Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have received abundant gifts of food—both for our outreach at the gate and for our weekly food boxes shared with members, friends, and neighbors of Grace. Nine months into the pandemic, we could use a few more food angels to help pack (@ 1:15-2:15) and/or deliver (2:15-4:00-ish, depending on delivery assignments) food boxes on Saturday afternoons. Each week, Pastor Sarah sends an email to learn who is able and willing to help that particular Saturday, so if you indicate interest, you need not help every week. If you would be willing to regularly or occasionally assist with this ministry, please email Pastor Sarah at pastorsarah@graceinthecity.com.
Phoenix Fusion Hiking Group: December Hikes
Join us, dear Lutherans, for a hike! Our hope is to nurture our physical, emotional, and spiritual health by getting outdoors for exercise, conversation, and relationship with Earth.
Sunday, December 6, 4:00 pm
“Steppin’ It Up” Hike
2.5 miles
40th Street & south of Shea
Saturday, December 19, 9:00 am
“Takin’ It Easy” Hike on a paved surface
Flexible length based on participants’ needs
Meet at Dreamy Draw Recreation Area at Highway 51 & Northern
Drive into the park and go to the parking lot at the end of the long, curvy road.
Singing Hope
As we enter into the seasons of Advent and Christmas, what has been called "Pentecost Pause" on Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon on Facebook live will morph into "Singing Hope." During "Singing Hope," we will read through the first two chapters of the gospel of Luke which describe the very first Advent and Christmas, and we will sing Advent carols and then Christmas carols as the weeks unfold. Please join us for this brief time of singing and scripture each Tuesday and Thursday at noon on the Grace Facebook page.
Advent Study
The ELCA has prepared an excellent 4-week Advent study that can be used in small groups or alone. Each week’s session includes a written reflection, questions for discussion or personal reflection, and a prayer. You can find it at the top of the Grace Faith Formation webpage: www.graceinthecity.com/growth. You are encouraged to utilize this faith formation resource throughout the four weeks of Advent!
The GLOW Show: Open Ears, Open Hearts with Caleb, round 2
In The GLOW Show, we are in the midst of a series entitled “Open Ears, Open Hearts.” In this episode, our friend and storyteller Caleb Winebrenner shares a folk tale that invites us to listen carefully, listen deeply to one another. Enjoy!
Sermon for Sunday, November 22
Matthew 25:31-46
Tomorrow, November 23, I will have served you, the people of Grace, for 10 years, years, for me, full of joy and learning and great privilege. As I give thanks to God for leading me here to share life with all of you, there are no more appropriate words upon which to meditate than Jesus’ words from Matthew chapter 25. Jesus tells a parable about the end of all time, a time when people will be separated not on the basis of right belief or even on the basis of right action. Rather, when the Son of Man separates the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the unrighteous, the question of each group startlingly reveals the state of their hearts. In the parable, the Son of Man commends those who feed and clothe, visit and welcome him, and the righteous ask: When was it that we saw you hungry and fed you? They don’t even realize how they’ve exercised grace. But when the Son of Man curses those who fail to feed and clothe, visit and welcome him, the unrighteous ask: When was it that we saw you hungry and failed to feed you? The unrighteous seek to justify themselves. The implied message of their question is: well, if we had known it was you, Jesus, instead of an unworthy person, we would have certainly fed and clothed you. By contrast, the righteous go about their lives, filled with the Holy Spirit and led by it, not tallying up their good works, but simply encountering the world with grace and love. Living joyously, generously, without calculation.
Jesus’ parable invites us to consider our basic posture towards the world: whether it is one of grace or one of judgment.
Grace, by definition, is unearned favor. Meaning, we receive grace when others are kind to us, generous to us, speak up for us even when they don’t know us. We haven’t earned their favor yet. We haven’t built trust with them over a number of years. Still, the gracious one treats us with respect and love and even gives in extraordinary ways just because they are gracious, not because we have done anything to make ourselves worthy of the other’s kindness. In the parable, the righteous ones embrace a posture of grace, treat strangers as beloved friends and neighbors even when they have not earned such favor. Feeding, clothing, visiting those sick and in prison, welcoming strangers.
