Church Calendar of events
Volunteer Schedule
committee and group meeting times
 

What Difference does Easter Make?
 

Tom the Pastor -

*** NOTE: As part of our church's 2007 focus on our obligation to care for creation, the
members of the ministry team will be sharing their personal reflections on creation in
their newsletter articles.
For me, one of the great things about creation is that it is an "all sensory" experience.
Psalm 19 says, "the heavens declare the glory of God." What's so wonderful, especially
for us Midwestemers in spring, is the declaration of creation is not only by sight but also
by sound, taste, touch, and smell. I love the sights of creation. The beauty always brings
me to a prayer of thanksgiving. But I also give thanks for the way creation blesses my
other senses. There is a particular week in May on our farm when the whole valley
smells of plum blossoms. I can't help but give thanks to God for this smell. The feel of
the sun's warmth is a sure sign of spring. I can't help but give thanks to God for this
touch. The sound of birds in spring is always joy fill. I can't help but give thanks to God
for this music. A garden-grown sugar snap pea is always delicious. I can't help give
thanks for this taste. Through creation, God blesses us with an "all sensory" experience.
As we consider our value focus for 2007, the care of creation, may God guide us to care
not only for the sights of creation but the sounds, tastes, touches and smells as well.

WHERE'S THE PASTOR?? Ever get the feeling the pastor is only around when you
don't want to see him? Hopefully not! On a normal week I am in Winona Tuesday and
Wednesday afternoons and evenings. Sometimes I'm out of the office, but both days
Candi is there and knows where I am. Please call if you would like to visit sometime. I
would love to get know everyone better. Also, don't forget, ..if there is any need at any
time please call me at home 507-864-2896. I may be outside when your call comes but
will return your call ASAP.
Pastor Jim
 

We Need A Larger Pool!"
No, this is not about swimming. We need a greater
number of people in the teacher pool so that teachers
do not have to teach more than one or two quarters
each year!! Please prayerfully consider volunteering
to teach our youth about our faith in Jesus Christ.
Even if you would teach just one quarter a year or
every-other-year! Teaching with someone else is
also possible. Please contact Kathy Rosendahl now
at 687-4601 and you can actually choose which
quarter and class you want to teach!! Thank you!
Onr Seventh Annual Swim Party!!
Please join us on Sunday, March 18 at the Holida;
Inn in Winona for a swim party. Youth of all ages
are invited. A parent should attend with their child
and each family is asked to bring a snack to share.
The time is from 1-3 PM

Review of Saturday Night at the Movies
On January 27 five adults and five youth enjoyed
munching on snacks while watching Nanny lIcPhee
at church. It was a funny movie with some lessons tc
learn!

Vacation Bible School - coming in Jnne!
Please mark your calendars now for an exciting four days at
Vacation Bible School: Sunday, June 24-Wednesday, June
27. We will meet each evening from 6-7:30 pm. Grades
Kindergarten-grade 5 are invited to attend The Fisherman's
Story. We wll experience drama, crafts, singing, games,
snacks and more! You may bring friends! A sign-up sheet
will be available in April.

Corporation
A big thanks to all who helped move furniture both out and back into the back of the church. Also, a special thank you
to Ron, Walt, and Derek for working all day on the floors. A big thanks for Elayne, who provided supper for everyone
on Monday night. The church looks great!

Spring Adult Class
Have you been wondering what being a Presbyterian i
all about?  If you are interested in joining our church c
have been a member for thirty years, come to this class ie
by Pastor Jim and CLP Doug to gain new insight and dept
to your faith.  Join us on Sunday mornings at 9:05 fo
nnpninoT in the sanftnarv fnllowed hv flatly

Spring Quarter Teachers
Teachers for sunday school during march 4- May20 are:
Nursery                           None
Ages 3-K:                             Dave Polachek
Grades 5-8                          Tammy Engstler
Grades 9-12                       Jean Hayes/Janet Nustad
Adults                              Pastor Jin and CLP Doug
Music Leader                    Kathy Weiner
Worship Leader               Pam Lica
 

Our "Presbytery Day" was a success due to many
willing hands doing many things. Your hard
work was appreciated by all. By the way, the
"romantic" salad was a big hit, just ask Jim and
maybe he will share his thoughts on this again sometime

CIRCLE I will meet at Gloria Sailing's, 203 E. King St.
452-8284 for our annual St. Patrick Celebration on
Thursday March 15th at 7PM

The annual World Day of Prayer will be held on Friday, March 2 at Central Lutheran Church. The Worship service
will begin at 11:30 am followed by a salad luncheon.
This year's service, "United under God's Tent", is written by Christian women of Paraguay.
This is an ecumenical service for women and men.
WDP begins with the first sunrise and ends at the last sunset as prayers are offered around the world. Plan to be a
part of this great prayer chain as we join fellow Christians around the world.

