April 12, The Second Sunday of Easter

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd:  “Level 4”

Sunday, April 12, 9:00 a.m.

The last time we met, we reached the outer circle of the stories within the story that makes up our Liturgy on Sunday morning.  We’ve traversed the Mystery of Faith: Christianity in 10 words, the Eucharistic Prayers, a bit of an expansion collapsing the entire Bible into short paragraphs, the Church Year as the organizing principle for reading the Scriptures in Church, to finally, the Bible itself as a library of many different books and genre’s of writing.  

So now it is time to enter the library again, browse the stacks as it were and decide which book in the Library would we like to read.  

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 12:  7:45 a.m.

Sunday April 26:  7:45 & 10:15 a.m.

 You can email the office to sign up for any of these Sundays.

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.