Who we meet as we feed and clothe, visit and welcome is the reason this parable is not law for us but instead a roadmap to Christ. In seminary, on the day my systematic theology professor lectured on the end times which in theologian-speak is called eschatology, he drew a circle on the blackboard. Within that circle he drew a smaller circle. In the very center, Vitor, my professor, drew a dot. Vitor said: This is church and society from an eschatological perspective. At the center are the church leaders, clergy and lay. The inner circle includes the church at large. There are people closer to the center, the ones who have always been part of the church. There are people who are new to the church, a little further out, perhaps the people no one talks to. Now, the other side of the inner circle is the rest of society, those outside the church but part of mainstream culture. And out here, Vitor said, drawing a dot outside the circles altogether, here are the people forgotten, the people invisible to others, those marginalized. People in prison, people experiencing homelessness, older adults with few visitors, kids in foster care, refugees, people with chronic illness, people abandoned by family and ignored by society. And then, Vitor asked: Where is Christ? We seminary students raised our hands and ventured guesses: perhaps at the center with the religious leaders? Perhaps right along the edge where the inner circle meets the outer circle, at the intersection of church and society? Vitor shook his head and marched again to the board to draw a dot outside the circles. Christ is on the margins, he said.
The case numbers of Covid-19 in the state of Arizona are dramatically rising as they are throughout the country. I think of doctors and nurses, CNAs and respiratory therapists burnt out but still treating and tenderly caring for people they’ve never met, people they’ll likely never meet again. I think of those hospitalized due to Covid-19, isolated, scared, tired, and their anxious families and friends. This year, I wonder if we understand Jesus’ parable more fully because we all feel more vulnerable. Of course, though we are all impacted in some way by the pandemic, there are some who have more access to resources than others, some who suffer the physical and economic consequences more than others. Regardless, this year, we know the value of exercising grace, and we know the value of someone bringing us food, of someone visiting, of someone welcoming us. Whether we are the ones exercising grace or the ones isolated, ignored, and marginalized, we hear Jesus’ parable differently this year—or at least I do.
Our question of the day is: When have you met Christ in someone else? To read the community’s response, go to the Facebook feed for November 22’s live stream worship service.
On this Christ the King Sunday, we celebrate that Christ will finally come in all glory at the end of time, but we also celebrate that Christ comes to meet humanity on the margins. We, in fact, don’t have to wait for the end of all time to meet Christ but simply turn to our neighbor, one who needs grace in some way and live joyously, generously with them. Especially as I celebrate 10 years here, I give thanks to God that we, Grace Lutheran Church, we sit at the margins with Jesus. We don’t do it perfectly, not even in striking distance of perfectly, but here, I have met Jesus. Thanks be to God! Amen.
The GLOW Show: Open Ears, Open Hearts with Caleb
We are in the midst of a series in The GLOW Show entitled “Open Ears, Open Hearts” where we are considering stories of listening and God’s invitation to listen. Today, we hear the story of the prophet Elijah from 1 Kings 19 told by storyteller and Grace friend Caleb Winebrenner. Enjoy!
Sermon for Sunday, November 15
Matthew 25:14-30
In yet another strange parable from Jesus, a man on his way out of town distributes his wealth to his slaves. Upon his return, the man sees that two of the slaves invested the money he gave them, growing their wealth, and consequently, these slaves enter the joy of their master. The one who fails to invest is chastised, thrown into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. To be clear, Jesus is not suggesting investment strategy, and he’s not describing the logic of the free market economy. Instead, he is teaching his disciples about what it means to follow him. He is teaching them to invest, to invest their lives in the work of the kingdom. Jesus is proclaiming good news about entering into “the joy of the master,” into his joy. He also offers a cautionary tale for those who fail to invest their lives in kingdom work, saying they will fall into outer darkness, a place of sorrow. Jesus’ cautionary tale is one of consequence, not one of judgment. Investment brings joy. Failure to invest leads to sorrow.
