What’s Happening at Good Shepherd
Ladies Annual Christmas Tea will be held on Dec 10 at the Dreher home, from 11-1pm. All ladies are invited, please come and enjoy each other’s company and get to know someone better.
Christmas Outreach: Again this Christmas we at Good Shepherd have the amazing opportunity to celebrate Christ’s birth by helping those less fortunate than ourselves. Needy children from Saratoga Youth Center have provided us with wish lists for Christmas. Please join the Outreach Team in surprising these dear children with some special presents (valued at $15-$20) this holiday. Select a child represented on the Christmas tree in the Parish Hall and record your name, phone number, and the child’s number on the sign-up sheet. Please gift wrap the present and be sure to place the number of the child on the wrapped package. Please bring it to the secretary’s office on or before Sunday December 18th. We will help Saint Nick deliver the gifts to the children on Tuesday December 20th. See Carmen to know the name(s) of the child/children whom you select. Thanks so much!
A Visit from St. Nick St. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, who, you might remember, threw money into people’s windows at night and punched the heretic Arius in the nose, will be visiting Good Shepherd and giving out chocolate and little oranges on December 4th. This would be a marvelous Sunday to bring children as guests with you to church.
Greening the Church Traditionally the church is “greened” or decorated on the fourth Sunday of Advent, as close to Christmas as we can get. But this year, as last, Advent Four is awfully close to Christmas itself and we don’t want the whole church to be completely exhausted by Christmas Eve. So this year we’ll green on Advent Three, which is December 11th. There will be a Christmas themed potluck lunch. Everyone is invited to stay and decorate the Sanctuary.
*There will not be a potluck lunch on December 4th.
Christmas Pageant The Christmas pageant will be held on Christmas Eve at 5pm. Please see Anne Kennedy to find out how you can help.
Christmas Service This year Christmas falls on a Sunday. There will be one church service on Christmas at 11am.
A Request for Help Can anyone lend ready-lit Christmas trees to help decorate our Huge Rummage and Handicraft Sale (which will benefit CHE, Nicaragua) at Christmas in Montrose? Dec 2nd and 3rd, at Bridgewater Baptist church, Church St, Montrose. Also, donations are very welcome. You can bring them to church on Sundays. Come and support CHE, and enjoy Christmas in Montrose.
Thank you, Anne, Bill, and Darling.
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.
Mission Groups Mission groups have returned to their regular meeting times. If you are already part of a Mission Group, check the location and schedule of your meetings with your Mission Group Leader, and in the Week at a Glance section of this morning’s update. See Ben Murphy if you haven’t joined a Mission Group yet and need help finding one!
Update and Announcements If you have an item you’d like to have announced on Sunday morning, or included in the update, please be sure to forward the item to Stephanie by Wednesday afternoon, and specify if you’d like it announced or just listed in the updates. It will then be edited and forwarded to Anne/Ife to announce on Sunday and/or added to the paper and digital update.
Children’s bulletins are available to help your children follow all parts of the service today. Please pick one up from an usher.
Bread and Wine If you are interested in joining a group of moms for a monthly supper and discussion of women in the bible, please contact Liz Hull at 607-768-5499 or mizliz74@yahoo.com.
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 in Christian Ed This was the 18th class session of our Christian education course on the 39 Articles. We discuss Article 28 on sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
Last Week’s Sermon: Last week’s sermon was called ‘Drifting Away from the Gospel’ and was based on Hebrews 2:1-4. You can listen to or download it here.
Mission Group Discussion Questions
Hebrews 2:1-4
Main Idea:
- There is no lifesaving alternative to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Read Hebrews 2:1-4
1) What is it that “we have heard” to which we should “pay much closer attention” stated in verse 1?
- Who does “we” refer to in this section?
- Why would it be easy for some to “drift away” from this message?
2) What message is being referred to in verse 2 that was “declared by angels”?
- In what ways was this message “proved to be reliable”?
- Why were the retributions for transgressions “just”?
- Who was able to escape retribution?
3) Answer the question posed at the beginning of verse 3: How shall we escape if we neglect such a great
salvation?
- What does it mean that this salvation was “declared at first by the Lord”?
- Who are those “who heard” mentioned at the end of verse 3?
- Why is this salvation so great?
4) In verse 4, in what other ways did and does God bear witness to this great salvation?
- How do these things bear witness?
- How important is this great salvation to you?
- In what ways do you also bear witness to others to how great it is?
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, ‘Preventing Grace Podcast: Gafcon UK and “the List”, Snow and Children, and Thanksgiving’ Matt and Anne discuss Gafcon UK and “the list”, sending children out into the snow, Thanksgiving in Africa and some discussion of kitchen matters.
You can catch up on all of the older episodes here.
Tuesday Morning Bible Study was cancelled due to the weather.
Missed a study? You can catch up on the last month of the Tuesday morning Bible studies you might have missed here.
This Week
This Week’s Sermon is based on Hebrews 2:5-9.
For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:5-9 ESV)
Team Phillippians is working on the altar this Sunday with Michael Beauharnois.
Shepherd’s Bowl Team 2 with the Osgood family will be working this week (12/1).
Altar Guild Steph Warner is serving this Sunday.
Nursery Sarah Dreher is serving this Sunday.
The readings for this week are: Isaiah 2:1-5 and Hebrews 2:5-9.
The PDF Bulletin for this Sunday’s 10:30 service can be downloaded here.
Have an item for the Update or an Announcement?
Email the secretary at:
gs.binghamton@gmail.com
by Monday night.