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Spring Cleaning
It’s that time of year again. Spring almost. And that means it’s time for the deep clean. Heavy work. Spring is also a time to declutter. A time to finally admit that you will never again fit into your college jeans and then forcing yourself to toss them into the donation bin.
We used to rent our house for Masters. So, spring cleaning became more urgent. There was a deadline. Each year my housekeeper, Sarah, and I would work ourselves into a frenzy getting the house ready for guests. The months of February and March were consumed with washing the windows, polishing the chandeliers, moving the furniture, vacuuming and rolling back the rugs, mopping the hardwood floors, wiping down the base boards and crown molding, pressure washing. Each year it was the same story, and it was overwhelming. And then somebody suggested something that changed my life and Sarah’s, too. Instead of doing one huge cleaning every year, take one room each week and deep clean it rotating rooms throughout the house. That way the rooms were deep cleaned more often, and it was much less stressful. It was a great idea that made life much easier.
I think that we could practice this same type of deep cleaning in our spiritual homes as well. Many of us use Lent as our time to spring-clean our hearts, souls, and minds. Once a year to look back over our lives. Once a year to commit to doing better. Once a year to be more spiritually disciplined. Once a year to commit to daily Bible reading, zooming Morning Prayer, or attending the Healing Service. Once a year to promise to attend to our faith and our relationship with God. But for just the six weeks of Lent. What about the other 46 weeks of the year? We use that six weeks of Lent like Sarah and I were using February and March for spring cleaning.
I think that we might be more aware of our shortcomings and our need for God in our lives if we made spiritual cleaning a weekly (or, better yet, a daily) practice to examine our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. If we made personal reflection a weekly or daily commitment, we might be surprised how our lives might change for the better. We could cleanse our souls of our hurtful words and our slights toward others. We could declutter our hardened hearts of the resentment we feel toward some.
Simon and I have often spoken of how great it felt to come back home after the renters had left. The house felt so clean, so peaceful. There was nothing to do that night but enjoy the beauty and comfort of our home. And that same peace and comfort could be felt in our spiritual home if we would just pay attention to it throughout the entire year.
Keep on keeping on…
Bunny +
Young Adults Class:
The Young Adults will continue meeting at 10 am this Sunday. Please join if you are able!
Visio Divina Meditation with The Saint John’s Bible
Plans are being made to offer an evening Visio Divina Meditation beginning Wednesday, March 29th at 6:00 pm. We are hoping that others will want to consider becoming a facilitator and helping with the planning and choice of illuminations from The Saint John’s Bible. If you would like to help as a facilitator, please contact Penny Brown by phone or text. (706-399-3677)
GETHSEMANE WATCH
The Church will be open all night following the Maundy Thursday, April 6, service until Good Friday morning, April 7. Sit with Jesus before the altar. This profound, meaningful time brings you into the mystery of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. You can sign up for 30-minute slots at bit.ly/gethsemanewatch OR you can come anytime between 8 pm and 7 am. We will have an off duty police officer on the premises for security.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Join us for stations of the cross every Friday at Lent at 12 pm.
“Jesus, did you ever really know me:” a look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of four of the people who were close to him:
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- Week 1: Virgin Mary (Sonia Sullivan-Clifton)
- Week 2: Peter (Ted Clarkson)
- Week 3: Judas (Joe Bowden)
- Week 4: Mary Magdalene (Bunny Simon-Williams)
Holy Week Schedule:
Palm Sunday
- April 2nd, 8:00 am, 10:00* am & 6:00 pm
Monday in Holy Week
- April 3rd, 7:00 am, Holy Eucharist
Tuesday in Holy Week
- April 4th, 7:00 am, Holy Week
Wednesday in Holy Week
- April 5th, 7:00 am, Holy Eucharist
Maundy Thursday
- April 6th, 7:00 pm*, followed by all-night prayer vigil.
Good Friday
- April 7th, 12:00 pm, 7:00* pm
- Stations of the Cross at 1:00 pm
- Good Friday Read of the Gospel of Matthew, 2:00 pm
The Great Vigil of Easter
- April 8th, 7:00 pm*
Easter Day
- April 9th, 8:00 am, 9:00 am* 11:15 am*, 6:00 pm
Egg Hunt after 9:00 am service
*Livestreamed to Youtube and Facebook.