In writing my sermon this week, I kept typing, then reading what I had written, then deleting, starting all over. Typing, reading, deleting. Typing, reading, deleting. I couldn’t figure out how to share what feels to me like the deepest truth of my life: the joy I know in following Jesus, the joy I experience in my little corner of kingdom work. For me, the more I invest in something, the more I receive from it—in relationships, in various pieces of ministry, in caring for the land on which I live, in the energy I give my neighbors and our neighborhood, in how I participate on various committees and boards. The more I invest, the more I receive. One place where I have met keen joy these last few months is in the Garden of Grace. Here on the south side of the Grace property lies the Garden of Grace, a garden labyrinth. The good folks at Agave Farms put it in for us about a year and a half ago and still help us tend it. For the past couple months, each Saturday when a few masked volunteers gather to pack boxes of groceries for members, neighbors, and friends of Grace, I have walked over to the garden, usually with a young volunteer or two, to harvest that week’s produce to include in our food boxes. A week ago yesterday, Kyle who’s in kindergarten and Chelsea who’s in pre-school joined me in the garden, along with Kim who works for Agave Farms, to plant flowers and pick radishes. Building relationships with the girls, helping them nurture a relationship with land and plants as well as giving them an opportunity to serve others, and witnessing the beauty and abundance of God’s creation, I knew deep and abiding joy. A little time and effort in kingdom work, a lot of joy.
I suspect that most of us know this kind of joy in some aspect of our lives. We see joy in Linda as she teaches young children the stories of our faith. We see joy in Solveig as she sings. We see joy in Lester as he assists members of our community with needs. We see joy in Brandon as he plays organ. We see joy in Coco as she cares for her little Jayden and joy in Sofia as she cares for little Isabella. We see joy in Sylvia as she walks alongside foster families. What (relationships, activities, or work) bring/s you deep, abiding joy?
As I pondered Jesus’ words this week, though, I wondered: does this sermon even need to be preached? Don’t we all do the things that bring joy, the things that are deeply satisfying? Sadly, many of us are skilled at numbing, at filling our precious time with activities that aren’t very meaningful to us, perhaps scrolling through social media or watching Netflix. For some of us, we are not able to engage in activities that long brought us joy because of a medical condition. For others, we don’t know what brings joy; we haven’t had life-giving opportunities to serve or give in a way that utilizes our God-given gifts. Now in the eighth month of the pandemic, even the most joyfully stalwart among us may be flailing. Maybe we can’t invest, can’t serve, can’t give in the ways we previously did. In this most difficult situation, pandemic or otherwise, we might be taking the path of least resistance, the one that requires the smallest effort. For we are tired and overwhelmed and depressed. But here, Jesus’ parable challenges us—to invest even when we are scared or our choices for investment seem slim.
The third slave who receives one talent buries the talent in the ground. He does not invest it. Jesus tells us the slave is fearful of the master, so the slave tries to avoid the master’s wrath by doing what is cautious and prudent. As a big fan of caution and prudence, I have always disliked and not understood the master’s response to the slave’s responsible act. “You wicked and lazy slave!” the master cries. On the contrary, I would like to respond to the master, on the contrary, this last slave is thoughtful and diligent. Except that he acts out of fear. He timidly digs a hole, buries the gift he has been given.
Kingdom work, the work of love and justice and peace, caring for neighbor and creation, this sometimes requires risk. I don’t mean joining a group of people unmasked in a pandemic kind of risk, and I don’t mean a life-threatening risk except in truly extraordinary circumstances. Instead, I mean the risk of doing something new, the risk of trying something that will nourish your physical, emotional, spiritual health, the risk of orienting your life around love for your neighbor and thus God as your very highest priority. That might look as simple as calling a friend you haven’t spoken with in a while, as simple as saying yes to a volunteer opportunity, as simple taking the time to hike (maybe even with other Lutherans today!). Poet Mary Oliver writes: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” How will you invest this great gift of God? To invest it in the work of the kingdom is to enter into the joy of Christ. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Another Way to Give to Grace
Steve Herman, attorney and friend of Grace, recently alerted us to another way we can give to Grace.
