WHAT S INSIDE. NOVEMBER 9, 2016 Volume 21, No. 21

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1 NOVEMBER 9, 2016 Volume 21, No. 21 Join us as we follow the Donovan Family s journey toward relational generosity, continuing the next few Sundays in November during 10 am worship. Questions to ask yourself over the last two weeks of the Loving Generously series: Week 4 Jesus suffered persecution for loving the lowly and rejected. What does it mean if you never face persecution? Compassion at its root means to suffer with. Jesus suffered with us when He became a man. Who are you suffering with? Do you know your neighbors? It s easy to live next to people and never really know them. How can you love your neighbors this week? What issues are across the railroad tracks? What social issues does your city need help addressing? What can you do? What is a faith that costs you nothing really worth? Week 5 How would it make you feel to be a part of a community where everyone really was equal, no matter your past, your resources, your education, or your appearance? What is the Golden Rule and how does it sum up Matthew 7:12? How has someone else s generous love transformed you? WHAT S INSIDE Birthdays... page 2 Sunday Breakfast... page 2 By Still Waters-Janis Lussmyer... page 4 Pastor s Pen... page 5 Events... page 6 November 28th is the deadline for articles for the Newsletter If you have a small group meeting you would like included on the calendar please contact Julie

2 Dick McDonald 11/2 Lloyd Cullison 11/9 Jackie Heady 11/11 Mark White 11/16 Leretha Teter 11/18 Louise Yeats 11/21 Bob Kelly 11/21 Doug McCracken 11/24 Becky Cullison 11/26 Micheal Stevens 11/30 NOVEMBER 14th, 2016 DEADLINE Thank you for your generosity in helping those in need in our community. Please place your donations in the designated box and they will be collected and delivered during the week. GSPC is responsible for the annual Thanksgiving Baskets are needed by November 14th. If you can t shop, write a check with Concern potatoes in the memo line and Paul & Pam Crawford will be happy to shop. INSTANT MASHED POTATOES 200 small boxes 100 large boxes THANKS TO: BOB KELLY, JIM & SUE WELCH AND KIM SCOTT FOR PROVIDING HOSPITALITY AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST THE NEXT TWO SUNDAYS Conversation Corner IT'S A 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY! The Children of Robert Kelly invite you to a party celebrating his 90th birthday! Saturday November 19th 2pm - 4pm Fellowship Hall Good Shepherd Church No presents, please. Your presence is enough! Contributions to the ENDOWMENT FUND were made by: Maxine Bottenberg in celebration of her birthday NOAH Retirees November 21 at Tallgrass Noon Annual Thanksgiving Lunch Tour Available Contact Peggy White for more information Friends and Members of Good Shepherd Presbyterian I am writing this to express my thanks to the members and friends of the Good Shepherd family for the kindness and concern expressed to me and my family not only in time of Zoe s death, but in the months that have followed. At this time in my life I have elected to return to Fresno, California to spend the years remaining with the many family and friends that are there. I will be leaving Bartlesville on or about November 1st. May God bless this congregation and its members. Ken Scott

