Thursday Notes

Dear Good Shepherd,

Happy Thursday....no new news to report regarding St. Andrew's. I do feel an extraordinary sense of gratitude to God and to Msgr. Meaghar for allowing my family to live here and Good Shepherd to worship here.

While we certainly hope to purchase St. Andrew's in the near future, at the moment we are still guests and as such it is important to do our best to be good ones. On Sunday mornings the sanctuary and the parish hall need to be cleaner than they were when we arrived. There are people from the Catholic church in those buildings almost every day. It would not do to have them find a mess...or worse to clean up after us.

This has not happened yet, but its important to be proactive. I should also say that the whole cleaning thing is something that we can all do...me too. It is not something to be left, as it often is, to the senior ladies of the church...especially while everyone else is sitting around talking. I agree that fellowship needs to come first but and sometimes the cleaning starts up waaay to early after the service is over, but in general about 5 or 6 people clean up after the mess left by the remaining 90 or so.

In any case, if you are feeling really guilty about all of this (as I am) there is a way for you to work off some of your accumulated time in purgatory. This Saturday, we're having a work party...that's right a "party" but instead of cake and stuff, there will be work. And, what's more, you're invited. If you come please bring cleaning supplies...vaccuum, brooms, dusters, sprays, extention cords, anything you might think of because we don't have much to work with...we had to leave most of our stuff behind.

In any case, I'll be there and I hope to see you too.

Here are the rest of your Thursday notes...

Men's Breakfast and Bible Study will go on tomorrow as usual...this time we will meet in the parish hall of St. Andrews...Ray and Charles are cooking. I'll get in touch with the cooks about the details...

Podcast sermons: several have asked where the last two sermons are and the lectures...well I would like to blame it on technical difficulties but I really just keep forgetting to turn the iTalk recorder on. I bring it with me, set it on the stand and then forget to push play. I'll try to re-record last week's sermon and put it online.

Annual Meeting: Remember, the Good Shepherd Annual Meeting will be held between services this Sunday. So there will be no Adult Education. This year's meeting, as you can imagine, is very important. We will be talking about the present circumstances and begin to think about our future mission and ministry. Plus there will be some very very good sweat rolls.

Welcome Back Ethnic Potluck: On Sunday February 8th, we will all enjoy a multi-ethnic potluck to "celebrate" the end of winter break and to welcome back our university students. This will take place immediately following the 10:30 service. We would like to have many cuisines represented so please sign up to prepare your ethnic specialty. (Sign up sheet and suggestions are downstairs in the Parish Hall.)

The Shepherd's Bowl this week remains at St. John's the Evangelist and barring any emergency I'll be there to lead the Thursday night bible study.

Women's Bible Study will meet on Saturday in the St. Andrew's Rectory as they've done for the last two weeks..

Capital Campaign: If you've not pledged yet to the Capital Campaign, there will be pledge cards availible on Sunday. Here is a letter I wrote to the parish last week that includes a mailing address for those who would like to help out without filling a pledge form.

Pictures: I posted Photos of the transition from our old building here and here and pictures of the various places we've worshiped and studied together since then here. Please send any pictures you might have and I'll post them up.

Youth Update from Micah: Senior High Youth Group will not take place this week because of the Super Bowl. Junior High Youth Group, however, will be going to the movies to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Meet at the Regal at around 2:25pm this Sunday. Senior High, please remember to look at your schedules and find a few possible dates to go skiing at Greek Peak (most likely a Saturday--or perhaps a day off from school). Good Shepherd, we are still looking to replenish our game stash. A few favorites that are currently missing: Apples to Apples, Scattergories, Scrabble, Uno. We could also use a few extra sets of cards if you have them. Thanks!

This Sunday is Superbowl Sunday...but the Superbowl isn't until much much later, so that leaves plenty of time for church...see you there and don't forget to invite guests...

In Christ,
Matt