Grace Church has opened its doors over the years to the Madison community. The Drop-In Shelter and the Food Pantry are the most obvious examples of our hospitality, but we also host meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous and other community groups. But there is much more we can do.

While our courtyard is often bustling with activity, some of it occasionally unwelcomed, during the week our greatest resource, the sanctuary, remains closed to the public except for the Wednesday Eucharist. On Saturday mornings when Capitol Square is full of people, the corner of Carroll and West Washington is quiet. In general our space is underutilized and unwelcoming. Visitors have a hard time negotiating the labyrinth that is our building complex, and many of our spaces are dark and dingy.

In the coming months, I will be working with Grace’s members and lay leadership to think about how we might make our church a more welcoming place and how we might enhance the quality of life in Capitol Square.  There are large problems with high price tags, but there are also small things, relatively inexpensive that we can do. For example, could we open the doors of the sanctuary on Saturday mornings to people who might want to come in and look around or enjoy the silence and beauty of our church?

One change in our liturgy to increase accessibility and demonstrate our hospitality is that we will soon offer gluten-free wafers for those worshipers who cannot eat wafers made of wheat.