The Loaves and Fishes Fund is an opportunity to give to local families in need and international missions work.

In the past year, Grace Covenant provided $22,000 to local families in need and to missionaries serving all over the world! An anonymous donor will match up to $500 per month in pledges for 2013, and the Mission Ministry Team would like you to consider being a matching fund donor this year as well! Your monthly commitment of any amount will raise our matching promise above $500 and, as a matching pledge, it would effectively double the offerings from other members. If you would like to be a matching fund donor, please indicate it on your card, and well let the congregation know of our increased promise. Please return your pledge cards by March 17th, and note that any commitment is understood to be in addition to your 2013 GCPC pledge. If you have any questions, please contact Matt Hartman (2121961, mchartman@vcu.edu). Good Friday Prayer Vigil: The Worship Ministry will host a twelvehour Prayer Vigil in the sanctuary on Good Friday, March 29, from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. This is an opportunity for you to reflect and prepare for the Easter celebration in prayer with God our Father. Please sign up for the hour of your choice on the chart posted in the narthex; our goal is to have someone in prayer during the entire span of time. We will also offer a prayer and meditation guide for those who are interested. Vanessa and members of the Worship Ministry will take turns staffing the glass office and back door to allow you to come into the church that day. Please join us in this time of prayer.

PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. - Isaiah 55:1 (ESV) And [Jesus] answered them, Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. - Luke 13:2-5 (ESV) In the wake of numerous public confessions by fallen politicians, sports figures, and business executives, in her book The Art of the Public Grovel, Susan Wise Bauer offers a helpful distinction: An apology is an expression of regret: I am sorry. A confession is an admission of fault: I am sorry because I did wrong. I sinned. Apology addresses an audience. Confession implies an inner change that will be manifested in outward action. - Paul Wilkes, The Art of Confession (New York: Workman Publishing, 2012), 4-5.

Consider the lilies

If you are interested in placing an Easter lily in the sanctuary for use on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013, please complete the forms located around the church or found in Grace Notes. Please send it in with payment to the church office ON or BEFORE Monday, March 18. The lilies may be given in memory of, or to honor, family and friends. The price of each plant is $12.50. Checks should be made payable to Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church and marked Easter Lilies in the memo. Checks can be mailed to 1627 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA 23220 and marked to the attention of Vanessa Strait.

Through [our] faithful actions, we pray that God will lift up Grace Covenant as a blessing to the city where He has placed it a bright beacon of His redemptive power, awakening a love for Christ in the heart of Richmond.
- from our 2012 Vision Statement

Worship Notes
Richard Purvis (1913-1994) was probably the most important composer for the organ from California. In 1947, Purvis was appointed Organist and Master of Choristers at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. He was admired as one of the finest organ improvisateurs in the U.S. In an era when so-called romantic music was out of favor with most composers, and atonal, serial music was considered the hallmark of serious composition, he was not afraid to write tuneful, accessible, richly colored, and even whimsical compositions. His Elegy is a colorful setting on the ancient requiem chant Dies Irae. There are two instances in this piece where the organist has to wedge a pencil in the keyboard to sustain a note for a lengthy time. Because both hands are occupied at these moments, the organists only option to remove the pencil is with his teeth! Philip Stopford (b. 1977) is a composer of choral music, conductor, and organist from England. Philip began his musical career as a Chorister at Westminster Abbey, and later became Organ Scholar at Truro Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral. Philip currently devotes his time to choral composition and conducting, offering commissions and workshops globally. His anthem, Teach Me, O Lord, is a reflective setting of Psalm 119:33-39 and contains flowing melodies and beautiful part-writing. Louis-Nicolas Clrambault (1676-1749) was thoroughly grounded in the French classic style of music, but was also influenced by the Italian music that became popular in Paris in the early eighteenth century. He was well-known during his lifetime as an organist as well as a composer of keyboard works. Todays postlude comes from Clrambaults Premier Livre dOrgue which is his only known work for organ and dates from 1710.
Hearing Aids and Large-Print Bulletins and Hymnals are available from the ushers.

streamed live on its website, http://wles590.com/. For podcasts, go to www.grace-covenant.org, click on We Gather, then on Sermons. Both the sermon and the entire worship service are uploaded every Sunday afternoon.

Our worship service is broadcast live on WLES 590 AM and

Christian Education and Discipleship

Sunday School classes for all ages meet at 9:30 on Sunday mornings. For more information, please ask an elder or deacon (wearing blue badges) or email Christof Meyer (christof_meyer@me.com), chair of our Christian Education and Discipleship Ministry.

Mid-Week Fellowship
Each Wednesday evening we gather at 6:00 p.m. for table fellowship, followed by a program from 6:30-7:15 p.m. All are welcome! Take a break from cooking dinner and join us for a friendly, relaxing, and inspiring evening. For more information contact Vanessa Strait in the church office at 359-2463, or info@grace-covenant.org. The menu for this week: Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, fruit and cookies. The program for this week: Christianity at Work Everett Reveley will talk about the challenges of being an Internal Auditor. Daylight Savings Time March 10 is Daylight Savings time. Dont forget to turn your clocks FORWARD one hour before you go to bed on Saturday.

General Announcements

PW Luncheon: Everyone is invited to the PWs Spring Luncheon, THIS Tuesday, March 5. Our special guest speaker will be Alan Sader, the spokesman for ChildFund, formerly known as Christian Childrens Fund. He will tell us about his experience with ChildFund over the last 20-some years and show slides from places as diverse as Brazil, Madagascar, Russia, and Sri Lanka. Mr. Sader has also made films with the Baptist Mission Board, playing a cartographer who travels the world. Many years ago he even acted on the PTL networks soap opera! This fascinating fellow promises to present a top-notch speech, and to allow plenty of time for questions. Please come and bring a friend! Lunch is only $4.00 and is always delicious. Circle 3 is the hostess and the Least Coin will also be collected.