Dear
Good Shepherd,
Good Morning. There is a lot to tell you about today. I've
collected and collated all of the volunteer sign up sheets
from Mission Sunday. I am very pleased that so many people
have volunteered to serve Christ at Good Shepherd. Below
you will find a number of practice and training schedules
for various ministries. If you signed up for one of them
please note the training date. Anne will also be calling
to remind you.
WEEKLY
ARTICLE:
Pain
and Purpose
Betsy
Childs
Imagine
walking into a room to find an infant wailing as if her
life depended on it. An adult, piercing the infant's skin
with a sharp object, is causing the distress. Any compassionate
person would attempt to intervene and rescue the child,
wouldn't he? But let's add a few more details into this
scenario. What if the woman wounding the infant is a doctor
and her instrument is a syringe? What if she tells you that
this child must be immunized, or later she could contract
a serious illness?
Sometimes
something that seems terribly cruel or senseless has a good
purpose. That purpose is not always as readily apparent
as in this scenario. Although someone familiar with preventative
medicine may see the purpose in causing pain to a helpless
child, the child itself cannot understand why she is in
pain.
There
are times in life when we are like this infant. We cannot
imagine why God--the one who is supposed to love us--doesn't
step in and stop our pain. Assurances from others that God
knows best are about as useless as a mother's soothing assurances,
drowned out by the infant's cries. "If you love me,
why don't you take away this pain?" ask the child's
cries.
Philosophers
and theologians have wrestled for ages with the questions
that arise from pain and suffering. It is tempting to think
that if we had more knowledge, we could resolve the Problem
of Pain. If we only knew why God allows what seems to be
senseless suffering to exist, it would cease to trouble
us. But even if the doctor explained the biology of vaccinations
to the infant, her mind could never understand it; neither
can we, with our finite minds, grasp the divine purposes
of God, even if He were to draw back the curtain of his
will.
Yet
there is reason to hope. As a child grows, he learns to
trust his parents long before he learns how inoculations
work. A shot might hurt a six year old boy just as much
as it hurt his infant sister, but he clenches his teeth
in determination to be a big boy. Although he may fear the
pain, he doesn't fear that his mother has turned on him
by allowing this doctor to hurt him. Why? He has come to
trust her. She has told him that this shot will hurt, but
it is for his good.
If
your "why" questions seem to fall on deaf ears,
try asking some "who" questions. Who is God? What
do you know about his character? Do you know Him? Are you
willing to trust Him in your pain until He reveals his purpose?
This
is the kind of trust that Jesus demonstrated for us in the
Garden
of Gethsemane. He prayed to his Father, "Let this cup
pass from me, yet not my will but yours be done." We
are assured in God's word that "this slight momentary
affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 4:17). This is
not something that we can prove to ourselves. We are given
the choice to trust God. Suffering is inevitable. If we
choose to trust God in our pain, we have nothing to lose
and everything to gain.
Betsy
Childs is associate writer at Ravi Zacharias International
Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
Here's the news:
UPDATE
CONTENT
"NEW"
NEWS
FAMILY AND FRIENDS SUNDAY REPORT
NEW
BEGINNERS NEWS
CHICKEN
BBQ AND RUMMAGE SALE
THE NEXT ACOLYTE PRACTICE
EUCHARISTIC
MINISTERS (EMs)
EUCHARISTIC
MINISTERS TO THE ILL AND INFIRM (EMII)
READERS
USHERS/GREETERS/YOUTH
GREETERS
IF YOU SIGNED UP
THE WORLD THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL
NOT
QUITE “NEW” NEWS
FAMILY
ISSUES
THE BIBLE ON CD
STEWARDSHIP
"NEW"
NEWS:
FAMILY
AND FRIENDS SUNDAY
REPORT:
It was great to sit down and eat with my church family for
Family and Friends Sunday. BUT,
there were more guests the Sunday prior to Family and Friends
Sunday than there were on Family and Friends Sunday!
I love you all. You are wonderful people. Jesus loves you.
But he wants more of you! There are lost people
out there who do not know Jesus Christ. All believers are
called to share their faith. Inviting someone to church
is the easiest form of evangelism. C'mon guys, you can do
a lot better than that!
NEW
BEGINNERS NEWS:
As you know I've been trying to nail down a firm sense of
who will be taking the New Beginners Bible Study course
this fall. Of the 8 people who graduated last year: 5 have
decided to move on to the First Light course on Tuesday
(which will make that class very big). 1 cannot make either
Tuesday or Thursday due to a new fall schedule and 2 want
to retake the course. Two people are probably not enough
to warrant a new class just yet. We need at least six committed
members.
