FROM THE RECTOR
In a recent sermon, I spoke about how we (me included) “play church”. What I meant by that phrase is that we often go through the motions of our worship, not even considering or contemplating the awe, majesty and power of God Almighty. I think about worship a great deal. It is a word we, in the church, use quite often. Sometimes when use words too much, they lose their power. For us in the church, worship can be a word which no longer has any authority for us. In this season of Easter, I want us to think about our worship.

What do we mean when we say that word? What does worship ask or require of or from us? When the word “worship” is used in scripture, it generally means to reverently and respectfully bow down and pay homage to another.

It seems to me that this is a good juncture for us to pause and think about our worship and what it means to us. What follows is a meditation on worship taken from the wonderful devotional, Living the Message by Eugene Peterson. This particular passage comes from another of Petersons’ books, Reversed Thunder, a meditation on the Revelation of St. John.
“In worship God gathers his people to himself as center: “The Lord reigns” (Psalm 93:1) Worship is a meeting at the center so that our lives are centered in God and not lived eccentrically. We worship so that we live in response to and from this center, the living God. Failure to worship consigns us to a life of spasms and jerks, at the mercy of every advertisement, every seduction, and every siren. Without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives. We move in either frightened panic or deluded lethargy as we are, in turn, alarmed by specters and soothed by placebos. If there is no center, there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness, epidemic in the world, with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose.” Living the Message, p. 74, Eugene Peterson, originally published in Reversed Thunder, Peterson, p. 60.

By all means, let us worship and keep God at the center of our lives and community.
Blessings and peace to you all,

Robert

ECW NEWS

Just when I thought we could take a breathier from all the March madness and activities of Lenten events, Holy week and Easter, we tumble into a frenzy of more activities. As this letter is being composed for the April edition, the Grace ECW is preparing to host the Spring Cheaha Convocation on March 27. We look forward to the program speaker, the Rev. Deacon Dave Drachlis, from St. Thomas, Huntsville. The alms collected at the Eucharist Dave will take for this missionary work. There is always lots of information shared at these Convocation meetings so please check the bulletin board for updates. I will not be able to share them in Grace Notes until the next month’s issue.

March was an exciting month for the ECW calendar. Our March luncheon was well attended and we had guests attend from St. Luke’s, Jacksonville to hear our guest speaker, the Rev. Barry Vaughn. Barry had served as the interim priest there before Michael Rich. Lark Howell and the St. Cecelia Parish Servers Guild served Lark’s homemade soup, salad and dessert. Alice McNeil decorated the tables with beautiful camellias out of her garden. Thanks to all the ladies who worked so hard preparing this luncheon. The Nominating Committee presented the slate of officers for 2008-2010 to the membership. There were no further nominations from the floor. Your new ECW Officers are: Jane Wood, President; Linda McAllister, Vice President; Carol Sok, Recording Secretary; Lila Brazelton, Treasurer. Your new officers will start residing at the fall meeting.

We are nearing the end of our calendar year together. We have one more program and then our picnic. Judith Keat is our speaker at the luncheon on April 14 which is hosted by the St. Helen Hostess Guild. Please come and hear and support Judith, as she presents Amy’s book of poetry just recently published.

Then on Saturday, April 19 is the White Elephant Sale which Joyce Cook and Tora Johnson are chairing. Starting on Monday afternoon, after the luncheon bring your treasures and donations for the sale. Joyce and Tora will have sign up sheets on the ECW bulletin board for the hours to come and help price items and put items out in Tyler Hall. Pricing will go on all week. Members are needed to help too on Saturday throughout our sale AND bake sale. Please be generous with your time and sign up to help with the preset and the day of the sale. Carol Sok does such a fabulous and creative job with our bake sales for Outreach; however, all her talents are only as successful as the talented bakers we have in our church. So bake up a storm and bring all those tasty goodies down to Tyler Hall on Friday for Carol. Stick around too and help Carol price the bake sale table. Remember that the proceeds from this White Elephant Sale and 90% of the proceeds from the Bake Sale (10% of the monies will go to Outreach) will go toward the refurbishing of King Parlor. We are planning on a highly successful event. This is for the WHOLE church to participate in. If you have heavy objects or furniture to donate and need help with manpower and a truck, we have several men who have offered their help. Make arrangements with Joyce, 236-6072.

The St. Martha Working Women’s Guild is meeting on Thursday, April 24 at 5:30 p.m. at the home of Marilyn Burson 1507 Lakeshore Dr. 741-1399 for a cookout. Marilyn is grilling chicken and we’ll get side dishes and desserts from those who can attend. You will need to let Marilyn know by Monday, April 21 that you are coming or let me know, 831-1258. Bless Ron who he’ll be at his Kairos meeting!

