We are where we are by the grace of God! Yes, the past 22 months has had its fair share of bumpy paths and roadblocks, and it hasn’t been easy for many of us, but we are where we are by the grace of God. 

At Grace Sacramento, over a two-year period, finding new ways to worship has become the new normal. To put this in perspective, we made changes to our worship service time on three occasions; we’ve changed our Sunday morning venue 6 times; we’ve been in lockdown, we’ve been on the lawn, we’ve been in the parking lot, we’ve been virtual, we’ve been in Pods; we’ve zoomed, we’ve had social distancing tape on the floors, we’ve prayed online, we’ve sung online, we’ve given online, and had countless meetings and even a congregational vote online. We have regathered in as many ways that we could think of. And through it all, God has been faithful to His church. Each of you are a testament to that! We are where we are by the grace of God!  

Thank you to each of you who have given this year towards the ministry that Grace does. Thank you for the ways you have sacrificed. Thank you for the gospel vision that you have helped make into a reality; all in the service of Jesus being glorified in our midst, the care of one another (specifically the least of these among us), and a witness to the community around us that Christ is bigger and deeper and better that the things that have divided believers and families these past months. 

With your gifts, we held our first ever VBS for kids under a tent on the lawn; hosted local elementary students who had no place to go for virtual school in our learning center; donated $6,000 to refugee families and a summer program for kids in Compton, CA. We have continued to provide worship three ways: online, indoors and outdoors; and so much more. We are where we are by the grace of God!  

As we shared at our congregational meeting in December, we have created a “Forever Home” fund in our dreams of ownership of a ministry center in the Tahoe Park area that will allow room for a congregation and administration center big enough to support a church planting movement in the Sacramento valley. With your gifts, we begin that fund with $114,713.50. We are where we are by the grace of God! 

We appreciate your financial support of the ministries of Grace Sacramento Presbyterian Church this year. Our prayer is that connecting with the body of Christ at Grace Sacramento has been a vital part of God’s provision for your spiritual health and growth amongst the challenges of 2021. Please continue to pray for us as we look to 2022 and seek to call people Toward God, Toward Community for the World. 

Please let us know if there is any discrepancy in the list of your contributions on the following page. For the record, no goods or services were provided in exchange for your contributions.  

Sincerely, 

Brad Carpenter & Daniel Yoon

admin@wearegracesac.org; 916-737-5190

We are grateful for our elders at Grace who have shepherded our worship in various venues and platforms and consistently made mission-minded decisions about how to reach and care for the most people in the most accessible ways with the hope of the gospel. This has meant everything from revamping our entire audio/video set-up for streaming to authorizing the purchase of a tent to erect on the parking lot. 

With all that said, this quote came in an email recently from Mark our Elder/Treasurer: 

“God is tremendously amazing! With all our struggles and challenges, He has blessed us with wonderful members who have been faithful in service and gifting. With a few more weeks to go for this calendar year, we are actually VERY close to meeting our annual budget for the year...Hallelujah!”

Thank you to each of you who have given this year towards the ministry that Grace does. Thank you for the ways you have sacrificed to make it possible and for the gospel vision that you have helped make into a reality. 

Please remember Grace Sacramento in your prayers and in your year-end giving plans. There are just a few weeks left for gifts to qualify in the 2020 tax year. 

If you are interested in supporting a special project, we are still receiving gifts to help cover the cost of outfitting the tent with technology to live stream the outdoor service and heaters for those who choose to gather in person this winter. 

Find out more at https://www.wearegracesac.org/give

Wishing you each a Merry Christmas and a hopeful New Year! 

Peace of Christ,

Brad Carpenter & Daniel Yoon

Some months ago now, we talked about whether or not to treat this COVID quarantine like a short, one-time catastrophe like a blizzard or more like a season to endure, like winter. As California authorities have recently announced a return to a higher alert state (purple), we are literally entering the winter season in a state of quarantine.

How will Grace Sacramento continue to worship together and connect during the Purple Winter of 2020-2021?

We will continue to strive to make every ministry opportunity available in three ways:
1. Virtual (accessible via internet from your home),
2. PODs (streaming in smaller gatherings of 2-3 families quarantining together)
3. In-person (following state distancing guidelines).

We have faced many challenges over the past 10 months in the effort to make our Sunday morning worship service accessible to all every weekend, including 6 different iterations and changes to the way we have offered it. Recent technical challenges with video streaming and the changing weather are now pushing us towards change #7.