3 Make a Joyful Noise Run Your Race As many of you know, I am a runner. However, I wasn t always a runner. About a year ago, I realized that I needed to make a change. It was then that I discovered my love for running. What is interesting to me is how much a single change has made a difference in my perspective. I was reading in Hebrews not long ago and came across chapter 12:1-2, Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. While I had read this before, it resonated with me in a new way. What most runners will tell you is that the race is run, not the day of but in all the many weeks of training leading up to the race. We do not wake up one day and run a marathon; we put in hours and hours of training to build to the distance. It is this way with our spiritual walk. We daily have to cast off sin and look to Christ. He is our finish line and the one who keeps us running. Finally, most runners have a preferred distance, be it 800 meter or 26.2 miles. Each person is built differently. The same is true for our spiritual race. Each of us is running a different race. We should stop looking at those around us and those passing us and look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Ultimately, we are not competing against everyone else but rather against ourselves! We must keep the faith and endure. We must run our race, not to win, but to finish. It is in finishing that we find the endurance of our faith! Soli Deo Gloria! Micheal Stevens Ministry Opportunity Poinsettias: Each year Good Shepherd delivers poinsettia plants to members of the congregation who have suffered losses or illness during the past year. Please contact Melissa in the church office if you are able to coordinate this effort. Come for an informational luncheon November 20 following the 10 am worship service. Ashley Sikes, Director and Bob & Mary Shell, board members, will be here to share more about Family Promise and answer any questions. OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD ENDS PACK the SHOE BOXES PARTY! It's time to pack shoe boxes and we're having a party! Join us in the Fellowship Hall for a special brunch after church on November 13 before we pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Come enjoy quiche, French toast sticks, muffins, sausage biscuits, and lots of other brunch goodies. Everything will be set up to make packing the shoe boxes as easy and as fast as possible! Due to Advent coming so early this year Good Shepherd s traditional Hanging of the Greens Christmas decorating party is planned for Tuesday, NOVEMBER 22 Lunch will be provided, and there ll be a job for everyone. Meet in Fellowship Hall at 9 am. We ll get as much as we can unboxed and set up in all its glory. Let Julie know if you ll be able to help.

4 Up Close and Personal We love from a distance. God loves up close. From a distance, people are easier to put on a pedestal. From a distance, people are easier to get along with. We don t have to deal with as many conflicts or differences; we don t have to exercise as much patience; we especially don t have to give much of ourselves. From a distance, people are less likely to see our own character flaws and foibles. But is loving from a distance really love? God, unlike us, loves up close. He knows we are on no pedestal, yet he manages to perfectly accept us even while he is working to transform us. He has no illusions concerning our souls, yet he loves us dearly and tenderly, even passionately. He exercises endless patience with us, far more patience than we are usually willing to give those we love. He gives all of Himself he gave all of Himself on the Cross and longs for us to give ourselves to Him. It s when we open up to closeness that we start to learn about love. When we can forget about our own agendas to care for one another, we get a little closer to the heart of God. When we can risk being authentic, when we can admit that we are not always right, when we can ask forgiveness and give forgiveness that is when real love kicks in. That s when God s love finds a conduit through us. God s up close love involves joy and pain, celebration and grief, gladness and sadness. When we choose to live our lives up close to Him, that s where real life begins. The barriers come down and grace abounds. There is depth and complexity in closeness. Genuine living outshines superficial living any day. But it will cost us our pride. The prize is intimacy with God. Trick or Treaters Students from the Child Development Center went trick-or-treating throughout the school for Halloween, gathering candy and goodies from the staff. Preschool friends enjoyed wearing costumes and class parties! Upcoming events: Thanksgiving feast Wednesday, November 16th.