When you are aged 70½, you can reduce your income taxes, and perhaps your Medicare premium by donating to Grace directly from your IRA.
Starting in tax year 2018, the calculation of “taxable income” changed. Many individuals and couples no longer see their income tax bill reduced when they make charitable contributions. However, if you have a traditional IRA account and you are at least 70½ years old, you can make a charitable contribution directly from the IRA account and it will not increase your income. This will reduce both your federal and Arizona income taxes as compared to your taking the distribution yourself and then donating it to charity (unless you have enough “itemized deductions” to take the charitable contribution deduction). To make a contribution in this manner, you must contact the institution which holds your IRA account and have that institution make a check payable directly to the charity.
This method of making charitable contributions may also reduce your Medicare premium because that premium is based on your “modified adjusted gross income.” If you receive an IRA distribution, that distribution increases your “modified adjusted gross income,” even if you turn around and gift it to charity. On the other hand, if the IRA distribution is made directly to charity, it is not included in the calculation of “modified adjusted gross income.” This only impacts individuals with a “modified adjusted gross income” in excess of $87,000 and couples with modified adjusted gross income in excess of $174,000, but if it applies, it significantly increases your premium.
Note that because of legislation responding to the COVID-19 epidemic, you are not required to take any IRA distributions for 2020, but the normal required minimum distribution rules will apply in 2021.
Phoenix Fusion Hiking Group
Join friends from Phoenix Fusion congregations for a hike! This is a great way to nurture physical, mental, and spiritual health. Our hikes will bring together small groups of Lutherans in the hills and flatlands of the Phoenix area. All hikes will leave promptly at their scheduled time!
Sarah Morris (sarahmorris77@gmail.com) from Our Saviour's will lead a 2.5 mile moderate "Steppin' It Up Hike" on Sunday, November 15 at 4:00 pm. Park at the south end of the North Mountain parking lot (indicated with red lines) and meet at the X at the SE corner of the map.
Pastor Sarah (pastorsarah@graceinthecity.com) will lead a "Takin' It Easy Hike" on a paved surface on Saturday, November 21 at 9:00 am. Please meet at Dreamy Draw Recreation Area at Highway 51 and Northern. Drive into the park until you can’t go any further and park in the large parking lot.
Sarah Morris from Our Saviour’s will lead a 3.3 mile “Takin’ It Easy Hike” on Sunday, November 29 at 4:00 pm. Park at the Barrier Free Nature Trail lot on the east side of Tatum, north of Union Hills, and meet at the X.
3rd Quarter Giving Statements
Thank you for continuing to support Grace Lutheran Church.
If you would like to receive a third quarter statement of giving, we would be happy to email, print and/or mail one to you!
Please email Evalyn at kenevy@aol.com or Adrienne at officemanager@graceinthecity.com to request one.
Grace Closet Cleanup
We are seeking 1-3 volunteers to assist with a closet cleaning project. At Grace, we have accumulated and saved various things that need to be thrown out, sorted through, re-purposed, or given away.
For this volunteer project, you must be comfortable with getting rid of things!
If you have a knack for cleaning and organizing, please check with Pastor Sarah or Adrienne in the church office (officemanager@graceinthecity.com) to coordinate a time to help clean out some of our closets.
Thank you!
The GLOW Show: Open Ears, Open Hearts
We begin a series for The GLOW Show entitled “Open Ears, Open Hearts,” a series of stories from scripture and tradition about listening. Turn off all other noise, both internal and external, and enjoy!
Sermon for Sunday, November 8
Amos 5:18-24
When I was 22, I worked my third and final summer at a Lutheran Bible Camp in Wisconsin. That final summer, I served as assistant program director of a small camp that reached out to kids living in Milwaukee, most of them unfamiliar with church, camp, and nature. As the assistant program director, I was, among other things, responsible for discipline. You may remember me telling you the story of one 10 year old boy who, scared about camp and wanting to go home, began running home, down the long camp driveway to the wind-ey country road at the end of it, the boy who sat with me on the edge of the basketball court, who sat with me on the edge of field where we played tag, who sat with me even in the canteen while I restocked and ordered candy bars and chips because I couldn’t let him out of my sight—or out of the reach of my arm. Left to his own devices, he called the other kids names, punched them, tripped them, and generally wreaked havoc. I was, for all intents and purposes, the assistant principal of camp. Bully and hurt other campers around me, and you are destined to a week of sitting out every fun game and activity. It’s not that I disliked the kids who picked fights. Actually, I consistently root for the underdog, and the kid who spent most of his week sitting within the reach of my arm, he and I bonded over having nothing to do. Eventually, he started talking to me, and I remember him fondly. But quite obviously, him punching and tripping other campers just wasn’t cool.