Our winter worship plan is to erect a large semi-permanent tent with outdoor heaters on the parking lot at 2958 59th Street where we can gather and simultaneously live stream a single outdoor worship service for everyone to participate in together wherever they are.

We are hoping to begin "Big Tent" worship as soon as December 6th, pending tent delivery and construction. In the meantime, there are several ways that everyone can help make this hope a reality:

Pray

Pray for good weather to enable us to continue our worship on the lawn until the tent arrives. We will announce (via email, website and social media) a "virtual only" worship service by 5pm on Saturday any weekend in which weather makes an outdoor gathering untenable between now and tent-time!

Give a Gift

The Grace session has allocated $5K from our reserves towards the purchase of a 40'x60' tent but the final cost with shipping, construction and heating will probably be closer to $10K. We are inviting Grace families to consider making a special end-of-year gift to help cover the extra cost to make continuing worship and witness to the community possible in this way. You can bring or send a check with "Tabernacle" in the memo line or visit https://www.wearegracesac.org/give and choose "Tabernacle" from the pull down menu.

Become a Tent Builder

To volunteer to be a part of the tent building crew on a Saturday in the near future...(Lord willing on December 12th...exact date TBA) Reply here and choose option: I'd like to be a "Tent Builder"

Join us in praying for God's best provision and plan for Grace Sacramento!

Brad, Daniel and the Grace Session

GRACE LEARNING CENTER - WEDNESDAYS
Grace Sacramento, in partnership with City of Refuge, a non-profit inner-city ministry, has been hosting under-served kids weekly at our facility on Wednesdays for distance learning. This program aims to support elementary-age children who are struggling with online learning by providing Wi-Fi access, additional academic support and childcare while parents/guardians work. We are excited to provide this service for children in the Sacramento area during this pandemic when families are juggling so many changes. If you are interested in getting involved (while practicing Covid-19 safety protocols), we are in need of volunteers who can:

(1) assist students as they log in to their classes virtually,
(2) provide basic reading support, 
(3) supervise outdoor play during break and lunch times, 
(4) teach extra-curricular activities (i.e. music, PE, crafts, etc.).

For more information or to volunteer, please contact Kris.

YFC CITY LIFE COLLINGS TEEN CENTER – CHRISTMAS FOOD DRIVE
Youth for Christ (a Christian organization that works with local churches to reach young people for Christ) provides a fun and safe environment to go for youth (Grades 7-12) after school at the City Life Collings Center in West Sacramento offering free meals, Wi-Fi, a place for homework and mentoring relationships. This year, YFC will be hosting a “Collings Cares” Christmas for the families of these kids with a Christmas meal. If you would like to donate food to this campaign, please consider bringing some of the items below and drop them off at Grace during office hours on Tues/Wed/Fri/Sun of the week through November 29th.

Canned hams
Fresh or canned fruit
Canned green beans, corn
Mac & Cheese (single serving)
Mac & Cheese (box)
Cans/pkgs of gravy
Bag of potatoes
Cookies

FINANCIAL REPORT
A lot has happened in 2020 (that may be the understatement of the decade!). It has certainly been full of surprises that will not be easily forgotten. As a church, we’ve used 6 different iterations of worship gathering (pre-recorded, live stream, indoor with limited capacity, outdoor, etc.). And it looks like there are more changes up ahead. It certainly feels different than what church was like before Covid-19 and the sheltering in place.

Many of you have been asking, “How’s the church doing?” If there’s one thing that’s been constant, it’s that God has been good to Grace Sacramento this year.

After 8 months of unexpected challenges, we’re excited to say that we are in good financial health. We are in a better place than expected. That’s due in large part to your faithfulness and generosity and lower expenditures than planned (no Easter in the park/corner, no mission trip to Mexico, no Trunk or Treat). Some of that has been offset with expenses that we didn’t anticipate at the beginning of the year. We have had added costs to build a virtual worship for those participating from home. We have made some facility improvements to provide space for virtual learning for under-served kids in the area and to improve our in-person worship opportunities moving forward.

To date, we are at 89.47% of expected revenue and 87.48% of expenses. Our reserves have remained steady throughout the year. We are about even for the year. This is good news! Praise God with us!

