Sesquicentennial events at Grace Episcopal Church, Alexandria, Virginia

In 2005 Grace Episcopal Church celebrates 150 years of continuous ministry and mission in the city of Alexandria and beyond. A number of special activities and events will honor the founders of Grace Church and parishioners and clergy who have helped the parish grow and prosper. During this anniversary year, lasting commemorations will also be created so the faithful stewards yet to come will know and appreciate the remarkable heritage of our parish.

We will be delighted to have you visit Grace Church at any time. Please call the church office if you have questions about the activities or if we may assist you with your plans to visit (703-549-1980).

A brief history

In 1853, to serve the growing Episcopalian population of Alexandria, congregations from Christ Church and St. Paul's Church joined an effort to support formation of a third parish. By October 1855, services for the new Grace Parish were begun in the Lyceum Hall. Grace Church became the first congregation in Alexandria, and possibly in Virginia, to dispense with pew rental, which was the custom in churches at that time. Its first building in the 200 block of South Patrick Street was consecrated in October 1860 and seven months later was taken over to serve as a hospital for Civil War Union Soldiers. Grace Church relocated to its present building at 3601 Russell Road In 1948, and that building was expanded and renovated 1955 and 1995. Grace Episcopal Day School was opened In 1959 to serve as an outreach to the parish and surrounding community and has grown and prospered with an accredited educational program for preschoolers through grade five, accepting qualified children regardless of racial, national, socio-economic or cultural backgrounds.

For over 150 years the congregation and clergy of Grace Church have been committed to ensure the continuing manifestation of God's grace within this parish, bound by Christ in a community of faith. The dream of the Founders of Grace Church—God's Grace for All—remains constant and available today to all who seek it.

Sesquicentennial Events (updated August 2005)

The Rt. Rev. Robert Moody, Bishop of Oklahoma and former Rector of Grace Church (1975-1987), returned to Grace Church with his wife Lance Moody to kick off our Sesquicentennial year with a parish retreat on Saturday, January 29. He presided and preached at morning Festival Celebration of Candlemas on Sunday, January 30, preceding the parish Annual Meeting and brunch.

During the Lenten Season, on Monday evenings from February 14 through March 14, Grace Church was the site for an evening program beginning with Holy Eucharist at 6:30 pm, followed by a simple supper at 7:15 pm with a series of guest speakers, faculty members from the Virginia Theological Seminary. The five speakers shared their perspectives on our church heritage over the past 150 years, current-day issues, and what’s ahead in coming years, based on the theme, “Back to the Future.”

On Ascension Day, May 5, Grace Church hosted the congregation and choir from Christ Church Alexandria to thank them for support in the early 1850’s that was responsible for the formation of Grace Church. On November 5, our other sister parish, St. Paul’s Alexandria, will be similarly honored for its assistance.

The 4th annual Altar Guild Tour and Tea on Saturday, May 7 began with a guided tour of Grace Church by Mother Anne Turner, Assistant Rector. Following the tour, an elegant afternoon tea was served in the Grace Church narthex illuminated by the sunlit stained-glass windows.

A Homecoming reunion of present and former parishioners, clergy, seminarians, postulants, staff and other friends of Grace Church was celebrated on Saturday, May 14, the Eve of Pentecost. The Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Bishop of Virginia, preached and presided along with 12 visiting clergy at the 11:00 am Festival Eucharist. Our new Sesquicentennial processional banner was unveiled and used for the first time. Parish youth hosted a picnic barbecue and potluck luncheon on the church lawn following the service. Talented young musicians from the parish provided musical entertainment and Chip Esten, Cathy Puskar and friends sang original songs in a fabulous toe-tapping concert.

The Homecoming weekend continued with Festival Eucharists on Sunday morning, May 15, the Day of Pentecost.

God's Grace for All is the theme for the 2005 parish family retreat at Shrine Mont, the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia's Conference Center at the foot of Great North Mountain in the Shenandoah Valley at Orkney Springs, Virginia. Space is limited, so families are encouraged to register early.

Founders Day will be marked by a gala parish dinner at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, Crystal City, Arlington on Saturday, September 24. Grace Church's 150th birthday party will be an evening to remember -- fun and fellowship with musical Follies in the tradition of our Shrine Mont weekend entertainment. Long-time parishioners will be honored. The new hymn commissioned for the Grace Church Sesquicentennial will be sung for the first time.

On Founders Day Sunday, September 25, 2005, The Rt. Rev. James Montgomery (Retired Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago) will preside and preach at the 9:00 and 11:15 AM Festival Eucharists. Grace Church's Sesquicentennial hymn will be sung in the church for the first time. One of the new needlepoint-covered kneelers will be in place in the Nave. Following the 9:00 AM service, parishioners are invited to the front lawn where a photograph will be taken of the entire congregation. Refreshments will be served in the Auditorium in Merrow Hall.

Grace Church will honor the congregation and choir from St. Paul's Church Alexandria at a special joint Festival Eucharist at 7:30 PM on November 1, All Saints’ Day. Early support from our sister parishes, Christ Church and St. Paul’s, gave Grace Church the support it needed to succeed in its early days.

Don’t miss the annual Grace Church Silent Auction, a tradition for the parish and the entire Alexandria community in this exceptional Sesquicentennial year.

