Join us for a Grace bike tour around Holland on Sunday, October 9th following the second service. There are 3ml and 10ml loops that we’ll be biking together. We’ll have a light lunch before the ride and dessert mid-route at DeGraaf Nature Trails with an opportunity to hike a bit there too. This is a first (annual?) event sponsored by Grace’s Creation Care group. All are welcome! We’ve got guides for both loops – simply bring a bike and a helmet and you will be good to go!
Sunday, September 25th
Join us this Sunday for Services at 8:15 and 10:30am with Education for ALL AGES at 9:15. Following the second service we will gather in the Undercroft for a “Town Hall” meeting. Instead of our usual Strategic Doing approach, this meeting will be dedicated to offering updates, asking questions and receiving feedback on all things Grace including the Grace Lands parking project, use of the Grace houses, new Christian Education programs, the Curate and other staff positions, Creation Care and more! Lunch will be served and childcare available. Join us!
Kick Off Sunday!
Join us this Sunday, September 11th as we kick off a new program year. Services of Holy Eucharist will be at 8:15 and 10:00 with the first Sunday of Choir and a kids’ sermon at the 10:00 service. The Annual Parish Photo will be taken on the parish lawn at 11:15 and the Parish Picnic (lunch provided by Fellowship Commission) complete with Kick Off Kick Ball will begin about 11:30 at Moran Park. Dress comfortably, have a lawn chair or picnic blanket handy and come join the fun! All are welcome.
Grace Pilgrims 2016
On Sunday, July 31st join us as we bless the Grace Pilgrims who will leave on Friday, August 5th to begin their journey to Lindisfarne, Durham and Canterbury. They will return on Tuesday, August 16th and Grace will celebrate with them on Sunday, August 21st The pilgrims will travel by car, plane, train, and foot, crossing the ocean and walking trails journeyed by pilgrims for many hundreds of years as they seek to discover more of themselves, one another, and God.
Our Prayers We invite all of Grace Church to pray daily as our Pilgrims travel: Loving God, whose glory fills the whole of creation and whose presence we find wherever we go, please care for Duncan, Cate, Martha, Madeline, Brock, Griffin, Phil, Mandy, Derek, and Renee; surround them with your loving care; protect them and keep them; give them strength and courage on the journey; take them safely to their destinations and return them home again. Amen.
Our Blessing:
May the strength of God guide you.
May the wisdom of God instruct you.
May the hand of God protect you.
May the way of God inspire you.
May the angels of God defend you.
May the peace of God travel with you,
bring you to your destination and home again. Amen.
Prayers for Baton Rouge and Law Enforcement Officers Throughout the Country
Our hearts break as we pray for the families of Police Officers killed and those wounded in Dallas and now Baton Rouge: Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women in law enforcement in our neighborhoods, cities, and on our highways. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; protect their families; strengthen them in their trials; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Congratulations, Barons!
Announcing that Grace’s Curates, The Revs. Jodi and Christian Baron have been called to serve as Co-Rectors of St Phillip’s Church in Beulah, MI. Congratulations, Barons! Jodi and Christian have been preparing for this day for a while now and it was made “official” last Friday. The Barons last Sunday at Grace will be this Sunday, June 26. Their last day on our staff will be June 30. The notice is short, but Grace will send them off well with celebrations at special Coffee Hours this Sunday following both services, a Children, Youth and Families Picnic at Holland State Park, Wednesday July 29 from 5:00-7:00pm, and a “Say Hey to the Barons Drop In” at Our Brewing Company, Tuesday July 5 from 5:00-7:00pm. Join us for all or some of these opportunities to offer our blessings and prayers for the Baron family.
A Service of Prayer and Remembrance
Friday, June 17 at 6:00pm at Grace: Join us for a service of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims of the Orlando Shootings, and in support of the LGBTQ community and their allies here on the Lakeshore. The service precedes the monthly PFLAG meeting here at Grace and will led by The Revs Jen Adams (Grace Episcopal,) Jill Russell (Hope Reformed,) and Linda Knieriemen (First Presbyterian.) All are welcome!
Lord, Hear Our Prayer
As we weep, we also pray for the people of Orlando, the LGBTQ community, and victims of violence everywhere: Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Feeding America, Being Grace
It’s supposed to be warm outside! Come enjoy the sunshine on Thursday, April 14th from 5:00-7:00 (4:00 if you are working in the kitchen!) for our monthly Feeding America ministry. We will welcome over 250 folks to Grace, share a warm meal, and distribute over 8000 lbs of food along with laundry detergent and toilet paper. If you can help, come. If you need food, come. All are welcome!
Bishop’s Workshops on Building Relationships
What are your relationships like? Are they mutual? Are they life-giving to you and to others? These are the questions we will be asking in our 2016 Bishop’s Workshops in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Traverse City.
In this conversation, we will also focus on vulnerability, and how we must be vulnerable to reap the fruits of faith and trust. This applies to ourselves as well as to our congregations. Vulnerability and humility are the keys to our most important relationships inside and outside the church. (Watch this brilliant video by Brene Brown on vulnerability).
After the bishop’s presentation, lunch will be provided. Workshops will be offered in the afternoon.
Workshops are subject to change, and workshop facilitators are to be announced. They include the following possible topics:
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- Developing a Rule of Life
- Spirituality of Good Stewardship
- Lay Worship Leadership in Small Churches
- Family Formation at Home
Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. with welcome & introductions beginning promptly at 10:00. We will conclude at 3:00 p.m.
We will come together in closing to discuss the day and pray. All are welcome. If you have questions or concerns about this event, contact the diocesan office at (269) 381-2710.
Grace Episcopal Church (Holland): Holy Week & Easter Schedule 2016
Holy Week & Easter Schedule 2016 Palm Sunday (March 20) 8:15 AM & 10:00 AM The early service begins in the sanctuary with the story of the triumphal entry.
Read moreLent with Grace
We began the Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday and will journey together for 40 days and 40 nights through the wilderness, toward the cross, and into the celebration of Christ’s glorious resurrection. Join us. The Great Litany will open our Sunday services this week at 8:15 and 10:00am with education for all at 9:15. On Lenten Wednesdays we will gather for Holy Eucharist at 9:30am and for supper at 5:45, Holy Eucharist at 6:30, and a study on caring for creation called, Grace for the Whole World! Newcomers and those interested in learning more about the Episcopal Church are encouraged to join This Episcopal Life, which begins on Sunday, February 17 at 11:45am. Books for that class are available in the Commons. Check out our education page for more information.