Eucharist - Grace Episcopal Church, 30 Butler St., Kingston, Pennsylvania 18704-0776

Love

Our mission is to LOVE one another.

We call our Principal Service
The Celebration of the Eucharist
You may know it as The Mass

Quiet Eucharist

8:00 a.m.

Family Eucharist
10:00 a.m.

(Choir and Sunday School @ 9:45)
Nusery Provided
for Children four and under

Please join us for snacks, coffee, and
Fellowship in The Wallis Room
after our
10:00 a.m. Eucharist

Sunday School at Grace

We believe that all children deserve the opportunity to learn the tenets of their parents' Faith. We encouage all our children and youth to attend Sunday School from age five through fourteen so thet they gain a solid understanding of both our Christian misson and traditions in a larger social contecxt.

The focus of Sunday School this year is Bible stories. We started with "The Creation" and are working straight through the Old Testament stories week by week. (New Testament will follow, of course!) The teacher emphasizes the theme or lesson from each story, followed by a skit or art project.

Children over five may join our Sunday School (also in the basement) with an adult teacher and other children up to age fourteen.

Children five and under may play in our supervised "nursery" while parents enjoy the ten o'clock service. Our e xperienced nursery teacher, Jessie Pleskach, keeps our children safe and happy in our basement playroom.

Children over five may join our Sunday School (also in the basement) with an adult teacher and other children up to age 14. The focus of Sunday School this year is Bible stories. We started with "The Creation" on Sunday, September 25, and are working straight through the Old Testament stories week by week. (New Testament will follow, of course!) The teacher emphasizes the theme or lesson from each story, followed by a skit or art project.

Sunday School children come upstairs to sit with their parents aftert the Sermon at the "Peace" so that they may take Communion (optional) with their families.

On the third Sunday of each month, the Sunday School children participate entire service. This gives them the opportunity to learn to follow along in the prayer book and hymn book, and affords them an opportunity to read and share Lessons with the congregation while learing the order of service early on in their religious experiece.

If you have any questions, please call 570 287 8440.

Grace Church

(as seen from U.S. Route 11, Wyoming Ave., Kingston)

For directions to Grace Church, click here!!

Chancel, Altar, Reredos...

It has often been said that Episcopalians speak a foreign language when they talk about their church (Edifice). Fair enough. We do have a name for just about everything in sight, and it is not necessarily an name you encounter in everyday life.
For instance, when you walk into our Church, you enter the Narthex, otherwise know as the vestibule. The main Aisle is indeed called an aisle, but the aisle around the Church is called the ambulatory. The Aisles across the very first pew (seats) is the transept.
Here is where it really gets interesting. In the picture above, what you see is the Altar. What we see is the Chancel (the room the altar is in).
In that space is the Altar rail, pediment (the floor beneath the Altar), Reredos (the wooden wall behind the Altar), on the Left is the Cathedra (Bishop's Chair), on the right is an Aumbre (Tabernacle).
On the Altar itself is a Frontal (the white cloth in the photo) The Frontal changes during the liturgical year. Green is used for most the year, Blue during Advent, White on Christmas and Easter, Purple during Lent, Red on Pentecost (and sometimes on Palm Sunday). Some Episcopal Churches also use black, to denote deep sorrow on Good Friday and at Funerals. Atop the Altar is a fine white cloth Fair Linen (much like a dining room table cloth). The Eternal light on the right wall is, is, well, the Eternal light.
Why do we use these strange names? Tradition mostly. It ties us to the many generations of faithful Christan's who came before us and allows us to leave a unique legacy to our children.
Don't be concerned if you don't know the name of a particular object. At first, not many of us do, just a few of us word crazy people. However it may come as a surprise if over time you'll find yourself saying the names of those objects as if you always knew them. It happens to everyone in this place. Everyone.
And how about Episcopal? Well, it really means Bishop's Church. We Freely Elect our Bishops (as well as our Priests) to represent us in a larger body of churches called a Diocese, where we pool our resources to better serve God and humanity, but that is a discussion for another day!