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News for
and about Grace Episcopal Church
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April 30,
2008 | |
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We invite and embrace
you. Come witness God's Grace and
act.
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| This Week's Weekday Services: Note
Change
From the Vicar:
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| Thanks for Your Support of Last Week's Work Day
Dear Friends,
I can only say over and over how grateful I am to each of
you for contributing and helping with (what seemed like) the
feeding of the 5000 on the work day. (It was only 30+, I
know.)
To Jim Edgy for the delicious fresh strawberry topping
and to Wanda Miller for the cake, ice cream and
ice. To Roger Perna for the iced tea (which in the
melee', we forgot to serve, but it WILL get used.)
To Judy Handy for the additional salad and applesauce and
other sundries. To Chuck Bowles for shopping for his
entree ingredients, lemonade, paperware and plastic cutlery
and for cooking some of the casseroles. And to Judy
Handy, Susan Dewbrey and our Vicar for getting that food
dished up and served to the hungry men and women who worked so
hard. And again to them for helping in the
cleanup.
We always know who we can count on---and it's YOU.
Thanks for making it happen, once again. I know the
parolees and officers were very grateful and our church
benefited tremendously.
Your friend and sister in Christ, Grace Staples
P.S. Others who worked outside with crews were David
Mukasa, Laura Hall, Roger Perna, Chuck Bowles, Jim Edgy and
Bob Poyer. |
| A Note from Phillis Dietz
To all my dear friends whose good wishes for
recovery--and especially for your condolences--have come to
me, my thanks from my heart.
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| "Got Questions" Group Discusses Bible; Next Topic:
Atonement!
Sunday, the "Got Questions" group gathered after the 10am
service to enjoy brunch provided by the Givlers and to
discuss the Bible. The group reviewed current scholarly
understandings of what the Bible is, the church's stance about
it, how each of experiences the Bible and, mostly
interestingly, what those present believe about it.
Although the "Got Questions?" group is scheduled to meet
on 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month, we decided not to meet
on Mother's Day. The next meeting will be May 25,
and will take up the topic: "How does Jesus' death
2000 years ago atone for my sins?" This should be
interesting!
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Saving the Earth Made Easy
The Sunday before last, the Vicar reminded the
congregation of God's command to Adam & Eve to be stewards
of the earth that He has given us.
One way to lessen our burden on the earth is to recycle
things that we no longer have use for that could be of use to
others. Here are two ways to make your discards useful to
others, or to get new (to you) things without using up
more of the earth's resources:
- Check out the Lord's Bounty resale store in College
Hill. For 25 years, the Lord's Bounty has provided
funding to College Hill organizations and scholarships to
College Hill students through the sale of gently used,
moderately priced clothing. You can read more about the
Lord's Bounty in a recent Enquirer article here.
- Check out Cincinnati Freecycle here.
Freecycle's goal is to reduce waste by connecting
people who are throwing away unwanted items with others
seeking the same items and have a little fun in the process.
Nothing is too big or too small and everything is 100%
free.
It goes without saying that we are all already
using recycle bins to recycle paper, metal, glass
and plastic. And, of course, we're all in the process of
replacing our incandescent lights with compact
flourescents.
Get more ideas in the following from the Health
& Wellness
Committee. |
| Earth Day Message from the Health & Wellness
Committee
April 22nd was Earth Day. Its timely acknowledgment
is temporarily taking the place of the second half of our
discussion on the Counseling Process. Here, we briefly
discuss some of the tenets of environmental conservation, and
then next month return to complete the counseling process.
I heard an interesting discussion on environmental
conservation. Two divergent Christian perspectives were
presented.
- From one perspective, God is characterized as having
created the earth and human intervention to preserve or
conserve the earth is unnecessary.
- Alternatively, God created the earth and called man to
conserve its resources.
I support the second perspective.
Environmental Conservation begins at home. The
principles undergirding these lifestyle choices are
simple. Look for opportunities to recycle, reuse, repair
rather than replace, and when disposal is necessary, do so
properly.
