| Administrator/Choirmaster/Organist
Jim Edgy Leaves Grace Church
 Following
doctor's orders, Grace's long-time Administrator,
Choirmaster and Organist Jim Edgy resigned his positions
as of October 9.
In a bulletin announcement, Jim wrote:
"Dear Friends,
"Thank you for the privilege of knowing and working
with you for the past ten years. And
especially to the choir, I express my
appreciation.
"I wish you every success as you continue your
important work here at Grace Church.
Jim Edgy"
When asked where he would be worshipping, Jim said
that it would be unfair for a new organist and choir
director to have the old one sitting in the congregation
so, for the time being, he will be worshipping at
Christ Church Cathedral where his church membership is.
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| Deacon
Gary Givler Leaves Grace Church
 Deacon
Gary Givler's last day at Grace Church was Sunday, October
27. In a letter to Senior Warden Mukasa, Deacon
Givler said in part,
"After prayerful consideration of the continuing
value of my presence at Grace Church I have ... received
permission [from Canon Johanssen] to to move on to other
work in the diocese. As I leave I want to express my
gratitude for the opportunity to have served the people of
Grace Church and for the gifts that I have received
through my interactions with them. Many are dear to me and
I will carry them in my heart to the next place that I go
in my walk with God."
Susan Givler has resigned her position as member of the
Altar Guild and has left Grace Church as well.
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Church
Office & Staffing Gets (Re)Organized
Grace Staples reports:
We have firmed up the temporary office volunteer schedule
until Mission Council decides what it wants to do about
office positions.
October Office Volunteer Schedule
Monday mornings: Roger and/or Belinda Perna
Tuesday mornings: Grace Staples
Wednesday mornings: Florence Poyer
Thursday mornings: Roger and/or Belinda Perna
Friday afternoons: Hawley Todd
Substitutes: Mary McLain, Wanda Miller (Weds.), Ruth
Bertram (in future).
An office volunteer organizational meeting will be held
Monday, October at 3 PM in the office. All interested in
volunteering are warmly invited to attend.
In addition to staffing the office, we need help in
documenting (or in locating the documentation about) how
things work at Grace.
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What
Direction Do You Want Grace Church to Take?
Members of Mission Council will meet with Canon John
Johanssen on October 14th to discuss Grace's plans for
the future. The Rev. Canon Johanssen oversees
congregational development. He works with churches that
are thriving as well as those in crisis. Canon Johanssen
also oversees deployment--that is the calling process
for priests and congregations-- as well as evangelism,
stewardship and development.
On October 21, representatives of Mission Council will
meet with the Diocesan Commission on Congregational
Life. COCL is charged with encouraging, supporting,
evaluating, and seeking opportunities for development
and growth of all fellowships, missions, and parishes of
the diocese.
Senior Warden David Mukasa wants to hear from you about
what direction you want Grace Church to take. Let him know
at 513-353-0813 or seniorwarden@gracecollegehill.org.
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Grace
Church Explores Common Ministry
On Saturday, September 19, thirteen members of Grace Church
attended the Diocesan meeting on Common Ministry at the
Procter Center.
One of the workshops, entitled "Exploring Common
Ministry," was presented by Fr. Derrick Fetz, who is
the priest at St. Mary Magdalene in Maineville and also the
Common Ministry mentor for The Church of the Good Samaritan
in Amelia. Fr. Derrick described Common Ministry as
rewinding back to the organizational patterns of the early
church, similar to the way it is outlined in the Book of
Acts, where leaders were chosen out of the Christian
community according to the gifts that have been given to
them by the Holy Spirit.
Today, congregations that want to explore the possibility of
using a Common Ministry model are mentored through a "discernment""process
that includes prayer, study of scripture, and reflection to
collectively reach a consensus regarding the spiritual gifts
of the members of the group and to accept particular tasks
based on the consensus.
Presently, we at Grace are deciding whether or not we want
to pursue the exploration of Common Ministry.
Thanks to Roger Perna for
this article.
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Keep
in Your Prayers ...
