If you or someone you love is in need, the Monroeville Public Library maintains a list of resources in our area for seeking help.
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Author: Pastor Bob Schaefer
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Pick up and drop off this Sunday
The Fellowship Hall will be open again this Sunday, December 6, from 11:00 to 1:00 for pick up and drop off:
- Angel Tree gifts-Must be brought to the church today!
- Advent Wreath kit (one per household)
- Harvest shopping bags
- Offering envelopes
- Offerings
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Join our Silent Night Singalong!
This Christmas, we invite you to sing with us!
It’s everyone’s favorite moment – when the lights go down low, we light candles one by one, and we sing together, “Silent night! Holy night!” It might be the most beautiful three minutes of the entire year.
We may not be able to sing together in person this year, but through the power of technology, our worship team is planning to bring all the families of our church together for one verse of this beloved hymn.
It’s easy to join us! Just play back our karaoke-style video below for the words and piano, and record your family using any video camera. When you’ve got the perfect take, you can send it directly to us by clicking this link.
Don’t worry at all about how you sound – when we all sing together, everyone sounds great!
And be sure to have some fun with this! Let your video reflect your personality. Choose clothes and lighting and props and a setting that say something about who you are and what Christmas means to you.
We’ll premiere the video at worship on Christmas Eve, and will share it on our YouTube channel, too.
Ready to go? Here’s the video!
The Fellowship Hall is open today until 2:30 for you to pick up and drop off the following:
Items to Pick Up:
- Angel Tree – Choose an ornament off of our annual Angel Tree and make Christmas a lot brighter for a child in need.
- Advent Wreath – The season of Advent begins this week. Mark the passage of time as we draw nearer to Christmas with an Advent wreath in your own home. We’ve prepared complimentary kits to help you get started.
- Offering Envelopes – Your offering envelopes are ready. You can help us cut down on postage by picking yours up today.
Items to Drop Off:
- Harvest Sunday Bags – Each fall we gather non-perishable food items to replenish the stock of our local food shelves. Bring your shopping bags full of food and make a difference.
- Offerings – If you’d rather bring your offerings directly to the church than put them in the mail, you’re invited to do so today.
From our partners at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA:
This year, as we have had to transform our worship, our gatherings, our understanding of church, the one thing that congregations continued to do exceedingly well was minister to one another and to the communities around them.
Your gifts to your congregation, to partner ministries, and to Mission Support have saved and improved lives across the globe.
Pass On the Gratitude
All the blessings we’ve shared happen because we each commit to participating in the Church’s call together. Please share the heartfelt thanks of all within our synod with your congregation, council, and lay leaders for their contributions to Mission Support.
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Order your Christmas flowers online
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In-person events suspended
In keeping with our COVID-19 policy, in person events at The Good Shepherd have been suspended as of Friday, November 13, due to a surge in cases in Allegheny County.
We will continue to offer worship online each Sunday at 10:30. It’s easy to join us!
Please visit our COVID-19 Information Center for more information and current status updates.
Remember that we are the Church together – nothing can separate us from Christ’s love for us, the love that makes us family. Stay safe out there!
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Synod Assembly this Saturday
The 2020 SWPA Synod Assembly will be held online this Saturday, November 14. Please pray for us as we elect leaders, debate the budget, hear from our staff and partners, and more.
Your voting members are:
- Cathy Holm
- Leigh Pogue
- Gretchen Weisner
- Pastor Bob
In addition, Pastor Bob is the chair of the Assembly Planning Committee, and the manager of the online event. He’d appreciate your prayers for a smooth meeting with no glitches!
You can watch the Assembly live beginning at 9:00 on the SWPA Synod Facebook page.
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Join us for an all-synod Sunday worship!
On Sunday, November 15, the Good Shepherd will join congregations from around our synod in a special online worship service honoring the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women in the Lutheran churches of America. The service will be led by women clergy of our synod, and Bishop Kusserow will preach. The service is offered as a way to bring our congregations together on the day after our Synod Assembly.
You can join the service in a several ways:
In Person
We’ll be showing the service in the sanctuary for anyone who wants to join us in person. We’ll also be premiering a performance by the Virtual Choir of “O Christ the Same” (to the tune of Londonderry Air, more commonly known as “Danny Boy.”)
On Our Livestream
We’ll be livestreaming the synod’s service and our Virtual Choir in all of the normal ways.
On the Synod’s YouTube Channel
Pastor Bob is taking a well-earned Sunday of vacation time, after chairing the Synod Assembly planning committee. Our council will be taking over the tech responsibilities in his place.
We think it’ll go just fine, but if something goes wrong, you can always watch the synod’s service live at 10:30 on their YouTube channel. It’ll work no matter what technical difficulties we might encounter on our end.
In late July we sent a letter to all our friends and families to let you know about our upcoming in-person worship services. In that letter, we invited you to share your feedback about several questions regarding in-person gatherings. You can submit your responses using this online form. Thanks for your feedback!