In trying to decipher the good news from the prophet Amos’ words to the errant nations of Israel and Judah, I thought of my summer at camp, disciplining the kids who hurt others, bullied others, picked fights with others. In the Old Testament, the phrase “the day of the Lord” moves from simply denoting the Sabbath day to naming the day when God would deliver the Israelites from their enemies. From the Israelites’ perspective, the day of the Lord is a glorious day, a day of rest and worship, a day of God’s care and protection, respectively. By the time of Amos, the prophet whose words we read this morning, “the day of the Lord” no longer refers to the Sabbath or the day of freedom from enemies. Instead, “the day of the Lord” refers to the day of God’s judgment and wrath, a day of justice, the day of God’s kingdom come. And unfortunately, Judah and Israel, the now split kingdom of Israel (politics, we know how it goes), unfortunately, Judah and Israel are on the wrong side of justice. Instead of caring for those living in poverty, instead of taking in orphans and widows, instead of welcoming the stranger and alien as our scripture decrees and defines justice, care of the most vulnerable, the people of Israel and Judah spend their time lounging on beds of ivory and anointing themselves with the finest oils, Amos tells us a chapter later. Instead of their worship and music and rituals leading them to love God and their neighbor, these acts of worship and music and ritual become ends in and of themselves without heart and mind engaged. To these loungers and anointers, worshipers without heart, God hands down truly frightening discipline, a day of the Lord on which someone fleeing from a lion would meet a bear, not literally, of course, but poetically speaking. A day of the Lord during which justice would roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. For those on the wrong side of justice, for those spiritually idling, the day of the Lord doesn’t sound like good news.
Yet, the day of the Lord is the day of God’s kingdom come, and don’t we pray for that day? Every Sunday, perhaps even more frequently, we bow our heads, fold our hands, and pray the Lord’s Prayer: May your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. We pray for the day of the Lord to come! Why?
God sees us, every one of us beloved. God sees our broken world, our indifferent hearts. God sees us hurting one another, failing to care for the most vulnerable, ignoring systems that wound some more than others. And like an assistant program director who stops the kid from punching and tripping other campers ‘cause it’s just not cool, God arrives on the day of the Lord to stop the violence, to restrain those doing the hurting, to make sure everybody is safe and gets loved because those getting hurt are loved as deeply as those doing the hurting. While the day of the Lord smarts for those who perpetrate injustice, for those who have been hurt, again and again, the day of the Lord is like sunshine after years of rain. The day of the Lord brings justice: fairness, an end to oppression, tending to the needs of those marginalized, and the day of the Lord bring righteousness: healthy relationships, strong community, respect. Justice and righteousness come not in a slow trickle but like a deluge. Justice and righteousness come like a deluge because every single person hurt by human sin is dearly loved in the sight of God.
The ancient people of Judah and Israel did not know when the day of the Lord would come. But about seven hundred years later, Jesus would proclaim: The kingdom of heaven has come near! The kingdom came in Jesus, not in its fullness, but he paved the way for God’s kingdom come on earth. In dribs and drabs, we walk the way of God’s kingdom. In dribs and drabs, we work for justice. In dribs and drabs, we build strong community. This kingdom comes among us as we follow the call of the Spirit, as we get on board with what God is already doing among us.
The question of the day is: When have you seen God’s justice or righteousness rain down in our world? To read our community’s reflection, go to the Facebook live feed of the worship on Sunday, November 8, 2020.
