Esperanza Academy COVID response
Esperanza Academy begins the school year.
Esperanza Academy is a tuition-free independent middle school in the Episcopal tradition welcoming girls of diverse faiths, races, and cultures from Lawrence MA. Good Shepherd has had a long relationship with the school since its start 14 years ago.
Jadi Taveras, head of Esperanza Academy, gave an inspiring Zoom update on the school’s response to COVID-19. He shared the effects of COVID on students and families of color—the high risks, barriers, and the fact that COVID is magnifying the often invisible inequities. He highlighted three main focus areas for the school: Esperanza’s commitment and innovation in anti-racist teaching, the strength of their community partnerships, and an updated mission statement and core values. The school’s work with students and families using Restorative Justice Circles is an example at the local level of what Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to Be an Anti-Racist is all about.
Learning will be remote the first four weeks of school and then go hybrid with some on-line and some in-school learning. The school will be open for the most vulnerable learners and they are offering a daily pick-up lunch. The level of response and action at Esperanza goes beyond academic skills to embracing and supporting these students of color and their families. To quote Jadi, “Esperanza is a home and safe place for the girls.” We plan to share the recording of this update when it becomes available later this month. Meanwhile to learn more about Esperanza, go to esperanzaacademy.org.
Esperanza Mission for 2020-21 Academic year:
Through the 2020-21 academic year Esperanza will deliver a holistic program focused on addressing the academic and social disparities that impact our students and their families as a result of the covid 19 pandemic. We will continue to be a school that focuses on the growth of each student through culturally responsive teaching and prioritizing restorative justice practices. We will maintain our relationship-centric ethos and our commitment to our program that honors and celebrates the cultural, linguistic, familial and navigational capital of the families from Lawrence MA.
Christmas wreath fundraiser
Place your order for a Christmas wreath now.
Dear friends, this year we hope to continue our tradition of selling Christmas wreaths as a holiday fund raiser. The choices will be the same as last year with red, burgundy, wintergreen and cranberry bows. It would simplify everything if we stick to the 25” wreaths and eliminate “swags” this year! Prices have gone up a bit: Classic (red) will be $28, Victorian (burgundy) will be $30, and Cranberry Splash and Wintergreen will be $32. We will try to have them delivered by the week before Thanksgiving so we can have them up for the whole holiday season. We should be able to keep a safe distance throughout the sale process. You can begin placing orders Sept 15th. For more information or to place your order, contact us or sign up at church.
Adult Formation
The Adult Formation group meets Sundays 10:45am - 12:00pm via Zoom.
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief... For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
The Adult Formation group continues to meet via Zoom on Sunday mornings after worship. This has been a wonderful opportunity to connect through a variety of resources. Throughout the summer, the group read and discussed Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in the World. This book challenged each of us to see our faith reflected in ordinary everyday occurrences. Each chapter highlighted a way in which to experience God as One who is integral to our lives beyond our experience of worship. With a treasure trove of personal stories, Taylor shared some of the ways that her faith has been challenged and stretched thus bringing her to an understanding of God’s presence in everyday encounters from the grocery store clerk to the occasional power outage. Her reflections invited us to think about our own encounters with the Divine in places we’d least expect.
The next series of Adult Formation discussion will focus on the Sabbath poems of Wendell Berry, American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. “For nearly thirty-five years, Wendell Berry has been at work on a series of poems occasioned by his solitary Sunday walks around his farm in Kentucky. From riverfront and meadows, to grass fields and woodlots, every inch of this hillside farm lives in these poems, as do the poet’s constant companions in memory and occasion, family and animals, who have with Berry created his Home Place with love and gratitude.” The book is called This Day: New and Collected Sabbath Poems 1979-2012 and is available through special order at the Silver Unicorn Bookstore and at your local library. Please plan to join us on Sundays at 10:45am - 12:00 pm via Zoom as we delve into these treasured writings. The Zoom link is available in the weekly e-blast.
+Melissa
Good Shepherd Music
The organ is getting a tune-up!
On Friday, August 28th, two builders from Andover Organ Company visited Church of the Good Shepherd to take back with them several ranks of wooden pipes from our beloved Hook & Hastings tracker organ, 1892. These pipes, made of pine and original to the organ, will be repaired and voiced for some weeks to come at their shop in Methuen.*
What this means is that, although the organ is still playable, there are three stops I will not be able to use; two on the Swell - upper keyboard manual, and one on the Great - lower manual. Additionally there are some notes or keys which will not sound within certain stops. Those of you that participate in live Zoom services on Sundays may notice this difference in certain music I present; in other repertoire, not so much. I will no doubt also play more music on the piano in light of the absence of my usual range of various colors or instrumental sounds at this time. Please bear with me.