Looking ahead into May, mark your calendars for the picnic at Lark’s on Monday, May 12, a nursery will be provided. Finally, the Parish Picnic, which is coordinated by the Vestry, is Sunday, May 18 following the late service. The ECW is responsible to help with some setting up as the Vestry directs and to help with the cleanup. Also the diocesan ECW Women’s Weekend is May 16-18 at Camp McDowell. The Rev. Bob and Kay Blackwell will be leading the meditations. Watch the ECW bulletin board for more information on this. Visit the Diocesan ECW website at www.alabamaecw.org.

We’ve got something for everyone this month of April. I hope that all of our events will be well attended, and especially the White Elephant Sale—we need to make this a church wide event.

Joy and Peace,
Jane Wood, ECW President

UNITED THANK OFFERING INGATHERING
APRIL 27, 2008
COMING SOON!!! We will have our springtime UTO ingathering on Sunday, April 27. Please begin to pray and plan for this wonderful world-wide mission opportunity.
Doris Daniel, UTO Coordinator

WHITE ELEPHANT SALE
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008
8:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Items for sale may be delivered to Tyler Hall on the following days:
Monday, April 14, after 3:00 p.m. (due to the ECW luncheon)
Tuesday, April 15, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 16, 10:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, April 17, 10:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Friday, April 18, 10:00 – 4:00 p.m.

SATURDAY, APRIL 19 – SALE DAY
We welcome volunteers each day to receive and price items and to work on SALE DAY. This event is for the WHOLE church. We have sign-up sheets (like we do for Lobsterfest) on the ECW bulletin board, so please sign-up for those times/days you can work to help price AND where/how you can help on SALE DAY. Many thanks.

REMEMBER to bake for the Bake Sale. Call Carol Sok, 237-2067, if you have questions. She would like baked goods brought to Tyler Hall early Friday. Carol is also planning to have sandwiches for sale so those who are shopping and our volunteers can plan to have a sandwich and maybe something from the baked goods table for lunch.

Tora Johnson has donated one of her paintings to be raffled. Tickets will be $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00. It will be on display at various times before the SALE. Look for it when you are at church on Sunday and Wednesday evenings.

We have lovely items promised for the sale. It should be fun and exciting. Tell your friends and invite them to come.
Joyce Cook and Tora Johnson

EYC NEWS

Hi ya’ll,
Wow, the Easter Season is already upon us, and the cause for celebration has never been so great. As a youth group, the EYC has been extremely busy as of late. Just since the last Grace Notes went out we have: traveled to the Georgia Aquarium to enjoy God’s creation there, been to Camp McDowell twice for the annual Spring Break Conference and Parish Retreat, raised money for “Food for the Poor,” sold over 65 “Amazing Grace” T-shirts, and had a blast hiding and finding Easter Eggs with the very young ones on Easter Sunday. Needless to say this youth director is both a little pooped and also filled with the Holy Spirit from all the good work the kids have done. They really are a very special group of young people.

Coming down the grapevine in the immediate future is a likely second trip down to Ascension in Montgomery (you may recall we traveled there for EYC convention). I’m still working on the details, but here is what is likely to happen: we will be joining Jonathan Chesney and a handful of other parishes April 11th for a fun time and concert at Ascension’s “Joshua House” that will benefit Daniel Strandland’s Mission to Uganda Campaign. It’s a good ministry, and I will be happy to tell you more as I know the details. By the time this is published the logistics should be worked out. Woot!

The Lord be with you,
--Bobby

OPEN FLOWER DATES FOR THE ALTAR
Jan Orrison coordinates the scheduling of flowers for the altar and she needs your help! Since Easter came so early this year, it did a number on flower dates for April. The following April flower dates are open: April 6, 2008; April 13, 2008; April 20. 2008; April 27, 2008. Please call Jan, 236-0052, if you would like to put flowers in the church in memory or in honor of loved ones. Many thanks.

PRESCHOOL FRIENDS
The children in our preschool always seem to suddenly be more mature and self-sufficient around March. This year is no exception. They seem more confident and are more socially ready to interact with a group. Most are able to follow the rules and they know what is expected of them.
What a fun time they all had hunting Easter eggs. Some members of the ECW made sure the children had a nice party with delicious cookies and wonderful decorations. They also put together Easter baskets for each child as well as each teacher. The baskets were all to the children and teachers. We all want to thank the ECW for working so hard to make this Easter even better and for being so thoughtful.