HOME DELIVERED MEALS
April is our month to deliver meals for Volunteer Services. We
ask people to take one day a week for the month to deliver to 8 -
10 people. Meals are picked up at the Steak Shop at 10:30 am and
it should take about an hour to complete the route. A calendar
will be on the bulletin board so those interested can sign up for a
day - or whatever amount of time is possible. The route list will
be available to check out before delivering so you may become
familiar with the addresses. Any questions - ask Dorothy
Gilbertson, 452-5306. Thank you.
VALUE #5
Check out the special bulletin board for Value 5 and see
what various groups in the church are planning to help us
become more aware of God's creation and our need to help
care for it.
ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING
Inserts will be in the church bulletins and envelopes will be
in the next newsletter to inform us of the programs helped
by our giving to One Great Hour of Sharing. The offering
will be taken on Easter Sunday, April 8, but contributions
may be made at anytime.
This is one of the four special offerings authorized by the
Presbyterian Church (USA).

The Annual Chow Mein dinner will be Saturday, March 3,
2007 from 4-7 pm. Tickets are $7.00 for adults, $3.50 for
children (hot dogs). We have mailed out tickets for you to
sell or purchase.
We also need your help to work and for donations of
groceries or money.
Sign-up sheets are up, so please check the bulletin board.
Proceeds will go toward the budget (if needed), otherwise it
will go to the capital improvement fund or for other
projects as they arise.

Mark your calendars, the annual Salad
Luncheon will be held on April 14th!

THE WORSHIP COMMITTEE has been discussing ways
that we might focus on the care of creation theme this year. If
you have suggestions of how we could include this value in
worship, please let one of us know!

Helen Bundy, grandmother of Gayle Arndt, Lori
Hoerig and Larry Fort and great grandmother of Jessica
Arndt, Joyce and David Fort, died at the age of 102. Our
sympathy is extended to Helen's family.
Debbie and Del Braaksma should be kept in our
prayers as they continue their missionary work in Sudan
under very difficult and dangerous conditions.
Information about them and their work is on the mission
bulletin board.

PRESBYTERY MEETING REPORT
FEBRUARY 17,2007
The first meeting of John Knox Presbytery in 2007 was
held on February 17,at Grace Presbyterian Church,
Winona, Minnesota. The theme for the day was Trust
and Vulnerability.
Shirley Funk, pastor of Lake Edge Lutheran,
Madison, Wisconsin, was the speaker for the morning.
After her presentation, we broke into small groups and
discussed how trust (in God) and Vulnerability affect
our congregations, presbytery, and synod. Trust is like
a brick wall. When it is broken it takes a long time to
rebuild and we become vulnerable. In order to regain
the trust we once had, we have to let go and trust God.
When we entered the sanctuary after lunch we each
received a mask and a Tootsie Pop. At the beginning
of the worship service we put on our masks and passed
the peace. We wear masks to hide our vulnerability .
During Lent we need to delve into our deeper selves
and get closer to God - like eating through the Tootsie
Pop (our vulnerability) to get to the sweet center
(getting closer to God). Stephanie Steiner of
Presbyterian Church of West Salem, led the Worship
service.
We also voted on two proposed amendments to the
constitution of the PC(USA) approved by the 217th
General Assembly-Amendment A (defeated) and
Amendments 06-B.I (passed),06-B.2 (defeated) and
06-B.3, (passed). Copies of these amendments can be
found in the church office.
Normal Presbytery business was then conducted.
A delicious meal was served by the Fellowship
Committee.
Submitted by Mary Rennells, Presbytery representative
 

Clerk's page By Gary Hayes, Clerk of session

"We believe that we are called to be caretakers of
God's creation, with responsibility for respecting and
nurturing all that God has created."  That is what has
come to be called value 5 by session. If you are on any
committee or read the newsletter or do anything at Grace
this year, you will encounter this value statement.
Session believes it should guide us in our decisions of the
coming year.  Each committee is expected to have a
written list of ways they plan on implementing the value
in their decision making process.
It is hoped that members of the congregation will take
the time to discuss how the value will impact their home
life also.  Possible changes can be simple like putting up
an additional bird feeder, using less fertilizer on the lawn,
using energy efficient light bulbs, donating time or
money to a local or national organization that supports
ecology. If that is too much of a tree hugging activity for
you or your family, that is cool. Perhaps you have a
different idea about being a caretaker of God's creation.
Helping at the humane society could be an option. You
may interpret the value to mean that you will do an
additional act of kindness for someone in the neighbor
hood. You might decide to call a relative or friend on a
regular basis. A friend that you have not routinely called
lately.
There are a lot of really cool environmentally relevant
things going on in Winona on a regular basis that might
interest you.  Just the week of the last session meeting
there was the Frozen River Film Festival that brought Wil
Steger to Winona to discuss his first hand experiences
with global warming.  During the same festival there
were many other speakers in town to discuss the impact
we have on the eco system. Unfortunately many people
miss these things. Often we miss them because we aren't
aware of them. Our busy schedules let us skip over the
newspaper announcement or miss the radio blip. The
Growing Faith Covenant Croup (Lazarus) has suggested
that we have an E mail system to allow anybody in the
church who sees something that is interesting to send it to
a central E mail address and then it could be forwarded to
anyone who is interested.  We haven't worked out the
details, but when we do, you will be the first to know.
Please take the time to look at your house, yard, car
and think of two things this year you can do to make
yourself and your family a better caretaker of God's
creation. We owe it to HIM.
 

