News

Once again, it’s time to say to say thank you to our wonderful pastoral intern, Lynn Pilcher. We hope it’s not good bye! The second chapter of her intern work with Grace officially came to a finish at the calendar end of 2025, although she has graciously agreed to lead our Congregational Care Team training and encouragement gathering on January 10, 2026.

Lynn has ably led vital educational and support groups, visited Grace people at home and in-care facilities, preached and led worship, and been a strong resource for ministry at Grace during her intern time with us. She’s added a lot to our faith community these past couple of years, and personally I’ve been very grateful for her help, her compassion, and her skill. I know she will be a good pastor, if she chooses to minister in a church, and a good “anything else” regardless of where she chooses to apply her gifts and talents!

Having recently graduated Luther Seminary, Lynn continues to prepare for ordination to the ministry, following the guidelines and accepting the guidance of the Southwest Association of the Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ. She is interacting with the Committee on Ministry of the SWA, writing an ordination paper, anticipating an “Ecclesiastical Council” to welcome her into the fold, and she is prayerfully considering the role and the setting in which she will feel called to serve.

If you have a chance to let Lynn know how her time with us has blessed Grace or been impactful in your life, please drop her a line or let her know in person. However God’s path unfolds as she moves forward in faith and vocation, we wish her all God’s blessing! — Terry

“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you…When you see this, your heart will rejoice; your entire being will flourish like grass.”    – Isaiah 66: 13a, 14a

At some point, in some way that is beyond our normal comprehension, God made the decision to come and join human history, in the bodily form of a baby placed in a feeding trough in what is now the Palestinian (West Bank) city of Bethlehem! As we know, this changed the world forever, not only spiritually but in every other way we can name.

Part of what we are celebrating at Christmas, then, is that God did something new and different to break through to God’s beloved Creation, when the word became flesh. All around the world, we have myriad wonderful ways of celebrating the gift and miracle of Emmanuel, God with us. What if this year, we honored the birth of Christ by doing something new and different ourselves?

What if, in response to God’s new and startling inbreaking, we set an intention this Advent to express our devotion to God and our welcome of the Christ child by trying something we have not done before? Could your Advent season and your life be enhanced by a new behavior, maybe a spiritual practice, or an activity, a mission, a quest, or a new healthy habit? Is there a book you wanted to read, but haven’t taken the time, or could your new thing be journaling, going to Dismas House for dinner with the Missions and Service Team, meeting for prayer with the Pastoral Minister, joining a bible study, praying alone for 5 minutes a day, joining the choir, or even saying hello to a pain-in-the-backside neighbor?

We are churchy people, or we wouldn’t be reading this, probably. We each have ways we have experienced God’s presence and ways we have expressed our love and discipleship, to this point in our lives. So…what’s next? Grace can walk alongside you, encourage you, embrace you in your quest, but the deciding and the doing, that’s up to you, pilgrim. Up to you and the One who made you, Loves you, and Holds you.

Pray. Talk to God, even for a moment. Listen, breathe. What do you sense God is calling you toward, as your next step closer to Christ? I’m guessing that step will bring you challenge, fullness, and ultimately, JOY.

Advent, even the word, means that God is coming this way. What if we lean into God’s imminent approach in a new and special way this season? What if we take a step closer, too?

Wishing an Advent Full of New and Ancient Wonder to our Entire Grace Family!     — Terry

In this season of highlighting our gratitude, I’m thankful for the Rutland County Interfaith Council, of which I am privileged to be a regular participant.

We are a group of faith community servant-leaders who gather nearly every month for a couple of hours. Each of us is invited to bring our own lunch, and the hosting member provides beverage and something sweet or snacky to share. Around this table come together a local Rabbi, Imam, and Pastors from the Methodist, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, UCC, Baptist, Lutheran, Non-denominational, and Community churches. I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone, but really any clergy from any worshiping group is welcome.

The conversation is never boring. It’s a safe space for sharing our struggles, joys, and hopes as people who care deeply about our communities and who have different perspectives and experiences, speaking from various diverse vantage points along our sacred journeys. We support each other, learn about other faith traditions, and hatch plans together for making Rutland County a better place to live — for everyone.

You can imagine what happens when we share a table in this way. We discover things… such as how we are all beautifully unique, yet we have so much in common. We hear our shared concerns, fears, hopes, and dreams and we celebrate together some recognizable triumphs and insights from our personal spiritual lives and from our faith families. We and our distinct individual faith communities have so much to offer this world — and we are better together. Conversation and connection, friendship and mutual education toward full and happy lives, seem to be part of the pervading goodness of Divine design.

I’m so grateful that in our own United Church of Christ, we celebrate diversity of faith expression, which means that as a UCC minister, I get to be friends and colleagues with an interfaith crowd. My faith and experience as a Christian are certainly richly enhanced and deepened by my ongoing connections with people of other traditions and beliefs. I passionately believe that Rutland and the world are made better by these relationships of openness and understanding.

My Aunt Thelma told us years ago about the days of her childhood when the families on her street did not mix across sectarian lines; in other words the Methodists didn’t talk to the Baptists and the Episcopalians didn’t mingle much with the Congregationalists, even a few houses down the sidewalk. She was very pleased to see progress in her day toward tolerance and unity, and I think she would be very proud and admiring of our simple lunch and conversation with the Interfaith Council of Rutland County. Thanks be to God, who made us all!

By the way, you and your family are warmly invited to this year’s

Rutland County Interfaith
Thanksgiving Service

Tuesday, November 25 at 7:00 pm
at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church –
First Baptist Church
6 Church Hill Road, Rutland VT

Blessings — Terry