CGS Announcements Archive

Our Children's Christmas Pageant--December 13 at 5pm!

Bringing the Message of Hope & Love!

The children of Good Shepherd will celebrate Advent with their annual Christmas Pageant at 5pm on Sunday, December 13, in our sanctuary. Over 70 children have signed up to participate! Come see a heavenly host of angels, a throng of shepherds, a thundering heard of sheep and cows. Mary, Joseph, the census taker, inn keepers, shepherds, wisemen and many, many more will share the Christmas message with us. Including the appearance of the angels bringing words of hope and love to all.  You won't want to miss a moment of it!

♦ Celebrate Parish Life Together

♦ Sing Carols & Holiday Tunes

♦ Bring an ornament & help decorate the BIG Christmas Tree

♦ Bring your favorite holiday dish to share at the potluck dinner

♦ Return your items for the St. Nicholas Tree

The Rev. Dr. Robert C. SawyerThe Second and Third Sundays of Advent will be special days for us at Good Shepherd.  On December 6 we will have as our guest preacher, The Very Rev. Dr. Mongezi Guma, Dean of Holy Cross Cathedral in Gaborone, Botswana.  I have had the pleasure of having Dean Guma as a guest at my home during this past week and enjoyed the opportunity of getting to know him and talking about the mission and ministry of the Cathedral and how we can learn from and share with each other.  He will preach at our 10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist as well as speak with us at a forum at 9:15 a.m. in Shepherd's Hall.  I hope you will plan to join us as we welcome Dean Guma.

Later that afternoon, we will offer our second service of Evensong in the Church at 5 p.m.  This reflective service offers a wonderful opportunity to spend some time in silence and prayer in the midst of this hectic time of the year. 

Sunday, December 13 will be an almost non-stop day for many of us.  After the 8 a.m. Eucharist, we will convene our Annual Congregational Meeting in Shepherd's Hall.  At this important time of our parish's life, all of us need to make the effort to be a part of the Annual Meeting.  Come and help to elect new members to the Vestry and hear about our vision for ministry.  There will be a movie provided for our younger children.  Following the Annual Meeting we will celebrate the Holy Eucharist at 10:30 a.m.

Then at 5 p.m. our annual Christmas Pageant will take place in the Nave.  This has always been one of my favorite worship experiences as our children present the great story of Christmas in their own special way.  After the pageant, our all Parish Christmas Party will begin in Shepherd's Hall.

Come and join us and experience the dynamic life of Good Shepherd.

WIHN, a service organization of many Wake County churches and synagogues, provides shelter for families with children made homeless by loss of employment or exigencies such as unforeseen medical expenses.  This is a transitional service lasting until a permanent solution is obtained.   The Vestry has expressed an interest in having our parish participate in some way in this important work.   Each participating church assumes this duty for one or more weeks during the year.  Our neighboring congregation at First Presbyterian Church houses three to four families (some 12-14 individuals in all) four times a year for a week at its facilities.  For that week First Presbyterian houses the families and provides a daily evening meal and transportation to and from the WIHN headquarters in Raleigh.  Male and female congregation members stay overnight with the families (Some of you may have done something similar with the Ark Shelter in the past.)     We can help in this important work by providing some man and woman power.  First Presbyterian representatives will make a presentation on January 10^th to the Good Shepherd Sunday School classes so that we can decide at what level we would like to help in this effort.  Meanwhile, First Presbyterian will host WIHN families during the second week of December (12/13-12/20).  Our neighboring congregation is soliciting help in providing hospitality during that week.  This would be an excellent opportunity for those interested to "get their feet wet" with this project.  If you wish to learn more about WIHN please see http://www.wihn.org/.  If you would like to help First Presbyterian in December by providing an evening meal, spending a little time with the children, helping with the transportation, or staying with the families overnight at the Church facilities, please contact Marguerite Sullivan.

The Amazing Grace Supper Club will meet at the home of Fyl Thompson on Saturday, December 12, at 6:30pm.  Please bring a side dish, salad, or dessert to share. A ham will be provided. Be sure to RSVP to Fyl, and come be merry!

From James Deal, Habitat Volunteer Coordinator for CGS

Thanks to all of you for being a part of this wonderful project and especially to those of you who participated in our first build day in October. Our second build day will be on Saturday, December 12, 2009, at 4005 Green Jacket Trail (lot #14), Augusta Crossing. So far we only have one volunteer for this day. I know things are busy this time of year, but we really need your help to keep the project on schedule. Please join us if you can. No experience is required! You'll be shown what to do and given tasks appropriate to your skill level. When construction begins, anyone on site must be 16 or older. Voluteers 16 or 17 need a signed consent/waiver form from their parents. Hope to see you at the next workday!

