What’s Happening at Good Shepherd This Week
Bible Study Schedule for April 11-24 All bible studies will be cancelled for the next two weeks as the staff and congregation observe Holy Week and Easter. All studies will resume on Tuesday, April 26.
Kennedy Easter Rest The Kennedy family will be taking a much needed break during the week after Easter. Please allow them this time to recuperate. If you have an emergency, please contact Jonathan Groves, Micah Lovell, or the Good Shepherd office.
Streaming During Holy Week Because of the heavy workload for all the staff during Holy Week we’ve made the difficult decision not to livestream the services since it involves a great deal of time and labor. Please join us in person as we observe the Passion of Jesus–his crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection.
Concert of Hope Find the hope and comfort that music can bring in this concert featuring sacred classics, spirituals and Scripture-based anthems, plus instrumental solos and congregational hymn singing. The concert is presented by Brio Vocal Ensemble and Friends and takes place Sunday, May 1, at 3 p.m. at Endwell United Methodist Church, 3301 Watson Blvd., Endwell.
2019 BCP Last year Good Shepherd was gifted the money to purchase new copies of the 2019 Book of Common Prayer for the sanctuary. You’ll notice that each pew will have at least one copy of the BCP, and that some services may revert to a simpler bulletin now that we can utilize prayer books again.
Thank you for the generous gift that made this purchase possible!
Church Work Day Good Shepherd will be having a work day on May 21st from 10-1pm to tackle small projects, repairs, and some general cleaning. Lunch will be provided.
If you would like more information, please see Micah Lovell.
Long-Term Food Storage & Beginner Vegetable Gardening Classes Jenn Fowler, a newer member at Good Shepherd, is certified as a Master Food Preserver through Cornell Cooperative Extension and has offered to teach two courses for anyone interested, as we face uncertain times within the economic and food supply systems. A light lunch will be provided at each class.
The first class will be held on May 14th, at 10am. The class is roughly three hours, and will be focused on long-term food storage. Topics will include: different types of long-term food storage, what types of foods do well in storage, and managing food stores.
The second class will be held on June 4th. It will be about two and a half hours long, and will be focused on beginning vegetable gardening. Jenn will present information on soil health, how to plan a garden, choosing what to grow, different gardening styles, and much more.
ADOLW Annual Synod Each year, much of the diocese comes together for a three-day meeting where worship happens, many interesting sermons are delivered, a choral evensong service is held, and new deacons and priests are ordained. This year’s synod will be held in Souderton, PA, on May 5-7, and our own Jonathan Groves will be ordained to the diaconate.
You can find more information about synod here. If you’d like to go to synod, but would need transportation, please contact the office, as many of the folks required to go will have room to carpool.
A Note about the Daily Lectionary Good Shepherd has been using a one-year cycle of the daily lectionary for a few years. The morning prayer meeting is using a two-year lectionary reading cycle, which has caused some confusion. To make everything uniform, we are changing the bulletin readings to match. We will still have the same readings, just spread over two years, eliminating the evening readings.
Zoom Morning Prayer This service normally meets online by zoom at 7am Monday through Friday. The liturgy and readings are available each day at www.dailyoffice2019.com. Join the parish email list and look for a daily email invitation in your inbox.
Morning prayer is on hiatus for the next two weeks and will resume on April 25th.
Holy Week and Easter Schedule
Tenebrae (Wednesday, April 13th): 7:30PM Tenebrae means “shadows” in Latin. It is a service of word, light and sound. When you arrive for worship you will see two groups of candles lit on the altar table. As readings are read the candles on the altar will be gradually extinguished until the very end of the service when the last candle left lit is removed from the worship space and the whole sanctuary is left in darkness. At that point a loud crash will (should) shatter the silence of the sanctuary. Then, after a moment, the last candle is returned to the sanctuary and the worshippers depart in silence. The gradual darkening of the sanctuary and the crashing noise symbolizes the apparent victory of death, darkness, and chaos over Jesus Christ on the cross. The final candle being removed and returned, symbolizes the truth that through Jesus’ death, God gained victory over all the powers of evil. The Light was not overcome.
Maundy Thursday (Thursday, April 14th): 6:00PM Maundy Thursday communion celebrates the humility of Jesus with a ceremonial foot washing. Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s and yet on the night before he died, during the Last Supper, he knelt down and one by one washed his disciples’ feet. He did this to show his disciples and to show you and me how to serve one another with humility and love, being willing even to stoop to the most menial tasks. Maundy Thursday is the last chance for communion until the Great Vigil.
Good Friday (Friday, April 15th): noon At about 3pm on Friday of Holy Week he lifted his eyes up to heaven from the cross and breathed out his last. “It is finished” he said. He was not only referring to his life, but he was also referring to his mission to deal with and defeat once and for all sin, death, and Satan.
Stations of The Cross (Friday, April 15th): 7:30PM This is a solemn service. The participants walk through the stations of the cross by candlelight, hearing a brief reading at each, and exit the sanctuary in silence.
The Great Vigil of Easter (Saturday, April 16th): 7:30PM Along with Tenebrae, the Easter Vigil is one of the most ancient services of the Church. It is the most important service of the entire year and it is the first service of Easter. The service begins in total darkness—the lights of the sanctuary are out and not a candle is burning. Then a fire is lit in a firepot at the center of the nave and from that flame all the candles in the sanctuary are lit and the hand-candles in the congregation. Then come readings and psalms, said and sung, by singers and by the whole congregation. The sermon follows and then the first Communion of Easter. The Great Vigil begins at 7:30pm in the sanctuary.
