This Saturday and Sunday, more than 40 members of Peace Lutheran Church will be participating in four service projects in Grass Valley.

From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Peace members will be at the Nevada County Habitat for Humanity build site in the Heritage Oaks development (off Whiting Street, at the corner of Joyce Street and Green Mountain Loop). Other Peace volunteers will bring lunch for the builders. Among them will be congregation President Alan Gaines.

From 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, more Peace members will do odd jobs at Scotten School; and they’ll make a quilt at the church to be donated to Kare Crisis Nursery.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, they’ll sing hymns for residents at Golden Empire Convalescent and Nursing Center.

Peace volunteers will be identified by their bright yellow T-shirts proclaiming “God’s Work, Our Hands.”

Church members already volunteer thousands of hours at local nonprofits, but this weekend, their work will be part of a national service day, “God’s Work, Our Hands,” organized by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It’s one of the largest Protestant denominations, with 4 million members in 10,000 congregations in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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Peace members volunteer regularly at Habitat for Humanity, Interfaith Food Ministry and Hospitality House. The church contributes to many more local nonprofits including Child Advocates of Nevada County, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalition and the Grass Valley Male Voice Choir. The church also contributes to disaster relief efforts at home and abroad. Individually, members bring history alive at the Empire Mine State Historic Park, play with the Nevada County Concert Band and participate in many other community programs.

Lutherans have a long tradition of service, springing from Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself” and put one’s faith into action, organizers said.

“We are a kind of undercover force for good,” said ELCA Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, based in Chicago. “But on ‘God’s Work, Our Hands’ Sunday, we come out in our yellow shirts in the thousands to do this work together…

“Our lives have been changed by our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and it’s that encounter with Jesus that frees us to make a difference,” Eaton said.

To learn more about Peace Lutheran Church, visit www.PeaceLutheranGV.org or call (530) 273-9631. Peace is at 828 W. Main St., Grass Valley; Sunday services are at 8:45 and 11 a.m.

Submitted to KNCO