support for life's challenges
Together, we pray for comfort and healing when a member of our community is facing illness or life's stresses and traumas.
help during physical illness
When you are sick, our community wants to be of both practical and spiritual help to you. Please don't wait for the church to contact you - call a member of our clergy staff immediately and let us mobilize our resources. There are many ways we can offer support.
If you are facing the challenges of a chronic illness, a trained, confidential lay minister can be helpful in addition to clergy visits. This person will journey with you as a spiritual friend, listening, praying, and sharing with you.
Members of the congregation called Lay Eucharistic Visitors are also available to bring you communion, anoint you for healing, and bring you copies of sermons and service leaflets. We will also arrange for rides to the doctor, meals, and other practical assistance when needed from our Helping Hands Ministry Team.
help during emotional suffering
Anxiety, depression, and other forms of emotional
suffering are often intractable when faced alone. We
want to give you support and pray with you during
this painful
time.
One-on-one
prayer as
well as visits
with clergy
staff and the
friendship of
a trained, confidential
lay
minister all can
help protect
you from isolation and offer friendship and support.
If a referral to a professional therapist is needed,
we can help you find someone competent and affordable
in a timely way. You can reach our clergy
staff during the day by calling our church office at
626/282-5147.
reconciliation with God
If you are feeling cut off from God or burdened by
your conscience
in a way that separates
you from
God and others,
the sacrament
of reconciliation
(often called “confession”)
can help
ease your suffering.
A member of
our clergy staff
will listen and pray with you, supporting you as you
find the path toward reconciliation with God.
Sometimes we simply need help in figuring out what is right when facing a complex moral dilemma. Together you and a member of our clergy staff can lay the problem before God and seek a deep level of truth and peace for you in the face of this ethical challenge.
companionship in grief
If you have lost someone dear to you, clergy and lay ministers can offer sharing and support.
food for your marriage
Many of us need help from time to time in navigating this most special sacramental relationship. We know that a sound marriage is vital to the spiritual health of partners and their children. If you would like to lovingly tend your marriage, a member of our clergy staff can offer you options that will work for your family.
insight into parenting
Parenting asks that we be our best selves through
one challenge
after another.
Talking things
through with
other parents can
make all the difference,
helping
us to be intentional
rather than
reactive parents. COS offers two groups for busy
parents. Each Sunday morning at 9 o'clock, parents
of children of all ages meet to read and discuss
significant parenting books. PINT SIZE is a group for
young mothers of infants and toddlers that meets
each Wednesday morning from 9:30-11:30 am
under the leadership of LCT Joan Biersch and Preschool
Director Diane Goodrich. Speakers on topics
such as sleep, nutrition, discipline, and neurological
development visit the group.
confidentiality
Your involvement with our Healing care team will be kept strictly confidential by both church staff and parishioner members.
God of all hearing,
God of all loving,
God all enfolding.
Above the winds, hear me.
On lonely isle, love me.
In dark night, enfold me.
------ poem from the stone circle
-------outside Grace Chapel
healing prayer
Prayer helps! On Sundays after the 10:15 communion service clergy and parish members wait in St. Luke's Chapel in the front of the church for people in need of one-on-one prayers for healing.
Our Wednesday morning communion service at 11:30 am in the main church includes time for healing prayer as well.
If you are unable to attend services, are in the hospital, or want a private appointment, we will come to you. You can reach our clergy by calling our church office at 626/282-5147.
Stephen ministry
Stephen Ministry offers confidential
care and friendship to people who are
experiencing difficult times in their
lives. Stephen Ministry volunteers go
through a 50-hour training program
covering Christian caregiving, including
listening skills and the use of
prayer, biblical passages, and other
resources of faith. Once through
training, they continue to meet twice
a month for supervision and education.
These volunteers listen in a
compassionate, nonjudgmental way
and offer the peace of Christ and the
care of the church community.
Stephen Ministers are now on hiatus.
To find out more about this program,
contact Rev. Charles Sacquety.
Lay Eucharistic Visitors
Lay Eucharistic Visitors bring Holy Eucharist (Communion) to members or friends who are unable to join the church community for worship. LEVs also offer anointing for healing and often bring copies of sermons, service leaflets, and help keep the link to our community vital and strong.
join our teams
To join the Helping Hands Team as a driver, supplier of meals, call the team leader Nancy Granger at 626/403-9543.
Do you have a call to become a Lay Eucharistic Visitor? Contact a member of our clergy to discern whether this role is right for you.