Safe Sanctuary Policy
Last month, session passed the safe sanctuary
policy for Grace Presbyterian Church.  Session has been
working on this policy for almost 6 months. The reason we
have developed a policy is quite simple. Our insurance
company and the presbytery required it. When Candi, Loel
and I sat down last fall to start writing our policy, we all
thought it was just a necessary nuisance.  In hind sight,
perhaps we weren't being as realistic as we should have
been.  We knew that times were changing, but this is
Grace.  We are family and our kids are safe at church.
Although we still feel our kids are safe at church, the news
in  the  paper the  last  week  has  clearly  shown  the
vulnerability of any church or religious organization. Even
a church in Winona.
Over the next few months, there will be more
information in the newsletter and at annual meetings and
perhaps even a separate mailing to members and
participants in our church. Most of the policy decisions are
universal and common sense.  There will need to be two
adults on trips or at events where children are present.
Parents will need to sign permission slips for kids to go on
trips and we will need someone to contact in emergencies.
Anybody that wants to work with youth and joins the
church from now on will be required to have a background
check for any sexual abuse charges or convictions. There
will be an age limit on who can lead a youth outing or
meeting.
Like I said, most of these things are just common
sense and we have pretty much been doing them anyway.
Now they are in writing and we will be more conscience of
them.  It was obvious at the last session meeting that
although we all agreed with the policy, there are questions
about exactly how it is going to be implemented on a daily
basis.  Those questions will be worked out over the next
few months.  I honestly believe that the policy will be
implemented with almost no visible changes. We already
do most of the things that are outlined in the policy. If you
have any interest in the policy, please stop in the office and
have Candi share it with you.  Eventually we will be
finding a way to get it out to everybody.
Perhaps we should follow the suggestion of the
editorial in the February 4, 2007 paper and pray the prayer
of St. Francis. Lord make us instruments of your peace;
where there is despair let us sow hope; where there is
darkness, let us sow light.  We can't correct a problem
unless we recognize that it can and does exist in our
community, like every other community.  Lord help us
learn to sow your love, in a compassionate way.  We can't
change the fact that people do bad things, but if we are
aware, perhaps we can reduce the risk to our kids when
they are with us at grace.
 

GPC Youth Mission Trip June 9-16, 2007
Submitted by Jean Hayes
Thanks to the creative and generous efforts of members of the congregation and the young
people themselves, GPC's mission-minded youth are making two service trips in their '06-07
year. They went to Minneapolis in January and are going to West Virginia in June. Most of the
needed funding has been raised through a variety of projects, donations, and allocations. But ....

Help is needed to raise the remaining funds. Please consider the following.
•:•   Volunteer to be a driver, chaperone, and/or provide a van. This is a key to keeping
expenses down. We leave early Saturday, June 9"* and return Saturday June 161h.
•:•    Buy your coffee, tea, chocolate, & cocoa from the Equal Exchange product display
in fellowship hall.
« Hire the youth, (see below)
Depending on travel expenses, the trip costs about $634/student* which covers travel, on-site
expenses, and three chaperones for nine students. The students are paying $130 each (both trips)
and have earned/received donations of about S250 each. The church is paying about $225 for
each student.** We're hoping to raise an additional $29 per student or a total of $400. ***
The OPC youth will leave Winona on Saturday, June 9th for Bluefield, West Virginia, a
poverty-stricken coal mining town, and return Saturday, June 16th They will be working on
homes and community property; helping with programs for local children; engaged in
community service; learning about local issues; growing spiritually; building relationships; and
having fun. The sponsor is YouthWorks.
The trip is open to any young person age 13-19 if he/she participates in GPC youth group
programming from March through May. Our activities include mission projects, study, planning,
and fund raising. For more information, contact Jim Scaife, Kathy Weiner, or Jean Hayes.
*Per student cost is $567 - $700. Total cost is between $5,100 and $6,300. "Raised to date is $5,440.56.
***Cuirent total balance is between (- $859) and + $341.