2026 Weekly News

Date Posted: July 24, 2026

Backpack Blessing

As the new school year approaches, we’re excited to offer a special blessing for our students, teachers, and school staff! Bring your backpack, satchel, or tote to our 10:45 AM service this Sunday, July 26, and receive a blessing for the year ahead.

School Supply Drive

Our annual school supply drive ends this Sunday, July 26! Please bring your filled backpack or items such as paper, spiral notebooks, pencils, colored pencils, pocket folders, large glue sticks, erasers, crayons, facial tissue, wet wipes, and sanitizer to church on Sunday.

Contribute a monetary donation by sending a check made payable to Grace Episcopal Church, with “school supplies” noted in the memo line, to the office at 422 Brenau Avenue, Gainesville, GA 30501. You may also place a check in the offering plate this Sunday. Online contributions can be made here.

Compline

Compline is taking a break for the rest of July! The service will resume on August 4.

2026 Park Lecture

Join us at Grace Church on Saturday, August 8 for this year’s Park Lecture offering, Ancestral Lineage Healing: A Path to Multigenerational and Cultural Repair.

Led by Banta Whitner, MSW—an integrative psychotherapist, ritualist, circle keeper, and grandmother—this offering invites participants into a heart-centered exploration of connecting with wise and loving ancestors. Together, we will reflect on how ancestral lineage healing can help repair generational wounds, transform inherited patterns, and support personal and collective healing. Whether you know your family history or not, this guided, inclusive practice offers a meaningful path toward deeper belonging, purpose, and cultural restoration.

Details

• What Ancestral Lineage Healing: A Path to Multigenerational and Cultural Repair
• When Saturday, August 8, 2026; 9 AM—3 PM
• Where Grace Church
• Cost $10/$20/$30, includes lunch
• Register online by Sunday, August 2

Learn More and Register

Walk in Their Shoes: A Powerful Dementia Awareness Experience

As part of our Outreach Ministry, Grace Episcopal Church is partnering with the Beyond Dementia Coalition to offer the Virtual Dementia Tour® (VDT) on Monday, September 14 between 9 AM and 1 PM.

The tour is an interactive experience designed to increase understanding and empathy for those living with dementia. Whether you are caring for a loved one, know someone affected by dementia, or simply want to learn more, the VDT offers valuable insight into the daily challenges many individuals face.

The experience lasts approximately 20–30 minutes and is available by appointment only. There are 30 appointment slots available. To reserve your time, please contact Stacy Morley.

We hope you’ll join us for this meaningful opportunity to learn, grow, and support our community with greater compassion.

Wells Residency & Parish Pilgrimage

As part of Grace’s Bicentennial Celebration, the parish choir has been invited to a weeklong residency at the Wells Cathedral in England, July 18 – 26, 2027. There are a limited number of openings for non-singing parishioners to be part of this nine-day tour filled with Evensongs and a Sung Eucharist at the 850-year-old Cathedral in the heart of Somerset.

The base tour includes ground transportation from/to Heathrow International Airport to Wells, eight nights at the historic Swan Hotel, breakfast every morning, six daytime tours, and three group dinners. It does not include airfare, lunches and some dinners.

To learn more about this unique opportunity to experience England’s rich heritage while enjoying inspiring sacred music in one of the world’s great cathedrals, click here for additional information and to register your interest. Registering your interest is not a commitment to participate; it simply helps us gauge the level of interest within the parish. If demand exceeds the number of available spaces, reservations may be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Wells Choir Residency & Parish Pilgrimage

Prayer Yoga This Fall

Answering the call of St. Brigid’s School for Imagination, Creativity, and Practice, Grace will offer in-person chair yoga and flow yoga classes in the parish hall on Wednesday afternoons beginning September 9.

Come join us for an “embodied”/spiritual practice as we pray and move with our bodies. The gatherings will honor the four annual seasons and our Episcopal Liturgical seasons. We will work on balance, strength, flexibility, grounding, and breathwork as we pray with our bodies and deepen our inner peace and calm.

Learn More & Register

Parish Choir

This fall, the Grace Parish Choir will welcome new members for our 2026-27 season. The season will begin with a workshop on Saturday, August 15 in preparation for our choir residency at Wells Cathedral, England July 18-26, 2027. Our weekly schedule will not begin until Wednesday, September 2 with rehearsals from 7 – 9 PM. We sing each Sunday beginning September 13- May 23 for the 10:45 AM service. We will also offer several Evensongs next season. The parish choir has openings in all voice parts.

If you are interested to learn more please email Music Director Lynn Swanson. 

Dates for Your Calendar

Look ahead to upcoming opportunities for prayer, worship, and community!

• August 8 Park Lecture
• August 9 CE Classes begin
• August 15 Choir Workshop
• September 9 Prayer Yoga begins
• September 9 Charis Circles
• September 20 Parish Feast Day
• September 25 & 26 Fall Retreat

The Glimpses of Grace Podcast

We invite you to explore the podcast on Spotify (or your podcast app of choice) or here on this website!