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CLASSES THIS SUNDAY
Sunday School classes begin at 9:10 a.m. Child care is available for children five and younger in the nursery.
Elementary School Children
The class will begin with music in the choir room and then go to Room 3 of the Education Wing for a Bible lesson using the Godly Play approach.
Confirmation Class
The class will continue to discuss and learn about the sacrament of Holy Communion.
The class will look at one or more of the Bible readings for the day using the Serendipity Bible for Groups. All confirmed high school youth and adults are welcome to attend this class.
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WEDNESDAY ADVENT DINNER AND WORSHIP SERVICES
Continuing on
Wednesdays in Advent, December 11 and 18, Good Shepherd will offer dinner beginning at 5:30 p.m. followed by a brief worship service using Holden Evening Prayer at 6:30 p.m.
Sandy Ostermeier will make Beef Bourguignon for December 11. Also, volunteers are needed to provide salad, bread and desserts for the dinner. Please sign up on the bulletin board or contact the church office by Monday, December 9, if you'd like to attend the dinner.
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ADVENT DEVOTIONAL BOOKLETS
There are three different Advent devotional booklets available on the table in the commons:
Christ in Our Home
from Augsburg Fortress (which is available throughout the year),
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
from Luther Seminary, and
Living Well Through Advent: Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind
. Please help yourselves!
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CALL PROCESS UPDATE
After numerous interviews and much prayerful deliberation, the Call Committee has identified and recommended a candidate to the congregation Council to be the "Primary Candidate" for pastor of LCGS. The Council will now meet with the candidate and vote on the committee's recommendation. If approved, information about the candidate will be shared with the congregation, there will be an opportunity for the congregation and candidate to meet,
and voting members of the congregation will then vote on whether or not to extend a call to this candidate. We request your continued prayers, asking God's guidance in this important decision.
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AN OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE THE CHURCH
Every Monday for a month a church member collects the trash from inside the church and takes it to the street for city pickup.
We currently have four months open for three eager volunteers - January, June, September, and December. You may pick your month and I will take the month that is left over. (Currently, I cover all four months, which is one reason I am writing this.)
You need to be at the church no later than 8:45 a.m. and allow 30-45 minutes to complete your task. A big plus is an opportunity to interact with our charming staff. If you want to avoid the staff, you need to arrive earlier than 8:45!
Don't miss out on this opportunity to perform an essential job! (We do not want to see trash piling up in the hallways.)
Call Fred Weed at 828-877-6154 and be the first to pick your month!
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BREAD BAKERS NEEDED
Membership and Evangelism chair, Jane McKeown, is looking for several people who can bake quick bread for our homebound members. If you'd like to help, please contact Jane ([email protected] or 884-7105). Thank you!
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CHRISTMAS COOKIE SUNDAY
Christmas Cookie Sunday is
December 22 for
both services. If you can, please send your recipes to Sandy before December 15, so they are available to anyone who would like them. Email or text message links, recipes or pictures of recipes (
[email protected], 828-384-2444).
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QUARTERLY MINISTRY ROUNDTABLE MEETING
LCGS's last Quarterly Ministry Roundtable Meeting for 2019 is scheduled for
Wednesday, December 18, at 10:00 a.m. All committee chairs and Council members are asked to attend. If you are unable to do so, please ask someone from your committee to be there in your place. Please contact Jody Schuld (
[email protected]) to let her know if you plan to attend or who your sub will be in your absence. Thank you!
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HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA MEETING
The next meeting of the Brevard Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) will be held at Good Shepherd on Saturday, December 14 at 1:00 p.m. The speaker will be Tony Davis, the Hard of Hearing Services Coordinator for the Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DSDHH). He and Jessica Sanders, the Telecommunications Consultant with the Asheville DSDHH Regional Center, will discuss captioned phones, amplified phones, personal amplifiers and home alerting devices that DSDHH Equipment Distribution Services Program provides. Tony will also discuss new state of the art technology that the EDS program has started providing in the hearing aids that it distributes.
