What Martin Luther King, Jr. Can Teach Us About Race and Equity in the Suburbs
MLK event Cosponsored by Good Shepherd!
Church of the Good Shepherd is cosponsoring this program with other local churches and Congregation Beth Elohim on January 18 from 7:00 to 9:00pm. The Zoom event requires prior registration. Click here for more information and to register.
Talking to Kids about Race and Racism: A Conversation with Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum
Community Offering from the Discovery Museum!
Wednesday January 27, 2021
7:00 to 8:30pm
This is part of the Discovery Museum Virtual Speaker Series. Preregistration is required. For more information click here.
Joint statement following hate incident at school committee meeting
Acton-Boxborough clergy members issue statement following hate incident.
The Beacon: Acton's Church of the Good Shepherd welcomes new rector
Patty Mahoney of The Beacon speaks with Rev. Eleanor Applewhite Terry about her call to Good Shepherd.
Sunday Adult Formation
Study Advent Scripture a different way!
African Bible Study Technique
The Adult Ed after the Sunday morning Zoom service will regather for the four Sundays of Advent, starting this Sunday November 29. Using the simple African Bible Study technique, Jessie Panek will lead us as we share our reactions and insights into the Gospel reading (and probably therefore also the sermon) we have just heard earlier. We will start shortly after the Zoom service ends, at 11:00am.
The Zoom link for the Adult Ed gathering will be separate from that for the service.
November 19 Massachusetts Bishops' Pastoral Message
Pre-consecrated Communion hosts are available for you to pick up at church this week.
Dear Good Shepherd family,
As expected, our Bishops in Massachusetts have released new guidelines about worship given the increase of COVID-19 cases in our Commonwealth. Please read their Pastoral Letter by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.
For us at the Church of the Good Shepherd, these new guidelines make it clear that we will not be returning to in-person, indoor worship anytime soon. While anticipated, this decision is also a disappointment. I expect many of us had hoped there might be a way to safely return to indoor worship as the weather gets colder and the sacred seasons of Advent and Christmas approach. As the newest member of our parish family, I share your desire to experience worship with you all in person- the way we are meant to be together as a worshipping community of faith. I long to see your faces, to meet you in person, to sing and pray, and break bread together, and experience your renowned hospitality and fellowship.
Yet, we are called to be a "caring community of faith" and that means we are to care for one another in body, as well as in spirit. Caring for our health and safety in the midst of this pandemic is how we seek and serve Christ in one another. So we will continue to wear our masks, socially distance ourselves, and provide as many ways as we can to remain connected to one another through worship, outreach, pastoral care, Christian formation and fellowship, even while apart.
The Wardens, staff, Regathering Team and I will be in conversation over the next weeks about upcoming plans for worship in Advent and Christmastide. Please be patient and flexible as we seek to provide worship and holiday opportunities that are safe, beautiful and faithful to our love for another and to our God in these challenging and sacred times.
This Sunday, we will again hold an outdoor service of Holy Eucharist in the parking lot, and live-streamed on Zoom. Our current plans are within the guidelines set by the Bishops, so we will be able to hold in-person, outdoor worship as planned this week. I look forward to welcoming back Andy McMahon, from the Lowell Transitional Living Center, who will be joining us via Zoom.
Blessings,
Ellie+
LOWELL TRANSITIONAL LIVING CENTER
Don’t Forget to make Your “Undies Sunday” Contributions on November 22!
Lowell Transitional Living Center
“Whatsoever You Do to the Least of My Brothers You Do unto Me”
– Matthew 25:31-46
Sunday November 22
We will be joined by Andy McMahon, Director of the Lowell Transitional Center
Andy will present an overview of the conditions at the Center. As a follow up to his visit last year, he will outline the specific challenges the LTLC faces during the coming winter months.
As most of you know, we have supported the Lowell Transitional Living Center (LTLC) for many years. Each year we gather and send new underwear, socks, undershirts, scarves, and hats to the LTLC. We’ve also had fundraisers for specific items such as pillows, blankets, cots, and a commercial washer machine.
Due to the Pandemic, we will be asking for “virtual donations” this year. If you would like to support this ministry we ask you chose a donation ( listed below) and send a check directly the the Church of the Good Shepherd. Please write LTLC in the memo on your check.
I also encourage you to send a card ( or cards if you’d like to write/make more than one) with words of encouragement to the staff and residents along with your donation.
Here are the donation options:
$10.00 - socks, underwear, undershirts scarves, hats
$20.00- pillows
$50.00 - blankets
$100.00 - cots
(If you’d prefer you can also send checks/gift cards for items that are not on the list above. )
In closing, here is my last email from Andy on 10/31:
“Thank you and everyone else at the Church for your continued support of LTLC's mission to help the homeless. You are certainly correct about Winter Bed needs....cots, blankets and pillows are great and always in need. As far as drives go...anything warm..... Gift cards to places like Market Basket or the Dollar Store or similar stores are great too. Checks are fine. Whatever makes the most sense for folks is perfect. This Winter will likely prove to be the most challenging yet. It is comforting to know that we are not alone as we head into the "great unknown"
Andy”
I thank you all for your past generosity and hope that in this very difficult time, you will help sustain this ministry.
Helene Gagliano
SOLIDARITY IN ACTION: UNDERSTANDING THE CENTRAL AMERICAN REFUGEE CRISIS
Would you like to learn more about refugees and asylum seekers?
