March 6, 2026
Dear church,
The Apostle Paul writes, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” As a community of faith, this is what we do. We celebrate with each other when goodness happens in our lives: when chemo is done, when a job is found, when the cast comes off, when a relationship is restored. And we weep with each other when struggle, suffering, and grief take up residence in our lives: when we lose a person or pet that we love, when we are unemployed and can’t even get an interview, when we are struggling to find purpose, when we get a diagnosis that unravels life as we knew it.
Regularly we communicate the losses in our community, and every week we include in worship the names of people and places that have asked for our prayers. But we don’t necessarily have a regular way of communicating the celebrations within our community. And so, as part of our weekly e-newsletter going forward, we are going to include a section called “Grace Celebrates” and this is a section where we can lift up the celebrations, the milestones, and the moments of joy in your lives. This will help us rejoice with those among us who are rejoicing!
So, if you are celebrating an anniversary (of marriage, of sobriety, of work), if you’re celebrating a birthday, if you’re celebrating retirement, or recovery, or remission, or it could be something much simpler – a first tomato in your garden, a new connection with a neighbor, returning to piano lessons in retirement, a first jog after an injury – we want you to share it with us so that we can celebrate together!
To share something you’re celebrating, send a quick email note to Mary at hello@graceofav.org and we will make sure it’s included in the next Friday e-newsletter.
So grateful to be in community with all of you, in the joyous times and in the hard times. In both, we need each other.
Pastor Sarah
Every Friday, we send an email to the congregation and any others who would like to learn more about the Grace community. The last four Friday emails are posted below.