Thursday, February 25, 2010

Good Shepherd Update Thursday February 25th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

I have, unfortunately, very little time to write today. It looks like we are going to go ahead and have a very minimal Shepherd's Bowl tonight. We are afraid that people might trek out in the snow only to find the church locked. So team 5 is prepping some warm food just in case.

There will be no Beginner's Bible Study however since we don't want people staying out too since its going to be like this all night apparently.

Healing Service: It was cancelled last night due to concerns about the weather, but God willing, we will hold the first healing service this coming Wednesday night at 6pm and every remaining wednesday in Lent. 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.

Leaving Home Part 3: If you have been following the articles Anne and I have been writing about the adventures of 2009, please follow this link and read the latest installment in the Leaving Home series. Otherwise, it will be available in hard-copy form this Sunday.

Choir has been cancelled tonight due to the weather conditions. Instead choir will meet on Saturday at 11am.

Sexual Harassment/Abuse Prevention Training: If you teach Sunday School, serve in the nursery, work on staff, please come at 11am on Saturday March 6th to view training videos. These videos are required by our insurance and it's just a good idea. We'll remind you closer to the day.

Men's Bible Study and Breakfast:  There will be no Men's Bible Study in the morning--not sure what the roads will be like and there will be no way to cancel it tomorrow morning.

Women's Bible Study: will meet as usual at 10am on Saturday

Acolyte Practice: There will be acolyte practice this Sunday...I am very pleased with the reverence and care with which you serve. You've all worked very hard and I'm proud of you. After this Sunday, monthly acolyte training will continue only for the newer acolytes (I'll let you know who you are). Trained acolytes will meet once every quarter. Enjoy the free time, you've earned it.

Systematic Theology: will meet at 3:30pm as usual in the parish hall on Saturday. I'll be sending notes from last week out for those who missed last Saturday.

Here is last week's sermon: Putting Out the Fire of the Spirit


This Sunday's sermon: Friends, since we've come very close to the end of 1st Thessalonians, this Sunday we'll go back and tie up some loose threads. Before Advent I preached the sermon below on 1st Thessalonians 4:3-8. I intended to preach two sermons on that text. The first is below. I put off the second. The sermon below introduces the topic of sexuality and the context in which Paul addresses the topic in Thessalonica. Please take some time to review the sermon below so that we don't have to do too much backtracking and can proceed on the basis of what has already been taught so please listen carefully before Sunday:

Here's the text:
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and l honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you."

Parents, please be aware that we will be speaking about sexual topics. For that reason, children's chapel will be open to kids older than eight this Sunday.

Some new things coming up at Good Shepherd in 2010:

1. Beginning in March: New Duty Roster plan: we're reorganizing the way we schedule Sunday morning duties, moving to a team system similar to the team system used for scheduling the Shepherd's bowl. Every reader, LEM, acolyte, teller, etc...will be assigned to a team. The teams will rotate by Sunday.

Right now we just about have enough volunteers in each role for 5 full teams. What that means is that no one will be scheduled to serve more than once a month. Each team will have a team captain and assistant who will be responsible for team cohesion and ensuring that team members show up or get replacements. This should help us both to keep things organized and to integrate and train new volunteers more effectively.

There will be a meeting of team captains this Sunday after Church.

2. Beginning in May: New Member classes A series of three new/interested members class will be held on three successive Saturdays in May (the 8th, 15th, and 22nd) These classes will be designed to help new members and interested guests integrate and participate at Good Shepherd. You will learn about Anglicanism in general and about Good Shepherd in particular. If you are not new but still interested, you are welcome to come as well.

3. Preaching through Colossians in the Fall: I wrote this last week but I wanted to include it again and expand on it. As you may have noticed, the preaching at Good Shepherd has changed in the last year. We have purposefully gone to a different format, preaching through entire books (we will continue to use the lectionary and preach from it on big feast days and in between books), and we have begun to dig much deeper than usual. The benefits of preaching expositorily (ie...preaching designed to help a congregation see the meaning of a text and its application) and through entire books of the bible at a time are numerous, but let me name just a few:

a. The whole counsel of God: Lectionaries are generally centered around one or two primary themes like "resurrection" or "grace" and tend to cut out passages that do not fit with that theme. So when a church exclusively preaches from the lectionary, the congregation never hears huge, important, swaths of God's word and is much much poorer for it.

