Grace Evangelical Covenant Church, Chicago
Requests, results, and tips on praying along with the people of Grace.
For more information about Grace’s prayer chain email, please contact the church office.
Begin the new year by opening yourself to God’s will and way. In worship, on Sunday, January 1, we will engage in prayer opening ourselves to God’s movement in 2012.
Set aside January 1-7 as a time of prayer. Pause to Pray in a Rush Hour Life prayer resource will be available in the sanctuary.
If you would like to be part of the on-going conversation of going “Deeper in Christ and Further in Mission” at Grace, please plan to join us for a Deeper and Further Workshop on Saturday, January 7th, from 9 a.m.-3p.m.. We’ll explore scriptures on the purpose of Christ’s church, discuss realities for our local church context, and pray for our shared ministry. All are invited. Peter Sjoblom from the ECC’s regional office will lead us. Lunch and childcare will be provided.
The prayer chain is a place to send out requests for prayer to our local church body. If you wish to pray for people’s requests you may be placed, sign up for the prayer chain by sending a request to prayerchain-join(at)gracechurchchicago.org. To post a prayer, send a request to prayerchain(at)gracechurchchicago.org.
Please pray for this group of high school students and leaders as they are heading out to serve on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana this week, beginning Saturday, July 23.
Porter Abbey
Rosalie Abbey
Noah Chisman
Olivia Chisman
Nettie DeNeui
Abigail Hancock
Kara McCready
Perri Mueller
Forrest Reed
Lee & Becky Edwards
In San Diego:
Saturday April 23, 11am Grace Covenant Church
9140 Akard Street Spring Valley, CA 91977 http://gracecovchurch.net/
In Chicago:
Saturday May 21, 2pm Anderson Chapel
(Corner of Spaulding and Foster)
3225 W. Foster Ave. Chicago, IL 60625
Parking: Free lot at Kedzie and Foster
In lieu of flowers, please kindly consider a long-lasting memorial gift. Discipleship was Jerry’s passion.
1. Training, development, and resources for intercultural DISCIPLESHIP Funds can be sent to: Memorial: Reed Discipleship, Covenant World Mission, 8303 W. Higgins Chicago, Il 60631
2. An annual scholarship for intercultural EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP for a North Park Seminary student who has shown special gifts and passion for evangelism and discipleship. Funds can be sent to: Memorial: Reed Annual Scholarship, North Park Theological Seminary, 3225 W. Foster Avenue, Chicago, Il
60625
On Friday, April 15, a group from the North Side Family Support Network, of which Grace is a member, will meet at Resurrection Covenant Church to travel to the Broadview Detention Center to pray for immigrants who are being deported to their home countries. The group will meet at 5:45am and will return around 8:30am. If you are interested in joining, contact Marv Bailey or Kelly Johnston.
A group of Christians holds a prayer vigil at the Broadview Detention Center every Friday morning. To learn more, visit this website.
Thank you to all who came together on Friday, March 11 for Growing Together, a time to celebrate the relationship between Grace Evangelical Covenant Church and Iglesia del Pacto Grace. As a part of the program, we heard from a member of each congregation about three different things:
Click here to view photos from the event on our church’s Facebook page.
Below is the text for the litany that we participated in as a congregation on the first Sunday in Lent, March 13, 2011.
In the Old Testament, a sign of repentance was to fast, tear ones clothes, cover oneself in dust and wear sackcloth. An example of this is in Nehemiah 9, where we read of the response of God’s people when the book of the law was brought out after years of not being read while the people were in captivity. As they were reminded of God’s faithfulness they gathered together to confess their sins.
From Nehemiah 9: “On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession.”
In the same way, let us join together to confess our sins, following the traditional Ash Wednesday Litany of Penitence, as the readers symbolically tear our clothes. Please join us in this responsive reading by reading the words in bold.
Reader 1: Most holy and merciful God: We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
People: Have mercy on us, Lord.
Reader 2: We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
People: Have mercy on us, Lord.
Reader 3: We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness; the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives.
People: We confess to you, Lord.
Reader 4: Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,
People: We confess to you Lord.
Reader 5: Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,
People: We confess to you Lord.
Reader 6: Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,
People: We confess to you Lord.
Reader 7: Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us,
People: We confess to you Lord.
Reader 8: Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done; for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,
People: Accept our repentance, Lord.
Reader 1: For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,
People: Accept our repentance, Lord.
Reader 2: For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,
People: Accept our repentance, Lord.
(Imposition of Ashes)
Pastor: Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
People: Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.
Pastor: Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
People: that we may show forth your glory in the world.
Pastor: By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
People: Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.
Pray for Japan and help by donating to Covenant World Relief.
Give now.
Join us in worship this Sunday, January 16th for a special prayer service then continue into a week devoted to prayer. A resource called “Devoted: Praying Our Way to a Rule of Life” will be available to you focusing on the need for arranging our days in a way that fosters spiritual growth, through prayer.
