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Epiphany 2019 Newsletter

2/1/2019

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church - February 2019 Newsletter

Greetings everyone,

I want to catch you up on what's been going on at Good Shepherd and what we've got planned for the rest of Epiphany.

First, we were sad to say goodbye to our long-time music director, Nancy Prestipino, who has moved to Strasburg and has taken a position with a church closer to home.  Nancy blessed us with her wonderful musical talents for eight and half years.  We wish her and Luigi all the best!

Now we are pleased to announce that we've found a new, talented young lady, Lucy Martindale, a senior at Clarke County High School, to be our interim pianist.  She begins on February 3rd, so please come and make her welcome.

Also on February 3rd we'll be welcoming Jaqueline Whalen back to the pulpit, making up for the previous Sunday when she was scheduled but snow cancelled our service.  We'll be celebrating the Baptism of Christ, renewing our baptismal vows, and listening to Jaq preach on the Holy Spirit.

Second, we've formed a vicar search committee led by Richard Purnell.  Our goal is to find a dedicated, part-time clergy person to lead us, nurture us, and help us to reach out in the local community and to grow our congregation.  Father Ralph has been wonderful for so many years and we are very grateful to him for his love of and commitment to Good Shepherd, but we've taken this step to look towards our future.  We wish Ralph and Maeva all the best of God's blessings and are happy that Fr. Ralph will be staying involved to help us through this transition.  Our next meeting is February 17th after church.

Thirdly, we're taking next steps to continue improvements to our building and grounds.  Led by our Junior Warden, John Edmonds, who will be identifying needs and providing cost and engineering data, and parishioner Andrea Brown, who is working to identify and obtain outside funds, this committee is moving forward with hopes of major changes by this summer and fall.  We already have a fundraiser in the early planning stages... a picnic/dinner scheduled for June 26th.  We will be discussing all this and more at our Congregational Meeting after church on February 10th.

Fourthly, we're excited that Josette Keelor has agreed to become our Music Coordinator and regular worship leader / homilist.  She will be coordinating with Lucy to plan all our service music and will be leading our Morning Prayer services on the 3rd Sunday of each month.

Finally, many thanks to Charlene Fu for taking over the bulletin production process where she is doing a wonderful job, to Lois Tapscott for her continued years of dedicated service to the church as Senior Warden, and to Melanie Edmonds for her delightful reading and incredible after church edibles.

We have plenty of room for you to help... with lesson reading, prayers, and LEM-ing, and/or serving on any of our committees.  Please let me or any of the above how you would like to help.

May God bless you and keep you. 
Tim Hall

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 Upcoming Events

Epiphany is the season when we celebrate Jesus as the Light of the World.  Please join us for worship on Sunday mornings at 11:00 a.m. as we gather to hear the word, pray, and sing.

On two Sundays we’ll be discussing our future together and how we can share Christ’s light in our community.

Finally, we’ll finish Epiphany with a visit from our bishop on March 3rd and then gather to begin our Lenten pilgrimage with the Imposition of Ashes on Ash Wednesday, March 6th, at 7:00 p.m.      

SUN February 3Morning Prayer (celebrating the Baptism of Christ) with Tim Hall, and Jaqueline Whalen as our guest preacher.  We’ll renew our Baptismal Vows, listen to Jaqueline’s reflection on our readings and the Holy Spirit, and welcome our new pianist, Lucy Martindale.

SUN February 10:   Holy Eucharist with Father Ralph, followed by Congregational Meeting.  After service we’ll gather in our Parish Hall for a potluck luncheon and congregational meeting, where we’ll discuss our budget, parochial report, facilities status, and events for the coming year.  All are welcome!

SUN February 17:   Morning Prayer with Josette Keelor, followed by Search Committee Meeting.  Our vicar search committee will meet after Morning Prayer.  If you’d like to be a part of helping us find a new, part-time clergy leader for our church, to help us grow in faith and body, please come to this meeting.  The committee is just getting started, so your input and involvement will be most timely!

SUN February 24:   Holy Eucharist with Father Ralph Bayfield

SUN March 3:  Bishop Visitation:  Holy Eucharist with the Rt. Rev Ted Gulick, Assistant Bishop of Virginia.  Meet with Bishop Ted at 10:00 a.m. before the service, then after worship we’ll gather for a gala potluck reception.

WED March 6:  Ash Wednesday:  Evening Prayer and Imposition of Ashes with Tim Hall, 7:00 p.m.

And mark your calendars for March 31st when our special 5th Sunday service will be a healing service and we will welcome another special guest preacher.

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church,

27 Good Shepherd Road, Bluemont, VA

(in Pine Grove, just west of Snickers Gap and north of Route 7)

www.goodshepherdbluemont.com


1/6/2019
Vestry Meeting Minutes
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2/10/2019
Congregational Meeting Agenda
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