Catechesis of the Good Shepherd: “Level 4”
Sunday, April 19, 9:00 a.m.
Last Sunday we looked at the Library we call the Bible, browsing through the “stacks” to decide what we’d like to read. We settled on the History Books dealing with the Kings of Israel. We began with the story of Samuel. A good question was asked that we didn’t explore very deeply, “How did God talk to Samuel?” So this week we’ll go back into that and explore, exactly, how does God talk to people anyway and if he did what would he say, and how we know it’s actually him?
Coffee Hour for May and June
The Sign Up Sheet for Coffee hour for May and June will be outside Church this Sunday. Please sign up when you get your coffee.
Coffee Hour Needs for the Rest of April
Sunday April 26: 7:45 & 10:15 a.m.
You can email the office to sign up for any of these Sundays.
Vote Early, Vote Often: Mission Giving
One of the ways Church of the Angels does Outreach is to open our facilities for use by Hillsides Home for Children, a Women’s AA meeting, rehearsal space for the Jouyssance Early Music Ensemble, a community writing class, the San Rafael Neighborhood Association, and other community groups as requested and when we are able. The other use of the building is for a Polling Place for both National and Local Elections. We hosted the polling place for the City of Pasadena Elections last month, and Tuesday April 21, the polls will be back for the run off election for Mayor of Pasadena. Film at 11.
How’m I Doin?
One of the points of Church of the Angels Vision and Values States, It will be easy for people to join and find a home here. “How’m I doin?” That’s a phrase made famous by the late Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City. Well, we’ve received some feedback recently from several visitors about how welcome we make them feel, and how friendly we are toward them. They go on to say that it feels genuine not just perfunctory. We are both genuinely glad to have them and genuinely interested in them. Well, that’s good to know. Please keep up the good work everyone and thanks!
Food For Thought: The Moral Bucket List
This article comes from New York Times columnist David Brooks about the difference between what he calls, “Eulogy Virtues,” rather than “Resume Ones.” What kind of person does one ultimately hope to be? He shares some interesting characteristics of people with unfakeable inner virtue. It fits with the Easter Season as we use this time to reflect upon and build our lives in the light of Christ’s resurrection.
The Fourth Sunday of Easter: April 26, 2015
Good Shepherd Sunday Mission Giving
The Sunday after next, Sunday April 26 is the Fourth Sunday of Easter and is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. That's because the Gospel reading is always one part of the Good Shepherd discourse in the 10th Chapter of the Gospel of St. John.
We've always made the Fourth Sunday of Easter a time when we make an appeal for donations for the National Association of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. It is one of our "Mission Giving," activities. What we've done for many years is send out a letter with an offering envelope enclosed.
This year we're going to make it a bit more special. We have a member of the Board of CGS coming. Her name is Patti Franz. She's a wonderful person and catechist. She will be giving the homily at both the 7:45 and 10:15 liturgies. In the homily she'll reflect on the theology of the Good Shepherd, how it touches our own lives, the work of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd here as well as in all the other places it is being done, and ask people to consider making a donation.
But in addition to this, she will meet with our catechists between the services a chance for support and encouragement.
Also, following the 10:15 Liturgy, there will be a lunch for Patti and parents and children of the parish to spend some quality someone who is very knowledgeable about Catechesis and the spiritual development of children to reflect on that process and how we can help facilitate it. That should be a lot of fun.
The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is more than just a curriculum, and impacts the entire congregation, not just children. On Good Shepherd Sunday we to celebrate the blessings it has brought to our entire parish and assist in making The Catechesis available to others so they may experience the same good things that we have.
Emergency Preparedness
We are embarking on a project to formulate an Emergency Preparedness plan for the parish with the goal of being able to continue as a functioning parish in the aftermath of a major disaster. Vestryperson Stephanie Hsieh is coordinating this project with the help of Jim Goltz who formerly worked in the California Office of Emergency Services, and other parishioners.
We intend to set in place a plan that will enable:
1. Business continuity: That is we continue to function as a worshiping community.
2. Developing a means to communicate with parish members.
3. Making sure we have an understanding of our buildings so we are not inappropriately
denied use of them.
4. Insure our financial stability.
5. Understand what assets we can offer to be of assistance to the surrounding community.
This project will take some time. One of the first things we want to do is to gather information from parishioners of people known to them that we might contact to make sure parishioners are alright, or if they need help, we can find a way to respond.
At the end of May there will be a conference at Ascension Parish Sierra Madre hosted by Fr. Michael Bamberger who will bring in people from Episcopal Relief and Development to help parishes formulate emergency plans.
We hope to have our plan in place by the end of the summer if not before.