This Week's Update

Since I did not get an Update out today, the Thursday Notes will have to do for this week...but there are two additional notes:

For the block party/ice-cream social/health fare, please remember not to park in the parking lot--we've got to keep that clear for ponies, children, and other beasts.

New Member class: Many have been asking about how to become a member of Good Shepherd. I'll be putting together a packet and a class in the next week or so. So stay tuned for information on that. The membership regulations in the Episcopal Church are very low...something like "Are you breathing and are you in the pew?" Yes. "You are a member of our church". We hope to do a little better than that now that God has given us this new start.

That's all...see you tomorrow.

Thursday Notes

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good Afternoon...hope all is going well for you. I am exhausted, have a whole new level of respect for single moms and dads, and I am very ready for Anne and the girls to get back. Good news is that it looks like, since Joyce is doing so well, they are going to be able to come back early...7:45am next Wednesday morning to be exact. I've said it before, but I am so thankful to everyone who has helped me get by these last two weeks: dinners, baby-sitting, patience with less than well organized daily planning on my part...etc...thank you.

Block Party/Ice-Cream Social/Health Fair...It's coming up this Saturday. Festivities start at 11am but I was asked to encourage everyone to show up as early. There will be a prayer meeting at 9:30am to start things off on the right foot. By now I suspect everyone has a task and knows what to do but above all--and this is really important--let's be warm and hospitable to our guests. For most who come, this event will be the first time to meet you and the first impression of Good Shepherd. Good Shepherd has a reputation for being a friendly and welcoming church so let's live up to that and put on Christ before we do anything else.

Thursday Night Bible Study: There won't be any Thursday night bible study tonight because Anne is still gone and the logistics for baby-sitting have not worked out. Next week, when she is back, the Thursday night study will pick back up.

Reaffirmation of Vows: There will be a special celebration this Sunday as Curt and Chris Osgood reaffirm their vows during the 10:30am service. Please come to celebrate the day with them. The sermon will be about marriage and

Friday Men's Breakfast and Bible Study: Darrell and Bob are cooking. Study and breakfast begin at 6:30am every Friday. We're in 1st Samuel 10. All men invited

Women's Bible Study: There will be no women's bible study tomorrow because of the Block Party but it will return the following Saturday.

Systematic Theology: There will be no Systematic Theology this weekend either since everyone will most likely be exhausted from the block party and cleaning up afterwards. We'll pick back up next week with a continuation of our discussion of the Communicable attributes of God and bridge into a discussion of the Trinity and creation

Sermon and Class podcasts: Here is a podcast of last Sunday's sermon on being "Born Again" and what that means. If you've not listened to it yet, please do because it will be the first in a series of sermons on John 3 and this first sermon lays some important groundwork. This Sunday's sermon will be on the topic of marriage--what it is and how it is supposed to work--but next Sunday we'll pick the series back up. Here also is the class podcast from last Saturday's Systematic Theology. I only made it half-way through before the battery ran out but I managed to get some good stuff recorded.

John Piper: If you've not already, please take the time to listen and watch this great lecture series by John Piper on the veracity and reliability of scripture. The first two lectures are linked above.

Photos: If you are from out of town but read Good Shepherd's website, you might be interested these pictures of our new location. Thanks be to God for his grace and power in providing us with this new beginning.

Christian Education: We'll be starting a brand new series this Sunday for Christian education called: Anglican Worship and the Sacraments. If you are new to Good Shepherd and new to Anglican worship, this class will be designed to help you understand not only what Anglicans believe about worship and the sacraments but also why we do the strange things that we do during the Sunday morning Service. We'll start out Sunday with a discussion of Baptism. If you are curious and want to read ahead, you might check out what the 39 Articles say about Baptism and the baptismal service in the Book of Common Prayer.

Don't forget the Chicken BBQ on the twentieth...

That's all for today...

