Call Committee Updates
The Call Committee met this past Sunday at 9:15 with all members in attendance. The first order of business was to elect a chair. Kristen Lindsay was nominated and said yes. Thank you Kristen, we know you'll do a great job for Grace! Next order of business was to find a date that works for all for an orientation session with Mary Satterfield, our Call Process Facilitator. The date and time is Thursday, January 27, at 6:30 pm. Mary and Kristen connected on Wednesday morning as a prelude to the meeting on the 27th.
Time in the ER and Occupational Health
Yesterday morning, (Thursday) Marcy arrived at Main Street School in Norwalk and with her arms full of teacher paraphernalia, began to make her way to the school door. But before she got there, she slipped and fell on a patch of black ice. She was able to get herself back up upright and into the school and then made it through the school day.
But by the time she got home late afternoon she was in a great deal of pain that focused on her right knee. Before she went to bed last night, she called in sick for Friday, and dictated to me a lesson plan for her sub. A couple of ibuprofens helped her sleep well enough, and by morning she could at least hobble enough to get around the house. A call to Fisher Titus Occupational Health resulted in a referral to the Fisher Titus ER.
The wait time there wasn't bad - the longest part was for the radiologist to read the x-ray, which said nothing broken. Diagnosis: sprain. They wrapped her knee up good with an ACE bandage, and provided crutches, with instructions to stop at Occupational Health on the way home (they check for drugs and alcohol). Also a follow up visit - January 26 was the earliest appoinment.
Marcy is the leader of her school's robotics team, and there's a meet tomorrow in Norwalk that she's planning on attending. I'll go with her early to help her load the robotics equipment from her school and unload at the Middle School where the meet will be held.
Such are the hazards of parking lots in winter.
Annual Report and Meeting
The Grace Annual Meeting will be Sunday, January 30, at 9:00 am in the sanctuary. You can pick up a copy of the Annual Report in the narthex beginning Sunday, or you can download it HERE. Kudos to Linda and Tricia who compiled and published this 49 page document. The part of the annual report that takes the most time is the parochial report. As one who has done this myself many times, I know what it takes to review and summarize all the pastoral acts, membership changes, attendance, offerings, and many other information items that reflect ministry at Grace. Special thanks to Linda who has spent many hours on this task. Well done and greatly appreciated!
Creating an Oasis of Hope
Vibrant Faith is a para-church organization that formerly went by the name Lutheran Youth and Family Institute. The current Executive Director is Rick Lawrence who writes a weekly email with words of encouragement and inspiration. In this week's email Rick talks about how we, both individually and corporately can work to create an Oasis of Hope. You can read Rick's email HERE.
LIFT Notes
- LIFT Board meets this Sunday, January 16, 12:30 pm at St. John's with Zoom option available
- You can read minutes from the November board meeting HERE.
- You can read Pastor Paul's 2021 annual report HERE.
- Read the latest issue of LIFT Notes HERE. This report can also be found in the 2021 Grace Annual Report.
- LIFT Leaders met on Wednesday for their monthly meeting. We decided to offer Ash Wednesday driv-thru ashes at Hayes Memorial UMC from noon to 5:00 pm, with LIFT leaders each taking an hour.
ELCA Youth Gathering Registration Paused
Registration fo the 2022 ELCA Youth Gathering, scheduled for July 24-28 in Minneapolis, and postponed from 2021 because of Covid-19, is again being paused. The Gathering office released the following announcement several days ago:
Due to the latest COVID-19 surge and recent changes in Gathering leadership, we are pausing registration so our team can evaluate and discern the most faithful next steps for the 2022 Gathering, MYLE and the tAble. Registration rates and other key dates will be adjusted accordingly. Stay tuned to our social media, website and gNews for updates in the coming weeks.
If the Gathering is canceled, we are looking at that week for LIFT to offer VBS.
Worship Committee
Worship Committee met on Tuesday for their regular monthly meeting. One of the main topics of discussion was mid-week Lenten worship. We decided that we would adjust the Spirit schedule a bit, starting supper at 5:30 instead of 5:00. Then we would do Lenten worship in the sanctuary for Ash Wednesday and the next five Wednesdays in Lent at 6:30. The plan would be use Holden Evening Prayer (Grace has done this in previous years, but not real recently) as the order of service. I will work with Maureen to decide on a theme for the messages for these services, and we would share preaching, and invite others to participate as well.
Latest Osterholm Update
Dr. Michael Osterholm, founder and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, continues to deliver solid scientific analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic in his weekly podcasts. In the latest episode, posted on Thursday, January 13, and entitled "The Omicron Crisis," Dr. Osterholm and host Chris Dall discuss Omicron's impact in the United States and elsewhere, and what our “new normal” of life with COVID should be. They also talk about how the Omicron variant is affecting kids, make sense of what the current hospitalization numbers really mean, and answer two COVID queries on testing. You can listen to or download this episode HERE.
Drone Photos of Grace Windows Posted
Several weeks ago I posted that Steve Polter had, at Heather's request, had come to Grace to use his real estate photographing drone to take quality photos of the Grace stained glass windows. Polter Real Estate has now posted the photos on their Facebook page, which you can view HERE. These are very nice high quality photos without the "perspective" of photos taken from floor level. I will be using these this Sunday in presenting the James and Bartholomew windows in Generations of Grace, our intergenerational Sunday School beginning at 9:15 in the Auditorium.
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