Spring break will be the week of April 14, which is the same as the public schools. This is later this year than other years.

Thanks to everyone for all of your support in so many ways.
Katherine

CHOIR NOTES
Many, many thanks to the choir for their hard work on all our Lenten and Easter music! Easter morning was glorious! Also thanks to the two Brians, our trumpet players, and to Owen Pike, who played on Palm Sunday. Thank you for your dedication and support.

Now that Easter is behind us, it’s a perfect time to come and join the choir. We will be learning new music for the remainder of spring, and for the summer. You get the very best seat in the house and first dibs on communion! Come and join us; we rehearse on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m., and Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m.

God’s Peace,
Jill Pike, Choir Director

THANKS TO THE MULCH MOVERS
On a snowy and cold March 8, these Mulch Movers spread 5 TONS of mulch in 5 hours: David Whetstone, Sherri Sumners, Randy Laney, Andy Methvin, Mark Miller, Eric Douglas, Debby Noll, and Gary Stanko. Many thanks, the grounds look beautiful!!

ART AUCTION FOR CAMP MCDOWELL CHAPEL
One of the initiatives being funded by the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama’s ACTS2 Capital Funds Campaign is the new Chapel of St. Francis at Camp McDowell. The diocesan ECW has pledged $65,000 toward the sacristy in the chapel. On April 17, an art auction will be held at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Homewood from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. All in the diocese are invited to join in this event to benefit “the heartbeat of the diocese,” as the late Rt. Rev. Furman Stough called it. Please consider donations of artwork, jewelry, trips, concert or football tickets, handmade items, gourmet dinners, gift certificates, design work by the hour, flower-arranging, etc., as well as helping with the event itself. The Praise singers from St. Mark’s Birmingham will entertain. This will be the first event hosted by the newly-recharged All Saints’ ECW, so let’s help those ladies make it a success. We need the following:
Donations of items to be auctioned
Publicity throughout the parishes
Attendance at the event ($5 ticket)
Please consider this request prayerfully. The ECW will appreciate deeply the support of all. Please contact the following people to help: Alleen Cater, alleenc@bellsouth.net or 205-969-7179 if you have items to auction; Olivia Weingarten, odnwewein@aol.com or 205-988-5417 if you want to help at the event; Fiona Watts, RGW2940@aol.com or 205-991-2884 if you can help with ticket sales, publicity, etc.

WAYS TO HELP GRACE WITHOUT THE HELP OF A LAWYER
Name Grace as a beneficiary of part of the proceeds of life insurance. Please contact your insurance agent for a change of beneficiary form to name Grace as a beneficiary of a mixed amount or percentage.
Stewardship Committee

TRANSITION
The sympathy of the parish is extended to Kathy Phillips on the death of her brother, Denny Polaschek, who died on March 13, 2008 in Nashville, TN.

WE WANT TO SEE YOU IN PICTURES….
We are going to create a new pictorial directory of our church family. Please participate! All we ask is that you have your picture taken by the professional Photographer and meet with a Portrait Consultant at the church. The scheduled dates for Photography and Portrait Viewing are: April 15, 16, 17 and 25, 26. Reserve your day and time by signing at one of the following locations: (1) in the narthex of the church, and (2) at the table in Tyler Hall. We look forward to seeing everyone in the directory. Our new pictorial directory just won’t be complete without you!
Your Vestry

THE CHURCH’S STATE OF FINANCE REPORT
...............MTD Actual .......MTD Budget ....Var .......YTD Actual ...........YTD Budget...........Var
Pledge .........27952................. 32500........ (4548)......... 48944 ....................65000 ..............(16056)
Total Rev ....31515 .................40093......... (8578)........ 59804 ....................80187 ..............(20383)
Total Costs .28150 .................37326........... 9156.......... 67883 ...................74653................ 8770
Overall ........3364 ...................2676 ............578 ............(8079).................... 5534

Please catch up on your Pledge! As you can see, Pledges are DOWN (16056). Thankfully, costs are down as well. BUT overall we are “in the hole” (8079) because revenue was less than anticipated even though costs less than budgeted. Please review YTD Actual for the “actual” picture of where we stand.
Finance Committee

A GENEROUS FLOWER GIFT FOR EASTER
Thank you to Mr. Tom Hampson from Atlanta who gave a very generous Easter flower memorial in memory of his mother, Mildred Hampson. The Hampson family were long ago members of Grace.

