News from Grace Episcopal Church, Amherst
www.gracechurchamherst.org
April 2015
Holy Week at Grace
www.gracechurchamherst.org
Newcomers
Are you new to Grace? If you are, did you know that
we will host a dinner in your honor? Please
contact Janine Kelly (janinekelly103@comcast.net )
to find out when the next dinner will be held.
This festive event will give you a chance to meet
other newcomers as well as members of the clergy
and parish, and to learn more about what is going
on at Grace Church. We’d love to have you!
Newcomer Luncheon!
Our next newcomer luncheon is being planned!
Luncheons take place following the 10:30 service in
the library upstairs in the Old Rectory. If you are new,
or contemplating membership at Grace, please join us!
Details to come.
We are so glad you are here.
If you are new and would like to be introduced to the Grace community via an interview,
please contact Janine Kelly at janinekelly103@comcast.net or 549-6418. Janine will also let
you know when we are hosting newcomer events!
Please visit www.gracechurchamherst.org and join our mailing list to receive Grace Notes and
weekly emails with event updates!
We are a community striving to be fully alive in the glory of God — in our
life together, in our participation in the sacraments, and in our efforts to
respect the dignity of every human being.
Come worship with us, join our Music Ministry or the Altar Guild, help out with
Sunday School, or join us in service at the Interfaith Cot Shelter, Craig’s Doors, or Not Bread Alone. Try knitting a
prayer shawl, or grab a shovel and help us to plant our new gardens in the spring! We hope that you will join us and find
a home where you can discover the life of Christ that dwells within you and that needs community to find its full
expression.
We look forward to seeing you in Church, at gatherings in the Parish Hall, or at coffee hour after services, in the
Connector. If you are new here, please fill out a blue “Welcome card” (found in the pews). Just place it in the collection
plate, and indicate if you would like to speak with a member of the clergy.
www.gracechurchamherst.org
Music Ministry
Ars Cantorum
Elizabeth Damon, Director
present
A Clean Heart
Music of Holy Kinship
With works by Bach, Brahms, Poulenc, Faure,
Buxtehude, Purcell and others
April 24, 2015
8:00 pm
Grace Episcopal Church, Amherst
www.gracechurchamherst.org
Service at Grace
Outreach
Outreach Commission is reaching out to you, beloved co-parishioners. Due to the happy circumstance of funds
newly available, the Outreach Commission seeks to provide seed money for new outreach projects originating
within our congregation. If you have an idea for service to our community – defined as local or more largely–
which may draw upon our energies and talents, yet needs a little start-up help, please bring it forward; this is
your Kickstarter. Contact co-chairs Marion Rosenau, maggiejack@aol.com, or Chris Hoffman,
hoffmann@cs.umass.edu, Outreach Commission, or any member of the Commission: Ann Lowell, Eve Webster,
Sara Stelzner, Mary McCarthy, Jim Duda, Sandy Muspratt.
Spring is coming!!!
The Grace Church Garden Ministry creates beautiful
landscapes around our campus and are always looking for
additional volunteers. If you have a green thumb or are all
thumbs but would like to participate anyway, please contact us!
For additional information or to volunteer, please contact
Garden Ministry Chair, Sherry Wilson, at
sherrywilson136@comcast.net.
Donate plants from your garden – and come to buy more—at the May 23 plant sale held by the Garden Ministry to
help raise funds for the landscape of Grace Church. Perennials, tomato seedlings, houseplants and more will be featured in the plant sale to be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in front of the church.
Plant donations are welcomed -- indeed, urged. Start potting up your plants now to donate to the sale. Last-minute
digging results in wilted plants that won’t sell! Use good soil, large pots and water well. Label accurately, please.
Bring your potted plants to the Undercroft on Friday afternoon, May 22, from 4 until 6 p.m. or call Sherry Wilson
(256-6955) to arrange another convenient drop-off time. Garden books, decorative pots and garden ornaments also
can be donated.
Help is needed in setting up, selling, answering questions and cleaning up. Call Mary Hocken (549-8773) or Janine
Kelly (549-6418) to volunteer!
We would like to send out a huge thank you to Zina Tillona for her years of dedication
and service as the Grace Church Interfaith Outreach Network (ION) representative! And
another big thank you to Eve Webster who has graciously volunteered to be our new ION
representative! Eve is also our Adult Christian Formation and Education chair and does a
wonderful job with our events so we know that she is going to be a highly valued
member of the ION team as well. Congratulations Eve and thank you for your service!
www.gracechurchamherst.org
Outreach
SERVING AT THE INTERFAITH COT SHELTER IN NORTHAMPTON:
As part of our Outreach Ministry we at Grace commit to prepare and serve the evening
meal on the second Thursday of each winter month, November through April, at the
Interfaith Cot Shelter in Northampton. A team of four or five prepares the meal at
home or in the Parish Hall kitchen and arrives at the shelter at about 5:45, serving and
eating with the guests, and then beginning the clean up until the evening crew arrives at
about 7:30. Grace Church has been involved in this wonderful ministry for more than
20 years. All those who have served feel enriched by the experience.
