Good Shepherd Update Thursday March 11th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good morning....his week's update will be pretty short and sweet. There is a lot of stuff piled up that I have to get to before I can't see over it.

Here's the Update:

The Food Pantry: things are taking shape for the parish needs food pantry. The way it will work is very simple. If you have extra food or household items, bring them to church and put them in the pantry. The pantry is a small room to the left side of the kitchen...if you don't know what I'm talking about just ask someone and they'll show you. If you need food, go to the pantry and take what you need. No questions asked. You do not need to apply or ask anybody. We assume that everyone who takes from the pantry is honestly in need. The pantry is intended for members and for those who attend Good Shepherd. We feed the community at the Shepherd's Bowl but we must also help the needy in our own congregation.

Clam Chowder sale: is coming up on Saturday March 20th. The sale is a fundraiser and the price per container is 8 dollars. As a way of reaching out to our neighborhood, I invite those of you who are able to buy more than one container so that we can give some chowder away as gifts from Good Shepherd to those who may not be able to afford that price.

Chopping for Chowder: Women are invited to stay after the ACW meeting on the 13th of March in order to prepare vegetables for the clam chowder which we will sell the following weekend. (from Carmen)

Healing Service: The healing service continues next Wednesday. God has, through prayer and the laying on of hands, physically healed people a number of times at Good Shepherd. But healing takes place in many ways. Resentment, depression, anger, addiction, dependence, unforgiveness--are all ways that we sometimes react to pain in our lives. God is more powerful than them all and sometimes he overcomes these sins in our lives by first healing the pain at the heart of them through prayer. The Wednesday services at Good Shepherd will be based on an Anglican liturgy for healing found in the Kenyan prayerbook. If you are looking for physical, spiritual, or emotional healing please plan to come every Wednesday at 6pm. The service lasts no longer than half an hour to forty minutes depending on prayer needs.

Choir Practice: tonight at 7pm

The Sexual Harassment/Abuse Prevention: Beginning THIS Saturday March 13th thru April--we'll set up the videos and a television set in the church. If you teach Sunday School, serve in the nursery, work on staff, please come to view them at your convenience. The church is open business hours most Saturdays and Tuesdays. It is always open during open office hours Wednesday and Thursday, and in the evenings during the various weekly events. The only days that may be difficult are Friday (after 9pm) and Monday. We'll have a roster next to the video. After you watch, just sign the roster so we'll know you've done it. These videos are required by our insurance and it's just a good idea.

Shrove Tuesday Photos: Please take a look at the Shrove Tuesday photos on the bulletin board in the Parish Hall. Thanks to all for making that such a great success!

Duty Roster: Team Romans is scheduled for this Sunday, so Chris Jones...the team captain...is the person to call with any questions. :) Before long I won't have anything to do but sit back and watch everybody else work.

Beginners' Bible Study is tonight after the Shepherd's Bowl at 6:30pm in the parish hall. We'll be moving into John 6. If you are new to the Christian faith and/or have never seriously attempted to study the bible this study is for you. All are invited.

Men's Bible Study and Breakfast: Chris Jones is scheduled to cook. We're wrapping up the account of David and Bathsheba in 2nd Samuel. Men's Bible Study meets at 6.30am

Women's Bible Study: Please join us Saturday Mornings at 10AM as we continue to study a most amazing Old Testament book----Isaiah. Lent is an appropriate season to study this "evangelical prophet" who wrote so eloquently of redemption and of our Messiah (from Carmen)

Systematic Theology: will meet at 3:30pm as usual in the parish hall on Saturday. We'll hopefully come close to wrapping up our discussion of the Doctrine of Creation. All are invited. I'll be sending notes from last week out for those who missed last Saturday.

Here is last week's sermon: "Behavior Modification v. the Gospel" based on 1st Thessalonians 5:23-28. You can watch the video below and read the text here.

Last Sunday's sermon wraps up 1st Thessalonians. We'll be primarily in the lectionary until the Fall when we begin the series on Colossians.

This Sunday's sermon will be based on Luke chapter 15: the parable of the Lost Son.

Christian Education: Spiritual Disciplines...this week we'll talk about practices from repetition and memorization to lectio divina. That will end the section on "inward" disciplines. And we'll move on to some of the "outward" disciplines beginning with the discipline of "simplicity". To live a simple life is to live a life focused on one thing. We'll talk about what that looks like Sunday.

Classical Education: Some of you may have heard already of the classical school Anne and I, Samantha Kubic and her husband Niell, Mark and Anna Dreher are in the process of organizing for the Fall. It's not going to be officially affiliated with any particular church nor will it be a "church school" but a lot of Good Shepherd people are deeply involved in its creation. The Press and Sun Bulletin ran an article on the school this morning featuring Samantha. Here's an excerpt:

"...We desire a classical education for our children," Kubik said.

Classical education, inspired by Dorothy Sayers' essay "The Lost Tools of Learning," gears pedagogy to three learning stages, called the Trivium: grammar, logic and rhetoric.

The grammar stage, which is roughly equivalent to elementary school age, capitalizes on students' aptitude for memorization and has them memorize a wide range of facts -- in math, geography, English, the Bible and Latin.