We appreciate your financial support and participation in gospel witness in Tahoe Park and Sacramento. We cannot thank you enough for your generosity and support for the ministries that happen each week at Grace. We look forward to continued ministry in the coming weeks and months and the ability to share the love of Christ with each other and our community.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you.

California Fire Foundation: The California Fire Foundation provides assistance to firefighters and communities.

Solano Disaster Relief Fund: The Solano Community Foundation has established a fund to help people and businesses impacted by the wildfires. Monetary donations can also be mailed to the Foundation at 744 Empire St #240, Fairfield CA 94533. Please mark as 'Solano Disaster Relief Fund.'

Napa Valley Community Foundation: The Napa Valley Community Foundation has committed an intitial $100,000 to help people affected by Wildfires in Napa Valley. Donate to the fund here.

North Valley Community Foundation: The North Valley Community Foundation has a 'Wildfire Relief and Recovery Fund' to help people displaced by wildfires, including fire in Glenn and Tehama counties.

Community Foundation Santa Cruz County: The Community Foundation has started a 'Fire Response Fund' to support people in Santa Cruz County.

American Red Cross: When making a donation online, people can choose to direct their money to 'California Wildfires,' their local Red Cross or the Disaster Relief fund.

Salvation Army: The Salvation Army has launched an 'August 2020 Wildfire Relief' fund. The group says money to the fund helps pay for food, water and emotional support.

United Way of Northern California: United Way offers help and supporting programs to people affected by wildfires, including long-term recovery operations.

HURRICANE LAURA

An article in the New York Times provides an extensive list of local and national organizations providing assistance to Hurricane Laura victims.  See the article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/27/us/hurricane-laura-how-to-help.html.

We pray that you would be safe
We eagerly await the day we can gather, worship and embrace—in whatever unexpected form that takes! Until then, we pray that you would be careful, safe and thoughtful of the safety and concern of those around you.

We give thanks for you when we pray
A huge thanks to the Grace Sacramento staff and volunteers who have been working hard and selflessly to continue vibrant ministry. In a matter of a few days, we shifted our entire ministry online – an amazing feat, especially during Passion Week and Easter.

• GraceKids has prepared a resource page for families with podcasts, playlists and other great family devotion tools.
• Our Youth ministry has been playing quarantine bingo and sharing prayer requests with our youth team by old school snail mail!
• Our worship service is online every Sunday at 10:30am and can be re-watched there.
• Join us online for prayer on Tuesdays at noon here.
• If you have a special prayer request, offer it here.
• Learn more about joining a Grace Group if you haven’t already.
• Start online giving if you are not already.
• If you need material help you can connect with our MAC team.
• Thank God also for the many people sending in weekly and monthly checks to the church office, many with lovely and encouraging notes!

There is more going on than we (as pastors) even know: volunteers, grace group leaders and elders checking in with Grace friends, getting groceries and medicine, and offering technology help. THANK YOU to all who are serving in such tangible ways! We thank God for you.

We pray that you would be praying!
The global pandemic feels like an unending, dizzying storm. We want to invite you to join us in doing what God has called His people to do from times of old: pray. Let’s intercede for the healing of the world’s sick, for the empowerment of our medical professionals and decision makers and for the hope of Christ to become known by many in dire times. I’d like to invite you to join the Grace Pastors and staff for Noon Prayer every Tuesday. Our denomination has also posted a prayer 30-day prayer guide as we pray for the church, nation and the world (This is a helpful resource you can use to pray everyday. You can find this at pcaga.org/prayer/). 

We pray also that you would share the hope of Christ
We, who have been enfolded into a Christian community, who belong to each other and to our Savior, who live with hope, have so many gifts. So many of our neighbors don’t. As you walk through your neighborhood, offer a (silent) prayer or encouraging word. As you operate online, share the link to our service or other gospel resources you love. Call someone you’ve been meaning to connect with and bless them today. May God use this awful virus to draw people to Himself.

If there’s anything you need, any way that Grace can serve or help you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our office (admin@wearegracesac.org) or let us know through our website: www.wearegracesac.org)

There is a team ready to help!

May you find in Him a refuge amidst the storm!

Brad and Daniel

Previous Coronavirus Response Posts

Ways You Can Help (March 31, 2020)
Online Services Update (March 19, 2020)
Moving to Online Services (March 13, 2020)

We continue to live in a pressurized cultural moment in the wake of protests, grief and even violence sparked by the tragic and outrageous death of George Floyd. It is a moment compounded and further pressurized by our own frustration and isolation due to a pandemic quarantine. 

