Blog of the Good Shepherd: Thursday Notes

Dear Good Shepherd,

Happy Thursday. I'm working on a new article explaining the leadership structure and decision making process at Good Shepherd. It should be out tomorrow. For now, here are your Notes:

Men's Breakfast and Bible Study: Don Dean is cooking tomorrow morning. Breakfast is served and the study begins at 6:30am every Friday. All men are invited and welcome.

Some Very Good News: God's blessings continue to flow. Last week we closed a rental agreement for the school with Future Faces day school. Thanks be to God. We'll discuss the details of the agreement for the first 10 minutes of the Adult Education class this Sunday. Thank you for your prayers and support over the course of this difficult year of transition—and thanks be to God for preparing a place for us.

Shepherds' Bowl: There was some confusion last week about our plans for the Shepherd's Bowl. I have added a few lines to the following descriptions in order to hopefully clarify the plans. Shepherd's Bowl is Church of the Good Shepherd's soup kitchen. Since we have been in our new building, we have been joining with Conklin Avenue Baptist to provide this service in their facility with their cooperation and assistance. In September the soup kitchen will continue at Conklin Avenue Baptist Church on Tuesdays (or a day of their choosing) and we at Church of the Good Shepherd will initiate this service at our own facility on Thursdays.

In total we need 8 teams of 4 persons from both churches (32 individuals) to provide meals in both venues. We already have approximately 16. Each team will work only once per month. Each team will only serve at one of the meals per week. No team will be asked to serve both suppers. The meal is served at 5:30PM and usually servers are free to return home by 7PM. Teams may prepare meals when they wish (earlier on the same day or earlier in the week) according to their convenience. The plan is to prepare one meal per week in our church kitchen. This meal will be served both days in both churches. If you are interested in participating in this important outreach ministry, please sign-up and indicate which day you prefer to serve.

Beginners Bible Study: When the Shepherd's Bowl starts up again in the fall, I will also restart the Thursday night bible Study. If you have never studied the bible before and have no idea how to read, understand, and apply it to your life, this is the bible study for you. It will start at 6:30pm every Thursday night right after the Shepherd's Bowl and last for about an hour.

Gift from the Anglican American Council: The AAC recently sent us three Dell desktop computers. They upgraded their office system and donated their former system to us. The computers are in very good condition and look to be only about 3 years old. We are very thankful to our good friends at the AAC. The only thing we still need is an operating system. If you have any copies of Windows XP lying around that you would like to donate, please bring it/them to church this Sunday or call me at 773-4810.

Michele and Gerald's wedding: Michele Moat, daughter of Fred Moat, will be married to Gerald Marciano on Saturday August 8^th, 2009 at 1:00pm at Good Shepherd. The entire parish is invited to attend and to stay afterward downstairs in the parish hall for refreshments.

Adult Christian Education: Anglican Worship and Sacraments: We didn't quite get to a discussion of the Eucharist last Sunday because there were a lot of great questions about the Anglican Communion and questions about Anglican worship. This Sunday we'll move directly into a discussion of the Eucharist: What is it? What happens during the Eucharist? Why do we do it? Why do we celebrate it every Sunday? How does the Anglican view? All of this and more this Sunday between services starting at 9am

Systematic Theology: This Saturday at 3:30pm Systematic Theology will meet. We've basically completed our discussion of God's moral attributes. This Saturday we'll discuss the distinction between God's secret and revealed will. What does it mean to say, for example, “God wills that none should perish?” in light of the fact that many do indeed perish? Hope to see you then.

Video of the class: Last week's class was captured on video and you can watch it here.

Schedule for Systematic Theology: Systematic Theology class has had some difficulty meeting during the summer due to travel schedules and things of that sort. I am committed to this class and I believe it is one of the most important if not the most important currently on offer at Good Shepherd. So rather than hit or miss, I've worked out a schedule for the remainder of the summer for the Saturdays that we will be holding class. You can see that schedule below. For those of you in the class please remember to pick up chapter 13 (the second part of the Communicable Attributes section) on Sunday. It will be set out on the table in the parish hall along with the other readings:

Summer Systematic Theology class schedule:

Saturday August 1st

Saturday August 15th

Saturday August 29th

Men's Breakfast and Bible Study: Will meet as usual tomorrow morning (Friday) at 6:30am and we'll continue our study of 1st Samuel. I have no idea who is cooking? I don't think we've made a new schedule yet so I think we're open for volunteers.

Women's Bible Study: will meet Saturday at 10AM as usual. We will continue our study of Isaiah, an amazing book of prophecy.

Prayer Group: Remember that there is a prayer meeting every Wednesday at 6:00pm in the chapel.

New Member (and interested attender) audio and video classes will continue this week. If you missed the first one here is a link.

Podcast Sermon: Here is last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 4: Unity in the Visible Church

Help with Groundskeeping: If you would like to help keep the grounds of Good Shepherd Anglican looking beautiful and clean, there are three tasks that need doing. 1. Weeding the front of the school and/or rectory 2. Litter patrol, especially along the Conklin sidewalk and the fence around the school. 3. Repaint the white fence that runs along the East side of the church. Thank you to whoever can help. If you are available for other tasks on the weekend or during the week, please speak with Fred Moat.

Chris Vail: Groundskeeper and part time sexton: As many of you know, Chris Vail has volunteered his time for many years at Good Shepherd. He is a tireless worker and has devoted hours of physical labor to Christ through the church. This Wednesday the vestry voted to allocate funds to hire Chris as a part time groundskeeper and sexton. Chris does not replace our current cleaning teams, but his efforts will help cut down on the amount of work that needs to be done.

Church Directories are available in the Parish Hall. Help yourself! Let Carmen know if you find errors or if you if you are not included.

Unpacking: We are presently moving a lot of things from storage back to the rectory and the new church. As we go through the process of moving things from storage, please keep an eye out for items that you know belong to the old church. In the rush to leave, things may have been inadvertently taken that no longer, according to the court decision, belong to us. We want to make sure to give those things we identify to the Diocese of Central New York. If you see anything please let me know (773-4810) or you can also contact John Chaney. God has provided for us so abundantly and has more than made up for all that we have lost. Let's bear witness to Christ by our willingness to generously and with love let go of the past and trust him for our future.

Online v. Print: some people have asked how internet/email announcements are distributed to members who do not have internet coverage. Good question. The Weekly Update is printed every week in the Sunday bulletin so those without internet coverage can be informed about what is happening in a given week. We mail sermons and bulletins to our homebound parishioners. Of course, those who are not homebound who choose not come to church on Sunday do tend to be less informed than those who come regularly...but there is a remedy for that : - )

Youth Group
Youth Group is on a regular schedule for this coming Sunday: Sr. High, 6-8; Junior High, 1-3. Since two weeks from now is my LAST SUNDAY(!) I wanted to go out to eat with the middle school kids and go bowling with the high school kids. So that means Aug 16! Mark your calendars to remember! Remember that after I'm gone Ife will be taking over the youth group. He's been coming during the summer to youth group so you guys can get to know him. Parents, if you have not spent some time talking with Ife, take a few minutes. Get to know him.

Micah's Wedding
If you have not confirmed your attendance with Micah, please do so ASAP. There is still room and we would love to have as many people from Good Shepherd who are able. The ceremony and reception are August 22 at Red Barn in Deposit, NY. More details are on our wedding website: www.JillandMicah.com. Call Micah if you have any questions: