A dear friend of our family was visiting us recently from out of town.  This friend lost her mom to cancer a little over a year ago.  Her mom died less than a month after my friend found out that she was expecting a baby, and she went through a very difficult pregnancy without the help of a mother whom she needed very much, and, of course, her mom missed ever getting to meet this new little grandson.  It is a heartbreaking story, and given my profession, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that my friend would ask me a question I've been asked a number of times before in some form or another: "My mum was such a good person.  How could such a horrible thing have happened to her?"  

I imagine that people have wondered since people have existed about why lousy things happen to good and decent folks.  And I think that many of us, if we're entirely honest, would like to believe that if we are kind and generous, generally good people, it will somehow inoculate us from harm.  I remember years ago, when an aunt was dying too young of cancer, she said quite vehemently, "I've done every single thing I was supposed to do!  This isn't supposed to happen!  How could God have done this?" A friend recently sent me a quote (and I can't now remember its source) that rang rather disconcertingly true: "Expecting life to treat you well because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian."

The truth is that our lives don't always spool out in a way that we like or even that seems moderately fair.  People we love die too young, we ourselves get sick or hurt, really lovely people end up ensnared by addiction or illness, jobs get lost, kids get lost in one way or another, or any number of bad things happen that make us wonder how we ended up in such straits.  Bad things happen, even to good people.  None of us is spared suffering.  Being human means being mortal, and unlike other animals, knowing that we are mortal.  Indeed, sometimes it seems that the price of loving deeply and well is that we must face the pain of loss. 

Here's another truth, though.  While we will not be spared suffering, we can choose how we will respond.  The apostle Paul wrote that when God is present in our lives, we are equipped for what we must face, whatever that is.  He called it the "fruit of the Spirit," and he described that as "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."  I don't believe that God causes cells to become malignant or brakes to fail or a tornado to turn left instead of right or people to hurt one another.  But I do believe that God loves us and will not leave us, and that we can face adversity with integrity, courage, dignity, and even grace.

And here's another and more important truth: we do not ever have to go it alone.  As members of Christ's body, and as part of a community of faith, we have God, yes, but we also have one another.  We can depend on, as a child I once knew put it, "God with skin on" to hold us, to help us, and to love us.  One of our beloved parishioners recounts a time when someone she loved dearly had died, and people from our church fed her and her family for three whole months while  she and her family grieved.  I have seen people gather at the bedside of another beloved parishioner as she died, offering love and prayer and support not just to her but to one another.  In my own life, I've been loved and held and forgiven by brothers and sisters in Christ too many times to recount.

God will reach for us if we can only reach back.  Help will come if we can only ask for it.  Things may not always work out as we would have wanted.  We are a people of hope, and as Paul put it so beautifully, "[h]ope never disappoints."  That is why we can say, in the words of our prayer book, "[E]ven at the grave, we make our song.  Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

Vida Dutton Scudder was born in India in 1861, the daughter of Congregationalist missionaries.  In the 1870s, she and her mother were confirmed as Episcopalians by Bishop Phillips Brooks.  She studied English literature at Smith College and at Oxford University and taught at Wellesley College.  Her scholarship was matched by her commitment to social justice and to deep spirituality.  While still a young woman, she founded the College Settlements Association, and joined the Society of Christian Socialists.  She also began a lifelong association with the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross, a community committed to living in the world while intentionally practicing intercessory prayer.

In 1893, Scudder took a leave from Wellesley and co-founded Denison House in Boston, a place of sanctuary and aid for poor people and immigrants.  After a stress-induced breakdown and two year recuperation, she returned renewed, and became even more active in church and socialist groups, and she took an active part in founding the Women's Trade Union League.  She founded the Episcopal Church Socialist League and joined the Socialist party; her supporter of the Lawrence, Massachusetts textile workers' strike in 1912 drew great criticism and almost cost her her teaching position.  Though an initial supporter of WWI, by the 1930s, she was a firm pacifist.

After her retirement, she wrote 16 books on religion and on politics.  She wrote, "If prayer is the deep secret creative force that Jesus tells us it is, we should be very busy with it," adding that there is only one sure way "of directly helping on the Kingdom of God.  That way is prayer.  Social intercession may be the mightiest force in the world."  She died on October 9, 1954.

Finally, to commemorate our Centennial we would like to make a gift of a scholarship for a week of summer camp at the Barbara C. Harris Camp, for a child who would otherwise be unable to attend. Donations of all amounts are welcome!  You may bring your check to the dinner or to the church office, or leave it in the plate this Sunday.