It
is my fault. I did not anticipate so many being ready to
move over into the First Light course, so I assumed we would
still have a good base for Thursday nights. Unfortunately,
I miscalculated.
So
this is what I have decided to do. The New Beginner's will
have a New target start date: Thursday, the 2nd
of November: same time, same place. Between now and then
I will be distributing flyers on Thursday Nights and in
your Sunday bulletins to see if we can draw a
committed base of people who want to learn how to study
the bible.
Sorry
for the confusion. I was wondering what happened to all
my New Beginners, but when I sat down and worked it out,
well, most of them have just graduated and moved
on to other bible studies which, ironically, is the very
purpose of the course!
THE
RUMMAGE SALE AND CHICKEN BBQ:
will be held THIS coming Saturday September 30th. If you've
signed up, please be there to help!
THE NEXT ACOLYTE PRACTICE: Will be Saturday October
14th. I'm telling you ahead of time so that you can put
it on your calendars. Thank you to Jesse Vail and Jake Dean
who helped lead the last practice and thank you to all of
our acolytes, new and experienced.
EUCHARISTIC
MINISTERS (EMs):
If you are an EM at the 10:30am service or have signed up
to be one, please come to the acolyte practice on October
14 th . There seems to be some confusion in the liturgy
between the EMs and the acolytes and we'd like to get this
sorted out.
EUCHARISTIC
MINISTERS TO THE ILL AND INFIRM:
I will be contacting you individually for a training session
this coming month.
READERS:
IF you are
a reader or have signed up to be a reader, there will be
a training session on Saturday October 28 th at 11:00am
USHER'S/GREETERS/YOUTH
GREETERS:
There will be a training meeting after the 10:30am service
on Sunday October 29 th .
I F YOU SIGNED UP: To take part in a ministry
of some sort at the Missions Fair but have forgotten what
you signed up for, don't worry. We know who you are J .
We'll call to remind you.
ADULT
EDUCATION SERIES: THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL: Facing
Temptation in a Fallen World will continue this Sunday:
Last Sunday we continue to talk about contemporary non-Christian
worldviews. We discussed Naturalism: the idea that all events
must be explained by natural causes and we started to discuss
post-modernism. Post-modern thought was born of the Naturalist
denial of the human ability to know anything with certainty
beyond what can be observed in the physical universe. This
denial undercuts the Christian claim that there are moral
absolutes that are based on the universal law of God. For
a postmodernist, since we cannot know anything beyond the
physical realm, we cannot know ultimately whether there
is an absolute right or wrong. Thus, for a post-modern thinker,
each individual must discover his own understanding of truth.
Truth, for the postmodernist, depends on the self.
This
is a far cry from the Christian claim that God has revealed
the Truth in his Word Jesus Christ and in his written word,
the bible.
This
coming Sunday we will begin the work of contrasting the
Christian worldview with these and discuss how best to live
as “salt and light” in a post-modern, post-Christian world.
We are investigating all of these issues through the lens
of Charles Coleson's book, “ How
Now Shall We Live? ” which I highly recommend.
NOT
QUITE "NEW" NEWS
FAMILY
ISSUES: IF you are having some family or marriage
issues, Christianity Today has a great resource
page with links to lots of articles addressing every
aspect of family life. Another great resource is Dr. James
Dobson's Focus on the Family
website . Take some time this week to check them out.
THE
BIBLE ON CD: Some have asked where they might be
able to order the New International Version of the Bible
on audio CD. If you click
on this link , you will be able to order it directly
online.
STEWARDSHIP:
It's getting to be that time of the year again. If you are
a member of the parish we'll be sending our pledge cards.
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 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:
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. I will prevent pests
from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields
will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty.
"Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours
will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
(Malachi 3:10-12)
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
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of
the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should
please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even
Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: "The
insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."
For everything that was written in the past was written
to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement
of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:1-4)
Don't forget to....BRING A FRIEND TO CHURCH!
Daily Schedule for the week of Sunday September
29th, 2006
Monday:
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
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 STARTING
NOVEMBER 2nd
Friday
6:30 a.m. Men's Breakfast/Bible Study
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
Pastor's sermon prep day
Saturday:
10:00 a.m. Women's Bible Study
Sunday October
8th, 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,