How should Grace Sacramento continue to respond? The truth is, we don’t completely know. But we want to invite you to join us in doing what the church has always been called to do in every season: faithfully preach the whole counsel of Scripture, gather to worship our Triune God of love in whatever way is possible, and pray for, listen to and provide help to those in need. 

We are currently considering how to proceed with our Cultural Conversation that began last Sunday evening with the generous, honest and sometimes difficult leadership of the Metts-Houston and Lloyd families. We continue to solicit your questions, input and feedback as we plot the course for these conversations.  

Let’s re-commit to our Sunday morning gathering (virtual right now) and to asking God’s Word what the Church is meant to be.  Let’s pray and listen in pursuit of a better understanding of one another and of what God might be up to in our midst at Grace Sacramento during this moment. Let's find ways to educate and inform ourselves about this current moment in our culture and how we got here, committing to trying to remove ourselves from purely social media driven news cycles. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to move in our midst, and move through us, individually and collectively as we seek to embody the gospel of God’s grace for every nation and language and people and tongue. This is the promise we believed at Pentecost and that we are being invited to live out in ordinary time. 

Here are a couple of ways you might join Grace in praying and listening and getting informed: 

PRAY

1. Join the Grace Sacramento pastors and staff every Tuesday at 12pm for Noon Prayer. Each week, we profess our faith in Christ’s healing power, together, we use the Psalms and other Scripture to guide our prayer for our church, our city, the world and one another. 

2. Consider reading and praying through the Book of Psalms this summer. The Psalms contain many laments about trouble in the world around us and the trouble we find in our own hearts.  

Here is a resource for reading/praying the Psalms provided by a friend of mine (Brad) at Christ Church in Berkeley.  Psalms For Everyone This Summer. 

Here is a simple guide for writing out your own psalm of lament to God. Not only should we all learn how to lament right now, but learning how to pray using the Psalms is incredibly helpful in general. We encourage you to give it a try. 

LISTEN

Resources within Our Tradition (PCA)

A Cultural Conversation about Race 

If you were unable to join us on Sunday, June 14th for our Zoom panel discussion: A Cultural Conversation about Race, you can watch it here. 

A Message from Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at USC

Reformed University Fellowship is the campus ministry of our denomination. This thoughtful message from USC campus minister Alex Watlington is extremely helpful as we seek a gospel posture in this racially charged time (Thanks Metts-Houstons).  

Grace, Justice and Mercy 

A conversation between Pastor Tim Keller (Redeemer Presbyterian Pastor NYC and Equal Justice Initiative founder) and “Just Mercy” author Bryan Stevenson. 

More Christian Resources 

• • The Gospel and Ethnic Unity, Shai Linne
  • On Black Lives Matter and Civil Rights,OPC Pastor Mika Edmonson
  • Speaking from the Heart About Social Injustice, Dr. Tony Evans
  • Racial Justice Through the Church, Pastor Efrem Smith & Pastor Bernard Emerson
  • Can Rotten Roots Be Redeemed?: The Myth of Inevitable Moral Progress, Dr. Christina Edmonson
  • Inhabiting a Common Story, Dr. Greg Thompson
  • The Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby
  • Theology of Race, Dr. Walter Kim
  • Racism & Racialization, Dr. Michael Emerson
  • Racial Unity in the Church, John Piper
  • Race in America, Phil Vischer - Veggie Tales Creator 

EDUCATE AND INFORM YOURSELF 

Denominational Position 

PCA statement on Racial Reconciliation 

Books

• • Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited (1949)
  • Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness (1999)
  • Christian Smith and Michael Emerson, Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America (2001)
  • Adam Hochschild, Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves (2005) 
  • Charles Marsh, The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice from the Civil Rights Movement to Today (2006)
  • Efrem Smith, The Post-Black and Post-White Church: Becoming the Beloved Community in a Multi-Ethnic World (2020)
  • Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law: The Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (2018)
  • Jasmine Holmes, Mother to Son: Letters to a Black Boy on Identity and Hope (2020)
  • Irwyn Ince, The Beautiful Community: Unity, Diversity, and the Church at Its Best (2020)

Articles

• • Timothy Dalrymple, Justice Too Long Delayed
  • Irwyn Ince, Tragedy, Tipping Points, and Trust
  • Russ Whitfield, Moving Forward

As we face an unprecedented crisis in our world, country, state, city and church, you may be wondering how best you can help. The list below is comprised of various suggestions that allow you to help in ways you are most comfortable.

