Prayer: I found the story of our Kenyan Prayer on this website. Which has an entire Kenyan Eucharistic Service written out and it is RICH, if you like that sort of thing. Here’s the story: “This [blessing] is based on an ancient litany of the nomadic Turkana ethnic group, from the north of Kenya. Its foundation as a curse on their enemies has been transformed into a blessing. Traditionally the Turkana, with a dramatic sweep of their arms to the west, would send all their problems, difficulties, and works of evil to the Karamajong, a nomadic ethnic group in what is now Uganda. When a group of Turkana who had migrated southwards became Christians, their Kenyan evangelist stressed Jesus’ call to love our enemies and suggested that instead of sending those things to the Karamajong they should send them to the setting sun [though still westward] . . . During the Provincial Liturgical Conference theologians from the dioceses in the west of Kenya complained, ‘Well, no wonder we are having problems; you are sending them all to us.’ A revision was called for. Since it began as a curse, curses in the New Testament were considered. In Galatians 3:13 Paul, writing about the cross, stated that ‘Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.’ Therefore the revised blessing replaced the phrase ‘to the setting sun’ with ‘to the cross of Christ’ and the phrase ‘on the risen sun’ with ‘on the risen Christ.’ This has proved to be a very powerful end to the services as the people three times sweep their arms towards the cross, the only place in heaven and on earth which can cope with all our problems, difficulties, and the devil’s works. The physical sensation of movement, and the whole congregation joining in with it, are finally very moving.”
-Graham Kings, Offerings, p. 25.
Old News
Grace Baptist Church to Raise Building Fund – 1947
A newspaper clipping was found:
Church Calendar
Dear Grace, Briefly, below is a link to our congregation's calendar, which I update regularly. Click on events to see details. For lagniappe to the new year, here's practical wisdom to steward time: if it's not on the calendar it won't happen; Sunday morning...
Joseph Bible Story
All are welcome and invited to study the Joseph narrative (Genesis 37-50). A story replete with lies, deceit, dysfunction, forgiveness, redemption, and reconciliation. Sundays at 9:30 in the Grace Fellowship Hall Led by Cynthia Townsend