Christ the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
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Call Committee Corner

3/29/2022

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Gifts

3/29/2022

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​Every member of Christ the Good Shepherd has gifts to share with our community.  There are so many ways that people support our congregation. Often when you think of a church you think of the connection to the people and how we can serve each other. We can see the people serving our community by singing in Choir, playing and instrument, serving as a deacon, a reader or on Alter Guild during worship.  Serving on the council, education committee, nominating committee, call committee and a variety of other committees are all vital to the health of our church.  All the hospitality that gets done, whether its coffee duty on Sunday morning, preparing a luncheon for a memorial or any other events helps connect people through food and being in community.  Another act of service to our church is to care for the property we are so blessed to have at our disposal. We are working towards updating the kitchen and restrooms in the building and the Fireside Room has recently gotten a refresh that looks fabulous.  The other area that needs love is our outdoor area.  This is what the public sees when they drive by our location. 
 
Recently we had a garden work day where big group of people gathered together to work on the landscaping on the outside of the church.  The shrubs and weeds had become very overgrown, so much so that it had become difficult to see the sign on the exterior that we use to welcome people to our church.  We removed a couple truckloads of weeds and shrubs that had overtaken the yard.  During the process, it was clear to me that this maintenance needs to be an ongoing ministry.  We are looking for ideas on how best to manage the yard and for people who are willing do the work.  A few ideas have been circulating are: a garden club, regularly scheduled garden work days, assigning volunteers sections of the yard to manage?  What are your ideas? Are you willing to work on the garden?  Are you willing to be a committee chair for the garden?  If you have any ideas or are willing to offer your elbow grease please contact the council or the property committee. If you feel the urge to be outdoors and do some weeding around our building, we invite you to do so.  We are eager to hear any suggestions that you may have to manage the landscaping.  Is gardening the gift you can share with Christ the Good Shepherd? 
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Mosaics Class

3/28/2022

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Over the past 8 days, I have taught thirty-one people how to make glass mosaics and what it means to be part of a spiritual practice “Making Wholeness from the Broken Bits.” As each of us culled through the tiny, shiny bits of glass, we drew deeply into ourselves to create a bit of magic on pieces of simple wood, finished by a coat of cement to fill in the cracks. We exist in a time of uncertainty and big questions, generally known as “The Kingdom of God Here on Earth.” The beauty that was created in the mosaics reflects the beauty of each of the makers. Art, music, dance, poetry, cooking, and prayer are the tools that will lead us through, to make us creators and people of action on a hurting planet that depends on us to care for each other and all of creation that surrounds us. I am deeply grateful to be able to share with you all the ways that I serve at CGS, and look forward to what might emerge as we move forward. 
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Call Committee Corner

3/20/2022

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Just as Pastor Jill is marking 6 months in her bridge role with CGS, the Call Committee will be marking 6 months of work this week.  We have spent this time reviewing CGS annual reports and synod guidelines, meeting with Bishop Megan Rohrer to discuss the call process, listening to you all in small forums and during "office hours", as well as contemplating, debating, and drafting answers to the Ministry Site Profile, designing & issuing a survey for further feedback, and reviewing those results.  We are now in the late stages of finalizing the site profile before handing off to the council and eventually the synod for candidate selection.
It's still not too late to reach out and make your voice heard during this important process


​- feel free to contact Julia, Adolfo, Sarah, Randy, Paul, or Matt.

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March 20th, 2022

3/20/2022

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Call Committee Corner

3/13/2022

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Call Committee Update.
The Call Committee (Randy Presuhn, Chair, Paul Thomas, Sarah Janigian, Matt Byom, Adolfo Ramirez, and Julia Tranchina) continues to meet and finish our work on the Ministry Site Profile that is designed to help us summarize the current life of our congregation to prospective candidates.
We continue to be pleased by how many of you have come forward to members of the Call Committee with your thoughts about what you hope to see in our next pastor and by the useful input we received from you through the recent survey. We have found your feedback to be helpful and insightful. 
Cross your fingers. We think we see the light at the end of the tunnel and hope to finish the Ministry Site Profile soon. Nevertheless, the Call Committee still wants your ideas and hopes you will let us know what is on your mind.  
Please continue to keep the Call Committee and its work in your prayers.


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These Things Shall Never Die

3/13/2022

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These Things Shall Never Die

The pure, the bright, the beautiful that stirred our hearts in youth,
The impulses to wordless prayer, the streams of love and truth
The longing after something lost, the spirit’s yearning cry
The striving after better hopes, these things shall never die.

The timid hand stretched forth to aid a brother in his need;
A kindly word in grief’s dark hour that proves a friend indeed;
The plea for mercy softly breathed, when justice threatens high,
The sorrow of a contrite heart, these things shall never die.

Let nothing pass, for every hand must find some work to do,
Lost not a chance to weaken love, be firm and just and true.
So shall a light that cannot fade beam on thee from on high,
The angel voices say to thee, “These things shall never die.”

