Dear
Good Shepherd,
Good
Morning. I hope all is well for you. Things are getting
to be very busy around the church now as they usually do
around this time of the year. I've sent out two weekly articles
this week. The first, below, I actually wrote last year
to explain Advent to non-Anglicans. The second, on the benefits
and blessings that come from dedicating your time to the
Lord will be published on the website and sent via email.
The
two biggest items of news below are the walkabout (for which
I desperately need volunteers) and the Baptism of Rita DeGroat
and Rowan Kennedy. See details about both of these things
below.
WEEKLY
ARTICLE
Advent
for Non-Anglicans
Weekly
Article 11/25/05
by
the Rev. Matt Kennedy
Church
of the Good Shepherd
For
those of you new to the Anglican tradition, or at least,
new to Good Shepherd, you'll notice two big changes these
next few Sundays: 1. I'll be wearing blue instead of green
and. 2. The altar will have been moved back to face the
wall. Both changes are related to Advent.
The blue reminds us of the dawn. Jesus' birth marked a new
day in the history of God's creation. God was acting to
save a fallen world and his fallen people. As believers
prepare themselves to celebrate the birth of Christ we do
so in the blue light of the coming dawn.
But Advent is not only a time of anticipatory joy, it is
also a time for self examination, repentance, and humility.
The altar is moved back to the wall so that the entire church,
pastors, leaders, and people, might humble ourselves before
God and recognize that the Lord alone is God and we all
bow before him. When the altar is out from the wall, sometimes
the pastor, standing behind it, can become the center of
attention and focus. That should not be. Moving the altar
back for a season, gives us the opportunity to refocus our
hearts on the Lord.
Moreover, if you read through the service carefully, you'll
notice that it places far more emphasis upon both the holiness
and majesty of God and the atoning death of Christ for the
sins of the world than does the Rite II service. It is,
therefore, most appropriate for Advent and Lent, the two
seasons of preparation and repentance.
Since Advent is the church season set aside to prepare and
anticipate the coming of the Lord, many of the readings
will take us back to the time before Jesus' birth when the
prophets, the last being John the Baptist, predicted the
coming of the Messiah to rescue and redeem God's people.
Others will remind us that we, here and now, should be living
lives of preparation because Jesus is coming again to establish
his Kingdom over all the earth. We should be ready to meet
him at any time.
How do we get ready?
If you look back at the ministry of John the Baptist you
will see that his message was pretty simple. The Lord is
coming so the people of God must… “Repent, for the kingdom
of God is at hand!” That, in short, is a great summary of
the purpose of Advent. “Repent and prepare“.
If you were to meet Jesus today, would you be ready? Would
your life please him? Would he look at you and say, “Well
done good and faithful servant”?
The best way to be ready, the only way in fact, is to invite
Jesus into your heart. If you have not done that, do
it now , today, so that you can begin living a new life
with Jesus today and when he returns you will continue living
with him forever.
If you have already invited Jesus into your life, this is
a great time to examine yourself in the light of God's Word
to see whether you have been living faithfully as his disciple.
Perhaps there are some things God is calling you to let
go of? Perhaps there is something God is calling you to
do? Spend some time in your daily prayers asking God to
show you what you can do to prepare for his coming.
Matt+
UPDATE
CONTENT
NEWS
EVANGELISM
WALKABOUT THIS SATURDAY
WE
ARE IN NEED OF VOLUNTEERS
BAPTISM
BY IMMERSION
A
SPECIAL GUEST EXPECTED THIS SUNDAY
CHRISTMAS
PAGEANT PRACTICE
WOMEN'S
BIBLE STUDY
STEWARDSHIP
PLEDGE CARDS
ADULT
EDUCATION SERIES: HEROES OF THE BIBLE
GREAT
QUOTE
NOT QUITE “ NEW ” NEWS
CHRISTMAS
FLOWERS
A
NOTE ABOUT SUNDAY SCHOOL
BIBLE
STUDY FELLOWSHIP
SHARING
BIBLES
NEWS:
EVANGELISM
WALKABOUT : THIS SATURDAY. For
those who are new to Good Shepherd, here's how it works.
First a team of volunteers makes bread in the church oven.
Then another team places the bread in small paper bags along
with some information about the church, a bible verse (“I
am the bread of life”) and a brochure with the gospel message.
Then all the volunteers split up into as many delivery teams
as we can (at least two per team) and fan out through the
neighborhood knocking on doors and handing out the bags.
This makes it very easy to be an evangelist. All you have
to do is smile and give away free homemade bread. Last time
we delivered bread to about 400 homes.
This
year we plan to deliver 300 loaves.
WE
ARE IN NEED OF VOLUNTEERS of volunteers for this.
You can volunteer for one of three aspects of this project
or, if you like, all three:
•
baking: If you volunteer to bake, you'll commit
to be there by 7:00pm to get loaves out of the oven in time
to start bagging by about 10:00am
•
Bagging: If you volunteer to bag, you will
help put the loaves into the bags we choose along with a
brief letter explaining the gospel of Jesus Christ and a
card with service times and contact information. The bags
will hopefully be filled by noon .
•
Delivery: If you volunteer to deliver,
you will be assigned a geographical area, usually a few
blocks or so, near the church and provided with a few box-fulls
of bread-bags. Then, You'll go door to door, wishing people
merry Christmas from the Church of the Good Shepherd and
handing them the bags. That's all you have to do.Sometimes
people will want to talk. Sometimes they won't. Either way
is fine. If no one answers the door, just leave the bag
on their doorstep.
