Thursday Notes

Dear Good Shepherd,

Thank you for your prayers and all of your help over the last couple of weeks while Anne and the girls were away. They're home now safe and tired from a 19hr flight plus some lag in getting used to the time difference. Kenya is about 7 hours ahead of Binghamton.

Block Party/ice-cream social/health fare: Thank you to all who organized and/or participated in last Saturday's neighborhood fare. It was a great success. There were a lot of people here, more than last year (although since this church is bigger it may not have seemed like it). We made a good number of new friends and everyone had a fantastic time. What a great way to reach out to the community. Don't miss the picassa photo site that Micah set up to see pictures that were taken during the event.

Chicken BBQ: There will be another chicken BBQ this Saturday from 11am to 2pm. Please come and tell your friends...and if you've signed up to help, please don't forget about it.

Men's Breakfast and Bible Study: 6:30am Friday morning at the church. We're in 1st Samuel. Brian and Tom are scheduled to cook.

Thursday Beginners' Bible Study: We'll pick back up with Beginners Bible Study NEXT Thursday. This study is held at Conklin Avenue Baptist Church following the Shepherd's Bowl.

Sermon Podcast: If you were at the Reaffirmation of vows on Sunday then you know that I preached the first of three sermons on marriage: 1. What is marriage? 2. Why did God establish marriage? How do marriages work? Last Sunday's sermon "What is Marriage?" can be heard here. I'll try to get the text up before this weekend. We'll get back to John 3 and our series on what it means to be "Born Again" after the series on marriage is complete.

Calendar: Remember to check the parish calendar for updates on the weekly and monthly schedule and to find the current duty rosters per Sunday.

Acolyte Practice: The first acolyte practice will be next Sunday the 28th of June after the 10:30am service

Systematic Theology: After one week's break, we'll pick back up this Saturday at 3:30pm as usual. We'll start into a discussion of God's incommunicable attributes and set the groundwork for a discussion of the Trinity next Saturday.

Christian Education: Anglican Worship and the Sacraments: We started a new teaching series for Sunday morning Christian Education last week designed to help both Christians new to Anglicanism and those who have been Anglicans for a long time understand Anglican worship and Sacraments. Why Anglicans worship the way they do? Here is the introductory discussion. This Sunday we'll take up Baptism in a more detailed way.

Bob+ and Joyce Carlson, Anne's parents will be here this Sunday and for the next month or more. Both have worked as missionaries for Wycliff Bible Translators in Africa for their entire careers. Anne grew up with her parents in Mali, which is in west Africa, but they presently live in Nairobi Kenya where Bob+ teaches as a professor. Bob was recently ordained an Anglican priest by Archbishop Nzimbi and I hope I can succeed in persuading him to preach and celebrate some while he is here.