Weekly Updates

Good Shepherd Update Friday, May 17th, 2013

Andrea is taking a break from the Update this week, so you’ll notice its a bit shorter and a lot less articulate. I don’t have time to write up a reflection today but I did want to remind you that this coming Sunday is Pentecost…the day we celebrate the birth of the Church, the descent and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Because it’s such an important event we’re taking a break from our series in Mark and we’ll work through Acts 2:1-4 during the sermon time. And adult Christian ed (9:15am) will mark the beginning of a new series on the Person and Work of the Spirit. You can see the description of the class below. Happy Pentecost!

Good Shepherd Update Thursday, May 9th, 2013

Dear Good Shepherd,

10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

17 But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

One thing that makes the old testament so great to read, is it is very easy to relate to if you can deal with the historical context. The patriarchs are talked about as real people with flaws of their own, yet God works good out of so many bad situations, both sin and difficult circumstances.  Abram has to deal with a famine, and move his family to a strange land, away from the land that God had previously promised him. Sarai was handed over to Pharaoh as his wife while she was already married to Abram. I’m sure that was a bit hard on their marriage…yet God blesses Abram still as Pharaoh gave him livestock and servants, and increases his wealth.  How good it is to see God’s blessings amidst life’s ups and downs.

In Christ,
Andrea

Good Shepherd Update Thursday, April 25th, 2013

Dear Good Shepherd,

So I was reading Ephesians chapters two and three and I began to try to sort out the words in it that have become so commonplace in churches that they are used without a thought to their deeper meaning. So in lieu of writing the entire passage down, I thought I would share my train of thought here. It begins with grace. Grace is a free gift from God that we do not deserve or could not acquire on our own. “For by grace we are given faith,” Faith is what makes is possible to be close to Jesus, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”  And to be close to him is to grow to understand who he is; his love. “To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” And here, it seems to me you can make a circle back to God’s love for us, because it is out of his love that he shows us grace in the first place…

In Christ,
Andrea

Good Shepherd Update Thursday, April 18th, 2013

Good Shepherd Update Thursday, April 11th, 2013

Dear Good Shepherd,

It has been such a relief to see flowers, and green leaves and grass finally! The first little crocuses are poking their blossoms up, so exciting to see something besides gray. As I read this passage, it struck me how passive we are as God does all the work, or making us holy, and pouring out blessings, and working good through us. This is such a good thing because if we did not have the power of God on our side, nothing would get done. As we become lazy, weak, and mired down in the busyness of life, I say, thanks be to God it is not only by our own work that the kingdom of God grows!

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
-Ephesians 2:8-10

In Christ,
Andrea

Good Shepherd Update Friday, April 5th, 2013

Dear Good Shepherd,

I hope you are all doing well, and getting ready for spring… I’m sure it’s just around the corner!

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory
– Ephesians 1:11-14

In Christ,
Andrea

Good Shepherd Update Friday, March 29th, 2013

Dear Good Shepherd,

Happy Easter! The Lord is risen! This is such an exciting time of year to be reminded of glory and power of Jesus our King who reigns over a kingdom of life and joy! It is hard sometimes to wait for the return of Christ when sin and death will not even be a thought and the peace between God and his creation can be fully realized. But thanks be to God for his abiding patience for those who still toil under the slavery of sin. In this last stage of God’s plan for redemption it is important to realize how close we are and continue to spread the good news in earnest. I encourage you to use this day to talk about Christ to those who may be celebrating Easter with only bunnies and eggs having no knowledge of what this day truly means for mankind.

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. – 1 Peter 4:7-11

In Christ,
Andrea

Good Shepherd Update Friday, March 22nd, 2013

Dear Good Shepherd,

Happy Palm Sunday! Please consider taking time out of your busy schedules this week to come and nourish your spirits at our Holy Week Services. I have found that for myself, they have been a wonderful way to prepare for Easter and meditate on the full meaning of what Christ has done for us. This is really such a special time in the church calendar year to be a part of with our brothers and sisters in Christ. See the Week at a Glance or go online to the church website under “Weekly Updates” to see the dates, times, and additional info on the services offered.

In Christ,
Andrea

Holy Week Schedule 2013

Holy Week Schedule 2013: So here is the Holy Week Schedule as it stands now….we’ll send a note if there are any changes.

Good Shepherd Update Thursday, March 14th, 2013

Dear Good Shepherd,

We made it to the last Sunday of Lent! I hope you are all deeply leaning on Christ as he reveals your weaknesses to keeping your Lenten discipline. I know that has been my experience…Thanks be to God that he has come to save us from our sins and weaknesses! The spirit of thanksgiving for God’s salvation can also extend to other areas of your life where he has sustained you, delivered you, and carried you. Here in Esther the Jews celebrate corporately in remembrance of such an event in their history.

“20 And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, 22 as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.”  Esther 9:20-22

This year I chose to try to keep from complaining and to try to see something positive instead.  This passage made me think, if I am struggling to see something positive about a situation, I can always remind myself to think back to all the times God has brought me out of difficult situations. Giving glory and praise to God for his faithfulness is certainly better than complaining…

In Christ,
Andrea

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