On another note (ha!), in the coming months I plan to add additional musicians to our gatherings, including the possibility of soloists and/or vocal duets! It’s been great to have Ray Lyons playing live with me in the sanctuary from the start, and we are separately practicing another piece slated for September.
September 8th marks one year since I began my work here at CGS, so I’d like to say how gracious, generous and congenial all of you have been as I navigate my way in this most wonderful advent in Episcopal music ministry! I have enjoyed working with you, having some laughs here and there, and otherwise doing our best to provide the congregation with music as befits our particular parish. I look forward to the future, learning and growing in my role as church musician.
Deborah Colageo
News from the Transition Team
Call for bios to welcome Reverend Ellie…deadline 9/27.
Hello. Emmanuel Aronie here, a member of the COGS Transition Team. We are responsible for meeting and greeting our new rector, Rev. Ellie Terry. Secondly, of saying goodbye and good luck to our dear Rev. Melissa Buono, who has beautifully shepherded us all through these many months, some of them quite difficult.
During our first meeting while discussing what might make the transition easier for Ellie, I came up with an idea which will be nourishing and possibly inspiring for any church member. We are asking all who feel moved to write a little bio about yourselves or your entire family in whatever way your creative self directs introducing yourself, so that before we even meet with Reverend Ellie, she may feel some comfort about all the people she will come to know. This could be short; in print, 300-500 words, or a short introductory video, or perhaps paint a picture of welcome, sing a song, play an instrument, etc.
Does that get your creative juices flowing ? I hope so. And, in these times of Covid, it’s a real way to get close, while we cannot be close in the old ways we are used to, so, this may help convey our collective joy at receiving and communing with our new Rector.
The Search Committee stands adjourned!
The Search Committee is pleased to report that it has successfully completed its work.
The Search Committee is pleased to report that we successfully completed our work and recommended the Rev. Ellie Terry to the vestry to be our next Rector. Ellie impressed us with her lively personality, intelligence, warmth and sincerity, and we very much look forward to her joining us in October. We can move forward with confidence knowing that we are in good hands!
The Search Process was complicated, of course, by the COVID-19 pandemic. While our diocese suspended search activities for an extended period in the spring, search processes in other dioceses proceeded apace. The committee felt a sense of urgency to complete our work, knowing that the highly qualified candidates that we were considering were almost certainly looking at other opportunities. We are grateful that the Holy Spirit led us to Ellie, and we’re excited about what God has in store for us together at Church of the Good Shepherd.
The Church was very well served by this group of 10 faithful women and men. Without exception, this was a group of passionate, articulate, insightful and faithful people. We discussed energetically and argued respectfully. Each offered his or her opinion and perspective effectively and challenged the points of view of others on the committee. We worked extremely hard, prayed faithfully, laughed easily and may have shed a tear or two. It is important to stress that all our decisions were made by consensus; not everyone may have agreed, but everyone supported the final decision.
The committee would like to thank the Parish for your faithful support and patience! We knew that there were members of our prayer team holding us up whenever we met. We felt the presence of the Holy Spirit guide and encourage us. We’re grateful for all of the feedback, phone calls, letters, conversations, emails and points of view. Your voices were heard and guided our discernment.
And with that, the committee stands adjourned! Thanks to the members of the committee. Well done all! Search Committee Members: Kristen Bates, Wendy Fedderson, Debby Flint-Baum, Ellen Harland, Tom Hoch, Neal Ogle, Chris O’Leary, Rafael Pupo, Bev Ridpath, Elgin Summerfelt
Building update
Some long-anticipated building improvements are planned, underway, or completed!
Lots of things are different in this COVID time, but some things never change: Roofs get old and need replacing. Most roofs are expected to last about 30 years. The church’s roof is 35! We have talked about needing to replace ours for years now, and we can’t keep postponing it; we need a complete roof replacement. A couple of years ago, we had major ice dams and in removing the ice dams it became clear that parts of the sanctuary roof were rotted. If we wait longer, the damage underneath the shingles is only going to get worse and become much more expensive. We don’t think it is wise to wait another winter. (We don’t want to wait until we are ‘baptized’ by water dripping from the ceiling…)
We have some funds set aside in our Major Repairs Designated Fund for this project, about $45,000, funds that were set aside from previous years’ savings and from parishioners anticipating this need. However, initial estimates are around $60,000 to replace the entire roof, and we know that we may have significant additional expenses to replace sections of the wood layer that has rotted beneath the shingles. We can’t know how much until the current roof is removed.