b. God sets the agenda: Sometimes congregations and preachers hyperfocus on themselves to the extent that they only want to hear about topics and themes that interest them. But preaching straight through a book requires preachers and the congregation to address whatever issues or topics are addressed in the book. This is a very good even when...especially when...it is not entertaining. If it is true that every passage, every word in scripture is inspired by God and is useful for your personal growth and for building up the body (2 Tim 3:15-16)--and it is, then that means that when scripture addresses topics we find uninteresting or, shall we say, boring...the problem lies not with the bible but with us. That anything is addressed in scripture means that God, the maker of heaven and earth, thought it important to inspire and include in his book...which means that if our hearts and minds were in sink with his will, what is important to him would be interesting to us. When it is not, we pray that God will give us an open heart and mind so that we do not despise his word.

c. Going Deep: When you preach through the lectionary, you are generally given large swaths of scripture that you basically have just one sermon to work through before moving on to the next thing. That often means a shallow treatment of important principles. But when you preach through a book, you can go at a pace that may be defined by the topic being addressed.

d. A Full Theological Thought: Shallow ten minute sermonetts produce shallow Christianettes. We don't play that game at Good Shepherd. Sermon time is training time. Ife, Anne, and I are tasked with understanding and helping you to understand what God is saying in a particular passage of the bible. When the bible is rightly preached, God's word is truly heard. Your task is to actively listen which means following the preacher in the text, taking notes, participating in the study, listening for God's word to you, listening for God's word to the congregation.

e. Small Groups: This change should also make it easier to move to small groups in the Fall--see below

4. Small Groups: In the Fall, we're planning to launch a number of weekly small bible study groups that will meet in peoples' homes. Presently all biblical instruction and application takes place at Good Shepherd from the pulpit or in one of the five Bible Studies. I've noticed that as we've grown the percentage of people participating in the bible studies has decreased.

This is not good. The life, growth and maturity of Good Shepherd and your personal maturity as well, rests on our willingness to know and follow the word of God. It is, for that reason, our goal to have every member of Good Shepherd actively participating in some kind of group fellowship and bible study during the week.

This raises a number of questions: Who will lead these groups? What will happen to the bible studies? What will these groups do? Does everyone have to belong to a group? Let me try to answer each of these in turn:

a. Who will lead these groups?: The plan, as it currently stands, is to tack a big city map to the wall and start identifying the locations of every member member of the parish. This will give us an idea of who lives near who. Small groups work best when they are made up of no more than 5 to 10 people who meet in homes nearby. Once we identify who lives near who we'll be able to see how many groups we can have and who, based on location, should be in which group. Finally, we'll appoint a leader for each group and invite everybody who lives in a given area to join in and meet with the group once a week. If you are interested in hosting one of these groups, please let us know (the leader and the host are usually two different people)

b. What will happen to the bible studies?: Nothing. They will continue to meet. If you attend a Bible Study you'll be invited to attend attend a small group during the week as well. If you feel you do not have time for both, the choice between the two will be yours. Other churches moving to this plan have found that many enjoyed attending both since the purpose of each and structure of each is a bit different. We hope the same proves true here.

3. What will these groups do? This is another benefit of preaching expositorily through a text of scripture. The small group studies will focus on the same text used in the sermon. This will make it easier on everyone since the sermon will do the heavy lifting of interpretation and exegesis and the small groups will focus primarily on digging deeper and applying the text personally. Small groups meet, discuss and apply the biblical passage for the week, pray and then go home. It is a way for you to stay connected during the week and for the whole church to inwardly digest what God has said through his word on Sunday.

c. Does everyone have to belong to a group? We invite and encourage everyone to join the small group meeting in their area but, of course, it is not a requirement. We believe that Jesus sanctifies, encourages, builds up, convicts and trains us through his word and the more you open yourself to hearing his voice, the more like him you will become.

You'll be hearing more about these throughout the winter, spring and summer. The target date is mid-September


Christian Education: Spiritual Disciplines: This Sunday we'll continue discussing the discipline of Study, focusing specifically on methods of study and ways of studying scripture.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Sermon: Sexual Purity part 1

Friends, since we've come very close to the end of 1st Thessalonians, this Sunday we'll go back and tie up some loose threads. Before Advent I preached the sermon below on 1st Thessalonians 4:3-8. I intended to preach two sermons on that text. The first is below. I put off the second. The sermon below introduces the topic of sexuality and the context in which Paul addresses the topic in Thessalonica. It is important for everyone coming this Sunday to review the sermon below so that we don't have to do too much backtracking and can proceed on the basis of what has already been taught so please listen carefully before Sunday:

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Sermon: How to Extinguish the Fire of the Holy Spirit

Here is this Sunday's sermon--growth and maturity in Christ hinges on our willingness to cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is, unfortunately, possible to "quench" the Holy Spirit's work. One way to do that is to hold the Word in contempt...