I have seen God’s justice rain down in a really mundane way through the advent of social security. At the time the Social Security Administration was created, many older adults lived in poverty. A person might have worked hard their whole life but not been able to save money. Maybe their company didn’t offer a pension. Social Security has, in a really mundane way, provided dignity and basic necessities for millions of older adults, some of the most vulnerable people in our society simply because of inevitable medical concerns as people get older.
In dribs and drabs, the Spirit of God works among us until the day when, like a deluge, the day of the Lord will arrive with justice and righteousness. A day when all injustice will end. A day when the sun will shine. A day of gloom for those who perpetrate injustice, yes. But the good news, the good news of God’s kingdom come is that, whatever God does, God always does for love. Thanks be to God! Amen.
The GLOW Show: Stories of Grace with Tim
We continue with Stories of Grace, stories of what difference Grace has made in the lives of our community members. This week, we hear from Tim Gallen. Enjoy!
Sermon for Sunday, November 1
Matthew 5:1-12
Today, we mourn the death of saints gone before us. This year, the list is long. We have mourned throughout the pandemic those we’ve lost to the virus, those who have died of mostly heat-related illness on the streets, those who have died as a result of police brutality or violent protest. Today, we may be mourning the death of someone dear to us, someone who died not of Covid-19 nor of heat stroke on the street, but someone who died of a heart attack or Alzheimer’s, of AIDS or cancer, of drug overdose or in an accident. Perhaps this dear one passed out of our lives years ago, but the sadness and anger of grief linger.
We may be mourning these deaths, and we may be saddened and angered because they could have been prevented. If only they had gone to the doctor earlier… If only they had not been exposed to the virus or the heat… If only we lived in a just society… The “if only”s haunt us.
Yet, on this All Saints Day, we don’t just mourn. We also remember and give thanks to God for the lives of the saints gone before us. We remember our grandmothers and grandfathers, our parents and godparents, our beloved partners and even children whose lives ended tragically early. We remember those with whom we’ve shared in Christian community, the ones who sat in this pew and served on that committee, the ones who taught us the Lord’s Prayer, the ones who listened to us during difficult times over a cup of coffee.
The Question of the Day is: On this All Saints Day, which saint do you remember? What is one way that person blessed your life? You may also post a photo of that person in the feed if you would like. To hear the community’s reflection, go to the Grace Facebook page live stream feed from November 1.
On All Saints Day, we also remember the saints of the church who came long before us. Martin Luther and Johann Sebastien Bach, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Florence Nightengale, Julian of Norwich and Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr and Sojourner Truth. We remember and give thanks to God for the saints of the church commemorated by our church body whose stories are less familiar to us, like Toyohiko Kagawa who in his home country of Japan established schools, churches, and hospitals among those living in poverty and worked for peace between China and Japan in the mid-20th century. Like Catherine of Siena, the first woman in the Roman Catholic Church to receive the title Doctor of the Church in the 14th century. Both a mystic and an activist, she worked to relieve the suffering of God’s people.
On this All Saints Day, we also remember and give thanks to God for the saints of scripture: Peter and the apostle Paul, Mary and the Woman at the Well, prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, courageous Esther and loyal Ruth, the prophet Elijah and King David, Moses and Aaron and Miriam, Jacob and Leah and Rachel.
In Jesus’ teaching from Matthew, in what we call the beatitudes, he makes an odd proclamation. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. He speaks blessing upon those who, in our world, especially to those who are reeling from grief, would seem to be the very opposite of blessed, people in the midst of struggle, of emotions they do not understand or like. How is it that those mourning are blessed? Aren’t those mourning ignored, left empty, hurting? In his nonsensical blessing proclamation, Jesus shares good news with people in need of blessing, people who are mourning, and he calls all those who listen to participate in comforting. In Greek, the word comforted is not simply consolation but includes a sense of advocacy on behalf of the one grieving. The word is parakleytheysontai, a word used in the first century in legal contexts. Those being parakleytheysontai had someone intercede for them, to help make things right. Jesus announces this particular beatitude as well as two others in the passive voice, meaning we do not know from his words who is doing the comforting. Presumably God. But in the context of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount where he teaches all those gathered to love their enemies, to let their light so shine before others, to judge not lest they be judged, to bear good fruit, the promise of comfort leads me to believe Jesus invites all his followers to participate in comforting those who mourn. To intercede on behalf of those grieving, especially those who grieve people who died in vain. To make right the conditions that led to the death of beloved people.
