When we talk about "church," we mean much more than the building, the gardens, even the sanctuary where we worship.  In the truest sense, our church is not a building at all. We are Church of the Good Shepherd.  We are celebrating our centennial this year; we became a congregation in 1913; our building, however, is newer than that.  When Church of the Good Shepherd became a church, the congregation met in rented space as they raised money to buy the property and build our church building.  The office and lounge space were added still later.  And I have no doubt that if our building ceased to exist, our parish family would find some way to stay together and to worship together as a community. 

I know that our church is not a building.  But the thing is, our building and our grounds matter--a lot.  The way we care for our sacred space, our classrooms, the places where we gather for learning or fellowship or meetings, the places where we share meals and where we make music, makes a tangible and very visible statement about our health.  The building itself and areas that the public sees even before they walk in the door are statements about our ability to offer hospitality and welcome. 

Our church building is loved, and that is evident.  In the last few years, we have made great strides in making our church building and grounds look cared for and welcoming.  I know that in the years before I became your rector, people stepped up and repaired our fence, re-landscaped the gardens, replaced the signs outside, and made improvements and repairs in the sanctuary and sacristy.  I have also heard that a dedicated group of volunteers did a huge amount of work in clearing out clutter--removing truckloads of moldering books and old robes and accumulated miscellany.  The parish also completed a big project in repairing and preserving our gorgeous stained glass windows.  Volunteers of all ages do a huge amount of work each week, caring for our building.  Just yesterday, for instance, I marveled at the dedication of Karen Ward, who spent over five hours cleaning out our upstairs kitchen, clearing out junk, folding linens, scrubbing every surface, and wiping all with sweet-smelling peppermint oil.  Dave McDonald and Brenda Woodbury came in to give the church a good cleaning.  And that was just yesterday's example; there are countless others.

We now have a real opportunity to make improvements and repairs to our building and grounds that will greatly enhance our community life and worship and that will enable us to better welcome and invite newcomers.  Our parish is celebrating our centennial by launching a capital campaign, the first in over fifty years.  Some of the projects we hope to complete are necessary in order to keep our building sound and healthy; all are needed.  Some of the projects will help us to be better stewards of the environment.

I invite each of us to look at our building and grounds with the eyes of a newcomer or visitor.  What do the crumbling sidewalks say to those who are unsteady on their feet?  As you walk into the sanctuary and see the back wall with bubbling paint and plaster, do you worry about how sound the structure is?  Walk up to the organ.  Notice the broken stops collected in the bowl on top of the console.  What would it be like if we no longer were able to have organ music in our worship?  If you were to visit our boiler room and look at our elderly oil burner, or if you were to notice that the old windows in the lounge were leaking cold air, would you think we were being good environmental stewards?  If you were visiting the office to get information about the church, what would you think as you walked down the hall with its old wallpaper and into the office?  What about the lounge?  Is the furniture comfortable and the space inviting?  What about the wallpaper and curtains, the cracking drywall?

The good news is that our building is loved, and is generally sound.  Our building also isn't so big or so grand that these needed repairs and improvements are out of reach.  The great news is that together we can do this.  With strong and dedicated parish leadership, talented volunteers, and a combination of fundraising and "sweat equity," we can make our church an even more beautiful and welcoming place.  We can make our building a reflection of our spiritual and community health, a place that welcomes and nurtures new life.

When Oscar Romero became bishop of El Salvador, liberation theologians and political liberals distrusted him.  Conservatives embraced him, expecting him to take his place as a "prince of the church," and to help to maintain the status quo.  After his appointment as Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977, however, Romero underwent a sort of conversion, and he began to protest his government's indifference to the poor, injustice to political protesters, and its policy of torture and murder of its citizens. He became a courageous and very vocal critic of the government, and he begged his own church to take a stand against the oppression in El Salvador.  He traveled to the U.S. to beg the government to stop military aid to the government of El Salvador; that request was ignored, and his own church tried to silence liberation theologians, whom church leaders feared were embracing socialism.

On March 24, 1980, while celebrating the Eucharist, Romero was assassinated.  Soldiers shot him to death as he raised the consecrated bread and wine and offered Christ's body and blood to the people.  Only the day before, Romero had preached a sermon in the Cathedral in which he begged soldiers to disobey orders that called upon them to violate what they knew were basic human rights.  He predicted, "A bishop will die, but the Church of God which is the people will never perish."  That same year, about nine months after Archbishop Romero was killed, four nuns were raped and murdered; it is generally believed by the army.  In 1989, nine Jesuit priests were murdered.  Thousands of El Salvadoran protesters were killed or simply disappeared.

Please sign up to participate in the prayer vigil from Good Friday night until the Easter Vigil on Saturday.  The signup sheet is on the bulletin board outside the sanctuary.

Palm Sunday, 24 March

8:00am -- Palm Blessing & Holy Eucharist

10:00am -- Palm Blessing & Holy Eucharist

Maundy Thursday, 28 March

7:00pm --  Choral Eucharist with foot washing and stripping of the altar

Good Friday, 29 March

12:15pm -- Community Good Friday Service

First Congregational Church, 25 Woburn St., Reading

   and

7:00pm -- Good Friday Liturgy and Communion from the Reserve Sacrament

Holy Saturday, 30 March

7:00pm   The Great Vigil of Easter, at Church of the Good Shepherd with Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Wakefield, followed by a reception in the Lounge

Easter Day, 31 March

8:00am -- Holy Eucharist, Rite I

10:00am -- Festival Eucharist

Six of our young people will be confirmed at The Cathedral in Boston on June 1.  We will celebrate our young people at our parish on June 2.  Please keep all of these beloved parishioners in your prayers as they continue to prepare to be confirmed.  Our confirmands are: Dan Coveney, John Fitzgerald, Sara Ines, Greg Landry, Holly Manzelli, and Rachel Manzelli.

Children in grades one through three are invited to participate in a special class that will explore the Sacrament of Holy Communion.  The class will be taught for four Sundays during Eastertide, during our church school time.  Some of the participants in the class will receive the Eucharist for the first time on Pentecost, and we will celebrate all of the participants that Sunday. 

Chuck and Ginny Barthel, Dorothy Brown, Christine Camper, George Chace, Betty Fraser, Gloria Graves, Bernice Herrick, Allan Johnson, Deborah Katt-Lloyd, Lisa Kimball, Robert Knoettner, Mary Anna Krause, Tony Lopes, Carole Lutton, Maureen Manzelli, Jim McCallum, Lynn McDonald, Rheta C. McKinley, Sara O'Brien, Rhonda O'Keefe, John Parsons, Carolyn Poor, Eleanor Schott, Kevin Smith, Anita Webb and Ashley Westerman.