A Message from Anne Kennedy I want to offer up a huge Thank You to everyone who helped put on the St. Nicholas Fair—the Vendors, Soup Makers, Bakers, Buyers, Setter-Uppers, Everyone. A special thank you to Jon and Micah for taking this on and organizing all the details. I’m so thrilled about what God is doing in the Children’s Department and that we are going to be able to bring Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training to this region. Most of all, I’m so grateful to hear the rustle and bustle of children all over the church on Sunday mornings. Thanks all, and keep a look out for more details about our children’s ministry this coming year!
Christmas Schedule
As is the custom at Good Shepherd, all bible studies and morning prayer will be cancelled during the week of Christmas and New Year. All studies will resume during the first week of January.
Christmas Pageant 5:00pm.
No 8am service.
No Christian Education.
Sunday Service will be at 11am.
Ladies Christmas Tea You are invited to come enjoy lunch and a afternoon of sitting around with your fellow ladies in waiting at the Kennedy Home on Sunday from 1:45-4pm. It will be good and beautiful and hopefully full of laughter.
Please see the paper bulletin for the Kennedy home address.
Please bring a brunch or luncheon item and maybe a small shareable sampling of your favorite Christmas cookie or candy.
If you would like to participate in the Angel Exchange, bring one of your angel ornaments that you would be happy to pass along to a friend. And then go home with a new one!
Christmas Concert with Brio Vocal Ensemble and Friends! Celebrate the birth of our Savior with music: vocal and instrumental solos and ensembles, plus congregational carol singing! The concert takes place at 3 p.m. on December 18th at Endwell United Methodist Church, 3301 Watson Boulevard, Endwell. Free will offering.
A Special Announcement Join us for a baby shower celebrating Ronnie Murphy and her baby boy, due to arrive in March. All women and girls from the church are invited!
When: Saturday, January 14, 1:00-3:00pm
Where: Church of the Good Shepherd parish hall
Please see Carrie Nelson or Mary Restino for more info, and RSVP by January 2.
Mission Opportunity In February, Anne Thompson will be going to Nicaragua to work with the CHE group communities. Her group will be making baby items with women. If you have any baby fabric, thread, zippers, or patterns that you could pass on, that would be great. Also, if you would like to help cut out some items ready to sew for our 100 kits, that would be wonderful! Lastly, we would welcome you if you would care to join us for a few days in a community, to see CHE in action. Contact Anne at thompam02@gmail.com for more information.
Good Shepherd Food Pantry Did you know that Good Shepherd has a member food pantry? This pantry is a small room off the kitchen and is open to all members of Good Shepherd.
Please feel free to pick up a few items for the pantry when doing your household shopping if you have the ability. We are currently running low on soups, peanut butter, cereals, and general non-perishables.
If you are in need of food, please do make use of the supplies there.
Prayer Offered Good Shepherd has resumed offering Prayer on the side altar during Communion. Beginning this Sunday, you may notice a person standing at the side altar rail as you come forward to receive the bread and wine. That person is part of the newly formed Prayer Ministry-people trained to pray for any anxieties or troubles you may have. If you would like prayer for any reason, please feel free to stop as you pass.
Volunteers for Tech Team Are you a technologically capable person who would like to serve the church with your gifts? Good Shepherd is looking add a volunteer team to run sound and the livestream for our services. If this is a ministry that interests you, please reach out to Micah.
Home Groups Home Groups exist to glorify God and build up the church through weekly gatherings where members of Good Shepherd and non-members alike may come to grow in fellowship and discipleship around God’s word.
Please check with your home group contact to learn of meeting schedules for the holidays.
Sunday Worship and Holy Eucharist
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 remain socially distanced throughout the service. The 8am service is not currently being live-streamed.
The 10:30am service You can download a PDF copy of the service bulletin here.
This Sunday’s lectionary readings are: Isaiah 7:10-17, Psalm 24, Romans 1:1-7, and Matthew 1:18-25.
