Author: Pastor Bob Schaefer

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Announcements

Annual Meeting – January 30

Worship and Attend the Meeting on ZOom

Please plan to attend the 64th Annual Meeting of The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. Our meeting will be held following worship on Sunday, January 30.

A copy of the Annual Report was mailed to all eligible voting members last week. In this report you’ll find updates on our many ministries as well as our proposed budget for 2021. Please take some time to review the report in advance.

While everyone is welcome to share your thoughts and ideas at any of our meetings, only voting members are eligible to cast a vote or run for office. To be a voting member you must:

  • Be a confirmed member of The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.
  • Have made a financial contribution to the congregation in 2022 or 2021
  • Have received communion in 2022 or 2021.

If you’re not sure if you meet the requirements, check with us in the office and we’ll help you out.

The meeting will again be held in person and on Zoom. If you are attending online, please simply attend worship using Zoom, and then stay for the meeting – you won’t need to do anything more to participate. (You can also phone in – visit our website or call the church office for instructions.) We will also be opening the sanctuary for fully vaccinated members to attend worship and the annual meeting. Social distancing will be required. Please contact the church office to register in advance if you will be joining us in person.

Finally, please pay special attention to the report from the council entitled “Beyond the Centennial Plan.” This will provide you with an important update on the council’s work in the two years since we adopted the Centennial Plan. It names the challenges we’ve faced and outlines a number of unexpected opportunities that God has opened up for us. We will devote a significant portion of the annual meeting to your thoughts and hopes and questions about this report.

Thank you for your partnership in the work of Jesus here in Monroeville! We look forward to seeing you at the annual meeting on January 30!

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Announcements

Make it a Souper day

February 13 is Super Bowl Sunday. Wouldn’t it be Souper to get a donation for the food pantry by that day?  We are looking for cans of soup, chili, stew and canned meats specifically, but all donations are welcome and appreciated.

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Announcements COVID-19

Services move to online only

Covid is once again surging in Allegheny County. Case numbers have reached new highs this week with the Delta-Omicron one-two punch. With the increased spread, our risk status has been upgraded to “Severe” – the highest category – by Covid Act Now, our primary source of pandemic data.

In keeping with our Covid policy, all in-person events and services at The Good Shepherd have been cancelled. We will continue to hold services online every Sunday at 10:30, and look forward to worshiping with you via Zoom or YouTube!

We look forward to returning to in-person gatherings as soon as our risk level drops back down to Red. Keep an eye on this website for the most current updates.

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Announcements

Christmas 2021 – In Person or Online!

Join us in person or online this Christmas! Visit goodshepherdlife.org/christmas for all the most current information. Here are the essentials:

Service Times

We’re offering three identical services this year so that we can gather in person safely. We’re limiting each service to 25% of the sanctuary’s capacity. Please request your seats in advance using our online form or by calling the church office – we can’t guarantee that there will be walk-in seats available this year!

Candlelight Holy Communion

  • 4:30 pm on December 24
  • 7:30 pm on December 24
  • 10:00 pm on December 24

All three services will be livestreamed.

Covid-19 Precautions

We are taking great care to make Christmas a safe and joyful experience as we gather in person this year:

  • Masks are required for all worshipers.
  • Limited seating allows for social distancing.
  • Windows will be cracked to increase air exchange.
  • Filters have been deployed to clear the air.
  • Communion will be in the pews with pre-packaged elements.
  • LED candles will be provided (so we don’t blow all over each other to put them out).
  • The service will be kept to under an hour to reduce possible exposure.
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Announcements

Are you eligible to vote at our Annual Meeting?

Our Annual Meeting is coming up fast, and we’ve got lots of exciting and important business – more on that soon. For now, please make sure you’re eligible to vote if you would like to do so.

Our constitution specifies that voting members:

  1. Are confirmed.
  2. Have made a financial contribution on record in the current or previous calendar year.
  3. Have communed (including a communion visit) in the current or previous calendar year.

If you need to make any arrangements or have questions about the voting requirements, please give us a call.

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Announcements

Wash Your Car – Build a House!

This Christmas, give yourself or your loved ones the gift of a clean car – and help The Good Shepherd build a house for a family in need!

Now through January 31, buy a Rocket Exterior wash voucher through our fundraising site for just $10 – it’s the best in town, and normally it sells for $23.99! Even better, you can upgrade your wash to one of the full service interior/exterior packages by paying the difference at the store – as little a dollar more for a clean car, inside and out. Just look at the shine on the pastor’s car!

Best of all, for each car wash we sell, we’ll receive $6 toward our housebuilding project with Food for the Poor!

Order Your Car Wash Vouchers!

Your vouchers are purchased online like a mobile order from a restaurant, and will be delivered to use on your smartphone. If that’s outside of your comfort zone, you can order paper vouchers through the church office – they’ll be available at the end of the promotion.

Wash vouchers are valid for one year, so get enough so that no matter what else 2022 may bring, you know you’ll be driving a clean car!

Please let your family, friends and neighbors know about this fundraiser – our goal is to raise $1500 by selling 250 washes.

Rocket Carwash (formerly Auto Bathouse) is located at 145 Wyngate Dr. in Monroeville.

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Announcements

2022 offering envelopes are available

Your offering envelopes for 2022 are now available in the narthex. Please pick them up any Sunday, or call the church office to arrange a good time. Each box of envelopes costs us about $5 to mail out if it’s not picked up – help us put that money to ministry instead of mailing!

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Announcements

It’s time to register for our Confirmation ministry

Our Confirmation ministry is open to all students who are in the seventh grade or older. We’ll be starting a new round of classes soon – use this quick and easy online registration form to get your student signed up!

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Announcements

All Saints Sunday is Nov. 7

Please join us as we honor the saints of The Good Shepherd who have passed away this year, as well as the saints in your own life whose faithful witness has brought you this far. We’ll light candles, toll a bell, and say a prayer of thanksgiving during our Sunday worship service. If you can’t join us in person, our livestream is available at any time.

We thank God for the beloved saints of our congregation!

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Announcements COVID-19 News

Check out our Corsi/Rosenthal Boxes

Air filtration has become an important tool in fighting the spread of Covid-19. The disease is spread by aerosolized particles that can linger in the air for some time before settling. Masks help prevent the particles from entering the air we share with others – air filters are a good way of dealing with the viral material that finds its way into the air despite our best efforts.

Unfortunately, commercial air filters are expensive. It’s easy to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on portable ones.

Thankfully, creative scientists and DIY types have developed the Corsi/Rosenthal box (named for its co-creators). This cube-shaped contraption can be built in about 20 minutes and costs around $100, but performs as well as a unit costing five times as much. Corsi/Rosenthal boxes are being deployed in schools and offices around the country as colder weather drives people inside.

We have installed two Corsi/Rosenthal boxes in our sanctuary to help keep our air free of viruses and allergens. Another has been installed in the office.

As part of our effort to make our building safer for staff and guests, we’ve installed three Corsi/Rosenthal boxes around the building. They’re an extra layer of defense as we spend more time indoors.

Please don’t touch or move the boxes unless you’ve checked first! They need to be handled with care, since virus particles will collect in the air filters that make up the four sides of the cubes. If you touch the filters, please wash your hands thoroughly right away, just to be safe.

And if you’re asked to move one of the boxes, please hold it by the plastic fan, and go slowly, so as not to shake any virus particles loose from the filters as you go.

We’re grateful that God has blessed us with such creative and resourceful neighbors with the ability to invent such a useful device!

If you’d like to learn more about our Corsi/Rosenthal boxes or how to build one yourself, Pastor Bob would love to lend a hand.