Categories
Announcements

Service Committee Notes

Thank you to everyone who donated items for our Harvest Sunday. We were able to donate about 10 bags of non-perishable food items to the Crossroads Food Pantry and the Garden City Food Pantry.

If you find yourself in need of food, contact Garden City Food Pantry (412-373-0391) or Cross Roads Food Pantry (412-372-2311).

The Angel Tree has been set up in the narthex. Names are available! Please sign for the angel you have selected. Please return wrapped and labeled gift/s to the church on or before December 10. (Name and angel # should be on each gift.) If you would like to help but are not able to shop, we will accept monetary donations, cash or checks payable to Good Shepherd with Angel Tree Gifts written in the memo. Harry M. will deliver the gifts the week of December 10.

We are now collecting items for our homebound members. There are six members on our list this year. We appreciate any donations such as tissues, travel size lotion, hand sanitizer, pudding, fruit, and jello cups, individually wrapped breakfast bars, snack cakes and cookies, and activity books such as word searches, crossword puzzles or coloring books. A collection box is in the narthex. Donations will be accepted through December 17. Our goal is to have the gifts delivered before Christmas!

We will also accept and appreciate holiday or greeting card donations. We include a card from the church at Christmas and Easter and also send cards out during the year.

Deck the Halls is scheduled for Sunday, December 17 from 12 pm to 1:30 pm. A light luncheon will be served if there is enough interest. Please use the sign-up sheet in the narthex or call the church office if you are interested in staying for lunch.

Thank you again for your participation in all of our missions this year!

Categories
Announcements

Join us for Christmas!

We’re excited to announce our Christmas schedule for 2022! Please join us.

We’re offering two services Christmas Eve, as well as a Christmas Day service (since Christmas falls on Sunday this year). All of our services are livestreamed. You can learn more about each of them on our Christmas page.

The service times are:

  • December 24 at 4:30 pm – Family Friendly Christmas Eve Worship
  • December 24 at 7:00 pm – Traditional Chistmas Eve Worship
  • December 25 at 10:30 am – Christmas Day Communion

Be sure to stay after the 4:30 service for goodies and fellowship, and come early for the 7:00 service for half an hour of music and carols led by our musicians.

Categories
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.
Categories
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.

Categories
Announcements

Don’t miss it! Stream “Christmas at The Good Shepherd” on YouTube

“Wonderful!” | “Beautiful!” | “Awesome!” | “Nothing short of spectacular!” | “Filled with Gospel!”

Our Christmas worship service is getting rave reviews! Take a few minutes during these twelve days of Christmas to celebrate the beauty and mystery of the Incarnation.

Featuring the gifts of Liz Smith, Bob Rossetti, Matt O’Donnell, Leigh Pogue, Andrew Imblum, Matthew Walley, Gretchen Wiesner, Mary K. Walley, Pastor Bob and The Good Shepherd Virtual Choir, this worship service will move you and inspire you.

Categories
Announcements

It’s time to pick up your Christmas flowers

Thanks to everyone who donated flowers to decorate our worship space this Christmas! Filming has wrapped in the sanctuary, and you are welcome to bring your Christmas flowers home to enjoy. Please call the office to schedule a pick-up time.

Categories
Announcements

Worship with us this Christmas!

Join us this Christmas Eve for a beautiful candlelight worship – right from your own home! It’s easy and you don’t even need a computer or a smartphone.

You can join us live at 7:30 pm using the usual instructions for our Sunday morning worship, which can be found here.

And if your family likes a midnight mass or church on Christmas morning, our service will be available for you to watch and rewatch any time on YouTube.

Thanks to all of our talented worship leaders and musicians… we can’t wait to share this most special service with you!

Categories
Announcements

Are you having a blue Christmas? Here are eight online services to help you through the holidays.

The world around you insists “it’s the most wonderful time of the year!” You try to smile politely, but inside your feelings of sadness, loss and loneliness seem to get worse around Christmas. You steel yourself up to “have a blue Christmas.”

If this is painfully familiar, we invite you to one of eight “Blue Christmas” or “Longest Night” services being offered by congregations around our synod. These services are intended to give those grieving a safe place to gather in God’s presence to receive comfort and encouragement during what can be a difficult season.

Especially convenient, you don’t even need to leave your home to attend.

If you’re struggling to put on a brave face this Christmas, why not let down your mask for a little while among people who understand what you’re going through, and hear the good news once again that Jesus is with you right where you are?

Categories
Announcements

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!

Send us your recording!

Use this button to send us your recording. Please be sure you send it by December 14, so we have enough time to put the final video together.

Categories
Announcements

Order your Christmas flowers online