Yet it is a significant component

of our cycle of prayer. I hope

you will plan on worshipping

with us that evening. Our proc-

lamation is that Jesus lives, and

the Feast of the Ascension es-

tablishes how God continues to

be with us through the power

of the Holy Spirit.

Faithfully,

Jeff

Dear Parish Family,

Our proclamation since Easter

has been “Alleluia. Christ is

risen. The Lord is risen indeed.

Alleluia!” As has been men-

tioned in sermons over the last

month, Easter is more than a

single day event; in fact, it is one

of the great seasons of the

church year and lasts 50 days.

The liturgical seasons provide

structure and continuity to our

daily, weekly and seasonal wor-

ship. The next significant event

in our liturgical cycle occurs 40

days into the season of Easter

with the Feast of the Ascension

on May 14th.

The style of worship in the Epis-

copal Church is one of order

and development. Since Easter,

the Sunday readings have re-

counted the numerous resur-

rection accounts proclaimed in

the Gospels. These resurrection

accounts are leading us onward

to the next significant event,

The Feast of the Ascension.

Some believe it may be one of

the oldest feasts of the Church,

dating back as far as 68 CE. (CE,

or Common Era, is the contem-

porary identification of AD, or

Anno Domini or the year of the

Lord.)

From the Gospel of Luke, we

read “ While he blessed them,

he parted from them, and was

carried up into heaven…” (Luke 24:51) There eventually

would come a time when the

earthly ministry of Jesus must

come to an end. The Feast of

the Ascension marks that con-

clusion and prepares the faithful

for the next important event

and season of the Church year,

the Feast of Pentecost. As we

have in recent years, we will

have a special service at Good

Shepherd on Ascension Day,

Thursday, May 14th at 7:00 to

celebrate this major event in

our spiritual life.

Ten days later, the church then

celebrates the Feast of Pente-

cost, sometimes called “the

birthday of the church.” Pente-

cost marks the gift of the Holy

Spirit, giving life to the people,

the church of God, by the in-

dwelling of God’s Holy Spirit.

The Season of Pentecost is the

longest of the church seasons

and will carry us up until the

end of November when the

entire cycle begins again with

the first Sunday in Advent.

Since The Feast of the Ascen-

sion falls on a Thursday every

year, it is not as familiar to us.

Rector’s Reflections

THE EPISCOPAL

CHURCH OF THE

GOOD SHEPHERD

May 2015 Volume 2015, Issue 3

The Voice

Inside this issue:

CEW

Appreciation

2

May Birthdays 2

Exposé on EWES 3

Save the Date:

Youth Sunday and

Cookout

3

Our Companion

Parish

4

Cuban Fiesta

Invitation

5

Pictures 6

May Calendar 7

Our Children's Enrichment

Workshop (CEW) computer

lab recently wrapped up with

the beginning of the testing

season in our local elementary

schools. We had a successful

first year of instruction. Thanks

to the assistance of volunteers

Brian Palmer and Gamble

Beardsley, we were able to expand to a second day of in-

struction in the second half of

the school year. Brian and Gam-

ble joined staff instructors Gray

Lindsey and Taylor Bounds,

adding even more talent to an

already great CEW team.

Our Thursday program offered

in the second half of the year

what our Tuesday program

offered in the first half. Elemen-

tary school students, according

to the new common core

standards, should be able to create and give computer-

driven presentations that teach

or advocate a position or ac-

tion by the time they enter

middle school. We began the

semester with 100 lessons of

basic touch typing that requires

a sustained typing rate of more

than 25 words per minute, all

without looking at the key-

board. All participants who

completed the year completed

the program. They then created

their own presentation arguing

for making decisions on various

topics like which kinds of cars

to buy and which kinds of

snacks are better for you. Stu-

dents then presented in front

of the class, and ably defended

their decisions in the question

and answer session that fol-

lowed.

Our Tuesday class moved on to

more advanced computing

topics, since all of the students

had been through our earlier

curriculum. Using computer-

aided instruction, students

learned the basics of the Javas-

cript computer programming

language, one of the core lan-

guages that run websites and

applications on the internet.