This is a poem by Charles Dickens, the English writer of the famous and well-loved Christmas novel, “A Christmas Carol”. On Sunday, March 20th, our men’s Keynote Vocal Group will sing a beautiful setting by Mark Burrows of this poem. When I first came across this music, I was immediately drawn to it by its beautiful melody and arrangement. My interest turned into a deeper connection as I started working on it to prepare for our group’s rehearsal. The arranger did a wonderful job in effectively pairing his beautiful melody with the poem’s words, evoking emotions that help us connect to the music’s message in a higher level. Its words, though seemingly simple, I believe have profound meaning - it brings a message of hope. The detailing of both the positive and the unfavorable, followed by the thought that these things shall never perish, brings the idea of leaving legacies. That even as we pass from this physical world, we leave behind our acts of kindness, memories of laughter, and even sadness, that will help us remain alive in spirit. In this time of uncertainty of dealing with a pandemic and war, I wish that this music will help us not lose hope, that our spirits live on through the good deeds and beautiful memories we’ve made.

- Rey Lambatin, Choir Director

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Call Committee Corner

3/7/2022

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Your CGS Call Committee would like to thank everyone who took the
time to fill out the congregational survey.  Your answers have been
helpful to us in filling out the Ministry Site Profile (MSP) used to
match us with potential candidates, and are helping to guide our
discussion of specific things we'll want to cover when we interview
candidates to become our next pastor.

The surveys filled out on paper provided us with some unplanned
benefits.  In the online survey, responses for the question about
preaching style were limited to three choices.  We had done this
thinking that if we didn't impose such a limit, those filling out
the survey might select so many of the options that we'd have no
sense of what the congregation's priorities were.  ("You can't always
get what you want / But if you try sometime you'll find /
You get what you need.")

Some of those who filled out the survey on paper didn't abide by the
instructions to limit themselves to three choices.  To avoid skewing
the overall results, we processed those individuals' responses to that
question separately.  In aggregate, these responses were quite different
from the others.  We found three things:

    (1) Those who made more than three selections chose so many
        of the options that, in aggregate, their only clear priority
        was, seemingly, that sermons should be funny.  This was clearly
        *not* a top priority of the congregation in general.

    (2) Adding these responses to the total pool of responses did
        not change the overall ranking of desired preaching styles.

    (3) Comparison of the two sets of responses confirmed that our
        decision to limit the number of options in order to
        tease out priorities was correct.

In other news, we have identified people willing to serve as references.
The MSP process requires a person from inside the congregation, a person
from outside the congregation, and ELCA rostered leader, and "someone
else."  We believe these four people all know CGS and its ministries
well and will be able to provide an account helpful to those discerning
whether this might be the site of the next stage in their ministry.

Again, the committee would like to thank everyone for their continued
input.  We continue to meet weekly, and hope to soon be able to hand
off the draft ministry site profile to our congregational council for
consideration and approval before we submit it to the ELCA.

Randy
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Blog Post

3/7/2022

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I recently attended the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza, a yearly gathering of 600-700 youth pastors, directors, and volunteers from throughout the country. I was a vendor, representing Mt. Cross, and my table was right next to the Old Lutheran store (Old Lutheran, if you’ve never heard of it, is a Moorhead, Minnesota-based retailer that has claimed to be “the center for Lutheran pride (but not too proud)”). During the sessions, when traffic in the vendor area was slow, I would browse the various shirts, stickers, and trinkets they had available for purchase. One of the shirts in the store caught my eye. There wasn’t any kind of fancy design, just three phrases printed on the front and back: “Love God. Love People. The End.”

Such a simple concept, yet seemingly difficult to live out. Everyone has a different opinion of what love is and isn’t. Everyone has experienced love in different ways, some of them healthy, some of them not. Is it easy to love God? Sometimes, especially when things are going our way. Is it easy to love people? Sometimes, especially when we share similar values and beliefs. Sometimes, though, it can be tough to love God and love people. We don’t like to admit this, especially that it can be difficult to love God, for fear that we will be viewed as “bad” or “sinful”.

In those times when I find it difficult to love God and love people, I try to remember 2 things: 1) There’s nothing that will separate us from God’s love, not even my doubt, anger, or inability/unwillingness to love God; and 2) Luther’s explanation to the 8th Commandment, which calls on us to explain our neighbor’s actions in the kindest way possible. When I try to explain their actions in the kindest way possible, I find it much easier to love others.

Will I ever love the way God loves or the way God intends? Probably not. In the hustle and bustle of daily life, will I always even remember to love? Probably not. In those times of busy-ness, or when I’m angry and frustrated, or even when things are going really well, I hope I will come across my new shirt in the drawer and remember to simply Love God. Love People. The End.


                                                                                       - Adam Erickson
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    Christ the Good Shepherd 

    Various editorials, articles, and other items of interest.

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1550 Meridian Ave. 
San Jose, CA 95125

(408)266-8022
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church@cgslc.org
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El Camino Real Conference

Photo used under Creative Commons from wuestenigel
  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Leadership
    • Our History
    • The Rainbow Fish
    • Our Partners and Friends
  • Worship
    • CGS on YouTube
    • Digital Worship Bulletins
    • Music
  • Living Together
    • Calendar
    • Newsletter
    • Blog
    • Important Documents
    • Library
    • Facilities
  • Breeze
  • Contact Us
  • Donate