 Jim
Edgy, John Thayer, Gigi Woode, Toussaint Thrower and
family, Ray Harris; Marilyn White; Trevor Van Wagenen;
Anna Hamilton, Ed Frye, Jo Carroll, Karen Van Wagenen,
Elaine Hughes, Maureen Back, Eloise Pinto, Ruth Bertram,
Robert Flemister; Judy & Walter Handy, Shelly Martin,
Barbara Todd; Kim Martin, Robb Martin; Florence and Bob
Poyer; Dean Bryeans, Mary Hall, Chris; Irene Bryeans;
Joshua, Caleb, Anne, and Darryl Handy; Marcus Flemister;
Kim Herrmann, Al Berghausen; Teri; Mary Lou Bellows;
Jackie Lewis, Mike and family, Chris and family.
Please let us know if you need pastoral care or know of
someone who does. This includes information about illness,
hospital stays, requests for visits, communion, and prayers
for special concerns. Please help us to serve you. |
Coming
Events
- The Healing Service
with African Drumming and Reiki restarts October
14 at 7 pm. This will be the 1st service of the new
season. Come join us for this new season kick off!
This is a service that employs both traditional
and non-traditional healing methods: African Drumming
and Reiki, plus the traditional healing prayer and
laying on of hands. The service is based on the concept
of release of tension through African drumming,
restoration of peace through quietness and solitude, and
prayer for continued health through the laying on of
hands.
See the Grace
Calendar Page for the most up-to-date listing of events
at Grace. Let us know at webmaster@gracecollegehill.org
if we've missed anything.
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Christmas
Dinner Planning Starts Now
We would like to have our 3rd annual Christmas Dinner this
year. If you are willing to help with this, please let
us know (office@gracecollegehill.org,
513-541-2415). We will have a planning meeting soon
and need to know who to invite and count on for this
event. There will be three committees this year:
- Set up and decorations;
- Food and serving;
- Clean up.
Please help if you can. We need you to make this
happen. |
Grace
Church Helps to Serve Homeless Families Through IHN
Interfaith Hospitality Network of Cincinnati is alive and
well and can use volunteers. This past week, 26 people were
housed and served by the network with many calls coming in
every day from more families seeking shelter. Families
are pre-screened and come from many walks of life.
As many of you know, Grace Church hosted homeless families
through the Interfaith Hospitality Network for 15 years
until early 2006 when our shrinking volunteer pool made it
no longer feasible. At that time, through the help of
our former member and deacon, the Rev. Laura Chace, Christ
Church Glendale assumed the host role and Grace Church
became a supporting congregation supplying overnight
volunteers for one evening six weeks a year at Christ Church
Glendale.
Plans are now underway for the College Hill churches to once
again host IHN here in our own neighborhood. This is
good news as it will expand the capacity in Cincinnati and
be more convenient to local volunteers.
IHN is a unique response to homelessness. It combines
volunteers from the religious community with full-time
professionals to reintegrate families into the
community.
- Case Managers at the IHN Day Center help families find
and maintain permanent housing.
- During the day, vans transport families to
appointments, interviews and day care.
- An IHN Bus transports families back and forth between
the congregations and the Day Center.
- The Day Center in Lower Price Hill serves as a home
base providing adult education classes, parenting
classes, a kitchen, laundry facilities, showers, free
telephones, a mailing address, computer facilities, and
a children's playroom.
- School-age children attend school and receive
after-school tutoring through Project Connect.
IHN guest families say that what will stick out most in
their minds about their host congregation is:
- "The niceness to the kids."
- "How sweet and loving they were with all of the
children."
- "The congregation. They were all concerned about
our housing situation."
If you would like to know more about this aspect of Grace
Episcopal Church mission efforts, call Mary McLain at
513-541-8509 or Grace Staples at 513-251-3538.
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Ernestein
Flemister Contact Information
St. James House of Prayer (Episcopal)
2708 N. Central Ave.
Tampa , FL 33602-1602
(813) 223-6090
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Biblical
Materials Requested
The Community of Christ the Redeemer at North Central
Correctional Institution is asking for donations of
religious materials, e.g. used Forward Day by Day
and other devotionals, Bibles, Bible studies (English and
Spanish; no audio cassettes). Typing and writing paper is
appreciated as well.
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It's
Easy to Keep in Touch with What's Happening in the Diocese
The Diocese has its own eNewsletter called e-Connections
that provices regular updates on Diocesan
matters. To subscribe, click here.
You can catch up with what's happening at the Diocesan
web site.
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