Life With Grace | April 18
- Grace Episcopal Church
- 7 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Dear friends,
I wish you a happy Good Friday and Easter season. Wherever you may be this weekend, I pray you will find a congregation to join in remembering and believing and giving thanks for the gift poured out for us in Christ.
The Good Friday offering each year is dedicated to the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East and the support of its humanitarian mission.
The DOJ operates twelve schools, two hospitals, two clinic, two elder homes, four rehab centers, Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza was recently bombed on Palm Sunday, the fifth bombing during the current war. In spite of which it has continued to function.
The Easter offering is dedicated to the Lanford Mission Emergency Fund. In addition to my discretionary fund, the LMEF allows for a quick response to those who come to us with an urgent need. For example, over the last two weeks weeks several women, all victims of domestic violence, have been helped temporarily through these funds.
You can contribute to these funds directly through our website, by personal check with a memo designation, or through open plate contributions today or Sunday.
With Gratitude, Tuck Bowerfind (he/him)
Rector | Grace Episcopal Church
Worship Services this Weekend
April 18 Good Friday, Noon in-person & 6:30 pm in-person & YouTube
April 19 Easter Vigil 6:30 p.m. in-person & YouTube
Followed by Festival Lamb Dinner in the Parish Hall
Easter Sunday | Sunday, April 20
Holy Eucharist Rt II | 8 a.m. | In-Person and Zoom
Christianity and Culture | 9:15 a.m. | In-Person and Zoom
No C&C on April 20
Upcoming Christianity and Culture Sessions
April 27, The Saint John's Bible with Joanne Robblee
Holy Eucharist Rt II | 10:30 a.m. | In-Person and on YouTube
Easter Memorials
In Loving memory of:
Stephen Lee Denson, Sue & George Jennings by Susan Denson
Bob Glidden by René Glidden
Marc Silvia, and Francis Silvia by Lisa & Patrick McGuire
Michelle McGuire, and James R. McGuire by Jean McGuire and Patrick & Lisa McGuire
Marion McNair and Arthur Chauncy Drewry, Sarah Orr & James Arthur Smith Jr, Waller Garland Wills III, Donna Hladik Smith, Allison Elizabeth Smith by Ruth & Jimbo Smith
V. Otis & Maureen Liles Kenney, Roland Guest Stetler, Jr. by Diana Kenney
Glen and Lorraine Lemmer, Jack Lemmer, Homer and Themma Stout by Greg &Janet Lemmer
Lloyd and Virginia Leech, Lloyd and Rita Leech, George and Frances Brooke, George M. Brooke III by the Leech and Brooke families
Pete & Maria Bowerfind by Tuck & Delea Bowerfind and Peter Bowerfind
Joe Free by Delea & Tuck Bowerfind
Veva Free by Delea & Tuck Bowerfind
Our parents: Elizabeth and Harmon Lamar and Katharine and Howard Boetsch by Elizabeth and Laurent Boetsch
Emily and Russell Elmore parents of Al Elmore and Betty Meyer Eckl mother of Carole Elmore.