Truth, Reliability, and your Comprehension of the Bible

I copied this list directly from Mark Driscoll's facebook page, but it is an excellent list--too good not to pass on. If you are looking to increase your understanding of and trust in the bible, this list of resources is the place to start:

The Canon and Manuscripts

• Bruce, F.F. The Canon of Scripture
• Connolly, W. Kenneth. The Indestructible Book
• Bruce, F.F. The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?
• Ridderbos, Herman. The Authority of the New Testament Scriptures
• Blomberg, Craig L. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
• Metzger, Bruce M. and Bart D. Ehrman. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (see footnote)
  

Bible Translations

• Connolly, Kenneth W. The Indestructible Book
• Ryken, Leland. The Word of God in English
• Ryken, Leland. Choosing a Bible: Understanding Bible Translation Difference
• Metzger, Bruce M. Bible in Translation, The: Ancient and English Versions
• Sailhamer, John H. How We Got the Bible
• Geisler, Norman and William E. Nix. General Introduction to the Bible

The Divine Inspiration of Scripture

• Packer, J.I. God Has Spoken: Revelation and the Bible
• Geisler, Norman. Inerrancy
• Wenham, John. Christ and the Bible

Biblical and Theological Jargon

• DeMoss, Matthew S. and J. Edward Miller. Zondervan Dictionary of Bible and Theology Words
• Miethe, Terry L. The Compact Dictionary of Doctrinal Words

*This is one of the few books by Bart Ehrman that I could recommend. He has since renounced his orthodox Christian faith.

Pictures of Good Shepherd Anglican

People who do not live in Binghamton have been asking for pictures of the church grounds. Since Anne took the camera with her to Africa, the most recent photos I can find are from a family picnic we had about three weeks ago in the nice field in front of the storage building across from the church building and rectory. They're not great and don't do the beauty of the place justice, but you can get a good idea of how the grounds are laid out.















This is a side view of the church building from the picnic field across our parking-lot
















panning left you can see Emma in the purple pok-a-dot dress on the left and the rectory with a nice two car garage on the right
















still panning left, the sidewalk leading to the school building is in view behind the kids. You can see the metal railing.
















Still panning left, this is the back of the school building...not as nice as the front and sides which have a lot of windows...but you get a sense of how the property lays out. If you keep panning left you get to see the storage building which is directly opposite of the church building across the parking lot.















Here's Rowan standing to the left of the storage building holding his purple ball.

Finally,



















Here is Gwendolyn sitting on the sidewalk that leads directly from my back door to the church building...how cool is that.

When Anne gets back we'll take more pictures

For those of you who don't like incense...

...be thankful you go to Good Shepherd

John Piper: Why We Believe the Bible Part 2

Sermon: Who is Born Again? Part 1

sermon by Matt Kennedy

text: John 3:1-3

Monday, June 8, 2009

Download "Sermon: Who is Born Again? Part 1" in MP3 format

John Piper: Why We Believe the Bible Part 1

Some Housekeeping and a Podcast

What a great picnic yesterday. I thought I was going to escape being water-ballooned...but no. And I was standing on a grassy knoll too. Thanks Amanda.

I am going to re-record the sermon from Sunday because the thing wasn't working at 8am. I will also be re-recording a few Systematic theology discussions since I had the same problem for two weeks running.

I did manage to get the first thirty minutes of Saturday's Systematic Theology class recorded before I ran out of space (usually remember to make space on my ipod prior to class...I forgot this time). Here it is:

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Download "Systematic Theology (class 5): Incommunicable and Commuicable attributes" in MP3 format

Systematic Theology: Incommunicable and Communicable attributes of God

Systematic Theology today at 3:30pm at the church...I'll remember to record it this time.

Hope to see you there.

Thursday Notes

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good Morning. Thank you to everyone who came out to the Thanksgiving service last night. God has blessed us abundantly this year. We'll talk more about that this Sunday

Parish Picnic This Sunday: The annual Good Shepherd Picnic is on Sunday June 7th--that's this-- at Cole Park at shelter #1. If you can't follow that link or need help getting there, I will be leaving the church at 10:30am and you are welcome to follow me.

The worship service will start at 11:00am at the park and then we'll start up the grills. There is a baseball diamond and a playground and usually water balloon fights out there so there will be lots for kids to do--be sure they wear something that can get wet.

Please bring guests. This is a great opportunity to invite people to church who wouldn't go on a regular Sunday.

For those who cannot go to the picnic but don't want to miss church, there will be an 8:00am service at the church and Adult Christian ed afterwards.

Joyce Carlson: Thank you for your prayers for Joyce. She is out of the hospital and doing very well. Anne has just this morning written an update on her blog. They expect to come back to the US later this month. Please continue to pray for her full recovery

Thank you: To everyone who has stepped forward to help the boys and me while Anne and the girls are taking care of Joyce. Babysitting, warm dinners, invitations to dinner, calls, help around the house...all of these mean a great deal to us. Thank you.

