News & Announcements

Dear Siblings in Christ,
It’s hard to believe that a new season is upon us and that June 9th already marks the sixth month since I began my call among you here at Grace! I count it all a joy!
As summer begins, we are excited to worship with you at 9:30 am during these coming months. Most especially, I am looking forward to feeling that very special energy & excitement which emerges when two worshipping communities become one. As a single worshipping body, our community members are now able to connect & reconnect with one another in fresh ways. We have the blessed opportunity to catch up with our siblings in Christ here at Grace who typically worship at the opposite time or to meet newcomers we’ve not yet had the chance to meet. Gathered all together we can encourage one another and enjoy new energy rising up in a sanctuary filled with our bodies and voices lifted in prayer, praise, and song.
We hope worship at Grace this summer will feel both a little bit familiar & a little bit like something brand new. Throughout these months we will be offering a rotation of worship styles that will vary week by week.
Some weeks worship will be more contemporary/non-traditional in style. Sometimes our Spirit of Grace Praise Band will lift our spirits and get us dancing & clapping along, and other weeks we’ll sing more contemporary hymns—both songs we know by heart and beautiful new songs we will learn together. The contemporary music—whether praise music or newer hymns—will be interwoven with contemporary liturgies, fresh takes on familiar scripture, poetry, and creative media.
Some weeks our worship will be more traditional in style: including our beloved Lutheran liturgy—sometimes spoken with seasonal words for worship, and sometimes sung including congregational favorites, such as the “Kyrie,” “This is the Feast,” & “Lamb of God.” On select weeks, our GLC Chancel Choir will bear God’s Word for us by offering beautiful, special music.
We’ve planned a summer worship season that will provide for a nice balance of contemporary & traditional styles week by week. We hope that you will join us for worship regularly this summer, recognizing the joy that simply being all together brings. We hope that even if a given week isn’t your preferred worship style, you’ll see the joy in your neighbor as they worship beside you. And in another week or two, when your favorite worship style rolls around again, your neighbor will in turn recognize your joy.
While our Praise Band and Chancel Choir members find rest and renewal this summer by taking a break from their weekly worship leadership, we warmly invite anyone who would like to offer special music to please speak with Joyce Berner. Likewise, Deacon and I would love to invite you to consider stepping into worship leadership. Even if you’ve never done it before and are feeling curious about trying a new role, summer is a great time to dip your toes into the water by serving as a lector, an acolyte, or a communion assistant. We’d love to support and nurture your curiosity!
Come to worship this summer and be filled with God’s grace for you!

Graces Good Garden – Decommissioned
Greetings,
About this time a year ago, we planted the garden for our 11th season. On Monday, May 13th, the garden was decommissioned! All of the raised beds built by the boy scouts in 2013 had severely rotted. The fence was a mess after a huge branch fell on it last year. We would have faced a major rebuild to make the garden look good again. The future of this space is yet to be determined, but for 11 years it served the community by providing more than a couple thousand pounds of fresh produce to Open Door for distribution.
We have had more than 30 congregants who participated in this ministry over the years.
Look at the pictures. In what was a fitting end today, Bill Kilcoyne, the young boy who built the garden as his Eagle Badge project, was on campus to repair an air conditioning unit. Where he helped build the raised beds and gate as a youngster, he carried the last boards to the dumpster as a young man.
With gratitude for your contributions to the success of this ministry.
Kurt Meyers



If you love digging deep into historical facts and want to better understand why racism is so embedded in our current culture, read “When Affirmative Action was White” by Ira Katznelson. Or you could try reading Ta-Nehisi Coates’ award-winning book “Between the World and Me.”
Also, you could watch the powerful & thought-provoking true story “Just Mercy” about systemic racism and the battle for justice. You can currently watch this move for FREE on all digital networks.
Another excellent book is White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. Other informative, challenging, and well-done resources include Selma (movie), Dear White People (movie and Netflix series), andThirteenth (Netflix documentary).
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me…. Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” – Matthew 25:40-45.



Mental Health Resources: For you or someone you love…
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) HelpLine can be reached Mon.-Fri., 10am–6pm, ET. 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or info@nami.org
Montgomery County Mobile Crisis Immediate support for crisis
situations available 24/7 at 1-855-634-HOPE (4673).
Mont. County Children’s Crisis Support Program Immediate
support for crisis situations available 24/7 at 1-888-HELP-414.
Mont. County’s teen talk line If you’re a teen feeling overwhelmed & need another teen to talk to, please call at (866) 825-5856 or text (215) 703-8411. It is available, free of charge, Mon.-Fri., 3 to 7pm.
PA Department of Drug & Alcohol Program (DDAP). To find
addiction treatment or a treatment provider, call the 24/7 toll-free
1-800-662-HELP hotline.
Laurel House (domestic violence) 24/7 hotline: 800-642-3150,
Women’s Center of Montgomery County’s (domestic violence)
hotline: 800-773-2424.
Alcoholics Anonymous www.aa.org for help with a drinking problem