What’s Happening at Good Shepherd
What is Lent? Have you been wondering what Lent and the Lenten Season is all about? Here’s a video where Matt gives a short explanation.
Food Distribution The next Broome County Mobile Food Pantry food distribution will be Wednesday, February 28th, from 10-11am. All are welcome, please bring containers to take away any goods that you receive.
CANA East Synod Our diocese, CANA East has asked Good Shepherd to host the annual Synod meeting again this year. It’s an honor that Good Shepherd has been chosen to host this event again, and we are looking forward to it! On May 3rd-5th, close to 300 clergy and lay people from around the country will come together to decide church business, and to worship and fellowship together. This year’s theme is: The Divine Allurement of God – Archbishop Cranmer’s Missional and Pastoral Principles for the 21st Century.
The Rev. Canon Dr. Ashley Null, our guest speaker, is one of the foremost experts on Thomas Cranmer. He travels widely throughout the Anglican Communion, teaching regularly on the godly, biblical heritage of Anglicanism in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Australia.
Many things will need to be done to prepare for this event, and many hands will be needed. In the coming weeks, you’ll be hearing about opportunities to serve by painting, cleaning, reorganizing, decorating, and even helping with some construction work! Please consider coming in to help beautify Good Shepherd as we prepare to host this exciting event.
There will also be a great need for volunteers during the event. If you are able to come and volunteer for part of the event, please let Stephanie in the office know by email or a phone call. We’ll be looking for volunteers to help with serving meals, cleaning, keeping refreshment areas well stocked, running small errands, child care, parking co-ordination, and ushers. If you’d like to attend the event, you can register at the CANA East website. The cost is $100 if you register before March 1, and $135 after March 2 for the full event. If you’d like to attend for free, then please contact Stephanie to sign up as a volunteer.
Good Shepherd Coffee Hour There’s been a trend as of late for people to spend time visiting in the sanctuary after the 10:30 service. It’s wonderful to see that so many relationships have formed, and that Good Shepherd’s parishioners love spending time together. However, this is problematic for two reasons. Firstly, there are often events scheduled to happen in the sanctuary immediately following the 10:30 service. It is difficult to have these events in an orderly manner when there is noise and commotion happening in the room. Secondly, (and more importantly) when visitors come to Good Shepherd, they are encouraged to go downstairs and get to know people. If a visitor goes downstairs and finds a mostly empty hall, they don’t get to know many people and can go away feeling unwelcome. For both of these reasons, please do go downstairs and have a nice lunch, or a cup of coffee and spend some time visiting and building the community of Good Shepherd.
Scheduling Reminder If you need to make an appointment with Pastor Matt, please be sure to contact Stephanie directly at gs.binghamton@gmail.com.
Often when people come to speak with Matt after the service on Sunday, he’s already been working for over nine hours, and doesn’t always remember to put it into the calendar. This can cause double bookings or forgotten appointments. Please keep in mind that the office is closed on Mondays and Fridays, but you can always leave a message. Thank you so much for your understanding.
Life Choices The baby bottles are here for donations for Life Choices! Last year we raised $653.61 with our loose change and donations for services such as pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, parent education (smart choices), relationship mentoring, baby store visits, emergency aid, and more. Life Choices helps teens and college students facing unplanned pregnancies before, during and after. Please take a bottle home and put your loose change in it and return it to the church (empty or full) by Feb 25. Any questions can be directed to Christine Osgood.
An Offer of Prayer The prayer team prays for the needs of the church on a weekly basis. If you have a specific request (Praise or intercession) please fill out a card and place it in the “prayer box” by the bulletin boards in the parish hall. All prayers are kept confidential.
Ongoing Ministries
Good Shepherd Youth Group Each Sunday evening, the youth of Good Shepherd meet for fellowship and worship. Any young person between the ages of 12 and 18 are welcome to attend. Led by Good Shepherd member Tyler VanFossen. For more information, contact the Good Shepherd office at (607)723-8032.
If you’d like to know how to help or be involved, please contact Tyler VanFossen.
Bread and Wine If you are interested in joining a group of ladies for a monthly supper and discussion, please contact Liz Hull. The group is currently reading a book called Money, Possessions and Eternity, by Randy Alcorn. The next meeting will be on February 17th at the Hull home.
Health and Wellness Our bodies are “the tents” that the Lord has given us to house our souls. Begin to take care of the body which God Has given you. Check your blood pressure, blood sugar, and weight every Sunday in the Parish Hall 9-10AM. Please see Dolly Shaller or Carmen Swoffer-Penna for more details.
Last Week
Last Week’s Sermon was called ‘Our God is a Consuming Fire’. It was based on Hebrews 12:25-29 It can be listened to or downloaded here.
Tuesday Morning Bible Study This Tuesday morning, we continued our study in Exodus 32 and learned about Aaron and the account of the golden calf. You can view the class here or in the window below.
Posted by Matt Kennedy on Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Preventing Grace Podcast Did you know that Matt and Anne have a podcast? They talk about everything from church polity to rustic breads. In this week’s episode, ‘God’s Preferred Pronouns’, Matt and Anne Kennedy discuss the loss of reading and actual books, the ethics of the sci-fi fantasy of extending life indefinitely through advanced biotechnology, lament the pornification of otherwise interesting films, respond to the Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s resolution on gendered pronouns for God, and talk about making children clean things.
You can catch up on all of the older podcast episodes here.
This Week
This Week in Christian Ed This Sunday we will begin the first session of our brand new series on the Great Councils of the church. What God reveals in scripture is clear and true. But from the very beginning, some who profess to be Christian have sought to obscure, confuse, and contradict what the Bible reveals. In response, the church has risen up to articulate biblical doctrine with clarity and refute false teaching with stubborn conviction. The story of the Councils is a story of betrayal and courage, of eternal verities challenged and defended, of God’s truth assailed, even defeated, and yet, by God’s providence, proving victorious. We will begin this Sunday with the first council, the Council of Jerusalem. The question: What is required for Gentiles (non-ethnic Jews) to be justified before God? The minutes of this council were recorded for us in Acts 15. Please take the time to read it before class. Hope to see you there.
This Sunday’s Sermon will be based on Hebrews 13: 1-6.
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
Team Philippians is working on the altar this Sunday.
The readings for this week are Genesis 22:1-14 and Hebrews 13:1-6 .
Mary S. will be serving on the altar guild this Sunday.
Shepherd’s Bowl Team 1 is serving this week with the Swoffer-Penna team (3/1).
To download a PDF of the 10:30 service bulletin, click on this link.
Have an item for the Update or an Announcement?
Email the secretary at:
gs.binghamton@gmail.com
by Monday night.