Parking can be at a premium at Good Shepherd since we do not have a parking lot and rely on the goodwill of our neighbors for street parking.  During church services, we are allowed to park all along Chute and Woburn Streets, and to use the commuter rail parking spaces as well as town parking spaces.  During the week, parking is forbidden on the side of Chute Street opposite the church, but that rule is not enforced on Sundays during services.  We have two designated handicapped spots on Chute Street.  We ask that folks who do not have difficulty walking consider parking a bit further from the church building even if spaces are available out front, in order to free spaces for folks who might find walking challenging.  You'll get a bit of extra exercise while helping out friends who might need to park close to the church.

On the night of our Centennial Celebration, October 19, we will be allowed to use the commuter and town spaces, and we will be allowed to park on both sides of Chute Street during the party.  Thank you to Susan Buckley for coordinating with Town Hall and for working with them to ensure that we will all be able to attend the celebration!

Thanks to everyone who brought food and treats for animals in need, as part of our annual Feast of St. Francis Blessing of the Animals last Sunday.  The donations will go to food pantries in Reading and in North Reading, which serve people who often have to choose whether they will be able to feed themselves and their human family members or their pets.  Thank you also to all of the folks who brought dogs or cats, photos of beloved animals, stuffed animals, and in one case, hermit crabs for a blessing!  It was wonderful to celebrate all of creation and our beautiful natural world and to honor and give thanks for beloved and loving animal companions.  Thank you especially to Nancy Frazier, who organized and delivered donations, and a special thank you to the folks at Everything but the Dog, who donated treats, food, and even pet shampoo.

Our annual FALL-iday Fair is going to be held Nov 15th and 16th this year.  If you haven't found your niche at Good Shepherd, you might consider volunteering for something new at the fair. Although ALL of the people who help run the fair have fun, and are THRILLED to return year after year, we would dearly love to get new people involved to "grow our family."  Whatever level of "ownership" you want, we've got it! 

• Are you able to stand for an hour and smile? You can be a "greeter/people counter."  Couples welcome.
• Do you like fast-paced? You can work the Friday night jewelry table.  If you don't like to add, don't worry, we use calculators!
• Want responsibility?  How about being in charge of our book table?
• Got muscles or energy?  Help with setup or tear down.
• Play an instrument?  Be part of our "live music."
• Need community service hours? Your help would be appreciated days before, during and after the fair.
• Going shopping in town?  Please put up 10 flyers in planned locations that have done it in years past.
• Bakers...you will be called...
• Like to work with children?  The Sunday School is going to have a table.  Contact Kim Manzelli to help at manzelli2@verizon.net.

The plan for this year is to sell toys in the Bargain Box only, so there will be no special request for used toys...just keep bringing your nice used toys to the BB all year round.  We will have newer books that haven't been in the basement all year, so hold onto those used books until we have a book coordinator.

We are looking for costume jewelry and jewelry boxes for our jewelry table.  Please see Elaine or Alice Webb.

Have new ideas?  I'm listening....

Please call Elaine Grosso at 781-942-1169 or email at ecgrosso@ieee.org to volunteer for anything you saw above.  Call now to get your first choice!

The 228th annual convention of the Diocese of Massachusetts will consider three resolutions on November 2:  climate change, environmentally responsible financial investment, and a request to continue the antiviolence campaign it began a year ago.  Clergy and delegates will also vote on an $8.2-million budget for 2014 and elect deputies to send to the Episcopal Church's triennial General Convention in 2015.  

Our delegates are Linda Hank and Ray Luddy, who along with Rev. Scottie will represent us at the convention.  Ray has posted the detail of the three resolutions on the bulletin board by the front door.  A summary can also be found here.  Please contact any of our representatives with questions or comments.

Friends, as many of you may have seen in this week's Boston Globe, the story of Jorge Fuentes, his family, and the beginnings of our anti-violence campaign were featured on the front page.  You can read it by clicking here.  There also was an article featured on the Globe's website about our Fall Resource Day and keynote speaker, the Rev. Kathleen Adams-Shephard. You can read that article by clicking here.

[Ed. note:  This is a wonderful article about the anti-violence work being led by our diocese in Greater Boston.]

Christine Camper, Kevin Cellucci, George Chace, Alec Dingee, Betty Fraser, Bernice Herrick, Tony Lopes, Lynn McDonald, Rheta McKinley, Elsie Saunders, Eleanor Schott, Bishop Thomas Shaw, Kevin Smith, Ralph Ventola, Stephen Wagner and Charles Weaver.