Easter Day (Sunday, April 17th): This is the day Christians celebrate and proclaim the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. There will be music, preaching, smells and bells. Service times are at 8:00am and 10:30am.
Sunday Worship and Holy Eucharist Both the 8am and the 10:30 services are meeting in person.
The 8am service If you are high risk, or at all nervous to be in social gatherings, this service is designed for you. All those who attend are asked to wear masks and remain socially distanced throughout the service. The 8am service is not currently being live-streamed.
The 10:30am service You can download the bulletin, including the scripture readings here. One of the joys of having a fully digital bulletin is that we are free to use color! You’ll find that some of the artwork and many of the directions are in full color. You’ll also notice that there are links in the offertory section to take you out to two different means of giving electronically. You can give online through Breeze or you can text a donation through Breeze at 607-882-6551. Good Shepherd also has a PayPal account. If you choose to give via PayPal you can avoid fees by paying directly from your bank. Be sure to uncheck the box that says, “paying for goods and services” at the bottom or PayPal will charge Good Shepherd a fee. As always, thank you for your great generosity and kind support.
The lectionary readings for this week are: Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Psalm 22:1-11, Philippians 2:5-11, and Luke 23:1-46.
Catching Up…
Last Sunday’s Sermon Last week Matt preached on Philippians 4:14-23. You can find his sermon ‘A Sacrifice Acceptable and Pleasing to God’ here.
You can find previous sermons here.
Christian Education If you missed Christian Ed on Sunday, we continued our discussion on Carl Truman’s ‘Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self’. You can watch that class here, and previous classes at this link.
Preventing Grace Podcast Did you know that Matt and Anne have a podcast? In this week’s episode, ‘Disney, Grooming, Spiritual Friendship, and Love Actually‘, Matt and Anne discuss Disney sexually grooming children, the assertion that celibate gay couples teach the church about true marriage and friendship, and Anne discusses the early 2000’s film ‘Love Actually.’
Miss an episode? You can catch up on all of the older podcasts here.
Tuesday Morning Bible Study This Tuesday we continued our study of the book of II Thessalonians. You can find that class here.
Miss a class? You can find all of the previous classes in this series and previous series here.
The Tuesday Morning Bible Study is on hiatus for the next two weeks and will resume meeting on April 25th.
Thursday Evening Beginner’s Bible Study The Thursday evening study has resumed meeting in person at 6pm in the classroom area. Mr. Terry Ray is leading the class through the book of Jonah. This is a great place to connect with others and learn more about what God has to say to us through his word.
The Thursday Bible Study is on hiatus for the next two weeks and will resume on April 28th.
Men’s Breakfast and Bible Study The Men’s bible study meets at 6am each Friday morning, and they are currently studying the book of 1 Peter.
The Men’s Breakfast and Bible Study is on hiatus for the next two weeks and will resume on April 29th.
Women’s Bible Study is back at a new time. This study is meeting at 4:30 pm on Friday afternoons in the Parish Hall. Anne Kennedy is leading and they are currently studying the book of James. Children are welcome—as in, we hope to have some childcare available. If you’d like to join by zoom, please join the church email list and look for a link in the weekly update email.
If you’d like to come a little bit early to hang out for Friday Play (all the children play while their mother’s talk to each other), please let Anne know.
The Women’s Bible Study is on hiatus for the next two weeks and will resume on April 29th.
Weekly Bible Readings
| Monday | Psalm 102 Job 9 Heb 1 |
| Tuesday | Psalm 104 Job 10 Heb 2 |
| Wednesday | Psalm 105 Job 11 Heb 3 |
| Thursday | Psalm 142, 143 1 Cor 10:1-22 John 13:21-38 |
| Friday (Annunciation) | Psalm 102 1 Pet 2:11-25 Luke 23:18-49 |
| Saturday | Psalm 91 1 Pet 4:1-8 Luke 23:50-56 |
| Sunday | Psalm 111,113,114 Rom 6 Luke 24:13-43 |
Serving at Good Shepherd
| Serving at Good Shepherd April 3, 2022 | Serving at Good Shepherd April 17, 2022 |
|---|---|
| 8am Celebrant: Matt Kennedy 8am Preacher: Bob Carlson 8am Assistant: Matt Kennedy 8am Reader: Joyce Carlson 8am Usher: Terry Ray 10:30am Celebrant: Matt Kennedy 10:30am Preacher: Matt Kennedy 10:30am Assistant: Anne Kennedy/Jon Groves 10:30am Reader: Ronnie Murphy 10:30am Crucifer: Patrick Carlton 10:30am Acolytes: Seth and Jonah Carlton 10:30am Usher: Scott Pineau Tellers: Chris Jones, Bruce Layman Altar Guild: Christine Osgood Nursery: Ronnie Murphy and Talitha Pineau Shepherds Bowl: Joyce Carlson with Team 2 | 8am Celebrant: Matt Kennedy 8am Preacher: Matt Kennedy 8am Assistant: Anne Kennedy 8am Reader: Terry Ray 8am Usher: Terry Ray 10:30am Celebrant: Matt Kennedy 10:30am Preacher: Matt Kennedy 10:30am Assistant: Anne Kennedy/Jon Groves 10:30am Reader: Liz Hull 10:30am Crucifer: 10:30am Acolytes: 10:30am Usher: Jason Carlton Tellers: Mark and Timothy Dreher Altar Guild: Mary Schuster Nursery: Carrie Moorhead and Abigail Radman Shepherds Bowl: Steph Warner with Team 3 |
Have an item for the Update or an Announcement?
Email the secretary at: gs.binghamton@gmail.com
by Monday night.