What are the means of Grace?
How does God’s Grace touch our lives?
How do we know Jesus Christ?
For 160 years Grace Church has been a means of grace, carrying and proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ as witnessed to us in both word and sacrament, especially in the word of the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the winged man, the winged Lion, the winged ox and the winged eagle, the four images shown on either side the Good Shepherd window and now in our new Church banner.
The means of God’s grace, carrying God’s grace, the specific grace that redeems the world in the cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ this is what has made up our journey for the past 160 years.
And the journey continues.
The best is yet to come.
This year is a banner year.
A new Sunday schedule will soon begin to make room.
This winter we will begin to see the work of restoring the windows, replacing the heating and air systems and the flat roofs, repairing some leaky spots, and hopefully the construction of a new building with accessible restrooms and a larger nursery to replace our current nursery which is frequently way too crowded. The plans are slowly coming together for this parish to do the first new construction initiated and paid for by the whole parish since the parish hall was built over 40 years ago.
The Cloister and the Sacristy are wonderful gifts from individuals faithfully received by this parish, but what we are doing now is something different, this is something that we are all giving and receiving.
The outreach ministry of the parish is praying, studying and discerning a way for our parish to adopt a long term ministry here in Anderson as a way to focus our community life, raise our awareness and increase our opportunities to reach out in an informed way. Be sure to fill the surveys so we can be as informed as possible in our decision making.
This is all about the ministry that we all share in of being claimed by the Gospel and of proclaiming the Gospel that God has embraced the world in Jesus Christ.
Ministry is about that embrace.
Ministry is about communion with God.
So celebrate the ministry of Grace.
Celebrate the journey.
We are only just beginning.
The four winged evangelists, the four Gospels, always lead us on to be the means of grace.
Making room.
When we are making room we are being made faithful. x2
That is why we are.
This is what God thinks is important, all the time, how to make room.
Making room is both the journey and the destination.