Congratulations to Dede and Wallace Palmer on the birth of their son, Thomas Hull Palmer, March 10, 2023. Welcoming him home are big brother, Wallace, and grand-parents, Fred and Carol Palmer.
ALTAR FLOWERS
Contribute to the altar flowers at Easter by completing the form in this link. Make your gifts payable to Good Shepherd marked as Easter Lilies. Pay by check or with Venmo, @cogsaugusta. Forms must be received by March 31st in order to appear in the order of service.
PRAYER LIST POLICY
One of the special aspects of being part of Good Shepherd is our willingness to pray for one another and for other friends and loved ones. We are a praying community. To assist us in this ministry, we need a prayer list each week that is up to date and reflects those in more urgent need of prayer (the shorter list) versus those whose need is more chronic (the longer list). That is why our bulletin has two different prayer lists, the names of only the former group being read out loud during the prayers of the people on Sunday and the latter included at the end of the bulletin. To meet this need, the church office is implementing the following Prayer List Policy.
If you know of someone for whom the need is pressing, please give that name to the church office, along with your name as a point of contact. After 30 days, the office will call you to see if the name needs to remain on this list for another 30 days. If so, it will stay on. If not, the name will either be moved to the continuing prayers list or removed altogether, depending on what you direct. The office will call again after another 30 days have passed, and so on.
For the names on the continued prayers list, those names will be removed after 30 days unless you call the church office to request that the name remains for another 30 days. There will also be a reminder in the bulletin of the need to contact the church office if you want a name to remain on the continued prayer list.
Your clergy are heartened by the dedication of so many Good Shepherd parishioners to intercessory prayer. Keep it up.
GOOD FRIDAY GOSPEL READ
We are adding another opportunity for the observance of Good Friday this year. Beginning at 2:00 PM (after the Stations of the Cross), volunteers will read aloud the entire Gospel according to Matthew. We anticipate that this will take around three hours, and we are asking volunteers to sign up for 30-minute sessions. If multiple people sign up for a given 30-minute slot, then they will divide up the reading for that session. You may sign up on-line or call the church office.
We need 1200 filled Easter eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt on April 9th. Please email Jinny with any questions and sign up here!
PALM SUNDAY & EASTER
ACOLYTES
We still need 3 volunteers for the 10 am Palm Sunday Service and 5 volunteers for the 11:15 am Easter Service. Please click here to add your name. Thank you for volunteering!
HAPPENING: Youth in Grades 9th-12th are invited to join us for this meaningful retreat weekend, March 24-26th. For any questions or more information, email mgwynn@goodshepherd-augusta.org. Click Here to Register.
HAPPENING #107
: MEET THE RECTOR!
Adair Weston attends the Church of Good Shepherd, in Augusta, GA. As the Rector of Happening #107, she will lead the event, both up in front of everyone and behind the scenes. This will be Adair's fourth Happening and she's looking forward to the joy, friendships, and experiencing the 'thin place' that Happening provides! The goal of Happening weekend is to introduce young people to the Christ within themselves, as they grow into a deeper, more committed relationship with Christ and learn to represent Christ in the world.
8:00 am
Celebrant, Ted Clarkson
Preacher, Joe Bowden
Organist, Wayne Lord
Lay Readers, Bobbie Ingenito, Cissy Bowde
9:00 am
Celebrant, Bunny Simon William
Preacher, Joe Bowden
Organist & Choirmaster, Jim Nord
Ushers Sean Roche, Trey Hargrove
Verger, Jean Chadwick
Lay Readers, Charlie Rollins, Katie Tracy
Acolytes: Jackson Evans, Mary Dennis Trotter, Wiley Trotter, Bridges Trotter, Mallory Morgan
11:15 am
Celebrant, Ted Clarkson
Preacher, Joe Bowden
Organist & Choirmaster, Jim Nord
Ushers, James Jones, Matt Matson
Verger, Sada Huggins
Lay Readers, Andrew Austin, Gerry Chambers
Acolytes: Adair Weston, Spencer Weston, Annie Weston, Stella Chew, Helen Pritchett
6:00 pm
Celebrant & Preacher, Joe Bowden
Organist, Nick Lowery
Lay Readers, Faith Moore, Jim Price
All Services
Altar Guild, Team VI
Breakfast, Team II
Vestry Person of the Day, Paul Trotter