James David Burford by Martha Burford
Rev. Dr. William Isaac Jones by Elizabeth Jones and Martha Burford
Farris Hotchkiss by his loving family
Jackson Paul Hershbell by Anne Hershbell
Sarah G. Lanford by Sally Myers and Mary Price
Our parents: James V. and Polly Harralson, Edward A and Ethyl Glenn Fry, and Overton Fry by Elizabeth & John Harralson
George and Loretta Penn, Edward and Josephine Carter parents of Ellie & George Penn
Margaret & Robert Sayre, Nannie & James Downey by Melissa Gladwell-Sayre & Bill Sayre
Yvonne Scott West mother of Cecile West-Settle
Eleanor, Paul & Diane Dickerson, Doris Webster by Gail & John Dickerson
David W. Coffey by Dan & Macy Coffey
Bonnie & Lee Shields by Darlene &James Keane
Frances (Sis) Harcus by Darlene & James Keane
John Valentine & Robert McCaw by Darlene & James Keane
Barton Dick and our other family members who are no longer with us by Gail Dick
Ruthie Gibson by Dot Fogo
Wally Fogo by Dot, Matt & Kevin
Judy Manning by Kevin
Kramer, Stony and Deuce by Matt & Kevin
Our parents by Peggy &: Steve Riethmiller
Marian Horton Eubanks Dickensen and Martha Erskine Lauderdale Heinsohn by David J. Sorrells
In Thanksgiving for:
Archer, Dorothy, Elizabeth, George, Matt and Tiffany by Delea and Tuck Bowerfind
Jean Gadsby by Lisa & Patrick McGuire
Jean McGuire; Kayleigh, Tom, Declan & Teague Cotter by Patrick & Lisa McGuire
Megan, Devin, Rheya, Aiden, Erin, Caleb, Kate & Caitlin by Lisa & Patrick McGuire
Sam and Anna, Nolan by Martha Burford
David Warne by Martha Burford
All who sing and shine Christ’s Light at Grace by Martha Burford
For peace around the world
Women's Bible Study
Women's Bible Study has changed its meeting place to the home of Susan Cross, 621 Marshall Street. The time is 3:30 p.m. on Sundays. All ladies welcome! We are discussing the lectionary readings for the following Sunday. No preparation is necessary.
Morning Prayer | Monday–Friday 8:30 a.m.
In-Person & Zoom
Celebration of New Ministry for Samson Mamour
Lanford Mission Emergency Fund Easter Appeal
The Lanford Mission Emergency Fund (MEF) was begun in this parish over 40 years ago to assist residents of Rockbridge County who request emergency financial help in meeting rent, utility, medical, or temporary housing expenses. The MEF primarily receives its funding from Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas offerings as well as a small number of pledges that are designated “Mission Emergency Fund”.
Requests for assistance are usually made because of sudden illness, loss of health insurance, unexpected job loss, or other unanticipated crisis situations. RARA (Rockbridge Area Relief Association) does the vetting to verify need, and then contacts Grace Episcopal along with Lexington Presbyterian and St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic churches to share costs with RARA.
As we approach Easter, we ask you to consider a donation to the Lanford Mission Emergency Fund. If you would like to make a gift in the form of a check, the check can be made out to Grace Episcopal Church with “Lanford MEF” noted on the memo line. A donation to the Lanford MEF can also be made on Grace’s Website at www.gracelexva.org.
The Christian Outreach Committee sincerely thanks you for your faithful and generous support of this long-time Grace Episcopal outreach ministry!
2025 National Day of Prayer (Interfaith Service)
Randolph Street United Methodist Church, 118 Randolph Street, Lexington, May 1, 2025, 6:00 p.m.
You are invited to an Interfaith Prayer Service where prayers will be offered from the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian faith traditions, for Unity and Peace for our Nation.
Helping Ukrainian Families please consider helping this humanitarian outreach. The group has engaged an immigration attorney to guide the Ukrainian families, that were helped by Hosting Ukrainian Families, through the rules and regulations that could provide a safeguard from deportation. Donate HERE.
Men's Prayer Breakfast
Over the last four weeks, the Men’s Prayer Breakfast Group studied the Saint James Bible, the illumination process, and Luke’s Canticle of Simeon. With the intent to deepen our spiritual lives and bring us closer to God and each other, members were asked to connect The Word to their daily lives by creating a contemporary interpretation of The Word and a visual image that represents that discernment. The attached illumination is a celebration of that effort and is offered as an invitation for you to actively look for and appreciate all the love that surrounds us. Thank be to God!
The Saint John's Bible
If you have photos you would like to share of the St. John's Bible in our community and beyond, please send them to Lisa.
Come listen to the St. John's Bible on Tuesday, April 22, The Gospel of John and April 23, The Acts of the Apostles from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Grace Church sanctuary.
As the visiting volume of The Saint John’s Bible makes its home with us for three months, we also turn to other volumes to share with the congregation and visitors.
The Crucifixion as illuminated by Donald Jackson for the Book of Luke dazzles in its use of gold -- in the original, gold leaf -- which is seen throughout the Gospels as emblematic of divinity.
