Grace member Judith Walden died Tuesday, February 16. A private family service was held at  Resthaven Cemetery in West Des Moines.  A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.

 Judith is survived by her sister, Nancy Walden, and several cousins.
Condolences may be sent to Nancy at 5901 Forest Ave
Des Moines, IA 50311

https://www.ilesfuneralhomes.com/obituary/Judith-Walden/Des-Moines-Iowa/1885361

 

Last year, the Church and Society Committee sponsored three virtual forums for our church community on immigration issues-Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA); the unsafe pandemic conditions in Iowa’s meat-packing plants due to inadequate protections for workers, many of whom are immigrants; and the barriers refugees and asylum seekers encounter as they attempt to enter or legally remain in the United States.  The Church and Society Committee continues its focus on immigration issues in 2021 by alerting the Grace community to immigration advocacy opportunities in Beyond the Red Doors and The Chimes.  The Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church does have an advocacy team at the Legislature so if the Conference has a position on a bill, we will include that information in our updates.  Our alerts will be short, but you will be able to click on the “Get Involved  -Legislative Advocacy” Link on the Grace website for more detailed background information for some of the alerts. 

The Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee has approved SF84, a bill that would make it a crime to knowingly employ undocumented workers and would require employers to use the federal E-Verify online system to check their employee’s work eligibility.  A broad base of business, labor, and faith groups, including the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church, oppose SF84.  Only the Iowa Minuteman (militia group) have registered in support of the bill.

The United Methodist Church Book of Resolution states that “at the center of Christian faithfulness to Scripture is the call we have been given to love and welcome the sojourner. We call upon all United Methodist churches to welcome newly arriving migrants in their communities, to love them as we do ourselves, to treat them as one of our native-born, to see in them the presence of the incarnated Jesus, and to show hospitality to the migrants in our midst, believing that through their presence we are receiving the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” 

Click here https://gracedesmoines.org/2021/02/09/legislative-action-alert/
for talking points, advocacy recommendations and contact information for your legislator.

 

From now until March 1, we are accepting scholarship applications for the 2021-2022 school year. Our webpage includes links to apply as well as information about each scholarship and its requirements. We offer more than just Methodist scholarships, so please forward this email to the high school senior in your life! https://iumf.org/scholarships/

Since we are not meeting in person at this time, our teaching teams will be seeking to stay in touch with students and families through various means that work best for their class. This might include phone calls, cards, sending emails with a suggested lesson or a link to appropriate resources, or an occasional Zoom session. (We will try not to overdo Zoom or other meeting apps for children and youth, as we realize all ages are doing quite a bit of school or other meetings that way.)
 
For adults, the Carpenters class is going to continue to meet on Monday nights. The  Ikono/Odyssey Class is now meeting at 9 a.m. on Sunday mornings. A combined Neighbors and WinSum class is meeting at 2 p.m. every other Wednesday. Their next meeting is February 24.

The Open Table small group will have some meetings on Zoom and others as socially distanced gatherings. For information on joining these groups, please contact Coreen Witke at coreenwitke@gracedesmoines.org.