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

Monday, February 22, 2010

Ashes and evangelism

Aside from being hilarious, this clip is also illustrative...

If these reporters are any indication, there are lots of people who have no idea what Ash Wednesday means or what the ashes represent...what a great opportunity this provides for those of us who wear ashes to talk about Jesus.

Friday, February 19, 2010

For Sunday


Dear Good Shepherd

Sunday's sermon will be based on 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22...

"Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise z prophecies, 21 but a test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil." 

As I've been studying this text I've also listened to these two sermons by Alistair Begg about the place and power of God's word and the importance of listening to it in the church and found them fairly convicting and encouraging at the same time. I recommend them to you and encourage you to listen:

here is part 1:

part 2:

In Christ
Matt

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Fighting sins already forgiven

Good words I just heard from John Piper, "the only sins against which we have any hope of victory are sins which have already been forgiven"

Believers in Jesus Christ work against sin not so that we will be forgiven but in the aftermath of having been forgiven.

Only a believer who has been justified by faith--meaning that his sins, past, present and future have been forgiven and his sinfulness covered by Christ's righteousness--has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him.

And only one empowered by grace through the Holy Spirit can successfully do battle against sin.

Which means, as Piper says far more succinctly, every sin against which you struggle is a sin that has already been forgiven.

What an encouragement for believers struggling against addiction or besetting sin. You are not earning anything--God has already given you all things--you are rather seeking to please and glorify the one who already loves you and calls you by his name.

Good Shepherd Update Thursday February 18th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

What a week so far! I was down with a horrible stomach thing Tuesday night and Wednesday so, to keep from infecting everyone, I had to miss everything but I heard some great stories about how things went. I am very thankful to Anne and to Ife for stepping up while I was down. I am exhausted today (Thursday) but much better. Apparently this awful thing is making its rounds in Binghamton. It hit our family pretty hard. Aedan, Rowan and Anne all had the stuff at some point in the last week or so--only our daughters escaped. Thank you for your prayers for all of us.

Thank you also to Carmen who organized the pancake supper and everyone who worked so hard and gave so much to make it such a success.

Okay, given that I was out for two days, I have a lot to catch up on so this will, yet again, be a shortened Update.

Healing Service: Wednesday night at 6pm every wednesday in Lent. 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.

There will be beginner's bible study tonight at 6:30pm after the Shepherd's Bowl. All are welcome.

Choir will meet tonight at 7pm as usual...I think you'll be practicing the new service music for lent.

Men's Bible Study and Breakfast will meet on Friday morning at 6:30am as usual...I have no idea who is cooking and who is not.

Women's Bible Study: will meet as usual at 10am on Saturday in the parish hall. All women are invited and welcome.

Systematic Theology: will meet at 3:30pm as usual in the parish hall on Saturday. I'll be sending notes from last week out for those who missed last Saturday.

Bible Studies: If you are new to Good Shepherd (or not) you may have noticed that we have a lot of bible studies. One day we plan to move to a home-group cell group model, but even then the bible studies at church will likely be a mainstay at Good Shepherd. Because they are designed to help people understand and apply his word, God has used them and continues to use them to strengthen, deepen, and mature both the individuals who attend and the body as a whole. If you are not presently attending one of the five weekly bible studies offered at Good Shepherd, I invite you and encourage you to do so.

Here are some sermons and talks that I loaded onto the website this week:

Anne's sermon from two weeks ago


My talk at Intervarsity on "self-love"


Ife's sermon from last week:


This Sunday's sermon will be based on 1st Thessalonians 5:19-22

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but a test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

After this Sunday there will be two or three sermons left in the series from 1st Thessalonians. Next Sunday we'll go back to chapter 4 and deal with sexual purity--so that's a heads up for parents who may or may not want their kids to be in children's chapel. The following Sunday will be the Sunday we sum things up.

