Our time here has been quite an adventure! Molly, Dana and the group arrived safely in Belize City this past Friday morning. George Bryan arrived on a separate plane early afternoon and I arrived from California about an hour after George. He was waiting for me at the airport when I arrived. I don’t think George nor I have ever been more happy to see each other! Phillip, from Belize (an amazing guide arranged by the school) shuttled us to meet the group at the Anglican Diocesan center in Belize where we were to spend the night.  

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Join the Church of the Good Shepherd and friends at Azar’s restaurant on Colley Ave. 5pm–8pm   Thursday, April 30. 25% of the proceeds from your meal, plus any funds you care to donate will go directly to ACCESS AIDS Care, an HIV/AIDS organization serving families right here in Hampton Roads. Contact Patty Ruska for more information. If you can’t dine out on the 30th, please consider donating online at http://www.firstgiving.com/pattydana.

Good Shepherd will host NEST March 25-April 1. Volunteers are needed and the sign up board will be outside of Memorial Hall. If you have any questions, please contact Woody Duffy 451-1319. Thanks in advance for your participation to make this year a great success.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? —Isaiah 43:19

“Sit down with a group of knitters anywhere and ask them to tell you stories about how they learned to knit. Many of the stories are humorous; some are tender; some are gently self-deprecating. Nearly all are colored with a love or fascination for knitting; nearly all reveal relationships with at least one other person, the person who taught them how.” Susan Jorgensen author of Knitting into the Mystery has hit it on the head with that comment. There is a group of ladies that meet to knit together and share stories. What is a Prayer Shawl? A lovely piece that is either knitted or crocheted by our hands with prayerful intent in hopes that the recipient will find balance back into their lives. If you know someone that is out of balance with their lives with either sickness or other life changing events, and want them to receive a shawl, contact us. If you are interested in learning to knit or crochet, or find out more about the Prayer Shawl Ministry, come meet with us at the church the second and fourth Tuesday at 6:30PM or the first and third Tuesday at 10:00AM. Contact Lesa Nelson at 648-8291 or embarkguru@cox.net.

Recently, with the presidential election, the inauguration, Advent and Christmas, we are reminded of the many ways we are fortunate to live in the land of the free. Being able to shop for clothing and shoes would be a luxury for many people around the world. Residents in many of the rural communities of Afghanistan struggle in the long harsh winters. (NO Wal-mart available). Anne and Kathleen Redfern have a sailing friend, David Ostwind, who is in the reserves working for Homeland Security and was called up suddenly last summer. He went to Afghanistan on October 18th for a year. When Anne emailed David what he needed, his immediate response was to ask for any SIZE OF USED WARM CLOTHING and SHOES (any size from children on up) so he could distribute them to the Afghan military to deliver to the locals. (Thus, they don’t know they are from Americans.) David did not ask for food, DVD’s, or anything for himself. What a role model and ambassador for our country!!! Through our contacts and neighborhood, about nine packages have been mailed. Let’s all try and spread the warmth in Afghanistan this winter. Here is his address:

LT DAVID OSTWIND
ARSIC-S
RCAC/FOB LINDSEY/NAVY GARRISON
APO AE 0935

Thank you.
The Redferns

The first week of the year in Ruach and the preschool class at Loch Meadow, the children heard an old Jewish tale of the man who had a coat that wore out. Then, he made a scarf, then made a pocket, and finally a button-all the while his friends told him, “Lookin’ good! Lookin’ good, looking’ good!”

Each person’s creativity shares life back to the world. Fill your mite box so it can share some life back this month.

I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.

I was naked, and you clothed me.

I was ill, and you comforted me.

I was in jail, and you came to see me.

In this time of economic crisis, our children will take time in chapel worship throughout February and Lent to bring home a ‘mite box’. Everything we share with others in the world today becomes more like the ‘Widow’s Mite’. Sacrificial giving involves giving something we would have for ourselves.

As we put change in the mite box, we could use it for a drink ourselves. But wouldn’t it be more exciting to build it into something bigger for someone in need?

Talk about this with your children when mite boxes come home. Intentionally, prayerfully, maybe in surprising ways, collect together. And, return your gifts to the church beginning on Palm Sunday, April 5th. Our faith can be more authentic, when it is seated in actions in our lives and not simply words.

General Ban Ki-moon regarding the  Millennium Development Goals:
“Eradicating extreme poverty continues to be one of the main challenges of our time, and is a major concern of the international community. Ending this scourge will require the combined efforts of all, governments, civil society organizations and the private sector, in the context of a stronger and more effective global partnership for development. The Millennium Development Goals set time bound targets, by which progress in reducing income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter and exclusion — while promoting gender equality, health, education and environmental sustainability — can be measured. They also embody basic human rights — the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter and security. The Goals are ambitious but feasible and, together with the comprehensive United Nations development agenda, set the course for the world’s efforts to alleviate extreme poverty by 2015. “

The Mission of the Holy Spirit will continue to meet each Tuesday night from 6:00 to 8:30 in the new year.  The youth are currently working on banners for council with the Millennium Development Goals as the theme.  Each banner is a mixed media piece that is ten feet tall and about four and a half feet wide.  Good Shepherd provides a light dinner each week for the youth.  If you are willing to “drop off” dinner on a Tuesday, please contact Pat Tayloe to get on the schedule. (489-8919)

In the time it takes you to ready this paragraph, 3 children will die of preventable causes. One child dies every 3 seconds, every day… that’s 30,000 every year. The same number of adults die every year from hunger, disease, even giving birth.

It shouldn’t be this way. It doesn’t have to be. In 2000, several economists determined that it actually was possible to do something, and in September, 2000, all the nations of the world pledged support to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a mutually agreed upon structure for them to join together and practically address the eight biggest threats to human security in the world today. These nations pledged an annual contribution of 0.7% of their national budgets.

The Episcopal Church reaffirmed it’s commitment to the MDGs at General Convention 2006 (Resolution A010), including the committing at least 0.7% of the budget to the MDG’s. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has stated that these goals are the church’s number one priority. Diocesan Convention on October 21, 2006 passed a resolution urging congregations and parishes to commit 0.7% of their income to the MDGs.

The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd will weave these goals as part of the Lessons and Carols Service the Sunday after Christmas.

To read more about these goals please click below:

http://www.e4gr.org/index.html