- Recycling - The City of Cincinnati asks
residents of single family dwellings to recycle their glass
and clear plastic containers, paper products and aluminum
cans. Residents are encouraged to recycle the
following items: mixed office paper, magazines, cardboard,
broken down telephone books, junk mail, brown grocery bags,
computer paper, and paperboard (such as cereal boxes).
Recycling bins are provided for free to these residents and
are emptied weekly when set at the curb with your garbage.
Recycling bins are also available to residents of dwellings
of nine units or less. Rumpke offers eight free
drop-off sites within the City limits. Recycling these
items performs two functions. It minimizes the need
for manufacturing and packaging plants to buy additional raw
material to make these products. In addition, it
reduces the amount of solid waste that must be transported
to an appropriate site and landfilled. Space within
existing landfills is diminishing and siting new landfills
for construction is becoming more difficult.
- Reuse - Donating your used car (truck,
van, RV) for reuse is an option for us all. Several local
agencies (e.g., St. Vincent de
Paul, Kars4kids,
Greater
Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation, the Kidney
Foundation) all accept donations of vehicles. Most
of these agencies will come to your location and pick up the
vehicle. All that is required are the keys and
title. The vehicle does not have to be in good running
order.
- Repair Rather than Replace - This wise
saying used to be very common. Admittedly for some
items like shoes, electronics and many appliances, this
practice is more challenging than it was even ten years ago,
but it is still possible. Consider repairing items before
defaulting to replacing them. Consider durability of an item
during its purchase.
- Dispose of Properly - Once an item
clearly falls into the category of waste, its proper
disposal is critical. Waste may be categorized as
solid waste, construction and demolition debris (baseboard,
wood products and concrete), hazardous waste (used motor
oil, oil-based cleaning fluids, and turpentine),
infectious waste (medical waste, used bandages, needles and
other "sharps") and yard waste (leaves and branches) . Solid
waste is what we routinely put in our trash cans for weekly
pickup at the curb. Included might be such items as
food products, broken toys, and vacuum cleaner bags. Neither
construction debris, hazardous waste, nor yard waste, should
be put in your trash. Infectious waste may be placed
in the "regular" waste stream but should be properly
packaged to protect workers from injury.
Should you have concerns or
want additional information about the material presented
above, please contact your local health department, department
of environmental services, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency , the Vicar or someone on
the Grace Church Health and Wellness Ministry Committee
(Chaired by Mrs. Florence Poyer, R.N.)
Prepared by: Walter S. Handy, Ph.D., member, Grace
Church Health and Wellness Ministry
Committee |
| Volunteer Needed to Chair Grace Church
Participation in College Hill Block Party
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| Thanks to Those Who Contributed to the Vicar's
Discretionary Fund
This fund allows the Vicar to help those who come to the
church with needs as far-ranging as bus tokens or gas money to
get to the doctor or to their work site, formula for their
babies, food that is not available from food pantries and
other such needs. If you can, please contribute.
Make your check to Grace and state that it is for the Vicar's
Fund.
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| Check Out Our Web Site
You can get some of the inside scoop on what's happening
at Grace on our website.
During a typical week, we have 70 to 110 visits to our
site, 50 to 90 of which are first-timers and 10 to 25 of which
are people who have visited before. These days, most
newcomers to a city find their new church via the
internet.
If you think of things that should be on our web site or
in eGraceNotes, do email the editor. And, of
course, the editor always appreciates learning about
improvements and
corrections. | |
| Coming Events
- Ascension Day Service: May 1, 7:30pm at Ascension &
Holy Trinity, Wyoming.
- Hip-Hop Service: May 2, 6:00pm at St. Phillips,
Northside (NOTE CHANGE).
- Drumming, Rieke and Healing: May 14, 6:30pm.
- Evening Prayer & Confession: May 17, 5:00pm.
- "Got Questions Brunch" & Discussion: May 25
following the 10:00am
service.
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