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    • Sunday service - Morning Prayer January 18, 2026 at 9:30 am – 11:00 am Grace Church 215 Pleasant Street, Sheldon, VT Website: www.gracechurchsheldon.comTime:  09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)        Morning prayer first, third, and fifth Sundays of the month.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83929911344?pwd=alZQTWZMN0ZkWFFPS1hmNjNkZkU2UT09Meeting ID: 839 2991 1344Password: Call for detailsOne tap mobile+13126266799,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (Chicago)+19294362866,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (New York)Dial by your location        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)        +1 929…
    • Grace Annual Meeting January 23, 2026 at 10:30 am – 12:30 pm 206 Pleasant Street, Sheldon Annual meeting of Grace Church membership
    • Sunday service - Holy Communion January 25, 2026 at 9:30 am – 11:00 am Grace Church 215 Pleasant Street, Sheldon, VT Website: www.gracechurchsheldon.comTime:  09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)        Every week on Sun.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83929911344?pwd=alZQTWZMN0ZkWFFPS1hmNjNkZkU2UT09Meeting ID: 839 2991 1344Password: Call for detailsOne tap mobile+13126266799,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (Chicago)+19294362866,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (New York)Dial by your location        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)        +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)Meeting ID:…

Easter Day April 5, 2015

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Beth Crane

Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Mark 16:1-8

We were so happy to see the crowd welcome him. Then we shared the meal, and when he took the bread and wine and said the blessings over them, he told us this was his body and blood and that we should do this in remembrance of him. He had been saying that he would die. Our hearts sank.

Then we went to the garden, and he struggled. We fell asleep. Judas betrayed him. Jesus was arrested. Peter denied him three times. He felt so terrible about that. But when he and Jesus met later on, that was all forgiven.

And then the trial. Pilate wanted to let him go, but the crowd wanted Pilate to free Barabbas. And then the horror of the cross. And his mother right there. How she did it I will never know.

And then he was dead. Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the ruling Council, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. He took a huge risk. He could have been killed on the spot. Once Pilate made sure that Jesus was actually dead, he let Joseph take that beloved body and put it into Joseph’s own tomb. There were some people in high places who were secret followers of Jesus, but Joseph was the only one who stepped forward to help. Everyone was scared. If they could kill Jesus, they could kill any one of us.

We spent the night in the room where we had gathered. We prayed and cried. His kingdom would have been so different. How could this awful thing have happened, we wondered. He could have raised up an army, but he refused to do it. Through his own power he could have killed them all. But that is not his way. That night, as we mourned, many of us were so angry we almost wished he had killed them all. But we know that he would never have done that. As he hung in agony on that cross, he forgave the people who were killing him.

We had had such high hopes for a different kind of future, a different kind of world. Now those hopes were gone.

We got up early in the morning to go to the tomb and anoint his body. We had no idea how we were going to move that huge stone. We really didn’t want to get there and see his beloved body dead. It took all our strength and prayers to put one foot in front of the other and drag ourselves there. But when we arrived, that enormous stone was rolled away, and there was a young man there—I think he might have been an angel—and he told us that Jesus had risen and we should go to Galilee and find him.

We couldn’t believe it. We had been filled with hopelessness, but the tomb was empty. As we talked about it later, we remembered that, as we got near the tomb and saw the stone rolled away, we began to feel his presence. We knew that it wasn’t just us. We knew that he was with us. Jesus was alive. Jesus is alive.

People began meeting him—on the road to Emmaus, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He came right through the walls of the upper room where we kept gathering to pray. Thomas had had his doubts, but, when he saw Jesus, those doubts evaporated.

Centuries have passed. Millions upon millions of people have chosen to follow Jesus. You are among those people. You gather just as we did all those centuries ago. Because he is risen and he is alive in you and you are alive in him, he is just as close to you as he was to us. He is with you every moment.

You are part of his risen body, You have been given the gift of new life in him. Keep sharing that life and hope and love with others. Keep up the good work!

Alleluia! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.

 

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Maundy Thursday April 2, 2015

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Beth Crane

Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14
Psalm 116:1. 10-17
1 Corinthians 11:21=16
John 13:1-17, 31b-35

At this last gathering with his closest followers, Jesus did three revolutionary and life-changing things.

The first thing that he did was to wash the disciples’ feet. If you went into the home of a rich person, that person’s slave would wash your feet. The was a profound sign of hospitality. At the very least, all of the apostles realized that Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher. Peter realized that he was the messiah. Some of the others were probably grasping that fact as well.

The savior of the world washes his followers’ feet. All through his ministry he has kept saying, “I am among you as one who serves,” and he calls us to be servants, too.

The second thing is that he takes the bread and wine and says the usual blessings, but then he says that we should share this meal in remembrance of him. He gives us this meal as a way to call him to be among us. This meal reminds us that whenever we gather, he is in our midst.

The third thing is the commandment he gives us: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

May we carry on his ministry of servanthood. May we be ever more aware of his presence among us. May we love one another and love others in his Name.

Amen.

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Palm Sunday Year B RCL March 29, 2015

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Beth Crane

Mark 11:1-11
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Mark 14:32-15:39

Today, we welcome Jesus as our King and then we journey with him to his crucifixion. It is a heart-wrenching day, and each year we learn something new about our Lord and about ourselves.

Every Palm Sunday, we read the amazing passage from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Paul wrote this letter from prison, and we know that the congregation in Philippi was suffering persecution.

Our passage begins, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” When Paul says “mind,” he does not mean just the intellect. Charles Cousar writes, “[Our] entire identity—[our] intuitions, sensitivities, imaginations—is to be shaped by the self-giving activity of Christ.”

Jesus upset the secular and religious authorities of his time so much that they felt their only option was to kill him. He also upset many of the ordinary people because they wanted him to conquer the Roman Empire. And so, he was sentenced to one of the most horrific deaths the human mind has ever imagined, a death reserved for the worst criminals. He did not meet violence with violence.

Jesus trusted that God could bring a greater good out of this disaster, and Jesus knew that God loved him and loved everyone of us humans and the whole creation. So Jesus allowed himself to be nailed to that cross.

Twelve step programs have a saying—“Let go, and let God.” When we are in a really tough situation, we let go of our own will and our own plans and thoughts, and we turn the whole thing over to God, knowing that God can do things we could never imagine. That’s what Jesus did on the cross. He suffered agony. He kept trusting in God’s love and power. He forgave those who were doing this awful thing. He died. Like a grain of wheat, he fell into the ground of God’s love.

Sometimes when situations are way beyond anything we can handle, we have to do that. We have to let go and let God. We have to get out of God’s way and let God take over. When we do that, I think we are very close to our Lord. When we do that, we allow God to work.

Amen.

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