What’s Happening at Good Shepherd
Anglican Church Women The ACW will be meeting Saturday, November 12 at 11:15. There will be discussions on plans and activities for coming months. There will also be a speaker talking for about 10 minutes on a Christian camp! The meeting will be followed by a pot luck lunch. All are welcome!
Minister’s Calendar The newest edition of the Minister’s Calendar is hot off the presses, and available at an usher’s table near you! If you currently serve on a ministry team, please be sure to stop by and pick one up before you leave today.
Trunk N Treat Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd (360 Conklin Avenue) will again host Trunk ‘N Treat from 4 to 7PM on October 31st. There will be hot chocolate, donuts, cider, games, antique cars, a Binghamton Fire Engine, and trunks of treats. BJ will share the gospel as she performs with comedy, face-painting, and lots of balloons!!! Please help by contributing small donuts/donut holes/ treats (preferably some healthy ones) to distribute at this fun family-friendly event which helps us to reach out to so many who may never otherwise enter the doors. Also pray for God’s blessing on the children and families who come!
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.
And Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink”… There are bottles of water in the church refrigerator which are available to offer to anyone who is in the vicinity of the church. These are not for members of COGS, but are for those outside our walls. Please use this gesture to show others that we care.
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.
Ongoing Ministries
“And as for your little ones…”
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.
Member Food Pantry Thank you to all who brought food to the pantry recently. Every bit helps. Autumn is here, and the holidays are soon to follow. Let’s keep up the good work so that the folks that need to use it can have a decent meal on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Items needed: Canned meats and tuna, one box meals, one pound bags of rice, canned fruits (other than applesauce and cranberry sauce), canned veggies, bread mixes, juice, and anything else you’d like to bring.
*Please refrain from donating flours or sugars.
Last Week
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,‘The Bible Actually Works’ Matt and Anne discuss the long slow slog of church work and the way God uses the scriptures to gradually build a congregation.
You can catch up on all of the older episodes here.
Last Week’s Sermon was based on 2 Corinthians 4:7-12.
Mission Group Discussion Questions
Mission Group Discussion Questions
2 Corinthians 4:7-12
Main Idea(s):
- The human body is a weak and humble container used to proclaim the awesome power of God.
- The life of Jesus manifests through trials and suffering.
Read 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
1) What is “this treasure” to which Paul refers in verse 7? How do you know?
- Why does Paul refer to our bodies as “jars of clay”?
- Who is worthy to be a “container” of God’s light and glory?
- How does this treasure in jars of clay show that the power belongs to God?
2) In what specific ways are verses 8 and 9 made evident in our everyday lives?
- How do these experiences remind us of the death of Jesus?
3) According to verse 10, how often do we “[carry] in the body the death of Jesus”?
- Why is carrying the death of Jesus necessary for manifesting the life of Jesus also?
- How do experiences of suffering manifest the life of Jesus in our bodies?
4) Why does God allow suffering for the believer?
- When will a believer’s suffering end?
- What is the result of the believer’s suffering here on earth?
- What should suffering drive a believer to do?
Tuesday Morning Bible Study was based on Ecclesiastes 3.
Last week we distinguished between the false “theology of glory” and what Luther called the “theology of the cross”. Those who embrace a theology of glory believe that they can and should enjoy all the blessings of the eschaton (Christ’s coming kingdom) which include the absence of sorrow, pain, sickness, loss and death…now. These things they believe, ought not to be part of the Christian life here and now and so they devise ways of denying them either through striving to develop a perpetually “happy” state of mind, calling it “contentment” (Robert Schuyler and Norman Vincent Peale fall into this category) or by pretending that by “faith” the believer can make illness, sorrow, and failure disappear. This is all a lie and it renders the believable incapable of enduring the times and seasons that come to all human beings because of sin. The theology of the cross, however, recognizes that we must endure suffering here and now and that Christ suffers with and for us. Our suffering and sorrow drives the believer into Christ’s arms where true peace and contentment alongside a realistic expectation for this life can be found. The book of Ecclesiastes is essentially a primer for the theology of the cross. Solomon sets out the world as it has become because of sin. The cross of Christ provides the ultimate answer for the vanity of this life, ending as it does with the resurrection and a new kind of life. But we live right now in the world Solomon describes and Christ has broken into it to suffer with us until he brings it to an end in the final moment of glory.
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 1:1-4.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Hebrews 1:1-4 ESV)
Team Phillippians is working on the altar this Sunday with Anne Kennedy.
Shepherd’s Bowl Team 2 is serving this Thursday (10/27) with the Osgood family.
Altar Guild Karen Berman is serving this Sunday.
Nursery Rachael Warner is serving this Sunday.
The readings for this Sunday are: Jeremiah 14:7-10,19-22 and Hebrews 1:1-4.
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.