You can join us in person or YouTube every Wednesday night during Lent for Evening Prayer. If you’re joining via YouTube, you can follow along with this order of service:
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Tag: Worship
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Lent and Easter 2022 schedule
Please join us this Lent and Easter as we walk with Christ to the cross … and beyond the grave!
Ash Wednesday
March 2
12:00-1:00 pm | Ashes to Go (drive-in style)
7:00 pm | Worship with Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes
Wednesdays in Lent
March 9, 16, 23, 30
April 6
7:00 pm | Evening Prayer
Palm Sunday
April 10
10:30 am | Worship with Holy Communion
Maundy Thursday
April 14
7:00 pm | Worship with Holy Communion
Good Friday
April 15
7:00 pm | Good Friday Worship
Easter Sunday
April 17
10:30 am | Worship with Holy Communion
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Ash Wednesday is March 2, 2022
Please join us as we begin the season of Lent, marked with the cross of Christ in ash:
Ashes to Go
We’ll offer ashes to go in the front parking lot from 12:00-1:00. Please keep to the left and follow the signs. We ask that you wear as mask, since imposing the ashes brings us into closer contact than normal.
Ash Wednesday worship
We’ll offer a service of Holy Communion with the imposition of ashes Wednesday evening at 7:00. You can join us in person or online – but you’ll have to find your own substitute for the ashes at home!
As covid levels have fallen, Allegheny County’s risk status has been downgraded to “Very High.” That means we’re able to return to in-person events and worship effective immediately. Masks and distancing will still be required while in the building. Vaccination are strongly encouraged but not required. Our livestream will continue to be offered every week on Zoom and YouTube. See you on Sunday!
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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.
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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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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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. 😊