Students learned control struc-

tures, conditional statements, variables, user interaction, and

mathematics, all which are as-

pects of designing and program-

ming applications. The curricu-

lum we used is free and open

for public use at Programming-

Basics.org. Students also

learned basic graphic design

skills using the Logo program-

ming language, which also

taught them basic geometry

and the use of repetition to

build complex drawings on-

screen.

At the end of our final class,

thanks to her attendance, apti-

tude, attitude, and outlook,

Sophie Lockwood of Fishweir

elementary school was chosen

as Good Shepherd's CEW stu-

dent of the year and awarded a

donated and rebuilt Macbook

laptop computer. Sophie was

incredibly excited and honored

to receive the accolade and

equipment, since she did not

have a computer at home. She

promised to continue the hard

work she began in the class-

room, keeping up her typing

skills and completing the final

assignment of the programming

curriculum, a complicated pro-

gram to replicate a finite state machine. The finite state ma-

chine is a computing concept

that underlies everything from

modern games to robotic man-

ufacturing. The fact that a

fourth-grade student under-

stands even the basics is a feat

worth rewarding. Congratula-

tions Sophie, and thank you to

all our staff, volunteers, and

donors who made this im-

portant program for the stu-

dents in our neighborhood

possible.

Fr. Wiley

Mary House (16)

Dale Taylor (16)

Selma Cox (18)

Martha Johns (19)

Saluma Carroll (20)

Ann Pridgen (22)

Susan Callender (23)

Beanie Miller (4)

Betty Brisbin (4)

Jodie Coleman (8)

Nancy Duncan (8)

Joyce Norville (8)

Shawna Leu (8)

Michelle Horton (10)

Joseph Martinez (14)

Alan Coleman (27)

John Parkyn (27)

Donald Stephens (27)

John Williams (28)

Colin Lasota (29)

Catherine Towers (30)

William Nihem (31)

CEW Appreciation and Student of the Year

May Birthdays

Page 2 The Voice

CEW Student of

the Year—Sophie

Lockwood

Gamble Beardsley and

Brian Palmer in the computer lab with

students

Cleverly disguised as a bona

fide parishioner of Good Shep-

herd, I recently infiltrated a

clandestine meeting of the

EWES at Whiteway’s. I can

verify that it was clandestine

because when an unsuspecting

bona fide parishioner came in

to enjoy lunch with her family

and saw the flock of gathered grazing Good Shepherd gals,

she asked in surprise, “Did I

miss the memo?”

Ha! YOU’ve never seen a

memo about this monthly

event either, have you? No

notice in “The Voice” or the

Sunday bulletin, no announce-

ment at the end of the 10

o’clock service? Have these she

-ovine pretenders found the

proverbial greener pasture and,

thumbing their noses with a

loud bleat of disdain, decided to keep the whole operation

covert?!?

What an exciting scoop THAT

would be! But, no, this story

turned out to be as mundane

as…as…as grabbing lunch at a

sandwich shop.

There was one red herring: A

“RESERVED” sign set at the end

of a long table. But, let me tell

you, those ladies were anything

BUT “reserved”! They were

laughing and sharing recipes,

anecdotes, and pictures of their

dogs and grandchildren. They

talked a lot about each other’s

lunches: What the red things

were in the kale salad (craisins) or the meat under the tabouli

(kibbe). A lot of them com-

pared notes on knitting, but I

don’t think any of them were

using real wool, and they cer-

tainly weren’t pulling any over

anyone’s eyes or other body

parts.

Sorry. I don’t have any dirt to

dish. But here’s the real story:

EWES (which stands for “Eating

With Episcopalians Socially) is

just a flock of Good Shepherd

women (parishioners and their

friends and even men, on occa-

sion) who drop by Whiteway’s

(on King Street, across from

the Center State Bank) at 11:30

on the Tuesday after pot luck

Sunday to eat with Episcopali-

ans socially. There is no agen-

da, no invitation, no mission

(impossible or otherwise), no

reservation required (except

for the sign on the table, which

is just a nicety provided by the

deli); there aren’t even any

bahs. It’s just a pleasant gather-

ing; I think that’s also known as

Christian community. You

should infiltrate sometime. I

recommend the kibbe and tabouli pita; it’s the Tuesday

special.