Chapter members, hearing professionals, and anyone interested in learning about hearing loss and hearing solutions are welcome. The room will open at 12:30 p.m. so people can sign in, browse the free literature, grab a snack, and meet others. Captions will be provided.
See the bulletin board for more information and direct any questions to [email protected].
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COMING SOON AT GOOD SHEPHERD . . .
Sunday, December 8
8:00 a.m. Worship Service (Sanctuary)
9:00 a.m. Coffee Hour & Fair Trade Sale (Fellowship Hall)
9:10 a.m. Sunday School Classes (Education Wing)
10:30 a.m. Worship Service (
Sanctuary)
11:30 a.m. Coffee Hour & Fair Trade Sale (Fellowship Hall)
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COMMUNITY CARE CORNER
The "Community Care Corner" feature in the weekly newsletter allows us to update you on people for whom we are praying or to submit a new prayer request. If you have an update on someone or a new prayer request to share in the Corner, please email or call the church office ([email protected] or 883-3680) by noon on Thursday.
Parker Dickens
fractured his fibula in his ankle and will be wearing a boot for 4-6 weeks while it heals.
Wanda Waters, sister of Snookie Henson,
is having health issues.
Linda Moore's father, Jerry Lorick,
recently had surgery.
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WHEN ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS ARE BLUE
Culturally it's easy to treat Advent as a countdown to Christmas - a swirl of parties, sparkle and lights. But liturgically it's a season of anguished waiting. Our world is hurting, trying to recover from natural disasters that seem to just keep coming, as well as tragedies brought about by human hands. The people we love get sick; their hearts are broken; sometimes they die. In these moments, we find it hard to be surrounded by festive music, décor and Christmas revelry.
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SERVING THIS SUNDAY
Interim Pastor.................................................................................Rev. Dr. Richard Graf
Minister of Music
.....................................................................................
David Gresham
Organist
......................................................................................................Vance Reese
Outreach Ministry Coordinator..............................................................Kimberly Dunbar
Assisting Minister
........................................................Lauren Weed / Robert McKeown
Readers............................................................................PJ Larson / Kathleen Milligan
Ushers
............................................Debbie & Paul Cooper
/
Jane McKeown, Ian Merritt
Acolytes
................................................................................Lauren Weed / Yuri Emaus
Greeters
.........................................................Jody & Bob Schuld
/ TBD, Hadley Merritt
Child Care during Sunday School...................................................Margarette Kennerly
Elementary Sunday School Teacher...........................................................Heidi Bullock
Elementary Sunday School Door Person................................................Heather Merritt
Child Care during Worship
........................................................................................
TBD
Altar Care & Communion Bread ..................................................................Kate Reinke
Tellers
..........................................................................Hal Galloway & Barbara Hotaling
Doorkeeper of the Day
..................................................................................Donna Brim
Coffee Hour...............
PJ & Bruce Larson / Zia & Frank McConnell, Jane & Robert McKeown
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FAIR TRADE SALE THIS SUNDAY - NEW SHIPMENT IS HERE!
On
December 8
, at both coffee hours, come visit the fair trade sale in the Fellowship Hall, where you can purchase an assortment of coffee, chocolate, tea, and other fair trade foods. Each sale benefits small-scale farmers around the world. What a great way to do some Christmas shopping!
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GOOD SHEPHERD'S GIVING TREE
Our Giving Tree will be in the
commons through the end of the year.
You can s
ponsor a gift to benefit these programs: Sharing House's Christmas Blessings, ELCA Good Gifts and LCGS Confirmands' School Angels. Stop by the tree to find out more and sponsor an ornament., or talk to Kimberly Dunbar ([email protected] or 883-3680). If you want to sponsor a gift for LCGS Confirmands' School Angels, which will help provide clothing and food for students at Brevard Middle School and their families, please turn in your donation by this Sunday, December 8. Thank you!