The bottom line is we need your help! We expect to need an additional 20 to 30 thousand dollars to complete this project. We know this is a financially difficult time for some, but if you are able, please make a gift toward the roof replacement. Be sure to designate that it is for the roof. Thank you for helping us with this essential repair. A major improvement we have completed this summer is our internet. We now have Verizon Fios, high speed fiber optic internet, with new wiring into the sanctuary to enable a better upload of our online services. When we return to the building, you will also find that Wi-Fi internet access is available in all parts of the church, from the library to the Sunday School rooms.
In other property news, we are finally moving toward achieving one of our first strategic plan goals, to enable the congregation to hear better in the sanctuary. Why now, you may ask, when we are not currently able to be IN the sanctuary? Because for us to hold outdoor services, certain audio equipment is needed, and this is not something we have. Rather than spend money on something that only addresses this short-term need, we are purchasing components which will become the core of an improved audio system in our sanctuary. We met with a sound engineer to discuss our needs, and we are getting a modern digital mixer (to replace the antique electronics we currently use from the 1980s), an improved headset microphone for our priest, and two speakers that we will use to amplify our service outside. These components are ‘Phase one’ which will allow us to have outdoor worship and should also improve the audio quality of our online worship. ‘Phase two,’ to be purchased later, will add six more speakers and make it easier for everyone to hear well in the sanctuary.
The September 2020 issue of the Shepherd's Staff
Read the latest issue of the Shepherd’s Staff including updates on outdoor services, organ pipe repair, sound improvements, and the return of Spiritual Parenting.
A Word from the Fold
September 2020 edition of the Shepherd’s Staff
What’s Happening at Church of the Good Shepherd?
It feels like we just got into the rhythm of summer with the hot humid days of August when suddenly we’ve turned a corner, and here we are approaching Autumn. This is my favorite time of year with its warm days and cool nights, not to mention all the fall activities like apple picking and pie baking. Of course, this is normally also the time for back to school and a return to a full schedule of church programs. But this year is quite different for all of us as many of the routines have changed due to the ongoing pandemic.
This is also a time of new beginnings at CGS. Programs will look a little different this fall but rest assured that many people have been hard at work behind the scenes preparing for this new phase of ministry.
The Regathering Committee has been mapping out a plan for holding outdoor worship services at least while the weather cooperates. Protocols have been written and are being submitted to the Diocese for approval. In order for everyone to hear the service outdoors, we need to purchase some sound equipment. A sound tech has visited the church and made a recommendation for our set-up. Approvals from the Finance Committee and the Vestry are complete, and the order is in process. We will let you know as soon as possible when all is ready for our first outdoor service.
With regard to Christian Education, Taryn Ross-Hyman has been meeting regularly throughout the summer with church school and youth leaders from across the diocese. These Zoom sessions have provided a way for folks to share ideas about how best to re-engage the children and youth in faith formation. Taryn hopes to offer several activities for the children in the coming weeks. The Church School Council met last week along with Barb Magee from Mission Outreach to brainstorm ways to continue providing opportunities for the kids to get excited about mission and help others in communities near and far.
The Vestry is undergoing a process of linking its members with the various standing committees of our parish in an effort to foster better communication and support for ministry leaders. There are a number of areas in which parishioners can be of assistance in helping to keep this a strong and vibrant parish.
So while we’ve not been together in the building at 164 Newtown Road over the last six months, there is a great deal going on by members of the church to keep things moving forward. A number of improvements have been made to the building and grounds, the most recent being the installation of phone system and internet upgrades. These developments will enable continued live streaming of our worship, even after services resume in the sanctuary.
In the meantime, I hope that you will continue to support the ministry of CGS through your participation, your financial pledge and your prayers. May God continue to bless us for service in our communities as we journey together in faith.
Blessings,
Melissa
Announcing our new Rector!
The Reverend Eleanor Applewhite Terry has accepted the call to become the 5th Rector of our beloved Church of the Good Shepherd!