Solidarity in Action: Understanding the Central American Refugee Crisis
The United States has long been the main destination for Central American migrants people seeking asylum, but in recent years, the rights of migrants and refugees have been questioned in an increasingly divisive political context. How do we talk about migration, refugees, and asylum seekers? Who defends and promotes their rights?
Join Solidarity in Action, an online workshop organized by The Church of the Good Shepherd, Acton and facilitated by Cristosal Global School to learn about the international and U.S. laws regarding refugees and asylum seekers. With a focus on the Central American refugee crisis.
Join us for an exciting opportunity to learn more about the rules that guide immigration for refugees and asylum seekers and to reflect upon our response as Christians in an interactive online workshop led by Cristosal experts Jeanne Rikkers, Elizabeth Hawkins, and Diego Jones.
When: December 5 and 12 7:00 – 9:00pm.
Registration is free and limited. It will be open exclusively to CGS through this Wednesday November 25. Then it will open to the diocese and neighboring faith communities.
To register click here.
For more information click on More Information
Join the CGS Gratitude Challenge 2020
What are you thankful for and how do you show it? Join the CGS gratitude challenge this month.
Challenge: Show gratitude for 20 different things.
It’s a fact that expressing gratitude not only has a positive effect on your mood, but it also improves your relationships and your overall health! Join the Church School in this fun gratitude challenge.
What things can I show gratitude for?
Download this calendar for ideas (but you can also come up with your own).
What ways?
That part is up to you, but here are some suggestions:
Write a card
Give a smile or hug
Take a walk
Attend a prayer service
Create something
Talk about it
Give your time
Look
Listen
Enjoy
Reward
Check off 20 gratitude topics before the end of November and win a prize!
Record your efforts in any way you like and share with Taryn, Church School Coordinator at Church of the Good Shepherd. The kind of prize will remain a mystery. Along the way, though, you will earn obvious other types of rewards.
The November 2020 issue of the Shepherd's Staff
Read the latest issue of the Shepherd’s Staff with an important survey about winter worship, photos from our busy fall, major building updates, and much more.
A Word from the Fold
November 2020 edition of the Shepherd’s Staff
Dear Good Shepherd friends,
I am so delighted to be with you! My first weeks have been a lovely and busy whirlwind of the Spirit as I am blown about from one virtual gathering to another. I have been so heartened to discover a community very much alive and active in spite of the pandemic. Despite not being able to gather regularly in-person, you have found a way to carry on many cherished activities virtually. It has been a joy to join so many of you in these virtual experiences—Wednesday Morning Prayer, Virtual Lunch, Thursday Compline, Bible Study, and Book Group.
Sunday morning worship continues to be a highlight of the week for me—and I hope for you, too. While not the way we would normally gather, I am impressed by your faithful and creative efforts to provide worship that is prayerful, interactive, and inclusive of all who join us, regardless of whether in person or online. Thank you for your dedication and patience as we work to plan worship for the coming winter months, including the beautiful and festive seasons of Advent and Christmas. Stay tuned!
I write this on Tuesday, November 3, Election Day. Obviously, there are no results to reflect upon; no reaction yet to how our divided nation will respond. Yet, I am very aware that this election feels very different from those I have experienced before. The stakes feel higher; the divisions more extreme. Friends have complained of insomnia leading up to the election. The anxiety is palpable. Surely, you feel it, too.
I found great comfort in the National Service for Healing and Wholeness this past Sunday afternoon that the Episcopal Church broadcast. It is still available online for those that might have missed it. Bishop Michael Curry’s sermon was particularly wonderful and a balm to my wearied soul. I commend it to you. He spoke of the importance of values—Christian values, American values, values that are at the core of our Scriptures, at the core of Jesus’s teachings, at the core of our faithful community here at Good Shepherd. Here is an excerpt:
Our ideals, values, principles and dreams of beloved community matter. They matter because they drive us beyond service of self alone, to commitment to the greater good of us all. They matter because they give us an actual picture of God’s reign of love, and a reason to struggle and make it real. They matter to our lives as people of faith. They matter to our life in civil society. They matter to our life as a nation and as a world. Our values matter! …
We don’t think of it this way very often but love for each other is a value on which our democracy depends. On the Great Seal of the United States, above the bald eagle are banners on which the Latin words, e pluribus unum are written. Those words, e pluribus unum, literally mean, “one out of many.” One nation from many diverse people.
But do you know where those words come from? They come from the writings of Cicero who lived during the time of the Roman Republic. Cicero said, “When each person loves the other as much as himself, it makes one out of many.” Cicero who gave us those words said that love for each other is the way to make e pluribus unum real. Jesus of Nazareth taught us that. Moses taught us that. America, listen to Cicero, Jesus, Moses. Love is the way to make e pluribus unum real. Love is the way to be America for real.
Amen, Bishop. Amen. We don’t seem to talk much about values these days. Of the importance of them to our lives, our families, our society. Perhaps one of the unfortunate consequences of falling church attendance and an over-emphasis upon those great American ideals of personal independence, freedom and liberty is that we have lost sight of the collective values that bind us together. Values like love for neighbor, the importance of community, the grace of forgiveness, the strength in diversity, and responsibility for the least of those among us.
I pray that as we walk together through these days of pandemic and election, and on into Advent and Christmas, we may find comfort and joy and strength in the things that bind us together, rather than those things which would drive us apart. I look forward to getting to know you all in the days and weeks to come.
Grace and Peace,
Ellie+