Young teens, who often like to argue with adults, are trained in formal logic, while older students are taught to communicate persuasively through instruction in rhetoric.

To get the basics down, students need to start the classical system fairly young; after the sixth grade, it's difficult because the grammar stage establishes the foundation for the other stages.

Classical Christian schools are also based on scripture and promote a Biblical worldview. There are only two such schools in the state: one in Manhattan and the other in the Albany area, according to the Association of Classical & Christian Schools...more

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Youth Update from Ife:
What is the Chief End of Man?

The youth group has experienced a growth in numbers in the past month - both the senior and junior groups have nearly doubled. Praise be to God for parents who are encouraging their children to be part of these groups and youths who are inviting their friends. Keep up the good work!!

We've just embarked on the first 38 questions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Why are we doing this, you ask? I'll be delighted to tell you:

The Catechism is not easy to learn, yet it is important for shaping lives, both young and old. If our goal is to raise up young men and women who are disciples of Christ, then our intent must be to train them in the truth of the gospel. I desire that the youths in this church will have a desire in their hearts to follow God, but unless they know the truth about God, their emotions for God will outrun their knowledge of God, making them weak and maybe frustrated Christians. The WSC is hard to teach and even harder to learn, but it is something that, if learned, will prove invaluable throughout the lifetime of any believer.

So, parents, your encouragement and oversight is needed, and who knows, maybe you can learn something too in the endeavor.

'MAN'S CHIEF END IS TO GLORIFY GOD AND TO ENJOY HIM FOREVER'

Holy Week Schedule 2010:

Palm Sunday (Sunday March 28th )
Holy Week is the week Christians remember and celebrate the last week of Jesus’ life. That week began with Jesus’ triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem. By this time, Jesus was famous. Everyone knew him and most people believed that he was the messiah, the coming savior of Israel. So when they heard he was coming they all rushed out waving palm branches and crying “Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Five days later the very same people who greeted Jesus with shouts of “Hosanna” screamed for his death with cries of “Crucify Him!” Palm Sunday Services at Good Shepherd will be held at 8:00am and 10:30am. They will begin with the blessing of the Palms. Then the blessed palms will be passed out to everyone in the congregation and we’ll process into the church like Jesus’ processed into Jerusalem (except for the donkey). During the service The Passion will be read and narrated.

Tenebrae (Wednesday March 31st)
Tenebrae means “shadows” in Latin. The worship service called “Tenebrae” is an ancient rite of the Church. It is a service of word, light and sound. When you arrive for worship you will see two groups of candles lit on the altar. As readings are read the candles on the altar will be gradually extinguished until the very end of the service when the last candle left lit is removed from the worship space and the whole sanctuary is left in darkness. At that point a loud crash will shatter the silence of the sanctuary. Then, after a moment, the last candle is returned to the sanctuary and the worshippers depart in silence. The gradual darkening of the sanctuary and the crashing noise symbolizes the apparent victory of death, darkness, and chaos over Jesus Christ on the cross. The final candle being removed and returned, symbolizes the truth that through Jesus' death, God gained victory over all the powers of evil. The Light was not overcome. The service of Tenebrae will be held at 7:00pm on Wednesday of Holy Week.

Maundy Thursday (April 1st)
Maundy Thursday communion celebrates the humility of Jesus. Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s and yet on the night before he died, during the Last Supper, he knelt down and one by one washed his disciples' feet. He did this to show his disciples and to show you and me how to serve one another with humility and love, being willing even to stoop to the most menial tasks. There will be a covered dish (pot-luck) supper in the parish hall followed by the Maundy Thursday worship service which will include foot washing. Maundy Thursday is the last chance for communion until the Great Vigil. The service will begin at 7:00pm following the covered dish dinner that begins at 5:30pm

Good Friday: The Passion (April 2nd)
Jesus died on a Friday. At about 3pm on Friday of Holy Week he lifted his eyes up to heaven from the cross and breathed out his last. “It is finished” he said. He was not only referring to his life, but he was also referring to the great battle between God and sin, death, and Satan. On the cross of Jesus Christ, God defeated the powers that corrupt and destroy his creation and his creatures. By and through Jesus’ death on the cross, everyone who believes is forgiven their sins and granted an eternal relationship with God. Good Friday Services will be held at noon and 7pm. At noon we'll say "the Hours" which are prayers that mark the time of day when Jesus hung on the cross. At 7pm, we'll walk the stations of the cross which are prayers through which we remember the passion of Christ and his burial. There will be a sermon at both services.

The Easter Vigil (Saturday April 3rd)
Along with Tenebrae, the Easter Vigil is one of the most ancient services of the Church. It is the most important service of the entire year and it is the first service of Easter. The service begins in total darkness--the lights of the sanctuary are out and not a candle is burning. Then a fire is lit in a firepot the center of the nave and from that flame all the candles in the sanctuary are lit and the hand-candles in the congregation. Then come readings and psalms, said and sung, by singers and by the whole congregation. The sermon follows and then the first Communion of Easter. The Great Vigil begins at 8:00pm in the sanctuary.

Easter Day: (Sunday April 4th)
This is the day Christians celebrate and proclaim the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. There will be flowers and smells and bells. And, possibly, an Easter Egg huntafterwards. Service times are 8:00am and 10:30am Easter Morning.