5 FROM THE PASTOR S PEN The number of poor, needy and hungry people in our town continues to grow. In Bartlesville, there are many organizations reaching out with care and compassion. Yet, no matter how many of these agencies develop, and no matter how many individuals and families are helped, the ranks of those in need seem to steadily grow. Jesus said in Matthew 26:11, The poor you will always have with you... and some of us conclude that helping the needy is a fruitless endeavor. Others, seeing growing need determine to develop yet another program. What is interesting is that there seems to be a growing national conversation on the effectiveness of the various programs and ministries in lifting families and individuals out of poverty. At the heart of the conversation is the question, "Are we offering a short term band aid that creates dependence or self-sufficiency that leads to independence?" God gave his people some instruction regarding care for the poor, and one passage is found in Deuteronomy 15:1-15. In that passage, God commands his people to a shocking level of generosity. He tells Israel that there are to be no needy persons among them and that every six years debts should be forgiven. Some background would be useful. In Deuteronomy God lays out for the children of Israel a way of responding to poverty. In Deuteronomy 15 God sys we should not refuse a loan to anyone who asks. In an agrarian society, the poor were largely those whose crops had failed to produce an adequate harvest. The cause might have been a drought, war, the death of someone in the family. Since the harvest provided both subsistence and money enough for seed the next year, crop failure was devastating. So, if someone was asking for a loan, it meant they'd had a crop failure, and they needed enough resource to ensure the next harvest would be adequate. If the crop failure persisted for more than a single year and their debt accumulated, they might sell themselves into indentured slavery to alleviate the debt. When the debtor ended their period of repayment through service, they were to be released and equipped with enough to be able to become self-sufficient. So, they loaned to those in need, helped others to self-sufficiency and they forgave debts on an every six-year cycle. us to make the link between Old Testament law and New Testament practice. The Bible never envisioned a permanent class of poor people. Instead, the Biblical view was that there would always be people rising out of and falling into poverty. It s not possible to simply overlay the Biblical view of economics on 21 st century America. We are not a theocratic nation state in which every single citizen is in a covenant relationship with the God of Mount Sinai. But it is possible to consider the implications of this Biblical worldview on our personal lives and our church. The first one is that we are called to a dramatically greater level of generosity. In those days people gave their tithe and on top of that generously gave to those in need. So, if you saw someone falling into poverty, you had resource to help. That meant that within their web of relationships if they saw someone in need they responded. I wonder how aware we are of those drifting into poverty. I also wonder if we are willing to get personally involved. God called his people to be aware and to become personally involved in response to need. Beyond that, Israel practiced the elimination of debts on a six-year cycle. So not only did they loan to those in need but they also were willing to forgive the loans and forego repayment based upon the six-year cycle. How many of us willingly and without grudge allow what is owed to us to go unpaid. Second, those coming out of poverty were to be given the resources they needed to become self-sufficient. In those days that meant giving away a few head of cattle, or seed to be used for the next years crop. It s more complex today, but economic development, providing people with tools and capital, seems to be a close parallel to what Israel practiced. Some churches start businesses like catering, or home cleaning services, to provide both opportunity and experience for those rising to self-sufficiency. What does it mean to love generously and live a life responsive to human need? How do you live out the Biblical call to generosity? I don't know the answers to those questions. I do know that our current answer doesn't seem to be lifting the poor out of poverty and into independence. This way of helping others carried forward into the first century and the early community of Christians. In Acts 2:45 we read They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need." Luke here is quoting Deuteronomy 15: and he means for

6 Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church 801 SE Washington Blvd Bartlesville, OK Contact us: Church Office: Church Fax: Website: (USPS ) Periodical Postage paid at Bartlesville OK Return Service Requested WEEKLY SCHEDULE Sunday 8:30 9:45 am Adult Discipleship Classes 10:00 am Worship Sanctuary 11:00 11:30 am Coffee Connection Monday Tuesday 9:30 10:30 am CDC Movement Education Classes 10:00 2:00 pm Agape Food Service 6:30 8 pm Bible Study Fellowship Wednesday 6:30 7 pm Hand Bell Practice 7-8:30 pm Chancel Choir Practice 1:40 2:05 pm CDC Music Thursday 1:00 pm Ladies Small Group Friday UPCOMING EVENTS Fri. Nov pm Parents Night Out Sun. Nov am Loving Generously Week 4 Sun. Nov am Pack the Shoeboxes Party Tues. Nov. 15 9:30 am CDC Movement Class Tues. Nov :30 am Staff Meeting Tues. Nov. 15 6:30 8 pm Bible Study Fellowship Wed. Nov. 16 6:30 7 pm Hand Bell Practice Wed. Nov :30 pm Choir Practice Wed. Nov. 16 CDC Thanksgiving Feast Sat. Nov pm Bob Kelly s 90th Birthday Sun. Nov am Loving Generously Week 5 Sun. Nov am Family Promise Luncheon Mon. Nov. 21 Noon NOAH Thanksgiving Lunch at Tallgrass Estates Mon. Nov CDC Closed Tues. Nov :30 am Staff Meeting Tues. Nov. 22 6:30 8 pm Bible Study Fellowship Wed. Nov. 23 NO Hand Bell or Choir Practice Thur. Nov. 24 Happy Thanksgiving Fri. Nov. 25 Office is Closed