Coming Up at Good Shepherd

October
Wed. 10/12-
Vestry meeting, 7pm
Thurs. 10/13- Hidden Brook, 7pm
Sat. 10/15- Concert for Kiran, 3pm
Sun. 10/16- Real Meal, 5pm
Tues. 10/18- Care for the Caregiver Session #1, 6-9pm
Wed. 10/19- Seasonal Stories, joint event with WFN, 11am
Thurs. 10/20- Hidden Brook, 7pm
Sun. 10/23- The Rev. Luther Zeigler, Episcopal Chaplain at Harvard, guest presider at CGS
Tues. 10/25- Care for the Caregiver session #2, 6-9 pm
Thurs. 10/27- Hidden Brook, 7pm

November
Tues. 11/1-
Care for the Caregiver session #3, 6-9 pm
Thurs. 11/3-  Hidden Brook,  7pm
Fri.-Sat. 11/4-5- Diocesan Convention @ Cathedral
Sun. 11/6- All Saints' Day, observed
Wed. 11/9-
Vestry Meeting, 7pm
Thurs. 11/10- Hidden Brook, 7pm
Sun. 11/13-
Bishop Shaw's Visitation @ CGS
Wed. 11/16- Alewife Deanery Meeting
Thurs. 11/17-  Hidden Book,  7pm
Thurs. 11/23- Thanksgiving Eve ecumenical service, Armenian Memorial Church
Sun. 11/27- Advent 1 (Jerusalem Marketplace)

December
Thurs. 12/1-
Hidden Brook, 7pm
Sat. 12/3- Alewife Deanery Alternative Xmas Fair, St. James's, Cambridge
Sun. 12/4- Advent 2 (Jerusalem Marketplace)
Sun. 12/4- Advent Lessons & Carols @ Messiah, 4 pm
Tues. 12/6-
Blue Christmas- tentative date
Wed. 12/7-Make-a-Gift, joint event with WFN (morning)
Wed. 12/7-
Vestry Meeting, 7pm
Thurs. 12/8- Hidden Brook, 7pm
Sun. 12/11-  Advent 3 (Jerusalem Marketplace)
Thurs. 12/15- Hidden Brook, 7pm
Sun. 12/18- Advent 4 (Jerusalem Marketplace)
Sat. 12/24- Christmas Eve, 7pm (with choir)
Sun. 12/25- Christmas Day, 10am (simple celebration)

January
Sun. 1/1/12-
Lessons and Carols

Two Special Hidden Brook Services in October

On October 6 at 7 pm Hidden Brook will celebrate the Feast of St. Francis with a Blessing of the Animals. Bring your pet or service animal to be blessed. You may also bring a memento of a departed animal. Our service will make use of prayers, stories, and legends from the life of St. Francis.

On October 13 at 7 pm Hidden Brook will address the problem of unemployment as it affects individuals, families, and society. Following the service there will be an opportunity for networking and support.

The Hidden Brook service incorporates candlelight, prayer, chant and silence in an effort to be closer to God. Please join us.


 

Green Deacon

 

 

Six years ago I had an "Aha" moment during a religious ceremony celebrating the evolution of our galaxy and planet Earth. That moment came when I understood that 375 million years ago seed baring plants evolved.  This gift of seeds allowed for an explosion of life forms including hominids. I thought, "Wow,  seeds are such a simple thing that I have taken for granted. I had no idea they were so important." "And God saw that it was good."

 

The Herman's Gardens seed envelope says, "Why save beans? Beans are one of the easiest ways to turn gardeners into seed savers: the beautiful shapes, colors and patterns of the seeds are enough to entice any gardener."

Believe it or not, I have been gardening for over 50 years and I never thought to save seeds until I started working in the schoolyard gardens. My colleagues half my age had studied farming and knew the importance of saving seeds.

My first adventure of seed saving with kids was collecting marigold seeds, because the bright orange blooms are beautiful at this time of year and they are easy to harvest on a dry day.  A Montessori teacher took all the seeds we had collected and taught her kindergarteners to count all the marigold seeds. Amazing how a lot of groups of ten adds up; they counted 11,264 marigold seeds! Think of how much money you could save by using your own seeds.  

This winter Nichols Avenue Community Garden received 135 seed packets from Herman's Gardens.

Willow Park Learning Center kids planted Herman's Lazy Housewife beans in July, and we saved the seeds this week. This type of bean was introduced around 1810 and was the first snap bean that did not need to have its string removed.

I started seedlings of Beam's Yellow Pear tomatoes using children's milk cartons. The seedlings were planted in many plots at the garden including Plot 16, the Good Shepherd plot.

This past Sunday our CGS children harvested these tasty tomatoes as well as marigold seeds so we can save their seeds and pass those seeds on to new gardeners. We also planted some seeds for cooler weather: spinach, lettuce, Swiss chard, and garlic.

I hope that our children will also have "aha" moments in the garden and feel that God is full of goodness.

 

 

 

Ministry Links
Good Shepherd's Website
The Daily Office

 
Rejoice!
News from Church of the Good Shepherd, Watertown MA
October 2011

 

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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and true. 

      -Romans 12:2

 

 

While you read this message, I will be at Credo, an 8-day retreat for Episcopal clergy. Credo is an opportunity for ordained leaders to reflect on their spiritual, physical, financial, and relational health and to listen deeply to how God is calling them to use their skills and resources as church leaders. It is an invitation to let God transform us by the renewal of our minds.