Volunteer sign-up is on-line. When you register, choose Apostle Build 2009-Church of the Good Shepherd. If you want to work the full day be sure to sign up for both the morning and afternoon.

We'll gather for a potluck meal on December 11 at 6:30pm at Van and Gigi Giersch's house. Our meal theme is Holiday/Mexican. It should make for an interesting culinary experience! Please let Gig and Van know if you can attend and what you plan to bring for the table. Everyone is cordially invited! The eveining's discussion will focus on intercessory prayer with opportunities for questions, insights, opinions, experiences, and offering prayers for others. If you haven't attended before, we hope you can join us. You will be warmly welcomed!

Dean GumaOn Sunday, December 6, 2009, The Church of the Good Shepherd is delighted to have the opportunity of hosting The Very Rev. Dr. Mongezi Guma, Dean of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Gaborone, Botwana, our companion diocese.  We invite you to join us for our Sunday Eucharist at 10:30am and at 9:15am in Shepherd's Hall during the Sunday School hour as we spend the morning with Dean Guma. Thank you to Serve One Another for providing refreshments for this open class with Dean Guma. Please join us, won't you?

Dean Guma read Theology at St. Paul's College, Federal Theological Seminary Alice to train for the Anglican Ministry. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Burnett on February 13, 1977 at Holy Cross Church Nyanga. After serving as Rector of St. Paul's Bethal in the Diocese of Johannesburg, he came to the United States in 1980 to study at Chicago Theological Seminary and Boston University. In 1990 he took up a teaching position as an Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Ethics at St. Augustine's College here in Raleigh. In 1995 he returned to South Africa where he accepted a position as the Direcotr of Development with the South African Council of Churches. Since 2004, Dr. Guma has been the Chairperson of the Constitutional Body, The Commission for the Promotion and the Protection of the Rights of Culture, Religious and Linguistic Communities--dealing with issues of diversity, heritage and identity.  As our companion dioceses' website states, Dean Guma's career "has been characterized by a fundamental commitment to the human condition: addressing indifference to human problems. The challenge has always been to foster a loving, caring and nuturing Church, which enriches our lives and enables us to fly, like an eagle, through the storms of life." Learn more about The Anglican Diocese of Botswana in the Church of the Province of Central Africa here.

This is an wonderful time of celebration for the family of Paul and Lucille Wetmore.  Paul celebrates his 90th birthday on November 30, 2009. Then Paul and Lucille will celebrate their 68th Wedding Anniversary on December 6, 2009. They were married at the Church of the Good Shepherd in the All Saints Chapel the day before Pearl Harbor in 1941.  Congratulations, Paul and Lucille!

How does one "follow Jesus unreservedly?" Join us as we explore this question alongside contemporary theologian and spiritual leader Henri Nouwen in his book The Road to Daybreak. In the book, Nouwen reflects on his first year living in a L'Arche community where disabled and non-disabled people live, learn and pray together. Our Parish Intern, Joslyn Ogden Schaefer, is our guide for this study. We plan to meet after the 10:30am Eucharist on November 29th on the porch of Shepherd's Hall.

Candle Collection for L'Arché Community

Thank you to everyone who collected candles for our journey. These extra and partially used candles were donated to the L'Arché community in Lynchburg, VA, which the class visited on November 21.  Those living in this community will melt them down to create new candles which they are able to sell for the benefit of the community.

From The Rev. Dr. Robert C. Sawyer

With the coming of the Season of Advent, the pace of the world seems to quicken.  People begin to rush from place to place going to functions, parties, and searching for the perfect Christmas gifts for the people we love. While I have to admit that I enjoy the hectic pace of this time of the year and the sense of excitement that is in the air, I also find the need to pull back and spend some time in personal prayer and reflection on the true meaning of these days from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  Doing this helps me to prepare my life anew to experience the joy of the Feast of the Incarnation.

Advent offers us an opportunity for this season to be a true time of preparation.  Take some time to read and engage the lessons appointed for each Sunday in Advent.  You might even want to write down your reflections as a form of prayer.  Also pray for our parish and its mission and ministry as we prepare to move into 2010. Along with all of this make a commitment to be in Church on these four Sundays prior to Christmas Eve.  It is through our worship that our relationship with our Lord is strengthened and our lives are empowered for ministry in the world.

My prayer is that each of you will have a Blessed Thanksgiving Day and that you will be with us in Church on The First Sunday of Advent