This has been another in-depth

investigative exposé by

May Dupp,

Undercover Reporter.

Save the Date: Sunday — June 7 Youth Sunday and Cookout in the courtyard

honoring our youngsters and our newcomers

(If you are not young or new, your presence is ESPECIALLY

essential as part of the Welcoming Throng.)

Exposé : Who Are the EWES and

Are They Pulling the Wool Over Our Eyes?

Page 3

Lay weeders in the

courtyard

Working on the sprinkler system

THE EWES WANT YOU!

Join us on second Tuesdays at

11:30 am at Whiteways.

See you there!!

THE CHURCH OF THE

ANNUNCIACION in Flori-

da, Cuba is one of 46 Episcopal

Churches and missions in Cu-

ba, serving approximately

10,000 members and their

wider communities. The Epis-

copal Church in Cuba dates

back to the early 1900s. The

Cathedral is located in Havana, and the Bishop of Cuba is the

Right Reverend Griselda Delga-

do del Carpio. Our companion

relationship with the Diocese

of Florida was established in

1984 under Bishop Frank Cer-

veny, when churches in our

Diocese were paired with

churches in Cuba.

The town of Florida is locat-

ed in central Cuba in the prov-

ince of Camaguey, approxi-

mately 300 miles from Havana,

and 25 miles northwest of Ca-

maguay, Cuba’s third largest

city. Established in 1907, Flori-

da’s population in 2014 was

63,000, making it Cuba’s 38th

largest city. The priest at the

Church of the Annunciacion is

Father Rody Perez, a young

priest with additional responsi-bilities for several nearby com-

munities. The congregation has

approximately 100 members.

Immediate needs are transpor-

tation and repairs to the

church and rectory. In 1989, Charlie and Carol

Burke went to Cuba with Bish-

op Varley to present a crozier,

carved by Dr. Burke to the

bishop of Cuba. The crozier is

in several pieces and has a trav-

eling case. Bishop Griselda

takes it with her when she

travels.

Three years ago Good Shep-

herd had its first Cuban Fiesta

to raise money for our com-

panion parish. Last year we

were able to send $500 to the

Church of the Annunciation to

go towards the construction of

Camp Blankenship, which will

be similar to our Camp Weed.

Fr. Wiley is currently helping to

reignite the relationship with

our companion parish in Cuba,

with plans to take a small group

down there to scout future

mission opportunities.

Courtenay Wilson

Our Companion Parish in Cuba

Page 4 The Voice

Bishop Griselda

Page 5

Page 6 The Voice

Seder Supper

Easter 2015

Page 7 Volume 2015, Issue 3

May Calendar

Every Sunday

8:00 am Holy Eucharist Rite I

10:00 am Holy Eucharist Rite II

Every Monday

(except Memorial Day, May 25)

5:30 pm Children’s Chapel

Every Wednesday

5:30 pm Holy Eucharist in the Chapel

6:12 pm Study Group in Craig Lounge

7:00 pm ChancelChoir rehearsal

Saturday, May 9, 6:30 pm Craig

Lounge – Cuban Fiesta

Sunday, May 10, 11:30 am Worsham

Hall – monthly Potluck lunch

Wednesday, May 13, 4:00 pm Craig

Lounge – Prayer Shawl Ministry

Thursday, May 14, 7:00 pm – Ascen-

sion Day service

Saturday, May 16, 9:00 am Library–

Godly Play Training

Monday, May 18, 6:00 pm Library –

Vestry Meeting

Thursday, May 21, 5-7 pm Dale Tay-

lor’s house – Wind Down

Monday, May 25, Memorial Day-

PARISH OFFICE CLOSED

1100 Stockton Street Jacksonville, FL 32204

Phone: 904-387-5691 Fax: 904-387-9575

E-mail: thevoice@GSJax.church

THE EPISCOPAL

CHURCH OF THE

GOOD SHEPHERD

Find us on the web

www.GSJax.church