Hours of Operation:

and

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Next Date:  Friday, August 1

First Baptist Church

493 Main Street, Malden

Volunteers needed:

4pm for food prep

5pm for food service

5:30 - 7pm for clean-up

Bakers also needed.

Contact Tony Lopes for details:  978-710-6927

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peanut butter

jelly

crackers (Ritz, 

Saltines, Club)

pancake mix

pancake syrup

100% juice boxes

100% fruit/vegetable

juice bottles

 

Last week's gospel reading from Matthew is one of a series of parables about gardening.  It's a perfect reading for this time of year, because it is about the proliferation of weeds.  A gardener prepares a field for planting and sows it with wheat, but in the night, an enemy slips in and mixes weeds among the wheat.  That fact isn't discovered until the seeds start to grow, but by then it's too late.  Though the farmer's workers ask if they should try to pull out the weeds, the farmer tells them they should wait; in order to pull out the weeds, they would risk damaging or even destroying the wheat.  Instead, the farmer says to leave it to the reapers to sort out during the harvest. 

 

The gospel writer goes on to have Jesus tell the disciples what the story means, explaining that Jesus is the gardener, while the wheat seeds are the "children of the kingdom" and the weeds are the "children of the evil one."  The reapers, Jesus tells them, are the angels.  For Matthew's original audience, who were being persecuted for their faith, it must have been comforting to be told that the righteous and committed followers of Christ would be rewarded, and those who undermined their mission or hurt them would be sorted out and punished. 

 

We may want with all our hearts to seek and serve Christ, and to be, to use the imagery from the gospel, the good seeds or the wheat.  The problem is that it's sometimes very tempting to think we can or should identify the weeds, and even to presume that we can or even must sort it all out.  Of course, we aren't talking about weeds, we're talking about people.  And I think it's really great news that all we have to do is to do our jobs: to love and to serve God and other people.  We don't get to--or better yet, we don't have to--do the work of angels.  We don't get to decide who is in and who isn't, or to determine whose way of living or being is unrighteous.  Weeding God's kingdom, or God's garden, just isn't a part of our job description.

 

My neighbor has a grown daughter who has some developmental challenges, and who is also very wise; she is also an avid gardener.  When I complimented my neighbor one day last week on her garden, she credited her daughter.  "She just plants what she likes, sows the brightest and happiest seeds and trusts it'll all work."  My neighbor pointed to the proliferating milk weed and chuckled.  "I know it's milk weed, but I'm not allowed to pull it out.  When I told my daughter it's just a weed and not a very pretty one at that, she said, 'That's not how the butterflies see it.  It's not a weed to them.'"   Maybe that's how God gardens as well.  More to the point, perhaps what I'm tempted to see as an ugly weed is really beautiful, important--maybe even crucial--in God's garden.

 

I'm so glad that I am not expected to sort the wheat from the weeds.  I would go even further and say that I'm glad that unlike actual wheat and weeds, people can change.  Such good news.  I don't know about you, but I hate weeding!

The office will be closed for vacation the week of August 4th.  The Rev. Thea Keith-Lucas, Episcopal Chaplain at MIT, will be preaching and celebrating on Sunday, August 3.  

The Rev. Kevin Olds, rector at St. John's in Saugus, will provide pastoral care if there is a need while Rev. Scottie is away.  He can be reached on his cell phone at 908-419-7784 or via email at fatherkevinolds@gmail.com.  Rev. Scottie is also available in an emergency on her cell phone at 978-979-1694.  

Good Shepherd volunteers, led by Kim Manzelli, had a great time last week at B-SAFE with the kids from St. Luke's Chelsea.  A huge thank you to Kim and to everyone who volunteered!  We served lunch on Wednesday and Thursday, and partnered with St. Paul's Lynnfield to host a field trip to the Ipswich River Sanctuary on Friday.  One of the highlights was dancing at the Sanborn Place -- check out the photos below!

We will be organizing the schedule for the 2014-2015 year this summer.  If you are interested or have questions, please call Leslie McGovern (781-438-6389) or email me at mcgovern.r@comcast.net. Not only do the flowers make our worship space more beautiful, but also after the service, the flowers are delivered to parishioners who are ill or unable to come to church.  The lovely arrangements are supplied by The Flower Shoppe of Eric's in Reading and placed on the altar by our Altar Guild.

Are you interested in becoming more involved with El Hogar?  There is a recently-formed group of supporting organizations in the Boston area (mostly but not entirely Episcopal churches) that meets every month or so to exchange information and plan local fundraising and social activities to support El Hogar Ministries, and to act as a liaison back to their church.  We would love to have a representative from Good Shepherd!  You do not need to ever plan to travel to Honduras to fulfill this role.  If you are interested, please contact Eileen Marks in the church office for more information at cgsreading@gmail.com or call 781-944-1572 during office hours.

Have you been reading the news reports about the thousands of unaccompanied children fleeing to the U.S. from Central America? El Hogar works to address the underlying issues of poverty and violence that are creating the emigration crisis.  Click here to read a moving letter on this issue from Rev. Matt Engleby, El Hogar's Executive Director in Honduras.

Do you want to be part of the solution?  One way to help is to sponsor a child.  As a sponsor, you will receive a welcome letter from EHMI, a photo and a personal history of the child, an annual school progress report and a letter from your child once or twice a year.  You can write to your child, and, if you choose to, you can visit (the photo above is of Eileen with Cesar, the child her family sponsors, taken last week at El Hogar).  There are many levels of sponsorship available.  For more information, contact Eileen or visit www.elhogar.org.

Good Shepherd will have a booth for the first time at the Reading Fall Street Faire.   We are looking for volunteers to help staff the booth for a one-hour shift, or help with set up or clean up.  The specific location of the booth will be sent to you when we find out, the week before the Faire.  To sign up, please click here or look for the signup sheet on the bulletin board at church.  For more information on the Faire, please visit their website at www.readingfallstreetfaire.com.  Thank you from The Communications Committee!   (note: that is the last Sunday that our worship service will be at 9:00am)