If you are interested joining this ministry to cook and/or serve on one or more of the
dates this winter, please contact:
Steve McKelvey, 237-3446, mckelvey@isenberg.umass.edu
Bob Hawley, 253-3582, mchawley111@comcast.net
Outreach!
Our Easter Outreach Offerings brought in $5372.51 to be sent to Craig’s Doors and
American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
The fellowship meets at noon on the second Sunday
of each month to pray, discuss, and plan responses
to social and economic injustices locally, nationally,
and in the world. We welcome everyone to our
monthly meetings.
Not Bread Alone is a community meal program that
offers FREE homemade, hot meals and groceries to
anyone in need. Meals are provided three days a week
and on Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving and Christmas in
the lower level dining room of the First Congregational
Church in Amherst, 165 Main St. Grace Church
members volunteer on the second Saturday of each
month from 10:30-2:30. For more information or to volunteer, please contact Chris Hoffman
(hoffman@cs.umass.edu).
Ongoing Interfaith Vigil against Drone Warfare: Tuesdays, April 7th
and April 21st, at noon in the Parker Room. Silent meditation, prayers,
discussion. Pray for peace in our time. All are welcome.
www.gracechurchamherst.org
Grace in Haiti
News from the Haiti Ministry
Mark Peterman and Sandy Muspratt made a weeklong mission trip to Haiti in early March.
They visited St. Matthieu’s School and met with the teachers and Father Jean Fils Chery,
priest in charge. Hear about their trip on Sunday, April 19, following the 10:30 service, in the
Parish Hall. Haitian coffee will be served.
Meanwhile, plans are firming up for this summer’s performing arts camp for the children of
St. Matthieu. Meredith Gibbons, a UMass student and member of Grace Church who has
been assisting Sarah Dunn with some of the Grace youth activities, will be one of the camp’s
co-directors, drawing upon her studies in music education and her prior experience in leading
children’s singing groups. Fatima Cadet-Diaby, a junior at Mount Holyoke who plays
multiple musical instruments and has taken part in numerous theatrical productions, will be
the other co-director. Fatima is Haitian-American, though she grew up in the States; this will
be her first trip to Haiti. Two of the teachers from St. Matthieu will assist Merry and Fatima.
If funds permit, we plan to enroll 50 campers. The two-week camp begins August 3.
How can you help? The Haiti Ministry will be looking for donations of art supplies and
simple musical instruments (bongo drums, tambourines, maracas, cymbals, recorders,
harmonicas). Watch for a list of what’s needed, which will be posted on the Haiti bulletin
board in the Connector later this spring.
Interested in seeing other ways to contribute to the Haiti Ministry’s mission?
Click here http://www.graceinhaiti.org/ways-to-help/ to view options!
www.gracechurchamherst.org
Bishop Oge’s Visit
Bishop Suffragan of Haiti , The Rt. Rev. Oge Beauvoir preached at both the 8:00am and 10:30am
services on Sunday, March 1st and had a wonderful visit in Amherst with members of the congregation!
www.gracechurchamherst.org
Upcoming Events
Saturdays, April 11th and 25th
“Over 60s Gathering at Grace”
11-12:30 in the Connector. If you’re over 60,
embarking on the best years of your life (in
spite of rumors to the contrary) and have some
serious concerns to explore with fellow
adventurers, please join us for friendly
conversation as we connect around common
interests. We meet bi-weekly, on the 2nd and
4th Saturdays of each month.
For more information contact Adrian Stair, 2303868, revadrian@comcast.net.
Tea and Titles will take place on
Thursday, April 16th at 4pm in the
Connector. All are welcome!
UMass Bach Festival at Grace! On Saturday, April 18th at
8pm, The Bach Festival will present St. John’s Passion in
the Sanctuary. The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Bach Festival 2015 is conceived as the pilot event of an
ongoing biannual festival, with the purpose of creating a
destination event for the Western Massachusetts community
and beyond. Saturday night’s performance is the centerpiece of the festival and we are blessed that Grace has been
chosen as the venue.
http://www.umass.edu/music/BachSymposium2015.php for
more information. Please come and support this amazing
performance!
The Worcester Youth Junior Philharmonic &
Pioneer Valley Symphony Youth Orchestra Spring Concert
Sunday, April 12th, 2015 @ 4pm
Grace Episcopal Church, Amherst
The WYJP and PVSYO join forces for a magnificent joint
concert in the beautiful Pioneer Valley. Hear more than 80
young musicians play glorious music!
