What’s Happening at Good Shepherd This Week
Holy Week and Easter Schedule
Service Times:
Palm Sunday (Sunday, March 28)
Palm Sunday is the day that Christians observe the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. Crowds of people greeted him at the city gates with waving palms as the King of the Jews. One short week later, he would be hung upon the cross at Golgotha.
The service begins with the Liturgy of the Palms outside the main sanctuary doors on the Saratoga St. entrance.
Tennebrae (Wednesday, March 31): 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 1): 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 2): 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 2): 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 3): 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 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 4): 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.
In Other News…
Large Print Bulletins are available upon request for both services. If you need a large print bulletin, please contact the office before next Sunday’s services.
Thursday Evening Bible Study The Thursday evening bible study will resume on April 14th with a new study in Judges.
Zoom Morning Prayer This service meets online by zoom at 7am Monday through Friday. The liturgy and readings are available each day at www.dailyoffice2019.com. This is a great way to get back to reading the bible and prayer. Join the parish email list and look for a daily email invitation in your inbox.
Zoom Mission Group There are currently two NEW groups meeting entirely by zoom. Please contact Jon for more information!
Stations of the Cross Our sister church, St. Andrew’s Anglican, (300 Wendell St, Endicott, NY 13760) is going to be having a Stations of The Cross service every Friday during Lent at 5:30pm, and has extended an invitation to the Good Shepherd community to join them.
Sunday Morning Worship
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 is currently observing ‘restaurant-style’ masking guidelines which means that while seated, masks are optional. We ask that those attending wear masks when entering, leaving, or walking from one place to another (unless you are unable due to health reasons) and practice social distancing of at least six feet between your family and the next grouping.
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. If you would like to send your tithe digitally, these are the best ways to do so. You can still send your tithe in by traditional mail as well.
The 10:30 service is also available via livestream. You can access the stream at this link. The stream begins every Sunday at 10:20am but the service does not start until 10:30am. If you do not have a Facebook account, you will still be able to view all of the services, classes, and studies.
Christian Education begins at 9:15am and will continue to be live-streamed, however the class is open to the public with the same guidelines as the 10:30 service. It will be will be available at this link.
Catching Up…
Last Sunday’s Sermon Did you miss last Sunday’s sermon? Last week, Mr. Jonathan Groves preached on John 19:31-37. You can catch the sermon, “They Will Look on Him whom They Have Pierced” here.
Christian Education If you missed Christian Ed last Sunday, we continued our study of the CS Lewis fictional work, The Screwtape Letters. You can watch it here. You can catch the earlier classes in this series and much more at this link.
Tuesday Morning Bible Study This Tuesday morning’s bible study was the last class in the study of Hosea. You can watch it at this link.
Men’s Breakfast and Bible Study The Men’s bible study meets at 6am each Friday morning.
Weekly Bible Readings
Serving at Good Shepherd
| March 28, 2021 | April 4, 2021 |
|---|---|
| 8am Celebrant: Bob Carlson Reader (8:00): Terry Ray Usher (8:00): Terry Ray Reader (10:30): Amber Lovell Crucifer: Patrick Carlton Acolytes: Jonah and Seth Carlton Usher (10:30): Chris Jones Altar: Christine Osgood Tellers: Helen Cetton, Tom Dinnel Shepherd’s Bowl: Pete Putano with Team 1 |
8am Celebrant: Matt Kennedy Reader (8:00): Pastoral Assistant Usher (8:00): Terry Ray Reader (10:30): Micah Lovell Crucifer: Aedan Kennedy Acolytes: Rowan and Gwendolyn Kennedy Usher (10:30): Scott Pineau Altar: Karen Carlton Shepherd’s Bowl: Joyce Carlson with Team 2 |
Have an item for the Update or an Announcement?
Email the secretary at: gs.binghamton@gmail.com
by Monday night.