The Reverend Eleanor Applewhite Terry
The Wardens and Vestry are delighted to announce that The Reverend Eleanor Applewhite Terry has accepted the call to become the 5th Rector of our beloved Church of the Good Shepherd, Acton! Ellie will be joining us on or after October 1, 2020. Ellie comes to us from the Old North Church in Boston, where she has served on the clergy staff since 2013, first as Associate Vicar, and then in 2019, as Bridge Vicar. In this current role, she has sole responsibility for parish services, ministries, and administration, all the while supporting that parish during a transitional period as they prepare to welcome a new Vicar.
Our new Rector also served for seven years as the Vicar of St. Paul's Church in Plainfield, Connecticut, and began her ordained ministry as the Associate Rector of Saints Peter & Paul Church in Portland, Oregon. These two parishes gave her diverse experiences: one a family-oriented, small community parish where she was instrumental in growing average Sunday attendance by 86%; the other an urban congregation with exquisite liturgy and a strong commitment to outreach.
Ellie earned a M.Div. from Yale Divinity School in 1997 (Diploma of Anglican Studies, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale) and a B.A. from Smith College in 1991, with a Major in Religion and Biblical Literature and a Minor in Government.
Ellie has actually been among us in the Acton community for some time: she and her family have lived in Acton since 2012! Some of you might already know Ellie and her family from school and other activities.
The Wardens and Vestry are extremely appreciative of the dedicated and discerning work of the Rector Search Committee over these past months and years. Thank you for your good and faithful service! Please join with the Wardens and Vestry in sharing a big WELCOME to Ellie as she prepares to join the Church of the Good Shepherd faith community!
The Rev. Melissa Buono
Sermon for the fourth Sunday after Pentecost, June 28, 2020
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost 6.28.2020
Church of the Good Shepherd, Acton, Massachusetts
Rev. Melissa Buono, Interim Priest
Readings: Jer. 28:5-9; Ps 89:1-4,15-18; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42
Welcome back to the final installment of Jesus’ “Missionary Discourse” “How to Follow Jesus,” brought to you by Matthew Chapter 10.
The first installment was a lesson in Jesus showing his disciples how it’s done - moving from town to town and sharing the message of God’s love and mercy, and having compassion on God’s people by feeding and healing them and tending to their needs.
Having shown them, Jesus then sent out his followers, called Apostles meaning “those sent out” to go out and follow his example. They were to take no payment for their service, bring no bag of coins, no extra clothes, sandals or staff. They were sent out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
The second installment brought understanding that they would be rejected by some people, mocked and criticized by others, but through it all they need not fear. God would be their rod and their staff along the way. But they should be forewarned that the message of salvation that they bring to the weak and the marginalized will cause your closest relationships to be challenged, father and son, mother and daughter, as those who challenge you will likely be members of your own household.
And finally in this last bit, the last couple of verses of Matt. chapter 10, we learn a little something about hospitality.
At first read, this week’s Gospel lesson might sound like a directive to simply be hospitable to others by serving them with a cup of cold water on a hot muggy day or with a cup of hot coffee with steamed milk on a beautiful Sat. morning, for doing so will bring great reward. However, that’s not where Matthew has Jesus go with this teaching.
A closer reading of the text says, “whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
Did you catch that subtle difference? It’s not asking you or me to welcome others, but it’s charging us to be the ones welcomed by those willing to accept the message of God’s love for the building up of God’s kingdom on earth.
If you think about it, the whole text has been about what Jesus’ disciples should expect when they are sent out as sheep among wolves. So far, Jesus has been teaching the warnings of what to expect the reaction of some people to be. But in this lesson, Jesus speaks of the promise that is to come for one who is faithful in bringing the message of God’s kingdom.
And the promise is connected to the ancient understanding of hospitality. Throughout the Bible, the gift of showing hospitality especially to the stranger in your village was very important. No one was ever to be left outside to sleep in the town square. Doing so, would leave one vulnerable to the bandits and thieves who were most active at night.
The thing is, in the ancient world, there’s no such thing as the “rugged individual” that we know today. Instead one’s identity was connected to one’s family and the community in which one lived. Therefore, it was understood that in showing hospitality, one welcomed not just an individual, but wholeheartedly accepted the community who sent the person and all that they represent. The connection being that those who welcomed a disciple of Jesus, welcomed the very presence of Jesus as well as God, the Father who sent him to earth in the first place.