THANK YOU TO THE ALTAR GUILD AND FRIENDS
The church was beautifully decorated for Easter with lilies, white roses, white tulips, baby’s breath, and greens on Holy Saturday by the following Altar Guild members and friends: Juliette Doster, Leigh Hulsey, Diane Phillips, Lark Howell, Augusta Andrews, Christina Dorn, Judy Mabry, Barbara Chalk, Jane Wood, Christie Skinner, Scott Skinner, Christina Skinner, and Sandra Falkenberry. Thank you for all your hard work.

SEDER THANK YOU NOTES
We had a highly successful Seder Meal this year with about 50 people attending. Thank you to Josie Ayers for assisting withThe Haggadah and for the delicious shepherd’s pie. Linda McAllister made the charoset. Lisa Davis played the piano and Jill Pike led us in the traditional songs. Mac Love found the Afikoman that Robert so cleverly hid in the library and won the prize—a piggy bank!! Mac also opened the French doors to let Elijah come in. All the casseroles were delicious as were the desserts. Many thanks to the families who hosted the tables and to everyone who brought in food items. We look forward to “next year in Jerusalem”.

THE BOSS (GRACE’S CORNER)
Oooh!! Spring time is here. Brenda and Katherine had the office window flung wide open the other day and I thought it a wonderful idea to jump out the window to visit with that squirrel who always comes by to visit and peek in the windows and to see the pretty camellias. BUT Brenda was fleeter of foot than me and grabbed me so I could not try my flying act! Oh well! I have found my calling though as the Circulating Editor of Grace Notes. I circulated in to the copy room last Wednesday night as the Grace Notes were being typed and I stretched out on the top of the desk and I selected those items I wanted in the monthly newsletter. What I didn’t want I conveniently pushed into the waste basket! Happy Easter! Happy Readings! Come and visit me and feed me tidbits.
Much meows,
Gracie

Children of Grace
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me,
and do not stop them; for it is to such as these
that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”
Matthew 19:14

Wednesday Evenings
Our Wednesday evening combined age-level class continues to focus on watching for God’s miracles. Each week, we learn about one of God’s miracles, have a devotion time, a craft, and sing a song.
Join us as we celebrate the Easter season and the greatest miracle of all!

Children Release Painted Lady Butterflies!
The children of Grace released 31 Painted Lady
Butterflies near the Memorial Garden following
the 10:30 service on Resurrection Day.
Children’s Sunday school classes raised the
butterflies during Lent and learned about
the butterfly as a symbol of the resurrection and
the “new life” we have in Jesus.

Children’s Outreach Update
Operation Starfish is a ministry of
Food for the Poor, they work to end the suffering
of the poor in the Caribbean and in Latin America.
The children of Grace saved their offerings during Lent
and presented their gifts on Easter Sunday. Their gifts will be
combined with others to provide food for the starving, help build
small houses for the destitute, provide medicine and medical equipment for
the sick and elderly, support education, orphanages for children and much more.

Children make Care-Cards for Kairos Prison Ministry
Sunday school classes participated in an outreach project
to provide care-cards for people who are in prison.
The cards were delivered by Ron Burson who works to
support Kairos – a ministry for people who are in prison.
The children made simple cards to remind prisoners
that God cares for them and so do we!
Palm Sunday - Donkey Visit!
Sunday school classes observed Palm Sunday with lessons
and a visit from “Lisa Marie” and “Luke”, two beloved donkeys
who belong to Grace members Jim & Judith Keat.
The Keats, along with “Lisa Marie” and “Luke”
visited with the children and shared the
history of this beloved animal.

Little Blessings Nursery
Infants – 4 years of age
Nursery is located near Tyler Hall
We believe your children are a gift from God and we strive
to provide loving care with trained and paid attendants.
Nursery Hours: Sunday Mornings – 9:00 am – 12:00 noon
April ECW Meeting: nursery opens at 11:45 AM

God’s Big Backyard – VBS 2008
June 22 – 26
Mark your calendar and save the date!
Get ready for an outdoor adventure! Join us for a week filled with
Bible stories, food, music, games, crafts, and fun!
Help is needed in all areas!
Join others who have made a commitment to help during VBS:
Jan Orrison, Jordan Yancey, Lisa Davis, Lesley Hudson,
Carol Sok, Genny Turpin, Donna Davenport, Faith Dorn

Children’s Chapel This Summer?
Hey parents! Are you interested in having chapel worship continue
during the summer months? Let Christina know your thoughts about
a summer chapel. We will need four volunteer leaders in order to continue.
The current volunteer schedule ends in May.

Thank You!
Thank you to E.Y.C. members for the great Egg Hunt
you provided for the children on Easter Sunday!
Many thanks also for the many parishioners who provided
eggs and candy for the big hunt!