PRAY
Daily Prayer with your Grace Sacramento church family:
https://zoom.us/j/417496351 (Monday-Friday at noon)

Prayer Guide:
https://www.sim.org/documents/25302/4450161/%23PraytoEndCOVID19+-+Prayer+Points.pdf/e49ebb6d-3e8e-502b-9286-9b43f80c34fa

30 days of prayer from the PCA:
https://pcaga.org/prayer/

GIVE BLOOD
https://www.vitalant.org/Home.aspx

VOLUNTEER
Help with school lunch distribution:
-- info: https://www.scusd.edu/volunteermeals
-- volunteer form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5knMdd2L5oqUbpNeTQjhAgP2-i777wySj2Ib-lUN_9x19Vg/viewform

Help sort and bag food for Sac Food Bank
https://www.sacramentofoodbank.org/volunteer

DONATE
Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services: https://support.sacramentofoodbank.org/give/126385/&_ga=2.212232471.244856068.1585772381-442757603.1585772381#!/donation/checkout?

Donate4Sacramento: https://sierrahealth.org/donate4sacramento
The city of Sacramento's fundraising effort to help the homeless, small businesses, families and other residents who have been hit the hardest economically by the coronavirus.

It has been a turbulent couple of weeks since we met. I greatly enjoyed our time together on March 7th, just 2 weeks ago. I am so grateful that we were able to do it and am not surprised at God’s timing. Since then, the circumstances of all of our lives have changed dramatically. My heart goes out to all of you and the many different situations you now find yourselves in. Some of us are trying to juggle working from home, while also suddenly being thrust into the role of home school parent or keeping little ones busy & quiet while your spouse tries to work from home. Others are experiencing the ups and downs of isolation with little, if any, human contact. This time can be busy, stressful, and lonely. The world, through all forms of media, is telling us to panic, stay tuned in, and self protect. We as the people of God are called to respond differently. Although the circumstances have changed, the principles of how to thrive in any circumstance have not.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man (or woman) remains in me and I in him, he (or she) will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he (or she) is like a branch that is thrown away and withers…. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:5-6a, 8.

The word “remember” is in the bible 365 times (I don’t think that is a coincidence). It is good for us to remember the truth of God and the promises of God, especially in turbulent times. So, let me remind you (and myself) of what we learned in John 15.

Remember to connect to the vine. One of the biggest complaints for not connecting with the vine is often “I don’t have time." We have now been given the gift of time. Many of the things we spend our time doing have just been stripped away - shopping, going to coffee or out to dinner, soccer & baseball practices, and the list goes on. How will you and I spend this gift of time? I have found it hard to turn off the news and end up watching hours of it even though it is repetitive and depressing. I need to repent (turn off the TV) and spend time with the source of life and hope, who renews my perspective, aligning it with His right perspective. It is to the Father’s glory that we thrive and not wither. We need to connect with him and he wants to connect with us. We talked about prayer at the Ladies of grace breakfast, but worship is another great way to connect! Kids, especially young ones, will so easily worship and love to do it as a spontaneous family activity. Whether you have kids of not, just begin to sing anything that is worshipful (ex: My God is so Big….so strong and so mighty...there’s nothing my God cannot do!) It feels a little silly at first with only 2 grown adults in my house, but it is just as powerful. Of course, there are lots of adult worship songs if you prefer. Put on a CD or Pandora or whatever and let God draw you to Him.

Remember to connect with each other. Also, we are so blessed to live in this day and age where we can connect with facetime, phone calls, facebook, Instagram and even old fashioned letters. As God’s people, what will be the gist of our conversations? Let’s start by asking questions like how have you seen God at work around you today? What blessings have you experienced today? Who have you encouraged? It’s so easy to focus on the circumstance and forget to look (lift our eyes) to see how God is working around us and through us. If we stop or just slow down and trust Him, we will be amazed!

Lastly, on the 7th I read to you out of “Prayer: The Hearts True Home” by Richard Foster and asked in what rooms are you most comfortable with God? And which rooms are the most challenging? I encourage you, as God has now called you and to stay home, to invite him into every room of your house. Ask him to show himself to you more fully that you may know him more deeply. What an opportunity!

Praying that God will fill you with his peace, presence, joy and hope!

With love for Him and for you,
Daly