Author: Pastor Bob Schaefer

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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.

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Announcements

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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Announcements

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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Announcements

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. 😊

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Announcements COVID-19

Covid update: Indoor worship and events now open to all

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.

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Announcements

NEW: Find your center Sunday mornings

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.