Church of the Good Shepherd Lenten Offerings

From The Church of Good Shepherd: The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd prepares for Lent with First Tuesday on February 6th and Blessing Bags

First Tuesdays at Good Shepherd are family-friendly evenings of community-building, service projects, and prayer. We start at 6:45, and end at 8pm. Folks of all ages (kids in pjs even!) are welcome to come to the parish hall for fun and fellowship.

In February our get-together falls in the week before the beginning of Lent. Our topic for discussion will be Lent and why we give things up or take things on as a practice in this penitential season of the Church. Are we meant to feel sad or guilty during lent? Or are we meant to intentionally engage how we are living our lives, contemplate whether we are satisfied with it, and discern where and how we might want to make changes. Lent ends not with the great pain of Good Friday but with the great joy of Easter morning. How do we get there?

Our service project will be putting together “blessing bags” for the homeless. These Zip-Lok bags will hold a variety of single serving food items, personal hygiene products, warm clothing, and prayer cards and bibles. During our time together on the 6th we’ll be making prayer cards to go in the packs, and packing the bags for next-day distribution. Donations of the items requested must be at the church no later than 6:45pm on Tuesday, February 6th. The First Tuesday crew is looking for donations of Socks, Handwarmers, Scarves, Hats, Gloves, Beef Jerky; Breakfast and granola bars, Squeezables (apple sauce), Packaged peanut butter or cheese crackers, Toothpaste, Toothbrushes, Hotel-size Shampoos, Lotions, and Soaps, Sanitary wipes and hand sanitizers, Small bibles. All are welcome.

A full schedule of services & events are planned for the Lenten Season which begins in February. We start with our traditional SHROVE Tuesday Pancake Supper on Tuesday, February 13th from 5:30 pm to 7pm in the Parish Hall. Please join us for delicious pancakes served by the parish youth. The Church of the Good Shepherd will offer Ashes-On-The-Go on Ash Wednesday, February 14th at two times this year: 12 Noon to 1pm, and 5:30-6:30pm. Drive up to the front doors of the church to receive ashes and pray a short prayer, then be on your way to work or home. At 7pm there will be a regular Ash Wednesday service at the church with Holy Eucharist. All are welcome to receive ashes at the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Please join us for the first CGS Family Bowl event at the Amity Family Bowling Center, 30 Seldon Street, Woodbridge, CT from 4 PM to 6 PM on Sunday February 11th, 2018. This fun event for all is open to all ages from 5 through 105 years old, no Bowling experience is necessary. Bring yourself, family and friends and come out have some fellowship and fun. The cost is $10/ person which gets you a bowling ball, shoes, soda, and popcorn. Monies will be collected at the door. Please contact the office at 203-795-6577 or thegoodshepherd@optonline.net by February 8th.

The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd is located on 680 Racebrook Road, Orange, Connecticut. Sunday service times include Rite II Holy Eucharist without music at 8 a.m. and Rite II Holy Eucharist with music at 10 a.m. Children’s Christian Faith For more information about The Church of the Good Shepherd’s many other programs please call the Parish Office at (203) 795-6577, email us at thegoodspheherd@optonline.net, visit our website at www.thegoodshepherdorangect.org, and of course, check our Facebook page www.facebook.com/cgsorangect for frequent postings.

Image by Pixel2013 via Pixabay