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. As always, thank you for your great generosity and kind support.
Catching Up…
Last Sunday’s Sermon Last Sunday, Matt preached on James 5:13-20. You can listen or watch ‘The Prayer of Faith Will Save the One who is Sick’ here. You can find previous sermons here.
Christian Education This Sunday we continued our Christian Education series for adults built around Carl Trueman’s book, “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.”
This week, we continued discussing the politicization of the self, and how “identity” became such a dominant concept in public discourse.
You can watch that class here.
You can find previous classes here.
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 weekly email invitation in your inbox.
Preventing Grace Did you know that Matt and Anne have a podcast? Most weeks they cover topics like church polity, raising children, current events, and baking bread. In this week’s installment, ‘Church Invasions and the Prosperity Gospel’, Anne and Matt talk about an attempt by a Church of Nigeria bishop and 14 of his followers to forcibly seize an ACNA parish and the ensuing violence. They discuss the Nigerian bishop’s background in the Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospel teachings and the formal charges filed against him for false teaching. Baby incubator pods and the Marxist Herbert Marcuse also flit in and out of the conversation.
Miss an episode? You can find many previous recordings here.
Tuesday Morning Bible Study This Tuesday we continued our series on the miracles of Jesus.
You can watch the recording here.
Miss a class? You can find all of the previous classes in this series and previous series here.
Thursday Evening Beginner’s Bible Study The Thursday evening study meets in person at 6pm in the classroom area. The class is working through the book of Judges. This is a great place to connect with others and learn more about what God has to say to us through his word.
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 Jeremiah.
Women’s Bible Study This study is meeting at 4:30 pm on Friday afternoons in the Parish Hall. Anne Kennedy is leading and they are studying Advent texts taken from The Messiah. 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.
| Weekly Bible Reading | |
| Monday
December 19 |
Psalm 119:105-128
Isa 62 Luke 19:11-28 |
| Tuesday
December 20 |
Psalm 119:153-176
Isa 63 Luke 19:29-end |
| Wednesday
December 21 |
Psalm 120, 121
Isa 64 Luke 20:1-26 |
| Thursday
December 22 |
Psalm 124, 125, 126
Isa 65 Luke 20:27—21:4 |
| Friday
December 23 |
Psalm 129, 130, 131
Isa 66 Luke 21:5-end |
| Saturday
December 24
|
Psalm 134, 135
Song of Songs 1 Luke 22:1-38 |
| Sunday
December 25 |
Psalm 85, 110
Song of Songs 2 Luke 2:1-14 |
| Serving at Good Shepherd December 18, 2022 | Serving at Good Shepherd December 25, 2022 |
| 8am Celebrant: Matt Kennedy 8am Preacher: Jonathan Groves 8am Assistant: Jonathan Groves 8am Reader: Assistant 8am Usher: Terry Ray 10:30am Celebrant: Bob Carlson 10:30am Preacher: Jonathan Groves 10:30am Supporting Clergy: Matt Kennedy 10:30am Assistant: Jonathan Groves 10:30am Reader: Liz Hull 10:30am Crucifer: Silvan Pineau 10:30am Acolytes: Sophia and Selah Lane 10:30am Usher: Jason Carlton Tellers: Mark and Timothy Dreher Altar Guild: Karen Berman Nursery: Kariah, Tal, Murielle Prayer: Peggy Hughes Shepherds Bowl: Jonathan Groves with Team 4 |
No 8am Service No Christian Education 11:00am Celebrant: Matthew Kennedy 11:00am Preacher: Matthew Kennedy 11:00am Supporting Clergy: Anne Kennedy 11:00am Assistant: Jonathan Groves Altar Guild: Christine Osgood Shepherd’s Bowl: Mary Restino with Team 5 |
Have an item for the Update or Announcements?
send an email to gs.binghamton@gmail.com by Monday evening.