What’s Happening at Good Shepherd
Financial Statements There are financial statements available at the ushers table at the front entrance of the sanctuary. Please stop on your way out and pick yours up.
A Message from the Missions Committee Thank you for filling shoe boxes for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child. 24 Shoeboxes were sent from Good Shepherd to bless 24 children somewhere in the world. Lord, please use these gifts to bring these children to faith in Jesus Christ.
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!
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 this Sunday. There will be a Christmas themed potluck lunch. Everyone is invited to stay and decorate the Sanctuary.
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.
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. The next meeting is on December 17th at 6pm.
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: Last week’s sermon was called ‘He is Not Ashamed to Call Us Brothers’ and was based on Hebrews 2:10-14. You can listen to or download it here.
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, ‘Should We Educate the Women?’ Matt and Anne discuss women and theological education, the differences between “egalitarianism” and “complementarianism”, and how women and men relate to one another and the church.
You can catch up on all of the older episodes here.
Tuesday Morning Bible Study ‘Why do the Wicked Prosper?‘ was based on Ecclesiastes 8.
Why is it that mass murderers like Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and King Leopold of Belgium escape justice, either dying of old age in their beds or dying, like Hitler, by their own hands while more righteous men and women are struck down by war or disease in their prime? Why is it that sometimes the guilty go free and the innocent suffer injustice? Can we ever find the answers to these questions? Why doesn’t God do something to stop it or at least tell us why he allows it? Solomon in Ecclesiastes 8 deals with these difficult questions.
This Week
This Week’s Sermon is based on Hebrews 2:14-3:6.
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Hebrews 2:14-3:6 ESV)
Team Corinthians is working on the altar this Sunday with Melissa Boeker.
Shepherd’s Bowl Team 4 with the Kennedy and Dreher families will be working this week (12/15).
Altar Guild Mary Tuttle is serving this Sunday.
Nursery Lauren Kirst is serving this Sunday with Madison.
The readings for this week are: Isaiah 35 and Hebrews 2:14-3:6.
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.