Concert is Free and Open to the Public
Suggested Donation $15 - $20
Sign Up Now!! MUSIC -THEATRE- ARTS CAMP: Week of July 27th, 9
-2 Monday - Friday, Saturday morning, August 1st: dress rehearsal,
performance: Sunday, August 2nd as a part of the service. Sam Lowry is
writing a musical play about “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego” (story
found in Daniel chs 1-3). Children age 6 and up. Details in the making but the
children will make costumes, scenery, sing and act, help back stage, paint,
draw etc. Anyone who is interested in helping with any part of this camp
please let me know. Sign up as soon as possible! Contact Mary Hocken to
sign up at mhocken@verizon.net , 413-549-8773, or 413-537-0251.
www.gracechurchamherst.org
“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have
made, how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was
homeless, and you took me in.”
-Mother Teresa
We coordinate parishioners eager to help
Grace Church members or their families
during an illness or family crisis. Short-term
help includes offering rides to church or to
medical appointments; bringing meals to the
door, shopping for groceries, picking up
prescriptions, and visiting. Quarterly
facilitators accept referrals from clergy,
family or friends. Please contact Jeannette
Stebbins(jtsteb@gmail.com) for more
information.
seeks to further the healing ministry of
Jesus Christ in our parish family by
offering prayer and support to members of
Grace Church who are sick, injured,
disabled, aged, and those who find
themselves in crisis or in challenging
transitions. For more information or to
request assistance, please contact
Jeannette Stebbins (jtsteb@gmail.com).
Do you know someone who can’t get to church?
Lay Eucharistic Visitors or LEV’s are trained ministers who are given Communion from the altar, and take it out to
share with parishioners who cannot get to church. LEV’s offer home-bound and nursing home residents a chance
to share Holy Communion with the rest of the gathered parish. Please think about who would welcome having a
LEV bring Communion. Please call the Parish Administrator Angela Battle at 256-6754, speak to any clergy
member, or email Mary McCarthy at mchawley111@comcast.net to make arrangements.
Prayer Circle is ready to pray for the needs of those
in crisis who want a degree of anonymity. Names will be
held in confidence by members of the Circle and will not
be published outside Circle members. Names will remain
on the list for a month, unless otherwise requested. If you
would like to be prayed for in this way, or would like to
make a request for a loved one, please contact: MJ
Fowler (mjfowler3@comcast.net)
www.gracechurchamherst.org
CommUNITY!
For the sixth consecutive year, UMass
Dining is hosting their annual 5K Dash &
Dine on the UMass campus Saturday,
April 11th 2015! Open to the campus
community and the general public, the
run/walk is held to raise funds for our
neighbors in need at the Amherst
Survival Center (ASC).
Don’t forget to check out our “Fun Run” that will be happening at 10:00AM in Southwest Residential Area for children 8 years and
younger! Stay tuned for more updates. Register online or at any of the four dining commons/retail locations on the UMass Campus.
Online registration ends on April 10th, 2015. Walk-ups welcome!
Rendered: Emerging Choreographers' Series
Student choreographers present original dance works reflecting the past
semesters' creative process. Emerging Choreographers' Series Eclectic
works by UMass Dance majors at Studio Theatre, Hampshire College
on April 16th at 8pm.
http://www.umass.edu/music/eventcalendar/event_view.php?eid=1960
&instance=2015-4-16 for more information or to purchase tickets!
Grab your family and friends and join us for a
great time! Admission and snacks are free, cash
bar and fun items to bid on in live and silent
auctions! Come and help support the Common
School! For additional information, please
contact Dana Kadish at
outreach@commonschool.org.
Food Bank Family Volunteer Day!
Join us for our monthly family-friendly volunteer
event on April 18th from 9-11:30am at The Food
Bank of Western MA. 97 N. Hatfield Rd in Hatfield.
All ages welcome! Volunteers will help bag or sort
donated food and get a tour of our warehouse.
Kid-friendly crafts, books and snacks are available throughout, so you can take
breaks as needed. Please RSVP to Molly at mollys@foodbankwma.org or 413-2479738 x135.
Nutshell Playhouse Presents Pirates!
A swashbuckling adventure featuring bold buccaneers, a mysterious map with a riddle, cursed
treasure, a visit to an island that you can't see, a pirate ghost, and a magical journey to the bottom of
the sea. This sea-faring tale features mime, music, masks, and delightful puppets created by Clothespin
Puppets. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Eric Carle Museum Admissions Desk or by
calling 413.658.1126. Sunday, April 19th. TWO SHOWTIMES: 1:00pm and 3:00pm.
Prepare to laugh, sing and dance as you step into a world of wonder where wishing is only the
beginning and dreams really do come true in Disney Live! presents Three Classic Fairy Tales!
Join Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and Donald and Goofy as they bring the timeless fairy tale
adventures of Cinderella, Beauty and The Beast, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to life in a
live theatrical experience that is pure magic. With dynamic storytelling, award winning music,
stunning costumes, glittering special effects and spectacular sets, you will be captivated by these
spellbinding stories when you dream with the princesses and cheer for their heroes as they conquer
evil villains. There is a world of enchantment waiting for you right here in Amherst, Massachusetts!
May 2, 2015 @ 2:30pm and 5:30pm Mullins Center, 200 Commonwealth Ave
www.gracechurchamherst.org