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!
Author: Pastor Bob Schaefer
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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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!
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.
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.
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Welcome, Carol Brumback!
We are delighted to receive Carol Brumback into membership. Carol and her family were members almost back to the founding of the congregation. After a few moves in her adult life, Carol has come back home to The Good Shepherd. Welcome!
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Worship as the seasons change
It’s November in PA – the nights are getting longer, the days are getting chillier and the leaves are turning colors and decorating our lawns. With the change in weather, we say goodbye to Worship at the Gazebo for the cold months, and have moved indoors.
Because Covid-19 has stubbornly plateaued at a high level in Allegheny County this fall, we still are taking measures to make indoor worship as safe as possible:
- Vaccinations are not required, but are strongly encouraged for everyone eligible. The pastor and worship leaders are fully vaccinated.
- Masks are required in the building. During worship the pastor and worship leaders may remove their masks to help with hearing, but will continue to wear masks when in close contact with worshipers.
- Distancing should be practiced – the pews are marked, and we ask you to give others space as you move through the building, particularly during communion.
- Ventilation will be increased by opening windows. We’ll do our best to make the sanctuary comfortable, but you may want to wear an extra layer or adjust your preferred seating based on the airflow.
- Filtration has been added to the sanctuary that can remove about 90% of covid-containing particles from the air, once or twice per hour.
- Livestreaming will continue to be offered for anyone who prefers to join us online.
As we look toward the winter, we are optimistically planning for an in-person Christmas. The worship committee is working on a plan to hold multiple services on Christmas Eve to allow for an appropriate number of people in the sanctuary.
Covid has thrown us many curveballs before, so nothing’s for sure, but we’re hopeful that we can gather in safety and joy this year.
Keep your eyes on this space for more information as we get closer to Christmas.
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Daylight Saving Time ends Nov. 7
Don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour before you go to bed Saturday night! Daylight Saving Time ends at 2:00 am Sunday, Nov. 7. Enjoy your extra hour of sleep. 😊
The council has revised our covid policy to open indoor worship and events to all people, regardless of vaccination status. Our policy continues to require masking and physical distancing while in the building.
Although we’re relaxing the policy a little, we strongly encourage you to receive the vaccine if you’re eligible – it’s the best way to keep our members and our community safe and healthy. If you’re on the fence, ask any of your council members about their experience getting the vaccine.
We’ll continue to offer worship online, of course.
Have you struggled to find your spiritual center lately? We completely understand! We want to help you recover that sense of spiritual peace and balance that’s in such short supply these days.
That’s why we’re setting aside a few precious minutes each Sunday morning to ground you in faith.
From 10:10 to 10:20, please join us for a time of peaceful contemplation in the sanctuary. Week by week it might look a little different, but you can expect some or all of the following:
- Inspiring music to calm your spirit
- An idea from scripture or our faith tradition to inspire your heart
- Images and art to focus your mind
- Short prayers that bring it all together
We hope you’ll find this time an uplifting way to transition from all the concerns of everyday life into the joy of our Sunday worship service.
And we want to know what would help you feel more grounded spiritually. If there are practices you’d like us to consider, please let our worship leaders know!
We look forward to growing with you.
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Red up the church for Google
Did you know that Google maps can take you right inside many buildings? We’re inviting the Street View cameras into The Good Shepherd next month so that members and guests can take a virtual walk through our lovely building!
In order to get our halls and rooms ready for their moment in the spotlight, we could use a little help. Would you be willing to do some tidying (organizing and decluttering more than scrubbing and cleaning) between now and early October? We’ll be scheduling small shifts rather than having a big clean-up day, in order to keep everyone safe and healthy.
Call or email the office to let us know when you’re available.
We’ll let you know when our virtual building is live on Google Maps!
Update
Looks like we got it wrong – we thought the photography crew would be free, but it actually costs about $600! It would be fun to do this, but there are other things we’d rather invest those funds in. You’re still welcome to help us red up the church, though! 😀