How is the Spirit of God calling us to intercede, to comfort those who mourn? And what do we learn from the saints, the saints known to us, the saints lifted up by the church, the saints of scripture gone before us about following Jesus in this particular regard? While all humanity and, indeed, all creatures die, not all death is just or natural or simply the unfolding of an inevitable biological process. This year, more than any before it, I feel the Spirit of God moving us, the people of God, to comfort those who mourn not simply by bringing food (although that is appreciated), not simply by praying (though that is important), not simply by showing up for others (though that is loving and needed), but by working to end the unjust conditions that lead to untimely death. By taking precautions like staying home when we’re sick and wearing a mask, precautions that keep others healthy. By being a good friend to someone who is reluctant to care for themselves. By supporting leaders who make choices that safeguard health and seek to end situations, like homelessness, that make life precarious. By advocating for access to good quality medical care for all people. By advocating for the health and safety of all people, whether or not they have perpetrated a crime against others. These types of advocacy may be controversial, but in the gospel of Matthew, I see an incarnate God who provides healing for people regardless of circumstance, an incarnate God who seeks life and life abundant for all, an incarnate God who by the very way God comes into the world reveals the value of flesh to God.
The saints of scripture, the prophets and witnesses and vessels of God’s Spirit, worked to bring God’s abundant life to all. The saints commemorated by the church took up Jesus’ invitation to comfort the mourning, to intercede, to offer assistance to those grieving. Saints dear to us, our grandparents and parents, Sunday school teachers and friends, they too taught us Jesus’ way of love and justice. Today, good news comes to us not only from the God who comforts us but from the saints who enter into this work with God and alongside all who mourn.
Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Thanks be to God! Amen.
The GLOW Show: Stories of Grace with Brian & Pastor Sarah
We continue our series Stories of Grace where members of the Grace community share what difference Grace has made in their lives. Today, Brian interviews Pastor Sarah about what difference Grace has made in her life. Enjoy!
In-Person Worship Trial
On Sunday, November 15 at 10:00 am, we will offer an in-person, outdoor worship in the Grace courtyard for a maximum of 25 people. Please email Adrienne at officemanager@graceinthecity.com to RSVP. The service will be 30 minutes long. Every worshiper will be required to wear a mask the entire time and maintain social distance, except from people in their families or within their “Covid bubble.” Anyone refusing to wear a mask will be asked to leave. Because singing is one of the most risky activities for transmitting Covid-19, we will be unable to sing. However, be ready to clap and make a joyful noise with percussive instruments!
We hope this worship trial will teach us what we need to know about how to safely worship in person—and, assuming we continuing to worship in person outside, help us discern how and when to grow in in-person worship numbers and when to move inside.
On November 15, as always, we will live stream worship at 11:00 am and offer Drive-Through & Walk-Up Holy Communion at 9:00-9:30 am.
All Saints Day Concert
The National Lutheran Choir "Virtual All Saints Program" is a free concert on Sunday, November 1 at 4:00 pm Central time, 2:00 pm Arizona time. (Around the country, others will fall back an hour on November 1.) The choir will share music of remembrance, perseverance, and hope with memorial names submitted by listeners as backdrop to the music and message. Join from wherever you are at https://nlca.com/allsaintsnames.
Advent Organ Recital Series
This year, Grace Lutheran Church will be continuing our annual Advent Organ Recital series. The recitals will be on Fridays at noon during Advent. We will have spots available for up to 15 people for live attendance, with advanced reservation. Masks and social distancing required. Please RSVP by email to: officemanager@graceinthecity.com. Livestream will be available via Facebook Live, and the recordings will be available later on YouTube.
November 27: Brandon Burns
December 4: Jeremy Peterman
December 11: Valerie Harris
December 18: Gordon Stevenson