Navigating through the transgender conversation can be confusing and overwhelming. Fellow Anglican John Dickson recently interviewed Dr. Mark Yarhouse (a clinical psychologist and director of the Sex and Gender Identity Institute at Wheaton College) and Dana Pham (a transgender woman) on some of these questions. You can listen to the podcast here.
Here is the book about Anglicanism John mentioned several weeks ago. This book will be great to read in preparation for the fall class on the "Gifts of Anglicanism".
Learn to pray more regularly! One of the best gifts of the Anglican tradition is the Book of Common Prayer. Find out more about this rich resource in this podcast. To join others in our denomination in this daily prayer, you can download the app here.
Please be in prayer for Jamie Afshari, as she begins the ordination process to become a deacon.
Discernment Resources. Figuring out what God wants us to do can be enormously challenging. Thankfully, we are not alone in that quest.
Listening Prayer Group. This is a great opportunity to learn the skill of listening to the Lord and also is an introduction to contemplative prayer. For more information, go here.
Principles for Decision Making. The Ignatian tradition has a rich heritage of helping Christians discern God's will. You can find out more in this brief article.
Find a Spiritual Director. For centuries, spiritual directors have helped Christians draw closer in their relationship with God. If you'd like to find out more about spiritual direction, contact the staff at Soul Care Seattle or consult our Diocese's listing of spiritual directors.
Ukraine Support. Oksana Tyulu, Grace member and native of Ukraine, is helping raise support for relief efforts. To find out more, go here.
New Book by Sara Billups. Trying to find "your tribe" in the church and in our city can be profoundly difficult. Long-time Grace member Sara Billups wrote a book about her own experience navigating through this challenging intersection of church and culture. Ironically, her own disillusionment with certain expressions of Christian faith led her to a greater dependence upon the church. You can find out more information at Sara's website.
Daily Prayer
Pray As You Go is a daily prayer APP, designed to go with you wherever you go, and help you develop a rhythm of praying every day. It is not a 'Thought for the Day', a sermon or a bible-study, but rather a 10 to 15 minute guided time of prayer, Scripture contemplation, and invitation to bring your own prayers to the Lord. You can download the app on GooglePlay or the Apple App Store.
Sundays
We will hold in-person worship and livestream this week at 10:15 AM.
Grace Kids Summer Schedule: Grace Kids will have one class downstairs for Walkers through Age 4 during the worship service for the remainder of the summer. All children need to be checked in through our KidCheck stations. All other classes are closed for the remainder of the summer and will resume September 11 along with our Christian Formation Classes at 9 AM. We cannot wait to have your children back in class! Contact Linn@graceseattle.org with questions or to volunteer.
Connect
We have a wide variety of groups: Community Groups, Bible Studies, Growth Groups, Prayer Groups, Men’s Groups, Women’s Groups, and Listening Prayer Groups. To find a group, or if you are interested in starting one, please contact our Director of Community Formation, Jamie Afshari.
Women’s Summer Gatherings:
In Person: Please bring a beverage or snack to share and come ready to enjoy evenings of drink, food, and fellowship.
Friday, August 19, 7:00 - 9:00 PM: Shelly Morse’s Home (Renton) - bring a bathing suit if you like to swim as Shelly has a hot tub and pool.
Updates to Giving Statements: For 2022, financial giving records will be in Planning Center. More details on how to access your giving for this year will be coming soon. For any questions, please contact Alyssa.
Young Adult Group: Brent and Phoebe Williams host a weekly meal to help grow community for those either new to the city or seeking friendship. Anyone who considers themselves "young" or "adult" can join us for lunch in Eastlake on Sundays after church. For those living or working in South Lake Union, downtown, or the University District, it should be a quick bus ride on the 70. Reach out to Brent Williams at brent.williams333@gmail.com for the specific location or if you have any questions.
Book Club: Stephanie Pommer leads our book club for Grace. The next book is The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings. Future titles include: The Good Rain: Across Time & Terrain in the Pacific Northwest by Timothy Egan, and Little Eyes by Samantha Schweblin. To join, email Stephanie at stephanie@graceseattle.org.
GraceLife Distribution List: GraceLife (gracelifeseattle@googlegroups.com) is an email group designed to foster spontaneous generosity and hospitality among anyone and everyone who regularly attends Grace. The distribution list allows anyone who signs up to send out an email to the larger group. It is designed to be used to let others know about a party you’d like to invite others to join, a game night you’d like to host, a request to borrow something, a post to give goods away, a need you’d like to ask for help from the larger group, etc. If you are interested in joining, please email Alyssa.
Listening Prayer Group Opportunity at The Layne A Listening prayer group is a small group that meets with the intention of building a community around the word of God. For more information, visit this page. The next group will meet on Thursday, August 25 from 7-9PM. RSVP to Shelly Morse at shelly@soulcareseattle.com if you plan to attend a meeting.
Serve
MinistrySafe Training for all Child and Youth Volunteers: For all our child and youth volunteers (and to anyone interested in volunteering), the Diocese of C4SO requires we all participate in Sexual Abuse Awareness Training. This is available to us from our Diocese for free through MinstrySafe where a personalized link to the training videos and quiz is available. If you are a volunteer and have not yet received a personalized link to participate in this training, please email Miss Linn (linn@graceseattle.org.) We need to have completed the videos by the first week of September. Thank you!
Livestream Tech Volunteers Needed: Andy Maier, who has faithfully led our livestream efforts, will be taking some much-needed paternity leave at the end fo the month. In order to keep our livestream available every week, we are in immediate need of several volunteers. It's a great crew and a wonderful way to serve the church. Please contact Jess for more information.
Breakfast Sandwiches for Unsheltered Teens at New Horizons: New Horizons Ministries has a request of partnership for Grace Church Seattle.
“We are looking for small groups to prepare breakfast sandwiches once a week. Ideally, a group would come in on a Monday or Tuesday morning (9:30 AM – 1:00 PM) for 2- 3 hours. They would prepare 80 – 100 breakfast sandwiches, pack them, and then put them in the freezer and refrigerator. We are looking to start making the breakfast sandwiches in April.”
We are asking groups to provide the eggs, cheese, sausage patties, and English muffins. New Horizons would provide all the spices for groups to use. Volunteers must have their Washington State Food Handler’s Permit, ($10 fee). The Serving the City team is working to also partner with other churches for this effort. If you have any interest or questions, please email Rebecca Ifland at rebecca@graceseattle.org.
New Horizons Youth Shelter has an opportunity for meals to be prepared and delivered once or twice a month for the youth that utilizes their services. Prepared meals would need to feed 40 youth (teenaged to young 20-year-olds) in family-style containers. If you are interested in supporting this opportunity please reach out to Rebecca Ifland at rebecca@graceseattle.org.
Blessings to you, Grace Office
Weekly Calendar at a Glance Sun 08/21, Worship - 10:15 AM