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BAKED SWEET POTATOES NEEDED
Good Shepherd has been asked to provide the baked sweet potatoes for the 21st Annual Community Christmas Dinner that will be held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on December 25. The pans and recipe are available in the Fellowship Hall
.
Twenty-three pans of sweet potatoes are needed. Please sign up on the bulletin board if you're willing to help. Thanks!
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UPDATE FROM THE PHILIPPINES
As many of you know, over the past few years, Ann Farash and Paul Onnink have traveled to the Philippines on medical mission trips with Florence Nightingale Global Health (FNGH), in partnership with local organizations. Good Shepherd has contributed to collections of money and various items that have been sent to the people of North Samar, including tuna packets, medications, and orthopedic devices. FNGH and Ann have provided the following update on recent unrest and increased difficulties for the people of North Samar.
We have enjoyed our friendship with the Benedictine Sisters of Pambujan and the Catarman Rotarians. Paul and I were planning our fourth mission trip to N. Samar in June 2020. Please pray for the people of N. Samar island. Recently the Philippine Armed Forces bombed the island in hopes of destroying a stronghold of the New People's Army. The people of N. Samar are among the poorest in the Philippines and now many are displaced and their struggles for basic necessities like food, water and shelter have worsened. It is undecided at this point if/when we will return, but we can still send prayers and supplies.
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WORSHIP AT LIVING WATERS
Last Sunday, eight people from Good Shepherd traveled to Cherokee, NC to worship with the congregation of Living Waters Lutheran Church. Bill and Laurie Johnson, Jackie Jenkins, Ellen Dozier, Isa and Victor Emaus, Rich Handschin and Janice Leibe reflected on their time with the people of Living Waters and want to share their thoughts with all of you. This is the first part of a four-week series.
I was surprised at the location and smallness....driving up the one-way steep gravel road into the woods. I hadn't pictured it that way. I was impressed with the Food Bank and the overload of work Lisa does. I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the church service, and saw how much Pastor Jack identifies with the worshipers. I enjoyed the singing of different Indian songs.
The congregation is small, but the church seems very important to those who come. They have made the liturgy their own, with its informality, native chants, sage smoke ritual, and the ending circle of prayer.
We can only guess at the importance of the food pantry below the sanctuary. They are working hard to make what resources they have go a very long way. All of us could learn a lot about stewardship from them. I left the experience wanting to know more about their lives (without intrusion or prying), culture, and the issues they face.
Editor's note: The following is from Living Waters' December newsletter: During 2019, from January through November, with the help of our mission partners, the Living Waters Food Pantry was able to serve 5,280 families and 20,170 individual people. During the month of October we served over 700
families.
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CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
First United Methodist Church is holding a Christmas Organ Recital series on the first three Fridays in December beginning at 12:30 p.m. The organists will be Timothy Shepard (December 6), Vance Reese (December 13) and Jeremy Roberts (December 20).
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols will take place on
Saturday, December 7 beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Porter Center.
Transylvania Choral Society and Brevard College Chamber Singers will present the North American Premiere of Bob Chilcott's Christmas Oratorio on Thursday, December 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the Porter Center. Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased at Highland Books in Brevard or through TCS' website. Vance Reese will play the organ and David Gresham will conduct.
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ELCA, NC Synod, & LWF News
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WORD MADE FLESH
Most of us will gather on Christmas Eve to hear the Christmas story from Luke. It's understandable. Mark really has no birth story. Matthew is mostly genealogy. I can't ever hear Luke without thinking of Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas special. Linus, blanket and all, cuts through everyone's commercial preparations with his moving recitation of the Lukan Christmas narrative, ending with, "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." Well, yes and no. That's Luke's version. John approaches it in an altogether different way.
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WF CHURCHES SHARE ADVENT & CHRISTMAS HYMNS
The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a singing communion. Echoing
the joy of advent in 2018, the LWF member churches are sharing advent hymns in a 24-day calendar to show how they prepare for Christ's coming into this world in music and worship.
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