Two ways to bring hope to a family
Volunteer or donate to furnish a home
Are you feeling down about the state of the world? Here are two ways you can bring hope to a family.
Hundreds of social service agencies refer people who are recently homeless, veterans, survivors of domestic violence, low income, immigrants, victims of disaster, or are coping with illness or disability to Household Goods. Last year they furnished over 3000 homes including the home of our newest refugee family. Watch this video to see inside this amazing operation.
Join a team of Shepherds Jan. 24 or 28 12:45-4:00 doing a variety of tasks at Household Goods. Volunteers must be 14 years or older. Click here for the link to sign up.
Donate to our Linens and Lamps Drive. We are collecting towels, sheets and blankets in excellent condition and lamps with shades until January 28.
Rev. Eleanor Terry
Rev. Ellie offers an uplifting message on Christmas Eve.
Gospel & Sermon for Christmas Eve, Rev. Eleanor Terry, Rector
2025 Mission Outreach Accomplishments
Mission Outreach: Faith in Action 2025
The Church of the Good Shepherd has had another wonderful year of showing what Faith in Action looks like.
Thank you to everyone who has supported our Mission Outreach programs this year. The list below is the outcome of all of your generous giving this fall.
Our 7-week food drive delivered 623 pounds of food to Loaves and Fishes and the Acton Food Pantry!
Along with other members of the partnership, we have supported our refugee families during particularly difficult months in several ways: providing Target gift cards so our new family could get needed furnishings and winter clothing. Together with First Parish of Stow and Acton we were able to give them cards worth $1000.
We purchased Market Basket cards to help our new family weather the halt in SNAP benefits while St. Anne’s in Lincoln did the same for the Rohingya households.
This week we delivered baskets of Christmas cheer to all three households, chock full of all kinds of fruits, homemade cookies and candy.
We far exceeded our goal to help finance the food that the mothers at Esperanza Academy prepare each year for their Christmas celebration. We will deliver these funds and the chocolate fountain to the school this week.
To finish out the year, the Fair Trade Craft Sale this Sunday and next will support scholarships for our Salvadoran students.
And every week during these months a contingent of devoted Shepherds has represented our community at the Burlington ICE protests no matter the weather.
We can proudly say our church has been busy doing good work!
We are full of gratitude for the many ways that you have all opened your hearts.
Rev. Eleanor Terry
Rev. Ellie explores how during the time of Advent we can prepare for not just a one-day celebration of Christmas, but for an incarnation that will be born in us and will last for all time. Secular Christmas preparations happen in many ways but preparing our hearts is often harder to do. Easier to forget. Advent provides us the gift of time – to pause, reflect, slow down. A time to prepare our hearts for the extraordinary thing that is about to happen.
Gospel & Sermon for Advent 3, Rev. Eleanor Terry, Rector
Blue Christmas
We gather to hold open together a strong and tender space of courage and compassion. We are part of one another, in communion with all that is.
Blue Christmas service with Candlelight and Taizé Chants
Fair trade craft sale
Beautiful, unique, affordable, Fair Trade handmade crafts on sale
Beautiful, Unique, Affordable, Fair Trade Handmade Crafts on Sale
Sunday, Dec. 14, 11:00-3:30
Sunday, Dec. 21. 11:00-3:30
The purchase of these Fair Trade items benefit the artisans who made them – Mayan Hands collaborates with 15 artisan groups in the rural Guatemalan highlands, representing about 200 skilled craftswomen; UPAVIM’s member cooperative, located in a “Red Zone” of Guatemala City plagued by gang and violence, is comprised of more than 70 women working as seamstresses and making handicrafts.
Proceeds from the sale benefit a scholarship fund for students in the Church of the Good Shepherd sister community of El Ocotillo, a small village in the mountains of El Salvador – the sale does not benefit the church.
These Fair Trade items are affordable as they haven’t yet been subject to higher tariffs that are likely to be imposed due to changes to the CAFTA-DR regulations.
The lovely handmade creations reflect ancestral techniques, artisan craftswomanship, and heirloom quality in new, updated designs for the modern market. Come shop for exquisite:
Baskets
Ornaments
Wooden crafts
Ceramics
Jewelry
Textiles
Scarves, Bags, Purses
Children’s novelties
These items will be available for purchase at The Church of the Good Shepherd, 164 Newrown Rd., Acton, MA.
The Rev. Eleanor Terry
Gospel & Sermon for the second Sunday in Advent, December 7, 2025, Rev. Eleanor Terry, Rector
2025-12-07 Gospel & Sermon, Rev. Eleanor Terry, Rector
Prelude for Advent 1
The service for the first Sunday in Advent opens with a piano and handbell improvisation inspired by the Gregorian chant introit for Advent 1.
Good Shepherd handbell players Delia and Karen join Ellen on piano to mark the beginning of Advent.
Rev. Ken Schmidt
If we remind ourselves of God’s ever-present love, we can move past fear and insecurity to grace, gratitude, peace, and love. This prepares us not only for Christmas joy but also for the coming of God’s kingdom. Advent is a time of preparation.
Gospel and Sermon for the 1st Sunday in Advent
Rev. Eleanor Terry
In this age of “No Kings” protests, what does it mean to celebrate the Feast of Christ the King? Rev. Ellie draws a stark contrast between what today’s world understands about power, leadership, authority, and strength and what we know as the Kingdom of God.
2025-11-23 Feast of Christ the King, Rev. Eleanor Terry, Rector