The benefits of preaching through an entire book of the bible are numerous, but let me name just a few:

1. The whole counsel of God: Lectionaries are generally centered around one or two primary themes like "resurrection" or "grace" and tend to cut out passages that do not fit with that theme. So when a church exclusively preaches from the lectionary, the congregation never hears huge, important, swaths of God's word and is much much poorer for it.

2. God sets the agenda: Sometimes congregations and preachers hyperfocus on themselves to the extent that they only want to hear about topics and themes that interest them. But preaching straight through a book requires preachers and the congregation to address whatever issues or topics are addressed in the book. This is a very good even when...especially when...it is not entertaining. If it is true that every passage, every word in scripture is inspired by God and is useful for your personal growth and for building up the body (2 Tim 3:15-16)--and it is, then that means that when scripture addresses topics we find uninteresting or, shall we say, boring...the problem lies not with the bible but with us. That anything is addressed in scripture means that God, the maker of heaven and earth, thought it important to inspire and include in his book...which means that if our hearts and minds were in sink with his will, what is important to him would be interesting to us. When it is not, we pray that God will give us an open heart and mind so that we do not despise his word.

3. Going Deep: When you preach through the lectionary, you are generally given large swaths of scripture that you basically have just one sermon to work through before moving on to the next thing. That often means a shallow treatment of important principles. But when you preach through a book, you can go at a pace that may be defined by the topic being addressed.

Shallow ten minute sermonetts produce shallow Christianettes. We don't play that game at Good Shepherd. Sermon time is training time. Ife, Anne, and I are tasked with understanding and helping you to understand what God is saying in a particular passage of the bible. When the bible is rightly preached, God's word is truly heard. Your task is to actively listen which means following the preacher in the text, taking notes, participating in the study, listening for God's word to you, listening for God's word to the congregation.

Christian Education: Spiritual Disciplines: This Sunday we'll take up the discipline of Study. I'll be sending my notes on the discipline of fasting out this weekend by email.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Loving Yourself

I was invited to speak at Intervarsity Christian Fellowship at Binghamton University last night on the topic of "Loving Yourself". Here's the video

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Good Shepherd Update Thursday February 11th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd, 

This week's Update, again, will have to be very short. Yesterday I met with the mourning wife and two daughters of a man who died suddenly on Monday. They do not attend Good Shepherd and did not have a place to hold a memorial service. I offered to have the service here and they accepted. The complication is that the daughters are on a tight time schedule and must return home (they live outside of Binghamton) by Friday morning. So the only feasible time for the service, a time when both friends and family can be there, is tonight, Thursday, at 6pm followed by a small reception in the parish hall after the meeting. 

What that means for us is that the Beginner's Bible Study will not be meeting tonight. The funeral will be upstairs in the sanctuary but the reception will be in the parish hall, so the space will be needed. 

The Shepherd's Bowl will go on as usual but the clean up crew for the Shepherd's bowl will most likely overlap with those from the ACW who will be setting up for the reception. 

Thank you to everyone who has agreed to change schedules to accommodate this service and help these people mourn their loss. 

I am also scheduled to speak at Intervarsity Christian Fellowship on the BU campus this Friday evening on the topic of "loving yourself". Intervarsity is focusing on the topic of "love" all year long. Having a healthy "agape" for yourself is foundational to loving others. The second greatest commandment is to "agape" your neigbor as you "agape" yourself. But if your self-agape is twisted and/or non-existent then agape-ing others in the right way will be impossible. 

In any case, the invitation to speak came on Sunday which means my schedule was going to be tight...but with the sudden funeral it is bordering on impossible, so please bear with me perhaps not getting as much done this week as I promised or would have liked. 

To sum up, there will be no Beginner's Bible Study tonight

There will be Shepherd's Bowl at the usual time

Choir will also meet at 7pm following the Shepherd's Bowl

Men's Bible Study and Breakfast will meet on Friday morning at 6:30am as usual...I have no idea who is cooking and who is not. 

Women's Bible Study: will meet as usual at 10am on Saturday

ACW: There will be an ACW meeting this Saturday after the Women's Bible Study

Systematic Theology: will meet at 3:30pm as usual in the parish hall on Saturday

The Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper: is scheduled for this coming Tuesday evening. There will be face painting, the burning of the palms...etc...all sorts of things happening, so please invite your friends and family. The supper is a fundraiser and the cost is 4 dollars per plate.  The money will go to help buy choir robes. 

