We will celebrate Confirmation during Sunday morning's worship service. Please join us as we welcome five wonderful young people into full membership here at Grace!
Talia Steward Bruning
Oscar Lyle Erickson
Lauren Brook Hutchings
Sayde Anne Soyer
James Lily Steinbach
Prayer Shawl Ministry Update
The Prayer Shawl Ministry will meet this Sunday, May 2, at 3 pm in Fellowship Hall. Please join us if you knit or crochet.
Iowa Immigration and Refugee Support
Please join us on Grace’s Facebook page on Monday, May 3, at 7 pm when Ann Naffier, the legal director for the immigration legal clinic for which Grace provides meeting space once a month, will be updating Grace’s members about pressing immigration issues, and about the merger of Justice for Our Neighbors with the American Friends Service Committee.
For the last 21 years, Iowa Justice For Our Neighbors (JFON) has provided legal services to support immigrants and refugees in the state of Iowa as a ministry of the Iowa Annual Conference. Grace United Methodist Church has been a partner with JFON, providing space and arranging volunteers to organize the legal clinics.
In April 2021, JFON merged with the American Friends Service Committee to create the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice. The Iowa Annual Conference and the national JFON network are supporting the work of this new organization to provide legal services for immigrants and refugees to aid with their legal status and add additional assistance for advocacy and community organizing to influence legislation in Iowa.
Church & Society Action Alert
The Church and Society Committee shares opportunities for advocacy and action with Grace members. We are aware of a low lift action item regarding environmental and climate issues.
Iowa Interfaith Power & Light is committed to mobilize people of faith and conscience to take action on climate change. A Call to Action has been issued to write postcards to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to ask for his support to live up to his equity promise during his confirmation and support BIPOC farmers, including small and medium size farmers and ranchers.
The postcard has been pre-written and just requires you to sign your name, identify Grace UMC, Des Moines as your faith community, and put a stamp on it. They are mailed to national Interfaith Power & Light who will be collecting cards so they can be delivered in bulk to Sec. Vilsack.
Printed postcards from Iowa IPL are available in the lobby of the church for pick up. Postcards should be mailed no later than May 1. Please take enough to send one from each member of your household!
As Iowans, the hope is to lift up the voices of Iowans and their
support for equity.
Sunday School Update
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/meetings that way.)
For adults, the Ikono/Odyssey Class is meeting at 9 a.m. on Sunday mornings. A combined Neighbors and WinSum class is meeting at 2 p.m. every other Wednesday. If you would like to join these classes, contact Coreen Witke at coreenwitke@gracedesmoines.org.
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.g.
Since we have not been able to host the Tuesday free meal at Grace due to Covid-19, Grace has partnered with Lucky Horse to give free meals to the community. Lucky Horse is a new restaurant in the Drake neighborhood and we are excited to have this new opportunity to provide meals to those that need them.
If you need a meal, please let us know and we will get you a card that can be redeemed for a free meal at Lucky Horse.
You can also thank Lucky Horse for their support in our community by ordering a meal to-go or eating in if you are comfortable doing so.