Systematic Theology: We'll continue our discussion of the "Incommunicable attributes" of God and move into the communicable attributes. I intended to record the last two discussions but for some reason my italk recorder was not working. It worked this Sunday however so I'll be podcasting the next session since I know several regulars will be away.

Men's Breakfast and Bible Study will meet this Friday at 6:30am. We're studying 1st Samuel. All men are welcome. Charles and Ray are cooking

Beginners Bible Study (Thursday nights) not meeting for Three Weeks: I really regret this but with Anne gone for the next few weeks I don't think I'll be able to lead this bible study. If it were held at Good Shepherd I could do it, but the logistics of getting two boys taken care of on Thursday evenings while I go to Conklin Ave. Baptist are just not working out. So the Beginners Bible Study is on a 3 week hiatus until Anne returns and then we'll start it up again.

Acolytes: I've talked to most everybody and it seems that Sunday afternoons are better for everyone...including me.

I had moved practice to this Saturday but since we are moving to Sundays and this coming Sunday is the picnic, I am going to move the next practice to Sunday June 28th. Thereafter practices will be on the 4th Sunday of every month. I have changed the calendar accordingly for the rest of the year.

Volunteers needed this Saturday: We need help this Saturday to distribute flyers for the June 13th block party People will gather at the church at 10:00am

For new acolytes and/or prospective acolytes and their parents, I would like to have a short meeting with you on Sunday the 14th of June after the service, just to pass on information about acolytes and answer questions you may have.

Christian Education: Christ and Culture--Islam: This Sunday we'll finish up our Christ and Culture series and our discussion of Islam--discussing strategies for evangelism among Muslims.

The Next Christian Education series will be a discussion of the Sacraments: Baptism and Communion. What are they, what does the bible say about them, how do Anglicans understand them. We'll also talk a little bit about the way Anglicans worship and the reasons we do what we do. There are a number of people who are interested in Anglicanism and have been asking questions about this topic and I also think that its good for some of us long-time Anglicans to refresh our memory.

Podcast Sermon: Last week's podcast sermon for Pentecost is availible here.

Youth Group Update from Micah:

The youth group will be meeting at regular times this Sunday: Senior High, 6-8; Junior High, 1-3. I will be trying to hand out a schedule for the next few months of Summer. Parents, please remember to let me know when you're going on vacation if you know. It's important that I have this information while forming the schedule. We are going to be doing all kinds of fun things like B-Met's games, cookouts, and if we can coordinate well, I'd like to take the kids to an amusement park. Youth, these are a great time to bring friends to youth group.

Youth Tip: Kids aren't your personal slaves, nor are you theirs. It's easy to dump stuff you don't want to do on the nearest warm body, especially if they are younger and have to listen to you! It is the tendency sometimes of parents to give their kids lots of little tasks that they don't want to do, rather than give them actual responsibilities. Responsibility requires trust. Turning your kid into a gopher does not. The other side of this is not always being the gopher or slave for your kids. Don't clean up after them, make sure they clean up after themselves (future roommates will thank you!). Again, the key here is giving responsibility. As your child grows older, give them real responsibilities. And make sure that when they do not fulfill them, there are real consequences! Your ultimate goal is to make it so that when your kid reaches 18, they are able to go out and hold down real jobs, or go to school and not spin out of control.

Calendar: Remember to check the parish calendar every week for Duty Roster and ministry schedule updates as well as daily happenings.

What is the Gospel?

a brief article by DA Carson

...The Bible can exhort those who trust the living God to be concerned with issues of social justice (Isa 2; Amos); it can tell new covenant believers to do good to all human beings, especially to those of the household of faith (Gal 6); it exhorts us to remember the poor and to ask, not “Who is my neighbor?” but “Whom am I serving as neighbor?” We may even argue that some such list of moral commitments is a necessary consequence of the gospel. But it is not the gospel. We may preach through the list, reminding people that the Bible is concerned to tell us not only what to believe but how to live. But we may not preach through that list and claim it encapsulates the gospel. The gospel is what God has done, supremely in Christ, and especially focused on his cross and resurrection.

Failure to distinguish between the gospel and all the effects of the gospel tends, on the long haul, to replace the good news as to what God has done with a moralism that is finally without the power and the glory of Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended, and reigning...more