Ash Wednesday worship will be held at 7am and 7pm...last year the morning service was extremely cold...we seem to have finally gotten a handle on the thermostat issue so it should be nice and toasty by 7am this time around. Invite your friends.





Leaving Home: Anne and I have completed the second part of the series of articles describing our move. You can read it here:

Anne's sermon from last Sunday may be read here:

I cannot find the video tape. I am still looking but I have no idea where it is. As soon as I find it I'll upload it. If you were not there, you missed an excellent sermon. 

This Sunday's sermon will be based on 1st Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

There will be a Healing prayer service every Wednesday evening in Lent---more information coming soon


What is Lent?: For those who are new to Anglicanism, here is a brief article I wrote last year about Lent--enjoy:

Given that we have a number of people coming to Good Shepherd who've never been to church or who are from non-liturgical churches, I'll bet some, at least, are wondering what exactly "Shrove Tuesday", "Ash Wednesday" and "Lent" are.

Let me start with some definitions.

Shrove Tuesday: To "shrive" someone is to hear someone's confession of sin and to assure them of God's forgiveness. "Shrove" Tuesday was traditionally (pre-Reformation) the day when confessions were heard and absolution given in preparation for the lenten fast (see below).

Ash Wednesday: "Ash Wednesday" is the first day of "Lent". Traditionally Christians smear their foreheads with ashes from burnt palm leaves (saved from the previous year's Palm Sunday service) to signify sorrow for sin and to acknowledge that we are but "dust" and "to dust we shall return".

"Lent" is the 40 day period traditionally set aside for self-examination, fasting, and repentance before Holy Week and Easter. The word "lent" comes from an Old English word for "spring". It comes from a German root word (Matthias, maybe you can help here?) for "long"...probably because days grow "longer" during the spring.

Since "Lent" always begins on "Ash Wednesday", the Tuesday before was traditionally set aside (especially before the Reformation) as a sort of "last hurrah"...a day of celebration before lenten confessions and disciplines. Today, believers often commit to a special discipline during Lent in order to deepen their relationship with Christ.

In some places (New Orleans in particular) the Tuesday before "Lent" became the: "Let's-get-all-the- sin-out-of-our-system-before-we-go-to-confession-on-Ash-Wednesday" Day...

In England they just ate pancakes...I have no idea why (note: since I wrote this article I found out that they ate pancakes in order to use up all the fat before the lenten fast)

Since we are an "Anglican" church (ie...our roots are with the Church of England) we tend toward the pancake rather than the New Orleans rout...hence the upcoming Pancake Supper.

Lent can be a very confusing time for those who were not raised in liturgical churches. Some wonder why we set aside a special season of repentance when repentance is something that we should do all year round. And they are right about that at least.

At the same time, purposefully setting a season apart from self-examination, fasting, and prayer, can be very helpful. In my own life, God has used the disciplines I've taken on during Lent to give me victory over a number of besetting sins. It is a time to really pull sin out by the roots. I mean, if nothing else, last week's text from 1st Corinthians 9:24-27, tells us that spiritual discipline is something to which God calls every believer.
...Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified...

A few years ago, I wrote an article about Lent and how to figure out what to do in order to use it effectively. Here's an excerpt:

The word “repentance” comes from the Greek word “metanoia.” Metanoia literally means “to turn around and go the other way.” And that, simply stated, is the perfect description of repentance. When you sin you turn away from God. Repentance turns you around. It’s much more than just feeling sorry for doing wrong (although that is the place to start). It’s an active transformation; a commitment to do, to act, to move in accordance with God’s will rather than against it.

And that is where the whole idea of a Lenten discipline comes in.

For believers, Lent can be a time when you actively work to rid yourself of sins that have grown into habits and/or addictions (yes, this should be something we do all year round but it’s helpful to have a time like Lent set aside for that very purpose).

So, rather than thinking about what vice to give up or what discipline to add, a better place to start is prayer. Ask God to search your heart and bring to your mind those habits of thought, word, and/or deed that displease him most. (Sometimes what is displeasing in your life will be so obvious that you won’t even need to pray, you’ll just know. The Holy Spirit living inside you will have made it abundantly clear already). When you ask this in sincerity you can be sure that God will provide you with an answer.

This answer will tell you whether you need to add a discipline or be rid of a behavior or attitude. If, for example you believe that God wants you to be more committed to studying scripture, then you should probably consider adding personal or group bible study to your routine. If on the other hand you believe God is displeased with the amount of time you spend on the internet or the kinds of things you look at on-line, then you should probably consider cutting out or down on your computer usage or installing some parental control program to keep you accountable (even if, especially if, you’re a parent).