Every
time we've done a walkabout we've reaped great spiritual
rewards. I believe that the Lord has blessed our efforts
to proclaim his gospel both by bringing more people to faith
in Jesus Christ and deepening our own relationship with
him. That is what happens when a church trusts God and follows
his call to spread the gospel. God has blessed us and so
long as we remain willing to follow his guidance, I believe
he will continue to do so.
So
let's continue reaching out to the lost in Binghamton in
keeping with the Great Commission:
Then
Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven
and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
a
the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age
(Matthew 28:18-20)
BAPTISM
BY IMMERSION: There will be two baptisms
this Sunday. Rita DeGroat (5 years old) who has been coming
to Good Shepherd with her dad, Ken Degroat, for the last
four months has asked to be baptized by immersion. That
means we will fully submerge her in blessed water. The first
part of the 10:30am service will be held in the parish hall
and will include both Rita's baptism by immersion and Rowan
Kennedy's Baptism done in the normal way. It should be an
exciting day at Good Shepherd, I hope you will join us and
invite your friends.
A
SPECIAL VISITOR IS EXPECTED THIS SUNDAY:
This Sunday we'll celebrate the feast day of St. Nicholas
and as you know, sometimes a special guest pays us a semi-unexpected
visit. If you have kids in elementary school or younger
be sure to bring them.
CHRISTMAS
PAGEANT PRACTICE: Please
remember to stay after church this Sunday for practice after
the 10:30am service ends. This Sunday's practice is a very
important one. Costumes are being fitted, etc, but it will
still only take about 10 to 15 minutes.
WOMEN'S
BIBLE STUDY : Because of the Evangelism Walkabout,
the Women's Bible Study will not meet this week. They will
resume in the book of Esther at the regular time next week.
STEWARDSHIP:
You should be receiving pledge cards in the mail
soon if you have not received them already. At Good Shepherd,
those in leadership do their best to use your pledges and
gifts in a godly, faithful and generous way to support the
poor, further the Gospel, and maintain the gifts God has
given us. This is the work of the Body of Christ and all
believers are called to pitch in. I encourage everyone to
commit to the ten percent tithe in your pledge this year.
But don't take my word for it. Here's what the prophet Malachi
says:
10
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may
be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD
Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates
of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not
have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring
your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their
fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the
nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful
land," says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 3:10-12)
ADULT
EDUCATION SERIES: HEROES
OF THE BIBLE : This
Week we'll finish our discussion of Abraham focusing on
the greatest test of faith found in all of the Old Testament,
the near-sacrifice of his beloved son Isaac. This was a
very hard and difficult thing, but, as we'll see, God provided
for Abraham and for Isaac in a miraculous way. After we
finish the story of Abraham, we'll move forward to discuss
some of the more famous leaders of Israel , beginning with
Samson.
GREAT
QUOTE: from CS
Lewis:
If
you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if
you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or
truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and
in the end, despair.
NOT QUITE " NEW " NEWS
CHRISTMAS
FLOWERS: If
you wish to have memorial or thanksgiving flowers for Christmas
this year, you will find a form in this newsletter for the
Christmas flowers to be placed on the altar. Please fill
it out and return it to the church by December 17th so that
your loved ones can be included. Please use full names and
not “Mr. or Mrs.” Sign your name to the form so that, if
there are any questions, we can contact you. This is a good
time to remember those who have passed away and to let our
living friends and family know how much we love them.
A
NOTE ABOUT SUNDAY SCHOOL: Thank you to everyone
for keeping Sunday School attendance up. You simply cannot
underestimate the importance of bringing your kids to Christian
education Sunday morning. The best way to ensure that your
kids know Christ and are not led astray in the future is
to insure that they are exposed to and hear the gospel regularly
and know the bible. Knowing Jesus is so much better than
anything else the world has to offer. But how can they know
him, if you don't speak about your own faith and regularly
put them under good biblical teaching? It is vital, so much
more vital in fact than any sport or educational activity.
While those may benefit your son or daughter for a time,
Christ and his Word are eternal.
BIBLE
FELLOWSHIP: If you are a man and having trouble
getting up at 6:30am for the men's bible study and breakfast,
there is another men's bible study that meets every Saturday.
This study is led by Bill Lane and meets between 4 and 6
pm . If you are interested can call Bill on his cell phone:
237-9232
HAVE YOU…. shared your faith with a friend? The vestry has
challenged all of us to share our faith in Jesus Christ
with at least one non-believer each month.
Good News for the Week
"Now fear the LORD and
serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your
forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt , and
serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable
to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will
serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the
River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are
living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the
LORD." (Joshua 24:14-15)
a
Don't forget to....BRING A FRIEND TO CHURCH!
Daily Schedule for the week of Sunday December 10th,
2006
(Bible Study/Christian Education Opportunities in red
)
Monday:
Pastor's day off
Tuesday
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
9:00
a.m. Tuesday Morning Bible Study
6:30
p.m. First Light Bible Study
8:00 p.m. Choir Practice
Wednesday
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
Thursday
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
5:30 p.m. Shepherd's Bowl
6:30
p.m. New Beginners Bible Study
Friday
6:30
a.m. Men's Breakfast/Bible Study
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
Pastor's sermon prep day
Saturday :
10:00am
Women's Bible Study
Sunday December
17th, 2006: Praise and Worship the Lord
8:00am Holy Communion II and Sermon
9:
15-10:15 a.m. Christian Education for all Ages
10:30 am Holy Communion II, Music and Sermon
God bless you all
In
Christ,
Matt+
