Grace Episcopal Church

Dear People of Grace,

We are entering Act 3 in the story or Outreach at Grace.

ACT 1: When Grace began, it committed to giving away ten percent of its pledge and plate income. During Rev. Bill Harper's tenure, that amount reached $55K given each year in Outreach. Non-profit organizations were invited to apply, and $5 or $10K grants were awarded. The people of Grace were invited to participate in the good work of those organizations like Peace Trees Vietnam, the Kossoye Development Project in Ethiopia, Camp Siberia, Helpline, Fishline, and Island Volunteer Caregivers.

Act 2: During the transitions after Bill's retirement, giving 10% of pledge and plate was no longer sustainable. The Rev. Wren Blessing led Grace to reimagine Outreach. Grace committed to giving smaller, but significant, Butterfly Gifts to various non-profits like Mom's Morning Retreat, Fishline, Gifts of Dirt Garden, Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center, Chaplains on the Harbor and Super Suppers. The people of Grace were invited to help support these organizations through Service Sundays, where care packages and supplies were collected, assembled and delivered to our various partners. Thank you to Heather Paar, Cindy Logan and Kathleen Abell for stewarding us through this season.

Act 3: This last winter Cindy and Kathleen discerned it was time for them to retire, and no one was found to replace them. There's been a fallow period, and my sense is that we are at a moment where we have the opportunity to once again reimagine what Outreach might do. I believe it is important for Grace to still give a portion of its pledge and plate income to others, and we will continue to give financially to various non-profits in our community. There is a spiritual benefit when we bless our neighbors and live generously out of gratitude for what has been given to us. My hope would be that we would one day again be in a position to give away 10% of our income.

I also know that we spiritually benefit when we go out into the world and do stuff that brings us into contact with our neighbors. Melissa Meyers has called us to do that by volunteering at the Suquamish Community Kitchen. Rev. Scott Deasy prompted us to partner with World Relief and work with those who had been unjustly detained and then released from the ICE detention facility in Tacoma. We have people from the congregation who regularly volunteer at Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center, Fishline Food Bank, and Fresh Start Mondays at Faith Episcopal in Poulsbo.

My vision would be that Outreach at Grace would be something that would help coordinate and facilitate opportunities for us to go out into the world and be actively engaged with people and non-profits who are working for good in our community. My hope would be that when opportunities arise within the community, we would have a way of communicating and mobilizing folk to join in. I know that many of us are already actively engaged. I would imagine that Outreach at Grace could be something that helps us do that even better.

As we discern what this next iteration of Outreach looks like, I've invited our Deacon, the Rev. Scott Deasy, to help guide us through that process. This is part of the ministry that Deacons do: they bring the world into the church and invite the church out into the world. Periodically, Scott will be communicating to us through the e-news and through sermons, inviting us into learning, reflection, conversation, discernment and action.

Your input and ideas are welcome. If you have a passion you would like to share, or a vision of how we might bless the world we live in, please join us in this process. You can contact Scott directly at jscottdeasy@gmail.com.

And if anyone would like to be involved in organizing Service Sundays, please let us know.

Peace,

Rev. Eric

Outreach at Grace

Excited for the Retreat

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