This passage therefore is speaking about the people that do the welcoming to you and to me and to all Jesus’ followers. We are not the ones welcoming anyone, instead it is about the disciples being welcomed by others. They and we, are to go out and preach like the prophets of old, bringing a word of God’s love, and in turn they will receive a prophet’s reward.
Here we must ask ourselves, what is a prophet’s reward?
Think about John the Baptist. He was sent as a prophet to prepare the way for Jesus’ coming. What happened to him when he took on the King and pointed out his adulterous behavior? His head was cut off.
Think about the prophets of the Old Testament? How was Moses received by Pharaoh when he came with a message from God to let God’s people go? Let the slave labor that was enriching Egypt’s economy go free? He was told no, and no, and no again - that was until God made it clear who Pharaoh was really dealing with.
What of Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos? Each one faced very difficult challenges because they brought a message that was not all peaches and cream. Their calling, their mission was to speak to God’s people to remind them of their sin and call them back to relationship with God. How popular do you think the prophets were in their time?
The reward of the prophet is not welcome parades and be pampered with hospitality. The reward of the prophet is less tangible in that one is seen as righteous in the eyes of God. In other words, being seen as doing the right thing according to God is more important that being liked by members of one’s community.
The reading from the book of Jeremiah is a classic example of this. The true prophets usually came with a message of war, famine, and persecution of some kind. But they weren’t the only players in town. There were also false prophets - fair weather friends - who said that they spoke a message from God, but in fact, they were just telling the people what they wanted to hear in that moment to make them feel better.
Hmmm, by this understanding, and in our own 21st c, might this be one of the reasons that immunologist Dr. Fauci is being vilified in social media by those who don’t want to hear that the Coronavirus pandemic is real and that everyone needs to take precautions to prevent its spread?
Idk, that’s something you need to decide for yourself.
See even in the time BCE (before the Common Era), people had to decide for themselves what prophets to believe.
In the Jeremiah lesson, the ancient people of Judah were taken captive by their enemy, the Babylonians. They were ripped from their land, no longer able to worship in the Temple and some of the sacred vessels used in worship were stolen by the Babylonians as well. The people’s live were so uprooted and they were living much like we are today with coronavirus not knowing what was next and what to do.
And there were these two prophets: Hananiah and Jeremiah each proclaiming different messages. And they had to choose.
Would they accept the message of Hananiah that their time of exile at the hands of the Babylonians would be over soon and their lives would be restored? Or would they listen to the weeping prophet Jeremiah, who showed up wearing a literal yoke around his neck, as a sign that they were going to live under Babylonian rule for quite some time and they might as well begin to build houses and plant gardens and live out their lives in this new reality because it wasn’t about to change back anytime soon?
Who do you think the people listened to?
The prophet with the rosy message? or the just hang in for this rough ride?
Jeremiah said to all those gathered, yes indeed, I hope all ends as Hananiah prophesies, wouldn’t it be great. But that’s not the word that I received from God. But the only way to find out who was telling the truth was to wait and see how things played out.
In the meantime, which prophet’s word will you live by?
In the case of Jeremiah, he was telling the truth even though many people thought his prophecy felt like they were giving in to the oppressors. But Jeremiah also announced a prophecy of judgment against Hananiah, that came to pass two months later. The last sentence of Jeremiah chapter 28 reads, “In that same year, in the 7th month, the prophet Hananiah died.” That was 2 months after the two prophets clashed.
So what does all this mean for us as church in the 21st century?
Who are the ones sent out to proclaim the Kingdom of God today?
Who are the prophets of our day calling people back to the Lord?
We are.
We are a people who are sent out to bring good news to the poor, the sick, and those living in the margins of life.
And we can no longer expect or wait for people to come to the church for spiritual nourishment.
Instead we need to find ways to be the church beyond our walls. We need to be out in our communities, whether it’s standing with Black Lives Matter - like the folks at ACC, or with Mothers Out Front, or reaching out to the police departments in each of our communities to ask how can we help? Finding ways to support immigrant communities through volunteering with groups like Progente to teach English.
This is the reality of the world - there are powers and principalities at work seeking to snuff out the Gospel. We can’t sit back and wait for someone else to make things better. We need to continue doing our part to share the message of God’s love and salvation through Jesus Christ in our words and our deeds. But we can’t do it having an eye focused on some immediate glory.
Our call given in baptism, is to be a people of justice and mercy, even when it’s not popular to do so, but to know at the end of the day, that it’s the next right thing to be done.
AMEN.