On All Saints' Sunday, November 6, The Rt. Rev. Mark Dyer, Professor of Theology and Director of Spiritual Formation at the Virginia Theological Seminary, will preside and preach. The Sesquicentennial Time Capsule will be dedicated. Bishop Dyer will conduct an educational forum during the coffee hour following the 9:00 AM service. This will be the final scheduled Sesquicentennial event at Grace Church.

Sesquicentennial Projects

History comes alive during 2005 in this 12” x 24” wall calendar displaying prominent dates and activities from Grace Church history as well as events and holidays in the current year. Featured each month is a photograph from church archives. The sepia-toned keepsake quality calendar is available through the church office (703-549-1980) beginning August 1 for $15.00 each plus $2.50 postage

Huge lawn banners proudly proclaim our 150^th anniversary celebration to all who pass by Grace Church on Russell Road.

Our new Sesquicentennial processional banner was dedicated and blessed by Bishop Peter J. Lee at the Homecoming Eucharist on May 14 and used for the first time in that procession on the Eve of Pentecost. The banner design represents the sunrise of resurrection with a chalice and wafer symbolizing our Eucharistically focused worship and is embellished with the Sesquicentennial theme, God’s Grace for All.

A new hymn text for the Grace Church Sesquicentennial written by the Rev. Carl P. Daw, Jr., Executive Director, The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada and consultant member of the Text Committee for The Hymnal 1982, will be sung for the first time on Founders Day weekend, September 24-25, 2005.

While supplies last, be sure to purchase your own collection of Sesquicentennial commemorative coffee mugs, aprons, porcelain tree ornaments and lanyards through the church office (703-549-1980). Commemorative collectors’ edition china plates are sold out.

Students at Grace Episcopal School designed and decorated houses for birds, bees, bats and butterflies to be mounted on trees behind the church as part of the school’s habitat for wildlife to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Grace Church and the 45th anniversary of Grace Episcopal School. The colorful houses were dedicated and blessed during the Homecoming festivities on May 14 by the Rt. Rev. Peter J. Lee, Bishop of Virginia.

Historical objects are being collected and organized as part of this project begun during our Sesquicentennial year and to be continued for years to come. Church records, photographs, vestry minutes, deeds and other historical documents are being inventoried and some will be scanned for computerized preservation. The archives will be retained in a safe, environmentally appropriate storage location.

A rotating series of exhibits featuring photographs and mementos from Grace Church archives and personal collections are being displayed in the Grace Church Narthex throughout our Sesquicentennial year. Each exhibit is built around a theme, including worship and lighting items from various periods; buildings and building projects; arts, crafts and souvenirs; clergy and laity; Shrine Mont weekends, music, La Gracia, and even more! Don’t miss them!

A written history of Grace Church, begun by long-time parishioner Chuck Barker as a Sesquicentennial project, is expected to be completed in 2006. The book will contain historical photographs and additional contributions written by other parishioners.

A long-term project to make needlepoint covers for kneelers in the Nave as a lasting gift for future generations was begun in the spring of 2005. Kits including patterns of beautiful liturgical designs created for Grace Church by a parishioner are available, priced to cover the cost of materials. For more information, pick up a brochure, The Nave Needlepoint Project, on the credenza in the Commons outside the parish office.

Grace Church program committees and guilds have been asked to plan at least one activity to commemorate the Sesquicentennial. Information about them will be published in weekly Sunday bulletins and monthly Grace Notes newsletters.

A contest for parishioners of all ages was held during late 2003 to name a theme for the Sesquicentennial. The winning theme was announced at the Annual Meeting in January: God's Grace for All, which combined themes submitted by three parishioners—Jo Belser, Lucy-Lee Reed, and Gail Rittgers.

Parish youth are collecting objects that reflect the past, present and future of Grace Church to place inside a Time Capsule that will be dedicated on November 6, the Sunday following All Saints Day.

Written and published in 1978 by Helen S. Merrow, wife of the late Rev. Edward L. Merrow (Grace Church Rector from 1948-1974), Outward and Visible Signs discusses the history and meaning of many unique symbols of worship at Grace Church. The 30-page edition brought up to date as a Sesquicentennial project is available free of charge to parishioners, friends, and visitors.

The following prayer was written for Grace Church at the beginning of the 1993 parish-wide campaign to fund expansion and renovation of the building on Russell Road, making possible a larger ministry of outreach and education. Its message lives on during this Sesquicentennial year as we honor the founders of Grace Church and its past, present and future saints.

Faithful Witnesses… Courageous Stewards

Gracious God, who led the founders of Grace Church to establish this parish as a place where Christ is known to all people, make us faithful witnesses with the saints who have gone before us; inspire us to be courageous stewards on behalf of the saints who are to come; open our hearts as we undertake your continuing work to make this parish a place where all people may come to know the faith, hope and love revealed in your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. AMEN

The Grace Church Sesquicentennial Steering Committee

Anne Caputo and Ruth Corlett are the Co-Chairs of the Sesquicentennial Steering Committee. Other members include Tricia Bamford, Stephanie Reed, Kevin Sherlock, Connie Troyer, Jan Wolff and Lorna Worley.