Throughout Luke, this use of gold is especially powerful: the gold shaft of light that illuminated the manger in Luke's Nativity: the figure of Jesus standing with Martha and Mary, with gold streaming across the page to the parables; and after the Crucifixion, Jesus on the road to Emmaus.
In Jackson's vision of the Crucifixion, the gold of Christ's divinity is central and almost all-consuming to the viewer's eye. Yet Jesus' humanity is not forgotten; his body is clearly seen, even hands and feet are delineated in a rendering that is also abstract, symbolic.
The illumination also evokes the three hours of darkness in the deep purple of the background, which gives way to a wash of gold around the cross and a blue sky beginning to emerge.
Scholars have suggested that the gold ray that shoots across that purple night sky scattered with moons and stars may also represent the rending of the Temple veil.
An additional cross in the background recalls the two thieves on either side of Christ on Golgotha. Below, small human figures emerge from the darkness -- those who followed Jesus' last painful journey, faithful disciples or curiosity seekers; or the procession of humanity encountering the Crucifixion for centuries to come.
Behind and above is the suggestion of a wing. The cross and the light around it break out of the illumination's frame -- a suggestion, says scholar Susan Sink, "of how the Crucifixion broke throug the limits of the human world and time."
Bakers Wanted for the Community Table
Please contact Virginia Cooke at 348-5367 if interested!
Clothes Closet at Christ Episcopal
The Clothes Closet at Christ Church, Buena Vista, continues to need girls' clothing sizes 10-18, only. They are not accepting any other items at this time as they are chock full! The Clothes Closet is open every first and third Saturday of the month from 9 am until noon. You may drop your items off then. Alternately, you can bring your items to the Grace Church office and Lisa will ensure your items are conveyed to the Clothes Closet. Thank you for your support of this valuable asset to our community.
Community Appreciation Celebration
For Major General Cedric T. Wins | Superintendent, Virginia Military Institute
Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 3 p.m. at First Baptist Church
Prayer List
Please pray for the wider Church and intercessions requested by our Congregants: Pray for Presiding Bishop The Most Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe. Pray for the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, and our Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Mark Bourlakas. Pray for the people of St. John’s, Waynesboro and their curate-in-charge, The Rev. Tom DuMontier.
Pray for the healing of Pope Francis. Pray for Brendon, Timmy, John Perry, Laura Stearns, Lynda deMaria, Polly Lawrence, Betty Cadden, Jeff Mason, Joe Irby, Kent Wilson, Diana Kenney, Jerry & Ann Nay, Paula Cooper, Ned Henneman, Sharon Humphreys, Nancy Mastin, Elizabeth Klein, Mary Etta Randolph, Carl & Rachel Pattison, Grace, Mercedes Aravena-Echaurren, Justin, Rodrigo, Wes O’Dell and family, Virginia Poston (sister of Betsy Carter), Dot Fogo, Roger Baroody, Michelle & John Evola (cousins of Darlene Keane), David Austin (friend of the Keanes), Ellen Fure, Buddy Atkins, George Collier, Rosemary Phillips (sister of Paul Robblee), Patricia Williams, Emily & Luke Child, Rebecca Robblee (daughter-in-law of Joanne & Paul), Kathy Kricensky (Abby Moles mom), Andy Wolfe, Oneatha Shinnick, Mike, Margy & Aaron Haire (Susan Cross’ brother and family), Stan Driver, and those we name aloud or in our hearts.
Pray for the people of Israel, Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, Ukraine, and pray for cessation of violence, and for reconciliation, and peace.
Pray for those who have died.
In Thanksgiving for April Birthdays
4/18 Dennis Cross, Kevin Manning
4/19 Lisa J McGuire, Beverly Wirtz
4/20 Erika Brooke
4/22 Buddy Atkins
4/25 Genelle Gertz
4/26 Chuck Smith
4/27 Clara Pickett
4/28 Sharon Humphreys, Clark Simcoe, Abby Moles, Madison Brown
4/29 David Hansen
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