  

This transformation Credo offers has two parts: education and repentence. Most of the education happens before the retreat begins. I and the 29 other participants in this Credo had to do a lot of self-assessment exercises in the months leading up to the retreat: get our credit reports, look at our investments and household budgets, get a physical, and ask for feedback from eight people who are affected by our ministry. Several of the self-assessment surveys had series of questions that went something like this:

  

* I have thought about taking steps to improve my health in the year ahead (T/F).

* I have a plan for improving my health in the year ahead. (T/F)

* I am confident in my ability to follow through with my health plan. (T/F)

  

I was struck by how often I answered "True" to the questions that started "I have thought about...." and how often I answered "False" to the question that started "I have a plan for...." And this is where the repentance kicks in!

 

God has blessed each of us with so much. Just having the capacity to read this article is a blessing. The ability to listen, to laugh, a home to enjoy, and church community through which to be comforted and challenged, food on the table, etc. We are called to steward our time, our talent, and our treasure well, for the glory of God, and for the amazing work of Love. How well do we steward these gifts? In the crush of daily life, it's so easy to let so much slide, put things off, operate without much intention. 

  

Preparing for Credo helped me to see the ways in which I am not intentionally and faithfully stewarding all that I have been entrusted with. Credo calls me to repent: to amend my life by thoughtfully changing habits, setting goals, and finding the support I need to be confident that I can follow through. It encourages me to do this work so that I can thrive, my ministry with you can thrive, and God's mission can thrive. And so as I step on the plane to go to the retreat, I am eager for the advice, resources, and time to chart my course going forward.

  

In the month ahead, our parish will be journeying together through Stewardship Season. I think this season, like Credo, also offers a holy invitation to transformation through the renewal of our minds. It calls us not to be conformed to the fearfulness, tight-fistedness and consumerism of this world but to be educated about the call to mission and to amend our personal giving habits in order to unite for the work of God's love. I look forward to doing this work together with you this year.

  

Please pray for me while I am at Credo, as I "discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and true."

 

-The Rev. Amy McCreath

 

Stewardship 2012
 

Tom Nutt-Powell, a member of All Saints Brookline, once said, "Stewardship is everything that follows after we say 'yes' to God."  All Christians at all times are called to lives in which their use of time, treasure, and talent shows forth their trust in and thankfulness to God. Stewardship Season is a slice of time in which we put particular focus on this call and prepare to make a pledge to support God's mission as our parish is carrying it out.

 

Our parish is at a critical time in its embrace of new possibilities for ministry and its welcome of new people who want to join us in this ministry.  It is vital that everyone in our congregation participate in the prayer, conversation, education, and pledging that Stewardship Season invites.  Our Season will begin October 23rd and will culminate with a festive in-gathering brunch on November 6th (when, fittingly, we also celebrate All Saints' Day!).

 

Through August of this year, Good Shepherd is running a deficit of about $30,000.  Compared to our budget for the year, this is mostly an income problem rather than an expense problem-- expenses have just about kept on track with our projections of about $60,000 each for pledge income and property income. It looks like we will actually end up with about $50,000 in pledge income and $40,000 in property income. On the property side we have done several things including renting out Rand, increasing rents, and increasing the number of users to increase property income in the new year. On the pledge side we count on parishioners to increase pledge income. If you already pledge, please increase your pledge. If you do not yet pledge, please fill out a pledge card during the upcoming stewardship season  and give of your time, talent, and treasure to support Good Shepherd and its ministries.

 

Our Stewardship Co-Chairs this year are Carol Roberts and Charlie Bering. You will be hearing more from them in the weeks ahead as they share their stories, and they will be creating opportunities for you to share your stories, too. What good gifts has God given you? For what are you grateful? How does this parish sustain and challenge you? How can you offer your "first fruits" to God, even in a time of economic anxiety? We invite you to begin reflecting on these questions.

 

"I welcome the opportunity to continue the building up of The Church of the Good Shepherd as God's House ... our Church Home. It appears that God's Spirit is definitely moving in this parish and part of stewardship is finding how our mission and God's mission are co-creating something that bears fruit for others as well as ourselves.  It will be a spiritual journey of gratitude and giving that we take together and I look forward to it."   -Carol Roberts

From the House of Bishops
 "We, your bishops, believe these words of Jeremiah describe these times and call us to repentance as we face the unfolding environmental crisis of the earth:

 How long will the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither? For the wickedness of those who live in it the animals and the birds are swept away, and because people said, "He is blind to our ways." (Jeremiah 12:4)

The mounting urgency of our environmental crisis challenges us at this time to confess "our self-indulgent appetites and ways," "our waste and pollution of God's creation,' and "our lack of concern for those who come after us" (Ash Wednesday Liturgy, Book of Common Prayer, p.268). It also challenges us to amend our lives and to work for environmental justice and for more environmentally sustainable practices.

Christians cannot be indifferent to global warming, pollution, natural resource depletion, species extinctions, and habitat destruction, all of which threaten life on our planet.  Because so many of these threats are driven by greed, we must also actively seek to create more compassionate and sustainable economies that support the well-being of all God's creation."

Click here to read the rest of the House of Bishops' pastoral teaching on the environment.
 
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