In other words, your Lenten discipline should not be arbitrary. If you have a problem with lust, don’t give up chocolate. Give up whatever it is that leads you into lustful behavior. And don’t just give it up for Lent, use Lent to give it up forever. Let the Lord know that you are committed to turning from the sin he has shown you and then ask him to help you in your task though the power of his Holy Spirit.

Of course you can do all of this at any time during the year, but I suppose the question is "do you?". For me, the answer, sadly, is "no", so I personally need the emphasis on repentance that Lent brings.
end.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Good Shepherd Update Thursday February 4th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

I'm really swamped today so I won't have time for the usual lengthy news update. We've moved our bedroom upstairs again to be closer to the kids (we moved downstairs when Anne was pregnant to make it easier on her) and that means that we now hear EVERYTHING that our five children do during the night and we are, as a result, short of sleep...which makes work slower and less efficient. But here is what I have managed to cobble together before getting back to the pile of books and papers on my desk.

Settlement: That's right, the lawsuit has been settled, thanks be to God. Please come this Sunday between services if you would like to know more.

Articles: We're still planning on having the second installment of our series on last year's move printed in this Sunday's bulletin or availible in some fashion. It's just not ready yet.

Here is last Sunday's sermon on what you should expect from leaders in the church:


Sermon this Sunday: We'll be moving on to 1st Thessalonians 5:14-15. Last week we dealt with peaceful relationships between leaders and the people in a church. This Sunday we'll discuss peace in church in a general way. What are some of the ways that God builds unity in a congregation? Here is the text:
And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
Haiti: Pastor Mark Driscol recently visited Haiti and shot this video/sermon on his return. Please take the time to watch and learn about the conditions there and if you have not done so already, please contribute to Good Shepherd's collection for Haiti. Just mark your checks with the word "Haiti"


Healing service: There will be a healing service every Wednesday in Lent. The times have not yet been decided so there will be more information coming soon.

Ash Wednesday: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday which is coming up February 17th. On that day there will be services at 7am and 7pm...noon is a possibility as well, but 7am and 7pm are definite. If you are new to Anglicanism, I'll be saying more about Ash Wednesday in a video that is coming up soon.

Christian Ed Spiritual Disciplines: We're in the middle of a discussion on prayer. I was a little muddled last week due to exhaustion, sorry, but I did send out my notes by email for you to look at. If you would like a hard-copy please let me know. This week we'll review and move forward into a discussion of various forms of prayer.

Oh and part of the class we'll have to talk about the settlement so please come.

Men's Breakfast and Bible Study: Friday morning at 6:30am. All men are welcome. We're working through 2nd Samuel and are just about to hit the juicy parts. Cooking this week: Lee Bronson

Beginner's Bible Study: This week we'll move into chapter 5 of John's gospel. Hope to see you there. 6:30pm after the Shepherd's Bowl in the parish hall.

Women's Bible Study will meet as usual at 10am on Saturday

Thank You: To Don and Darrell for making the storage area into a classroom for the older elementary. Excellent work. Thank you to Lee Bronson for fixing the lights in the existing classrooms. And Thank you to everyone who organized and planned and cooked for the International Feast last week. It was a delicious success.

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper: is coming up on, well, Shrove Tuesday...that's Mardi Gras for non-Anglicans. Mark your calendars. The idea is to get good and fat for the lenten fasts. There are flyers in the parish hall that really need to be distributed. So if you are free and would like to help us out, please drop by and pick up a pile.

Palm Branches: Please bring your palms from last Palm Sunday to church next Sunday (February 7th) and next (February 14th). These will be burned at the close of the Shrove Tuesday event in preparation for Ash Wednesday.

Applesauce: After Women's Bible Study and ACW meeting on February 13th, we will be making applesauce for the Shrove Tuesday Supper. Please come with a bag (or two) of apples and plastic containers. All are encouraged to bring applesauce made at home as well.

Youth Update as texted in by Ife:

Senior High : 6-7:30p Super Bowl party

Junior high : 6:30-8:00p

Choir Practice: Tonight at 7pm, don't forget.

Vestry Meeting: This coming Wednesday at 6pm...remember these meetings are open to every member of the church.

I think that's all, if not, please remind me...

In Christ
Matt

Monday, February 1, 2010